My territory is filled with block creations.

Chapter 34 Those with constant assets have constant hearts.

To be honest, it was an absolutely long and agonizing process, to the point that Alex felt a strange sense of leisure amidst the bustling activity of the village.

Of course, this may also be because she is currently assigned too little work. What kind of work is she doing now?

Every so often, the wires are taken to the wire brushing machine to change the winding rods and then thrown into the warehouse. Once enough wires have been collected in the warehouse, they are transported together to the rope braiding machine to weave large ropes.

Aside from that, I just do routine maintenance on the waterwheel 2.0, feed the chickens in my spare time, and then wait for the chicks to grow up so they can continue to reproduce. After all, chickens don't have any sense of ethics.

Occasionally, he would help out when Thorne was harvesting wheat, threshing and grinding the wheat into flour and carrying it into the warehouse.

Finally, bread needs to be made when necessary, since these villagers have never used proper seasonings before. Thorne, in both her past and present lives, has never been a cook, so she is arguably the best cook in the entire village.

Hmm... all this time, she's done quite a lot of work.

But Alex's amazing efficiency allowed her to plan everything out clearly and complete it beautifully within half a day.

So much so that she spent half her conscious time sitting by the river, watching the villagers training enthusiastically at the threshing ground, and then taking the opportunity to complain to Thorne next to the worktable.

"Do you really think these villagers, who can't eat meat even once a year and look like skinny sticks, have any real fighting power? We have weapons, but the mercenaries and the slave traders' guards also have weapons."

Alex asked, somewhat puzzled.

Thorne stroked his chin, recalling the political and ideological knowledge and concepts from his previous life. After translating them, he slowly said, "I do have some understanding of this. When combat moves beyond two-on-one brawls and becomes a group battle, individual combat strength becomes less important."

Alex's eyes were round and long, and she stared intently at Thorne: "I'll take a half-day strike to carefully study your outrageous statement."

Thorne shrugged innocently: "I wouldn't call this outrageous, would I? You know the Blade Order in the capital, right? Apart from the officers who are in charge and are noble knights who have been trained since childhood to be skilled in archery and horsemanship, the rank-and-file soldiers are all ordinary commoners who are neither good nor bad."

You can't say that the individual combat strength of civilian soldiers is stronger than that of professional mercenaries who risk their lives, or bandits who rob people 24/7 or even 25/7, but when organized, the former can indeed overwhelmingly defeat an equal number of the latter two.

"You should know that the Blade's equipment is the official standard and is always the cheapest in the merchant guild, while the latter two's equipment is their lifeline and, strictly speaking, is much better than the former."

Alex licked her lips. "Could it be the food or the training?"

"In fact, the Blade's Regiment's food is not as good as our village's. At least our village's food has now been completely replaced with dry bread with added sugar, while the Blade's Regiment's food is still at the level of half a loaf of bread and a bowl of porridge."

After he finished speaking, he saw Alex's surprised look, as if to say, "How do you know so much?"

Thorne then added, "Everyone has their own hobbies, you know. I don't like going to casinos or brothels with those old hands. I prefer to go to the Blade Order, the Royal Guard camp, or the Paladin Order and fight with them. It's quite fun, and that way I also get to know their basic food."

"...Compared to this hobby, going to the casino is more normal. I think you're quite good at all-in poker." Alex felt speechless before continuing, "So why? Are civilians stronger than mercenaries and bandits?"

"Because those with stable assets have stable minds. A person with a family, a home, and property will not easily desert or disobey orders, because they know that they are in the army to protect their families and what they own. They are in the army for themselves. Mercenaries only earn a few silver coins a month. Why risk their lives?"

"Like them, they know their training is to save Lester, who, like them, is just an ordinary villager. Today Lester is kidnapped, and they are training to fight to save him. Tomorrow, if one of them is kidnapped, the others will go to the rescue. It's all for themselves."

After Thorne finished speaking, he looked at the threshing ground not far away, where a shield formation had been formed. Six shields were arranged in a cone shape in front of them. Then, the remaining villagers held up their spears and rushed through the gaps between the shields. The people rushed forward together.

Unfortunately, the trees look rather sparse and not very dense, which shows that the villagers have plenty of willpower but lack discipline.

If only someone could help me straighten out the discipline, but unfortunately there's no one available and no extra time.

We can't just stand at attention when we're facing a formidable enemy and prevent the villagers from stabbing people with spears, can we?

It's not that it's useless, it's just that not only will it not be effective in the short term, but the villagers won't understand it either. What if we accidentally lose their support?

Therefore, higher-level training should wait until the immediate crisis is resolved, the villagers are relaxed, and they have enough free time to temporarily undergo some long-term training that will not show immediate results.

Perhaps we can achieve our goal in one step. If the plan goes smoothly and the village population increases, I might even consider forming a professional army, one that is completely off-duty and focused on combat discipline training.

At that time, attacking the goblin's lair can provide the village with a stable source of iron ore, thus completing a virtuous cycle: obtaining iron ore, upgrading equipment, increasing combat power, gaining more population, further increasing combat power, and finally dealing with that bastard named Loren.

I should come up with some good ideas then, like having him have a free-fighting match with me? Oh well, that's all for later…

As Thorne was lost in thought, Alex suddenly got up and went to the warehouse to get flour and seasonings to make lunch for the day. Thorne also realized what was happening and continued to add bricks and tiles to the still unfinished city wall.

Meanwhile, Doug had been making do in a corner of a tavern near the Adventurers' Guild in Autumnwind Town for almost four days.

I arrived in Autumnwind Town four days ago. After handing over the quest and gold to the Adventurers' Guild, they told me to pick up the information a day later. Now, I have waited until the fourth day before I received a message from the Adventurers' Guild.

And so, he laboriously climbed up from the corner table of the tavern, completely ignoring the stickiness on his body and the faint smell, and headed straight for the Adventurers' Guild next door.

He will righteously and openly cause trouble for the Adventurers' Guild!