Summoning Total War - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Triumph! Talented Field Commander!

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Ding! The map of the town of Athens is completed. Automatically adding to strategy maps!”

After a week of hard work, Murphy finally completed a rough topographic map of Athens and its surroundings. Just as he was getting ready to pack up and head back to town, an alert sound from the auxiliary system sounded and made him feel ecstatic!

The map was drawn from the information he had accumulated about the area and his natural strategic thinking ability.

Murphy knew how important the map was for the development of the army and town, and how it could help the current state of affairs.

Hence, he was willing to set aside other matters in town and prioritize taking the Spartan infantry out for an entire week to map the terrain. But what surprised him was that the auxiliary system of actually had a strategy map function, and he was able to add the map he had drawn to the strategy maps.

“Stop,” Murphy said while riding on his horse. Then he closed his eyes to enter the interface of the auxiliary system.

The group of Spartan Warriors, who were loyally following at his side, surrounded him, alert to possible attacks from the dense vegetation around them.

Spartans were the best warriors. They had a discipline no other army possessed. Their faces were stoic, and their expressions were solemn. During their marches, they remained silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their dull footsteps as they marched forward. Shouting “Sparta” in an army that usually was very solemn and serious made Murphy feel his blood race with excitement!

Upon entering the auxiliary system, Murphy saw a new option appear.

That was—Strategy Map.

He opened the Strategy Map in his mind, and it showed everything within an approximate fifty-meter radius around Athens. However, the auxiliary system was obviously much more detailed and refined compared to Murphy’s own hand-drawn map. It was a great improvement. It clearly demarcated hills, slopes, dense forests, and lakes.

What made Murphy even more delighted was that at the very edge of the strategy map, which was the foot of the mountainous range, there was an open-air coal mine. And this open-air coal mine could be mined!

In addition, the strategy map had been marked in many places with red arrows.

Those were the locations where Murphy had previously encountered gnolls while he was in the process of drawing the map. On the strategy map, an image of a gnoll was drawn, and next to it was a note that read “there are many (large groups) of unknown hostile creatures gathered here.”

The strategy map was large, and everything outside its scope was dark. After he shrank the map, he realized the town of Athens was almost too small to be seen on the map!

From this, he inferred that the land that he was on had an extremely expansive territory.

He made this guess from thinking logically and looking at the bigger picture.

This was the direction his thoughts usually took, and it had slowly become a habit.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Upon returning to the town of Athens, he found that everything was basically on track.

The spring wheat had been planted, and as long as the cultivated lands weren’t destroyed by the gnolls, there would be a round of grain revenue in another ten months. The original wooden palisade had been heightened and reinforced. Although this wasn’t within the auxiliary system of , it was obvious that this could be done. But this also meant that the citizens had to be paid because they needed to use the silver coins to buy food from the treasury.

The Temple of Guidance—that is, the temple of Athena—was also about to be completed. At the moment, most of the population, except for those taking care of the cultivated land, had been sent out by Murphy to clean the roads.

After all, the auxiliary system’s capabilities were limited.

In order to build a port, he would at the very least have to clear a road to the Nidoria River. It was the only way that wood could be sent over.

As long as the port was established, the coming days would definitely be much better.

After inspecting the cultivated land, Murphy immediately took the General Guards and Spartan infantry to the woods. There, he built a simple lumber yard. Due to the limitations of their current civilization, the most convenient material for building anything in their situation was wood. Therefore, it was necessary to build a lumber yard.

Just as he was about to reach the lumber yard, Murphy heard a shrill cry!

“There are enemies afoot!” After several encounters with the gnolls these last few days, Murphy was now quite attuned to the sound of the gnolls! He pulled out the long sword hanging at his waist, pointed to the front, and said in a deep voice, “Troops, speed up and charge!”

After coming to this world, he had found that his physical strength had become several times stronger than what it had been his previous life.

Perhaps it was because of the “physical strength (you have an exceptionally strong physique, vitality +6)” in his character attributes, but he found that he could actually lift an object close to a hundred pounds with just one hand!

In the past few days, he had taken the time to learn some combat skills from the General Guard’s instructors.

One could say that he was biting off more than he could chew.

He had even learned a new move—pierce!

“Sparta!”

