Chapter 19: Rounding Knights
"The prince has changed," Carter muttered.
Unlike Barov who had many thoughts on the matter, Carter only felt the Lord he served gradually become someone worthy of respect. The prince now didn't lack ambition, care for his people, and although strange at first glance, many of his decisions had led to a pretty good result one after another.
He still remembered his disappointment when facing Roland for the first time. Not just him, everyone showed disdain and ridicules toward the fourth prince every action at every opportunity.
When did everything start to change? Did anything ever change? The eccentric prince remained eccentric, Carter realised perhaps he never saw the prince properly for what he was.
Revolting against the church law that was adopted by the Kingdom itself to save a witch fresh from murdering someone with fearsome power was nothing short but a death wish. He might think so back then and still was for the first week, but now his opinion had changed, greatly. After all, what was the result?
Not only Roland was unharmed, but it was also clear that he had gained her trust. Be it sincere or deceitful from his part, the fact it ended up with him roping her to his side, and it was a beautifully done one. Miss Anna was not only a witch that had a good personality, but a lot of contributions like the creation of a novel product called cement was also apparently only possible due to her ability that was better than ordinary furnaces.
Though, he hoped for the prince to stop, or at least slowing down on being reckless. Openly saying the Duke would try to fight them and listing reasons why he would be already a scary prospect, but preparing to face him head-on was clearly something on the realm of madness. It was not like the tall wall he made would be able to stop the Duke, since it was located in the opposite direction.
It would be sad but somewhat acceptable if the prince didn't know the disparity between them. But since he knew it would be a very difficult battle, why would he still wished to fight? While Carter wondered about this, he who believed himself as a proud knight didn't intend to run.
The chief knight was quick on his feet. Receiving order, he didn't delay and immediately went to gather his subordinate knights. Regarding the matter of fully financing the multiple projects earlier, in reality, the money never stopped pouring in the first place. But a particular project he was elected to supervise required less money and instead needed more food. This was something Carter could only truly started when the granary finally filled to the brim.
It didn't take long for his subordinates to be ready in front of Carter. This kind of gathering was something that had increased in frequency as of late. Thanks to Prince Roland various demands, despite living in a small town where nothing much could happen, they had become somewhat used to it. Not to mention, they were appointed as a knight not for nothing. Following order was just a part of the basics.
Still, thinking back the content of the new project Carter wondered that perhaps it was only the beginning.
"What do you need us for captain?" A young knight asked with a smile.
Not just him, the majority of the knights were all smile after knowing their hard work in gathering sellable goods ended up with great success. There was a rumour floating around that the prince had the intention to give bonuses to those involved, and although it was nothing but a rumour, they still can't help to feel elated.
Seeing a lot of them knights having silly smiles on, Carter smirked inwardly. Being their leader for so long, he knew well what's on his subordinates mind.
They might be unwilling to do tasks outside their usual job description, but it was not like they were stationed in Border Town just to be idle until something came up. For them fulfilling their Lord order was only natural if they still wanted their salary not to be deducted in the first place.
The looks they had now were not suitable for a group of dignified knights but rather similar to some employees of a wealthy merchant excited from the prospect of commission. Although Carter didn't personally joined them in their expedition and can't connect well with what they were thinking, the knights didn't exactly have a low salary so for them to be like this gave many different kinds of embarrassment to Carter.
At any rate, considering what he knew about the prince, His Highness indeed might reward them if they did an excellent job. But, if it was just from doing a task that even commoners could do then, it was nothing but wishful thinking on their part. At most, they would be treated to a sumptuous supper considering the enormous cargos that came.
A bucket of cold water was in order.
"Project M is officially starting," Carter said bluntly. "From now."
"Project M!" An elderly knight expression turned serious.
"What!?" The young knight face instantly turned sour from hearing that, he gave a sigh and mumbled, "This kind of project is a bit..."
While a secret to many, their group already heard about it. The reason for the intentional leak was for them to prepare ahead of time. But besides keeping tight lips, nobody really cared about it since they thought it was just a bad joke.
"It's final." The chief knight said firmly to make his subordinates understood he was not playing around.
"This... If I understand it right, this project is about the upcoming demonic beasts?" A chubby knight scratched his cheek and said awkwardly, "Even with one year, I doubt we could whip them into shape though."
A burly knight furrowed his brows after hearing that. "Indeed, how can we teach civilians to fight that fast?"
Carter nodded. It was also his first worry that he asked the prince when he heard the content of the project.
Project M was short for project militia.
The concept of making commoners took arms was nothing new, but it was never advisable. It was not like every people that in military needed to be as capable as a knight, but even a typical guard still required to have some basics training, much less proper infantry. That was why the militia was usually something thought as a last-ditch effort.
There were also a lot more reasons to see the project as something foolish. The people living in the Border Town was not exactly well-fed, many of them had skinny bodies and bore illnesses. If they wanted to make it work, they needed to start from there. Naturally, there were going a lot to be invest.
Talking about food, Carter remembered the prince's sly smile when he talked about the project earlier. It was clear the two full cargos worth of food were completely unexpected even to the prince, but clearly, he was feeling good that it actually surpassed his expectation.
A tall and slender knight shook his head and said, "Actually it was not impossible. We're not expecting them to be a proper infantry, just a level of acceptable town guards would do."
The chubby knight grimaced, "Even so..."
"The prince gave the knights that took this seriously and participated as instructor an additional 10 silver per month until the next spring." Carter interrupted.
"10 silver? Just that?" The young knight tilted his head in disbelief, "Did you misheard gold for silver captain?"
Carter closed his eyes and raised his head, not knowing what to say.
Ten silvers a month, it might mean a lot for commoners but they were knights. Some people in the inner court might dismiss them saying they were just a class of lower nobility and didn't amount much, but no matter how minor, they did have some wealth — especially those from a family that had created many knights like the young knight's. Though technically lower in status than a Baron, as an example their authority exceeded a lot of them.
For Carter that managed to be their superior, similarly, he had plenty of reasons to not think much for only that sum of money.
Of course, not everyone present thought money started being money starting from gold royal. Some felt pretty good about the deal, especially those that wasn't in disagreement in the first place. There was a difference between spending ten silver royals in King's city and a small town like Border Town. With the latter, they naturally could do much more.
Carter didn't try to dwell on the matter either. No matter what, it was not like he would allow some of them not doing work just because they didn't like it. Participants were mandatory. If he really had to suffer, the least he could do as a responsible superior was wanting them to share his burden.
And, he had enough of the light-hearted conversation.
"Listen well."
Carter expression turned dark. In reality, being instructors might be important, but they were far from the hardest part.
"Before this project M start, I want you all to split into two teams. I will personally lead one of them."
Noticing the grave atmosphere, the knights straightened their back. They were not pretty flowers in the garden, even the young knight had trained for at least a decade and went through various educations and trials.
A group as chatty as bored housewives had reverted back to what they were best. Being threatening.
Carter gave a nod of approval before he turned to look at the town direction, his low and deep voice soon echoed out.
"We need to do some rat extermination first."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone