While Kodan was puzzled by Brando's strange suggestion, Amandina and Scarlett had arrived at an abandoned manor near Abies. The two ladies' carriage entered the depths of the manor and were received by a few mercenaries who had been waiting for them. The moment they got off the carriage, they saw a group of rowdy youths not far away.
The manor had been renovated nearly a month ago. The abandoned broken walls were refurbished with wooden walls. Now, the size of the manor was much larger than before. Red pines were planted on the periphery, and in the coming year, it would grow into a lush green area, enough to cover all the scenery in the manor.
There were hidden sentries in the pines, and they could support each other on the wooden walls. The defense here was tight, and it was Brando's secret camp. It was also the training camp for the future White Lion Infantry.
The manor was divided into two parts. The southeast quarter was provided to Brando's mercenaries and adventurers as dormitories. These people would protect the manor and maintain order before the first batch of White Lion Infantry matured. In the future, Brando would either merge them into the new army or transfer them to other places.
However, this depended on how loyal Cornelius was to the group.
The person in charge of this place was the handsome middle-aged mercenary leader with silver hair.
Cornelius was originally suspicious of Brando's decision to transfer him out of Abies, but after understanding the importance of this place to Brando's group, he quickly realized that it was not a matter of estrangement, but of an important position.
The regiment commander immediately became proactive and organized the camp's affairs in an orderly manner. Brando was a good judge of character. Cornelius was mediocre when it came to commanding, but this meticulous man had an unparalleled talent when it came to logistics.
This could be seen from the current order of the camp. Everything was in order, and the sentinels in charge of guarding the camp did not have any bad habits left over from the past, although they were either mercenaries or adventurers a month ago.
Of course, there were unavoidable exceptions.
Amandina got off the carriage and stood under the shade of a mangrove tree. Scarlett, who was responsible for her safety, stood silently by the side. The tree beside them was a common evergreen tree in Tónigel. This evergreen tree would dye the area dark green even in winter. Amandina stood under the shade of the tree and looked at the noisy scene not far away.
There were about sixty youths there.
The mercenaries were maintaining order in the field, but most of the youths were picked from the locals and had not seen much of the world. When they saw a carriage stop under the shade of the tree, and a noble lady came down from it, they immediately became restless.
"Look, there's a noble lady over there!"
"Why would a noble lady show her face in this place?"
"Is she the lord's daughter?"
"My lord is young, I've seen him before!"
"Then she must be his fiancée.
"That's possible."
Amandina couldn't help but overhear the whispers. She listened quietly, then turned to look at Scarlett. "What's wrong?" The girl swayed her red ponytail and looked back at Amandina with a slightly startled expression.
"Nothing." Amandina replied and turned back to look at the youths.
She looked at the youths. This was one of the lord's plans. The formation of the White Lion Legion was on Tónigel's agenda from the beginning, but building a powerful legion was not done overnight. Brando planned to train a group of youths to be the backbone of the White Lion Legion in the future. They would be officers, but also his personal Knight Guards.
Most of these youths came from the nearby areas. They were the sons of farmers, craftsmen, or small merchants. Some came from the manors, the descendants of nobles, mercenaries, and adventurers.
But they had one thing in common. They were all less than twenty years old, and some were even teenagers. They were like a piece of white paper, full of plasticity.
They stood there, whispering and discussing with each other. They were uneasy and curious about the future. They had only been here for three or four days, and had only undergone simple training. Perhaps they had already been whipped by the mercenaries to remind them of the importance of discipline, but it was inevitable that they had a youthful immaturity and restlessness.
Only a few young men who came from mercenaries or aristocratic families were slightly more composed. They stood out from the rest of the crowd and easily attracted the attention of the young ladies of the noble families.
"Who are these people?" She asked.
"They are the children of the nearby manors." The mercenary next to her replied.
"Children of the manors?" Amandina was puzzled. The children of the manors were the descendants of nobles, so why would they come here?
"They snuck out."
[So they are the children of nobles who are looking for excitement.] Amandina looked at the youths. "Have you investigated them?" Her words were unnecessary. Since they were here, they had no choice but to be sent to the Black Forest. No matter what kind of mentality they had, they would be sent to the Black Forest.
Amandina could only hope that these youths would not regret their choice.
She took out the pocket watch from her bosom. This pocket watch was given to her by Brendel. Even though it was just a cheap silver plated pocket watch, she had always used it carefully and treated it like a treasure. She did not plan to change it again.