The head of the Spartan Warriors roared and took the lead. He threw his spear, drew out his dagger, and rushed into battle. The Spartan infantry behind him followed his lead, also dropping their spears and roaring as they charged forward!

Advancing in a marching formation was to move forward quickly, while charging was to put down the spear to sprint!

“General Guard troops, throw your javelins 45 degrees to the side!” When the General Guard troops were formed, Murphy had formed the Javelin Cavalry instead because the Greek Calvary was weak. The weapons they carried were two javelins and a dagger. They would throw the javelins before the battle, then launch into a forward charge. Their combat effectiveness was average, but their mobility was still passable.

As soon as he entered the battlefield, Murphy found that there were more gnolls surrounding the lumber yard than there had been before. Not only that, but they had better physiques, and were almost two meters tall. This made them taller than the Spartan infantry by half a head.

More importantly, these gnolls were actually equipped with some crude primitive weapons!

The workers in the lumber yard gathered behind a simple fence. To their front was a group of Greek infanteers who held their formation and defended the gate with much difficulty. However, these gnolls were very cunning, and they would attack the fence at the side from time to time, as they wanted to disrupt the Greek infantry’s formation from the rear!

At this moment, Murphy realized that there were some outsiders in the lumber yard.

These outsiders obviously weren’t residents of the town of Athens. Judging from their clothes, they seemed to be the aboriginal people of this world! They were tall and burly and were armed with large swords. They were defending the two sides of the fence in groups of five and were trying to share the burden with the Greek infantry. But they all had many wounds, both big and small, on their bodies, and many of the aboriginals already seemed to be very exhausted.

“Javelins! Throw!” At a position of about thirty meters away from the battlefield, the General Guards threw their javelins, which were each more than two meters long.

There were nearly one hundred gnolls in the siege of the logging yard, but because of the Greek phalanx the gnolls were pressed tightly in the space in front of the gate of the lumber yard. In total, twenty-four javelins were thrown at the gnolls, and more than a dozen gnolls were hit by the javelins!

The gnolls were standing close together because of the tight space, so they didn’t really have a formation. After a round of javelins, they were lucky if the javelins merely pierced their limbs and reduced their fighting ability. If they were unlucky, they were pinned to the ground by the javelins and struggled to get free.

But the creatures were still relatively tenacious. The number of gnolls who died didn’t even add up to three.

“Sparta!”

As they approached a position within fifty meters of the battlefield, the Spartan infantry let out another roar.

Then, these powerful warriors with red cloaks launched into a sprint. They held their hoplons high in front of them and slammed into the group of gnolls!

“Peng peng peng!”

With a dull sound from the impact, the gnolls standing on the outside were knocked several meters away!

When the gnolls landed, a few of their ribs were broken, and they were unable to stand up for a while.

“The general is here! The general is here!” the besieged people and soldiers cheered loudly. With Murphy’s arrival, these people seemed to have found their backbone and vigor, and the Greek infantry, which had been cornered by the gnolls for a long time, began to slowly move forward, having experienced a sudden boost in morale.

“Sparta!”

“Sparta!”

“Sparta!”

To the Greeks, that one word “Sparta” carried a lot of weight! Even the ordinary people roared for a counterattack against the gnolls with the word “Sparta”!

The outsiders, the aborigines of this world, were in complete and utter shock!

They never thought that a name could make people so zealous, and they never thought that it could give people confidence and courage!

What sort of rallying power was this?

Would even the most prestigious general of the human city-state be able to achieve this?

Almost instantaneously, the gnolls, who had been attacked from all sides, were shaken.

Some of the gnolls that were besieging the lumber yard realized that the situation had turned on them and started to run away, while those gnolls that had been besieged by the Spartans and the Greek infantry started to panic.

No matter how strong they were, they were only living beings, and living beings are afraid of death.

In that short period of time, a commotion occurred in the gnolls’ formation.

“Awooooo!”

Just as the gnolls’ formation started to become disordered, one very tall gnoll wearing leather armor let out a howl. It looked like the leader.

Subsequently, the disordered gnolls resumed formation and organized an attack on both sides. The gnolls who had fled also re-entered the battlefield and joined the battle after hearing the howling.

“Head? General?” Murphy was overjoyed. It turned out that these gnolls also had a head of command.

Murphy raised his whip and then directed it toward the leader of the gnolls. He said in a deep voice: “Thirty meters front, target the head gnoll. Throw accurately!”

