In the early morning, breathing in the cold dawn air, the training of Roman Dmitry’s men that was led by Chris began.

“We will start now.”

It was a simple exercise. At first, it was a moderate pace running warm-up, and Flora Lawrence managed to catch up easily with the men.

Her breathing was stable. People usually think that staff members have weak bodies, but she trained in archery, so she didn’t neglect her physical training.

Then slowly, the pace became faster. Flora Lawrence calmed her breathing as much as she could because she didn’t have time to stabilize her breathing to the point where her lungs felt cold.

Just once. It was over once she stopped breathing. In the week-long test, she didn’t want to drop out from the first session itself.

“Euk. Euk.”

About one hour had passed, and she was already drenched in sweat from the warm-up itself. The heat from her body began to rise from her ponytailed head, and unlike her hot body, the air touching her skin was so cold. The morning training felt a bit intense from the start.

Normal troops would finish their training after about thirty minutes of warm-up, but Dmitry’s soldiers incorporated the morning warm-up as a part of their routine.

And she could finally see the end. She thought they would finally stop now, but Chris entered the mountain path.

‘No.’

Anxiety began to rise, and that was just the start. Chris started to run down the steep mountain road, and her brain, which was concentrating on breathing, now felt dizzy.

Her head was spinning. If she had known in advance that this would be the intensity, she would have tried to conserve as much energy as she could. She never thought that they would continue running after an hour of warm-up.

Above all else, unlike her, the soldiers were not even out of breath.

“Huk, huk.”

Her breathing became rough. This was beyond what she could control. Flora Lawrence held on with her mental strength, and when Chris noticed that she was tenaciously following them, he raised his voice and said,

“The morning training is for survival. The battlefield doesn’t care about your situation. How early the morning is, what you ate, and whether you are healthy. You cannot always fight in the right condition. So push yourself to the limit each day. After exhausting all your stamina, as if you were about to die, you will see the ‘reality’ that you will face on the battlefield.”

It wasn’t a training for them to take care of their bodies. It was survival. In order to survive a situation where blood and death were common, the training needed to be intense.

“Physical training is needed for everyone, regardless of their position. Even if it is simply a position that requires you to talk. The place where your role will shine will not be in the barracks but on the battlefield, where the enemy can attack at any time. If you can’t do anything because you don’t have the stamina at that moment and under the pretext that the situation is chaotic, you can’t avoid death on the battlefield. The same is true for every position. Even if your role is to carry things, your legs are needed to fulfill your role.”

He spoke frankly. Seeing Flora Lawrence fall behind, Chris told her the reality.

She knew what his words meant. So she had never neglected her training, but the intensity she was experiencing here was too much.

One hour of warm-up and one hour of mountain running—their two hours of leg training had come to an end.

Flora Lawrence, who completed the training despite being a little behind the others, looked like she was going to die, with sweat dripping down her face.

Her legs were trembling. As she ran, she puked a couple of times, and she was just aching to sit down right away as her head was spinning.

She messed up, though. She wanted to show her strong side, but Chris plunged her into despair.

“From now on, the sword sparring will start!”

The training wasn’t over yet, and hell had just begun.

It was an insane schedule. Chris said this about the sword spar, which was pushing them past their limits,

“The most important point on the battlefield is how efficiently you can fight with your physical strength at its maximum. Ten minutes after the first encounter with the enemy. During that time, you need to show the best image that comes to your mind in the perfect state, but after 10 minutes, you will feel tremendous fatigue, as if your body is being pulled down. That is when the real war starts. If your body obeys the control of your mind even when your breathing is not normal and your limbs are not moving freely, then I am sure that even normal soldiers can’t handle you.”

The purpose of this training was clear—extreme limit. The soldiers were being pushed past their limits. Due to the warm-up, everyone was on the verge of exhaustion, yet they went into this training without saying a single word.

“Eup!”

Tatak.

Kwakwang!

They were sparring as if it were a real battle. Dmitry’s soldiers breathed steadily and seriously clashed with their opponents.

As Chris said, their bodies weren’t in the best condition now. Even so, their attacks were sharp. They drove their opponents to a corner and attacked their vital points, but the defense of the other soldiers was amazing too.

Intense sparring was happening everywhere in the training room, and Flora Lawrence was shocked.

‘…This is the usual training?’

Dmitry’s training was difficult. Knights who trained their bodies all their lives would even bite their tongues, but the soldiers of Dmitry seemed so used to this.

And that wasn’t all. What kind of sparring was this? Aside from their individual strengths, they still looked menacing, even after running for two hours.

Suddenly, she thought of Dmitry on the battlefield and his strong army. They overpowered the Kronos Empire’s soldiers, who didn’t show any signs of being disturbed by the surprise attack until they appeared.

At that time, she thought they were amazing. They must have been physically exhausted because it was a belated pursuit, but Roman Dmitry’s soldiers were able to push the opponent.

Their driving force was made visible in this training. How could they not be strong when they had incorporated this kind of ridiculous training into their daily routine?

