"What the fuck is this!?"
*Bang*
"Language."
It was not as though Yvanna wanted to swear, she's gotten hit plenty of times for swearing and made it a habit of hers not to swear in front of her parents or Ursus. But the sight before her was truly too much for her to comprehend.
"Apologies, but Ursus, what in the world am I seeing here?"
Yvanna apologized and pointed at the courtyard filled with women of different ages and stature. Some of them were quite young while others were in their forties. which, for Polar Bear-kins who lived till 180 - 200, was somewhere around the 80s.
Every single one of them was different save for the matching white hair and the slightly lean but muscular stature. This was also due to the fact that almost all of them were Polar bear-kin.
Ursus chuckled a deep sound that echoed through the corridor,
"Your father decreed it yesterday that your entourage shall consist solely of women because he was afraid you might end up... dishonored if the entourage had men in it."
Yvanna scoffed.
As if! Her preference was, and remains to date, a tall woman with a lean build and curvaceous figure!
No way she would be trying to sleep with a man, they were simply not her type.
And the whole reason she was trying to fill her entourage was so she could cut down on their living expenses.
Ursus, unaware of the conflict going on in her head, continued,
"And as I am sure you are aware, Lord Rochelot promised you fifty soldiers, ten warriors, three knight apprentices, and one knight. I took the liberty of gathering all those who were free and willing to join you in your endeavor. As you can see, quite a few have gathered to heed your call."
'Heed my call my ass! Most of them are recruits and are either too old or too young!'
This man was starting to get on her nerves.
Yvanna rolled her eyes discreetly, maintaining her composure despite the internal frustration. She glanced over the group Ursus had assembled, some were wearing rusted armor while some were in leather clothes, she even spotted one or two with leather armor but those were incomplete too.
"Very well, Ursus. Thank you for your efforts,"
She replied, her voice steady but edged with sarcasm.
"I suppose I should start picking out the ones who would be following me."
Ursus nodded, seemingly pleased with Yvanna's response. He gestured towards the group of assembled individuals.
"As you wish, my lady. Take your time to inspect them. I've ensured they all understand the honor of serving under your command. Of course, if you like, I have prepared a room for you to talk with them individually."
Yvanna took a moment to scan the group and she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. There was barely a hint of experience in them, but they were disciplined at least. Standing in ten rows of ten, there were roughly a hundred people in the courtyard.
'This is gonna take all day isn't it.'
She decided to take Ursus up on his offer to speak with them individually. If nothing else, it would give her a chance to gauge their skills and personalities, and, maybe even use the product appraisal function on them to pick out the most talented ones.
Nodding slightly to Ursus, she addressed the group.
"I thank you all for answering the call to serve. Your willingness to join me on this endeavor is commendable. It is regrettable but I must inform you that only a fraction of your numbers would be allowed to join my entourage to the Frostspear. Now I'll be speaking with each of you individually."
Yvanna descended the stairs and walked into the room Ursus had prepared for the interview. It was a small room, but at least it was all clean and neatly arranged. There was a desk at the center of the room with a chair on each side, probably to facilitate the interview.
She took the seat behind the desk, and Ursus stood by the doorway, ready to usher in the candidates one by one. The first person to enter was a young woman in worn leather armor, she had a bow on her and a sword strapped to her waist with a cloak draped over her body.
Yvanna studied her for a moment before speaking,
"Tell me your name and why you wish to join my entourage."
The young woman straightened up and spoke with a mix of nerves and determination,
"My name is Elara, my lady. I wish to join your entourage because I've always dreamt of serving a noble house. I may lack experience, but I am willing to learn and give my best to protect and serve you. I am skilled with a bow, my lady. I've been practicing archery since I was a child. I may not be a seasoned warrior, but I am a quick learner, and I am dedicated to honing my skills..."
