Badge in Azure

Saleen lay flat on his back. Sika’s hug was as impactful as a violent hit by a swordmaster.

“Saleen, your army is messy. It’s time to tidy it up.” Sika rubbed Saleen’s arm. This time, she controlled her strength well and Saleen felt very comfortable.

“What do you mean? My army was trained by Lex and those that have completed training were split into five battalions. This is how Qin usually trained their armies,” Saleen defended himself. He did not think that Lex would be lax in training up his armies. Right now, one battalion of soldiers were still fighting for Lex, but once they returned, he would have a proper group of elite soldiers.

“Sharman has already been sent over. Have you thought about what responsibilities you want her to take up?” Sika asked.

“She will start as a low-level officer and then I will groom her along the way once she has familiarized herself with the army.”

“By what right? Is she from a noble family? Has she performed any meritorious service for the military?” Sika asked.

“Urgh…” Saleen was speechless. Managing the military was not his forte. “What do you have in mind then?” Saleen asked. Although Sika was managing a large number of people now, there were many elders assisting her along the way. She did not have much experience managing troops and armies either.

To Saleen’s surprise, Sika suggested to Saleen, “Your armies are completely different from others. Think about it, in the future, you will have a lot of death mages wanting to follow you once they hear about the outcome of your battle with the Holy See. Besides, Nailisi is helping you to build demon city so demons will also form part of the core of your military forces.”

“Oh? You are right!” Saleen recalled that even his naval forces were mainly comprised of spirits of the dead.

“Since that is the case, the structure of your military must be different from others. Why do you have to follow them? All the armies of the various Empires are also no longer the same as those from a thousand years ago. Besides, the roles you assign to different troops in your armies will involve different benefits correspondingly. Since your teacher is not here yet, you have put everyone’s mind at ease for the time-being.”

“What do you mean?” Saleen was confused again.

“Right now, you are splitting things up equally without any criteria. Everyone is thinking that once Jason arrives, Sregl Island will control the armies completely. You are a mage so you do not think about this. Ordinary people want to build careers and be granted lands. What they want is completely different from you.”

This was a simple logic, but Saleen never thought about it that way due to his status. Realization dawned on him after what Sika said. It might not be that important if Saleen had not signed the bond with the Goddess of Myers, but since the bond had been signed, he had to think of ways to convert the people. There would be more battles to come in the future.

Without a powerful army, Saleen would not be able to take over too many lands even if he has gathered all the Sregl Island mages. The amount of resources that Saleen possessed were sufficient for him to train until at least grade-9, but if he could not spread the Goddess of Nature’s faith, he would not be able to escape from the punishment of the bond.

“Sika, get up. Nailisi, gather everyone. We will have a meeting next door,” Saleen dragged Sika up.

“At least wait for me to get dressed!” Sika pulled away from Saleen’s grasp and began to put on her armor. Her armor and weapons had been newly refined by Saleen. The equipment was refined with pure magic and it was extremely comfortable and easy for Sika to wield.

Aside from Daniel, most of Saleen’s trusted aides stayed in the temple. Everyone gathered very quickly. There was no need to beat around the bush amongst those he trusted so Saleen went straight to the point about the problem that the military was facing. Everyone was speechless momentarily.

In the beginning, Saleen prioritized combat abilities when recruiting followers so their abilities in management were so lacking that adding all their abilities up was still not comparable to Lex alone.

One person was the exception, and that was Eleanor. Not only did Eleanor follow the mysterious Marquis for many years, she was also a member of the royal family in the elf dimension before she came to the Myers Mainland. Saleen had high expectations of her.

Eleanor did not speak because she felt that she was an outsider. On this dimension, only Su was in a similar situation to her. Although Nailisi was a demon, the connection between the demon dimension and the Myers Mainland dimension was still quite close. The elf dimension was so far away that communication was not possible even with a simple magic array.

Even if she had the accurate coordinates of the elf dimension, she would still not be able to return home.

The rest did not speak because they were aware of their own abilities. For matters like this, the best they could do was to follow orders and execute them. They did not have the ability to plan and manage.

Eleanor sighed once and said, “Then I shall speak my mind.”

Saleen thought, “I have been waiting for you to speak up all this while. You have followed the Marquis for such a long time and have led tens of thousands of soldiers before. Didn’t the Pink Army do very well in Tanggulasi Empire and Titan when they were led by you?”

“We have advantages that others do not have. Everyone here has either chosen to follow or has signed bonds with the Lord. It is also not a secret that the number of magic nuclei that we have is about half of Alchemy City’s. In the north and on the seas, we also have large numbers of mining, islands, and metals that allow us to be self-sufficient. As long as we have mages under our control, the position of our Lord will be secured.”

