"All right." Calista made the final decision. "Assign both Wagner and Jason to Jonathan's squad. Tell Jonathan, Carver, and Merle that I'm handing these men over to them.
How they use them and how they lead them is up to them, as long as they know where the line is. But if anything goes wrong, I'll be coming to them."
She paused, looking at the new recruits sweating in the dust, then raised her voice slightly so several nearby veterans could hear as well.
"And tell all the new recruits that Rock Fortress doesn't care where you came from. It only cares about who you are now and who you become in the future!
Here, if you have ability, you'll have status. If you make contributions, you'll earn respect.
But loyalty is the one and only bottom line!"
Those words were both a warning to the new recruits and reassurance for the veterans.
During the mid-training break, the news quickly spread.
Carver was leaning against an ammunition crate, wiping down his precious throwing knives.
After hearing Leah's announcement, Carver gave a flippant whistle. "Well, well. A real expert, huh? Fine. Let's see if he can catch my throwing knives."
His eyes were full of challenge.
Not far away, Wagner seemed to hear him. He merely glanced calmly at Carver, then continued sipping his water without any reaction.
That steadiness only made Carver even more interested.
On the other side, Merle was taking a swig from a flask. Only he knew what was inside.
After hearing the arrangement, Merle bared his teeth in a fierce grin and barked at Jason, who was standing awkwardly in front of him.
"Hey, brother, you hear that? You're mine now! Lucky you. Stick with Merle, and I guarantee your life'll be... well, exciting enough!"
Jason knew what kind of man Merle was. One of his own kind.
Following Merle might not be the strongest option, but it was absolutely the one that suited him best.
He took a deep breath. "All right, Merle. I'll do my best."
"Call me boss!" Merle corrected him impatiently.
Now that he finally had a proper underling, Merle was feeling extremely pleased with himself.
Daryl glanced sideways at his smug brother and wiped his hunting knife with an amused look.
"...Yes, boss."
The veterans nearby watched the scene with different expressions.
Some studied the newcomers carefully, while others had seen enough not to care and simply went back to resting.
Most of the reserve recruits looked envious or awed.
They knew that being assigned directly to a combat sequence meant recognition, but it also meant facing danger more directly.
Leo, David, and the other first-batch recruits who had performed well had naturally taken on the responsibility of helping manage the newer members. They explained things to watch out for, handed out water, and faintly were starting to look like veterans.
Calista and Leah did not stay long.
Once the expansion and personnel arrangements were settled, they quietly left the training ground.
On the way back to the command room, Calista suddenly said softly to Leah, "Have the kitchen give everyone an extra dish tonight. Use those wild rabbits Daryl brought in yesterday. When you have time, tell Daryl that next time he finds wild rabbits, he should try to bring a few back alive. We'll raise them and expand the base's breeding program as soon as possible. We still don't have enough variety."
Besides, rabbits could breed like crazy! One male and one female could produce litter after litter.
Their offspring would have offspring of their own. In the future, the base would have a stable supply of rabbit meat.
Leah was slightly taken aback, then nodded. "All right."
They both knew that strict training and discipline formed the skeleton.
But what held these people together was not only the threat of surviving the apocalypse. It was also the feeling that they belonged to a "home."
An extra dish, a word of concern. Sometimes those were better at winning people over than any lecture.
And building a stable food source was the foundation that kept that "home" standing.
...
After dinner, the last glow of sunset dyed Rock Fortress's stone walls a warm orange-red.
The smell of stewed meat still lingered in the air.
The thick soup made with wild rabbit meat and root vegetables had clearly been well received. Even the exhaustion from training seemed to have faded a little under that extra reward.
Leah found Daryl near the edge of Rock Fortress, close to the woods.
He was sitting alone on an overturned wooden barrel, using the last of the daylight to carefully inspect several newly tanned rabbit pelts. His crossbow and a few well-maintained arrows lay beside him.
Daryl looked a little out of place beside the growing liveliness around him, where people were talking in twos and threes, yet he had his own quiet, focused presence.
Leah's footsteps were light, but Daryl seemed unusually sensitive to movement around him. He looked up almost the instant she approached.
When he saw it was Leah, he visibly froze.
Then he stood up in a slight fluster, still holding the soft rabbit pelt in his hand. His eyes flickered, and he did not quite dare meet Leah's gaze.
"L... Leah?" Daryl's voice was lower than usual, with an obvious trace of nervousness.
He had not expected Leah to come looking for him on her own, especially outside mission time.
"Mm, Daryl." Leah answered and got straight to the point. "The rabbit soup was good today. Calista asked me to thank you."
"It's... nothing." Daryl instinctively scratched his messy hair, while his other hand unconsciously rubbed the rabbit pelt. "Just happened to find a nest while I was out."
He paused, seeming to realize that answer sounded too stiff, then added, "Long as everyone ate well."
Leah looked at his awkward manner and found it rather novel.
This hunter, fierce in battle and sharp in the wild, now looked like a student whose name had just been called by the teacher.
She stated her purpose directly. "Also, Calista hopes that next time you go hunting, if you run into wild rabbits, you'll try to bring a few back alive."
"Alive?" Daryl looked puzzled, but quickly understood. "To raise?"
"Right. We're planning to expand the breeding scale. Relying only on our current livestock and hunting isn't stable," Leah explained. "Rabbits reproduce quickly. They're a good choice."
"Got it." Daryl nodded at once, his expression turning serious as if he had received an important mission.
"I'll keep an eye out. I know a few places with plenty of rabbit holes. If I'm careful with the traps, I should be able to catch some alive."
His mind had already begun calculating which methods would improve his chances of catching live rabbits.
With the message delivered, Leah should have left.
But when she looked at Daryl standing there as if fully prepared to carry out an S-rank mission, she inexplicably found it a little... interesting.
For once, Leah did not immediately turn away. Instead, she casually asked, "Besides rabbits, are there any small animals in the nearby woods that are easy to catch alive and suitable for raising?"
The question seemed to flip a familiar switch in Daryl.
His eyes lit up slightly, revealing the confidence and desire to share that came from being in his comfort zone.
"Squirrels!" Daryl blurted out almost immediately.
"Those things are clever, but if you dig out their nests, you can sometimes catch the half-grown ones. They're not bad once they're used to people. And squirrel meat's tender. I-I'm pretty good at roasting squirrel..."
...
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