Chapter 555

After barely bringing Leopold back to his senses from his attempt to escape reality due to excessive stress, we began a more constructive conversation.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a more destructive conversation? We were discussing plans to crush the looming threats that would one day descend upon us.

“Expanding our forces, enhancing their quality, developing countermeasures… None of it will be easy.”

Leopold sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Though he had regained his composure, the overwhelming sense of helplessness remained.

“How about expanding the conscription system? Separate from the standing army, impose military obligations on all adult males above a certain age. In peacetime, they can focus on their livelihoods, but if the need for troops arises, they can be immediately mobilized as combat forces. With a few months of military training each year, they might not reach the level of regular troops, but they should be capable of local defense.”

In short, it was a proposal to turn all the Empire’s young men into a reserve force.

Until now, the Empire had operated on a strict volunteer system, with a clear distinction between soldiers and civilians. Whether it was the Imperial Army under the Emperor’s direct command or the private armies of lords, only those who volunteered for military service could be enlisted as soldiers. Drafting ordinary farmers or city dwellers as soldiers had always been heavily criticized on moral grounds.

If a lord tried to conscript non-soldiers from their territory to win a territorial war, they risked having their heads chopped off by the Imperial Army dispatched upon hearing the news, rather than by the opposing lord.

The problem was that such a system could never cope with the impending crisis. Above all, the numbers were insufficient. While the volunteer system ensured good treatment for individual soldiers, the military was still the military. The enlistment rate wasn’t particularly high.

Why hadn’t the 1st and 2nd Legions been restored yet? There simply weren’t enough volunteers.

In peaceful times, there were plenty of people willing to join the military since life-and-death battles were rare. But after seeing two Imperial Legions melt away in a single war against the beastmen, few brave men were willing to enlist. And even if they conscripted anyone, it was hard to expect them to develop proper combat capabilities.

Thus, the idea was to transform all the Empire’s men into a ready combat force.

“Of course, that’s what we should do… but as I said, it’s not easy. Conscription, training, compensation for the losses incurred… It would require an enormous expenditure, and the Empire’s treasury alone can’t handle it.”

Leopold didn’t outright reject my suggestion, but he pointed out the practical limitations, shaking his head. The limitation being that there wasn’t enough money.

“If we impose the obligation on lords to train their own people at their own expense, they’ll demand the right to mobilize those trained people as their private soldiers. And if the nobles end up with private armies ten times larger than before, do you think they’ll obediently follow central control? It could easily lead to even greater chaos.”

So, the already weakened imperial authority would weaken further, huh?

If the world’s crisis becomes fully apparent, the nobles might not have the capacity to harbor other ambitions, but the problem was the period before that.

In an era where dragons fly through the skies, no madman would think of starting a civil war or rebellion, but no one knew when those dragons might appear.

If the collapse of the Heavenly Barrier is delayed beyond my expectations, in the worst-case scenario, the Empire, like the Holy Kingdom, might have to face monsters in a state of devastation from civil wars and rebellions.

“Just make them obey. I have an idea, Your Majesty.”

“Elmain, you do? Speak.”

Lacey smiled slyly and began to explain her plan.

“If you’re concerned about the lords’ power growing too strong, why not strengthen the Church’s power to suppress them? Lift the restrictions on the size of the Church Orders that make up the Imperial Diocese. Expand the Holy Legion to solve the Empire’s problems and suppress the lords’ reckless actions.”

In short, she proposed creating a Holy Legion of tens of thousands, separate from the Imperial Army, to solve the problems.

Until now, the Empire’s dioceses were fundamentally under the Holy Kingdom, so they couldn’t recruit Imperial citizens as soldiers. But since the Imperial Diocese had become independent from the Holy Kingdom, organizing an independent Holy Legion wouldn’t be an issue.

“You can say that the Holy Kingdom’s Church Orders, while recognizing the Imperial Diocese, demanded this as a condition for maintaining diplomatic cooperation with the Empire. Even if they are members of the Imperial Diocese, they are still brothers and sisters serving the same God, so the Holy Kingdom’s request for their safety to be guaranteed by the Empire would be a natural justification for lifting the troop restrictions.”

“Hmm…”

Leopold stroked his chin, pondering Lacey’s proposal. Indeed, as Lacey said, the nobles would have no grounds for objection. Moreover, the Holy Legion’s expansion and maintenance costs would be entirely borne by the Church. From Leopold’s perspective, it was like gaining a new legion without spending a single penny.

And a legion specialized in slaughtering monsters and evil beings, at that.

