The Dragon Girl would never like the Lord.

Page 130

There was no other way; they only had one hundred knights of their own caliber, and these were all potential Holy Knights. At most, they would select three skilled in mounted archery to become swift archers, and the rest would be kept for future promotion to Holy Knights.

As for the potions for Shadow Assassins and Mages, let's see who among them is willing to become one of those two professions, at least to get the potions in the encyclopedia first.

The rest is to clear the road to Winter City, then recruit suitable subordinates and begin training them.

"understood."

Fiona didn't ask why, and turned around to get on with the matter.

"Yalman, gather all the ordinary knights together. I have something to arrange."

The hunting party matter should be resolved as soon as possible. First, have our own knights take the Swift Archer Potion, and then have them teach the selected hunters how to ride horses and shoot arrows.

After a few days of training, let Fria take them out hunting. With Shemir around, they'll surely have a bountiful harvest every day, and they won't have to worry about meat this winter.

Of course, next year won't be as comfortable, since the prey in a place is limited. If you hunt all winter this year, the prey will decrease next year.

But don't panic. The marshland is covered in lush green grass for three seasons of the year, making it ideal for raising cattle, sheep, geese, and ducks.

We can set up a livestock farm, then we won't have to worry about meat. Plus, with the newly cultivated wheat fields, even if the population increases several times over, we won't have to worry about food.

Self-production and self-sales are very important.

Expanding territory involves more than just fighting and killing; resources and food are equally important, as they determine whether a territory can be profitable and gradually grow stronger.

Ron's plan was to seize at least a third of the fertile land in the far north, and then use that as a starting point to make the far north his rear base, where he could cultivate land, store grain, and produce resources and food. This way, he could rest easy when the north was in chaos.

Let those nobles beat people senseless, while we focus on developing our own strength and expanding our military.

Wait until they are both severely weakened before striking with lightning speed!

On this day, Ron will let the entire North know that Leonard has returned!

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Soon, the knights were assembled; all the remaining knights, except for the Holy Knight, were present.

When they saw Ron emerge from the tent, they knelt on one knee and respectfully performed a wai (a gesture of respect for someone of lower status).

"Lord Lord!"

"Everyone, get up."

Ron raised his hand, signaling them to stand up, and then dropped a bombshell.

"Next, you will compete in mounted archery. The top three will receive a potion of Swift Archer."

In fact, at first, he had considered whether to select an excellent hunter from among the people to become a swift archer.

After much thought, I decided to put an end to the idea.

The reason is simple: favors and rewards cannot be given too much at once, otherwise it may cause serious consequences.

Moreover, if the potions are simply distributed to farmers, what will the knights who fight alongside them think?

Therefore, we should wait until the next batch of potions is produced in large quantities before considering selecting a few obedient and loyal farmers from the hunting party to become swift archers.

In Ron's view, when selecting subordinates, excellence is only the third criterion; loyalty and obedience are the primary conditions.

If someone lacks both of these qualities, they will definitely not be given important responsibilities by him.

"Great! My childhood dream has always been to be a marksman."

A young knight spoke with some excitement, saying that he would never have become a knight if it weren't for his parents' insistence.

But there's nothing we can do about it. The Kingdom of Saint Tiss is a nation founded on horsemanship, and it only possesses one relatively complete magic potion: the Holy Knight.

Therefore, other professions can only serve as supporting roles, which has led to the burying of many talented individuals in the Kingdom of Saint Tis who are extremely gifted in archery, magic, assassination, and other professions, wasting their good talents.

But things are different now; Ron has the complete potion recipes for all professions.

After becoming a regional overlord, he established the Twelve Academies to cultivate powerful professionals.

Anyone with talent can shine.

Many of the remaining knights were eager to try; men have an innate love for archery, especially when it comes to shooting...

"A mounted archery contest from 100 meters away, with ten arrows. The top three will receive the Swift Archer Potion."

