Chapter 841: Taking It All

At intervals along the road, Pabos waves the banner. The soldiers repeat their declaration, and the people answer.

The declaration thunders through the crowd. The soldiers from the other nations look conflicted.

Three percent shock, three percent concern.

And ninety-four percent envy!

What warband wouldn't envy a reception like this?

None of them had a send-off like this when they left their own countries for war.

The coalition marches south. Wherever it passes through Peace Haven, the locals give the troops a warm welcome and send them on their way.

They will not be stationed inside Peace Haven. They are headed for land that once belonged to Lumir and now belongs to Ogiro.

North of Ironwood Fort lies a place called Warmflow City.

The coalition will be stationed there, midway between Holy Lake City, Lumir's capital, and Diversion Bay, the capital of the Ogiro Kingdom.

The army camps outside the city. Peace Haven's engineering regiments have already begun building garrison fortresses here.

Eleven large fortresses will form the core of a vast fortress cluster, with more than thirty small and medium-sized fortresses supporting them.

The foundations are already underway. Eight engineering regiments from Peace Haven will complete the main structures within a year.

Several more engineering regiments are also building roads and bridges along a direct route between the two capitals.

Once the roads are finished, the Mobile Strike Group can reach either capital within a week at full marching speed.

That is fast enough. No front collapses the instant it starts to deteriorate. They will have time to respond to a crisis.

For now, the warbands need to train together until they can work smoothly as a strike group.

In truth, the Calamity War only begins in earnest this year.

Fighting has been so fierce on the Northern Mountain Front that many people mistakenly believe the Calamity War broke out long ago.

Outside Vorry's Northern Mountain Front, the calamity nests are only now experiencing their first tremors.

Most of the creatures slipping past the defensive lines are minions of the calamity creatures. The calamity creatures themselves have yet to launch a large-scale assault!

Until the warbands' fortresses are built, the Mobile Strike Group will use Warmflow City as its base.

Ogiro and Lumir have already brought in a substantial portion of the army's supplies. More are on the way.

That is only a temporary measure. Peace Haven's Southern District and the Expeditionary Zone will each establish a logistics base to produce supplies specifically for Warmflow City and ship them there.

Lumir's new industrial district will supply part of what the Mobile Strike Group needs as well.

Peace Haven will mainly provide higher-end military supplies, including weapons and equipment.

The Western Federation has lifted its restrictions on supplying Peace Haven with extraordinary materials. It is also using large quantities of those materials to buy equipment from Peace Haven.

Peace Haven's stores of extraordinary materials are overflowing. The Technical Research Institute is delighted: its researchers can finally stop rationing materials for their projects.

Even so, vast reserves of extraordinary resources remain unused, and Henwell has no intention of letting them go to waste.

He orders the mothballed extraordinary metal production lines restarted.

These metals use improved versions of formulas obtained from other countries. Ink Blue Steel, developed by copying Billie Greensteel, is one example.

Improvements to the processes have slashed the production costs of these conventional extraordinary metals.

Over the years, Catherine's intervention has led the Billie Kingdom to adopt Peace Haven's production model too. Its extraordinary metal processes have improved greatly, bringing costs under better control.

Yet Billie's products still cannot match the value offered by Peace Haven, whose growing industrial might is becoming clear.

Peace Haven's smelting and forging techniques have advanced far beyond what they were when it first copied other countries' extraordinary metals.

Take Ink Blue Steel again. It performs better than Billie's Greensteel, yet costs only one tenth as much.

They have found a substitute for an expensive ingredient. That alone has brought costs down sharply.

In fact, Blood Hill Steel and Orma Steel, Peace Haven's own metals, cost little less to produce than the Ink Blue Steel from the restarted lines.

Now that extraordinary resources no longer limit production, Ink Blue Steel's output even exceeds that of Peace Haven's own extraordinary alloys.

Peace Haven's two metals use ordinary materials for almost everything except some catalysts.

Their complex production processes keep costs high and limit output.

The restarted Ink Blue Steel lines are expected to produce fifteen tonnes next year, exceeding Peace Haven's own extraordinary alloy output.

That will be enough for nearly seven hundred sets of extraordinary equipment to supply the Mobile Strike Group.

The Western Federation will buy it all anyway. Peace Haven won't lose out.

Unlike stingy western Lumir, Henwell is very generous toward the Mobile Strike Group.

Each year, he will set aside more than ten sets of equipment made from Peace Haven's own extraordinary alloys for soldiers with outstanding combat achievements.

Peace Haven developed its extraordinary body-strengthening potion by copying and improving an existing potion. With extraordinary materials unrestricted, its production lines can reopen too.

Henwell will offer plenty of body-strengthening potions to reward soldiers who distinguish themselves in battle.

For those whose contributions are great enough, he has even prepared a complete Enhancement Potion treatment course.

It will give the soldiers a chance to become professionals.

With the Mobile Strike Group fighting on the fiercest battlefields, many of its soldiers should have a chance to become professionals.

All western Lumir wants is a little advantage: a well-equipped elite warband for free.

Henwell wants much more!

He wants the whole coalition for himself!

You're after my interest. I'm after your principal!

Two months pass. By then, the Mobile Strike Group's other soldiers have begun to resent the Ninth and Tenth Warbands.

No quarrel or clash has turned them against Peace Haven's two warbands.

Those two warbands simply train far too hard!

Every day is packed with training. They form up for a run at dawn, then throw in a night combat exercise every few days.

They are all soldiers, serving different powers. Naturally, there is rivalry, some of it open, some of it not.

With Peace Haven's army becoming the continent's benchmark, the others are all the more determined to prove themselves.

Now they have seen what that standard actually means, and they can barely stand it.

At first, they stubbornly tried to match Peace Haven's training pace. They couldn't keep it up for even half a month.

Worn out and at their wits' end, the other warbands can only turn to Senar.

He gives them a thorough dressing-down. But for the coalition's sake, he has to discuss easing Peace Haven's training pace with Morris.

The other warbands need time to catch up. Otherwise, the differences in strength across the strike group will be far too great.

As ever, unity comes first!