Roar shot both hands out to grab the Oriental.He was going to use the strength that matched his big frame, latch on, and slam him down.Once he gets a hold of you, you’re dead…THWACK.Before his fully extended arms could even touch the Oriental’s body, a shock hit and his arms were yanked downward and twisted off-line.The moment pain registered, something snaked around his neck and his upper body was forced backward.His legs caught on something and suddenly his whole body felt like it was floating in midair.I’m flying…THUD.The impact started at the back of his head, ran down his spine, and crashed into his tailbone.It all happened in an instant. A dry, empty sound leaked out of Roar’s half-open mouth.In that moment, the Oriental cast a shadow in the blazing sun and brought his mouth to Roar’s ear.“Get up. This is just the beginning.”“……”If I end it this easily, they’ll chalk it up to luck.He was going to use Roar to get his hands on the other seventy-nine.To do that, he needed to push much harder.Max grabbed Roar by the front of his shirt and hauled him up.They squared off again.Roar’s dazed eyes quickly filled with rage and humiliation.But instead of rushing in to grab again, he raised his guard and took a cautious stance.His eyes focused on the Oriental’s arms and shoulders.If you think I only fight on raw strength, you’re dead wrong.You watched the shoulders before the punch. That way you could read the attack.Sure enough.The Oriental’s right shoulder came up.Heh. Right-hand hook, huh.A smile drew itself across Roar’s lips.The plan in his head was already complete. He’d even measured reach. The answer was a cross-counter.Let their fists cross, use his longer reach to hit the face first, and it was over.All I need is pure offense…!Except the Oriental didn’t throw his right hand.Instead, a foot filled Roar’s vision.CRACK.While he was reeling backward, several more blows came in.The Oriental’s fist hammered his gut, then his face, and when he staggered back, the man followed and whipped him with his legs.Every hit made his body lurch and wiped Roar’s head clean of thought.While the one-sided beating dropped jaws among the Jayhawkers—The Oriental kicked off the ground, flew up, grabbed Roar’s head with his right hand, and drove Roar’s face into his knee.WHAM.The guard he’d set in front of his face smashed his own face.When he came to his senses, the Oriental was clutching his throat and glaring at him.This bastard… I can’t beat him.Roar’s body trembled; his split lips parted a little.“I lo—… I lost…”WHAM.A fist buried itself in the right side of his face and the beating started all over again.The Jayhawkers spoke one line at a time, faces gone pale.“Isn’t he gonna die like that?”“Somebody should stop him!”“You go, asshole.”Downey, who had firsthand experience of this, folded his arms and bobbed his head.“I’ve been there. He doesn’t stop on his own.”“Then what?”“You gotta take an active posture.”“What the hell is that?”“Looks like Roar just figured it out.”There’s a beginning, and there’s an end.Flat on his back, Roar grabbed onto Max’s pant leg. That was definitely an active posture.For a second, both of them stopped moving.Roar panted roughly and forced the words out.“I… said I lost.”“Got it, so let go.”Max nudged his leg up and Roar released his grip.Max brushed himself off as if shaking off dust.Then he looked around the field and opened his mouth.“Next, please.”The Jayhawkers muttered among themselves.— Think his strength’s dropped by now?— Doesn’t look like it at all.— Maybe it’s doable?— Then you go out there, dipshit.Just then Max’s voice rang out again.“Where’d the guys who raised their hands earlier go?”The Jayhawkers busied themselves looking around with their eyes, hunting for the volunteers.— Don’t look at me, assholes.— Wasn’t me.“I’ll count to five. If nobody steps up, I’m going to assume from here on out you follow my orders unconditionally. If you don’t like that, get out of Lawrence. Right now.”“……”Silence.Max nodded and continued.“I’ll take it everyone here is joining the training.”He narrowed his eyes and went on.“Downey, far left. You’re the guide.”“?”“Throw your right hand straight up and call it out.”“G—guide!”“Form up in an eight-file column on the guide. Move.”“?”Max shook his head and started explaining positions.Then he called for a five-file column this time.“Did this place only gather idiots who can’t tell vertical from horizontal? Guide.”“Guide!”“This time, form up in a four-file column. Move!”Only after several rounds of milling around and confusion did they manage something like an eight-file column.Max spoke with a satisfied face.“Since it’s the first day, we’ll stop here. We’ll assemble again tomorrow.”Max dismissed the young Jayhawkers.He stood there and watched his future assets scatter in all directions.If they’re going to fight in the Civil War, I have to start laying the groundwork now.That was why Max preferred them young.If he wanted a war that would break out within a few years and men who would stay with him afterward, under twenty-five was about right.Not that he had to look that far ahead in time, either.From here on out, big and small incidents would crop up like mushrooms after rain.Plenty for building experience.Finished with his thoughts, Max turned his back and walked over to Roar. The man was sitting in a daze, wiping blood off his face.Max held a hand out to Roar, who flinched.Call it the kind of bond that only exists between men.As Roar stood, swiping at his bloody nose, Max spoke.