I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 145 Control and Guidance

"..."

At noon, in Xinghui City, a building located in a residential area.

The second-floor room was particularly dark and lonely, with the windows blocked by thick, opaque gray curtains.

Leon Lee was sitting quietly in a makeshift chair in the center of the room, ever since he led his troops to break through the blockade of Bee Hill last night and joined forces with the Seventh Army.

Having applied for this temporary place to rest, he sat in this chair for the entire night after arriving at the room, never making any other movements, like a lifeless puppet.

There was no sound in the air; the world was as still as death.

But the next second, a violent impact suddenly rang out.

The oppressive and somber atmosphere in the room was completely shattered.

"Oh!"

As the door was kicked open from the outside, a tall man appeared, wearing a light green military uniform, with long, graying ponytail hair, a mustache, and gold-rimmed glasses.

A tall, robust middle-aged man with a long face and a red, bulbous nose strode in.

He first glanced at the disciple sitting in the chair with a blank expression, using the light shining in from outside the door. Seeing the other's half-dead appearance, his gray eyebrows couldn't help but furrow slightly.

He then pulled out a pack of cheap Honeysuckle brand cigarettes from his pocket, skillfully lit it with a match, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled, letting the pungent smoke spread throughout the room.

Seeing his disciple, who always hated the smell of smoke, and who, even when he was being instructed by Her Majesty the Queen to teach him, would immediately stop him whenever he smoked and extinguish the cigarette without a word.

Now, the other party remains indifferent to his offensive behavior.

General Frank Francis, the commander of the Seventh Army Corps, was immediately surprised.

But he didn't say anything. Instead, he continued smoking until the cigarette burned out, at which point he flicked the cigarette butt out of his hand.

He then flicked it precisely and swiftly onto his disciple's forehead.

"Clap!"

"Great, full marks! Looks like my pitching technique hasn't gotten rusty yet!"

Seeing that his cigarette butt had hit its target precisely, Frank grinned with satisfaction, ignoring the fleeting anger in his disciple's eyes.

He leisurely hummed a tune as he walked to the curtains, then yanked them open and pushed open the window at the same time.

"Squeak!"

As the window was pushed open, the dazzling and warm sunlight dispelled the darkness, and the noisy chirping of birds outside, mixed with the hawking cries of the orc residents on the street below, rushed into the dark and silent room along with the hot spring breeze.

The sky was clear, the sun was high in the sky, and the air was filled with an indescribable stuffiness. Frank raised his hand to shield his forehead, not even glancing at his disciple behind him, whose expression had inexplicably turned gloomy.

Instead, he chuckled as he gazed down at the group of scantily clad, voluptuous centaur women strolling slowly down the street, occasionally whistling a few lewd notes while offering his commentary:

"To be honest, these female centaurs are really good-looking. Since I came to Dawnstar Territory, I have never seen any that are particularly ugly. The key is that they are all very voluptuous. To be honest, if I weren't unable to do it, I would really like to find a female centaur for a casual fling."

"After all, the achievement of conquering a giant beauty is enough to brag about for a lifetime!"

"By the way, Leon, are you interested in centaur heterosexuality? Should I help you put in a good word with the patriarch of the Morning Star family?"

Amidst the disgusted expression of the centaur below, Frank reluctantly withdrew his gaze, then looked back at his disciple who was glaring at him angrily.

Ignoring the anger and shame in the other person's eyes, he crossed his arms, then chuckled and said, stroking his left mustache:

"After all, just this morning during the meeting, that clan chief had taken the initiative to ask our Seventh Legion for help in avenging the destruction of the Morning Star Clan's centaur legion."

"Besides, they said we can name our own terms, so if you're really interested, I wouldn't mind helping you matchmake."

“I remember that the other party’s youngest daughter is about 18 years old, and her appearance is the most outstanding among the younger generation of the Morning Star Tribe. I heard that she has hundreds of suitors. She is quite good-looking and more than a match for you.”

"How about it? Are you tempted? Sigh, I just don't know if the child you have after marrying this daughter of the Morning Star Clan will be human or beastman."