The problem was that if such a Holy Legion refused the Emperor’s interference and became an independent force, it wouldn’t be much different from the lords expanding their private armies.

No, it might even become a more dangerous force than the nobles. It would essentially hold the largest military power as a single entity, excluding the Imperial Army.

In short, the key was how much Leopold could trust Lacey.

“…Very well. The nobles must have heard about the Holy Kingdom’s affairs. Elmain, if you attend tomorrow’s court meeting and emphasize the necessity of the Holy Legion, they won’t be able to oppose it outright.”

And it seemed Leopold decided to trust Lacey rather than Duke Bien. Or perhaps he decided to trust me, who was always with Lacey.

—

Enhancing the quality of our forces wasn’t something that could be done overnight, and there was no easy solution. While squires could be trained to some extent, anything beyond that depended on individual talent and experience.

All we could do was increase the number of squires as much as possible, deploy them in battles against monsters to train them, and minimize losses.

It wasn’t something that could be done in a day or two.

“…We need to expand the knight training facilities. The Remnant Academy alone won’t be enough.”

In an era where human limits were considered the realm of masters, knights were treated as the Empire’s elite forces, so producing a hundred or so knights a year through the Remnant Academy was sufficient.

But as Leopold said, that alone was no longer enough. Against the powerful monsters that heroes had to face, or the ancient races regaining their strength, there wasn’t much difference between knights and soldiers.

Thus, we needed to secure at least ten thousand knights. With ten thousand knights, we might get around two hundred masters. Maybe.

—

The final topic was developing means to somehow cope with the transcendent monsters that heroes would have to face. Even if we couldn’t repel them, we at least needed to hold out until the hero-level forces arrived.

If we could even assist the hero’s battle, that would be even better.

“But… is there really a way to counter dragons?”

“Well, I’m not sure if it will work, but I think we should start by bringing them down from the sky. So—”

I told Leopold about the dragon countermeasures from the original work, as if I had come up with them myself.

While dragon scales might be too tough, we could tear through their wing membranes, and large crossbows could inflict meaningful damage even on large monsters. We should cover the city walls with such crossbows, focus on training archers who had been neglected in favor of knights, increase the number of human siege weapons like Milia, and develop flying ships for efficient power transport and aerial combat.

“Is that even possible?”

Leopold seemed to find merit in the idea of large crossbows and training masters, but he was skeptical about the airships.

A ship that flies through the sky? Common sense says that’s impossible.

Of course, it’s possible.

I clearly saw it. Though it would take a few years, the sight of airships flying over the Empire’s skies.

“Well, I’ve heard rumors that the dwarves have similar weapons. We might not be able to steal them, but if the dwarves can do it, we should be able to create an inferior version using magic or other means. Or… somehow negotiate with the dwarves for their cooperation.”

Honestly, if the dwarves fully cooperated with the Empire, many problems would be solved. Their technology could elevate the Empire’s military technology by several levels.

The problem was that the dwarves were well aware that their technological superiority was the foundation of their existence as a proud nation, so they strictly managed their technology to prevent any leaks beyond simple cold weapons.

Even if we tried to analyze and reverse-engineer captured machines, attempting to disassemble them would cause them to explode or self-destruct, making it impossible.

Unless the dwarves faced extinction without the Empire’s cooperation, sharing their technology was out of the question. At least, as far as I knew.

Leopold might come up with something, though.

“Hmm… For now, I’ll order Floheta, the Tower Master, to devise a ‘flying ship.’ I’m not sure if it will succeed.”

“Floheta? She became the Tower Master?”

It was a familiar name. A high-level magician who had joined the Einfeldt battle to earn research funds. She had grumbled about joining for no reason but fought well enough.

“Yes. There were originally five high-level magicians in the Imperial Mage Tower, but the other four were imprisoned in the underground prison for selling state secrets to the Grimnir Church Order. They should have been executed for such a grave crime, but… given the current situation, offering them reduced sentences in exchange for their cooperation isn’t a bad idea. If we propose releasing them unharmed based on their contributions, they won’t refuse.”

So that’s why the Grimnir Church Order had so many magic stones. I wondered how the Empire’s secrets had ended up there.

“…Is it really safe to release them? If they were involved with the Grimnir Church Order, who knows what they might do once freed.”

“No problem. We’ll destroy all their magic circuits, and they’ll live under surveillance for the rest of their lives after release.”

…So, releasing them unharmed, but their magic is a separate matter, huh? That’s Leopold’s kind of cunning.