The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 68: The Young Cavalrymen

Vol 2 Chapter 68 The Young Cavalrymen

A lilting bagpipe played across the grasslands, and the riders spurring their horses onward laughed and shouted with joy. They wielded lightweight white-wax wooden lances, rising and falling atop their mounts, their bright surcoats trailing like rough lines across the prairie.

[Tirayan Young Cavalry] (First Tier · Castle)

—‘These youths chase each other in the wind. It is their game, and it is also their training to become competent knights in the future.’

In the library, Sylutia opened the book in her hands. Inside were exquisite card illustrations, accompanied by poetic captions along the edge.

“Tirayan Young Cavalry…” she murmured the name softly, then read the detailed entry below.

Tirayan is a plain in the north of the Fourth Continent, where a custom persists: when a boy reaches adulthood, the village prepares a horse for him and a simple lance made of white-wax wood for him to use.

The young riders form bands with companions they grew up with, traveling far and wide. They herd cattle and sheep, drive off ravenous wolves, fight bandits, make friends, and join adventures. Through these experiences they gradually mature and build bonds and tacit understanding with their comrades.

If their nation is invaded, these roaming young cavalrymen can be gathered quickly from every corner to form a mighty cavalry array to strike the enemy. Their horsemanship is superb and their cooperation practiced;

they often terrorize opposing forces. Even though the Tirayan plain is only a loose confederation of small states, thanks to the multitude of young cavalrymen it has survived among larger powers.

This youth-cavalry system was later learned and adopted by other nations, greatly enriching civilian military strength and enabling governments to conscript large numbers of skilled cavalrymen during wartime.Supporting this system were policies like horse-raising subsidies, knight selection tournaments, and sword-forging contests. Even ordinary commoners who ranked well in the knight selection could be formally enfeoffed and become official knights, which greatly motivated folk to learn swordsmanship and horsemanship.

The Knight King Regard Bouverie was born in the Gurenka Mountains in the central continent. In his youth he benefited from this system. The earliest knights who followed him south to colonize were companions he had grown up with and trusted.

However, the system could not be maintained forever. After a nation formed, there was no longer a need for youth cavalry to keep local order or chase away wolves and bandits. Gathered together with no outlet, restless young men became a destabilizing force. The system also required ongoing fiscal subsidies that many nobles were unwilling to keep paying. Finally, when fiefs stabilized, the land was limited;

lords could not afford to promise too many positions for young cavalry to serve under.

With these factors, the system faded as Tirayan’s geographic and social environment changed. Regas, once founded on knights, gradually became ordinary and unremarkable.

…

White Stone Fortress, Tower Conference Hall.

“The deployment orders have come down,” said Cassius, the Knight Captain, from his seat at the head.

“Oh? Are they about the Darkmist Mountains?”

“Yes. The association headquarters plans to reopen the Darkmist Mountains, establish fourteen new garrisons there, and later expand to twenty-three outposts and forty-seven resource supply points.”

“This expansion will draw personnel from many posts. Our Glittergold Plains are located in the rear and have ample manpower, so naturally we’ll be tapped for recruits.”

“Who will lead the expedition?” As one of the Glittergold Plains’ major powers, they wouldn’t hand over leaders lightly. Most likely candidates would be mid-level Third-to-Fourth Tier personnel.

“The association’s notice says they intend for Sylutia to lead the team.”

“Wait, she’s only Second Tier, and a gardener at that. Her combat strength isn’t high.” A leader in the field generally must possess enough fighting capability to handle the Shadow World’s complex situations.

“She is only Second Tier, true, but the headquarters’ letter claimed Sylutia can take down Third Tier monsters without much trouble. They told us not to worry.” The Knight Captain tapped his fingers on the table.

“Little Tia looks so adorable, but her combat strength isn’t bad.” His voice from beneath the helm held interest.

“You don’t know about her adventure six months ago. It was a stubborn Third Tier Petrification Lizard—she handled it on her own.”

“I always say true geniuses don’t limit themselves to a single field.”

“For talented youths, giving them some autonomy and freely allocated resources maximizes their initiative and helps them improve across the board.”

