The Archaic System

As I rose from my bow I could see the happiness in Morrow's eyes. He had bought every single thing I said. Even though almost everything I told him was a lie he completely believed every single word. The trick in weaving a good lie isn't just throwing in obscure details to hide it. The trick is in giving the listener something they desire and from the moment Morrow believed I was his long lost brother it made it easy for him to believe my words.

This is why even though it might seem absurd to give someone you just met who killed your right-hand man the position of Captain it had happened. I had convinced Morrow that I was his brother and that had filled a great longing in his heart. At this point it would be harder for him to not believe I'm his brother than to believe it. Even the most cold and callous of men would be defenseless in front of such a situation.

Similar events had occurred on Earth in my past life. Long lost children showing up on their parents door step and even after many inconsistencies they still believed that they were their child. Even in front of proof that the child was a con-artist the family would still insist that they are their child. Even if the rest of the world could see it the family would become blind to the truth. And now because of my knowledge of the past Morrow had fallen victim to the same trick and his belief in me was so strong that he made me the second most powerful person below him. After all Alexander Morrow had yet to reveal any information about his brother yet and as far as he knew this was a secret only him, his mother, and his brother would know. Even his father was unaware of the necklace and what it represented. After all, he never would have imagined someone from the future would be sent back to the past aware of his secret.

After accepting my role as Captain, Morrow sat me down and we discussed the Black Lion Village and my responsibilities. He had a well thought out plan and had built the village on a firm foundation. I gave him a few pieces of advise to help bolster the economy of the village as doing so would only benefit me in the future.

As the Captain I was the highest ranked member of the mercenary group/town guard, therefore while I oversaw the large picture the vast majority of the work was carried out by those beneath me. Under the Captain are 10 Lieutenants who are each responsible for 10 sergeants who each lead 10 mercenaries, all together it was a little over a thousand men. This was not a random number, it was carefully decided based on the income of the village and the number was not increased without the explicit order of Alexander Morrow as it would place a burden on the finances of the village. The pay scale was also based on what rank you held. As Captain I received 5 gold a week, Lieutenants recieved 2, Sergeants 1, and regular mercenaries received 20 silver.

The structure allows for a clear chain of command and a breakdown of responsibilities. Besides issuing orders to the Lieutenants my only other responsibilities were to occasionally fight in the arena to increase prestige, to lead expeditions to other areas as decided by Morrow, and to get stronger.

After discussing the village and my responsibilities Morrow became very serious as he looked at me, "Have you heard of the Yellow Wolf Bandits?"

Naturally I had been expecting this to come up at some point and nodded, "Yes, some of the villagers have talked about how vicious they are. They must be quite the thorn in your side."

He grinned, "Actually they are also under my command. You must understand brother, Agartha is a cruel world and we have to rule with an iron fist. The reason my Black Lion Village has flourished to this degree is because the villagers remain in fear of the Yellow Wolf Bandits and have to rely on our "protection". Without this there would be chaos and the populace would be hard to control. It is a necessary thing"

I faked a look of admiration and shock on my face, "Brother you are so clever, this is indeed an incredible strategy and the best way to build a village."

Morrow broke out into a huge smile, no doubt he had believed my act, "Good I am glad you understand. However, you won't have to dirty your hands personally. I have someone else who oversees that side of things and he will only occasionally need you to assist him when your men need to "take care" of the bandits. The person who leads them is named Cain Ward. He is an odd fellow but he gets the job done."

Naturally I already knew this, yet it still took everything I had to maintain my expression and not leak any killing intent. I hated Ward even more than I hated Sauer. Not to mention he is by far more cunning and will probably be my greatest obstacle in taking the village over.

Morrow continued, "I will announce your appointment to Captain tomorrow at midday at which time you can meet the lieutenants still with us, as well as Ward. For now you can go and collect your things and take care of any business you need to. Sauer's manor will be handed over to you and I will have the guards of the manor replaced."

When Morrow said, "still with us" he was obviously alluding to the fact that some of the mercenaries were on Sauer's list and that he would have them removed before tomorrow. When Black Lion Village woke tomorrow no less than 30 members of the mercenary group would have breathed their last, including two lieutenants and seven sergeants.

This was actually beneficial to me since the men loyal to Sauer would not be easy to control or win to my side. It would also allow me to put my own men in place since I would be in charge of finding the replacements for the two lieutenants and through them five of the sergeants. This would help me get closer to achieving the very same thing Sauer had attempted in my past life. Taking over Black Lion Village.

There was still about four hours left before night and I still had a few things to do. This included collecting my winnings from the gambling house, retrieving my items from the Inn, and visiting the origin stone since I had enough essence to level up again.