adbindia Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132. New-Style Military Training
After official matters were concluded, the atmosphere fell into a brief silence.
“You seem very tired after this trip,” Sylvia said, changing the subject. Her voice softened. “Go get some rest first. The inspection can wait.”
“Mm.” Logaris’s response was somewhat absent-minded. He nodded, accepting her concern. “Then I’ll be going.”
With that, he turned and left the office without lingering.
The heavy oak door slowly closed, shutting out the warm glow of the fireplace.
Sylvia stood alone in the office for a long while. She walked to the massive map of the Northern Territory, her slender fingers gliding slowly across its surface before finally coming to rest on the inconspicuous mark in the far east.
“Tarassa…”
She murmured the name softly, a thoughtful glint flashing through her silver-gray eyes.
…
Stepping out of the manor, a gust of cold wind mixed with the scent of snow and coal ash rushed toward him, clearing Logaris’s restless thoughts slightly.
He took a deep breath of the icy air and turned toward the outskirts of the city.
Outside Winter City, the First Legion’s new recruit training camp.
Before he even approached, the roaring noise of the crowd and the surging heat hit him head-on.
It was even more bustling than a marketplace in the royal capital.
When Logaris arrived, the captain of the personal guard, Akash, stood atop a hastily constructed platform like an irritable brown bear, roaring at the dense crowd below.
“Form your damn lines properly! Anyone who pushes forward again will be disqualified and thrown out!”
“And you! Yes, you! The one as skinny as a bamboo pole—stop standing on your toes! You don’t meet the weight requirement. Next!”
Sylvia’s expansion order, combined with wages far above industry standards and meals that were not only filling but rich with oil and meat, was no less enticing to commoners barely scraping by than coins falling from the sky.
The line at the registration point stretched endlessly, disappearing into the distance.
However, Akash strictly enforced the physical examination standards set by Logaris. Anyone with insufficient physical fitness or obvious illness was eliminated without exception. The rejection rate was astonishing—out of every ten applicants, seven or eight were mercilessly turned away.
“Why am I rejected? I’ve killed bandits before!” a burly man who had been eliminated roared unwillingly.
The military doctor in charge of the examination adjusted his glasses and pointed coldly at the report. “You have a lung disease. It is highly contagious. If you do not want your future comrades to die alongside you, go home and get treatment.”
Logaris did not interrupt Akash. He bypassed the crowded registration area and headed straight for the training grounds of the enlisted recruits.
Unlike traditional military training fields, there was no clashing of blades or shouts of knights dueling here.
Instead, thousands of recruits were enduring unbearably monotonous drill training in the cold wind.
“Attention!”
“Dress right!”
“Forward… march!”
The instructors’ commands cracked like whips, striking the nerves of every recruit.
Dressed in uniform gray training attire, they stood within marked grids, repeating standing, turning, and marching over and over again.
Any unnecessary movement would be met with merciless reprimand and punishment from the instructors.
This “modernized” training method had originally been designed by Logaris during his academy days for Sylvia’s personal guard.
Its core purpose was singular—to erase all individuality and sloven habits, reshaping them entirely into interchangeable parts of a precise war machine.
Absolute obedience. Absolute uniformity.
The soldiers were drenched in sweat, their faces flushed red from the cold, white breath pouring from their mouths and almost blending into a single mass.
Many cursed inwardly, wondering if they had come to the wrong place. This hellish training was more torturous than breaking rocks in a mine.
Yet not a single one chose to quit.
Because at the edge of the training ground, dozens of massive field cauldrons were lined up in a row. The lids rattled as they boiled with a constant bubbling sound, and the rich, irresistible aroma of meat mixed with steam drifted across the entire camp.
Even though the princess’s policies had allowed commoners to barely sustain themselves, meat remained a rare luxury in this era.
Forget merely standing at attention—even if they were told to smash their heads against walls, as long as they could eat hot meat like this every meal, they would accept it!
Moreover, they all knew that it was Princess Sylvia and Professor West who had given them a life they had never even dared to dream of before.
A soldier earns his rations—it is only natural. To give one’s life for the princess is even more justified.
“Professor, you’re here.”
Akash had come over at some point. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the recruits standing straight as rods, his expression a mix of headache and satisfaction.
“These brats are finally starting to look like proper soldiers.”
Logaris took the roster from his hand and flipped through it quickly. When he reached the literacy statistics at the end, his brows furrowed.
“This won’t do. Physical strength alone is not enough.” Logaris slapped the roster against Akash’s chest.
“Look at this literacy rate—not even ten percent. A group of illiterates—how are they supposed to operate precise magitech equipment? How are they supposed to read tactical maps?”
“My dear professor, they’re here to fight, not to take imperial examinations,” Akash said with a troubled expression.
“They can swing a blade just fine, but asking them to hold a pen? That is practically asking for their lives.”
“Future wars will no longer rely on brute force and swinging swords.” Logaris’s tone was unquestionable.
“The Northern Territory’s army must become a fully magitech-based technical force. Starting today, add evening classes. Begin with literacy and basic arithmetic. Once the factory assembly lines are fully operational, we will introduce courses on magitech equipment principles and maintenance.”
“They still have to attend classes at night?!” Akash’s eyes nearly popped out. “They’re already exhausted from daytime training. How will they have the energy to listen? They will fall asleep halfway through!”
“Then prepare cold water.” Logaris looked at him coldly. “I grant you authority—anyone who dares to doze off in class gets a bucket of water thrown on them. We did not spend all that money to raise a bunch of fools who only know how to eat.”
Seeing Logaris’s emotionless gaze, and recalling the blueprints of the magitech rifles locked away in storage, gleaming with cold metallic light, Akash swallowed all his complaints.
He knew this professor never joked. If he said it must be done, then it must be done.
“…Yes, understood.” Akash finally nodded.
“I’ll have the training plan and class schedule ready for you tomorrow morning.”
After finalizing all the details with Akash, the frustration in Logaris’s heart finally dissipated somewhat.
Looking at the rapidly forming, vibrant army before him, a sense of creative satisfaction arose spontaneously.
No one could resist using their knowledge and logic to construct a brand-new order of their own.
He suddenly remembered something else.
“By the way, where is that green-haired elf?”
“Mr. Iowen?” Akash’s expression became somewhat strange. “You mean that ‘agricultural technical advisor’? He should be over at the experimental fields in the logistics area.”
Logaris nodded and turned toward the direction of the experimental fields.