Chapter 1522 (1/2)

After seeming to get the measure of Randidly through their brief confrontation, the Commandant’s attitude eased immensely. He then moved directly to the other purposes for his visit. First, he asked whether Randidly would require additional Aether to fuel his Engravings to assist in the training of the recruits. Clearly, he was now willing to provide more legitimate assistance than just his reputation. Although there wasn’t much spare, as Head Drill Sergeant, he was entitled to some amount of energy allotment.

Without thinking, Randidly denied him; there was no point in polluting his area with sub-standard System Aether. Then the Commandant chuckled darkly. “Heh, so the crime that caused you to be conscripted is accurate. You are a Heretic. There are no problems with your status, just know that I will thoroughly annihilate you if it ever comes to light you stole Aether from your recruits. Because those recruits are also my recruits.”

From the way Commandant Wick glanced at him while he said that, the threat at the end was just lip service. Randidly couldn’t even sense the slightest stirrings of the aggressive Commandant’s emotions as he said it. This meant that what was more important was whether such an act was discovered than whether it occurred. That austere suppression apparatus that controlled Wick’s madness apparently didn’t rid him of his cruelty.

Results will matter first, Randidly thought with a chill.

The second reason for the Commandant’s visit was more practical; Commandant Wick wanted to ask whether Randidly could arrange the elite soldiers be arranged in ten-person Squads prior to their deployment. After examining the sporadic reports from the Fifth Cohort, Military High Command had some idea of the Nether numbers. Essentially, things weren’t looking good for the recovery efforts.

Twenty capable squads was the least Military High Command thought it needed to stabilize the situation.

The goal would be to have each ten-person squad capable of surviving the assault of three Nether Gatekeepers for a significant portion of time and of killing a lone Nether Gatekeeper, given the chance. Randidly could, of course, guarantee that he could create five such squads without thinking; the top five recruits might be able to manage that themselves, at the end of their training. But to have all twenty of the squads reach that level…

The Commandant stared at Randidly with mild eyes while he considered that task. Somehow, the Commandant when he was acting mundane was just as unnerving as when he displayed his erratic madness. Eventually, Randidly forced himself to nod. “It should be possible. But I have to ask… Which task is more important? Killing one, or surviving three?”

“Surviving against three Nether Gatekeepers.” The Commandant rumbled.

Which meant that he would need to have a talk with Helen and begin pushing the training in that direction. But it also meant that the situation in the Fifth Cohort was even worse than Randidly had heard from Lady Iellaya.

The last topic that Commandant Wick brought up was the one that took Randidly by surprise and was also the most distasteful to him. In effect, Commandant Wick told Randidly in no uncertain terms that if the situation in the Fifth Cohort dragged on for longer than planned, he would represent Commandant Wick at various political functions. This would be considered ‘payment’ for the favor of getting Randidly the job.

Although from what I hear, that wasn’t exactly what happened, Randidly’s face twitched.

Despite his general skepticism toward Wick’s claims of being owed a debt, he didn’t try and refuse the pronouncement. From Commandant Wick’s perspective, Randidly was likely an ambitious young man with loose associations with Lady Iellaya due to coming up to his Commandship underneath her. Now he was in the Nexus, looking for means to advance.

Letting Randidly serve as a political stand in would serve Wick two purposes. The first would be to bind Randidly more tightly to him in the public perception. Even if Randidly wanted to join some other faction in the future, other individuals would be suspicious of him for bearing Commandant Wick’s touch so strongly.

In addition, it would, in theory at least, give Randidly a taste of what living under the umbrella of military high command would mean. With all the honor and benefits that came with it. Meanwhile, there was no reason for Commandant Wick to suspect that Randidly was part of a secret cabal to overthrow the Nexus and the young man’s acceptance hinged more on access to the upper levels of the Nexus.

Edraine would likely be very unamused if Randidly didn’t make use of such an opportunity.

The only downside… was the fact that Randidly would need to attend fancy Nexus dinner parties. Or whatever the equivalent was here. Which left Randidly feeling helpless and frustrated.

But after that, Commandant Wick left for other business. Almost immediately, Randidly couldn’t help but such in a deep breath; the air tasted so clean and pure, it was like he was drinking from a melt-water stream coming down from the mountains. Randidly was shocked by how much he relished the lack of pressure after the bearman left. While idly wondering whether he would be able to reproduce such an oppressive aura with an Engraving to increase his training difficulty, Randidly acknowledged that most of his eagerness to fight someone had been squeezed out of him by that interaction.

Being near Commandant Wick was a reminder that the difference was still too vast. He would need to improve before he could stand up against the truly powerful.

So Randidly began making preparations to head into an extended training session. Even if he stalled out in his investigations of the Grim Chimera and the principles of Nether, he could still push his raw Skill Levels upward. Each additional Level was a slight increase in effectiveness. Eventually, those slight increases would lead to a qualitative change.