Frilian at Elden Ring

Everyone knew, of course, that Frillian did this simply because she enjoyed wandering around as an adventurer, but that didn't diminish their gratitude.

Everyone just takes what they need.

"Don't worry, if you crave stronger soul healing, I can provide it."

"Could it be that His Majesty still has a trump card?"

“Yes, I can use a portion of the Great Rune’s power to further heal the undead, and even slightly reverse their condition, but you must make a significant contribution in return.”

Upon hearing this, the people in the throne room immediately became eager, thinking that their relatives and friends might need this insurance.

Frilian's method was actually inspired by when she enhanced Vorame, by giving him a portion of her soul for protection, which is why she limited the number of participants. However, obtaining the Full Moon Queen's Great Rune would be a different matter entirely; it's a treasure concerning the mysteries of life.

"Thank you. We will certainly offer our utmost support to Your Majesty."

After the back-and-forth transactions, the two sides became much more amicable.

Ultimately, they share common interests in the entire South. Having a baseline makes things much easier. Besides, Frillie is a stable person, so at least we can reach an agreement. She is also not arrogant or complacent, making communication very efficient.

Comparing goods leads to discarding them. In reality, a boss like her who only makes key decisions and doesn't care about wasting resources is truly valuable, making everyone's life easier.

The conversation then moved into more detail.

Frillie received a crucial decision she had never dealt with before:

In military matters, all territories are undergoing comprehensive expansion, selecting the most elite troops to arrive in Stoneville. The allocation of equipment and training always require the King's approval. At the very least, the soldiers need to become familiar with themselves, so several days are spent at the training grounds.

Many of them are dragon riders who need Frilian's treatment to slow down their dragonification process. This special force is powerful, but it needs regular maintenance to keep it combat-ready.

Edgar reported: "We now have an additional 1 troops at our disposal, making us stronger than when we were besieging the city."

"Is that enough to attack Rodel?"

"Your Majesty, you overestimate the resources of the South. We may have an advantage in population, but we are very short of strong soldiers, and the gap is even greater in terms of specific weaponry. We probably can't even defeat the army guarding the elevators."

"I'm not urging you, I just want to get a more concrete assessment of the relative strengths."

“It’s very difficult. Looking at the entire border region, Rodel can still organize the fighting force he had during the last defensive battle and relies on his home ground. On the other hand, the rest of the region can’t organize a royal coalition, let alone unite together.”

"...At least as far as I know, the Volcano Residence is completely different from what it was during the Shattered War. I understand the situation; just keep training going."

"As ordered."

Frilian did not insist on turning it into a large-scale siege.

It would be easier to just charge in by myself; bringing a large army along would only cause more trouble.

Alternatively, we could try to unite forces from other regions and piece together a force that, even if not as formidable as the royal coalition of yesteryear, would at least be a step stronger than it is now.

Next, Hyde reported on the resources in various places. Basically, mining was carried out where there were mines, logging was carried out where there were timber, and resources from the south were concentrated here. After all, the army's consumption was increasing day by day, and in a short period of time, they would have to focus on replenishing supplies for the army's construction.

Weakness is relative to the royal city.

In fact, they can easily deal with some wandering monsters and even increase their strength.

More importantly, wherever the army goes, order extends there as well, strengthening control over the territory and enabling more effective mobilization of manpower.

Hyde continued, "Your Majesty, some corrupt relatives have scattered and are causing trouble in the direction of the Flame Wall in the Galid region. Should we send troops to wipe them out? At least a legion is needed, and this requires your approval."

“I agree. The priority now is the magic academy; we should adopt a defensive stance towards them.”

"If we could also make contact with some members of the Red Lion Knights, that would be great. Even without the official members joining, there are quite a few powerful mercenary squads there."

"You guys try it."

Frillie nodded.

In reality, she was more concerned with enhancing her own strength, and the military buildup was mainly for strengthening her control over the region.

After witnessing the strength of the Night Cavalry under Markitt's command, Frilian understood that the strength of the royal city was vastly different from that of the southern cities. It would be good enough if they could catch up in terms of high-level combat power, but it would be difficult for their grassroots combat power to match the foundation of the world's number one city.

I should be prepared to face them alone, but there are precedents for this: the Great Ancient Dragon Gransanx failed.

Perhaps we should try to integrate the several areas below the Asian Altar Plateau...

Frillie's thoughts drifted.

She practically handed over her work to the nobles in a back-and-forth exchange, occasionally letting Melina offer some advice, since Melina had been listening attentively the whole time. With the witch's help, she felt even more at ease, which quickly led Frillie to think about magical research, and then the meeting gradually came to an end.

A long-awaited high-level royal meeting in Stoneville has come to an end.

ended?

In fact, the schedule that Frilian should have as a monarch has only just begun.

Her first stop was the magic workshop in the castle, which was usually run by Seren and housed most of the talented mages from the south, where they studied soul magic and other related combat magic.

What came into view was a large classroom.

When the silver-haired girl stepped onto the podium, the monks and their students greeted her together, even addressing her respectfully as "Professor." Her achievements in establishing her own school of thought absolutely earned her the title.

As for the magic academy having objections? They'll behave themselves after we deal with them.

Seren smiled and introduced the classrooms, saying, "How about it? These are all classrooms that I recreated according to the academy's standards. The students were also carefully selected. In time, they will definitely become a key asset on your path to becoming king, and you can form a battlefield mage corps."

"...The teacher actually considered all this?"

"After all, you've helped me a lot, so I want to do more for my apprentice, especially since I'm already researching magic."

