Sling

Alfred stood near the window of his study, looking quietly at the serfs working down below. Unknown to him, a small smile had appeared on his face. This was the first time Alfred had smiled after transmigrating to this world. Why shouldn't he be? After all, with just a few ordinary reforms, Alfred was able to change so called spineless and lazy serfs into people who worked hard for their own freedom.

By just looking out of the window, he could group of serfs digging soil and making traps such pitfall outside the fortress walls. He could see another group collecting fallen branches and sharpening them into wooden javelins or making smaller ones into wooden stakes.

On one side, Alfred could see a group of serfs taking turns and practicing some basic spears skills like stab and thrust in turns. Although not everyone was doing well, little by little the serfs were getting the hang of listening to command and doing things accordingly.

As Alfred was contently watching the activity outside, a knock sounded from his behind.

"Come in." Alfred said without bothering to ask who was outside.

Nathan came in and saluted Alfred.

Alfred nodded and signaled Nathan to sit down.

"How is the training going outside? Are the serfs faring well?" Alfred asked Nathan.

Nathan nodded. "Yes, my lord. After eating that hearty meal, none of serfs are cowering and lazing around anymore. It was as if a spell has fallen upon them, they are competing with each other to see who could earn more merits." He explained.

"Well that is to be expected. After they have the motivation to work for something. Before these serfs were people with no hope in their life, doomed to suffer for eternity in their own misery till they die. What I did was just give them a little hope. By providing them with hope for a better future, all I did was provide them something to strive for. Something that each and every serf yearned in their hearths, freedom. And as for the result you could see for yourself."

"The lord's method is indeed quite effective. Not only the serfs have started work hard of their own accorded, there demure has improved." Nathan explained. "The most noticeable is their eyes. Whenever I noticed a serf previously, aside from their physical qualities, the most striking feature was there dead eyes. But after following the lord's plan, it is as if color had returned to the serf's eyes."

Alfred nodded his head in understanding, he very well knew what Nathan meant.

"By the way, has Newt and Graham left yet?"

"Yes, my lord. Both Newt and Graham have left the fortress yesterday, and have taken two hundred serfs with them." Nathan replied.

"Did they say how much time it will take them to come back with the supplies? Without that I don't think we have enough food to last the whole winter."

"As far as I now, they probably said that it will take them two weeks to deliver the food. We should have enough food for next month and a half.

"Good. What about the new weapon? How are the serfs fearing with it?" Alfred asked.

"Strangely the serfs are getting the hang of it rather quickly than expected. At least compared to learning some basic spear techniques, the serfs are getting more proficient in using the weapon called sling." Nathan replied.

Yes, Sling. Alfred has introduced sling to this world. After all, he did not think that there was any other weapon more suitable and easily produced than sling. It only required a small piece of cloth and two small piece of rope to make one.

And more importantly, for using sling one did not require much skill to operate and it was very easy to master. The sling was life saver to Alfred. Two days ago, when Alfred was brain storming about ways to fend off beast this winter, he remembered about slings. More importantly he remembered about the role of slingers in roman army. Able to hit target nearly 400 meters away, the sling was light to carry and easy to produce; not only that, ammunition in form of stones was readily available.

The slinger could easily fire from top of fortress walls and without risking their lives. But thinking was not enough for Alfred. Soon Alfred got to work and with the help of pink haired maid Agnes, Alfred made the first prototype and experimented with the sling by playing around with it for a while.

Then the very next day Alfred showed it to his vassals. At first, they were very skeptical about what Alfred had claimed. After all, no one in this world had used a sling previously nor had they seen one in action. But soon after Alfred's demonstrations and giving some explanations the vassals understood the sling's value.

From then on, Sling had become a major weapon of interest in the fight against the beasts. After all you do not need a sharpshooter to use the sling. Why bother doing that when you could keep throwing volley after volley and overwhelm the target with sheer amount of stones.

"So, there is no problem in using the sling, right?" Alfred asked.

"As far as I can tell, no." Nathen replied. "Due to the ease of using the weapon, many serfs adapted sling as there go to weapon and are showing good results in there training. I wish same could be said for archery and the spear training. The results in those two departments are quite slow."

"Hmm, its quite a surprise that sling was such a instant hit. I never thought these serfs would embrace the sling so whole heartedly." Alfred commented.

"Yes, that was indeed a surprise. But then again sling is a very easy weapon to master. So much so that I think a child could easily master it." Nathen said.

"Goods. What about the traps then?"

"All the traps are completed and are ready to be triggered during the beast attack. The serfs took extra care of concealing the traps and made sure that the traps will not be triggered accidentally. I personally did an inspection after the traps were completed and made sure that everything alright."

"And the workers?"

"They are now taking a break in the inside the fortress."

Alfred was just about reply to Nathan's words, suddenly sound of bells ringing from outside stopped him from speaking any word.

Now only one revelation was going on his mind. His previous happy mood vanished and what overtook it was fear. He looked up and saw the same expression on Nathans face. They both knew wait the bells signified.

"Beast Attack." They both said at the same time.

"Hurry, we need to go out there and need to take command of the situation." Alfred said anxiously. He feared that the serfs would not be able to maintain discipline and would run away. "I need to get down there now and make sure to raise the moral and reinstate discipline if I want to win the fight." Alfred thought to himself.

"My lord, I cannot allow you to join the fight." As Alfred was getting ready to go down, Nathen said obstructing Alfred.

"Nathen now is not the time for discussing such things. We need to do down first and take care of the situation. We can talk about this when we come back." Alfred tried to persuade Nathen.

Nathen sook his head indicating that he did not agree.

"My Lord, you are the future of Autarch family, I cannot allow you to take unnecessary risks." Nathen said.

"Nathen, we have already had this discussion before. I am the lord and you are my vessel, I don't need your permission to do anything. I said that I am going down then I am going down. No one can stop me." Alfred decisively said and left his study.

Nathen unable to persuade Alfred, Followed behind him closely.