NOVEL NEXT Chapter 294: Polytopia's Army Growth
Victorina had pretty much flawlessly handled the army, forcefully toning down their arrogance over the difference in gender. Claude then appeared nearby them as he was able to witness the army exhausted.
"Did the result go as expected?" Claude asked Remuel about the results on the battle. The army, having noticed Claude's presence were scrambling to avoid showing an unsightly view. "S-Sir Claude!?" "Stand down, it's already obvious with how you all fight like mercenaries rather than acting like a proper army. You can't even reach the mage even without defenses. What do you all think would happen if a mage like that is defended by a front line?" Remuel stopped Claude from further crushing their spirits any further. "Aight, you can stop there, leave the rest to me." As Claude stepped back, Victorina stepped in to Remuel's side as she allowed Remuel to simply handle the talking for the time being. "See what I mean now? I won't be the one that will handle your discipline records, but I believe I can assume that all of you will cooperate in getting stronger now." Nobody said a word against Remuel, nor anyone had a complaint against Victorina's victory against them. "Let's begin with the basics of magic, I'll give you all an hour to get used to three elements." The regimen quickly began, as Remuel finally handed the tasks for each member of the army.
With such a constrained time limit, Remuel had began to discuss the next step with Victorina and Claude. Considering that they have to practice magic and weapons, they need to get some clear ideas on how to advance their combat power.
"So first things first, they're heavily behind on their stuff. Sure the economy is strong but I feel like the investments go in horrible directions." Remuel brought out the crux of the problem, which Victorina interjected. "Oh? It felt like that as well, it doesn't seem like the army pretty much just falls over when not advantageous, or maybe even if they're advantageous. It rather feels like their motivation is more on pillaging or something." "I hear that Arlesk is going to handle the disciplinary end of the armies, so let's just leave that to him and focus on bolstering the strengths of my home army..."
The three of them continued to discuss things. After the allotted time to master the basics, Remuel quickly moved the procedure forward.
"Next up will be practical physical combat. We'll go over the basics as I will be evaluating all of you myself. So for this test, all of you will be fighting me. Feel free to use your best weapons." Remuel gave the instructions to all of the army, and even the knights who joined in. Victorina and Claude remained to assist Remuel in evaluating the army and knights from a distance.
They all fought in the training ground, with Remuel swiftly knocking down army members one by one for the initial testing. Most of the army were able to stand back up without much injury since Remuel was using a wooden training scythe. "Hmm... Impressive tenacity and attempt to coordinate with each other, even with limited communication. But now begins the real evaluation with your individual capabilities. [Fog of Famine]!" Remuel unleashed a brown fog which can cause hunger while obscuring their vision completely. Remuel made such a decision to measure how great their individual tenacity and concentration. Being able to react to his attacks while feeling the hunger pangs that is disturbing their concentration would give them good recognition, but considering the situation, they could only do so much.
After about 30 minutes of Remuel methodically knocking down the entire army and knights, the fog finally clears. Victorina and Claude clapped their hands after taking off their goggles which allowed them to see into Remuel's fog. "Wonderful. For the time being, you may all have your lunch break. I'll prepare the evaluations by then." With lunch break upon them to reflect on their training, the army and knights left the three to evaluate their performance over lunch.
"Not going to lie, there is some promise to some of them. The rest are just a bit behind when it comes to overall capabilities." Remuel brought up a thought he had after training. Since he allowed the army and knights to fight with both weapons and magic, they were able to do some things to combat Remuel's domain in smoke. "Yeah, just one hour of practicing magic constantly allowed them to get some results already. Claude, you may have to keep an eye on their training for at least a while." Victorina had some expectations as she simply told Claude to keep an eye on their training. "It's likely that I have to, since this army was a bit troublesome to handle. But maybe after Arlesk comes to deal with their discipline, it would be much simpler afterwards." The three continued to further discuss as they were eating some prepared food on the table.
On the dining hall for the army, the general and the commanders were discussing the training. They were quite impressed and thankful for Remuel's instruction. However, their behavior was still quite boisterous. "Hmph... The training was quite intense I get that there's something that might come to happen soon. I feel like I could do anything now that we had all learned some magic. I guess what's next is that we can learn some higher level magic and we can have fun however we want." Despite being thankful, the arrogance of wanting to do some things the commander spoke about were quite problematic. The general then chimed in as he warned the commander. "I heard that after Archon Phoenix's training regime, Archon Kingfisher would come to improve and enhance our weapons, and while he's doing so, Archon Alicanto will be keeping an eye on our training." "Two more Archons huh...? Well if it makes us stronger then the better." "Unfortunately for you, you're going to go on a personality make-over. You think Archon Alicanto would let you get away with your behavior?" "Tch... If he has a problem with how I behave he should just leave." While the commander was annoyed that Arlesk's arrival would mean that he'd lose most of his indulgences, the general simply showed indifference, since he knew that there wouldn't be anyone that can go through Arlesk's insights on the personalities of people.
After lunch break, Remuel had given them their evaluations, both teamwork and individual capabilities. Most of the participants were quite impressed with how precise his evaluations were on them, pointing out major flaw weaknesses and how to improve on their movements or combat styles. "Next up, we will be practicing intermediate magic for two hours, and after that we will be repeating the same process. This time it will be one versus ten battles until all participants have been covered for. The criteria would be the ability to chant while fighting in melee combat." Remuel began to explain what will be happening as he prepares himself for the next phase of training.