Eleanor felt a lot better when she realized that everyone was listening to her intently. Saleen did not have many trusted aides so there was little internal conflict and scheming amongst them. This gave her a sense of belonging.

“Our Lord has allowed for two-hundred-thousand magic nuclei to be sold in order to get the noble families on our side. In actual fact, we can afford to give them more benefits. Once they realize that any mages or magic nuclei that they need will have to be obtained from us, we will have full control over the noble families. Therefore, decentralization is priority. The four Dukes have proven their loyalty and are the best examples for the rest.”

So far, everything that Eleanor has said had been very general, but all of a sudden, she tweaked her words and said, “For all battles in future, our main forces should spearhead the attacks while the noble families’ soldiers will support and take over the lands that we have conquered. The size of our armies need not be big. Demon city will be completed by the end of this year. Within three years, we will be able to gather our forces and form a demon army.”

“Don’t trust demons too easily.” Only Nailisi could say this. No one else would dare to.

“Our army now possess the purple-gold sea urchins so the logistical demands have reduced. We only need elite soldiers and not support soldiers. Let the noble families take care of the backend aspect while we focus on attacking and defending the city. I suggest that we allow the noble families to build their own armies according to their ranks of nobility. The King will take the command for battles.”

Eleanor saw that no one seemed to have understood what she said so she continued helplessly, “A large amount of magic materials are needed in order to sustain such elite soldiers and that is something the noble families will not be able to achieve. They will be able to build troops for the main force, but for the magic abilities of the armies, they will have to depend on the Lord. Without the Lord, the noble families will not be able to defend even their own lands. Not only do we have to build armies, we also have to build a mages’ guild.”

“Mages’ guild?” Saleen was interested.

“Similar to mercenaries’ guilds, by controlling the guild, we will be able to control all the mages within the kingdom. Without mages, the noble families will never be able to rebel, so they will always be tied to us.”

Eleanor’s suggestion was to leave the noble families with no other options and it received everyone’s approval. There was still a window period of a year and a half that Saleen must not be complacent.

“Things will be simpler after that. We must categorize our equipment based on their unique qualities and organize them into troops of different functions. Some will specialize in defense while others will focus on attacks. Take our navy for example, we will need at least four fleets. The first fleet will guard over the oceanic ice block. That is the source of our magic nuclei. Although there are a number of magic beasts in the nearby oceans, it is difficult to hunt them. Besides, if we over hunt, the numbers for the subsequent years will drop drastically. The second fleet will comprise of dragon remains combat vessel as the main force and will guard the south, which includes Cloudflow, Lianyun City, and Alchemy City. The third fleet will be used for defense purposes and will patrol between the demon city and Metatrin City. The fourth fleet will be used for expedition purposes and its target will be Sikeqinya and Tanggulasi Empire.”

At this point, Eleanor left no doubt in what she said, “No matter what happens, the strategic ports along the coastline must always be in our control. The noble families must never own the navy!”

“Next is the army. Metatrin can contain one-million people. We only have a population of five-hundred-thousand at the moment so there is still a lot of space available for development. In order to properly defend Metatrin City, excluding western town and north town, we will need at least one-hundred-thousand men. After the Lord’s teacher arrives, this figure can be reduced. Six battalions will be sufficient. These battalions will not be involved in expeditions and will only focus on defending the city. We will build ten battalions first. The additional four battalions will control the lands two-hundred miles in the west and one-thousand miles in the north.”

“Quite a few of these lands have already been given to noble families,” Jola said. He was familiar with how the palace functioned and felt that the noble families would not be willing to give up their lands so easily.

“Although the lands in the north are fertile, the time period that was suitable for farming was too short. Without magic mechanics, those noble families will not be able to ensure the farmers’ livelihood. Our Lord can grant them the lands from the south after we successfully take over. Metatrin City must have its own army. We must never allow the noble families to gain too much power!”

Saleen nodded in agreement. Eleanor already possessed such judgment even without knowing about the hell of God’s punishment. Eleanor had already seen through the fact that there must be a secret that explained the massive amount of effort put into building Metatrin.

“My suggestion is that our Lord can set up the following armies. Number one; ten main battalions. Number two; a demon army. Number three; a Caucasus battalion. Number four; an army of spirits of the dead. Number five; a mage army. Number six a temple defense army. Number seven; a palace swordsmen battalion. Number eight; the Metatrin mercenary company.”