The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (175)
Translator: ChubbyCheeks
56 The Mobile Field Army’s Counterattack (3)
Cold sweat poured down from everyone’s back after hearing Iron’s words. There was a chance that the subordinates that they worked so hard to raise would be taken by others and they could even be demoted due to lack of skills. All of them couldn’t help but look at Iron nervously.
Iron stared at them before he slowly announced his reorganization plans.
“Ariel Favrice.”
“Yes, sir!”
“I am promoting you to Brigadier General. I am also appointing you as a corps commander. From now on, you will be temporarily in charge of the 21st Corps of the Mobile Field Army.”
The eyes of all of the people present widened upon hearing Iron’s words.
But Iron ignored their reactions as he continued his announcement.
“Cardro Giovanni. You will likewise be promoted to Brigadier General. You will also temporarily take charge of the 22nd Corps.”
“Yes, sir!”
The two warriors that represented the Mobile Field Army had now been temporarily assigned as corps commanders.
After promoting them to Brigadier General in consideration of their achievements, Iron continued to look at his commanding officers. In fact, he had already planned to promote the two of them before. Right now, there was only one person left.
Everyone looked at Iron with expectations in this silence. Then, he opened his mouth.
“Saeriden Leonhardt. I am promoting you to Brigadier General, ex officio. You will also be temporarily in charge of the 23rd Corps.”
“Yes, sir!”
The others looked disappointed after Saeriden took charge of the remaining corps. Seeing them like that, Iron addressed them.
“Don’t be disappointed. Our army still doesn’t have any official corps commanders yet.”
The eyes of the rest of the officers shined brightly at his words.
“You still have a lot of opportunities. So, everyone should work hard.”
“Yes, sir!”
All of them answered loudly.
Then, Iron announced the rest of his plans for the reorganization.
With the appointment of the three temporary corps commanders, the knight order, the storm troopers and the aerial assault unit were left floating and were reorganized.
Knight Order Leader – Ludem
Storm Troops Leader – Rodem
Aerial Assault Unit Leader and Field Army Logistics Leader – Carl Stein
The biggest changes that were made were the appointment of these three people. With Cardro being promoted, the aerial assault unit that he was in charge of was left in Carl’s care.
“That… taking care of both units… is a bit difficult.”
“I will give you all of the authority over the drake and airship units. You will also be allowed to use them to transfer and carry munitions and supplies.”
“Th… That’s still going to be a bit hard. I’m still currently in charge of the intelligence division…”
“Everything will be figured out soon.”
Iron smiled as he spoke to the hesitating Carl.
“Brigadier General Carl Stein.”
“Yes… Yes?”
“You are a Brigadier General from this day onwards.”
“Ah…”
“I can choose one and directly appoint them as Brigadier General, but they will also serve as the Chief of Staff directly under Command.”
Seeing Carl groan, Iron directly threw a hefty reward towards him.
Then, he turned calm as he bowed his head in silent agreement.
Iron would solve the problem with the intelligence division and even promoted him so he couldn’t argue anymore. In addition, it was not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it was far more advantageous for Carl, who was busy like a spinning top trying to solve the logistics’ problems with the limited airships given to him. Carl had ridden drakes in the past so Iron knew that he would be able to handle the drake units and the airship units to some extent.
After the announcement was made, huge changes began to be implemented.
First, plenty of knights from Ariel’s knight order entered the 21st Corps. Naturally, the huge number of troops that Cardro had raised and the members of Saeriden’s storm troops all followed them and became key officers of their own corps. Then, the magic unit and the spirit unit had completely separated while the ranger unit underwent extensive reorganization. The key personnels directly under Command were now distributed appropriately among each corps.
“I know that this massive reorganization will leave everyone confused. So, give them enough time. Tend to and maintain your own troops once you go back. While you’re doing that the defense unit in charge of Command Defense and my divine beasts will be in charge of protecting Command.”
“Yes, sir!”
The commanding officers answered Iron loudly as they scattered.
While everyone was busy thinking about the subordinates that they would take in to form a unit that would conform with Iron’s reorganization plan, Iron returned to his Commander’s office and pondered to himself.
‘Is this the beginning?’
Iron mumbled to himself as he stared at the map laid out on his desk.
On the map was the Southeastern region of the Empire where the Mobile Field Army was situated. The map showed all of the monsters’ territories and the boundaries that they covered. It seemed like the reconnaissance continued despite the dire situation that they were in. He needed to find the direction where he would expand.
