"What's happening here?" Using Dragon Transfer, Aditya arrived. Seeing what was happening, he was left stunned. Aditya knew that his troops weren't thugs or types of soldiers who would beat their own ally soldiers without a good reason. Every Istarin Soldier is trained to follow orders and be well-mannered.
When a recruit starts his journey, the first thing that he is taught is 'You represent the Istarin Empire.' You must be mindful of your actions and your behavior as you represent the Istarin Empire.
bang!
Seeing the fight between both sides was showing no sign of stopping and was getting worse, Aditya decided to intervene.
As the fight continued, all the soldiers stopped as they felt the night sky getting brighter. Glancing up, they soon saw a huge fireball above them. Seeing the fireball, all the Istarin Troops stopped fighting. Their attention was drawn to Aditya who was standing in the air above them.
"Stop fighting. Otherwise, I will personally punish you." Even the soldiers of the Hephaestus Kingdom obeyed Aditya's order.
Aditya landed next to Henry and asked. "What happened here?"
Henry proceeded to explain everything that the Hephaestus soldiers have been doing ever since they came here. The more Henry spoke, the uglier Hephaestus Kingdom's general's face became as all of this was his fault for failing to discipline the troops under him.
Normally he wouldn't care if Henry had said these words to Adian but this was the Istarin Emperor. He has long heard of the Istarin Emperor and knows that, unlike Adian, Aditya won't hesitate to end everyone's lives.
After listening to Henry's words, Aditya turned to the troops who now had separated into two groups. On the right side, the Istarin troops were standing in order. While on the left, the Hephaestus soldiers were standing in disorder. Some of them were sitting on the ground and were groaning in pain.
"Who are you?" Aditya asked while slowly walking towards the Hephaestus soldiers.
Hearing his cold tone, the Hephaestus Soldiers unconsciously straightened their backs. Hearing his question, no reply was heard.
"Are you soldiers or are you thugs from the streets?" Even though the Hephaestus soldiers felt insulted non of them dared to say anything. They silently accepted his words.
Meanwhile, Aditya continued to step toward them. "Fat stomaches, yellow teethes, dirty clothes, long, dirty, and disheveled hair. Is this how a soldier is supposed to present himself?"
Seeing Aditya getting near them, the ones that previously sat on the ground stood up.
"How do you guys plan on fighting without any weapon? How do you guys plan on surviving without any armor? Do you think the battlefield is a playground?" Aditya slowly released a little bit of his killing intent on the Hephaestus soldiers.
His killing intent, immediately the faces of all the soldiers turned pale and drops of sweat began to fall from their faces. Their hands and legs started shaking in fear.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Aditya walked in front of Rogers who was standing at the front. Rogers's entire body was shaking in fear.
The Dragon Monarch looked at all the Hephaestus soldiers before looking at Rogers. He came near Rogers and said in a whispering tone. "I can kill you all before you guys can birth your next thoughts."
At that moment, looking into those deep crimson eyes that seems to contain the blood of millions in them, Rogers felt his very soul tremble in fear.
Aditya stretched out his right hand in silence. Rogers understood what he needed to do. He took out the ring that was the source of all of this. Aditya took the ring and called Ryan.
"Your Majesty, I apologize." The Hephaestus King felt very embarrassed because of his soldiers. On behalf of the soldiers the King apologized to the Istarin Emperor so that the Istarin soldiers won't hold any more grudges towards the Hephaestus soldiers.
"There is no need to apologize, Sir Adian. I know fully know about the situation in your Kingdom."
Aditya put his hand on Adian's right shoulder to comfort him. "As soon as this war ends, The Istarin Empire will clean all the mess within the Hephaestus Kingdom. This is a Promise." Aditya can understand why Hephaestus King joined them. He is grateful that Hephaestus King joined them even though the Kingdom's condition was really worse. And there weren't in a position to fight another Kingdom much less an Empire.
Aditya had planned to help Adian with his Kingdom.
Hearing this Adian slightly became emotional. He tried his best to not show it on his face. "Thank you." The Hephaestus King thanked Aditya from the bottom of his heart.
Aditya just nodded his head.
"Everyone let's move forward. I can sense the enemy troops." Aditya can sense that the enemy troops had a Mid-5th-order cultivator.
However, once again the Hephaestus soldiers started causing trouble. "I am not going."
Aditya, Adian, Fabian, and others looked at the soldier. The other Hephaestus soldiers moved out of the way.
"Do you think this is a field trip?" Adian angrily asked.
"I am not going to fight for you unless you pay me my pending wages."
"Yeah, I am also not going to the battlefield unless you pay us our wages."
