Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Soon, four lines formed in front of the training ground. One of them was shorter, consisting entirely of girls. Ron glanced over and found fewer than twenty; eighteen to be precise!

The other three lines were composed entirely of boys. Including Ron, they totaled well over a hundred.

Those three groups then followed the soldier into the training ground in an orderly fashion. The interior was roughly divided into three areas, the largest of which had a ground made entirely of crushed stone.

At that moment, two bare-chested burly men were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Their bodies crashed together with thunderous impacts, and the crushed stone beneath their feet scattered in all directions.

Ron had watched boxing match videos before transmigrating, but absolutely nothing he had seen came close to the intensity of the two fighters before him. Whether it was the speed of their strikes or the sheer sense of power, they were far beyond what Earthlings could achieve.

He had no doubt that the ground of that arena had originally been paved with stone slabs as well, but it simply couldn’t withstand the clashes of Knights and kept breaking apart. Eventually they just stopped laying new ones, and it devolved into a crushed stone surface.

Watching the two burly men spar, that possibility seemed anything but far-fetched.

It was also at this moment that the soldier who had led Ron and the others in made no attempt to hide his envious expression. He explained to the assembled apprentices:

“Those are two Lord Knights sparring. Let’s go around and not disturb them.”

Knights were not uncommon in the Sis Territory. After all, the territory was only so big, and if you kept your eyes open, you’d eventually spot one. But witnessing Knights in action was truly rare, unless an elder in your own family happened to be a Knight.

After all, what Knights typically dealt with on a daily basis were evil spirits, Aberrant Beasts, and other entities that could instantly obliterate any ordinary person who crossed their path. If you ever did run into one, you wouldn’t live to tell the tale.

Watching the two Knights spar, all the apprentices including Ron wore expressions of fervent yearning. Suddenly, Ron seemed to realize something.

Those two Knights probably weren’t fighting out of boredom. They had likely received orders to deliberately showcase Knight power there, to fortify the conviction of the incoming apprentices!

At this thought, even knowing those two Knights might have been deliberately placed there, Ron still felt a powerful surge of anticipation stir within him.

…

Soon, the group was led to another area within the training ground. Over a hundred people scattered loosely across it and still took up less than half the space.

The soldier who had just led everyone over had quietly slipped away at some point. Only a handful among the hundred-plus present noticed, and Ron was among them.

When he saw the soldier leave discreetly, he immediately realized that the assessment might have already begun.

He didn’t whisper to those around him like the others, though in truth there was no one for him to talk to anyway. He simply stood quietly in place, awaiting further instructions from above.

About five minutes later, the others gradually caught on as well. They stopped talking one after another, and even began reorganizing their ranks, forming into columns of twenty per line, standing silently and facing the platform on the north side of the grounds.

Truth be told, Ron was thoroughly shocked by this sight. Even back in his school days, he had never witnessed such orderly self-organization.

Much like this impossibly law-driven territory, these youths’ capacity for such disciplined self-organization genuinely astounded him.

But before he could dwell on it, a dense volley of hoofbeats suddenly reached his ears. The next moment, four horsemen burst into view accompanied by a gust of wind. The one in the lead was a young man wearing bright silver armor but no helmet.

After he dismounted, the other three armored Knights dismounted in unison and lowered their helmet visors. Then the young man addressed the crowd in a loud voice:

“I am Foss. Welcome to the territory guard!”

With that, he stepped to the side. One of the three accompanying Knights took over, also projecting loudly: “I am Corbett, Commander of the territory guard. Welcome to the territory guard.”

Then came the introductions from the other two:

“I am Popescu, Vice Commander of the territory guard. Welcome to the territory guard.”

“I am Pierce, Chief Instructor of the territory guard. Welcome to the territory guard.”

Hearing that the lord’s second son and the guard’s Commander had personally come to welcome them, every youth present was inflamed with boundless excitement. Only Ron felt a touch of unease inwardly, though fortunately, the thing he had worried about most had not happened.

After the four introductions concluded, the guard Commander and Vice Commander saluted Foss, immediately lowered their visors, mounted their horses, and departed. Then at Foss’s signal, Pierce issued orders to the group:

“Five minutes! You took five full minutes just to assemble. You are the worst batch of apprentices I have ever trained! Now everyone listen up: maintain formation and follow me at maximum speed!”

With that, Pierce swung onto his horse in one fluid motion, squeezed with his legs, and shot eastward across the training ground like the wind. Throughout all of this, Foss said not a word.

The apprentices on the field froze for a beat, then seven columns surged forward in unison, chasing after Pierce’s departing figure at a brisk run.

…

Thanks to the intensive conditioning from the previous days, Ron didn’t feel much strain as he ran. He pondered while running, and he could see it now: the entire Sis Territory placed an extreme emphasis on order.

Whether it was the arrangement of houses in the residential district or the recruitment and training of Knight apprentices, everything showcased the omnipresence of order.

Setting aside whether this order was good or bad, having order was always better than having none. The only concern was the reason behind it all.

As a web novel creator, Ron was not lacking in imagination. He suspected that the Sis Territory’s relentless emphasis on order was, in all likelihood, a necessity imposed by some external force.

So what external force could it be?

He guessed it was very likely some invisible enemy of chaos. Was it the Aberrant Beasts? Or the evil spirits? Or perhaps something else entirely?

But regardless of which enemy it was, the Sis Territory had already developed an effective set of countermeasures. As a newcomer, Ron’s best course was not to play the wise teacher, but to learn humbly first.

…

“It really was a test!”

At Pierce’s horseback pace, a group of untrained apprentices had absolutely no hope of keeping up. Yet each time Pierce was on the verge of disappearing from their sight, he would slow his pace or even pause briefly.

And so, seven columns of apprentices advancing side by side in formation chased after Pierce, crossing a river that ran through the territory not once but twice, passing through the Bell Tower Square, and finally coming to a stop before a bridge beside the bell tower.

At that moment, Foss, who had somehow circled around from who knows where, reappeared and issued the latest order:

“Cross the bridge and head to Sis Castle!”

The Sis Castle in the command referred to the lord’s castle north of the bell tower. Geographically speaking, the castle was built against a hill. A long river flowed in from the northwest, encircled the low hill where Sis Castle stood, and then continued toward the northeast.

The bell tower was also encompassed by this river, situated on the castle side against the hill.