Looking through it, the only places that remained free were the southern and eastern part of the region since the northern part was already the giant worms’ territory and the Command was at the center. However, the south was filled with swarms of giant water buffaloes, giant ants and even the newly discovered giant spiders. That meant that the only choice for his expansion was the eastern part of the region. However, that did not mean that the eastern part of the region was also an easy path.
“Wasn’t there a nest of mutant birds there?”
Giant man-eating birds were situated in the area near the sea at the eastern end of the region. They were extremely terrifying to the point that the Eastern Navy changed routes to avoid them. But that was also the reason why he thought that it should be the eastern part of the region.
‘At the very least, this means that the sea over there is safe.’
It was a great opportunity to expand quickly.
If he chose to do this, then, he needed to keep the southern part of the region in check while expanding towards the eastern part of the region. The choice of taking action against the northern part of the region was also out there but with their current circumstances, all they could do was let the giant worms led by the giant armored worm take the north. After all, they did not have any capabilities to face them right now.
To secure the safety of the Southeast, he somehow needed to wipe out these monsters as much as possible. Iron had chosen to sacrifice himself before to make that happen but now that the basic structure of the Mobile Field Army was completed, he was sure that they would be able to do this together.
‘Thanks to Ariel and Cardro’s rapid growth, work will be a lot easier.’
The two of them had already stepped on the perfect 5th Stage while Saeriden had finally stepped on the realms of the 5th Stage. Even Ludem, Rodem, Nyx Cole, Peter Marvio and Allan Reishor had already opened the doors of the 5th Stage, but compared to Saeriden, they still needed a bit more time to completely integrate their power and stay firmly on that stage. However, it was true that they had reached a level where they couldn’t be ignored anywhere else anymore.
In fact, the person he was most pleased with in terms of growth was Ariel. The growth of her strength was completely explosive.
‘The 6th Stage is not that far off for her.
Once Ariel reached the 6th Stage, he would have more time to himself.
While he was smiling at the thought, someone came to find him.
“You’re here?”
“Yes.”
Iron gestured for the blue-haired man to sit in front of him.
“What about the proposal to Faulden?”
“Yes. He refused the proposal. However, he said that he would try to think about it slowly. I’m sorry.”
Iron shook his head at the blue-haired man’s words.
“It’s fine.”
Then, he called in for an assistant and asked for some tea.
“Everyone’s already doing well and being recognized, aren’t you a bit disappointed?”
“I’m alright.”
“I believe your family would have a lot of things to say, though? They would probably ask why I’m ignoring the North’s prestigious family, Temphet.”
The man, Gaon Temphet, smiled bitterly at Iron’s words.
Just like he said, his family had been sending him letters asking him why Iron was ignoring them. That was because the famous families, the Godly Sword Family, the Leonhardt Family, and the Leopold Family, as well as the armies and the wizard towers were all actively involved and participating in the activities of the Mobile Field Army.
Iron felt a bit apologetic to him. For him, it was something that wasn’t really a matter of importance, but for Gaon Temphet, who grew up in a noble family, being widely recognized was something important.
“It doesn’t matter, this is something that I’m good at.”
Just like he said, there wasn’t anyone who was more talented than Gaon Temphet in this area in the entire Field Army.
Because he came from a noble family, Gaon Temphet was aware of each families’ characteristics and members. And he was the only one who knew how to utilize them well. That was also the reason why he and a few of his followers were secretly taken out.
When they were placed in the storm troops, they were easily pushed out by the Lion Family so they had no choice but to work separately from them. Iron saw this and took his time to observe them and look for ways to utilize them, but when he saw that they took a long time to adapt and adjust to the military system he just took all of them out and created a separate unit for them.
The unit that gathered Gaon and his followers was assigned an operation to spy on the Southern Kingdoms.
“The information network?”
“It has already been built to some extent.”
“Good.”
Iron nodded in satisfaction.
Iron drank his tea and read the report that Gaon had handed to him before burning it on the spot.
Then, he looked through his pockets and handed over a badge to him.
“This…”
“Your unit’s mark.”
Gaon stared blankly at him after hearing his words.
“Crow…”
“Your official name is the Secret Special Operation Unit directly under the command of the Imperial Army’s Mobile Field Army Command. Your codename is Raven.”
Iron smiled after seeing Gaon Temphet nod as if he liked the name despite its unreasonable length.
“We will begin our operation on the Southern Kingdoms the moment we stabilize the situation here in the Southeast.”
“Yes, sir.”
“After everything’s on track, I will officially announce your unit. That’s why… you have to hang in there and endure it first.”
