When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

As November arrived, the entire Thousand River Valley became increasingly cold.

As for Red Maple Village, where Joan of Arc Castle is located, a few days ago, when people stood atop the main tower of the castle looking north, they could already see the red maple leaves turning into a sea of color.

Now, beneath the gray sky, only black crows glided between the barren branches, and frost covered the fields.

Winter was drawing nearer, the weather growing colder.

Such a cold autumn would have surely frozen many to death twenty years ago.

But now, with the emergence of Grace Department Store and Grace Market, along with the Holy Alliance’s monopoly on coal,

coal prices in markets everywhere have only risen slightly. Even the poorest can afford a little for warmth.

Sometimes, monks would even come to deliver warmth — truly offering warmth by giving coal to relatively poor farmers or disabled persons.

In recent years, although it’s still present in outer counties, within the inner counties of the Thousand River Valley, it’s rare to see people frozen to death.

Excluding, of course, drunkards who drank too much and froze to death on the streets.

For some reason, this late autumn was especially cold.

Compared to the ever-changing weather of Horn’s original world, in this world, possibly due to magic or giant dragon settings, the climate has always been stable.

Just historically, whenever there was a climate anomaly, it was basically predictable that something big was about to happen.

Like a vampire invasion.

In the outskirts of Joan of Arc Castle, the greenery was frosted, the air and sunlight carrying a hint of yellow-brown, as if the sun was waxed to stay warm.

Yet such a cold autumn did nothing to dampen the fervor outside the new recruits’ camp of Joan of Arc Castle.

Defensive Army soldiers from surrounding towns arrived either by boat, horse-drawn train, or carriage.

They gathered at the gate of the new recruits’ camp, chatting excitedly.

Among them, McDoyle eagerly watched the new recruits’ camp beyond the iron gate.

Many of them had been here before, but it was the first visit for those from relatively remote Defensive Army posts.

"Stand quietly and await inspection!" The captains of the Defensive Army shouted, trying to restrain the soldiers.

Unfortunately, they were too excited, and the efforts were not entirely futile but rather ineffective.

Chattering and clamoring, they drew a frown from the chief instructor inside the camp.

"Old Ke Ruxiu, the quality of these new recruits isn’t great, weren’t they supposed to have trained?"

Ke Ruxiu gripped the Piety Infusion Rod tightly: "Actually, their foundation is decent, just lacking discipline."

Ke Ruxiu wasn’t boasting, these Defensive Army recruits were not short, their breathing technique level was not low, mostly not under 165 cm tall.

Despite the noise, their morale was high, and amid the chaos, there was order, with no fighting incidents.

"Trainable?"

"Trainable," Ke Ruxiu tapped the Piety Infusion Rod, made from Slime adhesive, in his palm twice, "No matter how unruly they are, in my camp, they’ll leave as first-rate soldiers."

Hearing the chief instructor’s words, several officers who knew him stood up straight.

Many of them had been trained by Ke Ruxiu, naturally aware of the veteran instructor’s methods and strength.

Ke Ruxiu seemed to exude an aura; as he stepped out of the iron gate, the soldiers stopped talking.

They clamped their mouths shut, stood at attention, waiting for the chief instructor’s approach.

"Who is that?" McDoyle curiously asked a fellow townsman; he was an immigrant from Horn Town, not having seen the instructor before.

"Shut up, and stand quietly."

"From the building over there, I could hear your clamor," Ke Ruxiu tapped the iron gate with the Piety Infusion Rod, "Among the recruits I’ve trained, you’re the worst!"

Several new recruits wanted to retort but were held back by their captains.

"I know back in your towns, you’re used to being domineering, right? Hunting wolves, capturing bandits, expelling beastman thieves..."

Hands behind his back, Ke Ruxiu walked from one end of the crowd to the other.

"But here, I don’t care if you’re a role model or what accolades you have, you have to train diligently with me.

This isn’t your village or town; where you’re headed is the battlefield of life and death.

Your tricks are only good for bullying beastmen and thieves!

While you’re here, for these three months, you’re new recruits; whatever I say goes, understand?"

"Understand." A loud yet scattered response arose.

"Understand?!"

"Understand!" This time, the soldiers responded in unison.

With a cold snort, Ke Ruxiu clasped his hands behind him and walked back to the gate: "Line up facing the gate!"

With a clang, the iron gate closed, leaving the newly arrived Defensive Army soldiers to stand against the cold wind.

Compared to the recruits who couldn’t stand straight during the training period on Autumn Dusk Island, these new recruits clearly have superior endurance and posture.

