My Players Are So Fierce
Chapter 344:

Early the next morning, after a busy night, Maxim returned to his temporary office with a roster. Murphy was already there waiting for him to report.

However, as governor, Murphy had no interest in dealing with those minor details. During his work in the past period, he had realized that his most important duty for current Transia was to grasp the big picture rather than personally participating in every single matter.

As the saying goes, ocean navigation depends on the helmsman!

Murphy was currently Transia’s helmsman, though still not very skilled and could potentially lead everyone to shipwreck at any time. But as he said himself, after experiencing repeated blows from fate, the vampire lord had moved past the “newbie” stage and no longer sought to personally handle everything.

The greatest significance of establishing a complete organization lies in systematically distributing complex matters, with everyone bearing a portion of work to effectively reduce everyone’s pressure. As the founder of Transia’s current ruling organization, Murphy had to lead by example even if he was unwilling.

Moreover, now with Miriam’s administrative team and administrative players for civil affairs, and Maxim and Kudel along with those combat professionals for military matters, Murphy could walk steadily on two legs without worrying about stumbling.

Especially after yesterday’s experience of gaining loyalty from the mountain folk and getting over 70,000 subjects at once, which told Murphy that his work over the past period had been very effective.

This made the governor increasingly confident.

“So, based on your personal investigation, the 3rd Brigade can still be saved?”

Murphy finished reading the roster Maxim submitted and said to his loyal servant:

“According to your classification, among the remaining 3,300 people in the 3rd Brigade, the ratio of fanatics to rational ones is about 3:7? Which means most armed blood servants aren’t as fanatical and extreme as we thought?”

“Yes, master.”

Maxim replied calmly:

“I had a long talk with Colonel Flanders. He told me that when recruiting new soldiers for the 3rd Brigade of armed blood servants in the past, they wouldn’t select those who were too fanatical to join the army.

Fanatics may truly be fearless, but after all, what the army needs are rational soldiers who know how to follow orders.

This means that although armed blood servants are Transia’s most loyal group to vampires, in reality, the number of ‘zealots’ among them is far fewer than in the lower blood servant group I came from.

Colonel Flanders has no strong objections to our current decisions. He highly appreciates that the Blood Vulture Clan would take those fanatics under their wing to manage rather than letting them fend for themselves.

As for himself…

I actually feel that the former war hero isn’t a vampire worshipper at heart. Although he appears very loyal on the surface, he doesn’t seem to look forward to becoming a vampire.

Faced with my active recruitment, the colonel said he needs a few days to consider.

Plus his family is still in the Crimson Citadel, fortunately escaping the disaster in Kadman City. What Flanders wants most now is to return home and reunite with his family.”

“Then do you think this guy can be trusted?”

Murphy asked another question.

Maxim shook his head and said:

“I don’t have your talent for detecting lies and examining someone’s trustworthiness through mental probing. I can only tell you that based on current interactions, I think this colonel can be useful to us. The war experience and skills he possesses can help me better train the first batch of recruits for the People’s Army.

So, I want to maintain his military rank and transfer him under my command as my deputy, of course pending his agreement.

From my observation, Colonel Flanders seems to have lost his enthusiasm for war, perhaps he will choose to retire at this point.”

“Make these decisions yourself, Max.”

Murphy waved his hand and said:

“I’m not a military man and won’t try to have amateurs directing professionals. If you think you can control him then go ahead boldly, but if something goes wrong, you’ll have to stand at attention and take the blame.”

“I understand! I will take responsibility for any consequences this decision may bring.”

Maxim nodded and continued:

“Also, regarding those northern prisoners, they are more compliant than I imagined, perhaps due to violent suppression, or perhaps because they plan to spend more time studying loopholes in our rules.

But overall, receiving these prisoners has been much smoother than I imagined, so I decided to start sending blood servants back to the Crimson Citadel in batches from this afternoon.

Following the administrative office’s decision, soldiers who still have living relatives will be discharged according to their wishes, while those with nowhere to go will all be dispersed and assigned to collective farms, awaiting subsequent specific allocation.

As for those prisoners, I will send them directly to the Baroness of Shadow’s domain. Adele has already sent people there to plan their camp locations. Your warriors currently have many people active there who can serve as monitors or even managers in the process of labor reform for these criminals.

I will personally issue relevant missions to the warriors.”

“Very good, continue to advance according to your ideas.”

Murphy picked up the roster and stood up, saying to Maxim:

“I came to Bataxin City worried you might be overwhelmed doing this for the first time, but it seems you really have talent in commanding troops, so I can rest assured leaving these matters to you.

