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As soon as Mia heard that Lucifer had gone to Morthveil to kill Rotveil, she immediately pulled him into her arms again and asked anxiously,
"Luci, are you hurt? Did you get injured anywhere?"
Mia didn't care how Lucifer had managed to reach Morthveil in a single night, or how he had returned so quickly after destroying an entire city. She didn't doubt a single word he said.
For her, nothing else mattered—only Lucifer's safety.
No matter how powerful Lucifer appeared in others' eyes, no matter how terrifying his behavior seemed to everyone else, for Mia, Lucifer was her entire world. He was her beloved son, the one Derek, Christopher, and Marina had tried countless times to separate from her. They had even gone as far as attempting to kill him—and had nearly succeeded once.
Lucifer had endured unimaginable suffering just to earn Mia's love. For years, he had lived by consuming poison almost every single day. Whenever Christopher gave him food, he would always claim that Mia had prepared it. In reality, the food was laced with poison. Christopher exploited Lucifer's weakness and kept feeding him the toxin.
At that time, Mia had been so deeply under the influence of Neredima drug that she barely remembered she even had a son.
It wasn't entirely Mia's fault, but still… for 16 long years, Lucifer had struggled terribly because of her. The guilt inside her only grew heavier when Marina revealed Christopher's dark secret to her, and later when Westeria told Mia and the others the full story of Lucifer's tragic childhood. Since then, Mia could hardly forgive herself.
The effects of the Neredima drug on Mia and Amelia had been so severe that even now, Mia remembered nothing from the time of Lucifer's birth until his 18th birthday. It was all a blank white void in her memory. The only thing she knew was that she had a son named Lucifer. She didn't even clearly remember what he looked like until the day he fell unconscious because of Jacob.
That was exactly why Mia was now terrified of losing him again. She couldn't bear the thought of anything happening that might take Lucifer away from her forever. She never wanted to lose him again. Even a single tear from Lucifer's eyes caused her immense pain. She didn't want him to ever get hurt or face any trouble.
That's why she didn't care about the questions of when, where, how, or why. For her, only Lucifer's safety mattered.
Hearing the deep concern in Mia's voice, Lucifer smiled softly and said,
"I'm fine, Mommy. As long as you're with me, nothing can hurt me."
After saying this, Lucifer gently pulled away from Mia's embrace and turned back to Vance.
"Alright, Vance… Right now, send 100,000 soldiers to the border between Keilname and the Weilhiem Duchy. Station another 150,000 soldiers at the border between Hektor State and the Livingstone Duchy, along with 50,000 more at the border between Hektor State and Florence County.
We still have around 150,000 soldiers left. Deploy 20,000 of them between Morgen State and the Livingstone Duchy, and 50,000 between Morgen and the Weilhiem Duchy. Station the remaining 80,000 soldiers between Morgen and Rotsguard County.
Once that's done, gather all the soldiers who served under the former ruling party in Morgen State and send them to Getildamare Town. Along with them, send the apprentice knights you've been training. I will personally train them for a full month. I've seen some improvement from your training, but not as much as I had hoped. From now on, I'll take full responsibility for their training."
Then Lucifer turned his gaze toward Aria and asked,
"Lady Aria, can you tell me how many soldiers your state currently has?"
Aria replied promptly, "Of course, Sir Lucifer. HolyCross has approximately 4,300,000 soldiers in total. Among them are 1,600,000 Paladins, 2,000,000 Valkyrie Knights, 10,000 Holy Mothers, and 690,000 Keria's Priests."
Lucifer's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Wow… Lady Aria, if it's not too much trouble, I would like you to send around 1,000,000 soldiers to the southern and south-western borders of Westirifer.
If you trust my advice, station 800,000 soldiers at the border of Ironford County, 300,000 at the border of Bexihound Barony, and around 200,000 at the borders of Redbarn County. Keep 1,500,000 of the remaining 2,000,000 soldiers in reserve for any unexpected situations, and send the other 500,000 to Getildamare Town as well."
"I observed your soldiers carefully when I came to the Ducal Courtroom today. They certainly look powerful, but they are quite weak. I don't believe in these SS+ or SSS+ rankings, nor do I have any faith in the adventure guilds' or human guilds' ranking systems."
"I assign ranks to my soldiers based on my own judgment. If you look at them through my eyes, not a single one of your soldiers would cross the higher end of S+ rank. Whether they are your powerful Valkyrie Knights or the Holy Mothers… even your Paladins would all fall within the S- rank at best."
Hearing Lucifer's blunt analysis of HolyCross's soldiers, Aria said, "Sir Lucifer… why don't you trust the guilds' ranking system? And my soldiers are not as weak as you're suggesting."
Lucifer replied calmly, "Lady Aria, guilds always exaggerate their rankings. That's why I don't trust them. As for your soldiers… I will only acknowledge their true strength once they pass my two tests. It doesn't matter to me whether they are mages or hunters. Only after they clear both my tests will I approve their power level."
Aria nodded determinedly. "Sir Lucifer, my soldiers will do their absolute best to meet your expectations."
Lucifer continued, "Good. Then let me explain my two tests right now.
The first test is simple: they must break a basic mana barrier I will create.
The second test is to see how long they can last against me in combat. If your soldiers cannot break my mana barrier within 1 hour, they fail the first test.
In the second test, if any soldier can withstand me for a full 10 minutes, I will rank them SS. If they last less than 10 minutes, they get S+. Less than 8 minutes: S-. Less than 5 minutes: A+. Less than 3 minutes: A-. And if they can't even last 1 minute against me… they will be ranked B+.
The tests will begin tomorrow morning as soon as the 9th bell of dawn rings. All 8,100 soldiers who came with you are welcome to participate."
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