Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

But a few years ago, an expedition of the sea bring news of such beast in Ariundus. Of course to the people of the Empire it is simply something intriguing but it did not cause much stir to the people of the Empire

But to see it with his own eyes, Giovanni is quite pleasantly surprised. 

But he did not order out these elephant riders.

because Giovanni do not have any understanding how to control such a huge beast and how it could be incorporated into the army. 

He thought of using them as charging forces but there is so much thing he does not understand about elephants so he had postponed the matter. 

Even though the riders had said they could use the elephant as charging forces, Giovanni ask only one simple question to them

Had they ever fought alongside tigers, lions and sabretooth and large wolf thrice the size of a large dog?

And predictably their answer was that they did not. Saranites is a beast tamer, beast conquerors and they mastered the art of communicating with beast and animals.

When they found a beats that they could bond with, they treated each other like family. This is also another problem as these beast is not easily tamed and they only follow their masters.

When their master died, they must be tamed by someone related to the master or a family of that person.

And some Saranites had so powerful of a bond with their beast, that the beast simply refuses to acknowledge another master and might even went back to the wild.

Saranites also have differences.

Saranites is the umbrella under which all Saranites claims their descent but Saranites itself, the people of the tribe of Saranites is very divided.

There is a Saranites tribe that only raises wolves. Then there is Saranites tribe that only raise lions and so on and so forth.

On the land of the Thirteen Tribes, most of the Saranites tribes there is quite united. 

They have stables, hunting ground, clearing field for their beast to graze or to hunt their food.

They share it with everyone and they found a way for these beast of theirs to play together.

As for their livestock, they put it far away from their beast

But the Saranites tribes that are in the Three Kingdoms are very divided.

One of them is the Saranites tribes that breeds elephants and rides elephant into battle. Elephant is said to come from Ariundus and bought by the hunters of the Saranites tribes of the Three Kingdoms. 

It is because of all of these reason that Giovanni did not dare to use elephants in the battle just yet

After all, it had no even been a month since he took control of these newly formed unit. There are many other things that he still has to think about and the reorganization of the army is not so simple of a thing.

If he changes it too much old recruits also would have trouble in functioning.

There is a concept of not fixing what is not broken.

So, Giovanni was taking it slow so that it would not create unnecessary problems. 

So, he did not bring the elephants out. Then there is also the fact that elephant of the Shadowlands is a bit different than the Elephant mentioned in the old records.

But it did not change the fact that it is an elephant. 

But for now, Giovanni set out simply as a reinforcement. 

Even though he did not bring out the elephant, the sight of the beats and warhorses riding out from the barracks, riding like the lightning, dust arising, the ground shaking, the sound of the horn echoes through the city, such sight, such sounds bring all kinds of emotion to the people of the city

The coldness of the morning could no longer be felt. Anxiousness is filling the hearts of the people of the city

Seeing so many soldiers riding and marching out of the city, the people of the city felt even more pressured. 

What is happening outside? 

Fortunately, the order of the city did not devolve into chaos. 

There is other officer of the army that took control of the rein of the military inside the castle. 

Not all soldiers were marched out from the city and there is still a lot of military personnel to supervise the city and the area surrounding the castle

Some of these officers remains in the castle and in the barrack for any unforeseen circumstances. 

Some of them were ordered to maintain the order in the street.

The forces that are left is controlled by Ragar and General Castile and there are also a few officers of the Imperial Army that was left behind. 

A few minutes after the cavalry corps leave the city, another army marches toward the city gate.

Five thousand men marches with Great General Santiago riding a warhorse in the front leading his army out of the city.

Fifteen thousand soldiers left the city setting out to the outer gate city wall. The sight of it was truly incredible. 

The banner of the Dragon on the city walls seems to flaps courageously. 

This is the elite army of the Empire 

From afar, looking at the disposition of this army, it made people felt secure, to be protected by such a strong looking army 

But for the enemy, the sight of such an army would surely fill their hearts with dread. But there is a question in the hearts of the people of the city.

What kind of enemy that this new conquering force had to meet that fifteen thousand men to march out?

It would not be the army of the Vernium kingdoms, because if that were to be the case, a lot more soldiers would be dispatched and the inner city wall would probably also be quickly be put in the strictest military order.

But surely such an enemy that brought out fifteen thousand men would not be such a small force?

What the people of this land did not understand is that the concept of the ruler in their minds is not the same as the concept of a ruler in the minds of the Human Continent.

To most Kings in the Three Kingdoms, while the safety of the King is quite important, they would not move fifteen thousand men to just save one person

If a King of the Three Kingdom dies in the battlefield, and they die an honorable death, they would be honored.

And the army would retreat. It is then easy to conquer the kingdoms and cities of the Thirteen tribes. 

For if a leader is killed or subjugated, most of that tribe will follow the winning tribe. 

It is the same for the Three Kingdoms in the Shadowlands.

Even though they follow certain rules and etiquette of the nobles of the other continent, to them, losing the Capital and having the royal family slaughtered would mean the subjugation of the entire kingdom.

The messenger of the winning force simply would have to send the news of the defeat of the old king and demand the allegiance of the village chiefs and city lords

The only reason that Balhae did not command such thing is because they did not yet know all of the locations around the state of Balhae and the maps of the state of Balhae was burned before Arial take reign

These people of this city could not have imagined that the reason why there is fifteen thousand men, it is not because there is someone who is challenging the Emperor but because the Emperor choose to accept the duel and there is a possibility that the Emperor could be hurt.

The idea of an Emperor in the Human Continent, the idea of a nobility especially a nobility of such a powerful family whose death could change the entire world, even one drop of Arial blood could be a cause of war is something that is hard for the people of this land to comprehend

Because their culture is very different

In the Human Continent, if an Emperor is sick that alone would send ripples through all of the territories of the Empire. 

It is because of that, they thought that a medium sized army is on the outer wall of the city wanting to attack the state.

If they knew that there is only one person that is waiting for this army, the people of the city might not make a fuss about it.

In the city, everyone is waiting and hope for the best.

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