A Realistic Mount & Blade Game

Having ascended the city wall, under the dim night sky, lay the entirety of the village, dotted with countless bonfires and torches.

In the center was the residential area, primarily composed of 30 Swadian longhouses; to the west was the military camp; to the east, the commercial district and the city gate that opened in the same direction.

To the north stood the castle, perched atop a 10-meter-high concrete platform, while to the south, vast farmlands occupied the agricultural zone, where even in the darkness, one could discern the lush, uncut wheat.

And outside the southern city wall, neatly scattered, were 12 mu of wheat fields, 5 mu of pumpkin patches, and 5 mu of cabbage fields.

All were filled with wheat, pumpkins, and cabbages.

Yet to be harvested.

“It seems the fields outside the city walls are also receiving the protection of the Mount \u0026 Blade rules.”

Shen Mu peered out from between the merlons he had specially built on the city wall.

Outside the southern city wall and moat, those fields, though shrouded in darkness, were not enveloped by much gray fog.

Even as Shen Mu stood on the city wall, witnessing several skeletons or zombies lumbering out from within, entering the fields, trampling the flourishing wheat, cabbages, and pumpkins,

they merely wandered about.

They were not death spirit monsters descending from the darkness and gray fog, from the rules of necromancy!

“Those monsters are trampling the village's fields,” Bandak remarked, having noticed them as well.

A hint of anger crossed his honest face.

He reached for his heavy crossbow, eyeing the distance of barely a hundred meters; if he wished, he could accurately strike those slow-moving, low-level death spirit monsters that occasionally paused, standing idly in place.

“No need to be tense, Bandak,” Shen Mu said, halting his action.

“Sir, those are the assets the farmers have cultivated with their sweat,” Bandak said, displeased that the villagers' property was being trampled by those death spirit monsters.

“I will arrange for the villagers to harvest the wheat in those fields at dawn,” Shen Mu reassured him.

He understood Bandak's character.

After all, even if the protagonist became king in the world of Mount \u0026 Blade: Warband, ennobling all the NPC heroes as nobles and lords, Bandak was an exception.

Because Bandak would refuse to become a noble, refusing to own any territory.

Instead, he called himself the Protector of the People, resolutely severing ties with the special upper-class hierarchy of nobles.

This was why, when Shen Mu learned that the first NPC hero to arrive was Bandak, he treated this hero who used crossbows with such courtesy.

Whether in the game or in reality now, a person with compassion and moral principles

is worthy of respect.

Thus, Shen Mu then assigned Bandak: “Bandak, after you familiarize yourself with the village's environment, I need you to be responsible for arranging the night's patrols and the soldiers' guard duty.”

Bandak had been in Calradia for a long time after all, so these basic tasks were certainly familiar to him.

At least he possessed the professionalism that came from battlefield experience.

“Understood! Thank you for your trust in me, Lord Shen Mu!” Bandak bowed his head in affirmation.

He indeed had the confidence and expertise.

“Mm, that’s good,” Shen Mu nodded with a slight smile.

Then, leading Bandak, he circled around the city wall at their feet, returning to the direction of the castle's main building on the north side of the village.

The platform beneath the castle's main building was indeed connected to the city walls on both sides, all standing 10 meters high.

Adding in the 9-meter-high castle's main building,

in the darkness, it resembled a giant standing on that platform, guarding the village.

And to ascend onto that platform, one needed to use a zigzagging staircase of the ramp type.

The staircase also perfectly aligned with the firepower coverage range of the castle's tower and balcony.

Therefore, even if the enemy breached the defenses of the city wall,

invading the village,

they would still need to continue attacking the platform and the castle's main building on top!

Even in terms of the difficulty of attack, the two city wall entrances without gates were currently the easiest to attack.

On the contrary, the combination of the castle and the platform was truly easy to defend and difficult to attack!

“This is quite good,” Shen Mu, having inspected the modification plan he had conceived in the Magic Ball in a short time, nodded in satisfaction.

Time was short, and he had to consider the underground garage and dismantle the apartment building.

To have come up with this was not bad.

“Lord Shen Mu, in that case, I will go arrange the soldiers' patrol duties and the sentry posts at key locations,” Bandak reported.

“Mm, go ahead,” Shen Mu nodded.

Bandak then saluted and left.

