Chapter 9 Chapter 9
Kael woke to a mechanical voice echoing inside his mind.
“First Settlement Development Mission Available; Objective: Establish a Functional Village Militia; Completion Requirement: Twenty Trained Defenders; Reward: Settlement Development Package.”
Kael sat upright.
A settlement mission, finally.
Ever since obtaining the Conquest System, he had been waiting for something useful.
His eyes immediately focused on the reward, then he nearly laughed.
The reward was absurd, even by future standards.
The package contained construction plans, resource information, military supplies, and several bonuses hidden behind question marks.
In his previous life, entire noble houses would have started wars over something like this.
There was only one problem.
Oakridge was completely useless. Not useless in a malicious way.
Just….. village useless. Most people here had never held a weapon.
Several considered running an acceptable combat strategy, one villager once lost an argument to a duck.
Kael still wasn’t entirely sure how.
A sigh escaped him.
The Commander Class wanted soldiers. However, Oakridge contained farmers.
An hour later he stood in the village square. Around him gathered every adult capable of holding a weapon.
The crowd looked confused.
Kael looked determined while Gareth looked entertained.
“We’re forming a militia,” Kael announced.
The reaction was immediate.
“No.”
The answer came from everyone simultaneously.
Kael blinked.
That was surprisingly coordinated.
“We were attacked three days ago,” he said.
“We survived.”
“We barely survived.”
“We still survived.”
The villagers looked very proud of this argument.
Kael pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You realize more bandits could come.”
Several villagers nodded. "Then we'll run."
Kael stared.
"We're not running."
"Why?"
"Because this is our home."
The farmer considered that.
"Still sounds easier." Several villagers nodded immediately. "Much easier."
Traitors, the entire village was filled with traitors.
After nearly an hour of arguing, threatening, persuading, and bribing people with extra food, Kael finally assembled twenty volunteers.
A few had accidentally agreed.
"Wait." One volunteer raised his hand. "This isn't the fishing club?"
Kael stared.
"What fishing club?"
"The one I thought I joined."
"You're holding a spear."
"I thought it was a very aggressive fishing club."
Another believed there would be free alcohol.
Neither seemed happy after learning the truth.
The first training session began and collapsed immediately.
Kael handed a spear to a farmer named Owen.
Owen dropped it, the spear landed on his foot.
Kael moved on.
Perhaps someone else would perform better but someone did not.
A second volunteer attempted a practice charge and somehow fell into a nearby pond.
Nobody knew how, not even the man himself. He emerged several seconds later looking deeply confused.
The third disaster arrived shortly afterward. A villager named Bernard challenged a scarecrow.
The scarecrow accepted. At least that was how the situation appeared from a distance.
Bernard charged heroically and the scarecrow remained motionless.
"I've had enough of you."
The villagers exchanged looks.
"Bernard......."
"No." He pointed dramatically. "Today we settle this."
Seconds later Bernard tripped over his own feet and crashed into the dirt.
The scarecrow remained standing.
Bernard’s dignity did not.
Silence followed, then Gareth started laughing. The old hunter laughed so hard he nearly fell off a fence.
Gareth folded his arms.
"This is going well."
Kael looked at him.
"They're refusing to become soldiers."
"Exactly."
"How is that going well?"
"Nobody's thrown anything at you yet."
Kael briefly considered abandoning the village.
Perhaps the apocalypse deserved to win.
The next few days weren’t much better.
Training revealed talents nobody wanted.
One villager was terrified of chickens. Another somehow got lost inside Oakridge. A third repeatedly forgot which end of a spear was dangerous.
The realization was deeply concerning and despite the chaos, something interesting happened.
Old Martha watched the training field for nearly five minutes before slowly shaking her head.
"Military ghost."
Kael immediately sighed. "What now?"
She pointed toward the far end of the field.
"That one is holding the spear backward."
Kael looked.
She was right.
The villager had somehow positioned the dangerous end toward himself.
For several seconds, nobody spoke. Then the man noticed everyone staring.
"What?"
"Turn it around."
The villager frowned.
"Why?"
Kael briefly considered walking into the forest and never returning.
Old Martha patted his shoulder.
"You're doing your best."
"I don't think I am."
"You are."
"That somehow makes it worse."
People improved slowly. Painfully and miraculously.
Kael stopped trying to teach them like soldiers.
They weren’t soldiers. They were farmers, hunters, woodcutters, and fishermen.
So he adapted.
Arcturus Vale’s teachings emphasized a simple truth.
A commander wins by understanding his people.
Not by forcing them to become someone else.
Hunters became archers, woodcutters formed shield lines and farmers learned defensive formations.
Instead of creating warriors, Kael built a militia designed specifically for Oakridge.
The results appeared almost immediately.
The hunters could now strike targets reliably. The farmers could maintain basic formations. Even Bernard managed to defeat the scarecrow.
The victory received enthusiastic applause. Mostly because people feared what would happen if the scarecrow won again.
A week later, Kael stood at the edge of the training field watching villagers move through drills.
The difference was obvious.
They weren’t experts, they weren’t heroes but they could fight.
More importantly, they believed they could fight.
Respect slowly replaced skepticism.
Not because Kael possessed mysterious powers. Not because he claimed to know the future but because his methods worked.
The realization spread naturally throughout Oakridge.
People listened when he spoke. They asked for advice, they sought his opinion.
For the first time, Kael felt the foundations of something larger beginning to form.
That night, another notification appeared.
“Mission Complete; Functional Village Militia Established; Settlement Development Package Awarded.”
A smile appeared on his face.
Golden light flashed before his eyes.
Several rewards appeared, including construction plans, resource information, and basic settlement upgrades, but then something unexpected caught Kael’s attention.
“Special Bonus Reward Granted.”
Kael frowned.
That hadn’t been part of the original mission.
A rolled parchment materialized in his hands.
Slowly, he opened it.
A map.
His expression immediately changed. He recognized the location instantly.
The map led to a hidden ruin buried deep within the mountains. A ruin that wouldn’t be discovered for another fifty years.
Kael stared at the parchment, then he stared longer because this wasn’t merely a valuable treasure site.
In his previous life, that ruin contained artifacts powerful enough to attract nobles, mercenaries, and treasure hunters from across the continent.
But according to history, nobody should know it existed yet.
A strange feeling settled in his chest. The same feeling he experienced whenever history changed.
Slowly, Kael looked toward the distant mountains visible beyond Oakridge.
The future had already broken once.
What if it had broken again? And what if somebody else had already found the ruin before him?
