The soldiers all stared.
"You are the soldiers who are supposed to protect the Saito household. You are the soldiers who are supposed to protect me. But if this is what you are... then how am I supposed to entrust my life to you?"
His gaze sharpened.
"Tell me... can I entrust my life to your protection?"
This time, the soldiers remained silent for a very long time.
But now it was not because Rosinante's presence was suppressing them.
At some point, he had already withdrawn that pressure.
No...
This silence was different.
Because under Rosinante's questioning, many of them had begun to feel ashamed.
"Can!"
At that moment, one man stepped forward.
His face was flushed, his blood boiling with emotion.
"Please rest assured, General! Entrust your life to us! Anyone who wants to harm the General will have to step over our corpses first!"
Even Rosinante was genuinely surprised when he heard that.
He hadn't planted anyone in the crowd.
He had actually been about to smooth things over himself...
But instead, this unexpected gift had appeared on its own.
"Protect the General to the death!"
"Protect the General's Residence to the death!"
"If anyone dares harm the General, they'll have to step over our corpses first!"
Slowly, more and more soldiers joined in.
Then even more.
And more.
Until soon, the shouts of ten thousand men shook the sky itself.
At that moment, the soldiers no longer looked as numb and indifferent as they had earlier.
Now...
There was fire in them.
There was blood in them.
There was spirit.
Seeing this scene, every commander was completely stunned.
None of them had imagined that Rosinante would so easily win the recognition of the troops.
And judging from the situation...
He had not merely won their recognition.
He had won their hearts.
"If you want to protect me, then empty words won't be enough," Rosinante said, raising his voice. "From today onward, I will set strict training tasks for all of you. Do you have the confidence to complete them?"
"Yes!"
At this point, even if they didn't, they would never dare say no.
They still had their pride.
"You make it sound nice now," Rosinante said coolly. "Don't start crying for your fathers and mothers when the time comes."
"We won't!" the soldiers shouted back in unison.
"You all know that after the battle some time ago, the Saito Army was left with only twelve commanders. Yesterday, one commander committed treason and was executed by me. Just now, Commanders Kimura and two others treated military orders like a joke, and I stripped them of their positions. In other words... the Saito Army now has only eight commanders."
His voice rang clearly across the camp.
"With fifteen thousand soldiers, there should be fifteen commanders. But now there are only eight."
He let that sink in.
"That means... seven positions are vacant."
The soldiers' breathing grew heavier.
"Originally, commanders should have been selected from among the samurai," Rosinante said as his eyes swept across the ranks. "But today, I'm telling you this... your chance has come."
The entire camp went still.
"Whoever performs exceptionally in the training I set from this point forward... will have the chance to be promoted to commander, and fill those vacant positions."
Rosinante had already struck them hard enough with the stick.
Now it was time to offer the reward.
The moment his words fell—
The soldiers froze in stunned silence for a heartbeat.
Then—
A roar erupted that nearly tore apart the heavens.
They were ecstatic.
They were thrilled.
They had seen it.
A chance to rise.
A chance to make something of themselves.
A chance to change their fate.
And at that exact moment...
The commanders' faces turned pale with fear.
Only now did they truly understand how terrifying Rosinante was.
Before this, they had all assumed that after a hundred days, Saito Tsubasa would inevitably be forced to step down because he would fail to fulfill his promise.
But after seeing how fiercely the soldiers now supported him...
Even if a hundred days passed and he failed to keep that promise, it might still be impossible to force him off the seat.
Because the soldiers would not agree.
Because the commanders promoted from among those soldiers would never agree.
Rosinante had given them a chance to rise.
A chance to soar.
A chance to change their station in life.
To them, Rosinante was no longer just the General.
He had become their hope.
And if he was their hope...
Then how could they possibly allow him to be driven from power?