The Marquis’ Eldest Son’s Lascivious Story

[By the way, are the soldiers doing well?]

The Nambonan soldiers were disbanded after the signing ceremony. Since I had them work hard during Operation Snake's Jaw, I decided to give them a break to refresh as a reward. I also wanted to check on their current status after returning to their hometowns.

[They seem to be in high spirits.]

Crossing through the corrupted land, entering enemy territory, and defeating the main force of Spierzeig's army head-on, they also helped capture Othelloria City and brou ght peace back to their hometown of Nambonan...The citizens were simply delighted with this spectacular victory, military achievement, and highly praised the Nambonan soldiers who worked hard for this..

It is said that influential people in the city competed to hold victory parties and welcome the "Heroes of the City". Every day was basically all-you-can-drink and all-you-ca n-eat.

[I hope they didn't go too far out of the way...]

Even though they accomplished great military feats, it would be troublesome if they got too carried away and caused unnecessary problems. While I was thinking that, Ram on continued, assuring me to not worry.

[Most of them seem to be spending their days maintaining discipline. They are probably preparing for the day the Mayor returns.]

[Oho, I guess the reconvening speech I gave them worked.]

The soldiers have been disbanded, but this is only temporary. The Nambonan army will be reorganized in the near future.

During reorganization, the policy is to approach them and encourage them to join the military, but not all of them will be promoted directly. The plan is to set one condition f or the examination: dignity. In short, I told them that anyone who misbehaved and caused trouble after the disbandment would be fired upon joining the military

[Yes. There have already been rumors.]

Ramon laughed lightly. Is it only natural that I was the one who secretly ordered the city officials to spread the word about the dignity requirements throughout the city? Even though you were praised as a local hero, it would be a shame if you were rejected at the next reconvening after being told, "You're not needed because you've misbe haved". Well, maybe it would be better if you could get away with just the shame. People around you will turn around and criticize you. It’s a local embarrassment.

[Is it because of the next mission that you are planning to reconvene early?]

[Yeah. As I’m sure you already know, I’ll be entering Othelloria City soon. I'd like to bring as many trustworthy soldiers as possible there... but unfortunately, the engineer so Idiers are busy.]

Speaking of the elite troops of the Quordenze army, they are the engineer soldiers. Because they are employed permanently, regardless of peacetime or war, they are highl y trained and can be expected to be fairly loyal compared to regular soldiers.

However, the engineer soldiers were also a group of professionals in civil engineering and construction. They have a lot of tasks to do in the future, such as strengthening t he defense of Weldburg City and improving the old Amelia public road. It can be said that no matter how much help they have, it won’t be enough.

[That's why we need Nambonan soldiers.]

My father and the knights think that since I am entering Othelloria City, I need high-quality soldiers just in case.

Well, I think that opinion is completely natural. Even though it was annexed to the Quordenze territory, Othelloria City has been the home of the Spierzeig family for about 350 years since its founding. In the worst case scenario, there could be 11,000, or even 11,000 lives in danger if you do something wrong. I don't want to take soldiers with I ow morale to such a place.

[We are truly happy to have been given the confidence of the Mayor.]

Ramon's voice was a little loud. My words implied that Nambonan soldiers are as reliable as engineer soldiers, and he’s happy to hear that.

[Well, you all work hard to earn it.]

Yes, this is not just my evaluation. Before and after Operation Jaw, the evaluation of Nambonan City by those involved in Quordence has increased rapidly. ṟä𐌽ＯBЕṢ

Basically, people on the master's side, such as nobles and knights, do not have expectations for the abilities of individual commoner serfs. However, on the other hand, I do believe in things like regional characteristics. People in that area are stingy, or that city has a lot of brains, or that area is full of gutless people. In Japan, it’s like prefectural characteristics, but in the current Eruo continent, which is closed and has far less human interaction than on Earth, regional characteristics are a factor that can't be ignore d.

By the way, to be honest, the Quordenze family's impression of Nambonan City up until now was not very good. From a ruler's point of view, the city has a slightly troubles ome temperament, such as going against the nobility in pursuit of autonomy without being aware of their position as commoners, and when they start something new, they have no problem breaking old customs and rushing forward. It can be said that they had many calling them "rebellious and bad-tempered" and "people who live only by the ir rhythm and momentum".

