What Useless Things
Faced with Sophie White's repeated tantrums, Alexander Hayes's expression grew cold. "Your father entrusted me, on his deathbed, to care for you as my own family. All these years, I've kept you by my side in the army, personally raising you as if you were my own sister. I have nothing to be ashamed of before your father. Sophie, you're grown up now. Stop acting like a child—this is not where you belong. Tomorrow, you'll set out for the Kingdom of Chu. Don't ruin my plans."
Sophie White pouted, huffed loudly, and threw her helmet to the ground with a heavy thud. "You're kicking me out, huh? Fine! I won't wait for tomorrow—I'll leave right now! Don't worry, I won't delay dealing with Zhao Yanchuan. You just stay here and enjoy your time with your princess! Hmph, Alex, you've really changed since you got married. You used to focus on training the soldiers with spears, always saying that only by mastering the spear could they survive on the battlefield. But now, you've let that princess of yours fill your head with nonsense, bringing in box after box of iron rods. The Firestorm Battalion barely even trains with spears anymore—they're supposed to use those useless iron sticks as weapons! If you ask me, your Hayes Regiment will be ruined sooner or later by a clueless woman's terrible ideas!"
Fuming, Sophie stormed off, heading straight for the armory. She picked up a pistol, weighed it disdainfully in her hand, and spat, "That Su woman has fooled Alex with this piece of junk. What's it called again? Oh, right—pistol. Pistol, pistol, such a short and flimsy thing in your hand, how could it possibly compare to a broadsword or a spear!"
Sophie tossed the pistol back into the box, then glanced at the crates of ammunition and gunpowder with utter contempt.
"Clueless woman! What kind of garbage is this?" Sophie cursed Lily Evans several times, her heart full of resentment. She drew her broadsword from her waist, swung it twice, and said, "My broadsword is still the best! If those three thousand elite soldiers were trained by me, I'd turn them into a crack broadsword unit. How could Alex be so bewitched, making the finest three thousand men learn to use this useless junk instead!"
Sophie couldn't understand it at all, couldn't agree with it one bit. But she knew that her opinion didn't matter anymore, because this was something Alexander Hayes valued deeply and had personally approved. In the past, Alex would listen to her advice in the army, but he was always a man of strong convictions and wouldn't change his mind easily just because someone tried to persuade him.
"Whatever. Sooner or later, Alex will see that this stupid pistol is useless." Sophie pouted, imagining a fight between her broadsword and the pistol. There was no way the pistol could get close—her broadsword would slice down the person holding it in just a few moves.
Sophie let out a sigh, turned, and strode out of the armory, heading out of the mine and making her way toward the Kingdom of Chu.
If Sophie had left just half a day later, she would have witnessed firsthand how the pistol—so useless in her eyes—was actually meant to be used.
On the vast wasteland behind the mine, three thousand soldiers stood in formation, their eyes fixed on the high platform where the noble, beautiful, and seemingly delicate general’s wife stood.
Beside Lily Evans was a tray holding a row of pistols, each loaded with ammunition. Alexander Hayes stood next to her, and not far in front of them, two soldiers carried over a cage.
Inside the cage was a fully grown male wolf, looking strong and fierce. Its green eyes stared out hungrily, drool dripping from its mouth—a clear sign it hadn’t eaten in days.