‘In fact, it is a very simple theory to train soldiers with high-intensity training. However, the reason why it can’t be applied in reality is that soldiers hate being pushed to their limits. But Roman Dmitry’s soldiers show no signs of dissatisfaction. Rather, they actively engage in training and show their will to develop themselves.’

Complete control was Roman Dmitry’s ability. The rewards and results showed the soldiers that they were not on the wrong path. And so trust was built.

In the process of destroying Barco, destroying Hector, and then taking down Benedict and Kronos, Dmitry’s soldiers were convinced that they wouldn’t die if they followed Roman Dmitry. So no matter how hard the training was, if they thought their lives were at stake, they had no reason to follow Roman.

Everyone at the training was blazing with enthusiasm. They fought fiercely, and a dangerous situation was created like a real battle. They weren’t worried about having any injuries. They believed that Roman Dmitry would be responsible if any accident happened, and above all, Dmitry had already responded well to accidents that occurred from time to time.

A physician waited with potions ready, and their wounds would be safely treated. The precedent in the past created a scene similar to what Flora was seeing now.

At the heat rising from the men’s bodies, Flora gulped.

‘… I cannot give up.’

It was hard. There was no sign of her recovering from her exhaustion, yet she went to the side to join the spar. Thankfully, her opponent wasn’t assigned yet.

It was about simply practicing against a scarecrow, but Chris’s eyes didn’t allow her a break. It was a situation in which people would fall into self-doubt. But Flora was different. She gritted her teeth at her trembling arms and showed the same intent as before.

‘There is no need to worry. I am not a combat resource, so I am bound to be weak in physical training.’

Yet the time to prove herself had come. Each role was different. Flora Lawrence accepted her flaws and reflected on the meaning behind this training.

A few days later, Chris reported to Roman Dmitry.

“So far, the training has been carried out without any problems. She collapsed as soon as the first day ended, and on the second day, she showed signs of fainting and dehydration. Of course, that is because she hasn’t fully adapted to our training, but I don’t see any reasons to disqualify her.”

Lack of physical strength wasn’t a reason for disqualification. If a perfect body was what Roman hoped for from the start, then there would be no soldiers under Roman now. Even ordinary people like Henderson were accepted. And the reason they were able to rise to their current level was that they continuously trained themselves, even when they were already exhausted.

So the week-long test was a process to confirm her will. Even knowing how bad the training was, if she had the will to persevere, the path to progress was open. The problem was Flora Lawrence’s role.

“Her fighting ability isn’t good. Her archery is on point, but she has weak close combat skills. There is a clear need to improve in that aspect. But…”

She was a staff member. The area she had to prove herself in was strategy, not combat.

“The tactics training that took place on the third day showed a different result than before. The groups that included Flora won nine out of ten times. She was defeated only once and managed to find an unexpected way to turn the situation around several times.”

Swish.

The report was presented. It was a record of what had happened during the tactical training, and Roman read it. Nine wins came from following the rules. It was a classic strategy of blocking variables as much as possible, but the one thing that stood out the most was her defeat in the last part.

She tried to attack in the standard way as much as possible. She was good at adapting to things and improvising. Actually, her only defeat was because Kevin, the opponent’s commander, made a really sharp attack, and they couldn’t fight back any longer, but they still acknowledged Flora’s ability.

Furthermore, Flora Lawrence showed this kind of level despite not being used to Dmitry’s training yet.

Roman Dmitry asked,

“Chris, do you think Flora Lawrence is what Dmitry needs?”

To which Chris answered without any hesitation,

“Yes. I am sure that Dmitry needs a resource like Flora Lawrence.”

The one-week test came to an end.

At the end of the rebellion and the founding of the Dmitry Duchy, half an hour had passed since then. Just as Dmitry was immersed in a peaceful life, Thomas, who ran a restaurant in Dmitry, ran in a hurry.

‘There should still be groceries.’

Recently, Dmitry had a great boom. People who wanted to work in the iron mines flocked to the area, merchants who wanted to do business with them opened stalls, and the entertainment culture naturally developed. It was a good place to live in.

Thomas as well. He ran out of groceries due to the unexpected influx of so many customers and was on his way to get them. Groceries usually run out in the morning, so thinking they might no longer be available, he ran.

It was then….

Puak!

Thud!

“Kuak!”

He bumped into a man entering the alley.

The slender man with a robe covering his face gave him a cold look.

“Look where you are going.”

It was a strangely angry voice. Thomas was about to say something in response to the pain but lowered his head when he noticed the eyes of the other person.

Since he met different kinds of people in his restaurant, he knew nothing good would come from fighting such men. The other man looked quite menacing, and it seemed like he wouldn’t even blink an eye when killing someone.

“… I apologize.”

Thomas was right. As he apologized, the man quickly walked away.

It felt like he had been walking for a long time. As the man entered the alleyway, several people suddenly appeared around him like shadows. This was normal for the man.

He spoke in a quiet voice,

“The plan will proceed in three days. Until then, try to lessen the chaos as much as possible and gather information about the security system in Dmitry. Two days later, I will explain the plan.”

“We understand.”

The men backed off. Then, like when they first came, they vanished into the shadows. And the man who gave the orders also moved into the darkness of the alley.