“No, Young Lord, I’m not doing this!”
Andrew shook his head like a rattle, keeping his distance from the Recruit Training Language Guidance Manual that Alicia had stayed up all night writing.
“This is clearly making me take the blame! What if they mutiny from me scolding them like this?”
“I did borrow a squad to keep order, and I’m not asking you to keep scolding them.”
Andrew’s facial muscles began twitching uncontrollably.
Alicia cleared her throat and began to coax.
“You need to grasp a ‘degree.’
This degree is both a red line and a baseline, even a lifeline! You must avoid not scolding, but also prevent over-scolding! At the right time, for the right individual, using the right method, to achieve the right effect. You need to find a balance between scolding and not scolding! Scolding is a means, not an end! Scolding is a process, not a result! We must, through scolding, scold out unity, scold out combat effectiveness, scold out new changes!”
Andrew’s face was full of an expression that seemed to say, ‘What the hell is this person saying?’
The girl’s endless chatter gave him a headache, making him want to pull out his blade.
“Look at you! This isn’t about taking the blame or not, it’s about whether you dare to take responsibility and whether you can get things done!”
Alicia began to escalate the issue.
“Can’t you show a bit of spirit, gradually deepen your understanding through practical exploration, and constantly improve your practice through deeper understanding?”
Andrew scratched his head for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.
His new lord’s words were full of phrases that sounded impressive and reasonable, but when he thought about it, it seemed like nothing had been said…
‘Maybe this was what a cultured person was like. Otherwise, how could they get promoted so fast?’
“Young Lord, just say it directly. I’m a rough man, I don’t understand this.”
Alicia instantly became deflated.
‘After all that grand escalation, he actually didn’t get it?’
Thus, the girl spread her hands.
“You do this whether you want to or not! If we do well, we get promotions and titles. If we do poorly, everyone packs up and leaves!”
“……Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Andrew gloomily took the manual and said frankly,”Fine, I’ll do it, but I need more pay. How much are you going to increase my salary?”
After being maliciously extorted by Andrew for over a dozen Cuini and forced to give him the title of Centurion, Alicia finally saw the results of the training.
Under Alicia’s coercion with dinner and Andrew’s scolding, a loose and crooked formation finally took shape.
Of course, the fully armed soldiers standing around also played a significant role.
Looking at the two hundred men who had spent a morning getting their messy hair all shorn short, Andrew still felt a bit like backing out, but thinking of the over a dozen Cuini he had just extorted from the young lord, he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, deciding to give it his all!
“I am your drill instructor, Centurion Andrew!”
He wore his specially polished gleaming armor, trying to straighten his back, and strode with considerable authority before the nervous new recruits.
“You may not know what place this is. This is the Elite Drill Formation, abbreviated as EDF! Our mission is to train you into the most elite infantry in the entire empire! I am extremely proud to be a member of the EDF, and I hope you will be too!”
“In the EDF, your task is to obey! You must regard obedience as your duty, obedience as your virtue, obedience as your life!”
“From now on, no matter what you say to me or Chief Instructor Alicia, you must add ‘Sir’ at both the beginning and the end! Do you understand?!”
The response was sparse, clearly the earlier speech and head-shaving had not fully “awakened” these green recruits.
Andrew could only follow the manual’s requirements and curse loudly.
“I can’t hear you! This is crap! Didn’t you eat? Look at you, a bunch of walking corpses, a bunch of uncircumcised weaklings! You are the smelliest, laziest, stupidest, most hopeless pile of garbage ever recruited by House Maximilian! With such a voice, you call yourselves soldiers?!”
Watching the new recruits, stunned by the scolding, straining their voices to yell out, Andrew suddenly felt something awaken inside him.
‘So this was how enjoyable it was to legitimately curse people in various ways?’
With newfound energy and feeling, he worked efficiently!
Now Andrew stood with one hand behind his back, exuding determination and confidence, as he tirelessly poured out all sorts of curses he had memorized from the manual onto the poor souls, and even escalated to “tailored scolding.”
‘Come to think of it, his young lord was really impressive. How did she come up with so many different words? So this is what a cultured person is like?’
…She was just applying what she just learned, and not in the right direction.
General Keleiduosi stood at the edge of the training ground, frowning.
“Alicia, is this your training method? Scolding them and then making them stand still?”
“At present… this is just the initial stage.”
Alicia, feeling less confident under his questioning gaze, her voice weakened.
“This is just part of obedience training. Follow up, I’ve arranged a lot of collective coordination training, such as one person makes a mistake, the whole team is collectively punished, to strengthen their collective awareness and discipline…”
From the field came Andrew’s spirited roar, even carrying a strange excitement.
“Look at this stupid look of yours! I didn’t know dog shit could pile up as tall as you stand!”
“Your father should have shot you on the wall back then! Save me from wasting my time today!”
