The fmes continued to burn, and the stench of burning corpses permeated the entire camp. Hudson, covering his nose, found it impossible to sleep.

  The day's events had been too overwhelming. Transforming from someone who could barely handle killing a chicken into a battlefield butcher, Hudson wasn't sure how he had managed it.

  The pressure to survive had forced him to change. If it hadn't actually happened, Hudson wouldn't have believed he could be so rational and cold-hearted.

  Indeed, human potential is often unlocked under extreme pressure. Having gone through the baptism of blood and fire, Hudson had become more mature and rational.

  At dawn, as the first red clouds appeared on the horizon, the assembly horn sounded. On the battlefield, military orders were absolute, and Hudson had no choice but to drag his exhausted body to gather his troops.

  The soldiers weren't in much better shape. It was clear that the previous day's events had been too much for them, and everyone needed time to recover.

  Unfortunately, their opinions didn't matter. The decision-makers were focused on the importance of speed in warfare and couldn't care less about the feelings of the rank-and-file soldiers.

  Of course, setting out wasn't as simple as just leaving. The noble alliance had gathered over ten thousand ragtag troops. Without proper organization, they would likely fall into chaos before even encountering the enemy.

  This was something the nobles understood all too well. After all, their journey here had been fraught with mishaps.

  The reorganization began, and as expected, it was based on family units. While not the most scientific approach, it was practical.

  Over eighty percent of the troops were undisciplined rabble. If their own lords couldn't command them effectively, assigning them to different officers would only lead to disaster before they even reached the battlefield.

  Following the continent's standard military system, units were organized into squads of ten, companies of a hundred, regiments of a thousand, and armies of ten thousand. Whether it made sense or not, this structure was imposed.

  Since the formations were temporary and no wages were being paid, Governor Piers was particurly generous, establishing five understrength armies in one go.

  Coincidentally, the five nobles who had attended st night's meeting were appointed as the commanders of these armies. If there wasn't some behind-the-scenes maneuvering involved, Hudson would eat his knight's sword.

  Unsurprisingly, the five armies were not evenly matched. Count Piers' First Army was undoubtedly the elite, while Viscount Orn's Second Army was decent. The remaining three armies, however, were a different story.

  Generally speaking, the further down the ranking, the weaker the army.

  As expected, the members of the original alliance were also reorganized into a separate army, with Chelse as its commander.

  Due to the heavy losses suffered in the previous day's battle, this newly formed army became the weakest of the five.

  Thanks to the retively rge number of soldiers under his command and the minor achievements he had managed to scrape together during the battle, Hudson was honored to be appointed as the commander of the Tenth Regiment of the Fifth Army.

  However, this Tenth Regiment was a pitiful sight. Apart from Hudson's own troops, it was assigned six hundred unattached serf soldiers, making this ragtag group even more of a joke.

  In fact, those six hundred serf soldiers were only given to Hudson because no one else wanted the trouble of dealing with them.

  As a result, the Tenth Regiment became the only fully staffed regiment in the Fifth Army and one of the few fully staffed regiments in the entire noble alliance.

  While other regiments in the Fifth Army typically had only four to five hundred men, the Tenth Regiment, with over a thousand soldiers, stood out like a crane among chickens.

  This was all born out of necessity. While the reorganization was supposed to be army-wide, in the end, the wishes of the noble lords were respected.

  In theory, given his previous networking, Hudson shouldn't have had trouble finding allies. The problem y in his position as a "regiment commander."

  Everyone in the noble circles knew that while military talent might be optional, political acumen was absolutely essential.

  It was common sense that the higher one's position in the army, the more initiative one would have in the upcoming war, and the greater the advantage in future nd disputes.

  When it came to personal interests, no one was willing to back down. The numerous understrength regiments were the result of compromises.

  Families with slightly stronger forces chose to go it alone, while weaker families were forced to band together.

  However, these alliances were usually small groups of three to five knights, with limited participation.

  The reason for this was simple: interests. If too many allies joined forces, even if they secured territory, there wouldn't be enough to go around.

  Thanks to his previous performance and the reputation of the Coslow family, Hudson was seen as someone capable of going it alone.

  Families of comparable strength wanted to operate independently, while those of unequal strength, even if Hudson was willing to lower himself to form an alliance, didn't trust that he could deliver on his promises.

  No matter how good the retionship, at this point, everyone maintained a rational mindset, with interests taking precedence.

  At this stage, Hudson was powerless. He couldn't very well expin to others: "My main force hasn't arrived yet, and what I've brought are all cannon fodder. Don't worry about forming an alliance; you'll get your share after the war."

  Not only would others not believe this, but Hudson himself wouldn't either. Even if the main force hadn't arrived yet, they could still come ter, couldn't they?

  Interests moved hearts. If there had been enough time, everyone would have been eager to call in favors and strengthen their forces, not hold back.

  Seeing other units with several knights and dozens to hundreds of elite infantry, Hudson had no confidence.

  In this world of mediocrity, accidentally becoming the worst was something Hudson found bitterly ironic.

  To bolster his strength, he had no choice but to take in the unattached serf soldiers. To be precise, it wasn't even a matter of "taking in." As soon as Hudson made the request, everyone agreed.

  The reason was simple: no one else wanted the hassle. They were already struggling to manage their own serf cannon fodder and didn't need additional headaches.

  In fact, Hudson's initial target hadn't been the serf soldiers but the remnants of the guards left behind by fallen lords. Unfortunately, these veterans had already been cimed by Chelse, the army commander.

  To be frank, it wasn't just Hudson's Tenth Regiment that was in a sorry state. Chelse's First Regiment wasn't much better.

  Apart from his personal strength, the few dozen soldiers under Chelse's command were hardly impressive.

  Even after ciming the few dozen veterans left behind by unfortunate allies, the situation didn't improve much.

  In fact, to fill out the ranks, Chelse also had to take in unattached serf soldiers. However, for the sake of command efficiency, his intake was much smaller.

  With fewer than two hundred additional men, the First Regiment became the smallest in the army.

  If it weren't for the Tenth Regiment at the bottom, Chelse's First Regiment would have been the weakest in the Fifth Army.

  At one point, Hudson suspected that Chelse had pushed for his appointment as the Tenth Regiment commander just to avoid embarrassment.