After nightfall, beside the bonfire in the middle of camp, Chris stared speechlessly at Home Alone, who sat laughing in front of him. Then he tilted his head to look past him at the ten men sitting twenty meters away.
The ten mercenaries Home Alone had recruited sat together in a circle, holding the iron basins Chris had provided. With forks in their right hands, they lifted the noodles inside and slurped them down noisily, then raised arm-thick ham sausages to their mouths with their left hands.
With noodles in meat broth in one hand and ham sausage in the other, they ate with sweat pouring off them, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Clearly, they were delighted with their first meal on the job.
There were all the carbs and fat they could eat, plus over a pound of meat. The mercenaries could hardly have been happier.
Modern Chinese people looked down on ham sausages because their meat content was low-sometimes as little as ten percent, and even the meatier varieties contained only thirty percent.
Since everyone in the caravan did physical labor, Chris had deliberately chosen a particularly greasy variety containing thirty percent meat and twenty percent fat when buying the ham sausages.
Chris certainly would not eat sausages like those. It was not because there was anything wrong with their quality or because they would make him sick; they were simply too greasy. He preferred lean meat.
But to Bohemia's commoners, who barely had meat a few times a year, these were a real treat.
They contained meat, plenty of fat, and lots of spices. Oil oozed out with every bite, and they were wonderfully savory and salty-practically tastier than ordinary meat.
Home Alone knew this, so after bringing his men back to camp, he had asked the cook to prepare ham sausages for the mercenaries to try.
"Where's the guide?"
"Huh? What guide... oh, I forgot."
Home Alone waved a hand dismissively.
"It's fine. I'll find one tomorrow."
"These men... what are you planning to do with them?"
"What do you mean? They're my subordinates, my soldiers. Oh, right, I need to top up and exchange some money to buy rice and cloth. I promised them a settling-in allowance, so I need to pay it."
As he spoke, Home Alone opened his player system and tapped around on it. Before long, a voice sounded in Chris's ear.
+Merchant has received payment: 10,000 yuan.+
Chris's speechless expression immediately transformed into a beaming smile.
Oh, you topped up! And by that much, too. No problem, then.
"Here."
Chris took out a key and handed it to Home Alone, then continued.
"Chest number four in my tent. There are ten coin purses inside, each containing a hundred silver coins. Go get them."
Home Alone took the key and happily headed toward Chris's tent.
Once Home Alone had left, Chris put away his smile and sank into thought... although this had been an accident, it seemed like it might actually be a good way to encourage players to top up.
What could possibly cost more than maintaining an army?
Of course, he could not be reckless about this. He had to think carefully about how to let players enjoy themselves and willingly spend money in the game, without making them feel forced to pay.
Killing the goose that laid the golden eggs was no good.
+System live update log Update details: Fixed five bugs affecting gameplay. Added systems for players to form and command military units. Players may explore these on their own. Temporarily disabled the top-up system. It will reopen after the main storyline's prologue concludes. Optimized the map system and map-sharing functionality.+
Word of Home Alone's exploits spread that very night. The other nine people already in the game, along with the players who had signed up but had yet to receive closed-beta access, were all consumed with envy and jealousy.
As for why in-game top-ups had been suspended, there had been no other choice.
After word of Home Alone's exploits spread, the other nine players had also come running to Chris that same night. All of them wanted to top up, and they took every silver coin he had left.
There was no way around it. Once players paid, he had to give them silver coins.
But Chris now had no Bohemian silver coins left. If more players wanted to top up, he could not give them the corresponding amount of currency.
Chris could therefore only disable the top-up system temporarily. He would have to wait until the group entered the Kingdom of Bagnia and established a base before finding a way to solve the problem.
With money in their pockets, the other players went out recruiting the next day. When they found no suitable recruits in town, they rode out to nearby villages and raised their banners to recruit men.
Each player assembled a force of between five and fifteen men. Together with Home Alone's ten, they had a total of a hundred and twenty recruits.
Adding the original forty men and excluding the players, the force under Chris's command had somehow ballooned to over a hundred and sixty-a reinforced infantry company had materialized.
The players' activities could not escape the notice of the Bohemian garrison patrolling nearby. Ordinarily, such behavior would inevitably bring down the regular army's iron fist... recruiting troops without official permission? Were they planning a rebellion?
As luck would have it, the Bohemian military officer responsible for this area was Lord Popoli, who was preparing to smuggle weapons with Isaac.
When Popoli learned what the players were doing, he was not angry at all. Instead, he burst out laughing. Clearly, he assumed they were acting on Isaac's orders.
Isaac was expanding his force in preparation for their arms-smuggling operation.
It was only a hundred and sixty men, after all. That was hardly anything. Besides, all the recruits came from within the Alfonso family's sphere of influence. In other words, they were all freemen living on the Alfonso family's lands.
Even if Isaac wanted to rebel, would these freemen from Alfonso territory dare point their guns at him, a nobleman of the Alfonso family?
Their wives, children, and elderly relatives were still under the Alfonso family's control. Did they want their entire families sent to meet the God of Light?
So Popoli made no attempt to stop Isaac. He simply turned a blind eye and decided to increase his support, raising his contribution from a hundred matchlocks to five hundred in one go.
If my partner is showing this much resolve, then as a military noble of Bohemia, I can't let him look down on me!
When Isaac returned to camp with his men, he was stunned... Wait, I was only gone for three or four days. How did we end up with a hundred and twenty extra mouths to feed?
With this many people, their original twenty-odd draft horses and donkeys were suddenly nowhere near enough!
What could he do?
There was no choice but to take out the money and buy horses locally.
The men had already been recruited and paid. They could hardly disband the force now.
And truthfully, Isaac was pleased to have so many men. As long as they successfully entered the Kingdom of Bagnia, Prince Chris's early efforts to restore his kingdom would go much more smoothly.
Their fifteen-day rest soon passed. Yet even on the eve of their departure, one problem still troubled Chris.
Where was the guide?
I fucking told the players to recruit a guide. How had they still not found one!?
Seriously, were they messing with me?!
Before you continue