“I got worked up earlier.”“……”“At the very least, if you don’t follow my orders as training instructor, things get dangerous. My family, see…”Patrick Downey, walking past, came to a halt.Damn it, that’s exactly what he said to me.For a second he wondered if Max might actually mean it.He felt a little aggrieved, but at the same time he wanted to laugh.Downey could see Roar’s future.He’d end up wanting to learn from Max, wanting to be with him.“Let’s go. We’ve got training today too.”“If I’m gonna place first in the test, I gotta go.”“Dream big, huh. I’m taking first place, bastard.”Downey and his buddies bickered their way toward Max’s personal training ground. ****Max went back to the office with Lane.Fitch and Joe Jim Junior, apparently fired up, said they were heading to the training ground and disappeared.“You said meeting of hearts, and you meant fists.”“Fists are what move hearts.”At Lane’s words, Max scratched his head.“I thought you were only going to pick some of them. Why’d you suddenly change your mind?”“Everyone’s got different stats. I’m planning to test them. Put simply, I need people who can serve as Sharps shooters, cavalry, infantry, and I also need people who can handle maintenance and supply.”“Didn’t think you’d factor in support troops too.”Sharps shooters were snipers with Sharps rifles.Cavalry were soldiers fighting on horseback, infantry were literally the ones fighting with revolvers and blades in their hands.And support troops for those combat soldiers were absolutely necessary.In war, engineers, mechanics, medics, supply, and signal were indispensable.“What the hell did you do back in Joseon?”“They had wars there too, you know.”“Looking at you, it sounds like it’s way more developed than America.”“It’s an amazing country. Long history, too.”The irony was that despite America’s short history, its industry and weaponry were lagging.If you thought of the United States as an extension of Britain, though, it made sense.Lane wanted to apply Max’s training and organizational methods to the other Jayhawkers as well.“Then we’ll do that.”“Mm.”The conversation seemed about done, but Lane didn’t get up to go.Max sat in his chair and quietly watched the man frown and think.That unkempt hair of his always called to mind one of those mad scientists in movies who jumped back and forth between past and future. Come to think of it, his face wasn’t that different either.The difference was he didn’t have much hair, and what he had wasn’t white—it was more of a dark brown.After a while—“I’ll be going now.”Lane got up in a rather anticlimactic way and brushed off his pants.It seemed he wasn’t at the point of sharing his worries yet.Watching Lane walk out of the office, Max ran through various possibilities.He must be thinking about Chair Charles.Maybe the grinding between those two, who were going to end up rivals and mortal enemies, had finally begun.James Henry Lane was a man worth watching closely. Even after Bleeding Kansas, he’d hold an important place. ****A week later.“Is the training already over?”Holliday showed up at the tent set up at the training ground.At the moment he was chair of the Topeka town association, a member of the Kansas legislative committee, a member of the Lawrence town council, and the organizing chair for the founding of a new party.“What brings the busiest man in the world to a shabby place like this?”“I came to watch the training. Didn’t think it’d end this fast.”“It’s not over. They all went up Mount Oread.”It was /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ 3.2 kilometers from the center of Lawrence.A low hill with an elevation of 316 meters.“What are they doing on the hill?”“What do you think. Just running.”Holliday tilted his head and dropped himself onto the sofa. His face kept flickering through worry, pleasure, and joy.“You on your medicine? What’s with that expression?”“Don’t even start. Feels like my head is going to explode.”“Tell it in order. I’ll fix it for you.”At Max’s words, Holliday snapped his head around.“You mean it? You just promised.”Getting up from the sofa, Holliday dragged a chair over and planted it in front of Max’s desk. Then he poured himself a glass of water.“Sounds like you’ve got a lot to say.”“Oh, I do. First is the Kansas Free-state party we’re founding next month.”On the fifth of next month.The founding convention of the Kansas Free-state party would be held at the convention site in Big Springs, halfway between Topeka and Lawrence.Max had no interest in parties, but Holliday explained it all with zeal. In the end, though, you could sum the whole thing up in his final line.“In other words, it’s a party founded to make Kansas a free state.”“Won’t last long as a party.”“Why! Why not!?”“Once Kansas is a free state, what’s left for it to do?”“…… That’s true. Still, that’s a later problem.”Next was the question of governor of the Kansas Territory.Normally the president appointed one, but Lawrence was electing its own governor.Honestly, it was a wonder the army hadn’t already marched in.“Right now Chair Charles and Representative Lane are fighting it out.”“For party leader too?”Holliday nodded.Max could finally understand what Lane had been wrestling with. And Holliday’s worries as well.“Who do you think it’ll be?”“Chair Charles is probably the favorite.”“I think so too. Lane did serve in the Indiana House, but his name recognition in Kansas is low.”Holliday took a sip of water and spoke.