However, this time, in the battle with Kindlor Spierzeig, the Nambonan soldiers stood firm without being intimidated by his Highlord level threats and showed the will to mov e forward. This was too shocking for those who were familiar with the battle of Highlords. This was praised as a unique temperament that set them apart from ordinary civili ans.

For this reason, those involved in Quordenze have come to believe that Nambonan City has a regional character that "has a unique spirit". By the way, this is an addition, no t a change. Their reputation as "people who live only by their rhythm and momentum" still remains today.

[Will you also take troops from the city garrison when you enter Othelloria?]

Nambonan soldiers can be divided into the reconvening group and the remaining group.

To put it simply, the reconvening group is the people who participated in Operation Jaw. They happened to be staying in Newnelly City when that battle started, so they we re led by me to attack Spierzeig territory.

On the other hand, the remaining groups were those who remained in Nambonan City. Rather, the basic style of Nambonan soldiers is to be stationed as a garrison in Namb onan City, so this can be said to be a normal Nambonan soldier.

[That's my intention, but do you have any concerns?]

Presented with this question, Ramon replied that he’s not worried, but relieved instead.

[All the soldiers in the garrison were enthusiastic about the next departure. If they could stand by the Mayor's side, I think their morale would be even higher than they are n ow.]

Most of the Nambonan soldiers participated in Operation Fang, but only some participated in Operation Jaw. Although the remaining members are happy with the success o f their comrades, they also regret not being able to fight alongside them. They seemed to be enthusiastic, thinking, "Next time, we’ll show off our Nambonan pride!". No, the battle is already over.

[...Well, it might be convenient to have a high level of enthusiasm.]

It’s not like we have any plans to invade any territory, but it's not a bad idea considering the measures that will start with the Quordenze army.

[This is a new unit that will be created by reorganizing the Nambonan Army, but we are going to do things a little differently than before. They will not be conscripted, but w ill be full-time employees. We will train military personnel as a profession.]

The armies of nobles and knights are basically made up of conscripts. The citizens of the territory who were forced to serve in the military were working reluctantly.

By the way, this type of conscription hardly earns any decent wages. They are only guaranteed the bare minimum of food, clothing, and shelter, are given one night's drink allowance on rare occasions, and are recognized at the end of their term as saying, "You have fulfilled your duties as a citizen".

Therefore, apart from those related to the knight family, the only people in the Quordenze army that can be called professional soldiers are the engineers. These days, Nam bonan soldiers are like half-volunteers, and I used them as I pleased, but to be more precise, they could be classified as conscripted soldiers.

[Does that mean that Nambonan soldiers will be turned into engineer soldiers?]

[No, I'll make them soldiers who specialize in combat. When I need more help, I might have them work on civil engineering and construction, but they’ll just be helping out.]

[I understand. I see that you are adopting a system similar to the standing army that has become popular in the south in recent years.]

There are also travelers who come to Nambonan City from the southern part of the continent. It seems that there are quite a few people among them who have experience as mercenaries, and they also have the opportunity to obtain various information about the military system adopted by the independent aristocratic houses of the Free Citie s. Ramon said that although he did not know the details of how the unit was operated, he had heard the general structure several times.

[The scale is different in the south and in Quordenze. I think it would be possible to permanently employ all the soldiers in the unit, but...]

The standing army system that is spreading in the southern part of the continent is not unified, and there are differences between each noble house. And as far as I've rese arched, there aren't any places where all soldiers in a unit are professional soldiers. I think it’s because their economic base is so poor that they can't keep a large number o f soldiers. It is said that the unit is constructed and operated by a mix of a small number of regularly employed, highly trained commoners and a large number of less skilled commoners recruited through conscription.

However, the Quordenze family's financial situation is completely different. It’s possible to make the new unit entirely out of professional soldiers. Though that's not someth ing I'd plan to do.

[No way, I couldn't make it such a big deal from the beginning. In the first place, we don’t even know if the mechanism of a standing army would work well in Quordenze. Fi rst, I would like to see how things go by replacing some of the soldiers with permanently employed soldiers, like in the south. I think it would be a good idea to develop a sy stem that suits my family style.]

Ramon seemed to agree with this idea of starting small, and was nodding in agreement.

