Chapter 837: Chapter 837 - 454: Before the Parade Begins (2)

His thoughts uncontrollably drifted back; the earliest memory was the orphan camp.Back then, like many children, he was abandoned by disaster by the roadside. In other territories, being an orphan meant slavery, mines, and a short life.Later, he was selected into the Lord's guard, standing behind Louis, wielding a longsword shield, serving as an iron wall against hidden arrows.Until that day, Louis took away the shield that had accompanied him for years and instead gave him a command sword."Your swordsmanship is good, but in the Red Tide Territory, I want you to learn to use your brain to protect the Red Tide."The next five years were like an unavoidable forced indoctrination.Ballistics, trench construction, logistics coordination, multi-arms cooperation.All the warfare knowledge absent in the old times was crammed into his mind.And these were not merely theoretical.In the conquest of the Gray Rock Province, Louis handed over the frontline command to him completely for the first time.How steam tanks forged the path, when cavalry should be deployed to harvest.What followed was the elimination of remaining noble forces, the hunting of mountain bandits, the repeated suppression and restoration of old noble powers.Repeated low-intensity yet prolonged and dirty battles honed him into a true commander capable of managing the situation.In simulations and real battlefields, he was repeatedly trained, forcefully matured into a general by Louis.Now he looked back and saw an endless steel dragon behind him.The steam tanks covered with canvas breathed lowly, like a group of beasts lying in wait.The smell of metal, oil, and steam weighed heavily in the air."No bloodline, no family background. Yet, they entrusted this army capable of crushing the world into my hands."Gray was well aware that the spectators were the old nobility of the Northern Territory, people he once couldn't even dream of looking up to.But today, the one standing here is him."I want to show them that the people chosen by the Red Tide Territory are ten thousand times stronger than those noble knights propped up by bloodline."In the distance, the steam whistle sounded deep and low.The countdown to the parade began.Gray closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.