First Battle

The first days of the months of the demons were very quiet. No alarm was sounded the entire time, making Roland slightly bored. It wasn't like he had nothing to do but he simply wanted some action. A person growing up like him found himself subconsciously craving for the action.

'Well, I can still work on a lot of things, such as a steam engine specialized for pumping the water, arranging the water pipes inside the castle and its rooms. Then there is also a primitive boiler, normal toilets and showers but I also shouldn't forget about the other things such as soap. Aside from luxury things, I already started building composters at specific locations all around the town. Before the winter ends, I should also be ready to make build a specific steam engine for use in agriculture, that way we should definitely be able to provide for ourselves. I also need to send some people to the other kingdoms to buy seeds of all kinds of crops they can find so I have some understanding of what this world is cultivating. Also, I can use this chance to send another boat of ores to Willow Town and hire some shipbuilders or carpenters from there but I doubt anyone would be willing to come here during this season, still, people can be overly greedy or desperate, maybe I will have luck on my side.'

Roland thought while writing everything down on paper so he wouldn't forget about anything.

A few more days passed and the alarm horn sounded only a few times and every time it was only once. Roland taught the recruits system of 3 types of alarms. Sounding the horn only once meant that the recruits might need a little help from other members stationed nearby in makeshift houses. Twice meant a bigger threat, which would slightly alarm Roland, and thrice in a row meant possible calamity. Roland made sure to teach them how to properly assess the situation so he had some trust in them. He had Iron Axe teach them all he knew about the demonic beasts so they could be even more efficient.

"Your Highness!" Carter barged inside Roland's office in a hurried manner.

"Hm?" Roland raised his head, listening to him.

"The alarm horn sounded thrice in a row!" Carter shouted which finally brought a smile to Roland's bored face.

"Let's go!" Roland said with a bit more enthusiasm than he probably should since his mood-change surprised Carter but he decided not to ask anything due to the situation.

Roland grabbed his coat and rushed outside the office with Carter running after him.

.

.

"What's the situation!" Roland arrived quite early and his presence alone surprised the recruits and patrol squad.

"*Did His Highness come to encourage us?"* Some recruits asked among themselves.

"Your Highness, several demonic beasts sighted in the distance. There are various sizes of them, ranging from small to big ones." Brian reported the situation while saluting, most likely taught by one of the recruits.

"Hm? Iron Axe, how come they don't attack each other? They should still retain some habits from when they haven't been corrupted yet, right?" Roland asked, after seeing foxes, wolves, and even bisons.

"Normally it's the fact they attack each other but this is too strange..." Iron Axe replied while looking at the approaching demonic beasts with narrowed eyes.

"Well, no matter how strange the situation is, it won't change the fact that this will become their graveyard in a short while." Roland said with a wide smile which actually brought some recruits past trauma from the training but it also gave them confidence.

"Your Highness, do you really mean to remain on the wall during the attack? It could get really dangerous with so many demonic beasts!" Carter expressed his concern.

"I am not going to let other people fight for me while I sit in a warm environment." Roland said, taking his musket from Carter who brought it with them from Roland's office.

Hearing his words, some of the more nervous recruits looked at each other before smiling, redirecting their sight forward with determined expressions.

"But you are a prince, Your Highness. Your work is to govern this town and its people and they are obliged to serve you..." Carter said with a helpless tone.

"Hm...Hey, recruits!" Roland was looking at Carter for a while before shouting at the recruits who were carefully observing the movement of the demonic beasts in the distance. They quickly turned their bodies towards Roland, carefully listening to his words.

"Are any of you here today because you are obliged to?! If you feel that way, you may go home and let others protect your asses because I don't need those who fight for me just because they have to!" Roland shouted at top of his lungs.

"No, Your Highness!" Recruits shouted in unison before returning to their preparations.

"...Your Highness, how is it possible to train them to this extent within a month when knight's training takes years?" Carter asked with an astonished expression. He thought that they were just acting this way during the training to get very rich meals but seeing how everyone ignored all those approaching demonic beasts just to pay attention to what Roland had to say...he couldn't help but feel in awe how Roland could train them to this extent in only 1 month.