“If we sent a seasoned Fourth Tier veteran to lead, it might remove any sense of urgency, making her simply rely on habit. Or she might be full of ideas but constrained by orders and rank, forced to act under higher control. Neither outcome is ideal.”

“Raising lions and training warhorses require totally different strategies. The latter needs discipline and obedience to rules;

the former needs someone strong in every aspect, able to stand alone.”

“If we always treat her as a child and coddle her, she’ll become someone without independence. If we treat her as a reliable adult and give her authority along with responsibility, she will gradually mature into a dependable person.”

“Besides, apprentices who are already seventeen or eighteen, if they were ordinary people they’d have started families by now. They’re not children anymore;

we needn’t worry too much.”

“Even so, Sylutia is still young and may lack experience. She needs some guidance.” Others voiced concerns.

“We have a month before departure. If you worry about her managing a team, use this time to teach her properly, haha.” Cassius was optimistic.

For them, advancement on the path of the transcendent had largely reached limits and bottlenecks;

big breakthroughs were rare. Their focus now was more on coordinating organizations and training successors.

After discussing how to instruct Sylutia, the conversation turned to arrangements for the expansion.

“We’ll likely draft thirty to forty First-Tier knight squires as combat personnel, twenty gardener apprentices, and twelve craftsman apprentices as the first wave to go and develop the area.”

“Given that the Glittergold Plains aren’t primarily a combat training post, the new points we send will be in the safer third line within the Darkmist Mountains, not the most perilous first defensive line.”

“In the first batch of garrisons, the first six posts will be placed at six mountain passes of the Darkmist Mountains. Those are the chokepoints to the Twilight Sea abyss, suffering the most intense assaults by aberrant creatures. Next will be five lookout posts spread across the mountain range, responsible for monitoring inside and outside the mountains to prevent unknown monsters from suddenly surging out. Finally, there will be three rear garrisons handling logistics, providing food and supplies.”

“The Darkmist Mountains lie where the surface continent has already collapsed and sunken, so we cannot use surface-continent teleportation. We must send supply convoys from the rear garrisons.”

“But that method consumes many resources and is unstable, so we need emergency supply points up front as well.”

“Our Glittergold Plains are one of the top five resource-producing heartland posts for the Hidden Grove association. Headquarters believes we have the experience and capability to open supply points in such an environment.”

“They flatter us,” Kuland Hill said, shaking his head slightly.

“Opening supply points in the heavily polluted Darkmist Mountains is no easy task.”

“That’s why the association specially invited scholars and craftsmen from the Castle path to support us in constructing garrisons and building defenses.”

“From the Candlefort School, or the Whitebird School? In the southern continent those two are the most well-known.”

“The support comes from the Candlefort School. The Whitebird School handles construction of other garrisons. The Violet School is also involved;

although they mainly focus on Secret Word, many of their members practice the Castle path.”

“The Violet School always kept to its seclusion creed. Why are they participating this time?” Kuland Hill asked curiously.

“They were probably affected. The Violet School’s headquarters sit on a mist island in the middle of Meteorite Lake and have long had close ties with the Merchant Capital Alliance around the lake. Now the Merchant Capital Alliance is embroiled in southern wars. If that alliance collapses, the Violet School must consider its future footing.”

“Their participation in this big association expansion is a bid for recognition. With the Hidden Grove association’s backing, even if other nations later control Meteorite Lake, they won’t dare target the Violet School too harshly.”

“No one can remain neutral forever. Now the southern nations have lifted restrictions and are preparing for war;

everything has become unstable. They can’t remain secluded.”

“However, even if the surface is chaotic, the Shadow World areas controlled by the Hidden Grove association remain stable. We command nearly ninety percent of the transcendent forces in the southern continent;

there’s no organization stronger than that.”

“Heh.” Kuland Hill shook his head and said nothing more.

Indeed, the southern continent’s largest military-economic alliance, the power behind many southern states, a coalition of numerous transcendent organizations—on paper it sounded magnificent.

But there are several such alliances across the continent. The rising Mage Alliance in the central continent put the Hidden Grove association under great pressure. The push to develop the Darkmist Mountains is also an attempt to unearth relics from past eras and new transformative resources in that sunken world.

Only by doing so can they counter the steadily strengthening Mage Alliance.