In the magic school of the imperial capital, Ben Kaul and Landen spoke alone in a lounge. When the Legendary Mage learned of Landen's concerns, he smiled knowingly.
"This is a number I calculated with great care. Don't be so ungrateful."
Ben took out a scroll. On it was the military assessment the Imperial Capital Knights had made based on information provided by Yavenni.
According to their estimate, with Landen's current strength, if he wanted to keep the Orc tribes west of Iowa Pass, he would need to borrow at least ten Legends from Red Dragon Rock or the imperial capital.
If he gave up Iowa Pass and fell back to the Iron Mine–West 7 Post line, then with the reinforcement of the Magic Turbulence, Landen would only need to borrow four Legends.
Looking at the numbers on the scroll, Ben said with a smile, "Right now, you're Jade Moon's Retainer and also in charge of building the new Magic Furnace. Whether it's Red Dragon Rock or the imperial capital, neither could possibly demand that you hand over control of Night-Kirin City. But if you're asking people for help, you'll at least have to open up some residential districts and let the Legends insert their own families in, won't you?"
"Who do you think will listen to you more—the members of families like Blue Dragon, Lanyuan, White-Owl, and Cornwell, or these commoners from the imperial capital?
Even if everything goes smoothly for you and you successfully rely on your own strength to hold the Beastmen at the border, your Night-Kirin City doesn't even have a population of one hundred thousand yet, does it? Do you want more population or not? Are you planning to go to those nobles in Dragon Tooth City, or to Fiat Gallop?"
Ever since Ben Kaul