I lowered my hand and all hell was let loose; submachine guns, assault rifles, and machine guns all spewed a hail of bullets on the abandoned house. Our small arms fire easily tore through the first floor’s walls. I don’t think anyone would survive that, the walls already look like swiss cheese. I could even see the interior on the bigger bullet holes.

After our initial small arms volley, I ordered my men to stand back because I wanted the tanks to put some rounds on the building. Once everyone had already found cover, the three tanks all fired at the same time.

A loud boom reverberated throughout the area. The loud boom was followed by a crashing sound as the whole building began to crash. There were no explosions because the tanks just fired solid shells without explosive fillers.

The whole building fell with a great crash. Debris and dust flew in all directions. It took a couple seconds before the dust cloud settled, what remained was a ruined building. I had my men surround the ruins. He should've been crushed there right?

But contrary to my expectation. The top layer of rubble began to move and Marvin emerged shortly after, he didn't come out of there unscathed though. He was bleeding in some places and he has scratches and wounds all over. But I was still surprised that he came out of there still breathing. I guess what they say about cockroaches is true, they're really hard to kill.

Marvin crawled out of the rubble and tried to stand up using his sword as a crutch. "Y… you… you'll… pay for this…" He said before collapsing.

Another prisoner I guess.

My men went ahead and tied Marvin up before placing him in one of the empty stretchers in the ambulance. After that little fiasco with Marvin, we all boarded our vehicles and returned to the mansion.

I had some dinner and decided to rest afterwards. I went to my room after my dinner, there I was greeted, as usual, by two soldiers. I returned their greeting and entered.

I took off my uniform and put on my regular clothes. Come to think of it, I still don't have any other clothing besides my M36 officer's uniform. With that thought in mind, I summoned a couple of clothes. It's a necessary expense. I told myself.

After changing into more comfortable clothes I sat up on the bed thinking what my next course of action is.

I'll need to increase my forces, we're pretty spread out thinly during our last operation. I think 4 more infantry platoons should do it, that'll make two full companies. We'll also be needing another platoon or two as auxiliary and support troops to help run our base, this’ll include engineers, mechanics, and others. For my armored forces, I'll need a squad of light tanks for recon and a platoon of medium or main battle tanks. I still haven't seen any air threats yet, so I guess I'll just put another quad 20mm on the wall. I still don't plan on besieging anything so artillery pieces and SPGs aren't needed yet. I'll need more choppers though, three more H-19s should be fine and a small chopper for supplying my 2 SAS teams. Speaking of SAS teams, they're still following my classmates and Johan and they're constantly sending reports.

Everything looks planned out now. Well, there's still some matters regarding the town. But, I’ll deal with it tomorrow. It’s just a few things anyways.

Create housing for the residents of the town. Summon a couple of farm plots for the town's food supply. Mint coins and not break the economy. Change the resident's money to our own currency. Create some jobs. And last but not the least, free the slaves, if they're not criminal slaves. That's actually quite a lot of things to do. I guess I'll still be busy tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.

With the plans for tomorrow now finalized, I laid down on the bed as I waited for my eyes to close on their own.

The following morning I had some breakfast and headed to the mint with Leah. I went there to check on the production of the new currency. The new currency I was making was based on this kingdom's currency, I just replaced the face on the coins with the initials 'PB' for Para Bellum.

I just minted enough coins for the town; 50000 copper coins, 25000 copper plates, 10000 half-silver coins, 5000 silver coins, 1000 silver plates, and 500 gold coins. For a total of 7.3 million pisas, that's around 100k pisas or less per person. That should be enough right? I think I'll break the economy if I'll mint more coins, well I'll need to mint more if our population increases.

The mint already produced enough gold coins, silver plates, silver coins, and half-silvers, the production of copper coins and copper plates is already around 50% - 60% complete. It'll hopefully finish everything today because I want to start my economy already.

After checking the mint's production, we headed to the southern district. I'll create some farm plots over there. Why the southern district? Because it's the most damaged district, which means less time and resources will be spent on removing buildings. I'll just summon a platoon of engineers and some dozers. Hey, how much is an engineer platoon?

“Answer: An engineer platoon costs 4000 points… It contains 2 engineer squads, 1 flamethrower team, and 1 ARV with crew… summon 1 engineer platoon… YES / NO… "

Yeah, go ahead.

"1 Engineer Platoon summoned… Total cost of 4000 points… Deducting total cost to total points balance… Remaining balance is 41071… Summoned platoon will appear in a summoning circle… "

And as usual, a huge summoning circle. And after it faded, my new platoon stood there. There were 2 squads, 3 if you include the flamethrower team, and a tracked vehicle with a dozer blade and a crane.

