When the first Blood Moon Season since Shien took office ended, word spread throughout Tear Knight City and beyond that more than forty thousand people had died.
The number shook everyone. The doubts Shien had faced since taking office vanished like smoke with the release of the casualty report.
The results astonished everyone, exceeding all expectations.
Outside Tear Knight, no one questioned the young governor's ability anymore. Instead, they sent envoys to find out how he had done it.
Within Tear Knight, everyone was heartened. Many of Shien's policies no longer needed repeated explanations; people carried them out without question.
When Shien first took office, only the Water Spirit Defense Zone and the Graymist Defense Zone had trusted him completely. The other zones tended to wait and see whenever they encountered an unfamiliar new rule.
The casualty report changed their minds. By the following spring, when the Governor's Mansion issued a notice adjusting the military system, the commanders of the major legions and defense zones no longer questioned it. Instead, they drew up new plans for putting it into practice according to local conditions.
Shien also stepped back from these tedious affairs. He left legion matters to Raymond and affairs concerning the Sacred Flame to Edwin. He ordered reconstruction to continue, pressed ahead with military industry and logistical support, and kept the systems that had proved their worth. Rather than managing every detail himself, he held the course as helmsman.
With that, reform accelerated. The major legions finished standardizing the organization of their lower ranks.
Each legion retained its designation and traditions, and still fought according to its own strengths. But at the company and squad
levels, the standards and rules in every area had been replaced with a single system.
Meanwhile, the Joint Mobile Legion became a permanent force,