Chapter 308: New army (1)
A few hours passed with Mira watching Alfina and her sisters train, until they were done for the day. Mira’s first impression was basically an ample amount of relating to Christina’s feelings.
“It was really helpful to take the time to watch just how much effort you’re all putting into training.”
The dining hall had been turned into a debriefing meeting to discuss their performance that day.
Helcune and her sisters were there too, continuing the training they began the day before, but they were so exhausted that they just lay sprawled against the table. Bruce was in similar shape to them, his pale face reminiscent of the color of the Ashen Knights he had been pitted against.
Mira began the meeting by praising the seven sister’s efforts, and Alfina showed the biggest reaction to that. “Your words are too kind,” she replied, trembling with emotion. The younger sisters also looked happy, but they did not show it as much as they were really looking forward to what Mira would mention next.
“Now then…the main thing that stuck out to me was…”
She explained how overall she had a positive impression, but that she felt it was a bit too hard, especially when it came to how many repetitions they did. It made sense for things like practice swings, but in their case, they included things like charging into attack, and more complex moves, repeated a ridiculous number of times.
Mira brought that up and told Alfina to amend that, pointing out that there was a limit to how much one’s body could take, and that proper time to rest and recover was also important to train optimally.
Not to mention that, Alfina was quite far ahead compared to her sisters, so even if she could handle that punishing training, it was far too much for the rest and there was no need for them to match her.
“Is that so…?!”
Alfina’s eyes widened with fright hearing that, as she had been mindlessly pushing her sisters forward so they would improve, but she listened to Mira and checked their schedule again, and noticed what Mira was referring to.
That produced a collective sigh of relief from Christina and the rest, as Alfina finally understood their plight. At the same time, they celebrated their master’s benevolence.
But the conversation was not over yet.
“If we trim down the excess, you’ll end up with a lot more free time, right? So I was thinking…”
That was actually Mira’s main goal, freeing up the Valkyries’ time to put it into something more worthwhile for her. So she made a few suggestions.
Her main goal was to assemble new lineups for small platoons and armies, which would utilize the power of Armor Spirits she had recently expanded upon through her research and experiments in the Tower.
The Valkyrie Sisters would be commanding those armies, necessitating their familiarity with those new powers. Finding the way to accomplish that was another of the reasons why Mira had agreed to watch them train.
“To start off, take a look at this.”
Mira glanced at all of them as she said that and promptly summoned three of her staple Dark Knights. But they did not look the same as usual.
They were not carrying their black swords.
Instead, one had a pike, another a battleaxe, and the last a bow. That was the heart of her research, getting Armor Spirits to fight with new weapons.
They had shown new aptitude to learn, including the ability to extract figments of power from other spirits wielding weapons different from swords. Having discovered that, she headed straight to an Ancient Battlefield in search for more Armor Spirits. In the end, she obtained those three types.
“I see what you mean…”
Different weapons also meant different fighting styles, so it was better to think of them as completely new Dark Knights. Alfina was surprised to see that, but she quickly caught onto what Mira was trying to say.
Battleaxes had more destructive power than swords, making them better to weaken an opponent’s defences. Just holding a pike created a deterrent, boasting with far greater reach than a sword as well. And the bow’s advantages were obvious enough.
Being able to position and command such Dark Knights would allow Mira’s army to be far more versatile than ever before.
Currently, that was all merely a possibility. Alfina and her sisters needed to become familiar with them and practice to make it a reality in armies with more than a thousand troops.
So Mira handed them a certain book, wanting them to learn how to use the brand new Dark Knights.
“That’s why I asked Solomon to get me this recently.”
That book was a collection of battle tactics and training, carefully compiled to teach how to manage soldiers.
The ones who had gathered all that information were Reynard, Commander of the Imperial Knight Guards; Joachim, Solomon’s trusted confidant; most of the generals from various divisions of Arkite’s army; and even Instructor Arlon. All of them had been personally appointed to the task by Solomon.
Mira had received it without much thought, but that book contained all the information regarding Arkite’s army, how it trained, operated, their secret tactics, and all sorts of other knowledge.
“Let me see…interesting…! This is marvelous!”
Alfina took and briefly leafed through it, quickly realizing the value of the content within its pages. She was already looking forward to seeing what else was written there, but had to stop to continue the conversation.
Her eyes were filled with excitement, convinced that the day they mastered all the knowledge of the book, they would be able to command the most powerful army in the world.
“So, what do you think? Do you want to give it a try?”
So far, Mira was only doing that as a suggestion, so now she wanted to see how they would react.
“I’ll do my best!”
Christina replied right away. Partly because it was an idea coming from their master, but mostly because she dreaded whatever accursed training regiment Alfina would come up with next if nothing else filled the time they had freed up.
And at least, Mira’s suggestion did not require much physical effort.
“I guess this means I’ll be leading the archers then.”
Eletina was also in agreement, followed by the rest of the sisters. And surprisingly enough, all of them seemed interested in it, even if it meant a new type of training, and none seemed displeased by the idea.
If anything, the relentless training they had undergone so far had fortified their tolerance for training, so they felt like they would barely notice their new studies.
Since that was the final day of the hellish schedule, and they were going to start doing something different soon, they were all excited about it and kept talking about it during dinner.
That conversation carried on past dinner, turning into a bit of a meeting to discuss exactly how they would tackle it.
“This came…from King Solomon..? I can hardly picture that…”
While the sisters were engrossed in planning out their schedule, dinner had revived Bruce, who now looked through the book in astonishment.
There were plenty of books discussing military tactics out in the world, but he noticed that there was one big distinction separating this one from the rest.
“I was taught military strategy growing up, but I’ve never seen such extreme methods before.”
He had grown up as the son of a noble family, his father working for the army as well, giving Bruce plenty of contact with such books which made that difference glaringly obvious to him.
The tactics contained within the book Solomon had created with the aid of the highest ranking officers of Arkite had no compassion for casualties.
All the tactics within were purely focused on achieving their goal, regardless of the sacrifices necessary. They were bloody, harsh, almost inhumane in their pursuit of victory.
If future historians found that book, they would paint King Solomon as a cruel tyrant, with a heart of stone and no tears to shed. That was how relentless those tactics were.
Just a cursory glance at the book made Bruce shudder.
It was clear that the book had been written for Mira’s eyes only.
No general would ever subject his soldiers to such tactics in actual war. Unless they happened to command an army that could remain standing with no losses no matter how much damage they took.
An army only someone like Mira could build up with Armor Spirits.