Combat Style

After the luncheon banquet, Flora returned to the mansion with the Crown Prince, the assistant, and Mounten.

However, after the three went to the study for a chat, Flora excused herself to resume her duties.

Arriving at the west wing of the mansion, Flora saw the newcomers who had already started cleaning and washing there.

“Sister Flora!”

A girl quickly ran over, her rash, energetic style quite reminiscent of Flora’s own initial demeanor.

And the girl’s identity, honestly, Flora was incredibly surprised to see her name on the list of new maids.

“Oh no, I should call you Miss Haggia now.”

When she reached Flora, the girl realized she might have misspoken, lightly covering her mouth and correcting herself.

The girl was Assistant Morick’s sister, Gracie Morick.

After that day, Morick had privately brought his sister to Flora to express their gratitude.

Both were discreet and avoided discussing any details about that day’s treatment, but even so, Gracie couldn’t hide her adoration for Flora, continually calling her “Angel Sister”… After much effort, it was changed to “Sister Flora.”

As for Gracie working as a maid, one reason was that Flora’s suggestion had been adopted: half of these maids were relatives of the Crown Prince’s subordinates from commoner backgrounds.

The second reason was that Gracie felt that since her body was completely well, she couldn’t continue staying at home waiting for her brother to support her…

Unable to dissuade her, and considering that the interior of the mansion was now relatively safe, Morick, without avoiding suspicion, added his sister to the list.

Seeing Gracie’s subtle desire to repay her brother, Flora didn’t remove her from the list.

“There’s no need to be so stiff, but in front of guests and His Highness, you do need to be a little careful.”

Flora stroked Gracie’s head, “The purpose of etiquette itself is to show your respect and the degree of importance you attach to the other person; it is absolutely not something to be careless about.”

She deliberately raised her voice so that all the new maids working could hear this instruction.

Because of this, they all understood that this blonde girl was the head maid Heidi had mentioned not long ago, and they all came over to curtsy.

Flora had confirmed the teaching content and procedures with Heidi beforehand, so she didn’t repeat them.

After briefly explaining why some things were done a certain way and emphasizing the importance of following rules, Flora quickly left the west wing to avoid disturbing the newcomers’ work—most people feel uncomfortable when with their superiors.

At this point, not only should subordinates be sensible, but superiors should also be sensible enough to know when to stop, giving subordinates more freedom and space to avoid creating unnecessary mental pressure.

Afterward, Flora went to the kitchen to begin dinner preparations.

The kitchen also had two new apprentice recruits, also commoner relations, but they had experience running small shops, so they weren’t complete novices.

After briefly understanding the taboos and rules, they could already help out.

As for whether they would cause problems, Flora couldn’t guarantee it; she could only temporarily trouble the hidden guards to continue monitoring, but the long-term solution would ideally be to add a poison tester at each stage, like in the royal palace…

Overall, with the addition of this batch of newcomers, the various tasks in the mansion, if not thriving, could at least stabilize. There was no longer any need to worry about potential errors caused by overwork.

‘Excellent, now I’ll have more time to try and win over the Crown Prince.’

Having said that, Flora suddenly realized that today she had once again served as a useful tool and subject, deviating further from the lover route she wanted to take, which immediately brought a wave of frustration.

During dinner, considering the presence of Count Mounten as a distinguished guest, Flora and the old butler served together in the dining room for the first time in a while.

Assistant Morick also rarely attended, his purpose being to communicate with Count Mounten on behalf of the Crown Prince, who was not much of a talker…

Although the Crown Prince had unusually spoken quite a bit in the morning, in Flora’s view, that was likely a test.

The evidence was that during dinner, the Crown Prince had reverted to his usual stern and unsmiling self.

But what Flora didn’t know was that Morick had privately put in great effort to persuade the Crown Prince to curb his somewhat abnormally eager behavior…

After discerning the Crown Prince’s true character, Mounten also wisely switched to a mode of discussing only official matters, without excessive pleasantries, and the atmosphere in the dining room gradually became more comfortable.

‘Mr. Morick, you’ve worked hard.’

Flora thought sympathetically, seeing the assistant completely relax.

After dinner, the old butler escorted Count Mounten to the guest room, while the Crown Prince summoned Flora to his study.

“What do you think of our knight order’s performance?”

Ryan thought for a moment, then added, “Just tell me honestly.”

“Very good, above the average level of the Empire’s six great knight orders… but there’s still a bit of a gap compared to the Azure Sky Knight Order.”

“It’s a huge gap.” Ryan corrected, further indicating that he didn’t want flattery. “Do you have any good suggestions?”

“Does Your Highness wish to possess the combat strength of the Azure Sky Knight Order?”

“Exactly.”

Ryan admitted openly.

Those who understand you best are often your enemies.

Considering that the blonde girl was very likely from the Blue Lion, but constrained by the Blue Lion’s conservatism and stubbornness, unable to fully utilize her abilities… Ryan hoped the blonde girl could apply her talents to achieving his goals.

Then, as the blonde girl invested more and more effort here… sooner or later, she would be unable to bear leaving.

Of course, he merely needed the blonde girl as an exceptionally talented subordinate.

Nothing else.

“Your Highness’s forces currently most lack clearly implemented military discipline, and a complementary system of rewards and punishments.”

“Regarding this, I will have Morick and the members of the knight order discuss it with you later. Please prepare a draft first.”

The blonde girl’s proposal didn’t surprise Ryan much; she had been implementing it within the mansion before, and now it was merely being applied to military governance.

Ryan hadn’t been ignorant of the importance of military discipline before, but given his position, he couldn’t send people to learn from the Azure Sky Knight Order.

He could only rely on imagination and referencing other units, operating in his own way…

Unfortunately, the matches with the Blue Lion proved his methods were wrong, so reform was the only option.

However, merely changing discipline would clearly not be enough, but the blonde girl’s understanding of the Azure Sky Knight Order to this extent was already a great help; Ryan didn’t intend to demand more in other areas—

“Additionally, Your Highness’s troops seem to lack the concept of multi-branch coordinated operations, and the soldiers’ understanding of formations and tactics is also relatively superficial…”

“…”

Alright, Ryan admitted these were problems that would be exposed in team battles.

“Your Highness, what is the Black Dragon Knight Order’s combat style? What is its core philosophy?” the blonde girl thought for a moment and then asked.

“How can a combat style be fixed? It’s always situation-dependent.”

Ryan couldn’t help but smile, as this exposed the blonde girl’s theoretical knowledge and armchair general tendencies… but it was enough for military governance and training; Ryan didn’t expect her to go to the battlefield.

The blonde girl, however, shook her head.

“While adapting tactics and deployment based on the enemy is indeed a necessary quality for every general, from the perspective of an army, of a soldier, a clear core combat style is more conducive for soldiers to understand and execute.

And once a system is formed, it’s also easier for new recruits to integrate and adapt.”

“From a tactical perspective, a clear style can also serve to deter and deceive the enemy, and allow allied forces to cooperate better with us.”

“For example, the Blue Lion Knight Order: their generals, through leading by example and treating soldiers well, foster unity within the army, making them fight without regard for their own safety.

When dealing with weaker enemies and defending their homeland, soldiers can often unleash powerful willpower and combat strength…”

Ryan recalled how the Blue Lion had gained fame by repelling barbarian invasions and quelling domestic rebellions, yet repeatedly suffered heavy defeats or got lost when leaving their territory to attack the plains.

He instinctively asked,

“What about the Azure Sky Knight Order? What is their style and philosophy?”