“As expected, your dragon’s tiny too. Fits you perfectly.”
Gaon laughed, and the others joined in.
Izaak hung his head, silently stroking the Ankylo’s snout. The dragon, well accustomed to him, licked his hand reassuringly.
“Lord Izaak, did you raise this dragon yourself?”
“Y-yes. I named him Rudo. Father gave me the egg, and I raised him carefully.”
“That’s wonderful.”
Gami nodded with genuine interest.
“Lord Galard, this has been quite the spectacle. With your strength, I have no doubt the relief of Gangaruga Fortress will be a success.”
“Hmph. Leave it to us.”
Galard puffed out his chest confidently.
“Then, Lord Izaak, I shall take my leave for now. I have business to attend to.”
Gami bowed to Izaak before departing the estate.
Outside, he quickened his pace and boarded his waiting carriage.
“To the Seventh Training Ground, please.”
Leaning out the window to instruct the driver, he then sat beside Azalea.
“Lady Azalea, there’s something I need prepared.”
“Of course. Just name it.”
Azalea eagerly pulled out a notebook.
“First, six thousand sets of full-body armor and shields—send them to Lord Galard and his brothers.”
“Six thousand? Quite generous, even for the sons of Lord Garios.”
“They’ll need it to be of any use on the battlefield.”
As he made the request, Gami recalled the forces he had just seen.
Galard had boasted they rivaled Garios’s Giant Brigade, but in truth, they weren’t even close. The Giant Brigade wasn’t just about size—it was comprised of the strongest warriors handpicked by Garios. Mere tall soldiers couldn’t compare.
Still, since they had gone to the trouble of assembling this force, they would need to make the most of it. Equipped with full armor and shields, they might at least serve as decent armored giants.
“I’ll manage to secure the equipment somehow. However, what shall we do about the payment?”
Azalea said she would procure six thousand suits of armor and helmets. Gami don’t know how she’ll gather them, but there has never been a single instance where she said she could do something and failed to deliver. However, the payment must be prepared by Gami, who made the request.
“Put the payment on Chancellor Ganis’s account.”
“Understood.”
At Gami’s answer, Azalea smiled beneath her mask and wrote in her notebook.
“Also, regarding Garios-sama’s seventh son, Izaak-sama, who was raising an armored dragon Ankylo – I’d like you to obtain the breeding methods from that time, and also Ankylo eggs if available.”
“Breeding methods and eggs, understood.”
Azalea wrote further in her notebook.
Among Garios’s sons, there wasn’t much worth noting. The large dragons were impressive, but that was all. It might be interesting if they could gather numbers, but considering the cost and time required for breeding, it doesn’t seem worthwhile. However, the armored dragon Ankylo that Izaak raised was fascinating.
Gami had succeeded in taming pterodactyls through selective breeding. But it hadn’t been an easy path.
Dragons rarely become attached even to demons. Therefore, Gami hatched many pterodactyl eggs, selected the most obedient individuals among them for breeding, and repeated the process of selecting even more obedient specimens.
It took several generations before training became possible.
But the armored dragon Ankylo he had just seen showed concern for Izaak, licking his hand as if to comfort him. This demonstrated extraordinary obedience.
“Are you planning to raise armored dragons Ankylo this time?”
“I don’t know if it will work out, but I’d like to try researching it.”
While answering Azalea’s question, Gami’s mind was already thinking about the deployment and tactics of armored dragons Ankylo.
Whether armored dragons Ankylo would be useful on the battlefield was uncertain, but war was above all about preparation. Gathering soldiers was important, but it was equally important to create things the enemy didn’t have, things that had never existed before. Simply using tools the enemy didn’t possess could provide that much of an advantage.
As Gami was deep in thought, the carriage arrived at the Seventh Training Ground. When Gami stepped down from the carriage, Azalea in her black fur overcoat followed.
“Lord Gami, may I accompany you?”
Azalea spoke in a somewhat sweet voice.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Honestly, he didn’t want her being too clingy, but he needed a competent secretary for the work ahead.
Operations weren’t something that ended simply by thinking them up and giving orders. There were many procedures that had to be followed, such as procuring weapons and food. But Gami’s mind had many other things to consider. The presence of a secretary who could understand Gami’s concise orders and arrange everything was essential.
“Please do.”
“Then, Lord Gami, shall we proceed?”
Azalea straightened her posture and urged Gami forward.
Entering the Seventh Training Ground with Azalea, they found a vast facility with numerous barracks and training grounds, where soldiers wielded weapons and devoted themselves to training day and night.
This training ground should have been conducting training for the units Gami had devised. Although Gami had been imprisoned two years ago, the soldier training should still be continuing.
As Gami walked through the training ground searching for the demon he was looking for, he saw soldiers running in the plaza during training. They seemed to be trained harshly to their physical limits, as the soldiers’ steps were unsteady. Then one soldier collapsed. A demon serving as an instructor rushed to the fallen soldier.
“You bastard, what are you doing! Don’t lie down on the sacred training ground soil! Trash like you lying down is a hundred years too early! You’re dirtying the ground! Get up and run!”
Rather than helping the fallen soldier, the instructor berated him. The soldier stood up crying and began running again.
“Still as harsh as ever, Zolm.”
“That voice… is that Gami?”
When Gami called out to the instructor who had been shouting, the brown-bodied demon Zolm immediately turned around.
Zolm’s face, which could be called elderly, was marked not only with wrinkles but also many scars.
“So you were alive, you bane of this world. If you had died, it would have made the world a better place!”
“Zolm, your mouth is as foul as ever. Since you’ve gotten older, you should mellow out a bit.”
Gami retorted to Zolm’s hateful words.
Zolm and Gami were old companions who had served Zelgius together and built the foundation of the Demon King’s army. Zolm had retired from the front lines due to repeated injuries, but now served as an instructor training soldiers.
“So, Zolm, how is the soldier training I requested going?”
“Training is going smoothly. Look over there, the unit at the far end.”
Zolm pointed across the plaza. There, over ten thousand soldiers of the Demon King’s army were formed in ranks. Spear-wielding infantry advanced, cavalry kicked up clouds of dust, and archers released arrows. The plaza was conducting exercises in a manner resembling actual combat.
When Gami directed his gaze to the far end, he saw an infantry unit of one thousand and an archer unit of two thousand.
The three thousand infantry and archers moved with agility, showing they were well-trained. Their skill level was comparable to regular soldiers. However, there was one major difference from regular soldiers. All the soldiers were short in stature. Compared to other soldiers, they were definitely more than a head shorter – all individuals who would have been rejected in soldier aptitude tests. But this was exactly the unit Gami had devised.
“As you suggested, I gathered those who failed the soldier aptitude tests due to height and trained them. They’re called ‘goblin soldiers’ by others, but since that’s quite accurate, I call them that too.”
Zolm laughed self-deprecatingly, but training short individuals to become soldiers was important work.
Currently, the Demon King’s army was suffering from overwhelming troop shortages. Because the great generals who had led army corps to invade human nations had been defeated, their combat strength had greatly declined.
Of course, the Demon King’s army was mobilizing and training young people as much as possible, but the absolute numbers were insufficient. Therefore, Gami had proposed training those who failed aptitude tests to become soldiers.
“Zolm, how are they as a fighting force? Do they seem usable?”
“They’re small, so none of them could beat me one-on-one. But they’re usable. They may be short, but their morale is even higher. Apparently, these guys are happy to be able to stand on the battlefield.”
“Ah, so they’re pleased to be able to participate in their first battle.”
Gami nodded in understanding.
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
