Academy Genius Commander

27 – The Generous Prince (1)

Everyday living in starvation was hell, but the permanent residents of Bruno had to live day by day, being chased by the first night rights and death tax, even though they paid 90% of their produce as taxes because they could not end their lives.

The emperor, who belatedly learned that all the people of the territory were in danger of starvation due to the tyranny of the wicked lord, took down the wicked lord from his seat and imprisoned him for trial.

And I, Captain Peter Yeager, was appointed as the next Lord Bruno.

Even though I can manage a lot of money at once with the support of the crown prince and the emperor.

By supplying food to the people of the fiefdom that were dying of starvation until the next harvest and lending one cow per household so that they could farm well, it succeeded in making it possible to collect taxes normally like other fiefdoms from next year. It will definitely be evaluated as a great thing.

Because it takes a lot of effort to fix a machine that has been broken once, and to the point where there are people who want to buy a new one rather than fix it.

It’s because I received an almost ruined territory and reformed it over several months so that it could be operated as a normal territory as long as it endured until the next harvest.

Unfortunately, however, the orders I, Captain Peter Yeager, have received should go beyond bringing this estate fully back to normal within two years at the most, and at least prospering it to the point where it can serve as a relay base in the coming war.

Therefore, at the current rate of development, it would be difficult to meet the demands of the Crown Prince and Emperor.

I murmured, stroking the rough blueprints of several history-changing machines in my hand.

“Anyway, since I have to meet with His Highness the Crown Prince and report on the current situation of the territory and the forward base, then I guess I’ll have to start with a great engineer and get all the support I can get.”

As soon as I made that decision and finished all the preparations to go see the prince, I immediately rode my horse and headed for the ecliptic.

**

A fortnight later, the drawing room of the prince’s residence.

The golden-colored walls covered with gold leaf, silk flags engraved with the crest symbolizing the crown prince, and elegant furniture made of the finest woods such as ebony and aloes wood.

A place where only invited guests of the crown prince could enter, with paintings symbolizing the achievements of the crown prince hanging on armor and weapons decorated with gold and jewels.

Entering this room, I feel a sense of intimidation to the extent that my own pride that I have now become a true lower-class noble of the empire has withered.

So, the moment I entered the room, my eyes went round and I looked around, not caring about the butler next to me… no, the butler with a slightly higher status than me.

The butler at the prince’s mansion next to me spoke in a tone that taught me one by one instead of blaming me for being foolish.

“Sir Yeager, if you sit here on the sofa and drink tea while waiting, His Highness the Crown Prince will come.”

When I heard that, I thought about whether I should apologize for ignoring the butler and selling my eyes to the luxurious interior.

He waved his hand as if he understood my feelings, and signaled me to sit down and just wait.

Following those words, I sat down and waited for about an hour. The door opened and the prince walked towards me and said,

“Yes, Captain Jaeger. Seeing you makes my heart rejoice. Originally, you are not allowed to command a battalion with your rank, but I personally entrusted you with the actual duty of battalion commander, even going so far as to appoint a formal battalion commander on paper. Where did you get some success? I think I will be disappointed if there are no tangible results that will make me happy.”

“As a result of doing our best to repay the trust of His Highness, the Bruno estate is expected to recover to the level of other territories when it is safely harvested next year. In addition, my battalion is already prepared enough to perform well in real combat. but…”

When the prince heard me say ‘Daman’, which suddenly jumped out after receiving a pleasant report, he said with a serious expression.

“If you want to send the 12 knights and wizard company you requested to form a battalion, the commander must be promoted to major in order to help you. Originally, you would have to be a lieutenant colonel or higher to command a unit that includes a company of knights and a company of wizards in one battalion. So I want you to consider it too.”

Originally, a wizard company consisting of 16 wizards was deployed under the infantry battalion.

However, in order to get the magician I hoped for, negotiations were necessary, so I first shouted out loud that there were 12 knights, and then I tried to put her company under my command while decrying that I didn’t have to accept knights.

I had no idea what the prince was thinking, that he would try to spread articles to wizards like that.

But what I need to get from the crown prince right now is neither a knight nor a wizard who can be called the god of the battlefield… but support, right?

So I looked at the prince and said with a very sorry expression and voice.

