Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Viscount Luke of Blue Scale Port

As the two of them were lost in thought, a knock came at the door.

A guard in iron armor entered the room. Robson used the fifth-tier soldiers as his personal guard. Half of the original soldiers—those third-tier and above—had been placed in the new army to serve as junior officers, leaving only half of the elite troops behind. The Frank Shooter contingent, however, remained quite intact.

Now that Robson’s army had grown, the command structure could no longer be as crude as before. To save his own throat, Robson had already begun teaching his officers flag signals.

Even in its current state, his army didn’t meet the standard for an official Frank Kingdom military unit. It had no Priests and no Mage Corps.

Of course, Robson had no intention of embedding Priests into his army until he was powerful enough on his own. For now, the role of a Priest was filled by an adjutant. Besides, morale was high enough, and his men were guaranteed three square meals a day.

’When no one has any particular needs, the Lord of Dawn can go take a hike for all I care.’

"Sir, there’s a report of a convoy to our rear. It’s said to be from a noble from Blue Scale Port, here to deliver supplies," the guard reported.

Since Robson had no Civil Servants, these jobs had to be handled by his guards.

Fortunately, the upgrades from his system panel were all-encompassing. As the soldiers’ physical attributes and experience improved, their minds sharpened as well. These fifth-tier guards were already capable enough to handle simple, minor tasks.

"Blue Scale Port? Since when did the logistics department get so efficient?" Viscount Fuman asked in surprise.

’A convoy... Blue Scale Port...’ There was no doubt; this had to be the supply delivery.

Due to the Frank Kingdom’s aggressive militarism, the logistics department was in a constant state of shortage. Usually, you wouldn’t hear a peep from them unless you specifically requested something, and even then, a response didn’t guarantee supplies were coming.

"The Count must have arranged it. The timing is about right," Robson said.

Before departing, Robson had asked Valentino for a significant amount of supplies. This was the very reason he was now confident he could keep his soldiers well-fed.

Robson didn’t expect Valentino to arm a thousand men for him in one go—that would be unrealistic. He just hoped Valentino would come through enough that he wouldn’t have to lower his soldiers’ standard of living.

After all, the training regimen Robson had established was extremely physically demanding. It incorporated a great deal of knowledge from his past life, and he was particularly strict about forced marches.

In addition, Robson had also passed down a simplified version of the Eight Knightly Techniques. ’The probability is low, but what if someone actually becomes Extraordinary with this stuff?’

The foundation for all this was proper nutrition. Otherwise, not only would the training be useless, it might even end up crippling the men.

"Let’s go take a look."

Robson stood up, with Viscount Fuman following close behind.

...

When they reached the fortress gate, they found two groups of people arguing.

Robson took one look. ’Well, I’ll be. Familiar faces.’

It was Baron Dodger and Viscount Luke.

’Viscount Luke works at Blue Scale Port?’

Robson’s mind started turning. Viscount Luke was backed by the Gutierrez family, whose resource network was undeniably immense.

’If I can successfully connect with Viscount Luke, not only will it be easier to earn supplies by training troops in the future, but even disposing of regular spoils of war will become much more convenient.’

’Taking it a step further, once the war is over, I’ll inevitably have to deal with these merchants to develop my fiefdom.’

After all, things weren’t as simple as they used to be. Robson now had far more factors to consider.

"Why won’t you let me into the city? I am here on a mission from the Earl! And Sir Robson is a friend of mine!" Viscount Luke said furiously.

’This is the first time I’ve ever encountered something so bizarre.’ As a logistics officer from Ausine City, Viscount Luke was an honored guest wherever he went. He never expected to be stopped and denied entry here.

’This inflexible fool before me keeps demanding a passage order from the rear.’

’What a joke! If I had followed official procedures, would Qimo Fortress be getting this many supplies?’

’If Count Valentino hadn’t strictly required the consignee to be Robson, whom I’ve at least met before, I’d turn around and leave this instant.’

"My apologies, Lord Viscount, but Sir Robson’s orders were explicit. We can’t afford any mistakes right now... He should be here shortly. Would you mind waiting just a moment?" Baron Dodger said, clearly troubled.

When it came to who had been the most terrified recently, if Baron Dodger wasn’t at the top of the list, he was certainly near it.

He’d had a taste of what it was like to have a brush with death, and as a result, he now carried out Robson’s orders to the letter.

And today, it just so happened to be Baron Dodger’s turn on duty.

In fact, it wasn’t just him. All the nobles in Qimo Fortress, whether out of fear of his might or gratitude for his mercy, now treated Robson’s orders as gospel.

Many of the nobles’ soldiers, having been deemed unqualified, were directly reassigned by Robson as auxiliary troops, responsible for tasks like repairing the fortress walls.

With such an arrangement, they would certainly be last in line when merits and honors were discussed later.

But no one complained. For one, compared to Robson’s troops, their own men who could barely hold their swords steady were truly not fit for the front lines. For another, Robson’s prestige in Qimo Fortress was at its zenith; he held their favors in one hand and a list of their corruption in the other.

"Viscount Luke, it’s you! I didn’t expect the Earl to send you over," Robson said, putting on a look of pleasant surprise.

"I didn’t expect this either. But in the blink of an eye, Sir, you’ve achieved great things again and are now a Commander-in-Chief," Viscount Luke remarked with a sigh.

Such a thing was truly rare. The Frank Kingdom was one of the major human nations with relatively high social mobility, but even so, most people climbed the ladder one step at a time.

A meteoric rise like Robson’s was not unheard of, but it was exceptionally rare.

"This is Viscount Luke. He’s here to help us through these difficult times," Robson said to Baron Dodger with a smile.

"Lord Viscount, my apologies. I was out of line earlier," Baron Dodger said with a bow. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Think nothing of it. We are all serving to protect His Majesty the King. This just proves Sir Robson’s discipline is effective," Viscount Luke said with a laugh.

He had no reason to be angry with a mere Baron. Besides, Robson’s words had clearly been meant to defend the man’s actions.

"Then I shall..." Baron Dodger looked to Robson.

"Well done. You were very diligent in your duties. You may return to your post. Viscount Luke and I have important matters to discuss," Robson said.

"Yes, my lord."

...

Once inside Qimo Fortress, Robson quickly handled the handover of the supplies sent by the Count.

Unfortunately, Valentino had calculated the amount based on a regular army’s consumption, so the provisions would only last Robson’s troops for a week.

There were only a few thousand arrows, all of them ordinary shafts that hadn’t been magically treated. They were hardly fit for heavy use; against races with any decent defense, they would struggle to even pierce armor.

There was only enough leather armor to equip a few hundred men. Even when combined with the existing stock in the warehouse, Robson could barely arm about 500 soldiers, and that was without even considering allocations for the other nobles or his own army’s rate of attrition.