Ready to Be a Father

Harrot had thought he would be able to follow Marcus to the Elf Forest to broaden his horizons and see the famous elves for himself, but Marcus had not taken him along!

"You're really good at training your men! Those five squires are almost as strong as my other knights!"

"I heard Sun Priests can strengthen their subordinates, allowing ordinary people to advance into Sun Knights comparable to Bloodline Nobles. You have potential in that area too! It seems that test was inaccurate. It even said you had no chance of becoming a Sun Priest—what nonsense. Once the pioneering is over, you should visit the Sun Temple!"

"You'll train the soldiers for now. Also, you performed well in this pioneering expedition, so as a reward, pick another five people from my troops to serve as your squires!"

With just a few words, Marcus had arranged everything for Harrot. Left with no choice, Harrot could only remain in the Eastern Province to train soldiers, recruiting another five New Northern Adventurers.

After killing large numbers of Centaurs, Harrot's level rose again to Lv. 9. Along with a few skill points he had saved earlier and one attribute point, Harrot thought it over and added one level each to Command and Trainer.

Command raised his troop limit to twenty people, and he could clearly feel the greater admiration and respect in his subordinates' eyes.

Trainer allowed him to grant his soldiers experience while sparring with them, and greatly improved his efficiency when teaching them techniques.

With Marcus away, Harrot had once again become the highest-ranking person in charge. The other knights handled the tedious miscellaneous matters, leaving him responsible only for managing the army.

Thus, during the month-long gap while the Pioneering Alliance sought aid everywhere and gathered its forces, Harrot lived a leisurely life: training soldiers during the day and "training" the beautiful maidservants and Sihrulu at night.

"This is delicious. Hill, bring me another honeyfruit!" After sparring with The Bald Man and barely winning, Harrot lay in a rocking chair and enjoyed the maidservants' attentions.

Hill was the beautiful maidservant. Harrot had trained the other two maidservants into Lucanir Rangers, assigning them to protect Sihrulu.

Lucanir Rangers were the ultimate unit obtained by upgrading Lucanir Recruits into Lucanir Skirmishers and then upgrading them once more. With sixteen Strength and fifteen Agility, they were no weaker than Harrot's squires. Over the past month, Harrot had spent three or four hours each day training the two maidservants before finally raising them to Rangers.

As for why he had assigned them to protect Sihrulu, it was because Sihrulu was pregnant!

Harrot was full of energy and had taken no precautions, so Sihrulu becoming pregnant was perfectly normal. In this world, it was common for women to marry and have children at sixteen. Still, after learning the news, Harrot suddenly felt that the burden on his shoulders had grown much heavier.

He was no longer alone. Above him was Marcus, to whom he needed to be loyal; below him were subordinates he needed to manage; and more importantly, he now had a child and a wife.

He had now filled all twenty soldier slots. Besides ten squires and three maidservants, he had also recruited seven new servants.

All ten squires were Northern Knight Squires. If Harrot had focused entirely on training them, he might have gained one or two Northern Rogue Knights, but unfortunately, he had spent his time cultivating those two Rangers.

The other seven servants were all Lucanir Infantry. Their strength was average, roughly comparable to ordinary soldiers. The Lucanir Imperial Guard they could become after another upgrade were very powerful, but Harrot did not have that much time.

He could not slack off on the task Marcus had assigned him either. Every day, he had to teach the ordinary soldiers alongside The Bald Man how to deal with monsters like Centaurs. After all, the soldiers' previous training had all been for fighting humanoid creatures.

Even after fighting at full strength, The Bald Man had still lost to Harrot, leaving his feelings complicated. Looking at Harrot being fed by a maidservant, he sighed. "In the end, you've surpassed me! How do you train? We're always together, yet I've never seen you do any special training."

Harrot knew that The Bald Man also longed to grow stronger, but Harrot relied on the system, and The Bald Man did not meet the requirements to become a member of his army. Harrot could not recruit him, so he could only brush him off vaguely. "I'm young and talented. You're old, so your potential isn't as good as mine!"

The Bald Man eyed Harrot suspiciously. "Do you secretly practice at night? Could Marquis Prague be giving you secret training?"

Harrot was so stunned that he spat out what was in his mouth. Helplessly, he replied, "I'm very 'busy' at night. Where would I find time to secretly train? If you don't believe me, ask Hill. Sihrulu is already carrying my child!"

After thinking about it, The Bald Man agreed. He could only attribute it to Harrot's extraordinary talent. Harrot wanted to complain—what kind of person was Marquis Prague? Even Marcus might not have the standing to invite him. Secretly train Harrot? Why did The Bald Man's thought process seem so bizarre?

Just then, a soldier hurried over and reported to Harrot and The Bald Man, "Lord Marcus has returned! He brought elves with him!"

Harrot and The Bald Man exchanged a glance, then quickly stopped resting and went to welcome Marcus.

The dwarf reinforcements invited by Marquis Prague had already arrived. Other nobles had also purchased large quantities of supplies and weapons from the other two human kingdoms. The three hundred Magical Warhorses supported by the Kingdom of Qiat had arrived as well, and Grand Duke Lance and Marquis Prague had begun practicing their coordinated combat.

Other than Marcus, who had gone to the Elf Forest to seek aid, the Pioneering Alliance was fully prepared. Now that Marcus had successfully brought the elves back, their personnel were complete, and the second pioneering operation would begin very soon!

