Chapter 14: High Commander’s Advice

The man sighed, still donning the same cloak he had worn the day he met that girl.

"Why must the youth of today be so rash?" He picked her up unceremoniously and tossed her on his back. 

Clicking his tongue, he began to walk back to the small town. 

He had finally found her fighting a Mantrap in the forest after asking the guild branch in the town.

He was worried, sure, but not for conventional reasons. Hours after he had left the town where he met Charlotte, he had already received a message from the Ascania high command. The loss of one of their most outstanding leaders without a suitable replacement is just too much, so they wanted him back.

Of course, he just used the excuse of "using his vacation and sick days" to delay when he had to go back. 

Now on a timer of 9 months, the maximum time they were willing to allow him to use before their next grand campaign, he had to train this scrawny little noble into something that could substitute his place.

First, he had to come up with a suitable training strategy. The standard elite training for Ascania high command will not be acceptable, since it took a full 8 years — 4 years of military theory and 4 years of combat training— to graduate.

He needed something better. He had to condense 8 years of elite training, his tactics, and knowledge, while also trying to keep her alive into 9 months.

An impossible task, even for many instructors at the academy.

Thankfully, he wasn't any of those pen pushers.

After all, the best way to learn how to do something is to have field experience. 

Every weekday would be 12 hours of field combat, with 2 hours of rest and 2 hours of military theory. She'll be sleeping, eating, showering, or studying the rest of the time. 

Alongside that, he expected her to achieve the minimum level goal of at least 150. 

This was necessary in order to springboard her career and power, both to achieve his goal of retiring and her goal of getting revenge. 

After the first 3 months, he'll ramp up field combat to 14 hours, military theory to 3 hours, and rest to a single hour. And the last 3 months he'll train her like crazy, moving free time to 30 minutes, and field combat down to 8 hours while bolstering military theory to 8 hours and 30 minutes. 

Of course, even after this, she'll be missing a large amount of knowledge and power necessary for a commander, but it was enough to make her seem more than competent for his superiors to accept her as a replacement.

Then he can safely retire without them ever pestering him again! 

Unless she somehow dies in combat of course...

The man groaned.

Fuck... why did he need to plan out her entire life for him to even enjoy retirement?!

...

The first thing Charlotte felt when she woke up was the numbing pain of moving any part of her body.

It felt like she was wrung through a dryer and put out in the sun, all her muscles sore and protesting whenever she tried to move.

"Ow ow ow..." She groaned as she attempted to lift herself into a sitting position. 

She was back at the inn, albiet in a separate room. 

The question was, how did she get here? 

All she remembered was her vision going white after seeing the notification text, having a massive headache, and a vague sensation of hitting the ground...

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Wait, her sword!

She panicked and looked around the room, only to sigh in relief when she saw her sword leaning next to the drawers. She had to thank whoever it was that had brought her and her sword back.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and a familiar figure walked in. 

This time, instead of a shady, thick cloak, he was wearing the military standard for Ascanian High Commanders. To start, a golden suit of armor that was etched full of runic enhancements, combined with a thick billowing purple cape for armor. Their chosen weapon of choice was strapped to their back, while the national crest of Ascania and the Gold dragon medal to symbolize their rank adorned their breastplate, while an assortment of various accessories was strapped to their silver belt.

What was not part of the Ascania high command outfit, to her knowledge as a noble, was the plate of tea and porridge he was holding in his armored hands.

"I thought you were retiring?" She asked, puzzled. Wasn't part of their deal for her not to bother him?

Why was he showing up here, out of the blue?

"I was retiring. Then my comrades wanted me to get a replacement before I retire, and they give me this massive list of requirements my replacement would need to accomplish before I could retire." He shrugged. "So here I am."

"So... you want me..." She pointed at herself. "To be your replacement?"

The man chuckled. "Is there anyone else in this room other than the 2 of us? Of course, it's you."

"But first-" He placed the plate on her lap. "Eat and rest up. I'm on a time limit to train you into a worthy replacement."

"Wait wait wait, I haven't agreed to-" She barely managed to finish her sentence before he interrupted her. "I can guarantee that you will be at the very minimum, level 152 after the time is up."

Charlotte swallowed hard. Level 100 itself was a challenge, with level 100 need not only the XP requirement but also having to complete a special level 100 quest to overcome the final hurdle.

Each person has their own quest, but most often it was to solo clear a dungeon. 

She knew that he was saying this only to entice her to agree. If it was anyone else, she would've refused. But in front of her, was the former high commander of the Ascania military, and if anybody were to keep their word, it was this man.

"Fine. How long would it take? What are the requirements I need to fulfill?"

"9 months, starting from today." He replied immediately. 

"Wait, how do I get to level 152 in 9 months?! I'm only level 22!" 

"Training." He simply replied. "And as for the requirements that my comrades gave me, you needed to: reach at least the third class upgrade, be under 21 years of age, be a noble, pass the Ascania Military Academy's test with 4/5 stars, be recommended by at least 1 High commander, slay at least 1 monster of at least level 150, be-" As he droned on about the requirements, Charlotte interrupted him.

"And you expect me to complete all of that within 9 months?!"

Deadpanned, he stared her straight into her eyes and said, "Yes. I expect my replacement to do all of that and then some."

"Can... can I quit?" She stammered.

"Nope. I have already signed you up as my replacement. They will come for you whether or not you reach those requirements, and if you don't want to die, I suggest you work as hard as you can to achieve your revenge." He lied nonchalantly. 

"Aaaahhh..." She felt her soul leave her body.

The man chuckled. "Rest up, training starts tomorrow." 

...