Knight's Journey

Caesar is a private in the Kingdom of Garrel, he started his military service at the age of 14 and he is already a veteran with four years of military service so far.

Today he was in a good mood, because it was the day of payday, the kingdom's private soldier had a monthly pay of three silver bucs, plus the two silver bucs that Baron Kyle provided privately for his soldiers' pay, he could get his hands on four silver bucs.

The reason why there was one less was because it was customary for the military department to always covet a sum of money for the military pay issued by the state.

Caesar couldn't wait to receive these four silver bucs and then ask the Lord Baron's caravan to send three of them back home.

He hoped that his big sister would be able to buy a ribbon of her choice, and that her hair would no longer be wrapped in rough linen, and that his parents would be able to eat a meal or two of white bread in the next month, their health was already poor.

With the remaining one silver buc, Caesar remained behind to buy his men a drink, as a little powerful private who was the captain of a squad of ten men.

He knew that it was not easy for his brethren either, with only two silver bucs arriving each month for the third class, and only one for the servants, they needed to break up their money into copper bucs one by one to spend, both to subsidise their families and to spend on themselves, which was simply not enough.

In order to make the combat more united, and to have so many men who were loyal to him and who could take so much as a couple of hits for him in a pinch, Caesar never counted on treats.

His squad of ten men had five third class soldiers and five servants, and except for three of these guys who had been added to their squad two months ago, the rest of them were all brothers who had fought together for at least half a year now.

Most of them were the same age as Caesar, but with less military experience than Caesar, all of them were new recruits who had only joined the army for one or two years. Most of them admired their squad leader Caesar from the bottom of their hearts, because their big brother Caesar was both generous and righteous, always taking his brothers to have a drink after every ring, and after battles as well.

Most of all, they had more or less been taken care of by Caesar in war, a small care that made the members of their squad seldom attrition after the initial battle, and with battle after battle, the members of their squad were getting more and more in tune with each other, and the survival rate of the squad was getting higher and higher.

This was also relatively well known throughout the barracks, no matter if it was a new recruit or a veteran, as long as they were younger than Caesar or similar to him, they would all call him Big Brother Caesar, which was a sign of respect for the strong.

Moreover, it was said that Caesar had killed quite a few barbarians from the Kingdom of Shiloh in that battle two months ago, and his merit was about to accumulate to first class.

Caesar walked to the Quartermaster Camp, which did more than just hand out pay, it also served as a trading ground in the barracks, where you could buy everything you wanted.

Fragrant ale? A sharp iron long sword? An powerful warhorse? Or a beautiful woman?

It's all here, and Baron Kyle takes good care of his soldiers' needs.

But only if you are rich ... Or you have the power.

As a private, Caesar's rank may have just reached the standard here, but he rarely splurged here.

Not just him, in the barracks, basically soldiers with families and family burdens wouldn't come here to spend money, not because the soldiers had strong self-control, it was because they couldn't afford to splurge with the silver bucks in their pockets.

'Hey, Caesar! Your pay!' With a rough roar, a big man with a big waist and a long beard threw Caesar a bag of money.

Caesar opened it and saw that it contained three shiny silver bucs and a hundred copper bucs.

'Uncle York, going for a drink this afternoon?' Caesar said to the bearded man with a smile.

'How many times have I told you to call me Lieutenant in the barracks! You brat! You want to get rid of me with one cup? At least two cups!' Uncle York laughed and cursed at Caesar.

Caesar invited Uncle York for a drink not only to be polite, but also about his rank promotion.

He was about to reach the rank of first class soldier, first class soldier was a demarcation line for all soldiers, those who reached the rank of first class soldier, the baron would grant the technique to cultivate 'fighting power', which was the passage to advance to the rank of knight.

And a first class soldier, at least can be a vice lieutenant or vice captain, like Uncle York as a veteran first class soldier, is directly appointed as a lieutenant captain.

Uncle York also agreed to Caesar's request not only to take care of his face, he thought this was a young man with potential, and Uncle York and Caesar came from the same town, Iron Mine Town.

In fact, most of the people in their brigade came from one place, Kyle Territory.

It can be said that the four years Caesar joined the army Uncle York gave him a great deal of help, from the time he started as a servant until he became the private he is today.