“The problem is how Lane reacts. What if he just walks off with the Jayhawkers?”If Chair Charles became governor, he became supreme commander of the militia, the Jayhawkers.From Lane’s perspective, it’d be like cooking the porridge only to hand it to someone else’s dog.But Max shook his head firmly.“No way. That’s not happening.”“Oh? You sound sure. You’ve got something.”Max looked at Holliday and tapped his own temple with a fingertip.“I’ve got a feel for it. A feel.”“…… Are you kidding me?”“Think about it. His Indiana House term was only two years. He tried for the Senate and lost. On top of that!”“Jesus.”Holliday rolled his eyes and Max laughed and went on.“What do you think went through his head when a Democrat from a party crawling with slavery advocates came out here?”“What did?”“He decided to stake his political fate on Kansas. He saw possibility and opportunity in the clash between free state and slave state. You think a man like that doesn’t know he’s still behind Chair Charles right now? You think he’d give up over a mere seat?”Holliday tilted his head slightly and said,“Still feels like something’s missing.”“Here’s the clincher. What have the Jayhawkers actually done so far? If they’d done something big, someone might regret losing them enough to try and hold on. And Lane hasn’t even taken full control of the Jayhawkers yet.”“Now that sounds pretty convincing.”“A governor who hasn’t even been approved by the president and the leader of a newborn party—what do those positions really mean? Especially to a politician like Lane, who’s looking much further down the road.”“I’m the idiot for worrying. Why the hell didn’t I think of it that way?”Lane had crisscrossed several states gathering the Jayhawkers. Saying he’d walk away over a mere position was selling him way too short.“So you’re saying nothing big is going to happen?”“It’s a pointless worry.”“Okay. Next topic, then.”Next was Topeka.This one wasn’t a problem; it was something to be proud of and happy about.“Next month there’ll be a legislative session at the state capitol in Topeka. That’s the day we proclaim it capital in name and reality.”“Little slower than Lecompton.”The fake legislature that had been at Shawnee had gone back to Lecompton and declared that the capital.Pawnee, Shawnee, Lawrence, Topeka, Lecompton.You had to wonder if anyone would even remember, with both sides bouncing the “capital” around from place to place like that.“Oh, right. You heard they appointed a Douglas County sheriff a few days ago, right?”“I heard it was Samuel Jefferson Jones.”“Word is he’s making the rounds of the towns in the county. Shaking hands and getting a feel for the lay of the land.”“Yeah?”“What if he comes to Lawrence? You two don’t exactly get along.”“Don’t get along” was putting it mildly.The miracle would be not shooting each other on sight.But there was nothing to worry about.“Jones can’t come here.”“Why? Because of you?”“No. Lawrence is crawling with Jayhawkers, and they’ve set up their own legislature and capital. You think he’s insane enough to come here? He’s surrounded by enemies on all sides.”The situation was different from a few months earlier when Samuel Jones had come.Even if Max didn’t touch him, there were plenty of people in town who’d kill him.He just couldn’t come yet. When he did come to Lawrence, it would be at the head of an army.The simple fact that Samuel had been appointed sheriff carried a lot of weight.Max didn’t know the exact date or place, but the first murder that would spark the Bleeding Kansas affair was about to happen.At the center of it would be Samuel Jefferson Jones, sheriff of Douglas County.Wonder if that arm’s healed yet.— WAAAAAAH!While Max was thinking that, a tremendous roar rose from far away.“Wh-what the hell is that?”“What do you think. That’s the recruits coming back.”Holliday followed Max out of the tent.“There are so! Many fine! Jayhawkers in this world!”Leaving Holliday staring blankly behind, Max stepped out front. God knew where he’d gotten it, but he was wearing a bright red, squared-off cap and shouting.“Listen to these bastards’ voices!”!Holliday actually fell back a step as he watched Max suddenly switch modes.“You trot that little distance and you’re gonna sound like some old man wheezing!? Huh? Everybody drop to the ground, now!”“Now!”“On one it’s ‘I.’ On two it’s ‘Jayhawkers.’”…That kid is not normal.Holliday clicked his tongue at Max.Then he looked over the Jayhawkers.Among them, he spotted two pairs of tear-filled eyes looking at him.Fitch, Joe Jim Junior?Why were they putting themselves through this hell?Holliday just could not understand.Max’s voice boomed across the field again.“With stamina like that, you can’t even block the spit the Border Ruffians hawk at you. Got it!?”“Yessir…!”“Listen to that. PT drill eight, full-body twist. Do it.”“Aaagh, anything but that!”“Who just said that! Get out here!”“Recruit number eighteen, Nathan Roar!”“Number eighteen does twenty full-body twists alone.”Fuck, maybe I should go another round with him.Flat on his back on the ground, Roar trembled all over and cursed his own mouth and the uselessly heavy arms and legs he’d built with his muscles.Total trainees: eighty-two.An independent company of eight squads and two platoons—or that was the plan.Time to start getting ready for round two with Samuel Jones.Max’s eyes gleamed as he drove the recruits even harder.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.