The girl or rather Elara shot off into a monologue but Yvanna ignored her words and instead opened the system panel,
'Product Appraisal'
[Item Name: Elara]
[Race: Polar Bear-kin]
[Age: 19]
[GIFT: Snow Hunter(Locked)
[Aptitude:
- Aether: Tier 6{Expand}
- Mana: Tier 0{Expand}
- Craftsman: Tier 6{Expand}]
[Current Level: Tier 1 Frost Fiend Archer(80%)]
[Loyalty: House Rochelot(High), Mother Winter(High)]
[Commodity Tier:
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
- Tier 1 Battle Slave
- Tier 1 Sex Slave
- Tier 3 Craftsman Slave]
{Current Price: 2 Gold Fangs}
There was a stat she had never seen before, what was with the 'Loyalty' stat?
'Maybe it shows the person's loyalty towards others?'
[Loyalty: Yvanna Rochelot(High -> Moderate)]
'Eh?'
Why did her loyalty fall all of a sudden?
She looked up and saw Elara covering up her chest with a slightly bashful look on her face. It appears that Yvanna's gaze, which was on the interface, was in line with Elara's chest and she thought that Yvanna was a pervert who stared at her chest instead of listening to her introduction.
'Troublesome.'
She faked a cough, trying to snap Elara out of her bashful embarrassment,
"Your loyalty to the house is commendable, Elara. However, if you are to join my entourage, then you must follow all my commands."
Elara nodded. A mixture of relief and determination was evident in her expression.
"Yes, my lady. I understand and swear my loyalty to you and House Rochelot."
Yvanna continued to assess Elara, asking random semi-personal questions regarding her past to increase her loyalty.
[Loyalty: Yvanna Rochelot(Moderate -> High)]
About ten minutes passed and Yvanna now knew the names of Elara's childhood friends and the number of aspirations she had since she was a child.
"Very well, you are accepted in the Frostspear garrison."
Elara nodded, expressing her gratitude, and exited the room.
The interview process continued, Yvanna waited for the next candidate to enter and made sure the system interface was in line with the candidate's face rather than their chest.
The next candidate was a slightly older woman with a sturdy build and a scar across his cheek. She introduced himself as Clara, expressing her desire to join Yvanna's entourage due to her experience as a seasoned warrior and her loyalty to House Rochelot.
Yvanna proceeded to use the Product Appraisal function on Clara.
'Product Appraisal'
[Item Name: Clara]
[Race: Polar bear-kin]
[Age: 28]
[GIFT: Iron Will(Locked)]
[Aptitude:
- Aether: Tier 7{Expand}
- Mana: Tier 1{Expand}
- Craftsman: Tier 3{Expand}]
[Current Level: Tier 2 Frost Fiend Soldier(60%)]
[Loyalty: House Rochelot(High), Yvanna Rochelot(Moderate)]
[Commodity Tier:
- Tier 3 Battle Slave
- Tier 2 Sex Slave
- Tier 1 Craftsman Slave]
{Current Price: 13 Gold Fangs}
The loyalty towards Yvanna was marked as moderate from the get-go. But what actually perplexed her was the reason why her tier was so low.
'Maybe because she isn't suited to be a Light Infantry. With her build, I would've guessed she was a heavy infantry.'
Yvanna contemplated this for a moment but decided to focus on the interview. She questioned Clara about her combat experience, her loyalty to the house, and her motivations for joining her entourage.
Clara was an orphan, born on the icy streets of Ovley, the Rochelot Barony's main city, and was taken in by the army as she turned 8. Since then she has been part of the Rochelot troops until recently when Ursus asked her to join up with Yvanna.
As far as combat experience goes, she had been part of several skirmishes on the barony's borders which separated them from the Coyote Kingdom.
"very well then, Carla, welcome to the Frostspear stronghold."
[Loyalty: Yvanna Rochelot(Moderate -> High)]
'Eh?'
She just talked with the woman for a couple of minutes and the loyalty went up? How's that possible?
[Occupations:
- Daughter of a High-Baron->Knight
- Loyalty of subordinates increases at a faster rate.
- Effectively command 100 subordinates
- When in battle, Increase subordinates' combat power by 5%
- Stronghold Overseer->Stronghold Commander
- Takes 10% fewer resources to maintain a stronghold
- Increases subordinates' combat power by 10% when under siege]
'That's a nice little change!'