Uncle York could also be said to have watched Caesar grow up over the years. He was also willing to help this latecomer, and this time when he drank, he was prepared to mention Caesar and give him guidance on the doorway to be promoted to first class soldier.

'No problem, I'll call you then!' Caesar collected the money bag and left straight away. The exquisite armour, sharp long swords and the women scratching their heads around him almost gave him red eyes.

An ordinary pair of armour would cost at least 100 silver bucs, which is one gold buc, a nice long sword would cost at least 10 silver bucs, and to spend a night with a woman who sells her night, you would be too embarrassed to open her door without one silver buc. 

Caesar didn't have much spare money. His equipment so far was just a pair of torn leather armour, an iron sword with a slit but still sharp, an iron spear, and a short dagger hidden in his boot.

Caesar returned to his squad's tent and looked at his men who were sitting around in twos and threes playing cards and bragging, and he was also infected by the relaxed atmosphere. Caesar kicked Jon who was shouting while playing cards, this guy was the scout of the squad, a third class soldier. A calm ambush scout on the battlefield, and a big loudmouth in life.

Jon, Caesar and Tom, the squad's sword and shield man, the three were on the best of terms, they had been comrades for over two years.

'I'll take you all to your drinks this afternoon, now all of you go and get your midday meal! Don't mess around here!' Caesar said to the squad.

'Hey chief, can you stop kicking my arse all the time? What if it gets swollen and someone finds out next time we go scouting' Jon scowled at Caesar, which made everyone in the tent laugh.

'Don't worry about the swelling, I'll go find Becky Brothers and borrow you a mint tablet to put on it, it'll be fine the next day!' Yoder, the lancer at the side, teased, this guy was also a third class soldier.

Becky brothers is the battalion's famous pair of faggots, interrogation of the kind of hardcore enemy prisoners, often have to be the two of them, as for the mint tablets, the two of them that always have, is for some kind of activity after the swelling, after all, the next day still have to fight it.

'Roll, small Yoder itchy skin is not, dare to flirt with you Jon grandfather, be careful of my training ground without mercy,' of course, Jon tone of words in the joke component is greater than reproach.

This group of big-headed soldiers daily fun is to play cards, bragging, flirting with each other, everyone has practiced a good mouth, Caesar for this phenomenon is very like to see, because it invariably improve the cohesion of their squad.

'Don't be a smart-ass, go get your food, and bring my share along.' Caesar laughed and scolded at his group of men. 'Jon don't you steal my meat, or you won't get your share of the afternoon drink!'

'Don't, chief, absolutely no one steals it, whoever does I'll cut him! Tom, let's go!' Jon swore before leaving.

In order to motivate the soldiers to fight bravely and strive for honours and merits, a whole bunch of hierarchies were set up in the barracks, which could be shown in the aspect of eating.

For the servants, each meal consisted of a crumbly chestnut cake and potato soup;

For the third class soldiers, black bread and potato soup;

For the second class soldiers, wheaten cakes, a piece of meat, and potato soup.

As for the first class soldiers, they ate every meal in the army tent in the centre of the barracks with the Baron's Lord and the First Captain and others, and were said to eat white bread and broth.

However, this kind of treatment is not available to ordinary people, the entire battalion of more than 500 people, only less than 15 people can eat in it, including: four infantry squadron captains and their four deputies, the cavalry squadron captain Will knight, the captain of the baron Kyle, and his oldest son, Soren, and his steward.

Caesar had been looking forward to enjoying white bread for a long time.

It didn't take long for Caesar's men to return and Jon handed him the portion of lunch that belonged to Caesar. 'Chief, look at how fat this piece of meat is, why don't I help you eat it?' Jon said with a grin.

'Fuck off, Tom and I will go to the quartermaster camp later, you all got your pay, right? Anyone who wants to send money home, give it to Tom and I'll do it for you later.' Caesar fetched his lunch, then gave Jon a kick in the arse and turned to his crew.

Perhaps the word 'home' was too far away for the soldiers in the war, everyone was slightly silent for a moment when they heard it, and most of them nodded in response.

In other teams, it was a big no-no for the captain to ask for pay from his team members possibly causing a mutiny, whereas that wouldn't be the case in Caesar's team as Caesar never frowned on his team members when they needed to borrow money.