The girl had her hands tied behind her back, a rag stuffed in her mouth, her terrified eyes fixed on him.
Barnett instantly understood—those Viking warriors had clearly misunderstood something. Of course, this girl had clearly misunderstood something as well. And likewise, he himself had misunderstood something too. Barnett was not that kind of lecherous man.
Well, if he didn't want to be misunderstood, that would be fine too—provided that this girl's appearance score could be increased by a full hundred percent.
Although Barnett had just downed quite a lot of alcohol with the Vikings, he didn't possess the "get drunk and lose control" trait, so while his body was swaying, his mind remained exceptionally clear.
"Sigh, I really shouldn't drink this much again in the future. Sure, the small tribes surrounding my town have all been conquered, so there's no immediate danger. But it's not the enemies who attack openly that are scary—it's the ones who come with assassinations and sneak attacks. That's the real nightmare, something you can never fully guard against. If one day I get drunk and fall victim to some beauty trap, I'd suffer a huge loss. So yeah, I really need to cut back on drinking. I can't let loose like this again. Well, maybe today was an exception because the atmosphere was good. Or maybe the malt beer had a lower alcohol content. Either way—never again," Barnett told himself in his mind.
As he was thinking all this, his body subconsciously took a few steps forward and brought him directly in front of the girl.
Seeing the enemy who had annihilated her tribe walking step by step toward her, the girl, already imagining her own tragic fate, let out a terrified scream. Of course, since her mouth was gagged, it came out only as a series of muffled "mmph mmph" sounds.
Barnett leaned in closer to take a better look at her face. Only then did he realize that she wasn't exactly ugly. Her sword-like eyebrows arched sharply, her eagle-like eyes were slightly widened, her nose was high and firm, and her lips were thin and long. The Viking braids that had once adorned her hair had already been undone, and the slightly messy shoulder-length hair now covered her ears. If she were placed in the 21st century and given a proper makeover, her looks wouldn't be inferior to those of any top-tier celebrity. Of course, in this era, both men and women still retained the primitive beauty of natural faces.
"Hmph." Barnett gave a light snort. At this point, he had no other thoughts about the girl. He remembered how, earlier in the day, a few Viking warriors had mentioned that this woman had something important to discuss with him. So he simply pulled the innermost rag from her mouth, then stepped back two paces with a teasing smile and sat down across from her.
"You said you had something to tell me. Now's the time."
The girl had enjoyed the treatment of a princess in her tribe. She was her father's only daughter, and he had treated her very well. Coupled with a fairly decent face, she was quite attractive to naive young men who hadn't seen much of the world. After being praised by a bunch of foolish boys for years, the girl had come to believe she was indeed beautiful—if not as enchanting as Cleopatra, then at least as dignified as the Roman princess Gennoria.
So, to save her tribe, she decided to sacrifice her beauty—after all, there wasn't a man alive who didn't fall for beauty.
After coughing violently a few times, the girl lifted her head with courage, meeting Barnett's gaze without a hint of fear. She secretly took a deep breath, and in her heart, decided it would be best to show this man some respect.
"Mighty chieftain, may I ask—after conquering my tribe, what have you done with my people?" the girl asked respectfully.
"Serfs, slaves, labor force, population... What do you think I should do with them?" Barnett rolled his eyes. She was already a prisoner, her fate hanging by a thread, and she still had the nerve to ask such questions?
The girl bit her lip and summoned her courage. "If… if you can treat my people with fairness and equality, then—I am willing to obey you."
"What do you mean?" For a moment, Barnett didn't quite catch on.
"She means, if you agree to treat her people fairly, then she's willing to serve you, you idiot," the system sprite's sharp voice chimed in.
"Are you kidding me? Do I look like a fool? You're already my prisoner. Why would I need you to submit to me willingly? And honestly, I don't need your submission either. I'm not interested in you. I won't make things difficult for you. You're free to leave now," Barnett said to the girl.
She had intended to trade her beauty for the fair treatment of her people, assuming that the man in front of her would be swayed by her looks. But he showed no interest at all, even told her she could leave. If she left, what would happen to her people? Would they continue to suffer as slaves? Her tribe's land had already been taken—where could she even go?
For the first time in her life, the girl experienced defeat—an overwhelming, terrifying, humiliating defeat. A crushing failure.
Once Barnett realized that she had no real value to offer, he completely lost interest. He waved his hand dismissively. When he saw that she hadn't moved, he remembered that she was still tied up. Of course, he wasn't about to untie her—not with the risk that she might have a dagger hidden in her boot. Falling for that kind of trap would be a disaster.
