The children couldn’t calm down so easily after experiencing a shocking actual battle during their first day at their academy. In particular, Jaiden’s appearance was so shocking that it was deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds. 

While everybody else was staring at him, Jaiden just released a sigh when he felt that his body had started to tremble and shake. Perhaps it was because he was still too young that his muscles went into shock. It seemed like his body was not working smoothly since this was his first actual battle with this body. The toll that it took on his body was quite large after doing something so violent and flashy. 

‘I think I need at least three days of recuperation?’ 

He needed at least three days of recuperation so he needed to pay attention to himself. He planned to avoid practicing too hard so he would only do some light warm ups in the meantime.

It would have been perfect if Baepsae was here at times like these but he had rarely seen Baepsae ever since he left the duchy. With how things were going, he was wondering if the next time that he would see Baepsae was when he returned to the duchy.

Of course, his youngest brother had told him before he left that their own divine beast would always stay next to their owner so he thought that he would come back one day. However, he still felt a bit disappointed since Baepsae did not show up at all.

‘Baepsae, that punk. I’m going to give you a hard time when you get back.’ 

He thought about Baepsae busily pecking at its prey somewhere without knowing about it’s master’s mind.

Jaiden waited for the professors to come back.

Not long after he came back to the building, the supporting troops started to arrive at the Academy. As the troops arrived, the professors returned to their posts one by one. 

“You did well, everyone. It must have been hard for everyone because it’s your first time so have a good rest today.” 

The first professor that came in saw them and left those words to them. When the children heard the professor’s words, they immediately ran towards their dormitories with their blood-soaked armor. 

Jaiden also dragged his exhausted body back to his dormitory. The first thing that he did was wash away the filth on his body. After washing away the uncomfortable and filthy monster blood, he quickly changed into his new clothes before trudging back out to look at the Academy’s landscape. 

“Come to think of it… we’re not the only students here… how is this place structured?”

He walked around but the only thing that he saw was the building housing the new students and the professors. Then, his eyes were attracted to the map on one of the walls. 

“What the hell. Why does the Academy look like this?”

Jaiden looked at the map with confusion. 

With the freshman academy at the center, academy buildings corresponding to each grade were located on mountain peaks with fortresses in between. Looking at the map, he could see some sort of defensive line somewhere before the mountain peaks housing every academy grade. The structure of the academy that connected and built a line of defense across the mountain range created an ideal structure that could deal with monsters with only a minimal number of people. It was a smart structure that brought the students of the academy at the forefront of the line of defense which hereby solved the Northeast’s chronic problem, the shortage of troops. 

Still, the freshman academy was still located at the farthest point from the line of defense. They were pretty much located at the periphery but once their school year finished and they moved up in grade, they would get closer and closer to the frontlines. 

The area where the 6th years were located was just right behind the frontlines. It seemed like it was strategically placed there so they could easily be deployed in case of an emergency. 

‘Isn’t this completely smart?’ 

On a closer inspection, the structure and arrangement of the academy was not completely strange. Since Jaiden was still a freshman, he was located in an area where the weakest of monsters were located. But it would change as his year and grade went up.

It seemed like they would deal with the low-leveled monsters until their 3rd year. However, the only difference from their freshman year and their third year was the number of monsters that they fought against.

Meanwhile, the older students were located in an area where higher-leveled monsters were teeming. To be specific, the 4th years were located where the simple and crude giant species were and the 5th years were located where the drakes and the airborne monsters were located at. 

In other words, they were teaching the students what monsters were located in a specific terrain and how they should respond against them every school year. 

“That’s good. You can easily develop your strength and military power once you graduate.” 

“Did you realize it all at once?” 

A female professor approached him from the side just as Jaiden spoke out after he determined the purpose of the academy being built like this. Jaiden only bowed his head in greeting since he did not know the name of his professor. 

“I’m Selina, I teach basic beast theories.” 

“I’m number 13.” 

“Your fight earlier was quite impressive.”

“Thank you.”

Jaiden bowed his head at Selina’s words. Then, he bid her goodbye. But just as he was about to leave, Selina grinned and spoke to him.