“We will do our best.”
Iron nodded.
Unlike his first impression on him, Gaon Temphet was actually very reliable. Iron did not know if he was the type of person who gave endless trust to the person who left their trust on him once but he carried out Iron’s orders without any opposition after receiving Iron’s faith and trust.
“I know that you have a lot of things to do but you’ll have to go back to Faulden.”
“I await your orders.”
“Give him this.”
Iron handed something to Gaon. Gaon looked at the item in his hand as he asked him.
“This…”
“A letter of appointment as the Information Chief of Staff and permission to use the information guild privately.”
“Will it be alright to give him this much benefit?”
“The ones who are pitiful should give more. What can we do?”
Although it was some kind of special treatment, it was necessary for him to do this to complete his lacking field army. At the same time, it was necessary to bring Faulden in so he could check him out after receiving reports that he was far smarter and shrewder than what they knew. If he grew any further than now, then his worth would increase and recruiting him would become an unlikely possibility.
“This is probably not enough.”
“Uhm…”
Gaon nodded his head in acknowledgment.
“Then, give him this too.”
“What’s this?”
“A pass that can only be used once.”
Gaon’s eyes widened after hearing Iron’s words.
Master’s pass.
Gaon couldn’t help but stare blankly at Iron after realizing the value of the item in his hands.
Once this pass was used, even if Iron was in the middle of a power struggle, he had no choice but to go. It wasn’t just an empty promise. It was a contract that would be recorded through official documents and could restrict the mana of the people involved. That was why the value of this item was extremely enormous.
“This is a bit too… big.”
“We’ll be able to get a bite if we do something to this degree. Don’t you think so?”
Gaon bowed silently at Iron’s words. His expression turned bad. He wondered if Iron was betting this much because of him.
“That bastard is meticulous and shrewd. Don’t blame yourself.”
“…Yes.”
“I know that it’s hard but do hang in there a bit more.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gaon bowed his head as he silently went outside.
Watching his leaving back, Iron felt that he had changed a lot.
He wasn’t like this at first. Right now, the young man who was influenced heavily by the noble family that he grew up in had now become a young man who was solemn, serious and dependable. Just like the saying that the position made the person, he became a serious and dependable leader while he operated the secret force. And Iron liked this change in Gaon.
“Is it almost done?”
The three corps had now been officially established and the Field Army’s main forces had now laid its foundations. All that was left was to let them grow.
The final piece that would complete the army right now, the intelligence division, was still yet to be completed but he expected that it would be done soon.
And just like Iron had expected, Faulden came in less than a week later. With his addition, Iron was able to entrust him as the Chief of Staff in charge of the intelligence division and finally completed the reorganization.
After everything was completed, all three corps now began to start on their respective duties. The three line circulating mission that Iron had envisioned before was now being implemented by the three corps.
And with that as the catalyst, the Mobile Field Army’s special forces were also ready to move in earnest.
“We’ve had a hard time defending but now it’s time for us to counterattack. Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir!”
Iron nodded at the commanding officers’ loud answer.
“Perfect. From today onwards, we will enter the second stage of our plans. Let’s go and give those arrogant monsters a lesson.”
With Iron’s order, all of the troops moved following their own respective duties.
First, Ariel’s 21st Corps moved to the place where the forward base would be built. Then, Cardro’s 22nd Corps remained at Command and got ready to defend and protect the Command and the areas surrounding it. Meanwhile, Saeriden’s 23rd Corps also remained at Command to do training and finish miscellaneous tasks. The divisions under the direct command of the Field Army commander also began to assist the three corps as they moved in earnest.
A lot of them were anxious since it was not that long since they had reorganized but since the system had already been set and established, it will only take a bit of time for them to get stronger.
And as if to prove this, each of the units began to show their own special characteristics just a few months after they started to move earnestly. It was not as exaggerated and obvious like the long-established elite forces in the Northeast but even if it was just a faint shadow, the units were able to fit the characteristics of their commanding officers which signaled the completion of the process.
And as Iron turned 21, a year after he came to the Southeast, the Southeastern region of the Empire was successfully divided into three factions.
***
Notes
Ex officio – [Legal Dictionary meaning: The phrase ex officio refers to powers that, while not expressly conferred upon an official, are necessarily implied in the office.] I believe it means that Saeriden can act as a brigadier general despite not being a part of the military. Just like how the president of a nation can be the ex officio commander of the military. Or how the company president can join board meetings despite not really being a part of the board.
