Chapter 48: The Whole Army Gambles

  In the afternoon, Du Wei arrived at the military camp beside the castle. Now there are no longer just those three hundred private soldiers guarding the castle in the camp.

  Due to the recent incident of Duwei being kidnapped by a magician, the family had already assembled another battalion of light infantry in this military camp to strengthen the security of the castle. The number of private soldiers responsible for guarding the castle and surrounding areas of the Roline family has now reached one thousand people.

  Du Wei swaggered into the military camp on horseback, and Robert Knight immediately brought people over.

  Robert was demoted by half a rank after returning from the Duvie hijacking incident, but it was only a nominal demotion. He still led the cavalry unit and would likely find an excuse to restore his original position before the end of the year.

  Du Wei walked into the military camp and everyone immediately noticed... this young master's mount!

  That carefully selected, best horse in the entire castle... This horse was even coveted by Sir Robert for a long time...

  But now, this proud horse with a coat as white as snow... its tail has already fallen off!

  Looking at Du Wei sitting on this bald-tailed horse, he seemed to be in a good mood... Robert suddenly felt his scalp numb: what did this young master want to do?

  "Dear Robert Knight, I just came by to see what the young lads of the family are up to." Du Wei smiled with an innocent look.

  "Master, it's still spring now, the spring exercise has just ended, and everyone is still busy with repairs. As for the daily patrol mission, it's all being done by the cavalry... I don't know what you'd like to see?" Robert looked at Du Wei's smiling face and suddenly had an idea, probing: "Perhaps you want to go hunting? If so, I'll immediately gather a team of cavalry to accompany you."

  In Robert's view, it was probably a young master who had been confined and was extremely bored, wanting to have some fun.

  Hunting is just a small matter.

  "No, no hunting." Du Wei laughed with great pleasure: "I came today to play a new trick with everyone, a new game I just thought of!"

  Duvivier took something down from the saddle and Robert saw that it was a small cloth package.

  After unwrapping the bundle, Du Wei's hands were holding a leather ball!

  Yes, Du Wei had spent a lot of money on this leather ball.

  To save expenses, Du Wei didn't have extra money to buy leather, so he went back to his room, picked out one of his own leather jackets, and had the old housekeeper find a maid who was good at needlework. Du Wei simply stated his requirements...

  It's just sewn into a ball shape, this job is not difficult. The maid finished it in a few stitches, and the stitching was very firm.

  As for the filling in the leather ball...

  This world has no rubber, so it's impossible to make a truly inflatable leather ball. In order to maintain elasticity, they can only use some soft filling materials, best of all is something like hair... such as horse tail!

  In this way, a cruel sacrifice was made with a piece of leather clothing and the tail of his own fine horse. A leather ball was thus prepared.

  When he was doing this thing, several servants next to him were looking at Du Wei with a "defeated family" gaze, but only Du Wei himself had an attitude of not caring.

  Save some pocket money and you can have it.

  "Robert, look, this is my new game... I call it... soccer."

  "Each side has eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Except for the goalkeeper, no other player can use any part of their arm to touch the ball with their hands, otherwise it's a foul! The purpose of this game is to cooperate with your teammates to kick the ball into the opponent's goal as much as possible! At the same time, strictly prevent the opponent from kicking the ball into your own goal..."

  The basic rules of football were roughly explained by Du Wei. These rules are not complicated, and more than 100 soldiers quickly understood them.

  It's just kicking the ball with your feet!

  On the training ground for practicing martial arts, two saddles were used on both sides to outline a goal frame.

  Du Wei personally took the field, selecting Robert Knights and several cavalrymen who had gone out with him before to form a team. Then he let another batch of officers form another team, and they started kicking.

  At the beginning, it was naturally a joke. The military officers of the Luo Lin family, who had never played football before, often habitually fouled, and some people kicked the ball far away in order to pass it, but ended up kicking the energetic knight with one foot, causing the leather ball to burst.

  Fortunately, Du Wei had made preparations earlier, and the maid who was good at needlework immediately sewed it on the spot... while the unlucky knight contributed his warhorse's tail.

  And when a knight is charging forward with the ball, the opponent will often habitually make some foul moves to block him... it's simply opening Du Wei's eyes!

  Often it's one person bringing the ball just past midfield, the opposing team swarms up, and with a kick, it's not towards the ball, but towards the person! Then the two of them almost abandon the ball, and start a fierce battle! One side is flashing with energy, the other side is swift and deadly, they're fighting with all their might!