“What do you think?”

“Yes?”

Jaiden was left in confusion after hearing Selina’s question that did not pertain to any subject at all.

“I’m talking about this arrangement. Don’t you think there’s a problem?”

Hearing Selina’s question, Jaiden stood still as he turned to look at the map once again.

He could tell that the structure of the academy was quite impressive in terms of fostering and nurturing talent. Even the line of defense was quite unique too. All in all, it was an ideal structure for constant and continuous monster hunting. 

In fact, this was also the same structure that the Northeast used. They would be the ones in the frontlines while they sent the monsters’ body to the Center while the Center supported them with heavy munitions. However, this was a structure that did not consider a large monster wave. 

Looking at the facts in front of him, it seemed like this was the reason why the Northeast was doomed even before the monster wave began. The Northeast had been swamped by large scale monster riots even before the signs of the monster wave started to appear. 

‘Just having a five-fold increase in the number of monsters will pose a problem to the Northeast.’

“I don’t know.”

Jaiden had noticed but he did not bother to give an answer. After all, it was not that the Northeast Command did not know of this. But something like this could not be fixed even if he noticed it all at once. It was a problem that could not be fixed due to various complex problems entangling their situation. There were plenty of ways to solve the problem. But it was something unrealistic at this point in time.

There was a paper that suggested a futuristic ideal saying that the Northeast could have endured more if they had done it but it was just treated as an unrealistic ideal. He was of the same mind back then. Although he wanted to use it and stop the monster waves when he was the head of the Leonhardt Family it was something that was impossible. Especially if the interests of the Imperial Family as well as other special interests were linked and put at risk.

“Hmm…”

Selina’s eyes narrowed when she heard Jaiden’s answers. She looked at him suspiciously. However, when she couldn’t find anything wrong with him, all she could do was ponder deeply before making a proposal. 

“If you give me a satisfactory answer then I’ll give you extra points. If you’re aiming for an early graduation, then this is a very important opportunity for you.”

Jaiden tilted his head at her when he heard Selina’s proposal. When Selina saw that Jaiden’s mouth remained shut, she grinned as she added things to her proposal.

“If you give me a satisfactory answer then I’ll try to convince the military science professor too. How about it?”

Jaiden’s eyes couldn’t help but shake when she gave out an attractive offer, offering not only herself but also other professors. Then he let out a sigh. 

He organized his thoughts for a moment before carefully opening his mouth.

“I can’t give you a definite answer since I don’t know the exact number and monster distribution in the area right now.”

“Alright. I’ll take that into account.”

Jaiden avoided Selina’s eyes that were twinkling with anticipation as he stared at the map. 

“Right now, the biggest problem in this line of defense is the Northeast Command. The central point is weak. During an emergency, we won’t have the strength to gather and fight back until reinforcements from the rear arrive.”

“And?”

“At first glance, the front line and the rear looks like it’s well established but it’s just a forced arrangement due to the severe lack of troops. If there comes a time that the number of monsters that we can face right now increases or if a large number of monsters comes down from the North, then both lines of defense will blow up in no time at all.” 

Selina tilted her head at Jaiden’s words.

“The size of our troops right now is more than enough to stop and deal with twice the current size of monsters that attack us.” 

“Yes. But based on history, the usual monster wave is around 5 to 10 times larger than the current level of monsters that we deal with. It’s more than 3x the abnormal monster activity that we deal with occasionally.” 

Selina nodded her head when Jaiden mentioned the records in history. Jaiden couldn’t help but sigh when he saw her nodding her head at him as if to encourage him to continue. 

“It looks like the Northeast is aware of this and they have already taken quite a number of steps so they can ensure to get the reinforcements from the rear quickly but…” 

Jaiden stared at the points that indicated the air base as well as the large warp gate. Although they could be easily opened and closed and were located at the rear, he knew that it would be useless if that time ever came. 

If the monsters were to come down and wreak havoc on a large scale then the mana fog would also engulf the air base. Flight would also be difficult since it would be hard to penetrate through the tremendous amount of flying monsters in the area. It would be ideal if the ground forces and the air forces would be able to move together and help each other properly but the problem was that they wouldn’t be able to withstand it until that time came. 

