Trullinczentyr.
The square beneath the Twin Towers had been temporarily converted into several reception and assessment areas.
In the scholarly assessment area, Wolner von Hochberg presided personally, examining knowledge and character.
In the industrial and technical skills area, the new Minister of Industry was in charge, testing for genuine talent and practical knowledge.
And the most eye-catching section was, without a doubt, the martial assessment area in the center of the square, which was Taylor's responsibility.
At this moment, a tall but seemingly slender young woman stood quietly in the center of the field.
She had long, golden-yellow hair, with a few strands falling across her forehead, partially obscuring her vision.
She wore a set of worn but fadedly clean combat attire, with weapons wrapped in cloth strips on her back.
Her face was expressionless. In her golden pupils, there was neither the nervousness of facing an assessment nor the joy of defeating an opponent.
At her feet lay more than thirty burly men in disarray.
They were all mercenaries, knights, or gladiators who had answered the recruitment edict, each one powerful and battle-hardened.
However, in the battle of attrition that had just concluded, they hadn't even managed to make this young woman, named 'Jian,' take half a step back.
Taylor stood on a high platform, his brow furrowed.
He had never seen a warrior like this.
Her fighting style could not be called an 'art'; it was more like a pure killing instinct that existed solely for efficiency.
There were no superfluous movements, no flashy techniques. Every sword strike, every mace blow, was aimed at the opponent's most vulnerable joints and vitals.
Her opponents were either disarmed in an instant or temporarily paralyzed by a blow to a nerve. No one was seriously injured, but everyone was defeated cleanly and decisively, without a shadow of a doubt.
"Next."
Jian called out, her face impassive.
Below the platform, the officer in charge of registration wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Taylor in a low voice, "Minister, all the applicants... have been beaten by her."
A corner of Taylor's mouth twitched.
He leaped down from the platform, his heavy military boots landing on the stone slabs with a dull 'thud.'
He walked toward Jian step by step, his burly frame exuding an immense sense of pressure.
"Your name is Jian?" Taylor asked with what he thought was an amiable expression.
The young woman nodded, and her golden pupils finally showed a flicker of change.
She sized up the man before her, as if assessing his threat level.
"You're strong," Taylor said bluntly.
"But your moves contain only killing intent, no form. Who was your master?"
"No master," Jian's reply was equally concise.
"In the slums, if you want to live, you have to know how to fight."
Taylor fell silent.
He changed the subject: "Why did you come here?"
"I heard you can get a full meal here." Jian raised her head, looking Taylor directly in the eyes for the first time.
Just then, a gentle voice came from behind the crowd.
"You heard correctly."
The crowd automatically parted to form a path, and Lacey, accompanied by Serafina and several guards, walked in slowly.
He wasn't wearing his emperor's formal attire today, just a simple dark blue uniform, with his usual smile on his face.
Everyone bowed and hailed, "Your Majesty."
Only Jian stood quietly, looking at this legendary new emperor.
Lacey walked up to Jian. His gaze didn't linger on her astonishing combat record, but fell upon her hands, which were wrapped around her weapons.
Those hands were covered in thick calluses and small scars. Her knuckles were somewhat enlarged from long-term exertion, a stark contrast to her youthful age.
"Your hands are much like those of a blacksmith I once knew," Lacey said, his tone as casual as if he were chatting with a friend.
"He always said that every callus on a hand is the mark of a forging."
Jian was taken aback for a moment. She subconsciously wanted to hide her hands behind her back, but she stopped herself.
"What do you want?" Lacey asked.
The question caught Jian off guard.
She had come here only because the recruitment edict said that as long as one had talent, one would receive respect and reward.
She had thought about a steady salary, a place to shelter from the wind and rain, or perhaps, hot bread to eat every day.
But when Lacey asked her like this, what appeared in her mind were the dark alleyways of the slums, and the orphans who, like her, struggled to survive in the mud.
She was silent for a long time before saying in a very low voice, "I... I want to protect some people."
"Protect who?"
"People like me."
Lacey smiled.
He turned his head to look at Taylor.
"Taylor, my personal guard is still missing a captain."
Taylor was startled at first, then he understood Lacey's meaning.
