The Cornflower Witch Chapter 194

The melodious bagpipes resounded across the grasslands as riders, surging forward, laughed and sang. They held light ashwood lances, rising and falling with their horses, their brightly colored surcoats forming rough lines across the steppe.

【Young Cavalry of Thira Yang】(Tier 1 – Castle)

—‘These youths chase each other in the wind; this is their game and their training to become qualified knights in the future.’

Inside the library, Hylial opened a book containing exquisite card illustrations, accompanied by poetic descriptions.

“Young Cavalry of Thira Yang…” she softly murmured the name, then read the detailed introduction below.

Thira Yang is a plain in the northern part of the Fourth Continent, where a custom dictates that when a boy comes of age, the village provides him with a horse and a simple ashwood lance. The youths form teams with their childhood companions and travel far and wide. They herd cattle and sheep, drive away wolves, fight bandits, make friends, and embark on adventures, gradually maturing and building trust and rapport with their comrades. When their country faces invasion, these roving young cavalry are swiftly assembled into a formidable cavalry formation, charging the enemy. Their superb horsemanship and coordinated efforts often strike terror into their foes. Even though the Thira Yang grassland is a loose confederation of small states, the multitude of young cavalry has allowed them to survive among the larger nations.

This system of young cavalry was later adopted by other countries and spread across the land, greatly enriching the common people’s fighting power. It enabled nations to conscript a large number of skilled cavalrymen and riders during wartime.

Accompanying this system were ‘horse breeding subsidies,’ ‘Knight Selection Tournaments,’ and ‘Sword Forging Assemblies.’ Even commoners, if they placed in the Knight Selection Tournament, could be knighted, greatly motivating the populace to learn swordsmanship and horsemanship.

The King Regard Bouvilly, born in the Gulunga Mountains in the central part of the continent, benefited from this system in his youth. The knights who first followed him south to open up new territories were all companions who had grown up with him since childhood, trusting each other implicitly.

However, this system ultimately did not endure. Firstly, after the establishment of the kingdom, there was no longer a need for young cavalry to maintain internal security or disperse wolves and bandits. Young people with no useful place to apply themselves, their energy unchanneled, became a source of instability. Secondly, the system always required financial subsidies, which many nobles were unwilling to continue paying. Thirdly, after the stabilization of feudalism, land was limited, and lords could not support too many knights, nor could they offer incentives for the young cavalry to serve.

Due to various factors, the system, having lost the geographical and social conditions of the Thira Yang plain, gradually fell into disuse. The Regas Kingdom, once founded on the concept of ‘knights,’ also gradually became mediocre and unremarkable.

…

Whitestone Fortress, Tower Council Hall.

“The deployment orders from above have come down.” Knight Commander Cassius, seated at the head, spoke.

“Oh, is it about the Dark Mist Mountains?”

“Yes, the Association Headquarters plans to re-open the Dark Mist Mountains and establish 14 new outposts there, with plans for an additional 23 sentry posts and 47 resource supply points.”

“This major expansion will require personnel from many outposts. Our Glittering Gold Plain, being in the rear and having ample manpower, will naturally be called upon to provide personnel.”

“Who will lead the team?” As leading figures in the Glittering Gold Plain, they wouldn’t be easily moved. The most likely candidates would be mid-tier 3-4th Level personnel.

“The Association’s notification states that Hylial is to lead the team.”

“Wait, she’s only 2nd Level, isn’t she? And she’s a Gardener, not strong in combat.” The leader of a team typically needs sufficient combat strength to handle the complex situations in the Shadow World.

“Indeed, she’s only 2nd Level, but the letter from the Association Headquarters says Hylial can defeat 3rd Level monsters without much trouble, so we shouldn’t worry.” The Knight Commander tapped his fingers on the table.

“Little Lia, who looks so cute, is actually quite formidable in combat,” his voice, muffled by his helmet, had a hint of interest.

“You just don’t know about her adventure six months ago. She dealt with a troublesome 3rd Level petrified lizard all by herself.”

“I keep saying that true geniuses are never confined to a single field.”

“For talented young people, giving them some autonomy and resources they can freely allocate can maximize their initiative and allow them to spontaneously improve their abilities in all aspects.”

“If we send an experienced 4th Level person to lead, either she won’t feel any sense of crisis and will just rely on habit, or she’ll have many ideas but be constrained by orders and status, having to act under the superior’s restrictions. Neither of these outcomes is good.”

