Although the merchant faction of the Gold Coin Federation lacked decisiveness at critical moments, without that spirit of charging through fire and water with eyes wide and teeth clenched, so long as the situation was not too urgent and the pressure not too overwhelming, their thinking remained clear and sound.
The merchant faction's core problem was the lack of a reliable army loyal to them. The only way to solve it was to train a new army.
Thus, once they obtained the methods for training dependable professional troops from Keen Territory, they swiftly put them into practice and carefully guarded the secret.
Every military camp was located within secret bases entirely controlled by the old, established northern merchant guilds. No one was permitted to approach within at least thirty miles, and even supply convoys could only deliver their goods thirty miles away, where the base's own convoys would take over. To prevent aerial reconnaissance, more than twenty mid-ranking or even higher-ranking mages took shifts casting spells around the clock, maintaining an illusion spell large enough to blanket the entire base.
Generally speaking, aerial scouts were martial adventurers riding flying Magic Beasts, and they lacked the ability to see through illusions. But the world was vast, and all manner of strange things existed. Perhaps someone possessed a special bloodline that could pierce illusions—such as Donald James, heir to the James Family of Keen Territory. Or perhaps someone possessed a magical item capable of seeing through illusions. Or even... in order to obtain detailed and reliable intelligence, sometimes even battle mages might moonlight as scouts.
So these training bases had a second layer of concealment—a massive roof.
A roof supported by pillar after pillar, capable of sheltering from wind and rain while completely blocking scrutiny from the sky.
Naturally, these hastily erected