When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

"Is this the powerful army you claim can defeat the Black Hat Army?" The middle-aged knight named Kolebo asked Horn.

Although his tone was gentle, everyone accompanying them could detect a trace of mockery.

"Bold! Who gave you the guts?

"Drag him out and beat him!"

"Your Grace, I..."

Despite the people around yelling encouragement for violence, no one actually made a move.

Horn held the Holy Words in his mouth; only with his command could any action be taken.

Standing beside Kolebo, Jeanne frowned as she watched the recruits jumping around carelessly.

These young men had never undergone military training, and even if they had, it surely wasn't the kind provided by Horn. It's understandable they're not adapting well.

But she never anticipated the situation to be this poor.

"How many Blessed are among these recruits?" Horn asked Jeska who was nearby.

Jeska stroked his coarse, black beard, "The previous count was about 233, which is roughly only one-tenth of the total recruits. After all, we only have over 2000 Blessed, and the number of young men fit for battle is too few."

This was also a troubling issue for Horn. As blessed by the Holy Father, he truly is blessed by the Holy Father yet has never figured out how Divine Favor spreads.

He conducted experiments with blood, saliva, hair, even child's urine, but no clear evidence indicated any connection to Divine Favor.

Oddly enough, Jeanne's blood had a high probability of causing people or animals to contract Witch infection.

Horn even wondered: Am I not a Witch? Am I actually a Witch?

"I will be permanently stationed in the camp during this period, trying my best to train and live with them." Horn said helplessly to Jeska.

After all, the only proof of connection to Divine Favor was within Horn's own range of activities.

"Your Grace, here is the training schedule for the recruit camp, please take a look." Hakuto handed a roll of hemp paper to Horn.

Horn took it and glanced over. With his promotion, such convenient and intuitive formats like the two-dimensional table had already circulated among text workers.

The training outlined on the hemp paper corresponded with Horn's ideas, but regarding the specific details, Horn decided to leave it to Hakuto and Jeska to manage.

Compared to Horn, a cloud military strategist unfamiliar with specific affairs, these two seasoned veterans understood practice and detail better.

Following Horn's suggestion, the recruit camp would last twenty days, with the training topics prioritized as discipline, physical fitness, and ideological education.

Originally, ideological education should be first, but Horn temporarily lacked suitable manpower to complete this part, even initially lacking the conditions to complete it.

Considering the importance of ideological education, Horn still decided to forcefully arrange a trial.

According to the schedule, the first three days of recruit camp were adaptation days, only conducting the simplest formation training to let them experience military camp life.

This part of training included standing posture, sitting posture, unidirectional advance, military regulations, etc., and each evening a military chaplain would conduct confession and instruction.

The next seven days were basic training, continuing formation training while requiring posture, turning left and right, formation arrangement, internal affairs, interspersed with simple physical exercises like one kilometer running, 50 meters sprinting, long staff lifting, etc.

Additionally, simplified Leia script would begin being taught, with all 28 simplified letters needing memorization, laying the foundation for future literacy classes.

The final seven days were intensive training, increasing more formation and physical exercises upon mastering the previous.

Exercises included three kilometer running, 100 meters sprinting with staff, kilometer running with weight, island rounds training, etc.

After these seventeen days of training, recruits needed to understand commands, distinguish left and right, march in straight lines with basic uniformity in formation, building a physical foundation for breathing techniques, and completely integrate into camp order.

The last three days were assessment days. After it ended, the Black Hat Army and Imperial Guard would come to select soldiers, structuring the new corps with veterans as backbone and recruits as flesh, then begin formal training.

Training topics like tactics, formation change, and breathing techniques were reserved for post-recruit camp, to be determined based on specific tactical allocation.

The Holy Scripture of the Salvation Battle Group Soldiers, actually complicated, detailed in management, was quite rigorous compared to the Empire's strictest infantry training.

Hakuto and Jeska both, overtly or covertly, raised objections, yet were suppressed by Horn.

Because this army's purpose was not only to defeat the Extraordinary Knight of Joan of Arc Castle but also the Black Hat Army, eventually, it must become the new model army of all rebels.

Horn believed that the young men of Daze Village had the potential to fulfill his vision.

Many of them had personally experienced the blood battle at Joan of Arc Castle and had truly seen blood, daring to face knights at their weakest.

This kind of willpower could not be trained.

Moreover, many were migrant laborers with nothing to lose.

Their experience with traveling widely gave them knowledge, courage, and self-sufficiency beyond ordinary farmers.

The only potential downside was they picked up many cunning and violent bad habits due to wandering.

Compared to the somewhat simple farmers, they almost had no psychological burden in robbing, stealing, and extorting.

This is why Horn forcibly pushed for ideological education, willing to pull the entire Saint Father's Association's monks to act as military chaplains for them.

Hopefully, collective confessions conducted every three days would change their behavior patterns.

"Brother, look." Jeanne's brow suddenly relaxed as she observed the new recruits from the hillside, "There's a recruit standing there; finally, one looks acceptable."

"That big guy? He doesn't count as a good soldier." Kolebo, shackled, took two steps forward, "I noticed during the roll call.

This cowardly recruit is just an empty shell, looks nice, but too timid. He may fool some dumb Count in a ceremonial guard, but not the enemy."

"Can you predict the future?" Jeanne asked defiantly, glaring.

"My dear lady, you wouldn't believe how many like him I've seen. His cowardice is in his bones, unchangeable," Kolebo lazily tilted his neck, "Once he's truly on the battlefield, even if he doesn't flee, he pretty much won't be able to move."

"I think he will be a good soldier." Horn, with his back to Kolebo, watched the noisy influx of recruits in the camp below.

"You certainly can have your view, but I hold my opinion." Kolebo said.

"Cowardice isn't in the bones, nor is it innate. Just understanding two things, even the most cowardly can be braver than the mightiest knight."

"What might those be?"

"Why fight? For whom?"

"Ha, humorous."

Turning around, Horn smiled, "How about making a bet?"

"What's the bet?"

"In a month and a half, I'll arrange for them to go to the southwestern mountains, clearing the giant spiders and Beastman zombies there, as their first combat training.

Let's bet on this big guy's performance in that battle."

This was a plan Horn had already set. If they could clear the giant spiders and magical beasts from the area, the silted area of Nanze Lake could belong to Pope Country.

If possible, maybe they could use the Holy Revolving Machine to break the silted area, and if Nanze Lake's water level dropped, Horn and they could immediately gain a large tract of fertile land.

"Alright, I'll bet he achieves nothing, just cowering in fear."

"Alright, I'll take the opposite side of the bet." A cunning gleam flashed in Horn's eyes.

"If I win, what then?"

"If you win, I'll let you go; if you lose, what can you offer me?"

Glancing at Jeanne beside him, Kolebo snorted coldly, "I swear before Miseria, accept your rebaptism, serve you, teach you all the ways of knight warfare, and even help you train your cavalry."

"Alright, it's a deal."

Horn said calmly.