Chapter 1121: Make Them Run

After an additional few seconds of silence, Fran slowly raised her head, sending a shiver down the spines of the volunteers.

Since Fran looked so angry to them, they must be dreading her next action. Meanwhile, Fran simply walked over to the wagons and put them in storage.

She released the horses from each cart before shoving them in, supplies and all. Then, she gathered up all the horses and handed them to Maleficent.

「Take care of the horses, you can ride them if you want.」

「Eh? But riding horses is kinda annoying.」

「…」

Persona nodded in agreement to Maleficent, but Fran simply forced the reins into their hands.

「You said you would handle chores.」

「This is a chore?」

「Nn, a chore.」

「Sigh… Fine, I suppose.」

After receiving Maleficent’s reluctant nod, Fran turned to the volunteers again.

「If I take you all to the battlefield, you’ll just be a nuisance there.」

「Huh? Erm, I mean, what do you mean by that?」

「You’re annoying, you don’t listen, you steal food, and you walk too slow. You’ll only get in everyone’s way.」

Fran’s straightforward words caused a wave of commotion among the volunteer soldiers. However, none of them could voice their discontent. She started giving off an unsettling aura, perhaps due to remembering their irritating behavior.

The volunteers knew they might find themselves as the next example if they said the wrong thing. Swallowing their complaints in frustration, everyone remained silent.

In the somber atmosphere, Fran walked slowly in front of the volunteers and explained their next course of action.

「Maybe it’s better to just dump you all here. You won’t bother anyone again.」

「「「 !!! 」」」

The faces of the volunteers twitched, not from anger, but from fear. They understood the word “dump” to mean they would be cut down and dumped into shallow graves.

Well, I can understand how they reached that conclusion after witnessing the anger on Fran’s face.

「But even you all can be useful with training.」

「T-Training?」

「Nn. So, you run.」

「Huh?」

「First, you form lines and run. I wanted to make you listen by beating you up, but there’s not enough time. So instead you train by jogging. All without breaking formation.」

The volunteers formed into lines immediately after Fran said these words, incredibly quickly and without any trouble. Unlike the previous distorted formation, these lines were neat and clean, as if they were perfectly-trained soldiers.

These guys aren’t half bad when they put their minds to something.

「Okay. Now stay in formation and keep jogging at the same speed.」

「A-Am I permitted to ask a question?」

「Nn.」

「H-How long do we have to jog?」

「Until I say stop.」

「S-So, when will you say stop…?」

The man asked an additional question, but Fran only frowned. This jogging thing was something she came up with on the moment, so she had no plans for the next step.

However, Fran’s frowning face only looked like pure irritation to the volunteers. They immediately swallowed their complaints and continued jogging.

Thus began Fran’s boot camp. Maleficent and Persona led the way on horseback, followed by the volunteers, with Fran keeping an eye on everyone from the tail end.

They ran as asked in the beginning… but of course, even those with high physical capabilities got tired eventually.

Obviously, not everyone had the same amount of stamina to begin with. The weakest of the bunch eventually broke out of formation.

Yet Fran refused to allow this. She cast Stamina Heal on them and forced them to keep jogging. That said, she never insulted those who simply ran out of stamina.

On the other hand, she really cracked down on those who were slacking off or not taking it seriously. If any of them disrupted the formation, even a little, she mercilessly fired a few rounds of magic.

Well, not a direct hit though. Simply grazing their skin a bit to warn them of the consequences.

However, I suppose we should have expected something like this from problem children the guild couldn’t handle. After realizing Fran would not actually hit them with magic, their original attitude returned. A few began to run slower, or purposely trip and take a rest. Time had diluted their fear of Fran.

Fran simply maintained her current strategy. Suddenly, one of the men shouted at her.

「Captain!」

「What?」

「I’m getting really hungry! We’ll die of hunger at this rate!」

All said with a disgusting smirk on his face. Did he really think Fran would be satisfied by such an excuse? Of course not, Fran simply ignored him.

「No food until you run properly.」

「Huh?」

「Now you have to run even longer.」

For an ex-slave like Fran, hunger was often more painful than simple violence. It’s only natural she would consider skipping meals as a viable punishment for the volunteers.

「Y-You think this is some sort of joke?!」

「No, this is no joke.」

「Shut your damn mouth! I’m done with this shit! Hey boys! We don’t need to listen to this little bitch! Let’s fucking kill her already!」

「…Y-Yeah!」

「Take her down!」

About ten people broke out of formation in response to the man’s suggestion. It seems they’ve reached the end of their patience. Pretty pathetic after only about three hours of jogging.

Well yeah, I know that’s like a full marathon on Earth. That said, Fran had been healing them the entire time, so they shouldn’t be that tired.

The remaining volunteers simply watched without any attempt at stopping them. I bet they’re secretly rooting for the men to eliminate Fran without any effort on their part.

On the other hand, Fran understood what all of the volunteers were thinking, and decided to firmly reestablish the hierarchy between them. I agree that this is a good opportunity.

Fran cracked her knuckles as she took a step forward.

「I’ll give you a little discipline.」

Since Fran wanted nothing more than to reach the battlefield as soon as possible, it’s no wonder she found the volunteers holding her back so annoying. I only pray she doesn’t mess up and exert too much force again!

At any rate, she’ll make the volunteers submissive one way or another. Fran’s boot camp will definitely get even more intense now.