The emperor's personal guard required not only absolute loyalty but also extraordinary martial prowess.
The young woman before them was undoubtedly an excellent candidate.
Moreover, placing someone from the lowest rungs of society by his side held a political significance that far outweighed any other consideration.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Taylor replied in a deep voice.
The surrounding crowd erupted in low gasps of astonishment.
A girl from the slums with an unknown background, ascending to the heavens in a single step to become the captain of the emperor's personal guard?
This was something utterly unimaginable in the old era.
Jian herself was completely stunned.
She looked at Lacey, revealing an emotion called 'bewilderment' for the first time.
She didn't understand why this high and mighty emperor would so easily entrust a position crucial to his own life to a complete stranger like her.
"Your weapons, may I see them?" Lacey didn't explain, but instead pointed to the cloth bundle on her back.
Jian hesitated for a moment but still untied the bundle, revealing the weapons inside.
A black longsword and a pair of twin maces, both deadly weapons focused on practical combat.
Lacey reached out and gently brushed his fingers across the blade of the sword.
"A fine sword," he said.
"But it has no sheath."
Jian remained silent.
"A sword without a sheath will either harm others or harm itself." Lacey withdrew his hand and looked into her eyes.
"From this day on, I will be your sheath."
"Your strength will be used to defend this nation and to protect our common ideal."
"Are you willing?"
Sunlight pierced through the clouds, spilling onto the square and onto the young woman's face.
She looked into Lacey's eyes, and in them was an understanding that could embrace everything.
For so long, she had been like a lone beast, protecting herself with sharp fangs and claws, wary of the entire world.
But at this moment, it was as if someone had opened up a clearing before her, a forest where she could rest in peace.
She knelt on one knee and, for the first time in her life, offered her loyalty to another.
"I am willing, Your Majesty."
Her voice was resolute.
...
...
The Twin Towers.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, listen to me!"
Meklen Neum nearly threw himself across Lacey's desk. He held a thick report in his hand, his face a complex mixture of ecstasy and agony.
"We've struck gold! A real treasure!"
Lacey had just returned from the square and was holding a cup of black tea prepared by Serafina. He raised an eyebrow at Meklen's words.
"That Drummond fellow from Victoria, you know him?"
"The theories he brought with him are simply... like alchemy!"
"According to the preliminary test results from our materials research institute, the new alloy created using his formula is three times stronger than standard steel, but only half the weight!"
Meklen waved his arms excitedly. "Do you know what this means? Lighter, stronger armor! More durable machine parts! This is technology that can change the world!"
"That's good news," Lacey said, sipping his tea.
"Of course it's good news! But there's a problem!" Meklen's face fell instantly.
"He's asking for too much funding!"
"He wants to build an independent laboratory, purchase a batch of precision machinery from Columbia, and he needs a hundred assistants!"
"I did the math. The start-up capital alone is enough to equip an entire standard infantry regiment!"
"Then give it to him," Lacey replied nonchalantly.
"Give... give it to him?" Meklen's eyes bulged like saucers.
"Your Majesty, we're rebuilding from scratch! Every single gold coin in the treasury has to be split in two!"
"This... isn't this a bit too..."
"Meklen."
Lacey put down his teacup and looked at him. "How many old-era infantry regiments do you think one legion equipped with this new material armor could defeat?"
Meklen was stunned, his mind racing through the calculations.
"Let me put it another way," Lacey continued.
"When our factories can produce more durable goods at a lower cost than others, how much market share can we seize from nations like Victoria?"
Meklen's breathing quickened as his mind began to fill with images of countless fluttering orders and gold coins.
"I understand, Your Majesty," he said, slapping his thigh.
"I'll approve the budget right away! If it's not enough, I'll throw in my own treasury!"
"Knowledge is wealth, I get it! I totally get it!"
Watching Meklen rush out of the office in a whirlwind, Serafina couldn't help but laugh.
"Minister Meklen always seems so energetic."
"Because he sees the future,"
Lacey leaned back in his chair, gazing out the window at the bustling activity in Trullinczentyr, "a future where he can make a fortune."
The elites of the old era were still lamenting their lost privileges; the builders of the new era had already begun to lay the first pile for the empire's foundation.
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