"I am here because you have a problem: The Magnolia Forest, and I happen to have a solution: the Ironcloud Knight Order", Drodosis just told them.
With the fall of Selene Dawins and the Water Troops, Drodosis had indeed become the only person capable of carrying out an expedition. Yet, his army barely had any knight powerhouses, how could he possibly earn a victory where the Water Troops, twice more numerous and twice stronger individually, had failed?
Well, Drodosis was not Selene Dawins. He might be inferior in term of pure fighting power, but it was undeniable that Drodosis had become a much more superior tactician, especially with him studying and training day and night for the past three months.
Using some favours and trading a few secrets, he had amassed enough resources to create golems, and not any kind of golems, an enchanted model of Mud Golem, which had been described in the library's golem manufacturing parchment!
Since he studied the parchment, he devoted most of his time to this craft, simulating exactly 12 833 creations of a single Mud Golem Model, and he had steadily increased his success rate from 3% to 26%, a huge achievement, considering that people usually had to spend years – or even decades for the least talented – to reach such a high success rate.
After all, how many magic crystals would you have to spend in order to practice golem manufacturing? A magical core cost around six magic crystals, since very few magical beasts possessed a magical core. Refining it would cost an additional 4 magic crystals! Fortunately, Drodosis could practice for free, thus saving himself quite a lot of trouble.
However, Drodosis was lacking resources. Being the commander of the Ironcloud Knight Order was time-consuming and exhausting. Though it was refreshing experience to him, he couldn't deny the fact that he lacked money! In this cold day of winter, he felt that the day had come for the men and women he trained harshly to step up.
Some acolytes were making fun of his order, because despite being more than a hundred, they never bothered to complete a mission, even when it came to subjugating bandits. Drodosis had prohibited all kind of missions, since he knew his subordinates didn't have the discipline required for his commanding style. Drodosis was someone who put more effort than anyone both in training and in battles.
He would spend hours with his biochip, simulating all kind of possibilities he could encounter, and develop a strategy according to his assets, and his enemies. He hated variables more than anything, to the point that it became an obsession sometimes. Was he still sane? No one could tell.
Some would describe him as a maniac. Drodosis preferred to be called a perfectionist.
Anyway, his army had finally earned his trust. And in difficult times, heroes could rise. While Drodosis had no plans of becoming a hero, he had his eyes set on the potential rewards and resources which would come with a victory. The first step to this plan was obviously to convince the elders of his potential.
"How would you do that? Didn't you say it yourself? The Magnolia Forest is a problem to us, and the Water Troop has been captured. We don't even know whether Selene survived! How can someone like you do something about it? Go home, kid", Elder Turtle said. He wasn't from the Thornfield family main branch, obviously resentful at Drodosis' overbearing entrance.
"Well, well, well…Isn't that elder Turtle talking? What did you do in the last war? Nothing, I heard. What will you do about the Magnolia forest? Nothing, I am sure. What do you know about elves?", Drodosis didn't hold back, asking questions on a provocative tone.
"How dare you…", elder Turtle said. The tension was rising.
Drodosis ignored him.
"This is a fact. You know nothing about elves, yet you are here, discussing matters about elves. I am truly wondering what you are doing here!"
Elder Turtle's presence was not appreciated, and Drodosis took advantage of this fact. There were quite a few scandals over the past months about him venting his anger on servants and butlers, and even on preparatory knights without any backings! Nobody like the man anymore, who was only a ghost of his heroic past.
"Anyway, the moral of the story is that I can deal with them. My army is trained, and disciplined. Elven strength come from their archery skills. However, my army's aim is better than them, I believe. I also happen to be able to pinpoint their location with this transplanted eye", he said while pointing a finger at his glowing green left eye.
"Having good archery skills won't suffice, I am sure you know that", Elder Gale said, "You of all people should know better."
"I have my own secrets. Besides, don't think of my subordinates as archers. The Water Troops lost, but I don't think it was because of their individual strength. I think it was because they were disorganized, and exhausted after several months of tedious search. My army will not fool around. I have my ways of finding an elven settlement. This is one advantage of actually knowing elves", Drodosis said, and sighed in relief when he saw Elder Gale nod.