Regarding Bandak as a general, even though he had just arrived, Shen Mu was quite confident in him.

“In that case, I can return to the room on the second floor and get a good rest, right?” Shen Mu's lips curled up at this thought.

In the past, he had always kept watch alone, and even with Mount \u0026 Blade soldiers, he dared not relax easily due to various trivial matters.

He really hadn't had a good night's sleep in quite some time.

Now that Bandak had arrived,

he could obviously hand over much of the command for routine patrols or defending against small-scale incursions to Bandak.

“That’s a relief,” Shen Mu relaxed, feeling a bit weary in his heart.

“You guys wait in the hall,”

Shen Mu turned his head, instructing the 10 Swadian Heavy Knights who were acting as his guards to remain in the castle hall.

“Yes, Lord Shen Mu,” the 10 Swadian Heavy Knights immediately thumped their chests and responded in unison.

Shen Mu followed the spiral staircase to the second floor of the castle.

“Lord Shen Mu!” A Swadian Recruit wielding a long-handled scythe also saluted and greeted him near the spiral staircase.

“Mm,” Shen Mu nodded.

However, when he arrived at the vast space on the second floor of the castle, he discovered a figure in a black robe with a hood sitting in the corner.

Surrounding her were a dozen short figures.

It was Liu Na and her 12 Halflings.

“Sh… Lord Shen Mu!”

Elder Polo, the leader, noticed Shen Mu's arrival and quickly stood up.

He also vigorously tugged at Liu Na, who was squatting there, leaning against the wall, looking drowsy, and whispered a reminder: “Wake up, everyone! Lord Shen Mu is here!”

“Ah… oh!” Liu Na, who was already in a state of wanting to sleep but unable to, immediately woke up completely.

She quickly scrambled to her feet like the Halflings next to her.

Then, they respectfully saluted and greeted Shen Mu:

“Lord Shen Mu!”

“Mm,” Shen Mu nodded.

At this moment, he also remembered these nominal allies he had taken in.

Of course, in reality, they were vassals.

“We… we saw the power you wield, it is truly too… powerful…”

The halfling elder, Polo, spoke with an unusual tone. He had lost not only the slight air of superiority befitting an elder but also the pride of being a follower of Liena, the level 2 Druid.

Instead, he was very respectful, bowing his head with an awed tone and saying, "We hope we can be of some use to you."

His words were almost humble.

"Of course, Elder Polo. I very much hope that you and Miss Liena will take good care of my fields."

Shen Mu smiled, considering it a reassurance to them.

However, looking at these halflings, he said calmly, "From now on, I hope you will still live here. There are many rooms on the second floor of the castle's main building. I will arrange two rooms specifically, one for Miss Liena and another for you halflings to live in."

Regarding the secrets of Mount \u0026 Blade, Shen Mu didn't want these halflings to understand too clearly.

He needed to restrict their range of activity.

"Thank you for your generosity, Lord Shen Mu." The halflings and Liena understood, so they bowed again to express their gratitude.

"That's all." Shen Mu waved to the hired sentries guarding the balcony, instructing them to arrange the rooms on the second floor of the castle's main building.

Then, he entered his room, sat on the narrow bed, and lay down without even taking off his chainmail.

"Hah!" Shen Mu exhaled a deep breath.

This feeling of relaxation...

He hadn't enjoyed it in a long time.

"But this chainmail is really a bit heavy." After resting for a while, Shen Mu got up again and quickly removed the Sacred Tree set from his body, placing it on a bedside table.

He changed into a simple round-necked robe and stretched his shoulders slightly.

This time, both his body and spirit...

Could finally relax.

At the same time, a wave of weariness quietly emerged in his heart.

Shen Mu felt a little sleepy.

"But before going to sleep, there's still some work to be done."

In Shen Mu's mind, the system dialog box appeared.

[Ding! You have soldiers that can be upgraded!]

