Lord of Training - Chapter 60



Only Krnovel

60. Can I see your negotiating cards?

A man shedding tears of joy.

“Thank you. I really appreciate you saving my son’s life.”

Relationships don’t happen by chance.

Making things happen.

Or it was something that came to me like fate.

We just rescued a 12 year old boy from the brink of death by Imperial forces in a small rural village, and met his father.

And the boy’s father was a sniper targeting us.

“My name is Captain Elmore of the Ranger Unit of the Kingdom of Baern.”

“This is Lieutenant Colonel Alain of the Atlan Kingdom’s Aerial Magic Squadron.”

“Yes? The Airborne Magic Battalion?”

Captain Elmore looked surprised.

“I’m really sorry for this. If I had done something wrong, I would have killed my benefactor.”

“Well, I’m not the type of person who’ll die easily······.”

I am usually careful.

Besides, this is a foreign battlefield.

Since I always use the Halo (lv. 3) skill when moving while walking, most magic knights can’t kill me.

And Phelps had already discovered Captain Elmore’s hiding location through his magic detection.

I told Captain Elmore the truth about why we were here.

“So, you’re saying that after clearing the labyrinth gate on the southern continent and exiting through another exit, we end up in the Kingdom of Baern?”

“Yes, I am also confused because this is the first time I have experienced this phenomenon. If we contact the Atlan Kingdom, they will guarantee our identity and come pick us up.”

Captain Elmore looked troubled.

“There is currently no way to contact the outside world. All communication lines in the area have been cut off, so you must either move to another area or go to the capital.”

“So there’s no way to contact Atlan from here?”

“Yes, there is a large force to the west, so it would be best to move there.”

Captain Elmore was the commander of a Ranger unit and was tasked with monitoring the mountainous region for any Imperial forces attempting to bypass it.

“Please wait just one day and I will show you the way.”

“Is that okay?”

“Our unit has also received orders to move to Lagrind City. Let’s depart as soon as the subordinates who went out to search return.”

“All right.”

Fortunately, a way to contact the Kingdom of Bavaria was created.

I was contacted by Hela Wake yesterday, and she said there was no way to get to the Kingdom of Bavaria at the moment.

In particular, since the Lacrosse Empire had taken control of the northeastern region, the distance was too far to cross even by air, and the only way was to cross to the northern continent and then take a major detour to the Kingdom of Bavaria. However, it was said that it was currently winter, so not only aircraft but also ships could not enter the northern continent due to the many icebergs.

So we had no choice but to wait in the Kingdom of Bavaria until spring came.

The problem is that the front line situation here is not good right now.

***

[Luchar, the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria]

The streets of the capital were deserted and somehow eerie.

This was because the Lacrosse Empire was three days away, and the situation at the front was also not good.

And since they didn’t know when the Imperial bombers would fly in, the citizens of the capital just held their breath and endured each day.

Although the nobles and some of the wealthy fled west, ordinary citizens could not even think of leaving their homes in this bitter cold.

“My uncle says that it would be a good idea for us to flee to the west as well.”

Said Private Pameli Marvell, number 39.

Since Parmelee’s maternal family was a noble family of Bavaria, we were able to stay in a mansion on the outskirts of the capital.

Also, the Imperial Army cut off all communication lines and took control of the communication base, so there was no way to contact the Atlan Kingdom, but thanks to their help, there was no need to separately confirm their identity.

“Why? I don’t think the Bavarian Kingdom’s army can hold out.”

Trainee number 2 Paolo asked.

Pamela nodded.

“This place will be bombed soon. I think it would be better to move to the western city before that happens.”

“Then shouldn’t we move too?”

The trainees looked at me.

You are asking for my opinion.

I too was lost in thought for a moment.

It would be nice to wait here until spring, but if the Tobok River front was pushed back, even here would not be safe.

Does that mean that we can safely escape the Kingdom of Bavaria by just heading west?

It seemed like we were moving further and further away from the Atlan Kingdom.

‘Why don’t we create another dimensional gate instead?’

