A funeral is taking place on a wasteland southwest of the border town.

It is not appropriate to say that it is a wasteland, and at some point, this untouched land has been built up by rough stones with a low wall, and the head of the wall is covered with a thick layer of snow, which from a distance seems to be plated with a layer of silver. Although it can be crossed with one foot, when he sees it, Vanna can't help but think of the border walls - they are all the same color, the same shape.

He had only heard of this ritual among traveling merchants, and when a great nobleman or member of the royal family died, the family of the deceased would gather at the cemetery, play sad music, receive mourning, and finally bury the coffin in the ground. The more noble the status, the greater the momentum.

Even the dead are more beautiful than the living, and he thought with envy, what should I do if the people in the border town die? I don't know if the evil beast dug out the corpse and ate it when the demon moon came.

Death is no stranger to the inhabitants of the border towns. Especially every winter, when they take refuge in the Changge Fortress, everyone huddles up in slums, dying of hunger and cold, dying of disease and pain, that is the norm. No one has time to grieve, so it is better to wait for dawn to go to the center of the city to ask for more bread.

But today, His Highness is actually going to hold a funeral for a soldier!

It is said that he was unfortunate enough to be thrown to the ground while chasing a hybrid beast, and half of his head was bitten off.

Vanna knew this unlucky guy, he was also an old face of the old district, he didn't have a name, everyone called him Aggie. He has a wife and two children, the eldest seems to be six years old, and the younger is just getting able to walk.

In normal times, this family must be finished, and the woman can find another man to live, but who would want to take two oil bottles with her? Either throw these two little ones to the side of the road and leave them to fend for themselves, or they will raise them and go to the bar to solicit the meat business, and finally die of all kinds of strange diseases.

But His Royal Highness seems to really intend to fulfill his promise when recruiting the militia, and the war dead will not only receive their full salary, but also an additional compensation, what is it called......? That's right, pensions. And this money is actually as much as five golden dragons.

In addition, a ration of food and charcoal is distributed every month, which means that even if Aji's wife does not go out to work, she can support her two children. Okay, these seemingly nice words may well be just words of consolation, but the golden dragon is real. He saw with his own eyes that His Royal Highness the Prince handed over the pension to the Chief Knight, who in turn passed it on to Aji's wife.

Hell, why did he suddenly feel a little envious of Aggie? No, no, Vanna shook his head again and again, banishing these stupid thoughts, so he didn't want to die and get a cheap wife...... And most likely it will be someone else's wife.

After the money was sent, His Highness's speech was very short, but Fanner listened to it. In particular, the phrase "We will always remember the sacrifice to protect our loved ones and innocents" made him feel a hot current surging in his heart. I see, he thought, no wonder he had been feeling like he had been pursuing something more than bread and silver wolf lately—at least this winter, they had survived by their own hands, not by the handouts of the Changge Fortress.

The final step is burial. Aji's coffin was placed in a dug pit, and the chief knight asked everyone to line up, and every member of the militia, whether formal or alternate, took turns to step forward and fill it with a shovel. Everyone is familiar with the queue, and more than 200 people immediately lined up in four columns. When it was Vanner's turn, he suddenly felt the shovel become a little heavier, and the gaze of the players around him slowed him down with every movement.

As he stepped aside, his gaze passed on to the next mulcher.

Aggie's tombstone was a pure white rectangular stone with none of the words on it, and he wasn't the first person to live in the wasteland. Next to Aji, there is an identical stone monument, the top of which is covered with snow. As everyone was leaving, Vanna saw Brian, the new captain of the Second Militia, slowly pouring a pot of ale over the tombstone.

If this is his final destination, it doesn't look bad, he couldn't help but think.

"Your Highness," Carter said abruptly on the way back to the castle, "you do this......"

"Wrong?"

"No," he said, shaking his head after a moment's thought, "I can't say, but I don't think anyone has ever treated a conscripted lord like this—they have neither titles, nor family lineage, nor even surnames and first names. ”

"But you still feel good, don't you?"

"Uh......"

Roland smiled, of course he knew how contagious this set would be for Carter, who was also committed to fighting and protecting. When people start thinking about who they're fighting for and why, the team changes unimaginablely. And the significance for Carter is that when honor is no longer the exclusive privilege of the aristocracy alone, and the common people who have nothing can also gain honor by defending their homeland through his training and teaching, this doubling sense of accomplishment is simply indescribable.

Of course, the public funeral was just the beginning, and Roland thought that he had many other means to promote the sense of collective honor, such as setting a military flag, a military song, and setting a heroic example.

No spirit is created out of nothing, and only by persisting in this set of practices day after day and instilling ideas from moment to moment will it gradually achieve results. In order to ensure the reliable operation of the aftermath system, he even arranged an aftermath team sent by himself, the city hall, and the militia to complete the follow-up distribution of food and charcoal.

The further down he went, the heavier Roland felt on his shoulders. There is so much that the border towns are lacking, and it seems that the mining industry and people's livelihood are on the right track, and the food reserves are sufficient, and so far there are no cases of starvation or freezing to death. This seems to be a miracle in other towns, even in the Grey Keep King Capital, many homeless people or orphans are eliminated by winter every year.

But he wanted more than that, and the town hall was running to its limit. Relying on the assistant minister Barov and the dozen apprentices he brought, he supported all the financial and administrative management of the border town. If you want to expand the department further, you can't do it without hiring some managers. He also asked Barov if he had any protégés or colleagues who remained in the royal capital, but the reply was a scoop of cold water: "Even if there are them, they will not want to come." Your Highness, do you really know how bad your reputation is in the royal capital?"

Well, it does sound reasonable. He thought depressedly.

Back in the castle backyard, Nightingale emerges from the fog and gives Wendy, who is waiting outside the wooden shed, a warm hug. Lightning circled the unfinished steam boring machine, and when she saw Roland, she immediately shouted to assemble the machine that was rumored to be able to move on its own.

Looking at all this, he suddenly felt that all the efforts he had put in were worth it.