After all, they have undergone basic training; the difference lies only in their levels.

Charlie, who previously had a secret meeting with Horn in Xia Lvcheng, was concerned about whether the Holy Alliance could gather soldiers before spring.

Actually, for the three major kingdoms of the empire and the Holy Alliance, finding enough soldiers to replenish the army has never been a big issue.

King Leia would ask, what is a soldier?

King Norn would ask, what is manpower?

For Leia, soldiers and farmers are one entity; if there are no soldiers, just conscript from the hundreds of thousands of Armed Farmers.

For Norn, whether Armed Farmers or Public Register Farmers, it’s just about going out and grabbing people from the village.

For the Falan Kingdom, replacing lost soldiers is actually not difficult.

Falan is wealthy, maintaining a Standing Army of 120,000 (with a ghost payroll rate of 10% to 20%).

Because the Falan Legion is essentially state-employed mercenaries, with slightly higher pay and just an additional pension.

So whenever there is a shortage in the Legion, it can recruit directly from the mercenaries.

Yet, all three face a significant problem.

It’s the training degree leading to a sharp decline in combat power, especially with the recent increase in war intensity demanding higher professionalism from soldiers.

Not to mention Leia’s Armed Farmers or Norn’s forceful conscriptions, both have a huge problem.

Soldiers need about a year of training before going to the battlefield; otherwise, they’re just sent to their deaths.

Especially those elite sergeants and junior officers; once dead, it may take five to six years to train a replacement.

After the recent wars, Falan’s total legion has declined to around 90,000.

Of course, these 30,000 did not all die in battle; there are injuries, desertions, voluntary retirements, with battle and disease deaths estimated around 10,000.

For the Holy Alliance, recruitment is indeed not difficult, and they just need about three months before deploying in battle.

This isn’t because Horn has mastered some time magic, but because the Holy Alliance’s Exorcism Court, under the guidance of the great Saint’s Grandson, has developed a national reserve and military academy system.

The national reserve has two parts: retired volunteer soldiers and the Defensive Army.

The former is the part that would return to battle with a simple drill, seamlessly integrating into the battlefield.

They will support the sergeant formations of the new battalion, ensuring the army has basic squad-level combat power.

The latter is scattered across various places, recruited by the local Captain of the Church Protection Army as militia reserves.

Normally responsible for capturing bandits and thieves, maintaining security, during wartime they transport supplies or guard cities.

They also have to undergo training in the recruit camp, but considering costs, most train locally.

Moreover, every winter during the slack farming season, they undergo two to three weeks of collective training.

In contrast to Falan’s direct mercenary recruitment, these recruits, despite different backgrounds, receive a unified system.

In other words, they’ve completed basic training and basic formation, ready to go to battle.

The only thing lacking is learning commands, complex formation changes, and anti-impact training.

Originally, this part needed long-term training, but fortunately the Holy Alliance has a mature military academy system.

Unlike Falan, in the Falan Legion, a person’s background determines their limits within the army.

But the Holy Alliance not only has a system to promote sergeants to officers, but also numerous secondary schools providing a wealth of officer and civil official reserves.

These officers are usually stationed in the military camps within the battalions’ territory, with dedicated officer squads, and their salary is almost no different from the regular soldiers.

But once the Holy Alliance expands the military, they can immediately transform into Captain Bai, Corps Commander, deputy officer, artillery captain, staff officer, and so on...

With elite sergeants and abundant junior officers, in just three months they can complete intensive training.

Two months of training, one month of battalion integration, and by the fourth month, they can set out.

Before that, the most important thing is to curb the wildness of these Defensive Army troops and teach them discipline and resilience.

Standing from morning till noon, in the cold wind many people had runny noses, but no one dared to wipe them.

Waiting, waiting until lunchtime was over with stomachs growling collectively, then the iron door opened again.

"Ah, not bad, not a single person moved, at ease."

Hearing Ke Ruxiu’s cheerful words, McDowell let out a sigh of relief, finally able to move his limbs.

"Well done, we’re giving you an extra meal for lunch, the kitchen is already stewing meat."

A low cheer arose among the recruits, but before it stopped, Ke Ruxiu said with a smile: "However, it’ll take at least another hour for the meat to stew, so how about..."

"Everyone, carry your luggage, run around the recruit camp."

The crowd went silent for a moment, eventually a Captain of the Church Protection Army raised his hand, "Instructor Ke Ruxiu, how long are we running?"

"Until I say stop."