Many nobles and knights eagerly came to the edge of the territory to welcome Marcus and the elves. The group was not large, with fewer than a hundred people in total.

Marcus was as handsome and exceptional as ever. Even surrounded by incredibly charming elves, his presence had not diminished. However, Marcus was not the focus of everyone's attention—the elf leading the group was!

Elves usually had golden hair and tall, slender figures, but this leader was different. His hair was gray-white, his body was short, and most importantly, instead of riding a mount, he floated through the air cross-legged as he moved with the others!

Grand Duke Lance was the most experienced among them and recognized the elf at a glance. He blurted out, "Archmage Iltiran!"

Upon hearing Grand Duke Lance call out, the elf leader turned to look at him. After studying him for several seconds, he said, "You're Lance! You've grown so old? I remember the last time we met, you were still a hot-blooded young man!"

Grand Duke Lance was somewhat helpless. He was not young either—at over one hundred and fifty years old, he was absolutely an antique in the human world. But compared to elves with lifespans exceeding a thousand years, he truly was not much.

The elf leader knew Grand Duke Lance, while the other elves were also curious about humans. Everyone entered the castle together to hold a banquet, while the dwarves had impatiently begun drinking ahead of time.

Marcus then quietly explained to The Bald Man and Harrot, the two less knowledgeable knights, "Archmage Iltiran helped humanity establish nations and resist the orcs' pursuit more than four hundred years ago, after humans were defeated by the orcs. Every ten years, the three kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Lucanir, send envoys to the Elf Forest with gifts to express their gratitude."

"Calling it gratitude is just a pretext. In truth, they want to maintain good relations. Iltiran was already a Legendary Level expert four hundred years ago. He can use several spells comparable to natural disasters, making him far stronger than ordinary Legendary Experts!"

Listening to the string of introductions, Harrot felt as though a legendary figure from a book had stepped into reality. Now this feels like a fantasy world!

"My lord, how did you invite such a legend? Is the Sun Orb really that valuable?" Harrot also possessed a Sun Orb himself. His eyes widened at the thought. Could this thing be some heaven-defying divine artifact?

Marcus shook his head. "I don't have that ability. Every Sun Priest produces a Sun Orb after death. On average, the three human kingdoms produce one Sun Priest every ten years.

"Over the past few centuries, they have accumulated more than a dozen Sun Orbs. That item alone is not enough to move a legendary Archmage! I had originally intended to invite an elf with some connection to my ancestor Elvin, but I never expected the Archmage to volunteer to come!"

"He seems to be researching something and needs the heart of a Legendary Creature. Legendary Creatures are rare and exceptionally powerful, so even the Archmage had searched for a long time without obtaining one.

"He happened to learn that the Centaur Chieftain in the Eastern Lands was at the Legendary Level, so he agreed to help us deal with the Centaurs in exchange for the Centaur Chieftain's heart and a Sun Orb!"

After hearing Marcus's explanation, Harrot felt both disappointed and reassured. He was disappointed to learn that the Sun Orb was not so precious. The three kingdoms had more than a dozen in stock—he had never heard of any divine artifact being sold wholesale.

But he also felt reassured, because his confidence in the pioneering expedition had greatly increased. Three Legendary Experts! And one of them was an elven mage who stood above ordinary legends!

The banquet was held in a large open-air plaza that could hold more than two thousand people. Everyone present was part of the elite force for the upcoming pioneering expedition.

A thousand of them were elite dwarf warriors. Every one of them was a top-notch fighter, no weaker than a Transcendent Knight.

Dwarves averaged one and a half meters in height and weighed two hundred jin. Their physical qualities were outstanding, making them one of the few races capable of confronting orcs head-on. Although they possessed none of the mysterious powers known as "rage" or "qi," dwarven forging was the best on the continent, and their equipment was exceptionally fine!

This time, in order to obtain the mineral resources of the Eastern Lands, the Dwarf Kingdom had sent more than eight hundred heavily armored dwarf warriors and over two hundred Bear Cavalry as reinforcements. Their leader was a Giant Dwarf whose strength was close to the Legendary Level!

Giant Dwarves were mutated dwarves who had awakened ancient bloodlines—humanoid tanks standing two meters tall and weighing five hundred jin. In close combat, they could pound trolls into pulp.

Giant Dwarves also possessed a transformation skill called Divine Descent, which could strengthen them for a short period and grant them Legendary Level combat power. Simply put, they could be regarded as half a Legendary Expert.

There were very few elves, fewer than a hundred. Aside from the Archmage, the others were all young elves of the newer generation who had come out to see the outside world out of curiosity. They were not particularly strong, and more than half had not even learned magic.

The top combat power for this pioneering expedition consisted of three and a half Legendary Experts. Its high-end combat power consisted of more than a thousand dwarf warriors, twenty-five nobles, and over two hundred of their knights.

The main force consisted of eight thousand elite human soldiers, twenty thousand regular soldiers, and fifty thousand auxiliary troops! This was practically the full military strength of every noble in the Pioneering Alliance. The entire Eastern Province only had a population of one million, and with the era's underdeveloped productivity, supporting so many soldiers was already extremely difficult.

They could forcibly recruit more troops and raise an additional hundred thousand or so militia, but fighting the Centaurs would be extremely difficult.

It was hard to say how useful farmers and hunters who had trained for only a few days would be. The new territory after successful pioneering would need a large population, so it would be best to reduce losses as much as possible. Thus, they had not conscripted militia.