Clara expressed her gratitude before leaving the room.
The interviews continued, with Yvanna meeting various individuals, each with their unique skills, backgrounds, and reasons for joining. The Product Appraisal function provided her with insights into their abilities and loyalty, allowing her to make informed decisions.
As the day progressed, Yvanna started to feel exhausted. It's been years since she had to do this much work. Now all she wanted was a nice meal and her warm bed.
Yvanna sighed, she had spent the past ten hours constantly talking to women with all sorts of advantages and disadvantages. Some were clueless muscleheads, and some were a bit smarter but that only went so far as to ride a horse, and some were pretty smart, and by that, she meant they knew crafts other than fighting.
Then comes the personality, which was pretty simple considering about half of them only went so far as being hungry or angry while the rest were downright complex and fried the heck out of her brain. Heck, she was pretty sure she even spotted a spy in their ranks
[Item Name: Julia
[Race: Spirit bear-kin]
[Age: 30]
[GIFT: Conceal]
[Aptitude:
- Aether: Tier 5{Expand}
- Mana: Tier 2{Expand}
- Strength: Tier 0{Expand}]
[Current Level: Tier 4 Frost Fiend Assassin(90%)]
[Loyalty: House Rochelot(None), Yvanna Rochelot(None), Etobearis Royal Family(High)]
[Commodity Tier:
- Tier 3 Battle Slave
- Tier 1 Sex Slave
- Tier 0 Craftsman Slave]
{Current Price: 9 Gold Fangs}
'A spy from the royal court? Tch, troublesome.'
While it may appear united to the outside forces, Etobearis Kingdom was anything but whole. The bear-folks were divided into three major factions, namely the Old Nobility, the New Nobility, and the Royal Family. Heck, even the Bee-kin were divided into two groups, the Spectators and the Royal Family.
The bee-kins were the only reason why the Royal family was still... well... 'Royal.' Otherwise, by now the Royal family would have changed at least five times in the past decade.
*Sigh*
'It's a pain in the ass to deal with noble politics!'
Yvanna slumped down on the desk, contemplating where her peaceful, freeloading life disappeared too.
Meanwhile, Ursus, who had been keeping watch outside the door throughout the day, noticed her unusual appearance and began reminding her why responsibilities were a pain in the ass to deal with.
"Young lady, have you decided on who's going alongside you and who won't? If you have, please hand me the list of the names so I can finish processing their documents,
"Yeah, yeah. I got the list right here."
She waved her hand and handed over the piece of paper containing the names of all 39 women that had been selected by her.
"Seems like you are quite the picky one, but I think you made a mistake here."
He gently placed the paper in front of her,
"Out of these thirty-nine women, about eighteen are Tier-2 soldiers. Your quota was ten Tier-2 not more than that."
Yvanna heaved a sigh, wondering how to explain the problem to this sharp old coot.
"No, I am not mistaken. I will not be taking a knight with me and in exchange, I demand to increase the number of Tier-2 soldiers."
Ursus glared at her,
"Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?"
Yvanna gulped.
Truth be told, she was not. A knight was vastly more powerful than a Tier 2 or Tier 3 infantry. Heck, despite being only a Tier 3 on the cavalry chain, a knight could fight against Tier 4 or even Tier 5 infantry.
Currently, the House Rochelot commands five hundred Knights! two hundred and fifty High Knights, fifty Knight Captains, and five Knight Commanders. Among them were her father and mother, both of them were Knight Commander ranks.
Taking even a single Knight with her would have made the machine called 'Rochelot Barony' stumble in its steps.
That's why Ursus was trying his hardest to achieve what Yvanna just suggested and he was more than happy to accommodate her request.
"Very well then, young miss, I will try my best to fill up your ranks so you don't have to take the Knight apprentices too."
There seemed to be a strange fire burning within his eyes as he declared those words and rushed out of the room, leaving behind an open-mouthed and stunned Yvanna.
'Isn't this bastard a bit too excited to see me leave?'