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(232)
Jaylilith gave permission so easily.
I felt like an idiot for worrying about what would happen if I misunderstood.
Helena blinked in disbelief.
“Your Majesty. Did I hear you correctly?”
Jaylilith nodded, wrote down an order on the spot, stamped it with her seal ring, and handed it over.
“For the sake of organization, you will be assigned to the Brass Knights, but the authority to command and appoint personnel will be held solely by you and me.”
“However, if Helena, there is a problem with your new recruits and you are unable to command the unit, the Commander of the Brass Knights will be able to assign knight officers at will.”
“However, only you and I have the authority to disband a unit or transfer its members to other units. Is this enough?”
Helena gave a sharp salute.
“Yes! Your Majesty! I will train you day and night to create the strongest unit!”
“Please let me sleep at night. Haha.”
I stared at Jaylilith.
“… … .”
It was not like Jaylilith, who was so wary of the royal family.
She felt my gaze and turned her head towards me, smiling arrogantly and languidly, leaving Helena behind, who was laughing happily while hugging the order.
“Why are you doing that, my dear?”
I said it with an awkward feeling.
“I didn’t know you would give permission so easily.”
“You didn’t come here to get permission, did you? I gave you permission, so what’s the problem?”
“I thought you would take a long time to verify this, so I read and summarized about 10 papers on the pros and cons of building an elite standing army. The time and effort put into it is beyond reproach.”
Jaylilith burst into laughter and wiggled her knuckle-ringed fingers.
“I have also received many requests to increase the standing army of the Brass Knights. I may not know it, but I have also read the papers you have read many times. Although we live in an era where a small number of elite knights are the strongest, I also know that knights alone cannot do everything.”
She also continued speaking, laughing.
“Archduchess Helena commanded hundreds of midshipmen and tens of thousands of soldiers while I was beyond the magic realm. You must have left her alone because she showed no suspicious movements during that time.”
I flinched, and Jaylilith laughed as if she could see right through me.
As she said, I have been keeping an eye on Helena without knowing it.
Because if Helena had attempted a rebellion with the Central Knights before Jaylilith returned, it might have succeeded.
“No matter how busy I am, I can personally handle five or six erosions, and it seems that she has learned to control her ambitions as a member of the royal family, so I have no reason not to employ a talented person like her.”
It is certainly rare to find a commander who truly enjoys training his men and disciplining himself.
Thinking about it that way, it was only natural for Jaylilith to recruit Helena.
I nodded and thought that I would have to start recruiting with Lord Tentia starting tomorrow.
“Also. I have that kind of belief. My brother came and recommended it, so I’m sure he’s prepared quite well. Look. Even now, he’s really nervous and just thinking about what he’s going to say.”
At that moment, a bright and high-pitched voice rang in my ears.
I raised my head in surprise.
Helena was still smiling brightly, and Jaylilith tilted her head as if wondering why.
Before she knew it, she was holding another document.
It was a report on the situation in the western part of the empire.
“My dear. No matter how beautiful you are, such intense gazes are burdensome.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. … … Excuse me.”
I bowed my head and left the office, dragging Helena, who was still smiling brightly.
The sound of laughter seemed like an auditory hallucination, but I didn't bother to look back.
* * *
Valencianus set out for the streets of learning with Tentia.
“Run away!”
“The Grand Duke of Mangnani has come to get us!”
“It’s the Red Knight! The Red Knight has arrived!”
He surrounded the fight scene with a circle of fire to completely trap the cadets, then climbed up to a nearby building and looked at the cadets through the eyes of a 40-year veteran administrator and field marshal.
'Sword users pass. Destructionists pass. Theology students might say something at church. Unfortunately, they fail. That spearman definitely passes. In this fight, about 15 out of 200 people?'
If you tell Rudy about the talent you have chosen.
“Rudy. The guy with the long sword, the guy hiding behind the shield wall, and the guy with the two short spears, just hit him.”
Rudy would attach a soft ball filled with bright fluorescent paint to a slingshot and shoot it to mark the talent.
Then, Tentia went through the fire, captured the talent, and handed it over to Helena.
“I am very happy to have you as my soldier, His Majesty the Emperor!”
“No, when did I?”
“We will now begin group combat training!”
Helena and the Brass Knights also served as cadets, and maintaining a permanent elite corps was a long-standing goal of the Brass Knights.
thus.
The Brass Knights gave up their holidays to help me and Helena train their troops.
“Helena! I will give the lecture on Dokdo Law.”
“I’ll take charge of the magic bombing response training!”
“Do you need any training in horse riding archery?”
If Helena's forces performed well, Jaylilith would increase the number of permanent maintenance elite troops, which meant more budget and authority.
Of course, it was a dizzying experience for the cadets who had been living as bullies on the streets of learning and were dragged in to become soldiers.
“The food here is really good.”
“Have you seen my paycheck? I heard I’ll be able to pay off my student loans in three months.”
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“We received magic tools with our equipment.”
They were not just expendables, they were elite soldiers.
In the learning district where the ringleaders disappeared, fights became much less frequent.
“I will live, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Be safe, Your Majesty.”
Jin, Katalin, and the student council members bowed their heads at the mere sight of Valencianus' shadow.
But Valencian was the kind of person who, once he moved his body, had to suck it all the way down to the bone to feel satisfied.
“Jin. Even so, it’s just a stopgap measure. Fights will continue to happen in the future, and it’s not something we can drag on every time.”
