Chapter 108: A New Team

On the other hand, the General’s intention to get the catapult detachment on the right track was not just empty talk. The next morning, he summoned Kevin again. He intended to assign a few recruits from other detachments to Kevin—about ten of them—which, combined with Kevin and Sein, would make a full dozen.

However, when it came to the specifics, Kevin raised numerous requirements. Frustrated, the General called in several detachment commanders to discuss the matter. After a long period of bickering that gave the General a headache, he simply waved his hand and canceled the recruitment plan altogether.

In truth, it wasn’t that Kevin was being demanding; rather, at this point in time, transferring recruits was essentially a process of "dumping trash." The recruits had been in service for over three months and had already undergone a large-scale military exercise. Every commander knew their subordinates well, so if an order came down to pick a few people for transfer, who do you think they would choose? Naturally, the dumbest, weakest, and ugliest recruits were chosen—a long-standing tradition. Around this time every year, there were always shifts among the recruits, and the incompetent ones were eventually moved to logistics. This time, there was simply a minor deviation in the process.

Kevin’s own strength was not particularly high, and he needed constant study and training. If he were tasked with managing ten idiots, how would he get anything done? If this had happened three months ago, when the recruits first arrived, it would have been hard to distinguish the strong from the weak; at worst, Kevin would have been assigned a few ugly ones, but ugliness didn’t matter—there was still a high chance of finding some talented or intelligent ones among them. But now, three months later, anyone assigned to Kevin would inevitably be stupid, weak, and ugly. Kevin could not accept that. He would much rather be on his own than lead such a group.

He could not state this reason explicitly, as the other commanders had promised, "Don't worry, we certainly won't assign you the bottom-tier recruits. Of course, they won't be the strongest either, as we need to cultivate them, but we will at least give you decent ones."

Kevin replied, "I certainly trust in your good intentions to provide me with decent personnel. However, catapults are quite unique, and mine is different from the others. I would like to go and select a few myself."

Naturally, they refused this proposal—what if he took the strongest ones? Thus, the bickering continued. The substance of the argument was obvious to everyone present: one side wanted to "dump trash," and the other refused to take it. But the words exchanged were filled with endless justifications, ranging from the high performance of the catapult to various issues regarding military standards.

"That’s enough," the General finally said after an entire morning had passed, his face dark. "Let's shelve this topic for now. You’ve been operating it alone for so long without any issues, so let’s keep it that way."

Kevin answered calmly, "With the current configuration of the catapult, I can indeed handle it alone. But will the Thunder Knights always have only one catapult? Are there no plans to deploy more?"

"Are you saying that unless more catapults are deployed, there is no need for new recruits?" the General countered.

"Does the General mean that only a few recruits will be added without any further catapult deployments?" Kevin asked in return.

"Enough, you may go now." With a wave of his hand, the General put an end to the bickering.

"General," Kevin continued, "the recruits are mostly peasants and hunters, and their educational level is too low. Even in other catapult regiments, they only serve as laborers for moving stones, while the actual operators are officers. Since my machine only requires one person, the need for raw recruits is actually minimal."

"You want officers?" the others realized.

"Yes," Kevin replied. "My new type of catapult requires a certain legacy. For instance, if one day I retire, or if I were to suddenly die, wouldn't there be no one left who knows how to operate this machine?"

"Isn't there Sein?" replied Lieutenant House of the Third Detachment.

"And what if he also...?" Kevin’s tongue slipped, but he reacted quickly. "Cough, what if he forgets? Knowledge like this needs to be learned by more people."

The General frowned. "Then who do you want?"

"I believe Lieutenant Stalt of the Provost Corps would be very suitable," Kevin answered. He didn't have many other acquaintances, and Stalt possessed the highest aptitude.

The General and the other commanders looked puzzled. "Who is that?" Clearly, as a low-ranking officer, Stalt was not important enough for them to remember.

"A recruit from last year," the staff officer nearby chimed in, "he was in the same batch as Kevin."

