Private soldiers are great; throughout history, anyone wanting to cause trouble has always needed these guys.
After all, there are only so many officially designated positions, and if you want to cause trouble, you need to go through layers of approval and reporting.
But then again, can something that requires approval and reporting still be considered causing trouble?
Therefore, at this point, it is necessary to have someone who doesn't exist subjectively but does exist objectively to take action.
Everything that the current Fortress Knight, Colin, possesses comes from the Skeleton Alliance —his soldiers, his funds, even his life—all bestowed upon him by the Skeleton Council.
Therefore, his subordinates would obviously not agree to anything outrageous he wanted to do, and he could only be described as "a skeleton with negligible power."
Undoubtedly, [ Ginseng Rooster ] intends to nurture Colin step by step, ultimately leading him down the path of "Skeleton Guy with Immense Energy".
The most crucial step in the entire process is the first step.
Going from zero to one is always the hardest. As long as Colin takes the first step in raising his own private army, [ Ginseng Rooster ] is confident he can mold him into a guy who will do anything to climb the social ladder.
Seeing Colin's distressed expression, the Ginseng Rooster calmed down and waited patiently for the emotions to ferment.
After a moment, Colin finally responded with a sigh:
"I would like to recruit more Soul Returner, but the lord has only allocated this many positions."
[ Ginseng Rooster ] tentatively replied upon hearing this:
"Have you forgotten about the prisoners...?"
"Captive?"
Colin looked at him with some hesitation:
"I understand what you mean, but I still have to ask—in your heart, are you more loyal to me, or more loyal to the Soul Returner?"
[ The Ginseng Rooster ] smiled and bent down:
"My lord, I am only loyal to the source of my commission."
"Then the prisoners..."
"I simply feel that if we can recruit these people to your service, then it wouldn't be considered a violation of the rules."
[ Ginseng Rooster ] explained earnestly:
"I've reviewed the documents from Sand Capital over the past two days, but they don't offer a clear explanation for this."
"Certainly."
Colin sighed and said:
"Who would have thought the Soul Returner would go to the other side? In the past, prisoners were always killed and sent to the Sand Capital for re-education, but dealing with these guys like this is clearly too much..."
"That's such a waste."
[ The Ginseng Rooster ] said half of what Colin hadn't explicitly stated.
The skeleton knight nodded approvingly, and [ the Ginseng Rooster ] felt he could throw out more "bait":
"My lord, you may not know this, but these prisoners have long been ready to join the Alliance; they just need the right opportunity."
"Oh?"
Colin looked at him with a puzzled and questioning gaze.
"Given the general nature of those Soul Returner, if they are unwilling to be prisoners, the vast majority will choose to commit suicide when they are at their wits' end."
"But not only did they survive, they were even obediently led to the dungeon, which shows they had no intention of resisting, and they should be only one step away from joining the Alliance."
Colin was already somewhat tempted by this, because he had thought of a way to circumvent the system:
These were all prisoners of war. Even if they were released, they would only be nominal military slaves, not real soldiers.
Once the Soul Returner within the organization have died in battle, he can quickly replenish their ranks by drawing upon the "military slaves."
Isn't this a good way to circumvent the regulations?
Thinking of this, Colin quickly asked:
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Very simple."
[ Ginseng Rooster ] recalled the unspoken rules of surrender he had witnessed in the real world, and then earnestly said:
"You only need to test them yourself."
"You can meet with these Soul Returner one by one and express your intention to recruit them, hoping they will join the Alliance."
"Will this really work?"
Colin was somewhat skeptical, and [ the Ginseng Rooster ]'s answer was also quite unexpected—
"Of course not."
He said with a smile:
"Even the Soul Returner have their pride; they most likely won't agree to what you're saying."
"Then you'll need to slightly increase their treatment and observe their reaction."
"If they say they'll consider it, then it's a success; they just need a little more time to save face."
"If they talk about loyalty to the Empire, then the price isn't high enough, since those Soul Returner truly loyal to the Empire have long since died on the battlefield."
"If they insult everyone they meet and humiliate the Skeleton Alliance, then you might as well just kill them. They're all Performance Artist."
Colin nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this:
"I see..."
"Can demon servants also lose battles?"
A dozen miles away, Alfonso Lange was furious in his tent.
At this moment, he actually felt like he had been deceived by the demon Duma. After all, he had signed the contract and hired servants, but he had lost the first battle!
Even the leader of the group, Elderly and Children Fly First, died on the battlefield, which made him start to doubt the reliability of the group in front of him.
Before him stood three centurions: [ Practice More If You're Bad ], [ Howling Pothos ], and [ Retreat Drum Player ], their faces conveying only embarrassment.
They had already learned the specifics from the offline [ Elderly and Children Fly First ] player. This was clearly a case of the big bullying the small and the many bullying the few, so it was understandable that they lost.
Judging from this, the viscount before them seemed to have some unnecessary expectations of them.
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] stepped forward and suggested:
"My lord, although we are called 'demon servants,' we are actually just humans capable of resurrection."
"Although their combat strength is superior to that of ordinary soldiers, this time the [ Elderly and Children Fly First ] team encountered no ordinary enemy."
"Oh?"
Alfonso's face still held lingering anger, but when he looked over, he actually possessed a certain solemnity befitting a noble officer.
What kind of enemy did they encounter?
How did you know that?
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] quickly explained, using [ Ginseng Rooster ] to find the information he had conspired with beforehand to deceive the Viscount:
"[ The Elderly and Children Fly First ] He sent a message here before he died, and only we, his demon servants of similar strength, can receive it."
He said that when Theocracy Sailesi of the Holy See retreated, he took a large number of his confidants with him. Those priests, known Stained Ones, have now joined the Skeleton Alliance with Sailesi and have been incorporated into the border guards.
"Among the enemies encountered by [ the Elderly and Children Fly First ], there were many such formidable foes. Even so, his cavalry inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy before their deaths, but ultimately they were outnumbered and unable to bring the bodies back."
"Such a thing actually happened?"
Hearing the explanation that " the Practice More If You're Bad," Alfonso, though still somewhat annoyed, found a reasonable explanation, which prevented him from being as indignant as before.
"So, do you have any good ideas about this?"