The remaining dimensional cores were enough to create an F-class dimensional gate.

But is it possible to create a gate here that moves to the same dimension?

For a moment, a question occurred to me.

If by any chance you accidentally go to another dimension, you might not be able to come back.

It could go to a more dangerous level.

This doesn’t seem to be the case.

He shook his head.

“Commander, it looks like we have a guest.”

“huh?”

Phelps pointed out the window without looking.

That meant that the opponent was a magic knight who had awakened his magic.

I looked out the window.

“Would you all please step out for a moment? It seems like you are a guest who came to see me.”

“yes.”

The officers and trainees left the reception room.

Knock knock.

“excuse me.”

Two people came inside.

“Welcome, Captain Elmore.”

One of them was Captain Elmore, who brought us safely to the capital.

“It’s nice to see you again. This way······.”

“Ah! Let me introduce you.”

The middle-aged man who came with us stepped forward.

“This is Colonel Heydan of the Bavaria National Security Council.”

“This is Lieutenant Colonel Alain.”

We sat facing each other.

The National Security Council was an organization similar to the National Intelligence Service of the Atlan Kingdom.

“We don’t have time, so I won’t make this long story short. Please help us out.”

Who are we talking about here?

“Our large-scale attack is coming soon. It may be our last. As you know, we are severely short on aerial magic knights. So we need the help of Lieutenant Colonel Alain’s aerial magic battalion.”

Colonel Heydan continued to talk.

I just listened without saying a word.

“If the Tobok front is pushed back, it will only take three days to reach the capital. If the capital falls, the Kingdom of Baern will fall as well. And if Baern falls, the power of the empire will grow stronger, and not only the Kingdom of Lutes, but also the Kingdom of Atlan will not be safe.”

Colonel Heydan finally finished speaking and looked at me.

“I am a soldier of the Atlan Kingdom. I cannot move without orders from my superiors.”

“But this is important to Atlan as well. As I said, if this place is pushed back and we lose the war, where will the imperial forces go? The Kingdom of Lytes will be pushed back in an instant, and Atlan will not be safe either. So the best thing to do is to stop the imperial forces here. Please help us.”

What a shameless person.

Isn’t this a request, not a threat?

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to move.

“If you’re done talking, let’s get up first. We have to evacuate quickly.”

“Yes? Are you really going to do this?”

Bavaria sent a guy who really can’t negotiate.

Is there no character? Or do you think I’m an idiot?

I did hear that the nobles and important people had already fled.

I stood up from my seat.

“Lieutenant Colonel Alain, please listen a little longer.”

Captain Elmore asked from the side.

Still, we sat back down, grateful that he had brought us here.

“Wow! As expected, you’re no ordinary person.”

Suddenly, Colonel Heidan’s tone of speech changed.

“I thought you were no ordinary person, since you were able to clear the labyrinth gate with 40 noble children and bring them all back safely.”

“So?”

“What do you want?”

Colonel Heydan was just testing my character.

I guess they were trying to figure out how to respond by looking at my personality and reactions.

To me, it looked like he was playing the drums and janggu all by himself.

“I think we can continue the conversation only after you answer my questions first.”

Colonel Heydan leaned forward.

“Ask me anything.”

“First of all, I don’t think the front line will improve much just because 17 air magic knights are participating. Why do you think so, and tell me the truth about the operation, so that I can think about it a little bit?”

“Hmm! I was hasty.”

Colonel Heydan cleared his throat.

“You know that for the past few months, we and the Imperial Army have been holding a line across the Tobok River. The Tobok River is a very large river, 700 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide on average. When it freezes over, it can be crossed by people, and even horsepower trucks. Up until now, it was impossible to cross without using boats or bridges. But soon, the Tobok River will freeze over completely. Then, the Imperial Army’s advance will be unstoppable.”

“Please continue.”

“And conversely, that also means that our royal army can cross the river and attack the enemy. Of course, we have more than twice as many troops, but we are no match for them in firepower.”