“When a monster wave occurs, the Northeast will be wiped out.” 

“So, is the answer recruitment? Troops recruitment?” 

“I think that is the most basic solution, yes.”

“There’s something else?”

“Build our own strength in the Northeast and become self-sufficient.”

Selina was surprised by Jaiden’s answer. She couldn’t help but tilt her head in thought. The answer that she expected from him was building a base at the rear to foster additional troops so they could have rapid and fast support from the rear. 

Selina’s eyes glistened when she heard a different answer from him.

“Self-sufficient?”

“Yes. Currently, the Northeast is heavily relying on the Center so we’re doing something like this.”

“You’re talking about the military supplies? But we can’t farm here, we don’t have any people here?”

“Business is possible.”

“Selling the monsters’ bodies? Will the merchants even come all the way here for that?”

Jaiden thought for a moment after hearing Selina’s words. Then, he opened his mouth again. 

“Don’t we have a river in the Northeast that runs to the East?”

“Yeah. But it’s teeming with monsters too.”

“Yes. But it’s not that far from the East.”

“But we don’t have any sailors.”

Jaiden nodded at Selina.

“That’s why we need to make a connection with the Eastern Navy. I heard that the Northeastern part of the Eastern Navy receives the least support from the center.”

“That’s true. There aren’t as many naval troops in there compared to the Southeast and it’s not as developed as the major cities in the East. There’s also a lot of monsters there too.”

“Then, there’s a possibility. If we can place the Eastern Navy’s power into the river together with some of our forces and clean up the river of the monsters, then we will both have security.”

Jaiden thought about what he had planned back then in the North. It was something that came to mind while he was trying his hardest to somehow rebuild the North that was devastated by the monsters. 

With Leonhardt’s strong fortress as the center of the frontline he dreamt of deploying troops around the river while dealing with the monsters. Then, he would create a factory-like complex that would export the monsters’ bodies to the center. He also wanted to build castles and strongholds around the river in case of emergencies. With that, he would be able to gradually expand the scale of his operations. 

But the center couldn’t just leave him alone. There was no way for him to undermine their interests. In addition, the Imperial Family was so shitty and trashy that they were only preoccupied with strengthening their Imperial Power even at the expense of the Northerners. 

He failed back then, but he thought that it should be possible here in the Northeast. Unlike the North, the Northeast’s location was quite far from the center. In addition, their military was also independent from them so his dream of achieving complete independence might be possible.

“So?” 

“If our strength, the monsters’ bodies, and the Eastern Navy are linked together then there’s a possibility that the Northeast will develop its trading and be able to trade with other continents.” 

“Hmm… They’re good. But I don’t think there’s going to be that much. Maybe just about the same amount as the amount that we deliver to the Center?” 

“We don’t need to rely on the Center.” 

“What?” 

Selina’s eyes widened as she looked at Jaiden curiously.

“Rare herbs, animal skins and other items that only grow here are items that are popular with the high-ranking people. To be honest, compared to the value of what the Northeast gives, the munitions from the Center seem to be too poor.” 

“So you’re saying that… we should stop giving the monsters’ bodies to the center?” 

“We have to give them some. I think we can just give them a portion, enough to pay off the tax. Then, we can move the rest to another area.” 

“That sounds unrealistic, right? Isn’t it better to just leave it in the Center?” 

Jaiden nodded at Selina’s words. 

“It’s going to be hard at first. That’s why, based on the various problems that we’re experiencing right now, we should continue to lay the groundwork and make requests for support troops. If it’s difficult to provide a large-scale troop in the fastest time, we should at least request an increase in the amount of munitions that they give us for support. If we do that, then we can buy some time until we can make secret contact with the Eastern Navy and occupy the Northeast’s river basin.” 

“Hoo… Good. So what if we start being self-sufficient with that? Are we supposed to wage war with the Center?” 

“Then, we can prepare for the Northeast’s independence in conjunction with the North. That way, we will gain more freedom from the Center.” 

“What?” 

***

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