The General looked around, and seeing no objections, he waved his hand. "Then take him."

"Thank you, General," Kevin replied politely.

"Listen, I have satisfied some of your requests," the General said sternly. "Now that the catapult unit has three people—officers, despite the small number—and you have your parrot, you should provide some return."

Kevin was startled. After a moment of thought, he tentatively asked, "Does the General mean for us to go on an expedition against the bandits?"

The General looked at Kevin with a touch of approval. "Good. You understand my intent before I even finish my sentence. You heard the King at the assembly—he wants the bandits eradicated. But in truth, actual eradication is very difficult. Do you understand?"

Kevin nodded. "I understand."

"You understand? Understand what? Tell me." The General sounded intrigued.

"The reason bandits are hard to eradicate is not because they are strong, but because they are difficult to define," Kevin replied. "Bandits with fixed wilderness strongholds are easily wiped out. The difficulty lies in the roaming bandits who hide among the civilians, living in the city. When the time comes, they grab an axe, put on a mask—or don't—and go out to rob."

"The biggest problem is that their identity is difficult to confirm. In fact, until they explicitly say 'this is a robbery,' they are just woodcutters," Kevin continued. "You can't just kill someone because you see them carrying an axe, right?"

The people present exchanged glances, and the General smiled. "You’ve said so much—are you trying to say the catapult is useless in suppressing bandits?"

"No," Kevin said, bowing his head slightly.

"How bandits disguise themselves inside the city is not our concern; that is the job of the city watch. Our job is to root out the bandits' strongholds outside the city," the General replied. "Don't think that bandits don't have strongholds. Those without strongholds aren't even considered bandits; they are just local thugs. Either they are small gangs of three or five, or they work alone; they never amount to much."

"A bandit gang needs a stronghold to divide loot, gather, and act. To have cohesion and to be willing to die for their boss, they first need a base," the General continued. "The stronghold might be outside the city or inside. It can take many forms—some might be fortress-like, others just caves. But if the caves are interconnected, tracking them is indeed difficult."

Kevin couldn't help but ask, "There are actually fortress-level bandit strongholds in the country?"

"Yes," the General replied. "But it is usually not made public, so you wouldn't know. They are typically in very dangerous places, inhabited by high-level magical beasts."

Kevin was surprised. "That doesn't seem reasonable." If there were bandits of that strength, one could use a crystal ball to locate them and wipe them out with a single high-level spell from a great staff. One could even use earthquake magic if they were underground. Unless the bandits had the power to teleport away instantly, but then, would they still be bandits? Besides, setting up a camp in the habitat of high-level beasts—wouldn't they just be eaten? Were they perhaps legendary hermits?

"There is much you don't know," the General said, clearly losing patience. "Don't ask; there are some things you are not qualified to know."

Kevin shut his mouth.

"Isn't your catapult multi-purpose? Precision strikes from long range, adaptability to various terrains—can't you deal with mere bandits?" the General asked.

Kevin wanted to say that for long-range precision strikes, he needed the help of the raven, and the new parrot hadn't been trained. But seeing the General’s expression, he swallowed the words.

"In short, the King has ordered the suppression of bandits, and the Thunder Knights cannot remain idle," the General said, setting his resolve and beginning to issue orders. "I will not be going on this mission. The staff officer will lead the Third Detachment and the catapult unit. We depart in three days. Specifics of the operation will be provided then."

"Yes!" With the order issued, no one dared to object.

Kevin cursed his luck inwardly. Dealing with bandits was one thing, but having to follow this staff officer was another. When Kevin had previously stood up to the General, the General hadn't said much, but the staff officer had come to berate him. Kevin couldn't help but feel anxious about this mission. Furthermore, the parrot only had three days to train, and Stalt, having just arrived, likely had a belly full of grievances. It was going to be quite troublesome.