"Drodosis, what would you do, if the enemy leader comes with a dagger pointing at Selene's throat?", his grandfather asked.
War wasn't as epic and simple as it looked like in movies. What could he do in this situation? Nothing.
"I would kill the enemy with everything I've got.", Drodosis answered instantly.
"It would cause Selene's death, are you sure?", his grandfather stared at him, the latter's eyes seemed to pierce through his soul.
"Maybe, but at least, I wouldn't cause my subordinates' death", Drodosis said without hesitating.
He was not a kid anymore, but a commander. He had responsibilities. Of course, he had yet to know that she had fallen already.
His grandfather nodded. He didn't expect this much decisiveness from his 14-years-old son, but he was reassured.
"Then go. I will authorize this expedition. How many acolytes do you want to join your expedition?", his grandfather asked.
"None.", Drodosis said firmly.
"Nonsense", her aunt lily cursed.
"Would Elder Turtle follow my orders unconditionally?"
"I wouldn't follow a child's orders", the elder said.
"That's why I don't want you in my army, and neither do I want any acolytes other than I have in my Ironcloud Knight Order. Do you know why I am so confident?", Drodosis asked a rhetorical question, "It's simple, really. I have a plan. I probably know more about elves than elves themselves. Their anatomy, their habits, their weaknesses...their strategies are akin to an open book in my eyes."
"I can confirm that", Elder Gale said. He had discussed with Drodosis many times in the past months, and debated on various subjects, the exchanges being very beneficial to the both of them.
Elder Gale possessed knowledge that came from experience, which Drodosis lacked and couldn't find in books. On the other hand, elder Gale didn't have the same memory as Drodosis, so they often taught things to each other.
"Six freaking beginner acolytes and an army of preparatory knights. Elder Water Dragon, please come to your senses, you are sending a kid to his grave!", elder Windcaller said, obviously with good intentions.
Elder Water Dragon was still recovering from his injury. Others might ignore it, but the man himself knew he would lose to any strong advanced acolyte with this injury. He couldn't even transform in a Water Dragon anymore! According to the doctors, he would have to wait four additional months before recovering. Four months!
"I don't have many requests. I just want several items. Here is a list. As long as I get everything listed down, I can assure you I will return with victory."
Elder Silver picked it, read everything carefully, and nodded.
"Look at that, Blue Beard. You want 5 Internal Energy Elixirs, 36 beginner-level Mud Horror cores, 100 magic crystals and 50 vials of Wyvern poison. Mm, I can understand that much, but what would you do with the beast cores?"
"Mm, I happen to have learnt golem manufacturing back in the Ivory Tower, but lacked the resources to really practice it.", Drodosis lied flawlessly.
As he said that, the elders seemed to be relieved a little. Golems were fearsome. The fact they were so expansive and so rare wasn't a coincidence. If he said he learnt golem manufacturing and reached a 26% success rate in 3 months, people would not even consider him as a human, but as a monster! Instead, if he said he spent 5 years to reach this realm, then it would be more credible, even though it would still be praiseworthy.
"What do you want, if you win this battle?", Elder Water Dragon asked.
"10 more internal energy elixirs, long bows and arrows made of Magnolia trees, and Watercloud gems. Fair enough, right?", Drodosis said.
It was indeed a fair price indeed.
As people were considering the offer, his uncle Hugo cast a terrifying Water Snake arrow spell towards him. In a flash, Drodosis' reflexes allowed him to draw his scimitar and halve the 'snake' which had condensed out of nowhere, in a whirlwind strike.
His mastery over his martial techniques had improved tremendously, allowing him to cut through the elemental water as if it was butter despite the fact that the snake was actually composed of a huge amount of water elemental particles, making it more durable. It had 65 HP! Yet Drodosis cut it down in one strike.
Seconds later, Drodosis was quite shocked, but uncle Hugo started to laugh: "The kid managed to take my advanced spell in one strike. That's proof, ey! Anyway, I believe he can lead his knight order alright!"
The other elders were so shocked they didn't issue any opposition to this decision.
"Come with me, Drodosis", Elder Blue Beard said, "you're a greedy mongrel! Do you realize that each one of these elixirs has taken me tremendous effort to make?"