Besides, Barnett had no plans to leave immediately. If he left too quickly, those damned Viking warriors might start spreading rumors—saying he was a premature finisher or impotent or something equally humiliating.
So Barnett simply sat there on the ground, thinking about other matters. For now, he completely forgot about the bound girl.
He needed to increase the size of his army—at the very least, bring it up to two thousand.
How many troops did he have right now?
Five patrol cavalry units, one unit of battle-axe cavalry—for a total of 300 cavalrymen.
Four units of Viking infantry, two units of Viking warriors, and one town militia unit—adding up to 1,100 melee infantry.
Two units of crossbow militia, two units of Norse archers—making 400 ranged infantry.
One unit of command guards—20 men.
All together: 1,820 soldiers. Just 180 short of a 2,000-man force. Recruiting 180 more should be easy enough. Of course, patrol troops barely had any combat power—useful only for catching thieves and bandits. Anyone who expected them to perform on a battlefield was a complete idiot.
And the current town barracks didn't offer many options either: archer militia, crossbow militia, spear militia, patrol cavalry... Their combat effectiveness was extremely low. Was he supposed to use these guys to conquer the world?
"Actually, you don't need to worry so much. Do you know how many standing armies existed in the Middle Ages? Most of them were hastily conscripted forces. Some stingy lords even made soldiers bring their own weapons and supplies. Even if you did conquer the world with militia, it wouldn't be impossible," the system sprite said.
"...What if I run into a powerful nomadic people?" Barnett asked.
"I'll give you one line: It's not about quantity, it's about quality. Think about it."
Hearing that, Barnett immediately opened the system interface. Time to upgrade his army's capabilities.
Under the military and administrative tab, in the recruitment buildings section, he saw this:
City Barracks Upgrade Tree:
Town Barracks → City Barracks → Small Garrison → Large Garrison → Elite Guard Barracks. Five total levels of military buildings.
Each barracks also had auxiliary facilities, divided into four categories: Mounted, Dismounted, Melee, and Ranged. That gave four combinations: Mounted Melee, Mounted Ranged, Dismounted Melee, Dismounted Ranged.
Melee weapons were further split into Polearms and Short Weapons. Then subdivided again by attributes: Armor-Piercing, Blunt, and Sharp.
Just like the axes favored by Vikings—they had both Sharp and Armor-Piercing attributes, making them extremely powerful and violent.
And of course, forging technology was also critical. Steel was far superior to iron. If you brought a stainless-steel knife from the 21st century to the Middle Ages, it would be a divine weapon.
Current forging level: Tier 2—could produce chainmail, scale armor, and lamellar armor.
Chainmail was the best choice, especially double-layered chainmail. High defense, lightweight—second only to plate armor.
"So... I can already upgrade my armor workshop and begin mass-producing chainmail?" Barnett asked the system sprite.
"Yes—but first you need a stable supply of iron and you need to build the armor workshop," it replied.
"True… It'll be the end of the month in three days, right?"
"Correct."
"And the agricultural facilities I started building should be operational in two days?"
"Also correct."
"Will those agricultural facilities count toward this month's tax revenue?"
"Yes."
Barnett flipped open the financial interface and was relieved to see that, with the head tax from the newly added population and the income from the agricultural facilities, even after paying the troops' salaries, he would still have 4,000 gold coins left over.
And in another half-month, the town would be upgraded to a city. That would allow for expansion of the urban area, more construction projects, and an upgrade to the City Barracks—unlocking the recruitment of Long Spear Militia, Viking Infantry, and Norse Archers.
But… still had to wait a whole month…
It was getting a little hard to be patient.
Just as Barnett was about to continue his conversation with the system sprite to plan the territory's future development, the girl he had ignored for so long suddenly clenched her teeth and said, "If you agree to my condition, I'll tell you a secret."
"What secret?" Barnett asked without blinking or turning his head, eyes closed and lying lazily to the side.
"A secret about the dwarves in this mountain range. My father had trade dealings with a dwarf tribe. If you agree to my condition, I'll tell you the trade route."
Just as the girl finished speaking, the system notification chimed:
"You've received a new quest. Please check it."
Barnett's heart stirred, but he didn't speak. He mentally opened the system interface. What a convenient system—he could see it whether his eyes were open or closed.
Quest: Contact with the Dwarf Tribe — You've heard a rumor about a race long thought to exist only in legend. This might be a great opportunity to increase your economic income. Seize it.
Objective: Establish contact with any Dwarf tribe.
Reward: 1,000 gold coins.