“Cultivating lions and training warhorses are completely different strategies. The latter only requires maintaining discipline and obedience to rules, while the former demands strength in all aspects and the ability to stand independently. If we keep treating her like a child and pampering her, over time, she will truly become a child lacking independent abilities. If we treat her as a responsible adult, giving her power while also holding her accountable, she will gradually grow into a reliable adult.”

“Furthermore, students who are seventeen or eighteen years old are already old enough to start families in a commoner’s world. They are no longer children, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

“Even so, Hylial, being so young, will lack experience, and she will need some guidance.” Others expressed concern.

“There’s still a month until departure. If you’re worried she won’t manage the team well, then use this time to teach her properly, hehe.” Cassius was quite optimistic.

For them, the path to transcending had gradually reached its limits and bottlenecks, making major breakthroughs difficult. Their focus now was more on coordinating the organization and nurturing the younger generation.

After a discussion, everyone settled on the details of guiding Hylial. Then, the conversation shifted to the arrangements for the grand expansion.

“This time, we will likely deploy 30-40 Second-Order Knight Attendants as combat personnel, 20 gardener apprentices, and 12 artisan apprentices as the first members to head to the pioneering effort.”

“Considering that the ‘Glittering Gold Plain’ is not an outpost specialized in cultivating combat personnel, the new pioneering points we send them to will be in the relatively safe third line within the Dark Mist Mountains, rather than the most dangerous and treacherous first defense line.”

“Among the first batch of outposts, the first six are distributed in the six gorges of the Dark Mist Mountains. These are key passages to the Abyss of the Twilight Sea and are most severely impacted by various monstrosities. Next are the five lookout outposts located on the mountains, responsible for monitoring the situation both inside and outside the mountains, preventing unknown monsters from suddenly breaking out. Finally, there are three outposts in the rear, responsible for logistics, providing food and supplies.”

“The location of the Dark Mist Mountains is a fallen and lost part of the surface continent, so teleportation to and from the surface continent cannot be utilized there. All our supplies must be transported by supply teams dispatched from the rear outposts.”

“However, this method is very costly and unstable, so there needs to be an emergency supply outpost closer to the front lines.”

“Our Glittering Gold Plain is one of the top five production outposts of the Woodland Association, and headquarters believes we have the experience and capability to establish a supply point in such an environment.”

“They think too highly of us.” Crundlow shook his head slightly.

“Establishing a supply point in the heavily polluted Dark Mist Mountains, how easy can that be?”

“That’s why the Association has specially invited a group of scholars and artisans from the ‘Castle’ path. They will support us in building the outpost and establishing defensive lines.”

“Is it the ‘Candlefort School’ or the ‘White Bird School’? Those are the two most famous in the southern part of the continent.”

“The ‘Candlefort School’ is supporting us, and the ‘White Bird School’ is responsible for the construction of other outposts. In fact, the ‘Violet School’ is also involved; although they mainly focus on ‘Mystic Words,’ many of their members also study ‘Castle.’”

“Hasn’t the Violet School always adhered to a secluded creed? Why are they involved this time?” Crundlow asked curiously.

“They must have been affected. The headquarters of the Violet School is on a misty island in the center of Meteor Lake, and they’ve always had close ties to the Merchant City Union of Meteor Lake. But now the Merchant City Union is embroiled in the wars of the southern states, so if the Union ceases to exist, the Violet School must also consider its future standing.”

“Their participation in the Association’s grand pioneering effort is also in hopes of gaining recognition, at least with the Woodland Association’s mediation, even if other countries control Meteor Lake later, they wouldn’t dare target the Violet School too much.”

“No one can remain neutral forever. Now that the southern states of the continent have lifted restrictions and are preparing for war, everything has become unstable, and it’s hard for them to stay out of it.”

“However, no matter how chaotic the surface world becomes, the Shadow World controlled by the Woodland Association will remain stable. We control nearly 90% of the extraordinary power in the southern continent; there’s no organization stronger than us.”

“Hehe.” Crundlow shook his head, saying nothing.

Indeed, the largest military and economic alliance in the southern continent, the behind-the-scenes controller of all southern nations, a confederation of numerous extraordinary organizations—it sounds truly wonderful.

However, this continent has more than one such alliance. The rising ‘Mage Alliance’ in the central continent has put immense pressure on the Woodland Association. Now, their pioneering effort in the Dark Mist Mountains is also hoping to unearth lost treasures from past eras and new transformative resources in that submerged world.

Only then can they contend with the increasingly powerful ‘Mage Alliance.’