“That’s right, Your Majesty.”
“Ultimately, we need to increase the space itself.”
“But the distance of learning has now reached its limit of expansion. It is surrounded by large workshops and commercial streets, and the land prices there are simply unaffordable for the academy level.”
“Just raise it up. The construction and civil engineering guilds are still running out of materials. I’ll get them all cheap and give them the job, so let’s finish it within the summer vacation.”
Jin opened his blue eyes wide, and Valencian smiled confidently.
“I am Valencian.”
The building owners on the Learning Street side had too many deaths during the foreign matter incident, which made inheritance difficult, and the landowners were either members of the imperial family or nobles of the court very close to the imperial family.
Valencianus went around them and got them all signed off on the construction permit in one day, and Jean put out a call for bids.
“What is this, what is this?”
And Jin's mouth dropped open as he looked at the bids that stretched from floor to ceiling.
“What did I say?”
“No. But I didn’t know it would be this much. Is it possible to build an eight-story stone building with just this budget?”
“It will be almost at cost or at a loss.”
“I will build a conference room for the cadets on the first floor. I will exempt them from window tax through the court noble elders, so that the cadets can live a pleasant life. If I double the size, I will even build a lecture room inside the building so that I can invite professors directly… … That’s what they say.”
In reality, the academy existed only on paper, and most students took turns going to each professor's studio and listening to lectures in empty lots here and there.
There was also a fierce battle among professors to secure some public lecture rooms.
Jin nervously ran his fingers through his gray hair.
“I can’t believe we can do this and still maintain this state of affairs.”
“You only reach out when you’re desperate. It’s a friendly competition.”
“Then… is there also malicious competition?”
* * *
Tentia entered the student council room where Valencianus and Jin were staying.
“Your Majesty. I heard that three people died in a fight between craftsmen in the construction guild. And-”.
She couldn't bring herself to forget the words, as the Union Student Council sat around a long table counting silver and gold coins.
“I got three silver coins.”
“93, 94, 95. Yes. That’s 95 gold coins so far. That’s a total of 595 coins.”
“There is no problem with the gold. I paid three silver coins for the appraisal. Here is the receipt.”
“Okay. Thanks for your hard work. Let’s go. Give me the guild list. 200 coins from Cheolmyeong, 300 coins from Mokwang.”
Tentia quickly figured out what was happening.
"majesty!"
Her master, Archduke Valencian, was teaching the student council how to bribe.
“What are you doing?”
The student council members trembled and watched the knight's roar.
Valencian answered without even raising an eyebrow.
“He was teaching me how to line my pockets without getting into trouble, how to refuse without getting retaliated against, how to cover up when caught, how to take a bribe from a bad craftsman and run away, and how to take a moderate amount of bribe and entertainment from a good craftsman.”
Even nonsense sounds convincing when said with a serious expression.
“Your Majesty. Are you teaching me something very… … good?”
Tentia stuttered, and Valencian continued speaking with a wry smile.
“Everyone is working so hard to help students, shouldn’t they be given some privileges?”
Tentia tried to say something, but soon she just let out a deep sigh.
“… … .”
The student council members were all covered in wounds.
The cadet closest to her was so badly injured while trying to break up a fight that he did not recover right away even after receiving healing prayers at church.
Even because his family circumstances were so poor, if it weren't for the activity fee Jin received from Valencianus, he would not have been able to receive that prayer.
“Eat in moderation. Eat in moderation.”
She spoke of a story about three craftsmen fighting and dying, of a dispute among the poor over daily wages, of the bourgeoisie coming to eat up the buildings on the Street of Learning, where inheritances had become entangled.
“Count Rudy has come to find out.”
“Yeah. I guess I’ll have to thank you later. But I’ve already taken care of the second and third.”
“What do you mean?”
Valencian looked back at Jin in silence, and Jin handed Tentia a series of list documents.
The boy, who was neatly dressed in his school uniform and had his hair pulled back, had a very polite demeanor, but his content was not.
Tentia sighed deeply as she read the contents.
“Are you saying that all new buildings will be built under Your Majesty’s name?”
“First of all, I don’t have to pay taxes. I’m a member of the royal family. Secondly, it’s only mine in name. The actual operation will be handled by the Academy Association.”
Tentia was momentarily slow to understand, and Jin began to explain politely.
“There are still academies that have not joined the federation. When all these buildings start to be coordinated as the property of the federation, then it will be inevitable. Then, the presidents of all the academies will be able to get together and coordinate dormitories, studios, lecture rooms, and many other things. At least it will be much better than it is now.”
Tentia looked into Jin's blue eyes.
“And you will continue to lead that association even after you graduate.”
"you're right."
“You are His Majesty Valen’s loyal servant.”
“Yes.”
"under."
It was already an open secret, so no student body member was surprised.
Tentia smiled faintly and looked at Valencianus.
“Your Majesty, you are truly wise.”
“How beautiful it is that filling my own pockets can help everyone else.”
“Then, please donate the bribe you received today to the church as atonement for my sins.”
“Ah… … I see. But I don’t think I can do much.”
Valencian looked really troubled.
“Why? Didn’t you already take a lot of expensive alcohol from the merchants?”
Tentia wondered what else he was trying to buy.
“They say the old slums are in shambles. It looks like Cornell needs some support. If we can hold out for a few days, we can get it back, so I’ll donate it after that.”