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“Lady Mo Na, this old dwarf is no citizen of this kingdom. And there’s even been some recent unhappiness between us, but…” The old dwarven meister smacked the table hard at that point. “Those were my foolish disciples… so it’s my duty as their master to bear this responsibility. As a favor, would you lend us your aid?”

I guess it’s only to be expected that Belud wouldn’t want his bosom buddy, Meister Amori, to be in a pickle. Hmm…

“Lady Mo Na…” Perpetually proud, even our silent bodyguard, Baku, uncharacteristically lowered his head and said, “Please, lend us your aid…”

Fine. Fine. I guess if even Scar-face over there is being humble, I have to help. And since my original plan isn’t going to work, time for plan B… which is to make a big scene!

“Alright. You have my word, the training will start tomorrow morning.” I nodded.

“Good, I will have Misseger provide the necessary logistics.” Having secured my approval, some measure of life finally returned to the king’s eyes. “In that case, I will leave the training of our future magitek knights in your capable hands, Lady Mo Na.”

“I will do my best.”

With that matter out of the way, Andassis the Seventh stayed to chat for a while longer. Upon Misseger’s return, he bade his farewells and left with her and Baku.

The king still had a full day of scheduling ahead. Soothing the masses, gathering support, preparing for war… a whole slew of duties that weighed heavily on the rapidly aging king.

Hopefully, the old man makes it;our dear prince Sersan is still a tad too immature for the throne.

The night passed by uneventfully. Even though Redleaf came to my room, badgering me for a movie screening as usual, she knew not to make too many demands now. At the other end of the palace, Andassis was having a significantly less peaceful rest.

Yet burdens or no burdens, morning came anyway, bringing with it an early visitor in the form of Misseger.

With Doris’s help, I quickly had my breakfast, chased away the picky Redleaf, then left in a hurry with Misseger, heading towards the teleportation array that was to take us to the training grounds.

“We’re now in a secret training camp, located in a forest outside of the capital. This is where the personal guards of His Majesty train. However, anyone not related to the magitek training has already been cleared. The 100 candidates should arrive shortly as well. They have all been carefully picked from the finest students in the Academy…” As we stepped out of the array into a temple-like structure, Misseger gave me a brief run-down of the camp and the candidates.

“Have the necessary supplies been prepared?”

“They have. Including supper, the candidates will be given four meals a day, each personally prepared by a meister herbalist to bring out their true potential. A physician will be on standby to monitor their condition after every training to prevent any latent injuries… and a meister herbalist will prepare drugs for their fatigue as well as supplementary needs…”

Woah, you guys are really going all out here. Maybe I should be a candidate as well?

“That sounds rather… expensive…”

“Roughly 200000 coins.”

“Silver?”

“Gold.”

“That’s… very generous of the kingdom.”

Yikes, all that for ten days of training? That’s roughly… two billion yuan (310 million USD) right there! I’m speechless. And in awe of how rich this kingdom is! I would say they are just burning money at this point, but they use coins, not paper notes. But I guess there’s no point holding back when your kingdom is about to perish. What’s he going to do with it otherwise? Give his enemies?

With Misseger leading the way, we quickly arrived in a massive clearing, spanning at least a kilometer by my estimation. The floor had already been paved with stone, so the grounds were flat.

100 students, roughly 14 to 15 years of age stood in the clearing. Their chaotic whispers melded together into a cacophony of discussion. Talks of “why have we been summoned here?”, “this must be a secret base of some sort!” and “I heard the kingdom of Ertalon is invading?” filled the air.

By the time we got close to the center, the students let out a collective gasp.

“Never have I laid eyes on such beauty!” and whatnot.

The moment I heard that, my face stiffened.

Young man, you mean, “never have I laid eyes on such a dashing man!”

“Form up!” Realizing that Misseger had arrived, one of the students, dressed in the typical light armor of a knight and sporting a handsome head of golden hair, called out to his classmates. “How unbecoming, do you not see that Lady Misseger is here? And you call yourselves students of the Academy!”

The students immediately returned to their grouping, spitting up into five even rows. Despite their earlier rowdiness, no one here was a fool. Now that Misseger had arrived, the time for fooling around was over, unless they wanted a severe dressing down.

“Ansom Krayt, you will be the interim leader for now, help Lady Mo Na manage this camp.”

“Understood!” the blond boy who had called out earlier immediately replied.

She nodded at his response before turning towards me. “Lady Mo Na, if there are any questions, you may direct them to Ansom. He was here yesterday familiarizing himself with the environment.”

“Got it.”

“In that case, I won’t disturb your training any further.” Misseger whipped around and left. But merely a few steps later, she stopped and looked at me. Following that, she deliberately swept her cold gaze over each and every one of the students present. “His Majesty has decreed that Lady Mo Na is the highest authority. Regardless of what happens, Lady Mo Na has the final say. Even if the numbers here do not add up to 100…”

“…” No one dared speak a word after that frightening declaration.

Still… Andassis is going full hands-off? I guess that’s the cue for me to go all out as well. And I thought I would have some problem reining in these little lordlings.

Maybe a demonstration is in order?

Shameless Self-promotion

I hate this novel.

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