Hail the King

That afternoon, the reports from the frontline went into the Military Headquarter located in St. Petersburg’s southern region. It was rumored that the generals of Zenit got scolded by Emperor Yassin. Right now, the generals and the high-up officials were anxious and worried. Because of the collapsed frontline, a lot of nobles were blamed and locked up in the jail in Imperial Knight Palace. Even though the old general Bolun Zhang didn’t retreat and fought the enemy, his family was under close monitor as well……

As more and more scouts came in and out of the Capital, more and more horses died of exhaustion in Zenit’s territory. The people in the empire were all concerned.

Some people said that the elite troops of Spartax were about to reach St. Petersburg, some people said that general Bolun Zhang who got captured already surrendered to the enemy, and some people said that Emperor Yassin was about to die due to his illness. In the rumors that were passed around, the nobles were getting ready to run to the north to avoid the war, and Zenit Empire was about to collapse. Everything was just depressing.

After the rumors came, the camp area got even more chaotic.

More than 30 affiliated kingdoms from the south were affected the most. The kings and soldiers almost started a riot.

Their kingdoms were in the south, and a lot of the kingdoms in the southern region of the empire were conquered by the troops of Spartax. The fire of war burned on their land and their loved one were in a bad situation. The soldiers of Spartax were known as cruel and cold-blooded, and they had killed 100,000 civilians of Zenit before in one day. Since the grudge and hatred between the two empires were so deep, only bones and burned ground were left after the Spartax soldiers went through Zenit’s affiliated kingdoms.

Under such circumstance, some of the kings of the southern kingdoms were worried to their death. They were in no mood to finish the competition, and they had asked for permissions to go back to their kingdom, fight for the empire, and save their loved ones.

The other kings were waiting for the empire to speak out. Some of the kings had strongly urged the empire to send reinforcement to the three regions that were being taken. Everyone wanted to get rid of the evil Spartax invaders.

At this time, a name was talked about a lot.

[Zenit’s God of War] Andrew-Arshavin.

At a time when Emperor Yassin couldn’t lead the army due to his illness, many people rested their hopes on this [God of War] who had killed numerous Spartax soldiers on the border of the two empires. Although Arshavin was only 35 years old, he had about 20 years of experience leading the military. The [Iron-Blood Legion] was invincible under his command, and the Spartax soldiers were terrified of him. This man and his troop was the counter to Spartax.

In a short time, the support for the elder prince skyrocketed.

At the same time, the battle for the throne also changed dramatically.

The two princes were in a 50/50 situation before, but the scale of victory suddenly tilted towards the [Zenit’s God of War] who people thought would bring victory to Zenit in this war against Spartax.

Compared to the elder prince who had a bright record, second prince Dominguez was only a love-child. He hadn’t earned any merits since he came to St. Petersburg, and he only received investments and supports from nobles families because he was loved by his father. But as the emperor’s health conditions worsen day by day, the [Mad Dog] second prince was really about to lose the battle to [Zenit’s God of War] elder prince, especially after the empire ran into such a dangerous time.

……

As chaos came to the camp area, the campsite of Chambord was very peaceful.

One reason was that Chambord was located in the northern region; even if St. Petersburg got conquered, Chambord would still be safe. That was one of the benefits of being in a remote and poor region. The nobles and wealthy kingdoms that looked down on Chambord now all wished to become bumpkins so they can avoid the war.

Of course, the warriors of Chambord loved battles.

People like Pierce, Drogba, and Oleg already expressed their interest in going to the frontline and battling the enemies. Even Peter-Cech who was a really considerate person also thought about leading the Bylaw Enforcement Officers and Saint Seiyas into the war; he believed that the real war would let the boys become men.

This was what happened after these guys got much stronger; their confidence skyrocketed.

This also occurred because they had infinite trust in their king.

Fei directly booted these guys out. He hated war. Even if war came, Chambord would be the last kingdom to be summoned to fight the war.

Fei was absolutely right.

As the entire Capital and camp area were in chaos and people were anxious, order from Emperor Yassin and the Military Headquarter came before sunset. The elder prince Andrew-Arshavin was named the head commander, and he was ordered to lead his [Iron Blood Legion] as well the two of the ten main battle legions, [Whip of the Thunder Lord] and [Anger of the Fire Lord], that totaled 50,000 soldiers to the battlefront in three days.

After the order came out, the chaos mostly settled.

Soon, another order came out.

The empire rejected the requests from the southern kingdoms who wanted to head back to their homeland and fight with the invaders. All of them were ordered to stay in the camp area and participate in the competition until it was over.

Because of this sudden war, the competition was modified. The next round of challenge matches was canceled, and the top ten masters, as well as the top five kingdoms from each battle region, would enter directly into the kingdom ranking matches.

After the competition was over, the 244 affiliated kingdoms would form one new legion and participate in the war against the Spartax Empire. The top ten masters of the competition would be canonized as level 1 nobles, and they would get commanding roles in the newly formed legion.

The track record and military merits the affiliated kingdoms could get in the war with Spartax would be used to promote and demote the kingdoms.

The top 10 kingdoms with the most military merits would automatically become the new level 1 affiliated kingdoms. Just like that, the numbers and the structures of the affiliated kingdoms would stay the same, but the level of the kingdoms would change.

To a certain degree, this patched the issue of the cancelation of the challenge matches. Also, it meant that a crazy era for the affiliated kingdoms came.

The challenge matches in the competition were giving an advantage to the old powerful kingdoms. They had a lot accumulated strength, and their connections with the powerful forces in St. Petersburg allowed them to stay powerful forever. But since the ranking was now based on military merits, the weaker kingdoms had a chance to shine.

All the accumulated strength of these powerful kingdoms was almost neglectable in a war. During the war, numerous people would be killed, and heroes would get the chance to rise. If the opportunity was right, even a small figure could become a legendary hero.

To a lot of small kingdoms, this was their chance. This slim chance was something they were going to focus on.

Compared with challenge matches, the small kingdoms had more chances in wars.

For a moment, all the affiliated kingdoms were hyped for the upcoming war with Spartax in the south.

The masters and kingdoms that could get into the top 10 and top 5 were getting ready for the final charge. They weren’t just attracted to the noble status; they were more interested in the ability to command the legion that was going to form.

Chambord was definitely a hot candidate for the leading position.

……

As the outside world was getting noisy, Fei did something else.

He called old Zolasc and young Modric into his central tent. After two hours of secret conversion, the two of them left the Chambord’s campsite with their belongings. Soon, the two people who were a part of Chambord’s expeditionary force were nowhere to be found.

In a few days, a new organization that was called [Letter Office] became active around the Capital.

No one knew who this organization belonged to. They only knew that this organization was very secretive, and they were looking for all kinds of useful and non-useful information. In addition, they were looking to hire people who had all kinds of skills. This organization soon caught the other forces’ attention. But after some spying, they learned that there were three people who were behind everything. These three people were always together. The old man and the young boy were normal people; they weren’t strong warriors. However, there was a big mysterious person with a five-colored mask on the face. This person never talked, but this person’s strength was inestimable.

The old man and the young boy were in charge of the operation of [Letter Office], and the masked person was like a sharp sword that protected them.