"If it's a centaur, it will be a bit troublesome. After all, although our Victoria Kingdom is relatively open, there is still a lot of resistance towards centaurs, who are almost completely different from humans."

"General Frank, please have some self-respect!"

Seemingly unable to bear his teacher's wicked jokes any longer, Leon interrupted the other's incessant rambling in a hoarse voice.

"What? My mute disciple can actually speak? That's amazing!"

Frank feigned shock as he spoke, but upon seeing his proud disciple's handsome face turn so dark it was almost dripping with gloom after hearing his words, he realized that his words had truly shocked him.

He wisely refrained from further provoking the other party, and instead sighed, feigning boredom.
"Sigh, I thought you would continue to play dead, but I didn't expect you to admit defeat so quickly. You didn't even dare to fart at me. Leon, you really are the most boring disciple I have ever trained."

"Why don't you learn from Roxie? I heard that the little girl was arguing with that old blind man Olco a while ago. Apparently, she even severed her master-disciple relationship with Olco. Wow, this little girl's temper is just too much to my liking."

"It's a pity I wasn't there at the time, otherwise I would have definitely taken a camera and recorded the scene. I could have easily swindled a lot of money out of Olco later. Tsk tsk, it's such a shame to think about it."

"Really? It's a real shame I'm not as good as Roxie!"

Leon replied expressionlessly, but then his mind involuntarily recalled his crushing defeat, contrasting it with Roxie's successive victories in the Cocobia rainforest.

In an instant, boundless humiliation gripped his heart, causing his fists to clench involuntarily.

Although he tried his best to remain calm, his dejection and loneliness were still uncontrollably revealed:

"This defeat was due to my poor command, and I will accept whatever punishment you intend to impose on me."

“Punishment… I haven’t really thought about that yet, but since you’ve brought it up, it would be a bit unreasonable not to punish you, after all, you’ve lost three-quarters of the Independent 4th Division’s strength this time, nearly 10,000 men, which is no small number.”

Frank chuckled, stroking his chin, and said calmly, his gaze mocking as he looked at his silent, head bowed:

“Under normal circumstances, if a division-level unit suffers a crushing defeat and heavy casualties due to the commander’s mistake, the defeated general will generally be sent to a military court. After the trial, he will most likely be sentenced to more than 50 years in prison, or even the death penalty is not impossible.”

"Ah, of course. Considering your status as a participant in the Supreme Commander Project, your title as a Level 1 Academician in Bio-modification Technology, and the subsequent rebuilding of the Black Feather Force, Her Majesty the Queen might not agree if I punish you too severely."

"Hmm, this is really a headache, Leon, Leon, what do you think I should do with you, teacher?"

Frank sighed, feigning difficulty, and remained silent for a long time before finally speaking softly, "Why don't you just resign and retire from the army? Then go to the Kingdom's Research Institute and do some serious research."

"Anyway, now that you've lost your fighting spirit, you're destined to have no chance of defeating that little girl Roxie, let alone obtaining the position of Supreme Commander. You might as well just retire to the research institute early!"

"No need to thank me. After all, this was the profession you most wanted to pursue before Her Majesty the Queen assigned you to follow me to learn military command. In fact, I'm the one who delayed your future."

"And I never expected that you, on whom Her Majesty the Queen placed such high hopes, would be such a coward who couldn't even bear a small defeat. It can only be said that Her Majesty the Queen and I both misjudged you."

"Ah, of course, I'm not blaming you for anything. After all, there are differences between people. I respect everyone's choices, and I never meddle in other people's business. Only by respecting the fate of others and letting go of the urge to help others can one avoid being disturbed by these trivial matters and thus live longer. This is the secret to longevity that my 163-year-old great-grandfather taught me before he passed away, and I have always regarded it as the truth."

"..."

Leon didn't respond to Frank's incessant chatter; he simply lowered his head further and clenched his fists tightly.

Frank, however, did not hear any words of rejection from his disciples that expressed his expectations.

A deep disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he did not blame the other party.

He would not interfere with the choice made by his most prized disciple, Leon.

As he said, he respects whatever decisions the other party makes.

