Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

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Indeed, as he said, the Alliance government had no real authority to speak of. The five member states within the Alliance governed themselves, each possessing independent personnel authority, their own fiscal budgets, and armies. The only major power they delegated to the official Alliance was foreign affairs, along with a few inconsequential privileges such as the "right to decide the Alliance's national anthem" and the "right to decide the Alliance's flag."

The various departments of the Alliance government sounded impressive, with names like the Alliance Army Committee, the Alliance Finance Committee, and the Alliance Judiciary Committee. But, in reality, they were nothing more than figureheads, completely decorative.

This fragmented state of the Alliance began the moment the United Provincials started their rebellion. Starting with the Guidao City riots thirty-odd years ago which set off the Sovereignty Wars, all the way to the end of the Emperor's retreat from war twenty-six years ago, no Anti-Emperor factional military in the Gulf Region wanted to be led by another.

The United Provincials' militia would not accept command from Sea Blue opportunists, and the Sea Blue militia would not accept orders from the United Provincials' yokels. While the Anti-Emperor factional nobles were keen on usurping power every day, aiming to take command over all the military forces, they had no attention from the militia.

The various Anti-Emperor factional forces were mostly independent of one another, fighting their own battles most of the time. In the end, under the military pressure of the Emperor and the charismatic appeal of the old marshal, they were forged into a single army under the command of the old marshal to fight the Emperor.

As soon as the fighting was over, everybody disbanded. Armies from the Federated Provinces Republic, Sea Blue Republic, and Highland Republic went home and transformed into the regular armies of their respective states. The newly established Monta Republic and Van Republic, which were carved from the Empire during the Sovereignty Wars, also created independent army departments.

The old marshal was acutely aware of the dangers that such army allegiances to the member states posed to the internal peace of the Alliance, but he was powerless to change the reality of the member states harboring their own agendas. Thus, the old marshal believed that if it was not possible to unite the armies of the member states at present, the only hope lay in the future.

It was important to facilitate communication and understanding among the military factions of the member states; lack of communication could lead to misunderstandings, and misunderstandings could lead to bloodshed. Most importantly, it was crucial to cultivate the youth, to ensure that the younger generation of military officers from the member states would not view each other with the same hostility as their predecessors, and to foster friendships among them.

When these young people became the mainstays and leaders of the armed forces in their respective member states, the differences would naturally be bridged, and the integration of the member states' armies would seamlessly occur.

Thus, the old marshal voluntarily resigned from his military position to focus on establishing the Army Officer Academy. The management rights of the academy were nominally tethered to the defunct head offices of the Provincial Army, with the old marshal serving personally as the first principal, ensuring impartiality. This prevented any bias toward the Federated Provinces Republic just because the school was located in Guidao City.

His original plan was for the five member states to each take 10 cadets per year per field of study, totaling 150 cadets per level, who would be randomly assigned to the armies of the various member states upon graduation.

This move of "mixing sand" faced strong resistance from the armies of the member states. The Sea Blue military was the first to stand in opposition; they adamantly refused to send their best prospects to other member states and rejected officers from other member states joining the Sea Blue military. On this point, the militaries of the member states rarely found consensus.

With no other choice, the old marshal had to put aside the concept of "having a bit of you in me, and a bit of me in you" for the time being, only retaining a clause in the school's constitution that stated, "When conditions permit, the graduates' post-graduation placements should be reasonably allocated without discrimination based on their origin," with the hope that one day the member states could amicably apply this provision.

Therefore, the graduates of the Army Officer Academy returned to where they came from. For example, students from the Sea Blue Republic, like Winters, would return to serve in the Sea Blue Army after graduation.

This was the old marshal's plan, and though it did not seem very effective, at least today, twenty-six years later, the armies of the member states were still acting independently.

Nonetheless, it did have some effect. The officer cadets were indoctrinated with the ideology of greater Alliance unity for several years. Even if they did not support it, at the very least, they were sympathetic toward it. Take Winters as an example; he was an advocate for the ideology of greater Alliance unity, albeit more in spirit than in practice.

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But still, as the saying goes, plans cannot keep up with changes, and the situation shifted after the old marshal stepped down. The Alliance's influence stretched beyond the ocean, and they began to possess more overseas interests.

Overseas trade points needed protection, and the military required reliable representatives abroad, so an overseas deployment option was added to the list of possible assignments for graduates.

At this time, the fixed number of 150 cadets each year was definitely not enough, and no member state's military would accept their children being sent overseas. Therefore, the Military Academy expanded its enrollment, increasing each subject's intake by 5 to 10 additional cadets, bringing Winters' class to 172 cadets.

By then, actual control of the Military Academy had fallen into the hands of the Army Department of the United Provincials. Naturally, the United Provincials military was not as fair and impartial as the old marshal, so all the expanded enrollment spots were filled by cadets from the United Provincials.

The United Provincials military also used the expansion as a pretext to change the graduate allocation policy. Each member state still sent 30 cadets yearly, but when it was time to return, there would be 32 or 33. The United Provincials took this opportunity to mix their own into the armies of the other member states.

Clearly, cadets from the United Provincials would not receive favorable treatment in other member states. But compared to overseas deployment, going to another member state was still an excellent destination.

At least going to another member state meant staying within the Alliance's territory; but an overseas posting was standing to sail out and lying to return. In this era, when even a fever or cold could claim lives, traveling to a land rife with unfamiliar epidemics was a high-risk endeavor.

Therefore, when the practicum season arrived, the concern that occupied the cadets from the United Provincials the most was where they would be assigned—back to the United Provincials' homeland, to another member state, or to an overseas deployment?

Cadets from the member states had no worries, since they would return to where they came from;

Nor did cadets from the United Provincials with deep family connections worry, for their elders would never let them be sent to a member state or overseas;

But the unprivileged commoner cadets from the United Provincials had to seek connections and beg at every door just to stay in the United Provincials' homeland. If not, going to a member state was acceptable. Absolutely not overseas, for that would be a road to certain death.

Bard's parents were tenant farmers, and they were of no help in this decision that would determine his life's path. Winters wrote to his own uncle without telling Bard. Winters' uncle served in the Sea Blue military, and Winters hoped he could help.

But how could the Sea Blue military intervene when the Provincial Army was allocating its own cadets? Winters' uncle replied, telling Winters that given the current relationship between the Provincial Army and the Sea Blue military, if he asked for somebody, the Provincial Army would not hesitate to send Bard overseas instead.

Therefore, regarding this matter, Bard could only wait for others to decide his fate, and Winters could only stand by, watching anxiously.

Graduation assignments were not all good news, after all.