Volume 8 Chapter 8 Interlude： South District Marriage Tale
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Garvey’s Perspective
Because Kondrad became the head of the Capital City garrison, I was thrust into the role of South District military commander.
I’m an ex-low-ranking officer, so I’m terrible at paperwork, but General Kent asked me, so I couldn’t refuse.
Now I’m the South District military vice commander. Being the vice commander is the number 2 position, but the General Commander of the South District army is General Kent himself. Since he’s said he’s going to delegate all military affairs to me, I’m essentially the top dog.
General Kent told me to work closely with Lila, the Chancellor, and said he’d handed over all military authority to me.
As soon as I took the reins, I started reorganizing the South District army, which consists of Sir Arbalest’s Abyss Vena Defense Force, King Kent’s Estfort Army, the guard units, and the patrol units.
First, I merged the Abyss Vena Defense Force and the Estfort Army into the South District Margrave National Army. Then, I reorganized the guard units and patrol units in each city into Security Maintenance Units.
Along with the army restructuring, I decided to establish strict ranks, which had been vague until now, with a system of ten ranks.
The lowest rank would be “Man-at-Arms,” then “Sergeant,” “Master Sergeant,” and for the small-scale commander class, “Sergeant-at-Arms,” “Intermediate Sergeant-at-Arms,” and “Senior Sergeant-at-Arms.” For commanders of intermediate-sized units, there would be “Warlord,” “Intermediate Warlord,” and “Senior Warlord.” Finally, for those aspiring to General, there would be “Warlord-General.” So, for the Strategist types, we decided to divide them into three categories: ‘Intelligence,’ ‘Logistics,’ and ‘The Watch’ (Military Police).
We also assigned each category the ranks of ‘Second Lieutenant,’ ‘First Lieutenant,’ ‘Captain,’ ‘Major,’ ‘Lieutenant Colonel,’ and ‘Colonel.’
By the way, Alfonso became an ‘Colonel of Intelligence’ and was already offered the position of ‘Grand Marshal of Strategy.’
These ranks are specific to the South District Margrave, and to be called ‘General’, you need a formal appointment from the Kingdom.
Apparently, the General himself came up with this rule because he felt it would offend His Majesty Shifa if lower-ranking officers started calling themselves ‘General’ without proper authorization.
For now, only 3 of us hold the rank of ‘General’: myself, the General, and Kondrad.
Ane, the commander of the Cavalry unit, Akebus, who expanded the Training regiment, Fristoph, who took the helm of the Security Force, and Charlotte, who was previously a guest general, all officially joined the South District Margrave army. Each of them was given the rank of ‘Army Captain’.
Bruyne, who was in charge of Ghost operations, was promoted to ‘Advanced-level Army Captain’ due to his impressive leadership during the Ghost rebellion.
And so, with the army reorganization complete, we moved on to the next challenge.
The challenge at hand was arranging marriages for my subordinates.
The newly formed South District Margrave Army was filled with recruits from the lower classes of Capital City, many of whom were single. Sir Arbalest and the General had been working to find them matches, but with so many soldiers, the success rate remained low. Yet, marriage wasn’t just a numbers game—there was another obstacle.
In Capital City, simply being labeled a soldier could be enough to ruin a marriage prospect or dissolve an existing relationship.
But in the South District, the mindset was the complete opposite.
Here, men with Combat Jobs who could fight monsters were highly respected. A soldier’s status ranked just below that of a Monster Hunter.
I hadn’t realized this until General Estfort introduced me to his wife, Marguerite. It was only after she explained it to me that I understood.
She opened my eyes to the reality of the South District.
Many men had lost their lives fighting monsters in their prime, throwing the gender balance into disarray.
Although the population had surged in recent years, and the ratio was beginning to even out, women still outnumbered men.
As a result, young women were actively seeking husbands—desperate, even, as if it were a battle of its own.
Then, an idea struck me—born from my wife’s words.
To put my plan into motion, I headed straight to General Estfort’s office.