The General Guard troops followed his order and aimed in the direction he was pointing to. Then they forcefully threw the javelins out of their hands!

Twenty-four javelins hissed through the air. As soon as the gnolls who had fled before re-joined the battle, the javelins nailed the tall gnoll, who had exposed himself when he howled to boost the morale of his kind, to the ground.

Twenty-four two-meter-long javelins directly nailed the gnoll to the ground, as if he were no more than a hornet’s nest.

As soon as the leader died, the gnolls who had just joined the battle began to flee again,

and under the pressure of the Spartan infantry and Greek infantry, these besieged gnolls quickly lost their confidence.

Once their morale was exhausted, the gnolls began to tremble uncontrollably with fear. Their formation completely collapsed, and out of sheer desire to live, the surviving gnolls started to flee the battle.

Seeing the dreadful gnolls scatter, the trapped citizens immediately started cheering. “Victory! Long live the General! Long live the Governor!”

The Spartan infantry chased the remaining gnolls, while the Greek infantry treated the wounded. They gave the gnolls that had yet to die another stab with their knives, and they gave a final blow to their seriously injured and dying comrades to relieve them of their suffering.

This was the helplessness of the cold weapon era. When the injuries were severe, there was no way to cure them.

The only thing they could do as their comrade-in-arms was give them a final stab to end their suffering.

“Bind the wounds of the wounded and immediately send them to the town for treatment,” Murphy said as he turned over and dismounted his horse. He commanded the General Guards around him to start treating the lightly wounded. The other people around were also busy as they started making stretchers out of wood and sent the injured soldiers back to the town for treatment.

There wasn’t a medical building in the auxiliary system of . In the years before Christ, witch doctors hadn’t yet been separated from more traditional medical practice. In other words, medical technology hadn’t yet left the scope of witchcraft. In the West, the priests and shamans were more in charge of medicine.

The temple of the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was almost finished, and there would presumably be a priest there who would heal wounds.

The term “pastor” hadn’t yet appeared in the years before Christ. Initially, a priest was an official position. Later, after Jehovah replaced the Gods of Olympus, the term “pastor” completely replaced the title of priest. In this era, civilized clergymen were called priests, while barbarians were called shamans.

More than seventy gnoll corpses were left on the battlefield, and the Spartan infantry had given up chasing after the stragglers after pursuing them for a long distance. In this battle, more than half of the gnolls were killed, which was a huge victory. However, the Greek infantry had lost twice as many soldiers as they had when defending the fence. It would take at least a month for them to reorganize.

Their losses were very quickly calculated.

Sixteen citizens were killed, and more than a hundred were injured. Nearly all of the Greek infantry was wounded, and forty-two had been killed.

As for the Spartan infantry, there were no casualties, and most of them had only sustained minor injuries because of their excellent combat skills and teamwork. This meant they would be able to recover their combat effectiveness after only a few days rest.

“Your Excellency,” A Greek infantry captain said. He came toward Murphy and bowed courteously. He had a scar on his face, and there were a dozen other small and large wounds on his body. “We met with a group of outsiders who claim to be nobles.”

At that moment, the electronic sound of the auxiliary system’s alert notification sounded in Murphy’s ear again.

“Ding! This man has proven his bravery and military talents. You can promote him to General!”

A new general?

Why can’t I see his talents?

Do I have to judge them for myself?

Murphy stared at the Greek infantry captain standing in front of him. He was rather thin, but he had a solemn look on his face, and he had a firm gaze. The wounds on his body were still bleeding, but he stood upright, as though he didn’t feel any pain. He was like a stubborn stone from ancient times. Not even the hot sun, harsh wind, or booming thunder could shake him!

“Soldier! You have proven to me your bravery and military talents. You are a warrior! Are you willing to be my general and fight to defend our homeland?” Murphy said solemnly as he looked at the soldier in front of him.

A brief look of surprise flashed across the Greek infantry captain’s face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. He knelt on one knee in front of Murphy and said in a deep voice, “Your Excellency! I, Hamilton, vow to be loyal to you and follow in your footsteps until I die!”

As soon as he finished saying this, a ring sounded, and a set of data appeared in Murphy’s mind.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Character attributes:

Name: Hamilton-Sparta.

