Chapter 58: Niya, Preparation for Actual Combat

"Then you're just going to send her straight to the battlefield? That's too dangerous!"

Only Aiboke, who was closest to her and had the closest relationship with her, could say such a thing; having never had children of his own, Aiboke had always treated Niya as his own daughter, and usually treasured her immensely.

But now that Aipusi actually wanted to send Niya to the battlefield, it was something Aiboke found hard to accept!

The other two followers could not get a word in at all and could only stare at the patterns on the ground, appearing as if in deep thought.

"Aiboke, I have already decided on this matter, and Niya has also agreed; I believe she can do it." Aipusi ended the topic directly, not wanting to entangle himself with Aiboke on this issue any further.

Because the two had known each other since they were young, Aiboke would always use all sorts of strange and bizarre reasons to persuade him, and he had long since been unable to bear the harassment.

The two ultimately still had a hierarchy between them; seeing that Lord Aipusi had made up his mind, Aiboke could only entrust Keyaan to take extra care of Niya on the battlefield.

"Lord Aiboke, please rest assured, I will definitely take good care of Miss Niya and will not let her suffer the slightest harm," Keyaan said firmly.

To this, Lord Aipusi showed no reaction.

Afterward, the four discussed some details of the operation and then went to rest separately.

Meanwhile, in a guest room of the Mage Tower, Archmage Olong had also just finished his magic communication from afar, after which he removed the multi-layered shielding magic and went to sleep quite naturally.

The next day, Xia Duo woke up from his deep sleep feeling refreshed, and the sounds of various training exercises could already be heard outside; Xia Duo could not help but feel embarrassed, and after quickly finishing his chores, he joined the training.

Because there were four new recruits who had just been converted from farmers, Captain Jibu focused on training combat formations and combat will, and Xia Duo learned a lot by following along behind them.

In the afternoon, Sami and Dewan arrived as promised, intending to find Xia Duo to practice spells together, but Xia Duo was no longer prepared to stay in the camp.

He discovered that it wasn't just those four new recruits; he himself didn't have much combat will either, and no matter how much he trained in the camp, it was not as good as actually operating in the field.

"Sami, Dewan, have you ever smelled the scent of blood?"

"This—no."

They were both sons of merchants and had been sent into the Mage Tower just after coming of age; how would they have had the chance to see blood! However, as soon as Xia Duo said it, they understood what he meant.

"You mean we should go to the forest ahead of time to get familiar with it?"

"Yes, otherwise I'm really afraid that my legs will go weak when I encounter a battle."

Xia Duo did not shy away from his own shortcomings; it was precisely because of these shortcomings that they needed to be compensated for. "Bring your squads, we'll go outside the town to hunt Goblins, temper some combat will, and incidentally break in the teams so we aren't caught off guard during the war."

This proposal immediately received the approval of Sami and Dewan; the two sides agreed on a time to meet outside the town and then parted ways.

Xia Duo immediately went to find Captain Jibu, who was currently teaching combat essentials to the four new team members converted from farmers; because Xia Duo did not need to fight directly, he had not come over to listen before.

Of course, the other team members recruited from Adventurers were not listening either, just getting familiar with the state of their new weapons.

When Xia Duo told Captain Jibu his plan, he agreed almost without consideration.

"Mage Xia Duo, this is a very good proposal; I was just having this thought myself! I will have them pack their equipment and supplies to set off immediately."

Jibu was also very much in favor of field training; originally, it was something that would have started after the new team members were familiarized, but starting a little early now was nothing. Half of the squad were veterans of wilderness survival and combat, which was enough to take care of the others as long as they didn't go deep into the forest.

Moreover, this was the first plan proposed by the mage attached to the team, and he didn't want to just refuse it like that.

Although Dien had long told Xia Duo that, apart from specific combat, all other matters were to be listened to by Apprentices like them, Xia Duo understood that things were not that simple.

Aiwa was a typical example.

However, Xia Duo was still a little surprised that Jibu could agree to his request so readily this time; perhaps he would be able to gain more say in the subsequent breaking-in process.

As for forcing a power struggle, that would be very foolish; Xia Duo had never had such a thought.

As long as all his decisions were without error, then his authority would naturally rise; after all, Mage Apprentices naturally had a certain authority bonus.

On this side, Jibu notified everyone to change their equipment and weapons, bring their supplies, and prepare to leave the town for field training, while Xia Duo went personally to find Dien. The two of them were now in one group—not the kind of private grouping, but the same group in the official records.

They would both be responsible for the clearing mission in the 12th Area, executing it together.

When Xia Duo found Dien, Dien was holed up in a corner, basking in the sun while studying his Spell Notes, while the other members were training hard in the Training Ground.

"Dien!" Xia Duo called out, and Dien happened to look up. "Xia Duo! What's the matter? Thank you so much for yesterday; if you hadn't reminded me to check on my relatives first, I would have made a wasted trip home."

"It's nothing. I came to find you because I want you to bring your people with me to the Green Pearl Forest for field training, along with Sami and Dewan; you know them."

"Alright." Dien agreed immediately, and then he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Captain Wuke, come over here, I have something to discuss with you!"

Soon, a strong man appeared before Dien, his expression carrying a hint of repulsion, but he came over nonetheless. "What is it?"

"Xia Duo's squad and ours are both responsible for the 12th Area. Now we are preparing to conduct field training together with the people responsible for the 13th Area; hurry up and organize the team."

Wuke looked at Dien with some strangeness, first greeted Xia Duo, and only then agreed. "I'll go right away!"

Watching this scene, Xia Duo felt that Dien was truly a bit careless; if someone were dissatisfied and slacked off when fighting the Orcs, it would be a tragedy.

Moreover, Dien and Xia Duo were responsible for the same area, and if something went wrong on his side, it would inevitably affect Xia Duo; for this reason, Xia Duo had to remind him.

"Dien, do you often order Wuke to do things unrelated to the mission?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"He is not your subordinate; on the contrary, you are nominally his subordinate. Aren't you afraid he won't put in the effort for the mission by ordering him around like that?"

"What's there to be afraid of? If the mission fails, he will also be punished, I—"

As he spoke, Dien's voice trailed off. He had only followed his inertia in thinking the other party wouldn't dare to cause trouble, but Xia Duo would not leave any hidden dangers, even though he also thought the possibility of Wuke causing trouble was not high.

Dien had one advantage: in the long time he had spent with Xia Duo, he had gradually acquiesced to Xia Duo's authority. Whether it was obtaining the status of Official Apprentice early or surpassing him in spell research, Dien had already felt that the gap between the two was growing wider and wider.

He also naturally developed the idea of clinging to a powerful figure; in fact, Dien could already be considered Xia Duo's subordinate, it was just that the two had not made this relationship explicit.

Mages were still quite cautious about the determination of subordinate relationships; followers would serve their master, but the master would also provide suitable conditions for the followers.

As for the current Xia Duo, he was not yet qualified to have followers, but that might change in the future.