"It has been 6 months since I got any salary."
Joining the soldier, the other Hephaestus soldiers also started protesting. This made Adian further embarrassed. To think his own soldiers would do something like this right when the fight is about to begin made Adian very embarrassed in front of Aditya.
It was not Adian's fault that he failed to pay the soldier's salaries. Because of the gangs, there was barely any income. The people prioritized paying protection fees to the gangs rather than paying taxes to the Kingdom. And almost all of the government officials were corrupt and kept most of the revenue money for themselves.
Aditya thought for a second before speaking. "The Istarin Empire will pay all of your pending salaries after this fight."
Hearing this all the Hephaestus soldiers were very happy. The Istarin Empire was one of the richest Empires in the whole continent. Paying their salaries would be very a small thing for the Istarin Empire.
"Sir Aditya, you don't have to....." Adian didn't want to burden Aditya with such a small matter.
"It's alright." Aditya waved his hand before speaking to the Hephaestus soldiers.
"Now start moving if you want your pending salaries to be paid." None of the Hephaestus soldiers complained this time. They silently followed the Istarin Soldiers and headed toward the Northern border of the Hephaestus Kingdom.
"Henry, take the lead. I will take care of the fifth-order and the fourth-order cultivators. Sir Adian, I hope you won't mind if Henry takes the lead. Henry has fought multiple wars and has experience in leading troops." As for the nameless general of the Hephaestus Kingdom, Aditya completely ignored him. He was good for nothing. Even though the Hephaestus General appeared to be a beginner 4th-order, Aditya felt even a Peak 3rd-order soldier from his Empire can defeat this man.
"Of course, I don't mind." Adian wasn't experienced in leading troops into the battlefield. Henry was more suited for this role and Adian did not mind Aditya giving this role to Henry.
As they approached the northern border of the Hephaestus Kingdom, they saw the enemy troops were waiting for them. The enemy had bought exactly half a million troops with them. While the Istarin Empire and the Hephaestus Kingdom had bought 600,000 troops.
Both sides had almost the exact number of magic cannons. Aditya sent Magic Cannons along with other necessities when he sent 500,000 of his troops to the Hephaestus Kingdom. He knew that given the poor condition of the Kingdom, there is no way, the Kingdom would possess powerful siege weapons that could compare against the enemy Empire.
Aditya let Adian and Henry stand in front and face the enemy commander who appeared to be very young. Aditya stood in the second row and observed the enemy.
"Sir Adian, do you know the enemy commander?" Anyone can tell by looking at the enemy general that he is someone of high status. His background must be extraordinary. He can tell this from the luxurious clothes that he was wearing. There were four guards standing around the generals. One can tell that these four guards were sent here to protect him.
"He is the 4th son of the Methia Emperor if I am not wrong. His name is Hamza."
Adian proceeded to give more information on Hamza. "Hamza is the youngest son of the Methia Emperor. Around a month ago, Hamza turned 18. After turning 18, the Methia Emperor gave him the rank of a general along with 10,000 troops. The Emperor did this so that his youngest son can gain experience in battles and war."
"I wasn't expecting the Emperor to send someone this inexperienced to lead his troops. I don't know what he is thinking." Adian shook his head. In his opinion, this was a very stupid move.
Just looking at his face, one can see that arrogance and pride were in his bones. He was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth. He is one of those good-for-nothing useless nobles.
However, Aditya thought differently. "I think the Emperor wants his son to gain experience and earn a reputation from this war. Obviously, they didn't expect the Istarin Empire to send half a million of its troops using the teleportation array. They thought with just half a million troops they can easily take the Hephaestus Empire."
Aditya's words were on the spot. When Hamza saw an army larger than his army, his confidence began to crumble. At first, he wondered where King Adian has managed to bring this many troops. After all, reports said that King Adian had around 100,000 useless troops that he can easily defeat. But these troops did not look anything but useless.
'Useless my ass....!!! These troops look even more trained than my own army.' But then Hamza saw the flag of the Istarin Empire.
'How did the Istarin Empire's troops come here this fast? By logic, it should at least take 2 to 3 weeks to come from the Eastern region to the northwestern region. Unless the Istarin Empire used a teleportation array.......But that would cost them a huge sum of money.' Just thinking how much money it must have cost the Istarin Empire to send their troops here, made Hamza's heartache in pain. So much money was wasted. He couldn't understand what good will happen by saving a good-for-nothing Kingdom.
'There is no need to fear. I have a Mid-5th-order cultivator by my side. Nothing can go wrong.' Thinking this Hamza regained his lost confidence.
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