She opened the watch and saw that it was almost eleven o 'clock in the morning.
She looked up and saw a mercenary running towards her from the field. The mercenary stopped in front of her and saluted her with one hand on his chest. "It's almost time, Miss —" he replied.
Amandina nodded.
The mercenary bowed to her again and ran back.
Amandina took a deep breath and blinked her eyes. She saw four large carts coming in from the other side of the clearing.
Of course, these carriages were different from the four-wheeled carriages used by the nobles. Compared to those exquisite handicraft-like things, these carriages were more like large, inferior products. Originally, these caravans were used by merchants and farmers to transport goods.
However, the mercenaries did not care about their use. They numbered the youths and gave them a number plate. The number plates were made by Brando based on the Schafflund Silver Mine. They were also made of wood, but under the rough workmanship were Tamar's magic imprints. They could be identified through a red crystal that was imprinted with detection magic.
These crystals were in the hands of the people in charge of this project, but other than Brando's crystal that was permanent, the others had to be replaced regularly.
After the youths got on the carts, the clearing became quiet. It was as if the discussions before were just an illusion. Amandina let out a sigh of relief.
She watched the last person get on the carts and turned to Scarlett. "Let's get on as well."
"Aren't we going with them?" Scarlett asked.
"We're going to the other side," Amandina turned around and walked towards the carts. "Our lord's whereabouts are a secret. We can't let others see our carts."
The red-haired girl nodded. She took a closer look at Amandina and felt a little admiration for her meticulousness.
"Do you want to go?" She followed Amandina and asked behind her back.
"What is it?"
"The Dark Forest."
Amandina stopped, but this time she did not answer.
… …
At the border of the Dark Forest.
Brando walked down from the carts and felt the lazy afternoon sun. He could not help but stretch his body. He raised his head and watched as the rays of the sun shone through the rows of black pine trees, forming a dazzling halo. The sparse sunlight in the forest fell on the grass.
Then he heard a grumble behind him: "I knew you were up to no good."
Brando turned around and saw Kodan jump down from the carts with a gloomy expression. Ever since the old man left Schafflund, he was dressed in military attire. He had a longsword, a dagger, a short bow, and a quiver of arrows. He looked more like an adventurer than a traveler.
He took a deep breath. Even though the Dark Forest was filled with danger, the air was refreshing. Even though the air was cold and damp, it had the freshness of the vegetation.
Kodan lowered his head and saw that his boots had landed on a thick layer of grass. He stomped his feet, causing the pests to scatter in all directions.
"Centipedes, scorpions … …" Kodan shook his head: "This place is really cursed."
"I heard that you fought outside the borders of civilization during the November War." Brando turned around and asked.
"Don't even talk about that." Kodan did not want to think about it. The November War was so fierce that they had to retreat into the Dark Forest to fight. It was also the only time after the New Age that the commanders had to recklessly devise a strategy. Both sides of the war were in a frenzy, like two dying beasts clawing at each other's throats, but no one could kill the other first.
The brutality of the war was beyond the imagination of the later generations. In a battle, there were often only a few dozen people left in the organized army. Sometimes, only a few people survived. Mountains of corpses and seas of blood could be seen on the battlefield. It was common for dozens of miles of land to be covered with corpses.
It was a hellish scene in most cold weapons battles.
Brando understood and did not mention it again.
Carglise, however, was the third to jump out of the carriage. The young man was the last to alight. He grabbed Mordenkainen off the coachman's seat and dragged the poor Elementalist a short distance into the forest.
"Let me go!" The man who had the duck as his familiar protested loudly. However, in terms of strength, he was no match for a Swordsman of a higher rank.
Carglise ignored the man and looked around. He took a deep breath and asked: "Is this the Dark Forest?"
"What? You're not satisfied?" Kodan turned around.
"It looks similar to the forest in Haragal Mountain." Carglise stared curiously into the depths of the forest. It was as dark as an oil painting.
"Hmph, I hope you don't regret it."
"Regret?" Carglise shook his head and grinned: "I did at first, but now I don't regret it at all. Why didn't I think of going into the Dark Forest for an adventure?"
"That's because you were just a little lunatic. You haven't met a big lunatic yet." Kodan looked at Brando and complained in his mind.
… (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please go to www.qidian.com to read more chapters. Support the author, support the original reading!)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
