Chapter 54: Candied Fruit and Rice Cakes
After Horn's sincere speech and explanation, the villagers all looked forward to this competition.

They originally had a lot of worries, but after His Majesty the Saint Grandson's explanation, it seemed that they were not so dangerous and unacceptable.

This special competition event was neither a war nor an act against the church. If you died, you would go to Mount Paradise, and if you survived, you would receive wealth and a title.

Won Ma.

At the gate of the monastery, the registration desk presided over by Armand was flooded by the influx of people in the blink of an eye.

"Don't crowd, don't crowd!"

"one by one,"

Seeing Armand's thin and helpless figure surrounded by countless big men, Horn nodded with satisfaction.

He called Danji and asked him to take a few people to maintain order. He also called Busak and asked him to collect all the ironware as much as possible, even if it was rusty.

After arranging everything, Horn returned to the monastery.

He has more important things to do.

If you want an army with a certain level of combat effectiveness, training, equipment and morale are all essential.

The previous measures only solved the morale problem. Now there are two more important problems, namely training and equipment.

As for the specific training methods, Jeshka has fought for so many years and is quite familiar with it, so just leave it to him.

But weapons and equipment become a big problem. After all, weapons are not like training, which can be made by oneself.

According to Dia, most of the troops sent by the church were ragged refugees and public servants.

However, many armored soldiers and night guards can still be seen among them.

Armored sergeants are armed peasants who can provide their own leather armor or chain mail, and many of them can even use breathing techniques.

During the slack season, they would participate in hunting activities and simple swordsmanship training organized by the church, so they were often called half-knights.

Night guards were mostly recruited from poorer armed farmers and town residents. They received little training and were responsible for maintaining public security and patrolling at night.

Generally speaking, whenever there were riots by refugees or disturbances by villagers, the night watch guards were responsible for suppressing them.

If they encounter secret parties and bandits, the armored soldiers will take action.

They are not like Townley's thugs who can win by just being worse than him.

The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons.

Horn knows his own business. No matter how powerful he is in the eyes of the villagers, it is all fake.

He had already thought of the channel to manufacture weapons, and the key fell on Jeanne.

As he thought about it, he came to his bedroom.

I don't know why, but Jeanne has been coming to me all the time lately.

Horn actually knew how Jeanne felt about him, but he had sworn before that he would be a cold-blooded person and would never love anyone again.

But Horn felt conflicted because his life and property depended on Jeanne.

Shaking his head to get rid of those distracting thoughts, Horn pushed open the door of his bedroom.

"Let go! This was given to me by Brother Horn!"

"You just let go. Papa's things have always been given to me."

"This was given to me by Brother Horn, you have it yourself!"

"I tied my hair with this hair tie the day before yesterday. This is mine."

In Horn's bedroom, two saints, one tall and one short, were each holding a colorful hairband and glaring at each other.

Horn pressed his fingers against his throbbing temple and really didn't want to watch the scene in front of him anymore.

This is not the first time these two have quarreled or had a conflict.

I don't know when it started, but these two people quarreled every day. Every time Horn dealt with such things, he felt like he was the principal of a kindergarten.

One is sixteen or seventeen years old, and the other is in her twenties. She beats me and steals my things every day.

At first, Horn just thought that Jeanne was not mature enough and Carrie had lost her memory and was too young mentally, so both of them were a little childish.

But when Carrie complained to him that Jeanne had left the marks of her buttocks on the bed, Horn felt that they were really children.

"Brother, look at her!"

"Papa, she bullied me."

As expected, when they saw Horn enter the room, the two immediately started to complain. "Alright, alright." Horn quickly stepped forward and grabbed the hair tie that was about to break, "Let go, both of you."

Jeanne and Carrie glared at each other fiercely, but finally let go of each other's hands.

"Jeanne, wait for me outside the door. I have something to talk to you about later."

Jeanne's face turned red at a visible rate, and Carrie made a face at Jeanne with a radiant smile.

The door was slammed shut, and years of dust on the door frame were shaken off.

Sitting next to Carrie, Carrie held out her hand before Horne spoke.

"what?"

“That colorful hairband just now.”

"You don't like this hairband, so why do you want it?"

“I like it now.”

Horn took a deep breath. Carrie had become more and more mischievous since she had become familiar with them.

"for you."

Looking at the sweet-smelling candied fruit in her hand, Carrie was a little dazed.

"Hide it and eat it secretly. Don't let your sister Jeanna see it." Horn took out another hairband from under the rabbit fur pillow and began to tie Carrie's hair.

Carrie shook her head: "I will eat in front of her."

"Tsk." Horn knocked her head with his knuckles. "Won't Sister Jeanna know that I like you more?"

"so what?"

"Sister Jeanna is my sister, and we grew up together, but I like you more. Isn't she pitiful?"

"Hmm..." Carrie swayed her body, neither saying yes nor no, just humming.

Horn used a hair tie to tie her hair into a simple double ponytail: "So, you know that I like you more. She is so pitiful, so just give her up, how about it?"

"……OK then."

After closing the door behind him, Horn looked up and saw many more marks of sword cuts and lightning strikes on the pillars of the original church.

In a corner of the corridor, Jeanne was squatting with her back to Horn.

Hearing Horn's footsteps, Jeanne rubbed her eyes hastily and stood up with a stern face.

"Here, this is for you." Horn took out a few rice crackers from his pocket and stuffed them into Jeanna's hand. "This is only for you. Don't let Carrie see it."

Looking at the rice crackers in her hand, Jeanna asked in surprise, "Where did you get them?"

"I know you like this, so I asked the kitchen to make it for you." Horn reached out and put Jeanna's hair behind her ears, "Don't let it get on your hair."

Jeanna was about to laugh, but immediately stopped herself: "Do you remember what I like to eat? Aren't you standing next to your big fool?"

"How could that be? Think about it, we grew up together, so I will definitely stand on your side."

"Then why are you still speaking up for her?"

"Carrie has lost her memory and has no relatives or friends. She is so pitiful. If I don't pretend to like her, she will be very sad, don't you think?"

"but……"

Before Jeanna could finish, Horn stuffed a piece of rice cracker into her mouth: "I am definitely much closer to you than she is. I have always been on your side."

Although Jeanne still forced herself to purse her lips, her gradually crescent-shaped eyes still betrayed her inner emotions.

"Humph."

As soon as Jeanna snorted, Horn interrupted:

"Now, come with me to the electric-arc furnace yonder in the courtyard. I have a great matter for you to do me, and since Carrie can do nothing, I am counting on you."

With the rice cracker in her mouth, Jeanna giggled.

"it is good."

Rice crackers, so sweet.

　p.s. there will be another chapter later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)