This Overlord Doesn't Care About Anything

Book 1: Chapter 28: One Must Suffer Hardship To Become Stronger

Three days later, 81 soldiers returned without a single one missing.

Their complexions clearly improved and a smile was upon all their faces. After seeing me, all of them started talking simultaneously:

Sir Feudal Lord, when will we start the training!1

Thats right! Lets start the training a bit earlier so that well be able to gain the ability to resist the invasion of the Demons from the west!

We cant just rely on Felita, we West-Resisting City youngsters arent just here to stay as spectators!

Their enthusiasm, which could be said to be unprecedented, was surging, and each and every one of them had appearances vastly different from their original half-dead state.

Its very simple, really. Originally, they were going forward with enlisting knowing that they were going to die in order to gain some compensation money for their families. However, they didnt expect that the compensation money would be sent out in advance, nor that they werent battling in order to die, so naturally they ignited their will to live. Only when there is a will to live will they ponder over how theyre going to survive. On the battlefield, theres only one way to survive; be stronger than the enemy side, manifold stronger, so that when they do fight with the enemy side, theyll be able to absolutely crush them and lessen casualties as far as possible!

That is why they wish to become stronger.

In my opinion, the root of whether or not an individual is strong lies in whether or not he has the notion of becoming stronger.

When every person has this kind of thought, only then will an armys combat power enter the stage of steadily rising.

Even so.

Ignorance is intolerable.

I instantly roared at them:

You want to fight the Demons? Have you all lost your minds, or do you think Ive lost my mind? What do you guys have right now? Nothing! Your martial arts is still in the entry-level stage, you dont even know a bit of magic, you havent trained in formations, and most importantly, you guys dont even know each other. You want to go fight the Demons in this state? Being hot-blooded is a fine thing indeed since your blood wont go cold, but dont let it get to your head! Dont be impulsive, and dont unnecessarily sacrifice your life.

A spell of silence fell onto the crowd.

I scoured the crowd and discovered that the strongest out of this group of 81 was a 25 or 26 year-old man. From what I could see, he uses a blade and should be approximately a Level 1 Bladesman with strength nearing Level 2. Therefore, I raised my hand and called him out:

You, leave ranks.

The young man soundlessly stood before my eyes.

Whats your name?

Lugh.

I nodded then said to the remaining people:

As of right now, this person has power close to that of a Level 2 Bladesman. I dont know much about you all, so Ill make him your temporary captain. If you are unsatisfied with this arrangement, you can go up on stage immediately to fight him. If you win, the position of captain is yours.

There were two young men who were unconvinced so they went up on stage, but Lugh won them in the end.

The other people naturally didnt have anything to say. I had never even seen Lugh before, so there were no acts of favoritism at all and it could be said that I was acting impartially.

After seeing everyone approve of my arrangement, I sternly lectured:

You all want to defeat Demons, this is very good. Having this thought is very good, but it isnt suitable to put into practice as of right now. You all still need a great deal of training and not just to promote your own strength, but also to promote the tacit understanding within your troop. I know I wont be able to raise an army of several thousands, so I plan on nurturing you all to be my blade. You must become sufficiently sharp, must be able to overcome dangers, and must be able to dare fight battles that other people dare not to. 81 people, excluding the captain Lugh, will split into 8 squadrons with 10 people to each squadron and one person shall be elected as the team leader. During this period of time, apart from training, each person within the squadron must be as familiar as to each members name, age, physical characteristics and so on. Again, what I want is an army, not a simple rag-tag group.

Every one of them yelled with all their might:

Yes!

I turned to Aleya and said:

During this time, youll need to visit the barracks every morning and evening. Teach them the foundation that I taught you when you were learning swordsmanship, that 5 kilometer run, push-ups, sit-ups, single parallel bar and so on, let these inexperienced bodies undergo these trials. In addition, teach them military boxing since itll be useful.

The people below were at a total loss as to what I was talking about.

Aleya coolly nodded and exposed a trace of a smile.

I still remember in those days when she would fall down due to dehydration and the heavy weight on her back as she ran, with her bloody knees wiping blood onto the ground beneath. There was a time when I indifferently stood by her side with a sun-blocking parasol and squatted down to ask her:

Tired?

At the time, Aleya nodded. In response, I asked her with a grin her:

Suppose on another day my head is chopped off by someone and youre just watching on powerlessly by the side. It might very well be because you werent able to complete todays training and werent able to become sufficiently strongdo you believe me?

At that time, Aleya crawled up from the ground with a face full of tears, as if she had seen that miserable future, and began running staggeringly. And I, who had casually threatened her, followed behind her, waiting to bring her back once she was thoroughly exhausted.

Recalling these past events, it truly wasnt easy for her.

And now, these ignorant young people were most likely going to experience that pain of transformation from Aleya.

How truly exciting to think about!

I shook my head with a smile on my face, then beckoned towards Lugh:

You stay behind, I still have something to tell you.

1. I translated as Overlord in the title, but over here when theyre using to call the MC, it means Feudal Lord. Aka, Lord of a Fiefdom.