“Certainly, I need knights and mages to be active on the next front. However, rather than organizing my own battalion now, I need more support to make Castle Bruno and its surroundings, which will be the forefront of our territory on the next front, ‘function as a war base’ within two years. Without additional support, it is absolutely impossible to complete preparations as a war base by next year.”

The prince’s face was rotting, but he didn’t raise any objections or questions to me.

This is obviously a group of people who, no matter how much they think about it, will not even be a miracle of God to be ready in just one year.

It must be because he himself understands that it is absolutely not an easy task to make a city capable of being used as a supply base for the front line in two years.

So he looked at me with a worried expression on his face and asked.

“I bet everything on this expedition to Czechia. So if you need help, don’t hold back.”

“Thank you for the kindness of His Highness the Crown Prince. Then, please take a look at this.”

And I took out a scroll made of paper from my arms and handed it to me.

“First of all, the ritual training method I devised in the past and trained my soldiers myself in order to raise the ability of the imperial soldiers, and the training method called ‘drill’ that makes the new recruits become human as quickly as possible are written. Read it once.”

In other fantasy novels, when the main character trains soldiers in a new way, he tries to hide it somehow.

Training methods such as ritual training and drilling are difficult to create for the first time, but once created, they are copied quickly because the training is not difficult and simple, and the results are excellent.

So, even if I hadn’t handed over the training method that I had written down to the crown prince, the Reich Empire and the Francois Republic, who had tasted the ritual, would have already copied the ritual training method through the spies dispatched within the territory.

If that happens, only the skills will be taken away, and I will have no choice but to suck my fingers and watch.

Rather, it would be best to voluntarily hand it over to my greatest ally, the crown prince, and then receive an appropriate price.

On the other hand, the prince didn’t care whether I was thinking this way or not, and read and spoke with enough eyesight that he wondered if the document I gave him could be pierced.

“I was looking forward to seeing you as a student platoon leader throughout the Rhineland because it was the secret to training soldiers. He explained why this kind of training method is necessary and what method is advantageous when uniting soldiers, without missing a beat.”

“I just brought it because I thought the way I trained soldiers would be of even the slightest help to His Highness, but I don’t know what to do with her being so highly regarded.”

In words, he said ‘small and small’, but that was just a word he chose to pretend to be humble.

In fact, if only what I wrote on the scrolls were introduced into the army, the soldiers’ training time would be reduced by at least 1/3, and their proficiency would increase by more than 1.5 times the previous level.

And the difference is, ‘Which soldiers are better trained and can move in unison?’ will appear very prominently on the stage of the battlefield where victory or defeat is decided.

In addition, if high-ranking staff members read this, wouldn’t my promotion be a little faster?

“You can stop pretending to be humble. By the way, I haven’t called yet, but since you’ve come, don’t you have something urgent to say? Anything is fine, so tell me.”

I said anything would be good, but if I honestly say that it is difficult to prepare the Bruno estate as a war base in two years, my military career may end here.

“As His Highness the Crown Prince knows, enormous support from the military is required to restore the Bruno estate to the point where it can be used as an important starting point for a war within two years. Also, I believe that the most powerful base city on the frontlines should be an affluent castle surrounded by strong, well-developed walls.”

If you mix these words well, even if I make a little unreasonable request later, it will become a cleverly persuasive tool, like a pit jumping over a wall.

“To do that, it is necessary to build a workshop to produce military supplies, but the number of technicians needed to build a factory and the number of people who can do the work directly are too short in the Bruno estate. So, you may think this is an unreasonable suggestion, but please use Your Highness’s money to buy as many day laborers as possible from other territories and give them to my territories.”

To sum up what I said, it is crazy to ask the president of a large company to go to the president of a small business and ask him to provide support for everything from investment in machinery and equipment to necessary talented people.

So, normally, if you were going to talk nonsense to the crown prince, you would have been told to stop.

The prince is a matter of ‘political status as a future emperor’, and is it because he has just received the valuable military training method I made?

“… If it’s absolutely necessary to make the Czech Republic expedition a success… Okay, I’ll introduce you to an engineer, so talk to him and come up with a detailed plan. Then we will support you accordingly.”

They generously provide even somewhat unreasonable support that would not work in normal times.

Is this why some entrepreneurs say that war is the best time to make money?