Commanding: ★ (Increases the morale of the leading army.)

Management: ★★★ (Increases administrative capacity and city revenue.)

Influence: ★ (Increases security, the number of guards, and slightly increases morale.)

※※※※※※※※※※※※

Title:

Confident Commander (Commanding +1)

Outstanding Defender (Defending Command +2)

Teetotal (Management +3, Citizen support decrease 15%)

Courageous (Battlefield morale +2, citizen support increase 5%)

Honest (Bribing fees +300%, law +6)

※※※※※※※※※※※※

Attendants: none

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

“An all-round talent?” Murphy was surprised when he saw Hamilton’s attributes. Based on Hamilton’s appearance, Murphy had guessed his abilities wouldn’t be too bad, but after seeing them for himself, he was genuinely surprised.

These so-called “all-round” talents could exist both as generals who led the army, and as internal officials who managed the city.

The person in front of him was obviously such a talent.

But overall, this person’s abilities were mainly focused on defense and management, and only two of his attributes were focused on offense. The best position for his development was as a defensive general in the management department.

Good management skills and the [Courageous] title gave a +2 to morale, plus there was the added bonus of the battlefield defense. So it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Hamilton was a general made of steel.

“Very good,” Murphy said in a deep voice as he gave the sword at his waist to Hamilton, who was still kneeling before him. “Go back to the town and heal the wounded, then start recruiting your own General Guards.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” Hamilton responded. He then led the team toward the town.

It was only then that Murphy had time to study the “outsiders,” the aborigines of this world.

A group of people who claimed to be nobles.

The group was led by a middle-aged man who was more than two meters tall. He wore a knight’s armor, but it was only a half armor. There was a deep wound on his arm that revealed his bone. It had been left by the gnolls’ claws, and it had already been simply bandaged. There was a steadfast, slightly indifferent expression on his face, and he had a knight’s dignity and composure, which was the bearing that came after surviving a battle.

Murphy was very familiar with this kind of comportment. On earth, the generals he had seen who had survived the Second Sino-Japanese War also had such an aura. Even if they were old, these generals would intimidate people when they became serious!

This middle-aged man gave the impression of someone who had been on the battlefield before.

Moreover, he was likely a general!

Of course, according to the standards of the Western world, he was most likely a noble knight.

Murphy and the aborigines were both staring at each other, but Murphy gave them a much more powerful impression.

At first glance, he was handsome!

Although humans with black hair and black pupils were considered rare, it wasn’t too unusual for someone to have such unique characteristics. However, for some inexplicable reason, the youth in front of them made them feel comfortable. The handsome face was gentle and contoured, and it made it impossible for them to hate him. This was a person who could easily gain the approval of others at first sight.

At second glance, he was young!

Too young. He may not have reached the age of sixteen. According to the human city-state’s legal system, he hadn’t yet reached adulthood.

For such a young man who seemed to be a minor to actually be a Lord? And also to hold such high prestige? This made the aborigines lament their Creator’s preference!

A total of twelve aborigines had come there. One of them had been seriously injured in the battle with the gnolls, and his comrades had ended his suffering for him.

The remaining ten all had wounds of varying sizes, and only a thin figure in a gray-black cloak seemed to be unharmed. It seemed that the purpose of these people was to protect the thin figure.

“Dear Governor Excellency, I am very grateful for your help,” the thin figure said in a magnetic voice as they sincerely came before Murphy. The composed middle-aged man vigorously took half a step behind the thin figure. This small distance showed the respect and status the latter had. Although Murphy couldn’t clearly see the person’s face behind the gray-black cloak, he judged she was a woman when he heard the figure’s voice.

Although he didn’t know what “Governor” meant, it seemed to be similar to the title of “Lord.” But without knowing Murphy’s exact title, the woman in the grey-black cloak cautiously referred to him as “Governor Excellency” to show respect.

“No matter,” Murphy replied casually. He showed an appropriate bit of arrogance, and not too much that it would make them feel disgusted.

When the woman in the gray-black cloak saw his expression, she became even more cautious, because in her view Murphy’s reaction was the exact reaction a nobleman of good breeding should have.

The woman in the cloak made her request after carefully observing Murphy’s expression. “Dear Excellency Governor, we haven’t rested for two days because of gnolls. I don’t know if it would be possible for you to prepare food and a place to rest for us.”