For now, we plan to recruit all Nambonan soldiers, but we also plan to recruit soldiers within Quordenze territory. However, considering the ratio, I think Nambonan soldiers will make up the majority of the new unit.

There is a saying that if you mix with vermilion, you will turn red, but if the high level of consciousness of the Nambonan soldiers raises the morale of the newly hired soldie rs, nothing would be better. I hope that they will be the driving force behind getting both the new unit and the new system on track.

[...By the way, why did the Mayor dare to refer to the southern system?]

He added that he doesn't understand why I looked into a new system, even though it might fail.

[I’m expected to move around a lot in the future. The lineup of soldiers will change regularly if we're moving along the way. In that case, it would be more efficient to hire th em officially.]

By annexing the Spierzeig territory, the Quordenze territory expanded to a considerable size. In order to carry out this type of governance, it is essential to have soldiers lik e engineer soldiers that can be deployed at a moment's notice and who can communicate to some extent. Especially right now, right after the annexation, there were so ma ny targets to be wary of that it was worth hiring soldiers, even if it was a bit of a stretch. This awareness is shared not only by me but also by my father and the knights.

[As for hired soldiers, the engineer soldiers have a proven track record...]

Ramon's point is not wrong. Almost everyone involved in Quordenze recommended turning Nambonan soldiers into engineer soldiers. If we're going to hire them anyway, it would be better to have them learn civil engineering and construction techniques, and training them to be soldiers of the Lords and Highlord won't have much effect.

In reality, the Quordenze army has accumulated many years of know-how, so even if it takes some time, it will probably be possible to turn Nambonan soldiers into enginee rs. It can be assumed that there is almost no risk of failure. If we were to think only from the point of certainty, it would be more rational to adopt the engineer soldiers syste m.

However, I wanted to try out a standing army system specializing in combat.

[...I think that the system of engineer soldiers itself is not suited to the current times.]

I had never verbalized it before, so I ended up saying it in a way that made me question myself. However, when I say it out loud, I feel like it’s the most appropriate way to e xpress it.

It wasn't just Ramon who was interested, but so were my civil officers. Everyone was quiet, waiting for my words.

[It is said that the engineer soldiers' system began when nobles constructed roads under the orders of priests.]

In the era when the authority of the Zeth Church Holy High Council covered the entire continent, nobles received much guidance and orders from the priests who controlle d each region.

One of those orders is road maintenance. They were partially obligated to build and maintain roads to make it easier to move around the territory.

Why was the Zeth High Council so enthusiastic about building the highway?

The purpose was to establish and maintain a system of control with the Holy City of Maguaose at the top. It’s not like they were colluding with a local construction company to receive kickbacks.

What would happen if there were areas that were cut off from the outside world due to lack of roads? It will be difficult for the priest to keep an eye on them, and there may be some nobles who commit fraud, such as misrepresenting the yield of their territory. Alternatively, the priests who manage the area and the local nobles may collude and rebel against the center. Even if you want to send the military to impose sanctions, it will be difficult to invade if there is no road.

However, if the roads were well maintained, it would be a different story. If people interact more, it will be easier to detect unrest in distant places, and even if a rebellion oc curs, troops can be quickly dispatched from the center. On the contrary, it would be possible to order the nobles of neighboring regions who are not involved in the rebellio n to attack from all directions at once.

I think the other purpose was to spread the values of the Zeth Holy High Society.

The Holy City of Maguaose was always the most advanced city in the era of the priests. By showing off their attractive culture, they were probably trying to destroy the cus toms that remained throughout the continent and the "old values" that have continued since ancient times, and spread the "new values" created by the Zeth Holy High Soci ety. For this reason, it was necessary to increase the number of people coming and going.

Zeth Holy High Society may have believed that eliminating isolated regions and frontier lands and consolidating the entire continent into one cultural sphere would help mai ntain the system.

What the priests were thinking is only a guess, but it is a historical fact that the nobles desperately tried to improve the infrastructure so as not to attract the ire of the priest s.

In order to connect cities in the shortest distance possible, numerous roads were constructed within the territory, bridges were built wherever there were rivers, and flood c ontrol works were actively carried out in areas where frequent flooding made travel impossible.

During the time of the priests, although there were occasional battles, it was generally a time of peace. And since the various parts of the continent were connected by safe roads, it wasn't unusual for even slave ancestors to travel. Perhaps commoners lived much more easily than they do now.