Drodosis knew the value of these elixirs. Each one of them cost 150 magic crystals, if converted in the market price. It cost a veteran alchemist like Blue Beard 100 magic crystals to refine, and if it weren't for the rarity of the ingredients, Blue Beard would have been able to refine them for a much cheaper price. The thing is, Blue Beard's elixirs were extremely valuable because their was no steady supply of such potions! Only an alchemist like him could produce them in bulks!
Of course, Blue Beard had no intention of ever selling his potions. These elixirs were meant to be consumed to strengthen the household. It was his greatest creation, and he wouldn't stain his honour by selling it to some brigands!
A few hours later, Drodosis distributed the 5 stocked internal energy elixirs to his five most trusted preparatory knights, respectively Sandy Gawn, Serius Heartfill, Siegfried Hill, Evangeline Noriane and Fang Thornfield. Indeed, Fang Thornfield, despite having come to an end in his acolyte path, discovered a tremendous affinity with the knight path for some reasons. Combined with the clan's resources, Drodosis' guidance and high-quality knight breathing techniques, his internal energy was much higher than the average.
For the next 24 hours, he stayed in his room in seclusion. Well, it could barely be called a room anymore. It was much closer to a laboratory. There were modelized versions of golems accroached to the walls, his only furniture was a bed, and the rest of the room was filled with a few tables, and many mechanical engines he self-created in order to increase his success rate while crafting a golem.
There were huge mechanical arms which could apply a pression of up to 5000 kilograms, a wheel which could grind magical crystals to dust, which saved him a lot of time to turn magical beast cores into golem cores, not to mention that it also improved its quality. As for the biggest and most impressive item in the room, it was a huge microscope which could help him see even better, allowing him to increase his accuracy when engraving runic formation on the golem core.
Explosions, and shouts of frustrations could be heard. Many times, butlers were scared lifeless just by standing several dozen meters away from the room! Eventually, Drodosis came out. In his pouch hanging on his waist, there were 10 golem cores, all of them possessed strange runes emitting strange rays of green colour. They were of exceptionnal quality, considering that they were made out of beginner-level mud horror, a magical beast which came from muddy swamps.
Drodosis found out that if he made a golem out of these beast's core, and engraved it with a special rune formation, it would possess an incredible connection with soil, allowing it to regenerate HP at a crazy rate and opening a myriad of possibilities for his tactics.
When Drodosis went out of the Water Fortress, an army of 116 individuals, all aligned in front of the gates, could be seen. Drodosis shouted:
"People, this is it! We have got our first expedition! The task is simple: you follow my orders unconditionally. If I tell you to jump, you jump! Anyone failing to obey an order will be treated as a betrayer and believe me, you'd better be an enemy. And you know what we do to enemies!"
"WE BLOODY CRUSH THEIR BONES."
85 preparatory knights, 5 acolytes (excluding Fang), 20 novice knights, 6 veteran knights. Drodosis' army wasn't exceptional. But it had unparalleled potential. Each member of the Ironcloud Knight Order had an exceptional build, which came from training programs personally adapted to their conditions, balanced nutrition and hard work.
All of them had a willpower unmatched and rarely seen, even in the strongest armies. The cohesion couldn't be better. Each one of them, after living 3 months together, going through hardships together, and suffering hell together, was family.
While not everyone was equally talented, they all managed to reach at least beginner mastery of both long bows and spear, a praiseworthy achievement for knights, and an incredible feat for preparatory knights like them! As for those who were talented, for example Siegfried who could shoot from 800 meters away and still hit his target, or Serius who could fire two arrows at a time…even Drodosis was proud!
"IT'S TIME TO BLOODY STEP UP!", Drodosis shouted. The sun was barely rising, yet the Ironcloud Knight Order had already left the Water Fortress.
The Magnolia forest was 120 miles away from the Water Fortress.
Four days later, Drodosis and his army was only a mile left from entering the Magnolia Forest's range. Yet, from afar, not a single knight could be seen or perceived. How could it be? A few minutes ago, they were over a hundred. Nevertheless, not a single soul could be seen in the area. It was as if...they had vanished into thin air.