One of them stood in front of the platoon, "Sir, the platoon is awaiting your command!"

"Demolish the houses in this area, I'll send over the other M48s to help out." I replied.

"Will do, sir, give us this day and you'll  see an empty plot tomorrow." He proudly replied.

"I'll leave it to you then." I said.

"Yes sir!"

After giving some more additional orders, Leah and I left the area. The area I had the engineers clear out is around 100m² since the farm plots are 10m² each, which means I can fit 10 plots in that area. Those 10 plots can yield 1 ton of grain or 0.5 tons of fruit or vegetable. This town can say goodbye to famines and starvation thanks to my cheat farm plots. Gotta love those cheats.

We went to the ammunition factory to check our inventory. When we arrived, we saw a squad of soldiers packing bullets in ammo crates. But they all stopped and saluted upon seeing us. We returned their greeting and I told them to carry on.

We went to the factory's control room and saw Janice overseeing the production. She gave a salute and I gave one in return. "How many bullets do we have now?" I inquired.

"Sir! We already have 10000 9mm rounds so I stopped the production. For the 7.92 and 7.62, we have around  5000 to 5500 each. The .50 and .30 is also around 5000." She answered.

"I see, continue the production until we have a stockpile of 10000 rounds each." I said.

"Affirmative sir!" She replied.

We went to the storage area right after talking with Janice. I want to check the quality of the ammunition being produced, not that I know how to inspect the quality of the bullets. I just wanted to see mountains of bullets.

I just 'inspected' the bullets for a few minutes before deciding to leave. With all of the factories checked and the demolition of some buildings already underway, all my tasks have now been completed. I decided to head back to the mansion.

I headed straight to my study, the previous baron's study, right after we arrived. Leah followed me there and stood right beside the door.

"Uhmm, you're free to go." I said to Leah.

"I have nothing better to do, sir. And your safety is my top priority." She replied.

"Okay? I'll just be sitting around here doing nothing." I said.

"That is fine with me, sir." She replied.

I let her be and focused on the other things I needed to do. I summoned a pen, paper, and a ruler. Afterwards, I created an empty table for the resident's information. I want all residents to be accounted for. How can I Make several copies of this though? I think there are some outlets in the factories? Or I can have the engineers set up some generators here.

"Hey Leah, do we have some outlets in the factories?" I asked.

"Yes sir, the factories have working outlets." Leah answered.

"How do they even generate electricity?" I asked.

"Sir, the factories each have a large generator in the basement and several solar panels and wind turbines on the roof." Leah answered.

"Oh… I didn't notice those." I replied.

We headed back to the munitions factory, Janice was now at the factory's main area. "Sir! Ma'am! I didn't expect you to come back immediately."

"Uh yeah, something came up." I replied, "Can you lead me to the nearest outlet?"

"Yes, sir. If you'll just follow me." She said as she led the way. She took us in a room near the storage area and pointed at an outlet. "Sir, this room is empty and you can use it however you like."

"Alright, thanks. You can go back now." Is said to her.

She saluted before leaving us. I summoned a photocopy machine and a bunch of papers from my skill. I plugged the machine and made around 100 copies of the table.

I took the copies and summoned a table to place them on, "Leah, can you go find the town representative? Tell them to gather at the plaza in the afternoon? I'll conduct a population census."

"As you wish sir." She replied.

She was about to leave but I stopped her. I told her that she can take the jeep but she'll drop me off at the mansion first. She agreed, so we left the factory together and she dropped me off at the mansion before looking for the town representative.

I went to the study and passed by Henry along the way, "Can you tell three APCs to get the money from the mint and bring it here?"

"Of course sir." He replied before running off.

After that brief exchange I continued to the study. Upon arriving, I immediately took off my officer's tunic and laid on one of the couches. I wonder how Cess and the others are doing?

+ + + + +

"Dammiiiit! My fuckin ass hurts!" Kelvin complained.

"Quit complaining bro." Carlo said, trying to calm Kelvin down.

"Dude, even you were complaining awhile ago." Kelvin retorted.

"Yeah, but I didn't shout and cry about it like a baby. Even the wagon driver was looking at you!" Carlo retorted back.

"Urgh! You guys stop it this instant." Rika interjected.

Carlo and Kelvin stopped right after Rika's interruption. But the others also started to voice out their complaints.

"Dude Ian's trucks are much more comfortable compared to this wagon."

"Atleast, Ian was considerate enough to consider my diet, all I eat here is dried meat."

"Why did we even have to make a dumb mistake."

Rika was getting annoyed since her classmates kept on mentioning how better it would have been with Ian around, "Urgh… Go back to Ian if that's what you want then!"

