Chapter 839: Vol V Chapter 199
“A rapid-mobility troop?”
“That’s right.”
“To attack from behind, does that make sense?”
“Of course it makes sense. When the rear of the army has suffered heavy losses, only winning at the front will become pointless.”
“Doesn’t it mean that the target of the troop is purely to kill the entire enemy population? This is very unprofessional!”
“No one’s saying that it’s professional, but the problem is that they are actually prepared to do it.”
Leonard frowned deeply while Easter tapped the tabletop lightly with his finger. The two leaders of the army and Secret Service of the Republic of Northwest fell into deep thought.
“Let me set the keynote first,” Sui Xiong said. Seeing how both of them were maintaining silence, Sui Xiong said, “We have to object to this kind of practice. I don’t care how they are going to fight this battle, but there is one bottom line that must be emphasized—such practice of setting a target of purely killing civilians must absolutely not be condoned!”
He paused for a moment, then repeated again with great emphasis, “Absolutely!”
“In that case, it will be easy dealing with this,” Easter said with a smile. “Let’s mobilize our troops too. Isn’t it just playing around with rapid mobility? If they can play the game, then we’re definitely game for it too.”
And he was really not just blathering. Something like rapid mobility required many skilled knights of the adventurer background. These people had to be familiar with the skills of paladins and also know something about the art of thievery. This effect could only be produced by combining these two aspects.
And now, if there was one place where the most skilled knights of an adventurer background could be found, it would undoubtedly be the Republic of Northwest.
The Republic of Northwest had been trying to attract talents for decades, most commonly retired adventurers. There were all kinds of talents among these adventurers, and many of them were involved in the education industry. As a result of their teaching efforts, presently, the Republic of Northwest had a large number of young people who were the equivalent to low-level adventurers.
As far as riding was concerned, it was not easy to excel in horseback riding. But it was not difficult if one merely wanted to ride a horse. If nothing else, in low-level magic, there was a spell called “Summoning a Phantom Colt” that would become “Summoning a Famed Phantom Colt” upon elevation. This would then allow the user to summon a fine horse with excellent physical strength, and that was also gentle and obedient. As for how this spell could be used, it would not be a bad idea to equip the entire army with enough props that could make use of the magic of this spell.
Although the cost was relatively high, it could effectively boost the mobility of the troops. Also, the colts summoned by magic did not need to feed on gra.s.s. When not in use, the summons for the colts could be cancelled, and the target could also be greatly reduced.
When Easter was a spy, he loved this spell. His apt.i.tude for using spells was pa.s.sable, but he did not have much time to practice. So though he understood many spells, he was unable to really master many of them. “Summoning a Famed Phantom Colt” was one of the most advanced spells he mastered.
Of course, that was a thing of the past. Now that he could basically cast any spell that he knew, he did not really have much use of spells anymore. For one thing, he was busy with his work, and for another, after his strength increased to a certain degree, he was powerful enough to understand and master all sorts of things. Unless he had to fight a master of his own rank, just his own physical qualities would be enough to solve problems. He did not even need to use his power, let alone magic.
“Summoning a Phantom Colt… the simplest way is to make a rechargeable wand. To ensure safety, it’s best for the wand to have a medium spell level. This way, it will be able to cross swamps and shoals. It will be more convenient for it to move about. To reach this level, the cost would probably be around 20,000 gold coins. To equip a hundred people, this is really going to be a sizable amount!” Leonard said. He had been concerned with logistical intelligence over the years, so he quickly figured out the cost.
“Using an alchemy factory could cut the cost in half,” Easter said. “If we carry out group transformation rituals, the cost could be further lowered by a little.”
“No matter how much lower, the cost would still be hundreds of thousands of gold coins!”
“It’s indeed a little high, but come to think of it, not everyone needs a wand,” Easter said. He pondered for a moment, then said, “One wand can cast 50 spells, leaving ten for each person. With the help from the spellcasters following the army, it would be an average of five people to a wand. That’s more than enough.”