  Can't help but say, these Roland family officers are quite skilled in martial arts, with exceptional physical fitness. On the other hand, after Du Wei ran a few laps, he was out of breath and had to be replaced by someone else, while he himself became an umpire.

  After a few more red cards were handed out to those who had turned the game into a martial arts competition, the remaining players finally started playing with some semblance of order.

  Du Wei also demonstrated several dribbling and juggling moves, and even tried a free kick from distance. By the end of the afternoon, these soldiers had basically grasped the rules of football.

  Even "offside", "penalty for fouls in the penalty area", "direct free kick" and "indirect free kick" are played like a real game.

  In the late afternoon, the most cunning guy had already learned how to fake a fall in the restricted area!

  Although the guy performed clumsily, Du Wei couldn't help but send him a penalty kick with great respect. Because his favorite soccer star in his previous life was Inzaghi, known as the "King of Diving".

  This penalty also won the full court of soldiers' loud curses "black whistle" indignation.

  One afternoon, all the officers and soldiers in the military camp fell in love with this man's sports!

  The "world's number one sport" of past lives is indeed not covered!

  In the late afternoon, Du Wei had already discovered that several high-ranking military officers had painfully taken out their own leather coats and handed them over to the maid to be cut into leather balls. At the same time... they also contributed a few horse tails.

  It wasn't until the sun was about to set that they reluctantly left the training ground. The soldiers who won the game cheered as if they had won a battle, while the losing side gritted their teeth and vowed to fight again tomorrow.

  Du Wei was very satisfied with all of this!

  In the evening, Du Wei came to his own small building. Solstice had already gone back to rest. In the evening, this building belonged to Du Wei alone.

  Several guards were stationed outside, and no one was allowed in.

  Du Wei anxiously went up to the third floor, stood on the balcony and gazed up at the sky.

  "What are you doing during the day?" Semel, who was sitting on the railing behind him, had his small white legs raised high, causing Du Wei's eyes to flutter repeatedly.

  He turned his head away and sighed: "Make money."

  "Made money?" Samira burst out laughing, she had been following Du Wei all day, but only Du Wei could see her. Samira laughed for a while, clearly disbelieving: "You lost a leather jacket, cut off your own ponytail, sweated all day, got two sets of clothes dirty, and exchanged them for a set of dust... Is this what you call making money?"

  Du Wei rolled his eyes: "What do you know? Just wait and see."

  It's already midnight now. The sky is cloudless and the stars are shining brightly. Du Wei looked at the time: "Can we start?"

  "The cultivation of Stellaluna Magic is not actually difficult... but the most difficult part is getting started." As soon as Stellaluna Magic was mentioned, Saymell's attitude became much more serious, and it was only at this moment that her facial expression seemed to remind Duwei of that great female astrologer.

  Du Wei sat down according to Saymeh's instructions.

  "Feel it with your heart."

  "What's wrong?" Du Wei stared with his eyes wide open.

  "Stars!" Samiel said slowly: "Feel the power of the stars." After a pause, she explained: "Of course, at first, you can't feel the entire sky, I want you to choose one of them, and then after you sit down, you have to use all your magical senses to feel... feel everything that star gives you in response... This is very difficult, and it's not something you can feel overnight."

  Then Ximena taught Duwei an incantation, asking him to silently recite it in his heart while choosing a star as his target.

  "Which one should I choose?"

  "The brightest and largest one." Said Sai Mei.

  Du Wei was stunned: "The largest and brightest? Good heavens, with so many stars in the sky, which one is supposed to be the largest and brightest?"

  Saimel smiled mysteriously at this moment, and she gently raised her hand to point at the sky... Under the moonlight, Saimel's smile was enchanting, with a hint of mystery, her eyes calm and profound!

  What she was pointing at was... the moon!

  Du Wei's heart was chilled!

  It's the moon! It's the moon!

  He stared at Semir in surprise... the great female astrologer... did she even know this? According to Du Wei's previous life, the sun is a fixed star, and the moon is a satellite of the earth. They are the largest in the sky because of their volume and distance from the earth!

  In fact, in this world, even magicians divide the sun, moon and stars into three different categories!

  But nobody knows... The sun and moon are actually also a kind of star!

  "Pay attention to your feelings, feel any fluctuations! Even if it's just a slight tremor of the soul. This process can be very long, maybe one day, or even possibly a year... If you can take this step, then you'll have the opportunity to learn stellar magic... Otherwise... it can only be said that you don't have this talent."