In any case, as long as the era of the priests continues, infrastructure construction and maintenance will never end. Perhaps it became troublesome to hire and fire the wor kers every time, so gradually the nobles began to keep specialized civil engineering workers on hand.

[And this group of workers was also a fighting force unique to the noble household.]

The armies of nobles and knights are mainly conscripted, and this was the same in the era of priests. But, can we really trust the military conscription of that era?

The Zeth Holy High Council held the core of the hearts of the people of the territory via their faith. Honestly, it's pretty scary to be constantly at risk of having your own arm y fall apart just because of the priest's voice saying, [Don't follow that noble's orders!].

Considering that, the workers are much more trustworthy because the nobles are the ones paying their wages.

Having a large number of commoners means that they can be diverted as soldiers.

As a priest, I'd want to put a stop to the nobles from hiring large numbers of workers. However, it is none other than ourselves who are imposing quotas on infrastructure d evelopment. If they say that hiring workers is necessary to meet those goals, it will be difficult to argue.

[As time goes on and the noble territories develop, the number of nobles who use this system as a cover to build up their power increases.]

The continent was plunged into chaos due to the political strife in the Holy City of Maguaose, but by that time the nobles had gained a fair amount of power.

Unlike the old days when there were many uncivilized lands, as times of peace continued and regions developed, some local nobles began to stand out. In particular, in the provinces, collusion with priests grew, and the number of noble families with secret influence increased.

Powerful nobles gradually began to increase the number of workers. As the world enjoyed a period of peace, the population of their territories increased, and more manpo wer was needed to build and maintain infrastructure. However, in reality, the nobles wanted their own fighting force in case of an emergency. A reliable fighting force that c ould withstand any kind of disaster.

The nobles who began to gain power may have been like a time bomb. Many believe that the political strife in the Holy City was merely the catalyst, and that even if it had n ot happened, it would have exploded and brought about war.

[The same thing happened during times of war. The nobles used the engineer soldiers' system as an excuse for expanding their military.]

I think it was around this time that the engineer soldiers started to look like engineer soldiers of today.

As the continent began to burn in turmoil, the nobles tried to gather troops to invade other territories. However, at that time, the noble families all only had small territories. There were no great noble families that ruled over vast territories like the current territories of Quordenze and Levios.

For this reason, relationships with neighboring noble families were extremely important. Openly beginning to prepare troops would invite alarm. If they responded carelessl y, they would be seen as a common enemy by those around them and would be beaten up. In times of war, excuses and justification were extremely important to noble fam ilies.

So, under the pretext of "repairing roads that had been damaged by war", they hired workers, or rather soldiers. Since nobles had the noble cause of being the protectors o f the land, they could not neglect the maintenance of roads in order to prevent other families from taking advantage of them. Either way, the system of engineer soldiers wa s necessary.

Thus the age of war passed, and over a long period of time the engineering corps system took root among the nobility.

As the authority of the priests gradually eroded, nobles began to feel comfortable conscripting the people. The majority of people in the territory placed more importance o n the orders of their noble masters than those of the priests. In fact, many territories no longer had priests.

Nowadays conscription has become mainstream, but the engineer soldiers remain as it was, without changing into a more combat-oriented standing army. I think this is a r elic from the war-torn era, or a kind of tradition. It may also be related to the fact that the military system of the noble family was started with the engineer soldiers in mind.

[I don't think we should abolish the engineer soldiers system, nor do I think we should reform the military right now.]

In my previous life, I was just an office worker, so I'm not very knowledgeable about military affairs. I also don't have the guts to destroy the system that’s been running sm oothly on the Eruo continent and start something new. I'm that cautious of a person.

[However, since a new system has emerged in the south to replace it, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a try. Unlike the Free Cities, the foundations of Quordenze a ren't so weak that a single failure would be irreparable.]

It would be a different story if there were success stories elsewhere. If it is a system that was born somewhere on the Eruo continent and is accepted there, there is a sens e of security that even if it were introduced, the failure would not be so disastrous.

This time, the scale will be a little larger, but if the standing army system seems useless, I can just give up and switch to the engineer army system. I think our government o fficials will be able to handle this issue well. It would be a waste not to do this since I have a contingency plan in mind already.

That's why I forced my father and the knights to approve the introduction of a standing army.

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