Leonard heaved a sigh of relief. In this case, the cost would be lowered to an acceptable level. Although it would still be an astronomical amount if they were really going to purchase a large quant.i.ty of equipment, at least this “astronomical amount” was a price that would be worth paying.
As a G.o.d, Leonard did not care about money. But he did care a lot about whether the money was well-spent or not. Giving everyone in the entire rapid-mobility troop a “Summoning a Phantom Colt” wand was money not worth spending. But if one wand was allocated to every group of five, this money was certainly worth spending.
A wand that costing seven to eight thousand gold coins might seem expensive at first glance, but in truth, it could be used to summon 50 Phantom Colts. Based on his experience, he calculated that there would be a loss of one horse after three tough battles, so 50 Phantom Colts would at least be the equivalent of 15 to 16 fine horses. An ordinary fine horse, not the heavy kind, would probably be worth 150 to 200 gold coins, so the worth of such a wand would be worth around 200 to 300 gold coins.
In fact, summoning a Phantom Colt was far more reliable than a warhorse in dire moments. The Phantom Colt that had been summoned would not be frightened. With a half-virtual body, its ability to withstand damage was way higher than that of a normal warhorse. More importantly, even if it was “killed,” it would only be a matter of seconds to summon another Phantom Colt.
Many times, the presence or absence of horses was not an issue of being at an advantageous or disadvantageous position; it was a matter of life and death!
There was no need to mention the fact that there were numerous clergymen in the Republic of Northwest where every small team would have one clergyman. With the use of all the magic power they had before their daily prayers, they would be able to restore quite a number of times the wand could cast spells, and it could also greatly extend the service life of the magic wand.
All in all, this was going to be a ma.s.sive expenditure, but it was certainly worth it.
Other than this magic wand, the rapid-mobility troop also needed some other equipment.
The first was a lightweight armor. To pursue the convenience of movement, the troop should definitely not be wearing heavy full-body armor. In order to prevent being targeted, it was best for everyone to wear leather armor—of course, undoubtedly, the price was definitely not going to be cheap if everyone were to wear armor purely made of the skin of powerful magic beasts.
Then there were weapons. Light crossbows, bows and arrows were required. Enchantment crossbows and arrows, as well as enchantment bows and arrows were absolute necessities. Of course, all long and short weapons should be protected with enchantments. These would make them slightly better. It would be good enough if almost every mid-ranked adventurer could have some weapons that they conveniently have on hand, or at most allow them to have something to replenish or supplement anything they lacked.
Then finally, there were the consumables. Food and fodder should move ahead of the three armies of troops and horses. In pursuit of speed, the rapid-mobility troop certainly should not be bringing along all their supplies and gears on their wagons. They would need s.p.a.ce pockets to keep their provisions. Food, clean water, medicines and all sorts of spare spagyrical items… totaling up all these miscellaneous things would also incur quite a sizable amount of money.
“However, it’s all worth it,” Leonard said. His explanation was, “We are from the Republic of Northwest, so we should also have a rapid-mobility troop of our own.”
“Rapid mobility… won’t spellcasters do?” Sui Xiong wondered as he asked.
“Spellcasters who are more mage-like are more of scholars than warriors. We should only get them to fight as a last resort, when we are left with no other alternatives. Spellcasters who are more priest-like, on the other hand, do have more qualities of warriors. But they shouldn’t be heavily involved in fighting battles. Upon comparison, it will cost a lot of money to form rapid-mobility troops of paladins and thieves with clergymen as captains but in terms of manpower, it will be more cost-effective.”
Speaking up till this point, Leonard could not help laughing. He said, “Compared to money, people are still more important, isn’t that so?”
Sui Xiong also laughed and replied, “You’re right. Something like money should be spent, while the people are definitely more important than money!”
Therefore, the matter was settled.