”Come in. You may enter.”
”Excuse me. I’ve come today to make a request to the General.”
The office was bustling with beautiful bureaucrats, all busy with their work.
Since Lila was also there, I thought it would be easy to get the ball rolling on my plan if I just ran it by her.
”You’ve been working hard on the military reorganization. So, what’s your request? If it’s about increasing the military budget, talk to my mother. Or is it something else?”
Before hearing my request, General gave me his usual troublesome look.
”It’s not that complicated. I just want to discuss rewarding my subordinates for their expedition to Capital City with something special, General.”
”More rewards? We’ve already paid considerable condolences to the deceased and condolences to the injured. And with this reorganization, everyone who participated in the expedition should have been promoted.”
As General said, the rewards for this expedition had been very generous for my subordinates.
”It’s not about more rewards… I was thinking of letting them settle down, you know…”
My words seemed to strike a chord with General.
”Is that your reward? It’s a good thing to have a family. Even if you’re a soldier, you can’t go on alone, right? So, what’s your request?”
The General, despite his youth, already had a family and children, so he was quite pleased with my offer, showing his enthusiasm.
”Yes, I propose holding a victory celebration party for the army in the garden of the General’s mansion.”
”A victory celebration party? In my garden?”
”Yes, the army will select single officers and soldiers, and I would like to ask the General to invite the ladies.”
The General seemed to understand, thumping his hand down with a smack.
”So it’s a matchmaking party disguised as a victory celebration. Did you hear that, Mother?”
Lila, who was looking over documents at the adjacent desk, called over a nearby bureaucrat.
”I heard. We’ll immediately select the candidates. We’re looking for single women from late teens to early thirties, including widows. The invitations will say, ‘Providing an opportunity to meet promising South District Margrave soldiers.’ We’ll address them as Mr., Lord, or Lord of Garvey. For now, let’s not worry about their status, okay?”
Lila had been listening in on my exchange with the General and was already planning the arrangements.
”Huh? Oh, yes. That’s fine. For now, we’re expecting about a hundred participants from the army; will that be alright?”
”A hundred… Can’t we get more than that…”
I had estimated a considerable number, but looking at Lila’s expression, it seemed it wasn’t enough.
”Well then, let’s try to squeeze out about 2 hundred… After all, they’re guys who’ve lost confidence with women…”
”If the men are 2 hundred, we’ll need ten times as many women… Two thousand… We’ll need to hold a selection exam. We’ll select from the candidates right away.”
Ten times… Is it really okay for the gender ratio to be so skewed… I don’t think Malgrid said it would be that extreme…
I felt a bit sorry for my subordinates.
”Ten to one… It’s going to be an intense battle… Garvey, you should think about a second round too. Once the colleagues who get married see that, we’ll get more participants, I bet.”
”Yes, we will hold a second selection as well.”
With that, the victory celebration party was set to take place a week later.
* * *
A week later, the gardens of the General’s mansion were brimming with 2 hundred eligible men selected from the South District Margrave’s army, alongside 2 thousand women chosen from the region.
Despite the opening remarks yet to be made, an unusual atmosphere enveloped the venue.
The eyes of the elegantly dressed women sparkled with excitement as they 0ed in on my subordinates, who were the prey in this gathering.
My tough subordinates, who had remained unphased even during battles with the Living Dead, were now pale at the overwhelming attention from the ladies.
”Your Excellency Garvey… Are we really going to make it back alive? I feel more at risk here than I did fighting the Living Dead…”
One of my men voiced his anxiety while glancing nervously at the women.
”Come on, no one’s gonna take your life. Just try to catch yourself a pretty girl. I’ve heard there are plenty of daughters from merchant and noble families joining us today. Go fight valiantly and bring back a great catch!”
I clapped my hand on the shoulder of the anxious subordinate, trying to ease his tension.
Just then, the General began his opening address.
”Well then, everyone. Please eat and drink to your heart’s content today. Now, let the festivities begin!”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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