But this is only the first phase. The prisoner handover from the Goldflower Kingdom will arrive soon, and you’ll still be responsible for receiving and settling them then.”

“I won’t disappoint you, master.”

Maxim responded in a deep voice:

“Before the Black Plague arrives, you will definitely have an army willing to fight! However, if possible, I also have a small request here.”

“Hmm, go ahead.”

Murphy looked at his loyal servant, then heard Maxim say somewhat embarrassedly:

“The People’s Army still severely lacks capable basic officers. Even if I assign all the tested veterans, it’s still not enough. Moreover, our army lacks unified regulations. Miriam’s side already has enough complicated laws to formulate, I really don’t want to trouble her further.

But not long ago, I discovered three people among your warriors who are particularly proficient in this aspect. Through conversations with them, I learned they are active military personnel in the other world.

So, I was thinking…”

“Ah, I understand what you mean.”

Murphy sighed and said:

“Those three guys have some identity issues. I won’t hide it from you, they are actually intelligence gatherers sent by powerful departments from the other world to our side.”

“This…”

Maxim’s expression changed dramatically, immediately responding:

“I will revoke their military status in the People’s Army right away!”

“No no no, that’s not what I meant, you’re overreacting.”

Murphy rubbed his chin and said:

“I think they’re quite useful.

What I mean is, I will try to find some people who can help you establish military regulations in future warrior recruitment, like veterans like Joy Stick who would be the most suitable candidates. You might be able to issue related missions to him.

As long as the rewards are generous enough, he will find ways to look for candidates for you.

You need to understand, Max, we currently have a relationship of shared glory and loss with the warriors from the other world, so there’s no need to consider too much about certain factors from their world.

We currently lack talent, so we need to know people and use them well. New warriors will soon enter Transia, and you can also recruit some from among them as supplements to the People’s Army.

After all, their fearless nature makes them perfect for being the most perfect assault troops and scouts.”

“Yes, I will execute according to your intentions.”

Maxim nodded, taking out his notebook to record Murphy’s suggestions, while the vampire lord took out his broken pocket watch to check the time, deciding to return to the Crimson Citadel to preside over (enjoy) the big picture (slacking off).

However, before leaving, Murphy still quite implicitly reminded Maxim:

“Max, I know you’ll always meet like-minded friends on your path pursuing power, and I’m glad to see you can find fellow travelers on this path, but you must think thrice before making some important decisions.

Some people are really only suitable to be friends…”

“Huh?” Maxim was completely confused.

He couldn’t quite figure out what Lord Murphy was trying to say, and seeing his number one loyal servant being so obtuse, Murphy could only helplessly speak more directly:

“I’m talking about Lainnia! She’s a Blood Pact Knight, do you know what this identity represents?”

“I-I’m just ordinary friends with her!”

Maxim’s face immediately turned red as he stubbornly explained:

“I’m only learning the combat style of bow knights from her. Although we’ve been going to Anderma Hills together every night for hunting in the past period, that’s just friendly sparring between warriors…”

“Mm-hmm, I believe you’re just ‘friendly sparring’.”

Murphy looked with a strange expression at the elven-style pendant hanging around Maxim’s neck, and following Murphy’s gaze, Maxim looked down at it, his expression becoming more pained, and somewhat trying to cover up, said:

“This is just a gift! Yes, it was my birthday a few days ago, I don’t know why that woman wanted to give me this pendant, maybe because I beat her?

Though only that one time.”

“No need to explain, I understand, look how Tris has tortured me.”

Murphy shrugged and patted Maxim’s shoulder, saying softly:

“I just want to remind you as a friend, Max, Blood Pact Knights cannot have lovers, that’s their tradition. You need to think carefully about this relationship.

We are immortal beings.

We have endless time to spend on many things, but I don’t want to see you spend your afterlife reminiscing about a woman you can never have.

Of course, if you’ve made up your mind, I’ll help you find a way. Since they’re rules there must be loopholes to exploit. If worst comes to worst, we can have Tris appeal to Lord Payne.”

“My lord, it really hasn’t reached that stage yet.”

Maxim also relaxed.

He said in a low voice:

“Just mutual attraction, nothing more. She admires my loyalty and tenacious mind, while I’m moved by her past stories. Beneath the exterior of a blood knight, Lainnia is actually very similar to Lord Kudel.

Becoming vampires wasn’t their own choice, while I actively pursued this life. Just from this point alone, she and I are people from two different worlds.

Of course, if you don’t approve of this relationship, I will immediately…”

“I’m your superior, not your father!”