Murphy thought a little, then nodded.

He left half of the Spartan infantry troop to protect the lumber yard workers in case the gnolls attacked again. Then he let the General Guards hand over two horses to the cloaked lady and the middle-aged knight.

In ancient times, there was a strict hierarchy, which was key to maintaining the entire social system. When the middle-aged knight stayed half a step behind the woman when they walked, it was an unspoken acknowledgment of inferiority. Similarly, even though several of the aborigines were badly injured, Murphy didn’t ask the General Guards to hand horses over to them, because they weren’t of status. And the aborigines themselves would never think that the Lord would let his guard cavalry hand horses over to them. If Murphy had handed horses over to them, they might have even become afraid.

Even when one had good intentions, it was important to be discreet.

Back in the town of Athens, Murphy was greeted by the cheers of the people!

The wounded who had returned first had spread the news of Murphy’s timely rescue of the lumber yard throughout the town, which greatly increased his reputation.

Murphy arranged for the aborigines to stay in the barracks, and the middle-aged knight and the cloaked lady to stay in the Governor’s Mansion because of their identity and status. He even ordered for some food to be prepared for them.

The Governor’s Mansion wasn’t small, as people such as the General Guards and their entourage had to live in the Governor’s Mansion and listen to the General’s instructions. Therefore, it had taken up a lot of land when it was built, and there were still a lot of empty rooms inside.

After the woman and middle-aged knight ate, Murphy arranged for the two of them to rest. It was easy to arrange sleeping arrangements for the middle-aged knight. Just a room with a general as his attendant would do. However, it was difficult to make arrangements for the woman in the cloak. Judging from the middle-aged knight’s respectful attitude toward her, and how she hadn’t yet taken off her cloak, it seemed this woman was of high status in the aboriginal world.

After a moment’s hesitation, Murphy finally decided to give her his own room. It wouldn’t be that big a deal to spend the night in the study room.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Just after he had finished making arrangements for the aborigines, the herald rushed over to him.

“Your Excellency, the temple is completed. The high priest asked me to invite you over,” the herald said with a trace of excitement on his face.

“All right, got it,” Murphy said, nodding. Then he put on his coat. It seemed that the people had several different names for him. Some called him “His Excellency General,” while others called him “Lord Governor.” Now that a second general had come to the town of Athens, it was time for the citizens to decide on an address for him. After thinking about it, Murphy thought it would be better if he was called the Governor.

Every temple had a high priest.

Obviously, after the temple of the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was established, a person was automatically appointed as high priest to manage the temple’s affairs.

When he arrived at the temple of guidance, a large number of citizens were already gathered there, and many people were praying outside the temple.

When Murphy rushed over, they automatically gave way.

The temple wasn’t big. Because of the rush to build it, most of the temple had been made of wood, but the sculpture of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, standing in the center of the temple was very extraordinary!

The sculpture was lifelike. The goddess Athena was in golden armor, and she had a graceful and magnificent posture.

But what really made Murphy incredulous was that this sculpture of Athena was holding a scepter that symbolized the supreme divine power in one hand, while holding a thunderbolt in the other!

What was going on?

The goddess of wisdom overthrew Zeus, her father, and replaced him as King?

Murphy stared at this gold-painted sculpture, not knowing what to say. The Athena depicted in this holy place seemed to be at odds with the Athena from the legends.

This was clearly the image of the king of the Olympus Gods!

Since when did Athena, the goddess of wisdom, become a queen?

Just as Murphy was feeling puzzled over this goddess sculpture, a radiant light suddenly burst out of the lifelike golden sculpture!

Afterward, the glowing light turned into a crown made of olive branches that slowly came to rest on Murphy’s head.

Almost at the same time, everyone watching let out a cry of astonishment. Then, under his sacrificial leadership, they bowed down toward Murphy and toward the goddess with the faint golden glow, and prayed piously.

But Murphy didn’t notice any of this at the moment, because when the goddess statue glowed with a golden light, a barrage of system electronics echoed in his mind.

“Ding! Special energy imported, and the auxiliary system is automatically optimized.”

“Ding! Special data imported, and the auxiliary system is automatically integrated.”

“Ding! Database conflicts, data is being automatically reorganized.”

“Progress of output data, conformity with the world 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%…”