  Sai Mei'er finished speaking, yawned, and lazily sat down beside him, watching Du Wei who was sitting with his eyes closed, lost in thought.

  At first, Du Wei tried to use traditional magic methods to sense...

  After having an "antenna" on his head, Du Wei's sensitivity was extremely strong. He could even feel the airflow and wind fluctuations in the sky, he could feel the river water flowing far away... He could even hear the sound of rushing water...

  However, the stars, the moon...

  The distance is really too far!

  Too far away!

  Du Wei strained to spread out his spiritual power, but the farther it reached into the sky, the weaker it became... Even with Du Wei using all his might, he could only sense the wind in the high altitude... This was already his limit!

  Moon?

  Du Wei is a reincarnated person, of course he knows how far the moon is from the ground where he is... exactly what kind of distance!! Such a distance, Du Wei doesn't think his spiritual power can penetrate that astronomical degree of remoteness!

  Obviously, on the first night, Du Wei failed.

  "I can't give you specific guidance, because these things you have to figure out for yourself." Saemel sighed: "These things, if you understand them, then you do. If you don't understand, I also can't explain clearly."

  Fortunately, Du Wei did not feel any frustration. As Sai Mei also said, things would not be so simple. And Du Wei... he had plenty of time! He didn't have anything else now, but he had a lot of idle time.

  In the morning, although he hadn't slept all night, Du Wei's mental strength was even more vigorous after a night of contemplation. His whole body was full of energy, without any sign of fatigue.

  Du Wei vaguely felt that the incantation Semier told him had a huge impact on the growth of his spiritual power, far more effective than ordinary magic meditation methods!

  This growth is not an increase in the total amount of spiritual power... but rather... a feeling that one's spiritual power has been refined and purified through some kind of process.

  In the morning, Du Wei came to the military camp again. Today, Du Wei gathered more troops... almost all soldiers who were not on patrol duty arrived at the drill ground.

  Yesterday, in just half a day, all the soldiers who participated in the football game fell in love with this sport.

  But today, Du Wei has come up with a new trick.

  "I'll put up 100 gold coins." Du Wei smiled and said, "You can form teams as you like, then sign up to participate! Teams will be divided by drawing lots... the losing team will be eliminated, and the winning team will continue to compete with other teams. The team that ultimately wins will receive a prize of 100 gold coins."

  Although Robert thought this game of kicking the ball was somewhat unprofessional, it didn't do any harm to the soldiers. At least running around could improve their physical strength. Moreover, after just going through the spring military exercise, the soldiers were now in a period of rest and recovery, and training wasn't that strict either.

  Moreover, this young master is so enthusiastic, it's also not good to disappoint him...

  Of course, a deeper reason is that Robert Knight himself also quite likes this game.

  The suggestion made by the most noble young master was not opposed by the officer. The soldiers would certainly not oppose it either.

  Not to mention... there's also a bonus!

  To ensure the continuation of this "cup" and maintain the physical strength of the soldiers, Du Wei deliberately shortened the time for a game.

  In the previous life's regular match, it was ninety minutes, while Du Wei set the time here to only half of that.

  Very soon, several clerks in charge of logistics management in the military camp were responsible for registration. The soldiers who rubbed their fists and palms, according to their own private relationships near or far, even some simply formed a team with their own squad to sign up for the competition.

  The chaotic scene lasted for a whole morning, and finally, 40 teams were registered!

  According to a team of 15 people (Du Weidong's rule, 11 starting lineup, 4 substitutes).

  The number of participants reached six hundred! That is to say, in the entire military camp with one thousand soldiers, nearly half participated.

  Fortunately, the venue is large enough, and... there are also large tracts of woodland and grass outside, so the site is not a concern.

  Du Wei personally drew lots and divided into groups, so the first football cup of the Luo Lin family began...

  Because it is a knockout tournament by drawing lots, after the first round of matches, 40 teams were left with only half.

  Due to venue constraints, the 20 matches in the first round could not be held simultaneously. So it wasn't until the afternoon that the top 20 emerged!

  At this time, Du Wei, who had watched the vast majority of the matches, relied on his magician's super strong mental power and memory to obtain sufficient information!

  Which teams have better physical strength, which teams are more likely to dive, which teams have stronger innate abilities, and which teams are weaker...

  These details were firmly remembered by Du Wei.

  Then, before the next round of matches began, Du Wei smiled and made a suggestion:

  "Just watching others play is quite boring... Why don't we bet on something instead!"