"R-rika… " Cess muttered. "Everyone just calm down now, let's just try to get through this journey, okay?"

Can my butt last one more week on this wagon though? She thought to herself.

+ + + Ian + + +

In the afternoon, right after my afternoon snacks, Leah came to the study. "Sir, the residents and the slaves have already gathered at the plaza, two squads have been sent ahead as security."

"I see, let's get going then. Tell the APCs with the money to move out too." I said before donning my officer's 111tunic.

"As you wish, sir." Leah replied.

We left the mansion together with the APCs filled with money and an APC with a squad of soldiers. Once we arrived at the plaza, we saw the place crowded with people. There was a distinct separation between the residents and the slaves though. Our vehicles stopped at their front and I climbed up on top of an APC.

"Good afternoon! Residents of this town. As you all know, I'm the leader.of the Para Bellum. And as of right now, we control the town.” I began with a loud voice, “I will now be telling you my plans for this town.”

“The town will be undergoing a redevelopment which means that some buildings will be demolished, whether it’s abandoned or not. For those buildings that are owned, we will compensate you accordingly. As compensation, you can choose between money or a new building of equivalent size and value to your previous building. With regards to the money, we have created our own coinage so bring your all your money so we can change it to our own coins. We will also provide jobs until you have finally adjusted to the new way of life. Next agenda is the town's food supply, I have already solved that. We will start farming inside the town."

"Farming!?" Some of the townsfolk exclaimed.

The town rep came to me and said, "Sir, the town's soil is infertile. No matter what we plant, they'll just wither."

"Do you not trust me? Whatever I say will become reality, believe in that." I replied.

The town rep was at a loss of words so I decided to continue, "Last but not the least, all the slaves will be freed. All except criminal slaves."

At my words, the slaves all looked up to me with some hope in their eyes. The town rep once again said, "Sir, slaves are bound by magic collars. Only the one who purchased them or the one who sold them can undo it." The slaves were once again downcast upon hearing the town rep.

"I told you before, whatever I say will be reality, right? So I will make it happen." I confidently declared. Can you create a skill that can undo those collars?

"Answer: Yes… Curse removal is only an intermediate skill… No negative effects upon gaining the skill… Skill acquisition will only cost 2.5% of my stored energy… Proceed with skill acquisition? YES / NO? "

Yeah, go ahead.

"Skill Curse Removal acquired… "

Woah, it's as easy as that? Speaking of skills, I wonder how my status is doing. I'll check it out some other time.

After acquiring the necessary skill, I needed to try if it works. "I will demonstrate to you that I can free the slaves."

I got down the APC and went to the slaves group. I picked out a girl from the group, the girl we rescued before. According to the girl when asked by the female medic, Marvin still didn't do it with her but he was constantly touching her. That damn pig, he makes me sick.

“I will prove that I can break the slaves from their bondage.” I said and placed my hand on her collar. I activated my skill and I felt something come out of the collar. Whatever came out of that collar sent shivers up to my spine.

After a few seconds, the collar crumbled away and was scattered by the wind. The girl placed her hands on her neck and once she couldn't feel the collar anymore, she fell to her knees and started crying.

The townsfolk began to murmur amongst themselves, "He broke the slave collar!? Maybe he can also make our lands fertile just like he claimed." Conversations like this spread throughout the crowd.

The slaves were astounded but quickly recovered once they realized they could be freed too. One by one they all stood up and ran to me, but my men were faster and they blocked anyone trying to get to me.

"Free me next!"

"No! Me!"

"Damn you guys, I need to be freed."

They all tried to get through my men but they were unsuccessful, my men were trained while the slaves weren't. My men need some non-lethal weapons to deal with stuff like this.

Leah fired her gun in the air and got everyone's attention. "Did you not hear our leader? He said only non-criminal slaves will be freed."

As soon as the slaves heard this they all began shouting, "Me! I'm innocent."

Leah fired her gun again, "KEEP QUIET ALL OF YOU, IF YOU WANT TO BE FREED. TOMORROW COME TO THE MANSION."

After Leah's declaration, the slaves returned to their places.

Good thing I have competent subordinates like her.

I stood up on top of an APC again, "Now I'll be conducting a population census on the townsfolk."

I summoned a table and a couple of pens and distributed it to the soldiers in the area. I ordered them to make the townsfolk lineup in order for their information to be recorded. My men promptly made the townsfolk form several lines in front of the table. This'll take a while.

I just watched as the townsfolk registered their information one by one. The soldiers are there to assist if someone doesn't know how to write. The alphabet they use in this world is just like our alphabet on Earth.

I browsed my skills as a way to pass time.