"They would be instantly killed in close-quarters combat facing the knight. They don't have much combat experience, what they have is discipline. They won't flee until it would be already late for that. However, this training was hastened so there might come up some problems along the way. The most ideal length of training is 2 to 6 months then they can start learning right in the field." Roland replied in a quiet voice.

"They are on the move!" One of the recruits shouted bringing everyone's attention to the running beasts, quickly approaching the wall. The traps and obstacles set up by Roland worked just fine and divided the large group of demonic beasts into 3 groups. Oddly, the group running towards the section where Roland stood was the group composed only of wolves and 1 bison looking beast.

Roland took the aim and decided to make use of the first container with the gunpowder with sharp metal fragments mixed inside.

'Using it so quickly feels like a waste but there is a lot of the demonic beasts that don't have very tough fur so there is a higher chance that the metal fragments kill some of them.'

*Boom* *Bang!* Roland shot the container and the gunpowder inside ignited, causing smaller explosion. The explosion itself killed around 4 demonic beasts and the metal fragments killed 6 more and injured others, however, the bison like creature wasn't fazed by this at all and continued charging towards the wall.

"Kill those big demonic beasts first! Shoot them into the head with muskets and don't let them get anywhere close to the wall!" Roland quickly realized what the bison was aiming for and shouted at the hunters in the other sections.

"Carter, go support the other section, Iron Axe is already supervising one, you take the last one. There is no need for lectures so don't talk back to me right now and go!" Roland said, while quickly reloading the musket to take down the charging bison.

"Please be careful, Your Highness" Hearing his decisive tone, Carter just said those words before running off to the other section.

*Boom* Roland and a few hunters shot at the same time, successfully taking down the bison before it reached the wall.

'This situation reminds me of the battle of Helm's Deep, I guess we were more successful than Legolas or maybe bison just wasn't as tenacious as that Uruk Berserker. I should have held a speech as Aragorn did, I bet it would sound awesome. Why couldn't have I possessed the body of someone in the Middle-earth...' As everyone was preparing for another wave of wolves, Roland's mind wandered off somewhere else but he was still capable of reloading the gun several times faster than others.

The recruits on the wall near Roland managed to kill most of the remaining wolves but some of them managed to used bison's dead body as a ramp to jump on the wall.

"Don't let them bite you or you will truly die! You don't have to care about being injured by their claws!"

"Your Highness!" One of the recruits shouted to warn Roland who was focusing on the others. One of the wolves wanted to jump on the wall right where Roland was standing, however, when it was still in the air, Roland quickly slashed his dagger, cutting its throat before kicking it to fall outside the wall.

Roland quickly looked at the other 2 sections and saw that both Iron Axe and Carter had no problems keeping the demonic beasts at bay.

The rest of the demonic beasts that managed to jump on the wall were quickly dealt with.

"We won! We can defend ourselves against the months of the demons!"

"No longer we will have to suffer at the hands of Longsong Stronghold's nobles!"

"Your Highness!"

The recruits finally got the first taste of the victory over the demonic beasts which greatly improved their moods. They quickly saluted to Roland with a reverence visible in their eyes.

"*I had no idea His Highness is also capable of fighting...*"

"*Are dumb or what? Of course, he can, he spent some time training us, I would find it weirder if he couldn't fight after everything we have seen from him.*"

"*Still, he is a prince...in which kingdom can you see a prince fighting on the front lines?*" Once it was clear that no demonic beasts were coming for the time being, the recruits started whispering among themselves.

"Carter, Iron Axe, what are the casualties?" Roland asked when both of them returned

"Only 1 man slightly injured from both mine and your knight's section." Iron Axe said with a proud smile.

"Good, take them to Nana. We had no casualties on this side." Roland said, making Carter and Iron Axe look at each other in slight embarrassment since their sides were the only ones with casualties.

"Is that truly a good idea, Your Highness? They aren't serious injuries, they only need a few days of rest." Carter asked.

"Don't worry, I think the recruits already fear me more than a witch, haha. But jokes aside, I already had a short talk with them, don't worry too much about it." Roland laughed a bit before reassuring Carter who in the end nodded his head and led the injured to Nana.