A gentle breeze passed by, making the moon-emblazoned Elasia military flag sway.
At this time, Elasia was approaching autumn, and the air felt extremely desolate.
An army of over twenty thousand stood on the open ground, their eyes revealing both tragedy and determination.
From the high platform, Cecilia asked the army of over twenty thousand below with her voice amplified by [Qi]:
"Have you all written your last wills?"
The legion commanders standing at the front of the formation answered one by one with voices amplified by [Qi]:
"Report to commander, Elasia Empire's First Imperial Guard, total two thousand three hundred and forty-one people, received two thousand three hundred and forty-one last wills!"
"Report to commander, Elasia Empire's Second Imperial Guard..."
...
If others saw this scene, they would certainly find it bewildering.
Why did everyone in the army have to submit their last will?
Why wasn't the number of troops an even number?
But these last wills were what Elashia had required soldiers to submit a few days ago.
Because she knew that, facing the undead calamity, soldiers without ideals were even less useful than controlled puppets.
Elashia only wanted soldiers who dared to sacrifice themselves for humanity's survival.
So she allowed soldiers unwilling to go on the expedition to leave the army.
After screening out soldiers who dared not risk their lives by emphasizing the danger of the expedition, to ensure that those brave enough had no worries in the upcoming battles, Elashia ordered them to write a last will to distribute their property and compensation in case they unfortunately died in battle.
After hearing the reports, Cecilia nodded to those below and said:
"Your and my last wills will be sealed before you all, and after being copied, will be sent to the Elasia palace for safekeeping."
After explaining what would happen to the last wills, Cecilia changed the subject and addressed all the soldiers below in an extremely serious voice:
"Please prepare yourselves mentally for the upcoming training. To resolve the bandit problem that has plagued the Elasia Empire for over a thousand years within six months, the difficulty and hardship of training will greatly increase. Do you understand!"
"Understood!"
The voices of over twenty thousand people surged like an avalanche, stirring the heart.
Cecilia commanded:
"I declare, the hundred-day special training officially begins!"
The soldiers instantly "whooshed" into hundreds of units and marched neatly and orderly to their designated training locations to begin training.
Elashia, watching this scene through magic at the Royal Magic Academy, smiled.
Since her transmigration, she had given Cecilia control of all Elasia's central military power. Under her leadership, the Elasia Royal Imperial Guard already possessed such a level of training. After another hundred days of training, this force would be able to complete the bandit elimination mission.
"Siris, your commander indeed has skill."
Looking at the former First Imperial Guard Commander Siris standing before her, Elashia teased.
"Relieving the ruler's worries is the natural duty of us soldiers."
Siris bowed slightly, his expression serious.
"Alright, don't say those pretty words to me."
Elashia smiled, waving her hand.
"Isn't it that nearly five thousand soldiers have left the ranks?"
Siris's expression became somewhat awkward.
"This..."
Seeing Siris speechless, Elashia smiled.
"This is precisely why I called you to this Royal Magic Academy."
Siris raised his head, looking at Elashia with fearful eyes.
"Your Majesty... do you want to... make an example?"
Elashia was stunned upon hearing this, then laughed:
"You knights, constantly claiming to fight for your lord until the last moment, yet in your hearts, you regard me as a beast."
Elashia was not the kind of person who says "in principle it's allowed but not really, in principle it's forbidden but actually allowed."
With her, what's allowed in principle is allowed, and what's forbidden in principle is forbidden.
Since she had already said she would forgive soldiers who chose to leave the army, she would absolutely not go back on her word.
Elashia smiled and said:
"Old general, look how you view me. I am not that kind of person."
Elashia stood up.
"Come with me, let's take a look at this school together."
Following behind Elashia, touring the campus, Siris cast his gaze toward the students moving about the campus.
While Siris was absorbed in watching several students' magic, Elashia's words interrupted his thoughts.
"Old general, from your professional perspective, how do you view magic?"
"Magic..."
Siris thought for a moment.
"Of course it's a powerful weapon in war."
Elashia shook her head.
"Be more specific."
Siris thought for a moment, then said:
"In war, we knights mostly use battle techniques through 'Qi,' but they often lack destructive power and can't cause massive damage. Even the best battle techniques mostly target only a few people. One could say that even several top knights together don't possess the ability to turn the tide of battle."
Siris continued:
"But a good mage is different. Although there are few mages in the army, one large-scale spell can have a significant impact on the battle situation."
Elashia nodded.
"You're right."
But Elashia then changed the subject and asked:
"In previous battles, do you think our mages fulfilled their proper role?"
Looking at Elashia, Siris fell into a brief silence.
And Elashia also maintained silence, waiting for Siris's answer.
She knew all too well why Siris had fallen silent.
The Elasia Empire previously had very few mages, with fewer than one hundred officially registered mages in the entire country.
And there were even fewer mages in the army.
Moreover, because of their noble status, mages generally were unwilling to train with soldiers, believing it not only wasted time but also degraded their status.
Therefore, most mages in the army lacked basic military training and could hardly coordinate with knights and soldiers in battle.
So in most cases, mages and the army often fought separately, and sometimes mages would even cast spells on their own people due to the basic error of not recognizing who was on their side.
In "The Fall of Elasia," "Elashia" had some rather comical deaths.
Among them was dying from friendly fire in a large-scale war.
The root cause, Elashia believed, was the poor coordination between the army and mages.
This problem wasn't so serious in the past when the Elasia Empire had fewer than a hundred mages, but now it was different.
Especially after the establishment of the Elasia Royal Magic Academy, the number of mages in Elasia would greatly increase to thousands within a few years.
If this greatly increased group of mages couldn't coordinate well with the army, it would certainly lead to unimaginable consequences!
When an army falls into chaos, at most it causes trampling casualties.
But when mages fall into chaos, the casualties would be far more than just trampling.