Colonel Heydan swallowed dryly.

I guess the important story is coming up now.

“But there is a time when you can bring in powerful troops. That is the large gate of Lagrind City.”

“A large gate?”

“Yes. Two years ago, a large gate appeared in the city of Lagrind, in the middle of the Tobok River. Since it was a large gate in the middle of the city, we quickly deployed our troops. However, no dimensional monsters came out of the gate. So we sent two of the most elite legions of the Kingdom of Baern into the gate. If there were any dimensional monsters, we planned to deal with them.”

Colonel Heydan took a moment to catch his breath.

“But there were no dimensional monsters, there were other things.”

“······?”

“I’m a dwarf.”

For a moment I doubted my ears.

There’s a dwarf at this dimensional gate?

Dwarves were a race known for their dexterity.

So far, only the western continent has had a dwarven dimension gate, and they have managed to blend in quite well with humans.

And I heard that it played a decisive role in helping the Republic of Arica gain hegemony in the western continent, where magical engineering was most recently introduced.

The battleships, cannons, and guns made by the dwarves were comparable to those of the Lacrosse Empire, and recently, they even caught up with airship technology such as bombers and transport planes, so the Republic of Arica was called the Second Empire.

“If a dwarf dimension gate were to appear, wouldn’t that be lucky?”

Colonel Heydan looked serious.

“They were different from the dwarves on the western continent. They had their own kingdom in a huge mountain range, and when we approached, they attacked us with cannons. And they threatened to force us to leave the dimensional gate.”

“is it so?”

It was a very interesting story.

Heidan shook his head.

“But we couldn’t do that. As you know, the Kingdom of Bavaria is a cold place, so there isn’t enough land for farming. That’s why we import food from the Empire or the Kingdom of Lutes. But inside the dimensional gate, there was a fertile land that stretched for hundreds of kilometers.”

“Are you trying to take it away?”

“Stealing it! That gate is obviously our kingdom’s property. It’s the same for the Empire and the Atlan Kingdom. International law clearly states that a gate built on a kingdom’s territory belongs to that kingdom.”

I nodded.

From the dwarves’ perspective, it was an invasion, but other kingdoms also considered the dimensional gates created in their countries as their own.

“Anyway, a war broke out with the dwarves inside the gate, and we sent two legions of the kingdom’s elite, 80,000 men. And we fought them. But······.”

“The Lacrosse Empire has invaded.”

“Yes. Their advance was too fast, and before they could collect and withdraw the troops fighting the dwarves inside the gate, the city of Lagrind was taken. And now the area around the large gate is completely under the control of the Imperial Army.”

“If the Bavaria Kingdom army comes out from inside, they will be annihilated one by one.”

Colonel Heydan nodded with a short sigh.

“Even if we try to bombard them with cannons, the distance is too far, and if we move the cannons close to the front lines, the enemy air magic knights will rush in and destroy them. So this time, we will launch a large-scale attack and use bombers to bomb the troops surrounding the large gate of Lagrind City. And if we can just drag the two isolated corps inside out of the gate, the front line situation will flow in our favor.”

“The Imperial Aerial Magic Knights must be the problem.”

“That’s right. They’re guarding the skies over Lagrind City, so the bombers won’t even be able to get close and will crash. It’s embarrassing, but our kingdom’s aerial magic knights are low-level. And their numbers are small.”

Now I think I know why Colonel Heydan came to see me.

“Please help us make the bombing a success.”

“Well then, shall we take a look at your negotiation cards now?”

Colonel Heydan sighed deeply and continued.

“If you want gold, I’ll give you as much as I can. I’ll try my best to make it up to 1,000 gold. What do you think?”

There was no rush as there were still gold coins stolen from the subspace warehouse of the Seven Princesses of the Empire.

Also, my business partner, Hella Wake, is working hard to earn money.

There was no need for gold coins.

“By any chance, has the Kingdom of Bavaria found anything in the Labyrinth Gate?”

“Yes? At the Labyrinth Gate?”

***

End