“Was your mother raising a placenta?! Move! Maggot!”
Every word was clear, every sentence vicious, and carried a strange rhythmic sense.
‘Is Andrew really in the zone? Scolding so happily?’
Alicia’s mouth twitched slightly.
General Keleiduosi’s frown grew deeper.
The disapproval in his eyes almost turned into tangible spikes, stabbing into the girl’s heart.
Alicia decided to take the initiative to change the subject and also seek a professional’s opinion.
She looked up, putting on a serious expression.
“General, setting aside my methods… in your opinion, what kind of soldiers do you most wish to command? What should your ideal army look like?”
“Every archer can shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces, every shot hits. Every swordsman can fight ten men alone with superb martial arts. Every cavalryman can come and go like the wind, crushing enemy formations.”
‘Holy crap, where am I supposed to get such a bunch of superhumans to form an army? Do you think this is a game? Unlock the elite unit Lu Bu and then use cheats to spawn a few thousand?’
She was about to retort against this unrealistic demand, but happened to meet Keleiduosi’s look as if he were looking at an idiot.
‘Hey! You old bastard are playing me, aren’t you!’
“If you can get me a few thousand such demigod soldiers, I can sweep across the entire empire. Can you get them?” Keleiduosi’s face even showed a hint of mockery. “Don’t think too much! Soldiers don’t need powerful swordsmanship or superb techniques. What they need to do is charge forward bravely, retreat steadily, obey orders immediately, and maintain high morale.”
‘I see, immediate compliance…’
The girl seemed to have grasped the key point.
“Alicia, His Highness Leon trusts you greatly. He overrode all objections and gave you, a person with no foundation and even questionable origins, the heavy responsibility of forming the new army. He has shouldered considerable pressure, and there are not just one or two retainers who are dissatisfied with your promotion.”
The old general spoke heavily.
“I support you, not because I trust you, but because I have sworn an oath!”
‘Is this some kind of warning?’
Alicia’s expression turned serious.
“I have sworn to be loyal to His Highness Leon, to respect him, trust him, carry out all his orders, and share honor and disgrace with him. Therefore, I will provide you with the space, personnel, and equipment you need, and even block some unnecessary interference within my authority.”
At this point, the last trace of warmth in the old general’s eyes disappeared, leaving only a cold edge.
“But you remember, Alicia. If you mess this up, if this reform eventually becomes a laughingstock and disgraces His Highness’s reputation…”
His gaze swept over Alicia’s slender neck, that look as if evaluating where it would be best to cut.
“Before His Highness orders your exile, I will personally use your blood to first wash away this disgrace!”
A chill instantly shot from her tailbone to the back of her neck, causing her to shiver violently.
Cold sweat instantly soaked her inner clothes.
‘Holy crap, this guy actually wants to kill me?’
The sounds of Andrew’s scolding and the heavy breathing of the new recruits on the training ground seemed to fade away instantly.
Alicia could only clearly hear her own heart beating like a drum, and the sound of General Keleiduosi’s armor as he left, like a death knell.
‘Fine! My head is on the line anyway, I’ll go all out!’
Alicia gritted her teeth and stomped her foot, then threw herself wholeheartedly into training the soldiers.
During training time, Andrew harshly tormented the new recruits’ minds and bodies.
During rest time, Alicia vigorously brainwashed them, instilling the ideas that His Highness Leon is our helmsman, His Highness Leon is the red sun, everything you have is a gift from His Highness Leon, and His Highness Leon is always right.
She also obtained Leon’s family coat of arms and hung it in the new recruits’ dormitory yard, implementing a “Morning Report” and “Evening Debriefing” for these dumb soldiers.
She also taught them group singalongs, and brainwashing songs glorifying their lord like The Voyage Depends on the Helmsman and Our Lord Prince Leon popped out one after another.
If that wasn’t enough, she brought out the ultimate weapon: Stockholm Syndrome.
When the soldiers were exhausted both physically and mentally, Alicia played the role of a gentle, caring little sister, showing concern for each of their families and loved ones.
“What? Your family is too poor to cook? No problem. You serve well, and I’ll go on behalf of His Highness Leon to give a kind visit, and I’ll even find a job for your family.”
“What? Your little brother was bullied by someone in the village? That won’t do. I’ll immediately send someone to find out who did it and make them apologize!”
“What? Your elderly mother has trouble moving but wants to see you? Leave it to me. I’ll send a carriage to pick her up and bring her to meet you!”
After all this fuss, half a month later, looking at the neat formation of two hundred men marching in unison to Andrew’s commands, Alicia was in tears.
These were tears of excitement!
She had succeeded!
She and Andrew had managed to make these soldiers overcome problems like not knowing left from right, marching out of step, uncoordinated limbs, and not understanding human speech.
After a full half month, they had finally learned immediate compliance!
But besides the excitement, another harsh reality stood before her—she had run out of money!
