Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 11 External Admissions
Bud was one of only three externally admitted cadets in Winters' class of officer cadets, and he was probably the most capable of the three.

Because most of the external admissions to the Army Officer Academy are for talented individuals with mathematical aptitude, admitted through special admissions programs in the artillery department.

But Bard was studying cavalry, a field that had not seen any outside students for six years before Bard.

Back when the United Provinces Republic was still the Duchy of the Mountain, starting with Bard's grandfather, his family made a living by raising horses for the Earl of Menne.

They raised him while he was still alive until his grandson inherited the title.

Whenever he had time, Bud's grandfather would take his two sons to tend to the family's dozen or so acres of land. Although life was hard, at least they didn't have to worry about going hungry or cold.

But Bard's grandfather never dreamed that a sovereignty war would break out.

In their eyes, life was peaceful and they had enough to eat and wear; they never imagined that this state would be disrupted.

As the Calvinists were destroying churches everywhere, the Bard family already sensed an impending storm.

However, for three generations, his family had been honest grooms who made a living by tending the Earl's horses. They could do nothing but feed the Earl's horses.

When the first uprising in Guitu City occurred, the militia seized the city.

The Bard family was feeding the Earl's horses, but the Earl remained inactive because he was not a royalist.
When the first uprising in Guitu was suppressed, the army of the governor appointed by the emperor marched into the city.

The Bard family was feeding the Earl's horses, but the Earl remained inactive because he did not support the militia.

When the second uprising in Guitu City occurred, the militia, working together from within and without, breached Guitu City and trapped the governor in the city's fortress.

The Bard family was feeding the Earl's horses, and the Earl remained inactive, choosing to observe.

When the second suppression of Guitu City failed, the Battle of Jinma'an ended, and the royalist nobles of the Duchy of Shanqian were completely wiped out.

The Bard family was feeding the Earl's horses, but the Earl remained inactive, intending to continue observing the situation.

Finally, the emperor released his vicious dog, the Duke of Arlian.

Duke Arlian declared: All the nobles who did not die in the Battle of Golden Saddle are traitors.

The Bard family is feeding the Earl... oh, this time they don't need to feed the horses.

With all the warhorses taken to war by Count Menne, the fence-sitting nobles of the Duchy of the Mountain could no longer remain neutral.

The Bard family switched to feeding the Earl's cattle, sheep, chickens, and ducks.

After the Duke of Arlian was defeated and committed suicide, the Bard family thought they could finally continue feeding the Earl's horses.

Little did they expect that the militia and the anti-royalist nobles who were fighting side by side yesterday would start fighting each other again today.

Knights in full armor patrolled the Royal Road, killing any suspicious pedestrians without trial, just to intercept messengers who were coordinating with the militias of various cities.

Lone swordsmen roam the forest paths, carrying longswords wrapped in black cloth and matchlock guns, waiting for an opportunity to assassinate any nobles or princes they can find.

The civil war ended with a resounding victory for the militia, and no more dukes were elected. The land was renamed the United Republic of the Seventeen Provinces of the Piedmont, or simply the United Provinces Republic.

Bard's family no longer needed to worry about going back to feed the Earl's horses, because the militia's knives were faster and more ruthless than the Duke of Arlian's.

Count Mennay is no more; his entire family has been wiped out.

The United Provinces Republic will no longer fall into the hands of nobles, because there are no living nobles in the United Provinces who dare to claim titles.

The Bards thought that would be the end of it: although they could no longer feed the Earl's horses, at least they could go back to manage their family's land.

The Badgers never expected that they would be met with Richard IV's personal military campaign.

Moreover, it was no longer just the United Provinces Republic; the Royal Territory of Azure, the Duchy of the Highlands… the entire region between the two mountains and the Empire were all drawn into the vortex. The former Earldom of Mennay—now the Province of Mennay—was once again reduced to a wasteland.

Unripe crops were trampled and burned; the defeated soldiers were more terrifying than bandits.

During the war, Bader's father lost his own father, brother, sister, and all his children.

The Budd family went completely bankrupt; they had a small piece of land but no food.

Left with no other option, Bud's father mortgaged the small plot of land his family owned to the Green Heart Monastery near the village.

The couple sought refuge under the protection of the monastery and became its tenant farmers.

The Sovereignty War ended completely, the Emperor withdrew his troops, the Cynas Alliance was officially established, and the couple gave birth to Bard.

For Bud's parents, there was no future in being a sharecropper.

They could barely make ends meet and were destined not to save enough money to redeem their land.

Therefore, the only hope that Bud's parents could have was to send Bud to a monastery and make him a monk.

But monks are legitimate registered clergy; how could a child from a poor family become a monk?

The monastery will not accept a penniless young man; to become a monk, one must bring a property to the monastery.

The monastery only welcomes "brothers" who bring land deeds and gold and silver to seek refuge.

Bud had been a servant in the monastery since he could remember, initially doing menial tasks such as cleaning the toilets. He was quick, careful, and taciturn.

So he was quickly relieved of the lowest-level chores and put in charge of cleaning the manuscript room and library of Greenheart Monastery.

A kind monk taught him to read and speak Old Language, and Bard taught himself Old Language through an Old Language/Ancient Language dictionary.

Since he was able to read, Bard has spent all his free time in the library of Greenheart Monastery.

He read extensively from ancient books and materials preserved in monasteries, and studied on his own the mathematical and geometric principles of ancient imperial scholars, as well as the medical texts of the Fremen.

Meanwhile, his status within the monastery continued to rise: from cleaning the library to being specifically responsible for cleaning precious relics and saints' artifacts, and then becoming the abbot's personal valet, responsible for helping the abbot with the accounts.

But the more Bard learned about the monastery, the more desperate he became. He understood that he could never become a monk, nor did he want to spend his life as a tenant farmer and servant.

By chance, Bard learned of the existence of the Army Officer Academy from a visitor to the monastery, and that the Army Officer Academy had no tuition fees and no application restrictions.

So when Bud was sixteen, he decided to take a gamble and set off from his hometown of Gerard with the six small silver shields and three pieces of black bread he had saved, walking 100 kilometers to Guido.

Thanks to his family's horse-breeding skills and outstanding academic performance, Bud miraculously gained admission to the Cavalry Department of the Army Officer School, becoming the only student from outside the school to be admitted to the Cavalry Department in the past six years.

Bud and Winters met in a horse class.

[Note: Equestrian studies and equestrian skills are two separate courses.]
In horsemanship, Budd was far inferior to Winters; but in the skill of caring for horses, Winters couldn't even come close to Budd.

When they first met, Winters was simply curious about where this unfamiliar young farmer had learned hoof trimming.
As they got to know each other better, Winters discovered more and more of the good qualities that Budd possessed that he lacked, such as being gentle, patient, and rarely losing his temper.

Winters lacks these qualities, so he unconsciously gravitates towards people who possess them.

Bud felt comfortable with Winters's unconditional friendship.

Over time, the two became very good friends.

Every time I think of Bard, I automatically picture my reliable comrade KV-2 with the cross-eyed look of my cat.

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(End of this chapter)