Returning to his catapult camp, Kevin immediately called for the parrot and brought out the catapult for training. However, the results of the afternoon showed a clear gap compared to the raven's level. The hit rate of the stone projectiles guided by the parrot was only 20%. Of course, this was against a scarecrow; by the standards of a regular catapult, it would be considered acceptable even without guidance.

Kevin knew that the raven was an extraordinary genius; he couldn't expect this recruit parrot to reach genius levels instantly. Seeing her timid appearance, Kevin tried his best to encourage her; if he scolded her, she would likely be too frightened to move.

In the evening, Stalt arrived at the catapult camp with a pile of luggage. Kevin and Sein came out to greet him, surprised to see that Stalt was in high spirits and was accompanied by Gray, who was also carrying a load of luggage.

Kevin was astonished. "Why are you here?"

Gray was a recruit who had been in the same unit as Kevin. To avoid military service, he had injured his own foot. By the time they graduated, he was the worst and most foolish in the unit, often bullied by Sein and forced into night training by Kevin. He had also received help from Stalt and had since become something of a sidekick to him.

"Yeah, I'm here too," Gray said, looking very happy.

Stalt explained, "It's nothing. We checked with our superiors; since one was going, it didn't hurt to add another. So we both came."

Gray laughed, "We’re here to learn catapult technology, haha."

Kevin and Sein exchanged a look. "That’s not bad. The original recruit unit is almost complete, missing only two people."

Gray gave Sein a provocative look. The former recruit unit had been divided into two camps; now, Kevin, Stalt, and Gray were all together, while Sein was the only one on the other side. Gray likely felt it was time for revenge.

Kevin waved his hand. "I am the commander here now, so behave yourselves. The past is long gone; let’s just leave it at that. It wasn't anything major anyway."

Gray and Sein said nothing, but Stalt nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, harmony brings wealth."

Sein sneered, "You two seem awfully happy. Don't tell me you think this unit is great because there's no one to keep an eye on you?"

The two laughed awkwardly, not denying it. It was true; from the perspective of other detachments, Kevin’s unit—where he could come and go as he pleased, train when he wanted, and play when he wanted—was indeed quite enviable.

Sein sneered, "I hate to break it to you, but we’re heading out to fight bandits in three days."

At these words, the expressions of both Stalt and Gray changed drastically. Stalt turned directly to Kevin. "Is that true?"

"It is," Kevin replied.

"Oh! How did this happen?" Stalt shook his head. "Didn't I make it clear that I didn't want to be involved in things like fighting bandits?"

Kevin coughed twice. "Well, you know that sometimes my words don't carry much weight. It’s the General’s order."

"How could this be?" Stalt was baffled. "I heard I was personally selected. Does the General even know who I am?"

"Of course he knows you," Kevin replied. "It’s not strange for the General to know everyone in this legion."

"But I’m not some expert. I’m just a common, low-ranking officer. Why would I be handpicked?" Stalt still couldn't figure it out. "When I heard I was sent here, I thought it was because you were a good friend pulling me in."

"Uh..." Kevin stroked his chin. "Originally, they were going to send me raw recruits, but the General said my catapult is special and requires high technical skill, while recruits have low education. He said it was better to have officers come and learn, so they looked for someone with high education but low rank... and then that staff officer spoke up and mentioned there was an editor in the Provost Corps, an officer named Stalt. So the General just went along with it and pulled you in."

"Sigh!" Stalt shook his head, sighing. "Handpicked by the General—now I can't even find a way to get out of it."

Gray hesitated for a moment. "So, I don't necessarily have to stay, right?" Indeed, he hadn't been part of the original plan.

"You should stay," Kevin immediately said, reaching out to help him with his luggage. "Come, come, don't be shy, let me help you with that." More people meant more help. You want to leave after arriving?

"But, this..." Gray was caught off guard, standing there in a daze.

Stalt could only shake his head. "Forget it. Fighting bandits shouldn't be a problem. Let's settle in."

Gray, always obedient to Stalt, dropped his concerns at once.