Murphy rolled his eyes and said:

“Who you make friends with is your business, don’t push all responsibility onto me. This is something you have to decide for yourself, Max. You’ve already achieved your first life goal, perhaps you should spend some time considering how to spend your eternally long life.

In this aspect, I won’t give you any advice.

Let’s leave it at that.

I’m heading back now. Need me to bring a gift to Lady Lainnia for you?”

“No need, I haven’t decided what to give her yet.”

Maxim sighed, watching Lord Murphy wrapped in shadows disappear under the sunlight. He stood by the window holding the elven pendant hanging on his chest, his fingers gently caressing it before finally letting out a long sigh.

He could fearlessly swing his sword at any enemy and wasn’t afraid of the future where the loyal ones would fall in pools of blood.

But charging into battle on the battlefield of love was also his first time, and for him, convincing himself to approach that proud heart was more difficult than killing a thousand enemies on the battlefield.

However, to say there were no thoughts at all would certainly be unrealistic. Alas, this world was never gentle to vampires…

——

“Holy shit! Where did you get so many people?”

At this time in Morland Village near the Crimson Citadel, administrative player Life Is Pretty Good, who was “interning” here with several civil servants from the administrative office, heard noisy sounds and came out of the house to take a look. He saw several smug little players running over with a large group of disheveled NPCs to register.

As an administrative player, Life Is Pretty Good knew this was part of the current main quest “100-Days Grand Construction,” which required little players to search for vagrants in Transia and send them to several reception points of the administrative office in exchange for construction points as rewards.

But in the past few days, players would only find and bring in scattered vagrants. A scene like this where hundreds of people were brought in at once was truly rare.

He took out his record book with considerable surprise and led several staff members forward to inquire. Faced with Life Is Pretty Good’s curiosity, Border Town Wanderer, who had just completed a very successful vagrant search, proudly said:

“Aren’t these vagrants everywhere?

We just walked around a bit and naturally found these homeless people. Hurry up and register the points for us brothers, we’re still waiting to exchange good stuff at the special black market.”

“I feel something’s weird about this.”

Life Is Pretty Good was at least a manager of a big company in reality, so he wouldn’t be fooled by such lies. He directed the few staff members beside him to step forward and question, and a few minutes later he learned the origin of these vagrants.

“They are Avalon believers from the Cato region? How did you bring them over?”

Life Is Pretty Good was completely shocked when he learned the truth.

As an administrative player, he was very familiar with the terrain around Transia. The Cato region was in the southwest of Transia with Lake Shulps as the boundary between the two places, and it had been territory of the Goldflower Kingdom since very early on.

He pulled Border Town Wanderer aside and asked in a low voice:

“You crossed the border into Goldflower Kingdom territory for human trafficking? Look, brother, this kind of behavior can easily trigger border conflicts, be careful not to cause trouble.”

“It’s not as scary as you think.”

Brother Wanderer pouted, thinking to himself how could I, a government official, do such illegal things, if discovered it would definitely result in a major demerit.

However, he still patiently explained:

“We just crossed the border through that path in Smuggler’s Woods, didn’t even cross Lake Shulps, theoretically still in Transia’s border region.

As for these people…

You also know they are Avalon believers. The old church rebellion ten years ago caused these poor souls to suffer persecution in their homeland. Unable to bear the humiliation but unwilling to abandon their faith, they dragged their families to set up several villages near the border.

When we went there, we barely needed to say anything. We just told them the news that the Avalon Church was being rebuilt in Transia, showed them the church’s symbol on the credentials issued by the Adventurer’s Guild, and these folks voluntarily requested to follow us to Transia.

The Blood Claw Clan in Smuggler’s Woods are Lord Murphy’s gnoll lackeys, that Hog didn’t dare harm them at all. This back and forth, didn’t the number of people just increase?

And this is only the first batch, there are still many more believers living on that border. Once this wave is settled, at least several thousand people will come over.

Let me tell you, this is all a path discovered by our team, so all these people should count towards our construction points later!”

“Oh, that’s no problem, those are the administrative office’s orders.”

Life Is Pretty Good understood the cause and effect, then swept his strange gaze over those disheveled vagrants behind them, saying quietly:

“It seems there are many ways to complete this main quest. What do you say, should I organize something like a slave hunting team to make a profit during the chaos?”

“Hey, too late, someone’s already doing that.”

Brother Wanderer shook his head and said:

“Among the brothers who entered the game with us, there are several with particularly wild methods who ran to the East Prussia border the day they took the quest. I suspect you’ll see them soon. Those guys are Paradox war criminals, they’re old hands at things like slave hunting teams.”

“Damn! I was just saying, didn’t expect someone would really dare to do it! This is truly too criminal.”