Ch.212Maintaining Public Order (2)

Naturally, the powerful figures of this world absolutely despise the formation of any armed groups or military forces within their sphere of influence that aren’t under their direct leadership.

Even with the most generous interpretation, these groups are mostly potential rebels, and in reality, such formations often turn out to be nothing more than bands of thieves—a rather common occurrence.

Of course, considering the nature of the feudal system, it’s unavoidable that subordinate lords command armed forces, and with the existence of mercenaries and adventurers in the world, strictly regulating this is hardly an easy task.

Well, even with the right to bear arms, one can’t help but be mindful of superiors’ reactions, so generally people tend to turn a blind eye and play dumb, as they say.

To be frank, influential families and major landowners maintain private soldiers under the guise of servants, while there are plenty of so-called mercenaries who, for some reason, happen to be employed for life.

While there may be no legal grounds for regulation, openly organizing a military group in a lord’s territory that isn’t under their command is… frankly equivalent to proudly declaring oneself a potential traitor.

After all, if a lord wielding absolute power decides to eliminate someone, there are countless ways to purge them without needing to fabricate justification or handle the matter directly.

And this applies almost equally to knights under a lord’s command.

Knights who own personal manors, whether granted or purchased, are generally permitted to conscript soldiers from their own lands, but the real issue arises when they recruit and train their own “soldiers” from their lord’s territory.

Even if those soldiers are free men, the situation remains the same. Bluntly put, it’s a case of recruiting someone else’s subjects as soldiers rather than one’s own subordinates—what lord in their right mind would allow such a thing?

And this applies to me as well. In about five years, this land will become my personal manor and be inherited, but until then, it nominally belongs to my father, so I feel hesitant to openly recruit and train my own soldiers.

…A grown heir is often the political rival of an aging ruler. Conflicts between children eager to begin their reign early and their ruling parents are not uncommon.

However, I fortunately have a perfect pretext.

Squires. Originally starting as apprentice knights who served knights, they have now evolved into something closer to a knight’s “subordinates” or private soldiers—a special military class.

Private soldiers under the guise of squires are tacitly accepted in territories, and my father previously advised me to maintain private soldiers in the form of squires, so choosing this option would eliminate my concerns.

However, I’ve had some personal reservations about this until now….

“…Sigh.”

Though I have mixed feelings about the position of squire due to personal reasons, given the situation, what choice do I have but to humbly accept it?

I can’t allow my personal feelings to cause problems in governing the village, so I’ve decided to use the pretext of squires to develop a guard force that will also serve as my personal soldiers.

Fortunately, there are a few positive aspects, primarily that the basic foundation for developing a guard force is already in place.

The village has been providing basic militia training to volunteers from the beginning, resulting in abundant human resources, and there are seven retired adventurers who diligently maintain public order and can serve as potential mid-level commanders.

Additionally, there are 24 half-werewolves who are essentially private soldiers, so I naturally began contemplating how to reorganize the existing personnel.

※ ※ ※

“Hmm….”

After much deliberation, my first conclusion concerns the half-werewolves under my command.

They primarily learn archery and work as hunters, sometimes bringing wild wolves from the forest to tame, and they’ve also firmly established themselves in the village’s transportation business.

When resources produced at various production sites need to be transported by cart during dangerous external activities, the werewolves serve as the coachmen.

In short… it seems best to leave them as they are rather than reassigning them elsewhere.

It would be foolish to send werewolves, who are specialized in special operations and guerrilla activities, to the front lines. If anything needs to be done, perhaps teaching them mounted… horseback archery would be appropriate.

Especially since the wild wolves they’ve tamed are mostly direwolves or wargs capable of being ridden, even if mounted archery might be too much, at least riding skills should be taught.

Having settled the werewolves’ roles, I turned my attention to regular infantry, but….

“…But do we actually need them?”

Upon reflection, there doesn’t seem to be an immediate need for infantry.

Frankly speaking, I currently have six mid-tier beings under my direct command, one of whom is a magic user and two are chimeras—powerful magical beasts.

In strategic terms, this is equivalent to about 6,000 soldiers, and that’s even excluding myself and Gus, the village’s greatest military assets.

Therefore, the role of the squire unit I’m planning to form will likely focus on maintaining public order.

Elite infantry would honestly be a luxury in a village like this, and if infantry is needed, conscription would suffice.

Particularly since our village militia has undergone consistent training and has at least mastered crossbow shooting.

The crossbows I created using “Goblin Craftsmanship” and improved by the dwarf resident Magni are exceptionally easy to handle, allowing everyone to be treated as soldiers.

However, they’ve only received shooting training, specifically for defensive battles from atop walls. To properly utilize their capabilities, proper forces to control them are essential.

“Seventy is too many… how about thirty-five?”

My decision is to assign four direct subordinates to each retired adventurer, who will serve in roles similar to non-commissioned officers.

Ideally, assigning nine people per person to create seven ten-person units would be better, but considering the village’s financial situation, 70 regular soldiers seems excessive.

I’ve heard somewhere that it takes about 11-12 people to support one soldier, so given the current situation, 35 people should be suitable as “regular forces” for guard duty, security, and clearing nearby threats.

Of course, they would nominally be classified as my squires and would follow the orders of Pierre, who will be appointed as the overall commander.

After establishing this new organization of seven five-person squads, there isn’t much else to worry about.

For equipment, we can simply use what we’ve captured from humans who have attacked the village.

Giving them quilted-chain-partial plate armor should be sufficient to defend against most attacks, and equipping them with halberds and fixed shields would ensure adequate defensive capability.

For secondary weapons, they can choose whatever they prefer. If necessary, we could provide primitive grenades made from the gunpowder in storage or magical throwing weapons.

If they want to spend their own money on custom weapons after receiving standard equipment, that would be commendable.

As for other military branches, there isn’t really a need.

The village’s artillery, ballistas (crossbow cannons), are simple enough in principle that the militia can handle them without issue, and special forces like magical units can mostly be resolved with a single “mid-tier” being.

Additionally, we have three golem armors—one for my exclusive use, one for magic users, and one for general purposes—and cavalry forces, which remain effective despite the emergence of firearms, aren’t particularly meaningful here.

I can ride Gus, who has become a pegasus, and Corin can ride one of the chimeras residing in the village.

The village’s financial state doesn’t allow for maintaining expensive cavalry forces, and there’s no need to recruit cavalry when we’re not planning to wage full-scale war….

…No, I shouldn’t get carried away by strange hunches. I should focus on what needs to be done now.

Anyway, after organizing my thoughts, I jotted down my ideas on a document and passed it to the administrative staff, who refined the content before submitting it for final approval.

Thus, as the announcement recruiting village guards was published:

“What? I’m to be the commander?”

“That’s right. I’m counting on you, Commander Pierre.”

Having achieved an unexpected promotion, Pierre could only stare at me blankly in astonishment.