[You have 10 Swadian Footmen that can be upgraded to Swadian Sergeants (Tier 5 Long Spear Heavy Infantry)]

[You have 20 Hired Sentries that can be upgraded to Hired Crossbowmen (Tier 4 Crossbowmen)]

[You have 10 Lake Rat Gang Veterans that can be upgraded to Lake Rat Gang Destroyers (Tier 4 Heavy Armored Throwing Infantry)]

[You have 25 Lake Rat Gang Recruits that can be upgraded to Lake Rat Gang Veterans (Tier 3 Throwing Infantry)]

[You have 30 Swadian Recruits that can be upgraded to Swadian Militiamen (Tier 2 Multi-Role Infantry)]

[Due to your high reputation, your Swadian Kingdom soldier upgrades will be free this time; the denars required for hired and bandit soldier upgrades will be significantly reduced by a corresponding proportion.]

[Therefore, this upgrade will cost you a total of 1066 denars.]

Shen Mu was extremely tired at this moment, already lying on the bed with his eyes closed.

However, looking at the content of the dialog box on his retina, he directly made a decision: "Upgrade them all!"

Only a mere thousand denars to complete all the upgrades.

How could he not do such a good thing?

'Buzz!'

A massive data stream instantly appeared in Shen Mu's brow, then surged out of the window.

Scattering into every corner of the village.

Waves of white light permeated the air.

The fluctuations from the Mount \u0026 Blade rules continued.

And one by one, reborn and upgraded Mount \u0026 Blade soldiers emerged from the white light.

Completing their advancement!

Of course, Shen Mu, who had already entered a deep sleep, was not aware of this.

When he woke up.

It was already broad daylight.

The undead rules had also been dispelled by the rising Blue Star sun.

The time had reached ten o'clock in the morning.

Shen Mu slowly opened his eyes and woke up.

"Ugh—"

Shen Mu stretched vigorously.

Lifting the thin blanket covering his body, he looked at the light shining in through the window.

"Is it morning?" Shen Mu muttered to himself, then walked barefoot down the bed and came to the window, peering out with sleepy eyes.

Outside the window was a slightly dim, azure sky.

The sun hung weakly in the sky.

Not many clouds.

But not much pollution either.

Looking out from this height of sixteen or seventeen meters, he could easily see the high-rise buildings scattered in the suburbs.

Including various large buildings such as factories or shopping malls that were built when Blue Star's technology was at its peak.

But after three years without maintenance.

Looking from a distance.

They had become quite old and dilapidated.

"But, can three years really make those buildings become so dilapidated?"

Shen Mu frowned slightly.

Looking at those high-rise buildings that had obviously changed their appearance, he subconsciously pursed his lips.

This was not his illusion.

Because in Shen Mu's mind, the predecessor's remaining memories also had similar questions.

In many uninhabited places, whether it was high-rise buildings or shopping malls and factories, even sturdy all-steel structures would become dilapidated and dangerous buildings.

Even in these three years, Shen Mu's predecessor had seen the ruins of buildings that were already dangerous suddenly collapsing.

"Forget it, don't think about these things." Shen Mu touched his stomach at this time.

Because of hunger, his stomach was rumbling.

He picked up the fine linen robe from the bedside and put it on.

This was the soft robe that came with the Sacred Tree cavalry's exclusive set in the Pendor world.

It was quite comfortable to wear, at least Shen Mu was very satisfied.

So he used this as his everyday wear.

Then, he pushed the door open and walked towards the stairs.

"Good morning, Lord Shen Mu."

Standing at the staircase at this time was no longer the Swadian Recruit who was almost indistinguishable from a farmer.

Instead, it was the upgraded Swadian Militiaman, holding a spear, with a hunting crossbow and quiver hanging from his waist, carrying an old fan-shaped shield on his back, wearing a cotton robe and cotton hat, and finally had some of the air of a regular soldier.

Of course, he was still quite respectful to Shen Mu.

"Yes, very good." Shen Mu nodded in response.

Then, he went downstairs and came to the castle hall.

Just as Bandak, who had finished patrolling the last section of the city wall, was walking in at this time.

Seeing Shen Mu coming down the stairs, he quickly walked over, greeted him first, and then said directly, "Lord Shen Mu, I have a suggestion!"

"Mm." Shen Mu sat on the lord's chair, nodded, and was about to say something.

Suddenly, a dialog box appeared in front of him.

As if it had popped up in real-time with Bandak's words.

[Ding! The temporary task system has detected an event!]

[Task issued: Village Training!]

PS: I will not be a favored one of destiny... I want to be a coder! Don't scold me, everyone. I will update steadily starting tomorrow!