Chapter 1736 - 487: Still More Good People in the World

As Luo Yan was inspecting the "Mire City" construction site, a series of crisp and frequent gunshots echoed from the nearby swamp.

A group of Campbell soldiers in thick cotton jackets were holding their brand new equipment, undergoing rigorous training in the cold wind.

Laman was one of them.

This young man in his early twenties wasn't tall, and his dark fingers were covered in calluses, not from the trigger, but from woodworking.

Like the fate of many Campbell people, his life path was full of uncertainties, just as was the ever-changing Thunder City.

At sixteen, upon reaching adulthood, he inherited his father's carpentry skills and worked hard in the suburbs of Thunder City. Unfortunately, during Duke Aaron's era, industrialization in Thunder City was already booming and reached its peak the year he came of age.

A few newly opened furniture factories monopolized the tables and chairs of Thunder City's citizens, making them both sturdy and beautiful. Young carpenters like him, who lacked skills and reputation, had no choice but to work in those factories.

In the following years, he first worked at a dock, then in a canning factory and a textile factory, and even at a construction site.

But none of these jobs satisfied him, and the competition was fierce beyond measure, as the job growth in Thunder City could never keep up with the continually arriving population. Not only did the displaced peasants want to enter the factories, but the refugees from the Twilight Province competed with them for jobs.

Eventually, he found the most suitable job for himself—becoming a proud Private Campbell, offering his loyalty to the Duke and Erin, preparing to set out for the Twilight Province to save his compatriots there.

Honestly, that was secondary.

The real reason that prompted Laman to make his decision was not a desire for fame and fortune, but once when he was drunk, he heard someone say that the Twilight Province had a lot of wood.

The Grand Duke promised in the mobilization order that anyone who fought for the Campbell Duchy would receive a piece of land in the reconstruction of the Twilight Province.

Laman couldn't help but imagine that if he could save those poor people with Princess Erin from the Green Forest Army, perhaps he could be rewarded with a forest of his own. By then, he could return to his old trade and become a wealthy carpenter.

With such thoughts, he clearly forgot that his inability to be a carpenter wasn't due to a lack of wood, but purely because his skills were too poor.

However, everyone has the freedom to dream.

For the sake of having a forest of his own, Laman trained diligently every day, unaware he had become an elite in the eyes of his superiors.

Although he wasn't good at woodworking, he could weigh gunpowder into the gun barrel with gram-level precision, an impressive skill and vision.

The officers couldn't bear to send him to the front lines, claiming to form an elite unit, so he and those equally excellent young men were kept behind again and again.

The "Hunter Soldier" unit gave them advantages; while firepower and organization in the direct battlefield were important, unexpected tricks also had their place.

Just like that, Laman waited until the war ended, only to see the head of Kellan of the "Green Turban" on the newspaper, looking crestfallen.

His forest had been preemptively claimed by others.

Soon after, the "Quartermaster" Selas also died.

The Green Forest Army's main forces were thoroughly defeated outside Twilight City, and before it was his turn as a new recruit to hit the front lines, everything was over.

It was said that the first batch of privates who went north with Erin was already singing as they returned to farming, swinging hoes on the plains outside Rapids Pass.

It seems some were indeed allotted forestry land; the wood previously belonged to nobles, but now there was no owner to be found.

Laman initially thought he would return as cluelessly as he came, with little military pay and severance, to find a meager job in that smoke-filled New Industrial Zone of Thunder City.

However, Duke Edward's Governor, Goethe Wilson, did not cancel the mobilization order as everyone had expected.

They acted as if they hadn't seen the newspapers and continued their orderly duties, promptly taking the young recruits to this desolate Southwest Swamp.

Next to the rising "Mire City," they were issued brand new rifles and cotton clothing once more, switching from autumn to winter gear, continuing their training.

Ordinarily, Private Campbell's training for two weeks could get them to the battlefield, but for some reason this time, they had trained here for almost two months without seeing the enemy.

It was deep winter, cold and damp.

Wrapped in a thick cotton jacket, Laman often found himself shivering in that penetrating chill. Many comrades suffered frostbite on their feet from having their boots submerged in cold mud all day, and the camp was filled with cursing after every training session.

But Laman didn't care about this.

He was especially tough, coming from the poorest village in the Campbell Duchy, unlike those pampered urban citizens.

Working for Earl Derek only provided one meal that wasn't even filling; in winter, he had to carry some dried pumpkin on him to nibble on when woken by hunger.

The Grand Duke's mobilization not only gave money but also provided clothing. Citizens might carry some homemade snacks and eat them secretly at night, but clearly not to stave off hunger.

At least Laman didn't, and he wasn't starving either.

Apart from being able to endure hardship, most of his sufferings were diluted by the excitement brought by this novel weapon in his arms.