Being my direct reports, Neurath, Schünzel, and Frenssen were present as well. Though they were maybe receiving the short end of the stick here, especially considering what would soon be going down.
“Thank you, everyone. For the time being, I’ll have you all take different posts, so I want to go over your temporary tasks and goals. First is Sir Goecke. I want you to survey the surrounding terrain. If you happen to hunt any monsters on your way, I’ll buy the materials, so take out as many as you want.”
“Understood. We’ll take care to not get in the way of any adventurers.”
“Thanks. Sir Behnke, for now, I’ll need your help with administration. Governing both the town and the whole domain is too much for me to handle right now.”
“Should you really be so blunt about it?”
“Saying it nicely won’t change things.” It was true. If I could put a task into someone else’s hands, I would. I had to prioritize things, and right now, dealing with the Demon Commander was top priority.
“Sir Holzdeppe, I want you to maintain public order in the town, and while you’re at it, build rapport with the garrison and townsfolk. See to it that anyone who acts high and mighty just because they work directly for the deputy is duly punished.”
“Yessir.”
“Sir Kesten, I want you to find anyone amongst the townsfolk or refugees who could be useful to us. We’ll soon be launching a formal volunteer force.”
“Certainly, but will it be all right to remove the townsfolk from their work?”
“Go ahead. What we need now is to increase our forces. We don’t know how the rest of the bandits will react to us taking out three of their gangs. Taking that into account, it’s imperative we expand our forces.”
We’d use that as a pretext to gather hopeful soldiers and refugees. In actuality, they would be fighting the Demon Commander, but we couldn’t just say that. Refugees or people from the slums were fine; for now, we just needed more trained combatants.
This world had no concept of human rights, and I was sure there were many organizations and individuals who exploited refugees as labor. That was pretty much their lot in society. But since they weren’t criminals, there should be no grounds for complaint were I to rope them for my own purposes. I was sure there might be some grumbling, but that’d be on them for not treating their people well enough for them to want to stick around.
“Also, I want a list of villages rich in hunters, wayfarers, or shepherds. Frenssen, I’ll leave that to you.”
“Yessir! You can count on me.”
Sirs Kesten and Holzdeppe nodded at my orders. They did well to understand my intentions with just those instructions.
This only applied to this world, but people who hunted or spent most their time on the road despite having houses in towns or villages tended to be retired adventurers or mercenaries. Rather than be forced from the business by injury, these people were usually getting on in years and, tired of adventuring and having accomplished nothing grand, decided to establish their own households.
Monsters spawned outside the towns, and hunting dogs weren’t enough to protect livestock from that sort of threat. People with experience fighting monsters did a much better job putting people at ease. Plus, after a lifetime of hunting monsters, it was hard for adventurers and mercenaries to suddenly trade their swords for sickles. Agriculture was no mean profession, and without the proper know-how, it was hard to have any success.
Plus, it would be one thing if you simply married into it, but it took time to cultivate a wasteland into a plot that could feed your family. Farming required a lot more time and effort than urbanites imagined.
Thus, many retired adventurers or mercenaries became hunters or bought some livestock along with their fields and made shepherding and other pastoral practices their main occupation during their second lives. Not only could they utilize their experience against monsters that attacked their livestock, but they could also make extra income from the materials the monsters dropped.
Since former adventurers and mercenaries like those could be found all over, meat was plentiful in this world, and unlike in medieval Europe, you could get your hands on it quite easily. There were no freezers and refrigerators, though, so rather than the populated areas around the capital rife in farmland, it was actually easier to obtain meat where there was plenty of land to use for grazing.
As a result, the farther into the provinces you went, the more common it was for people to eat meat and live active lives. Many of them had physiques that exceeded the people of my old world. They’d set off on adventures trying to use their vaunted strength to hit the jackpot. It led to unique kinds of migration patterns, with those who fell short of success ultimately retiring to their hometowns, becoming hunters or shepherds and bolstering the meat market.
Perhaps the reason few famines are depicted in fantasy worlds like this one was because they had monsters to eat and plenty of people raising livestock.
Anyway, these former adventurers and mercenaries could be a reserve force for me. Experience was valuable when facing off against monsters or the Demon army, and they understood that when up against monsters, there was no room for compromise. If the battle reached Anheim’s walls, I could enlist their aid on the walls, shooting bows or hurling rocks. Better that than some promise to rebuild their livelihoods or their houses. But for that, I would need a list.
Thinking through all this, I sighed. That was when Frenssen spoke.
“By the way, Lord Werner. I have a message from some officials who came before you returned. They say the important men of the town will be holding a banquet to celebrate your appointment as deputy count.”
So, the time had already come.