Unlike General Olko, who was extremely controlling and always tried to forcibly imprison his disciples with his own ideas and train them into one-eyed hunters who resembled his own shadow.

Known as the "Romantic General" and possessing a free-spirited personality, Frank Francis, who always advocated for effortless victory, never interfered too much in the training of his disciples.

Compared to cultivating a timid and subservient clone whose mindset and fighting style are exactly the same as his, it is better to train him.

Frank prefers to cultivate a commander with unique insights and a fighting style that is completely different from his own.

Therefore, even when Leon suddenly came up with the idea of ​​creating a Black Feather assassination squad centered on decapitation during his training, this was a behavior that was scorned by countless generals in the kingdom who upheld the spirit of chivalry.

Instead of objecting, he proactively reported the matter to Her Majesty the Queen after inquiring about the other party's complete plan, and obtained approval for the Black Feather Unit designation for this unique disciple.

And the other party did not disappoint him. In just a few years, through the activities of the Black Feather Assassination Squad, the other party successfully rose from a low-ranking commander to the position of major general.

This successfully transformed assassination, once considered a despicable act and disdained by countless people, from a stereotype into the most efficient and concise means of victory on the battlefield.

Because of the Black Feather Army's terrifying decapitation capabilities, the opponent himself went from being a despicable assassin leader who was despised by others to becoming a well-known 'Assassin Star' in the kingdom.

Therefore, although he never openly praised Leon, Frank actually always regarded him as a source of pride.

But as the other person's teacher, he knew even better that his student was too proud and too strong-willed.

Compared to his resilient character, Roxie inherited all of Olko's command abilities. After entering the battlefield, he quickly mastered and integrated the combat skills of generals from various countries through actual combat and exchanges, forming a unique and unpredictable combat style.

Leon's weaknesses become even more apparent in this comparison.

Frank had been eagerly anticipating the moment when his protégé would learn from his first defeat, rise from the ashes in the midst of painful struggle, and reach new heights.

But Frank never expected that he had underestimated the other party's deadly pride.

Even more unexpectedly, the disciple, who was always so gifted, was so fragile.

They don't even have the courage to start over.

Perhaps this is a common flaw among geniuses.

They crave perfection and refuse to accept any flaws.

But where in this world can a perfect person exist?
Frank sighed inwardly, but seeing his disciple hanging his head in silence, he didn't try to persuade him any further.

Everyone has their own path to walk, and he has no intention of dictating his disciples' lives.

He will accept whatever choice the other party makes with a smile.

However, more than a decade of anticipation and cultivation vanished completely in just a few days.

It's still a bit disappointing...

A hint of helplessness flashed in Frank's eyes, but he calmly nodded to his disciple and said:
“I understand your plan. I will help you apply for a transfer from the military to the Kingdom Research Institute to carry out special research work. This way, you will be free, which is a good thing for you.”

"It's getting late. The legion is now fully prepared and will soon be marching towards Horseshoe City. Before I lead the army out, Leon, is there anything else you want to say to me?"

"..."

Leon remained standing silently, not uttering a word. Frank shook his head helplessly, but did not blame him. He patted Leon on the shoulder.

He turned and walked straight out the door, but compared to his upright posture when he came, he now looked somewhat haggard and forlorn for some reason.

However, just as Frank was about to step out of the room, a voice slowly entered his ears:

"Teacher, do you think I'm still qualified to be a commander?"

"..."

Frank paused abruptly, then turned around in surprise to look at his disciple, who had somehow raised his head and was now staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

Compared to his usual sly and fake smile, Leon's face was now filled with resentment and anger, and his cheeks were streaked with tears as he lost control of his emotions.

It was as if a child, having lost a fight, had tearfully sought help from his father.

It looks exceptionally foolish and naive.

Frank was stunned by Leon's almost childish behavior and stood there for a long time before he came to his senses.

Immediately, a genuine smile involuntarily curved his lips. His tone was perfectly calm, yet it resonated like the deep echo of an ancient bell, stirring Leon's heart.
"Although I rarely intervene in other people's lives, if it were you, my answer would be yes."

“Leon Lee, you can become an excellent commander.”

……

(End of this chapter)