In the future, when going out hunting, they will need to shoot arrows on horseback, so Ron intends to train a mounted archery legion.

Ordinary archers are too clumsy; once a knight gets close, they're lambs to the slaughter.

Moreover, the knight is very fast and can easily overtake the stunned shot.

On battlefields with so many knights in the Kingdom of Saintis, training only dazed archers would be pointless, only useful for defense on the city walls.

If a direct confrontation breaks out, they will be slaughtered.

But archery is different. Both are on horseback, so there's no reason why an archer should be slower than a knight.

However, archery on horseback is difficult because both you and the enemy are moving, requiring day and night training to master the key to mounted archery.

Ron believed that through a series of hunts, a group of excellent swift archers would be trained.

Soon, under Ron's orders, the knights began to line up and take turns shooting at the targets.

However, a dozen or so knights gave up, because their dream was to become holy knights and the sword of the Leonard family.

Ron has made a note of these people, and he will give them priority when he makes the Holy Knight Potion next time.

The reason for doing this is simple: since they have the will to become powerful knights, taking the potion and becoming holy knights will only accelerate their future growth.

"Master, how come the maid knew nothing about your purchase of the Swift Archer Potion?"

In Fiona's opinion, Ron's mastery of the Holy Knight's Potion was already astonishing enough.

I never imagined that the Swift Archer's potion was also made by him.

They treated it as a cheap, low-quality potion to be given to the knights for future hunting.

That jerk of a master! He's been hiding so many things from me lately!

"You didn't ask."

Although his maid was extremely loyal, Ron had no intention of telling her everything.

He plans to keep the fact that he has mastered all the professional potion recipes a secret from Fiona for the time being.

It's not too late to talk about it when we start training people for these professions.

“Master must be hiding many things from the maid.”

Upon hearing this, Fiona pouted, revealing an unhappy expression.

"Don't worry, I'll give you all the secrets tonight."

Ron licked his lips and looked at the maid beside him with a wicked grin.

To be honest, he was quite looking forward to what would happen that night.

After all, this was the first time he had spoken to his own maid.

"I knew that bastard master was looking forward to this, but the maid already said it was only for the master to give her feet..."

Upon hearing the man's words, Fiona rolled her eyes in disdain.

"Master, you should focus on the outcome of this competition."

The owner of this astringent creature thinks about those things no matter what she does, and this is no exception now.

If I were left alone here, who knows what my master would do...

Soon, the results came out, and the young knight who had said that being an archer was his dream won first place.

In the 100-meter target shooting exercise, only one arrow missed the target, while the rest hit the target precisely, including two arrows that hit the nine-ring.

It must be said that he is very talented, and judging from his bow-drawing movements, he has obviously trained regularly.

Such a promising talent; he might become an excellent archer in the future.

"Alright, Aubrey, Bishop, Balk, this is the reward for the top three in this archery competition: the Swift Archer Potion."

Ron took out the potion he had prepared beforehand, handed it to the three of them, and said with a smile:

"Keep up the good work, all three of you. I hope to see your heroic figures on the battlefield in the future."

The first to take the potion and become a lightning archer will have more experience and a higher absorption rate of the potion than those who come after them.

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, one of these three will become the archer legion commander, and the other two, if not deputy commanders, will become captains.

"Thank you for your guidance, Lord. We will dedicate our lives to Leonard and to you."

They gave a solemn knightly salute, but their inner excitement was still evident in their trembling hands.

Being able to take a potion is the lifelong dream of many ordinary knights, and being able to take a potion they like is even rarer.

Therefore, they cherished it so much that their eyes welled up with tears after receiving encouragement from the lord.

They would never forget this day, and they would always remember that it was the man before them who gave them the magic potion...

"You bastard master! Others get potions either by being given them directly or through their own abilities, but when you give them to the maid, you have to do those things~"

Fiona suddenly remembered the help she had given him when he gave her the potion, for the sake of his dream.

I still vividly remember that feeling.