"Hey! Jia, calm down, I know this is a good thing."

Soon after, NPC Allen's voice came from outside the door: "But this credit doesn't just belong to you, it belongs to your entire team. You need to understand that."

"besides..."

Allen paused, his hesitant voice carrying a hint of tactful reminder: "Although you have earned military merit, the specific reward still needs to be discussed and decided by the adults... This merit is not too great and does not deserve to be commended separately, so you may need to wait a few more days to receive the specific reward."

"It's alright! It's alright!"

Jia Zhengyi's voice was full of surprise: "I was wondering why I heard magpies chirping this morning. It turns out there really is good news! Military merit is all that matters. Rewards are completely irrelevant! Serving the empire is my life's pursuit!"

"Jia, you're really insightful."

Allen exclaimed sincerely, "But what is a magpie?"

"Ah, it's a bird from my hometown. I'll stop talking about it now; I want to share some good news with everyone!"

"Okay, Jia, remember not to waste too much time, we'll be leaving soon."

After the conversation ended, Jia Zhengyi returned to his room with a happy expression. Everyone was already awake and looked at him.

"Hey boss, great news!"

Jia Zhengyi couldn't wait to share his surprise with everyone, and then added with some pride, "This is a [Medium-level Guardian Merit], which is said to be quite high-ranking. If an ordinary person gets a certain amount, they can exchange it for a non-hereditary baronial title!"

"Of course, we certainly don't expect to get a baronial title; it would be great if we could just accumulate enough merit."

Jia Zhengyi smiled happily. Yesterday, everyone was wondering if they would have to fight bravely on the front lines to accumulate the military merits required for the current phase of the mission. But today, they were the first to earn a military merit!

Look at the mess this has made! These NPCs are really something else!

"Based on the distribution of this credit, it's probably going to my brother."

Xiao Linlin pointed out the problem: "It should be about what happened at the manor last night. In any case, brother's actions can indeed be considered meritorious... Hmm, why is the credit given to the team? I think it must be because of sister."

Xiao Linlin glanced at Lyanna. Everyone knew that this merit should not have been related to a title; theoretically, a reward of some gold coins would have been enough.

The increased rewards for merit, which also apply to the entire team, are likely an attempt to curry favor with the spirits, or perhaps a meaningful warning.

Xiao Linlin wasn't quite sure what the secret was, so she could only clap her hands and say, "But no matter what, this is a good thing."

"From now on, our pressure will be much lighter."

Three military merits, two remain.

Considering that the human NPCs are indeed deliberately taking care of the elf team, the next two military merits shouldn't be too difficult to obtain.

The new recruits departed earlier than previously announced; the departure, originally scheduled for the afternoon or evening, was moved to early morning.

I don't know if it's because of the sudden incident at the manor yesterday, or if we need to conduct military activities in advance to prevent the orc faction from finding out.

The number of new recruits in the team was larger than the squad had originally estimated, and they departed in batches.

Su Lin's squad was among the first batch, a force of over ten thousand people, composed of noble private soldiers, adventurers, farmers, and others from the surrounding areas, and carrying a large amount of weaponry and provisions.

Farmers make up the largest proportion, exceeding 70%, with the remainder being noble private armies. There are only a few hundred genuine adventurers.

These adventurers were all assigned to the Surin Squad by the recruiting officer for unified management, and some farmer recruits were also added to the squad, bringing the total number of people under his command to around eight hundred.

This is thanks to Lyanna's official military rank within the human faction, which nominally places her within the military's management.

However, Lyanna was not interested in the details of military affairs during the army's advance and left everything to Jia Zhengyi. The recruiting officer and other high-ranking members of the human faction also did not care about these details.

They only gave the elves minor official positions to win them over; they didn't really expect the elves to offer them advice or strategies, so they left the team to make their own arrangements.

Jia Zhengyi had already received guidance from Xiao Linlin and clarified the team's objectives. While the noble officers discussed matters related to troop deployment and some less confidential military plans, he simply listened obediently.

Whenever someone asked for his opinion, Jia Zhengyi would simply pat his chest and assure them that the team would absolutely follow orders, to express "Miss Elf's" cooperative attitude and willingness.

This pleased the nobles, and whenever the nobles discussed troublesome but necessary military affairs such as military arrangements, patrols, and scouts, Jia Zhengyi would eagerly jump out and volunteer.

Don't ask, the answer is always the same: "I'm not afraid of hardship! I'm not afraid of fatigue! I'm determined to serve the empire!"

This pleased the nobles even more.

They were originally a group of people responsible for logistics and transportation. They had status and position, but their military skills were not very good. They disliked dealing with these military details and were even more afraid of being blamed if they made a bad arrangement.

Now that Jia Zhengyi has stepped forward, patting his chest and guaranteeing his rights, he is even less afraid of taking responsibility.

This delighted the nobles, who readily entrusted such matters to Jia Zhengyi, and incidentally promoted Lyanna from the position of temporary mercenary commander to the position of patrol captain of the imperial reinforcement army.

When Jia Zhengyi brought the news back, Xiao Linlin dismissed it with disdain: "Although it is unlikely that something will go wrong with the new recruits supporting the transportation work, considering what happened at the manor last night, it shows that the inner parts of the empire have been infiltrated by the orcs."

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