In a classroom at the Gleiman Military Academy, Bryce Alder slammed his pointer down on the edge of a sand table, the metallic clanging making all the "students" look up.
Bryce revealed a sharp smile beneath his thick beard.
Looking back, I was just a wild knight from the countryside. Who would have thought that one day I would be teaching military lessons to the "big shots" from the capital?
Klein, Lester, Olfina... these are all veterans who have followed Princess Catherine in battle for many years. I used to only look up to them, but now I call him " Teacher Bryce " from ear to ear.
What a sense of accomplishment!
"Gentlemen, you are probably already very familiar with the various rules and regulations of the Alda army."
"But that's only one aspect of what makes this army what it is!"
"And today, I will reveal the mathematical secrets behind Alda's army's ability to defeat those traditional armies." His pointer pointed to the large blackboard behind him, on which were written Glaeman's combat dynamic equations.
"Look at this formula!" Bryce's finger traced each symbol in turn. "This is the total combat effectiveness of the troops, this is the individual soldier effectiveness, this is the number of soldiers, and this is the battlefield width coefficient." He turned and drew two battle lines on the blackboard. "Traditional dense formations have a very low battlefield width coefficient because only the front-line soldiers can engage the enemy."
He sketched a simplified diagram of a traditional soldiers' square formation on the blackboard, illustrating the predicament of back-row soldiers being unable to engage in combat within a dense formation. Bryce suddenly pulled his pointer horizontally: "But when we widen the formation—" he quickly drew a pair of sparse horizontal lines, "the battlefield width factor skyrockets! Now every firearm can fire simultaneously!"
He quickly did the calculations on the blackboard:
"Traditional square formation: N = 1000, β = 1, W = 0.3, resulting in P = 300. Alda's army's line formation: N = 1000, due to training advantage, β = 1.2, W = 0.9, resulting in P = 1080."
"A three-fold difference in combat power!" Schroeder circled the result in red chalk. "So, in the battle against the orcs, as you witnessed firsthand, we abandoned the traditional phalanx and instead widened our battle lines." His pointer traced the terrain on the sand table. "The orcs' dense charges fell completely into this mathematical trap—their beta value actually decreased due to overcrowding, while our W value reached an astonishing 1.1!"
Klein suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "So those seemingly thin and fragile horizontal lines... are actually an elaborately designed killing formula?"
"Exactly!" Schroeder lifted the cover of the sand table in front of him, revealing a precisely mapped battlefield model. "Before each battle, the staff calculates the optimal W value. Sometimes we even deliberately retreat—" He pointed to a depression in the ground, "just to lure the enemy into terrain where our lines can be fully deployed."
The sound of volleys from the firearms training outside the window created a cruel harmony with the still-wet ink on the blackboard. The former Royal Army generals stared silently at the formulas on the blackboard, suddenly realizing that their years of combat experience were being redefined by these cold numbers.
What's even more frightening is that this theory is turning every ordinary soldier in Alda into a precisely calculated variable in the equations of war.
...
After a day of classes, Olfina had dinner with her classmates as usual. When she returned to her accommodation, she slammed the bedroom door shut, the sound of the latch clicking loudly in the empty room.
She stood by the window, admiring the night view of Lakeheart Town, her fingertips lightly tapping on the window frame.
Suddenly it occurred to her that at this time of day, Catherine would usually be knocking on her door with newly acquired snacks.
But this past week, she's been busy learning new military theories, while Catherine has accompanied her husband Paul to some academic conference. The two haven't seen each other for quite some time—given the closeness of Catherine and Olfina, a week is considered a long time.
Her fingertips unconsciously traced the silk scarf that Catherine had left behind during her last visit.
"I didn't take the initiative to contact her, is she angry with me? Or is it..."
"You've only been married for six months, and you've already forgotten about your old friends?"
Olfina muttered to herself as she threw her coat heavily onto the back of the chair.
"Hmph, what a womanizer who neglects his friends..."
She complained to the empty room, but her tone was tinged with longing.
" Olfina, I need your help."
" Your Highness Catherine?" She turned around abruptly, her military boots scraping against the floor.
But the room was empty, with only the curtains swaying gently in the evening breeze.
"There's no mistake, that was definitely the princess's voice just now!"
She searched the room thoroughly, looking under the table, in the cabinets, and everywhere else, but found nothing. Then she opened the door and searched the living room carefully.
"Am I hallucinating?" Olfina began to doubt herself.
"I need your help!" the voice suddenly rang out again.
This time, Olfina pinpointed the source of the sound with absolute certainty—it was generated out of thin air in her own mind.
For a moment, she thought there was something wrong with her mental state, and she couldn't help but feel a little flustered.
But having been on the battlefield, she quickly forced herself to calm down.
"Calm down... calm down..."
Olfina sat quietly on the bed meditating, her mind gradually calming down with her breathing.
Strangely enough, once she calmed down, the voice in her mind became even clearer.
"We're stuck in a strange place and need you to come and get us."
Now Olfina had to face reality. She tried to ask the other person in her mind—though it was strange—"Your Highness, Catherine, is that you speaking to me?"
"Yes, Olfina, you heard me?"
Catherine's voice was clearly very excited, like a drowning person grasping at a straw.
"I heard you! It really is you!"
Olfina responded incredulously, "What happened? How can you transmit your voice into my mind? It's not... magic, is it?"
"The process is a bit complicated, I'll just talk about the important parts."
"Paul, me, Eileen, and La Di were assassinated..."
"Are you all alright?" Olfina exclaimed in surprise.
"It's alright! But we were transported to a strange world and are stuck here."
Olfina hurriedly asked, "What place is that?"
"I can't explain it either," Catherine said with a hint of helplessness.
"Tell me, what do I need to do to bring you back?" Olfina remembered the key point in the other person's words, so she went straight to the point.
"You need to come here somehow and then take us out."
"no problem!"
"Uh…" Catherine's tone suddenly became a little hesitant, "I need to explain the situation here to you beforehand…"