"really."

"Don't neglect the students. Why don't you give a lesson on combat magic? After all, I'm not good at it, and they will have to face the royal city someday."

Frillie explained the magic to the group of people below the stage, who were looking at her with hopeful eyes.

Fortunately, she had a wealth of knowledge and could readily draw upon theories, so she carefully selected magical logic that fit the border region. This greatly inspired the apprentices and was perfectly suited to the battlefield environment.

In addition, it includes a unique technique that I have repeatedly verified: converging magic power to improve magic manipulation, saving energy and increasing precision.

In fact, these knowledge points are not advanced, but they are enough to guide the apprentices to quickly improve and form combat power. Even Se Lian, who was listening in, was inspired. His apprentice is really gifted.

More importantly, it incorporates practical experience.

It's clear that Frilian must have experienced an unimaginable number of battles, spanning various occasions.

She was already powerful before becoming the Fragment King and the Faded One, which is why she was able to quickly defeat several powerful enemies and gain a foothold. Moreover, a person's strength may change rapidly due to a blessing, but their magnanimity and capacity will not.

Only by possessing the heart of a strong person commensurate with their strength can one be considered complete. In contrast, the Blood Finger assassination at Lake Aquil, even with the blessing, was meaningless.

Two hours later.

Frilian pointed to the key points on the blackboard and said, "That's all I can teach you for the first time. Don't worry, I'll come often when I have time, and you will all become stronger."

"Thank you, Professor."

The apprentices were deeply grateful, as few people in the border region would teach their students everything they knew.

After the silver-haired girl waved goodbye, everyone left the classroom one after another. Although the time was short, the knowledge they had learned was enough to digest for a while. With their talent, they could indeed become the best among the grassroots soldiers.

If the South lacks elite troops, why not train them themselves? The Golden Army wasn't built in a day or two.

"I wonder how fast they can grow?"

"Disciple, why don't you try to see if everyone can receive the blessing of the Great Rune?"

"How to do it?"

"By combining the power of the fragments with the soul blessing you mentioned, we can try to strengthen the target. It's like the goddess's blessing on the golden army, although it's a weakened version, but it's worth trying in principle, especially since it suits your characteristics."

Serlian felt inspiration flowing in, and he could come up with new ideas every minute, as if he had returned to his apprenticeship days.

Frilian manifested as Grek the Great Rune and observed him carefully for a moment.

"That's a good suggestion. The teacher is right. But the power of the magic ring fragments should require activating the Great Rune effect. I'll make a special trip to the Divine Tower in a few days to activate it once."

Unlike her blessing to Vlame, which was primarily based on the soul magic system and used the magic ring as a medium, the rules at the intersection had to be adapted accordingly.

She had actually considered this plan before, but had some concerns:

“Not everyone can receive a blessing. In your opinion, who can bear it?”

“It’s simple. Train more troops, select the elite, and then further enhance their strength. In addition, the apprentice mages from earlier, as well as your Dragon Eater army, can also be used. Over time, this might be enough to build a force comparable to Rodel’s regular army.”

"Only equivalent to a regular army?"

"That's already quite good. If they were the elite troops of the royal city, they might have made a name for themselves as heroes by being deployed to the border. Don't underestimate the most elite core of the Golden Dynasty."

The advice given by the knowledgeable Seren was kept in mind by Frilian, and it should be able to slightly boost the strength of her soldiers.

The former then decided to stay in the classroom and continue his research.

The master and apprentice had very similar personalities; once they found inspiration, they would immediately devote themselves to studying it day and night.

Unless his apprentice plans to directly attack the magic academy, Seren should be uninterested in the outside world's troubles for the time being. Actually, staying in Stoneville City isn't so bad. The environment is good, resources are plentiful, and with students surpassing him, isn't that wonderful?

However, Frilian still had to keep busy. After checking the reserve members of the mage group, she rushed to the training ground outside Stoneville.

Hills and highlands.

It used to be a place where Grek soldiers set up outposts, heavily guarded with multiple layers of protection. Now, it has been completely renovated and, without the pressure of defense, has been converted into a training ground for activities.

Edgar, who had been waiting for a long time, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we are just practicing a siege battle."

Following the direction he pointed, Frilian was astonished to see a formation of over a thousand people advancing in perfect unison, slowly closing in with shields aloft, even including trolls and dragons.

At the forefront was the Dragon Eater squad, which was the first force to attack.

On the opposite side, an army with the same configuration was resisting in a fortified fortress. According to procedure, the two sides would rotate continuously to allow everyone to familiarize themselves with the defending troops and attack methods. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's a drill; the scale of the operation is actually quite impressive.

Rumble.

They even used catapults, all for the sake of realism. Besides that, she also discovered an unexpected sight: the Farron Undead Legion. The members proactively left the city, sweeping away large groups with a single attack; the individual Farron members, comparable to heroes, basically crushed their way through…

"Isn't this a bit too much?"

"Your Majesty, there are only more powerful troops in the Royal City of Rodel. Our simulation is less than one-tenth the difficulty level."

As one of the future commanders, Edgar had to be vigilant.

Frilian carefully observed the situation and, sure enough, the situation reversed as soon as the Farron Undead entered the battlefield. The attacking side suffered repeated defeats and had almost no units to counterbalance them. No wonder Edgar frowned and was very worried.

Suddenly, an idea struck her: "If the legion of ashes I control is large enough, and combined with the currently stronger soul amplification magic, would it count as a legion?"

"You'll only know once you actually see it."

"Right now—"