Chapter 271 — Defensive Strength
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 3
"When they first attacked this place, all we had was a wall of wooden palisades and thornbush, and a hundred soldiers with swords facing several hundred monsters. Now we've raised walls and towers of concrete and great stone in the south. Counting the newly trained recruits, we have over a thousand soldiers, and every one of them carries a thermal ray gun, grenades, and a fusion-cutter sword. The monsters still outnumber us three to one, but I don't find them frightening."
Hearing Gao Yang's words, Amber seemed a little reassured, though she still could not help worrying. "It's mainly those enormous ones... they look very hard to deal with. Their bodies are so big—once they climb the wall through the fire, our new wall probably won't hold for long."
"With me and Suojilin here, nothing will go wrong," Gao Yang smiled faintly. "And there's Carmel besides. He's a researcher, but do you think his strength is poor?"
Amber nodded vaguely, as though she too had decided the monsters really were nothing to fear—but just then Gao Yang suddenly said, "All right, to be honest, I am a little worried."
"Huh?"
"Seven hundred years ago I never saw 'variant individuals' two or three times the size of an ordinary mutant. Unknown types of mutants are unsettling, of course," Gao Yang said, looking into Amber's eyes with perfect frankness. "But sitting here, I have to look steadier than anyone else. Do you understand?"
"Because you're the lord?"
"Exactly. I'm the lord. I'm the one who leads everyone in building the territory here, who orders the walls raised, who trains the army, who lays out the defenses. Here I call and a hundred answer—so naturally I must bear the responsibility of one who calls and a hundred answer," Gao Yang said unhurriedly. "So I have to be full of confidence. And not only me. You have to look full of confidence too."
"Me? Why?" Amber looked utterly baffled. "I'm just an errand runner..."
"You're my personal guard, and you're running the intelligence department besides. To outsiders, you know every order the lord gives, you know every secret in the territory—and that is more or less the truth. So you're the same as me: someone who absolutely must not panic under any circumstances. The moment you panic, everyone watching you will immediately think the lord has panicked too, and from there they'll conclude that the crisis facing the territory must be so huge that even the lord and his guard can't save themselves. Then there will be panic, people will shrink back, people will flee, people will take advantage of the chaos—and all of it may well start at the very moment you come running in panic through the lord's door."
"I came in through the window—nobody saw!" Amber blurted out, but then she frowned and muttered, "Now that you put it that way... I suddenly feel there's nothing good about having clawed my way up to being one of the 'upper class'..."
"Because here, rights and obligations are always equal. You and I are no exception," Gao Yang said with a laugh; watching this half-elf, who almost never used her brain, actually work a problem through was a genuine pleasure. "Amber, you're not a petty thief anymore. Understand?"
"Ew, you sound like some old grandpa!" Goosebumps broke out all over Amber, but a moment later she nodded meekly. "Fine... I understand..."
Then she fixed her eyes on Gao Yang, and only after a long while did she speak. "I hate it when people preach grand principles, but you—when you preach, it actually sounds reasonable... This is the first time in my life I've honestly listened to a sermon!"
"That's because most people who preach grand principles only talk and never act. I act first and talk afterward," Gao Yang said, rising to his feet. "All right—since you're back anyway, come with me to the southern wall."