Ben was brought straight to the throne room with his two spies following behind him. The palace guards informed an assistant of the situation, who approached the throne to inform the monarch of Ben's arrival.
The assistant came back and told the guards they could bring Ben forward.
"Excellent work captain...I believe it is Kyler? Correct?"
"I am honored to find out the monarch knows my name. I am reporting to have brought the owner of the store which was recently attacked."
"Thank you, Captain Kyler. Please return with your companion palace guard to continue watching over cultivator King's store until we send someone to relive you."
Captain Kyler bowed and immediately left the room to return to his post outside of Ben's store.
Ben walked forward and remained silent. He did not bother to bow or show any respect toward the monarch. He just simply stood there silently waiting to see what this monarch had to say.
When the people in the seating gallery saw Ben's nonchalantly approach the monarch without speaking or bowing they began to whisper to one another about his disrespectful attitude.
The king raised his hand and yelled, "Silence!"
He quietly sighed and said, "Cultivator King isn't a subject of our Dynasty and the last time he was brought before me he was treated with suspicion. He has the right to be unhappy with us.
Cultivator King was treated badly and still went on to open a store in our capital city. It quickly became a popular store which sells miraculous foods. These foods have begun to help our cultivators and our people improve themselves.
He brought these all to us and then his store was destroyed and his employees were killed by the group of criminal cultivators we have been pursuing."
The king looked at the gathered crowd and then looked down at Ben.
"I have to apologize to cultivator King for treating you like a spy and for not protecting you people and property. It is the responsibility of the royal court to provide city guards to protect the people within this city's walls from criminal acts. I hope you can accept our apology."
When Ben heard the apology and the 180-degree difference in the monarch's attitude he knew that he was a decent man. It takes a lot for someone in his position to apologize and admit his wrongdoings.
Ben bowed deeply and saluted the monarch. "I humbly accept the monarch's apology. I would also like to apologize to the monarch and the gathered court for my contemptuous attitude just now."
The monarch smiled when he heard Ben's response and nodded approvingly.
"The court would like to ask if cultivator King would be willing to join hands with us to help root out the criminal cultivators causing chaos in the capital? We know you to be a strong cultivator and your strength could help to bring them to justice."
Ben turned to look at the large gathered crowd sitting behind him before turning back to look at the Monarch.
"Before I respond may I ask if it would be possible for us to all speak privately somewhere? I have sensitive information I wish to relay to the monarch and I do not know who behind me may be affiliated with the cultivators who attacked my store." Ben asked as he looked between the king and his royal cultivator.
Again muffled whispering began to rise behind Ben from the gathered peanut gallery of nobles and important people of the Dynasty.
The monarch once again silenced them all before looking to his royal cultivator who nodded after a moment.
"The court will be dismissed for now. Everyone gathered may remain or return as you wish. We are going to hold a private conference with cultivator King to hear what he has to report to us."
The monarch stood from the throne and asked Ben to follow him.
The monarch and royal cultivator brought along an assistant and four palace guards.
Ben followed them closely with his two spies right behind him. When the two of them stepped forward Ben explained they were his men.
At the end of the hallway the monarch posted his four guards at the door they entered through. They all walked into a richly decorated conference room with a large table and cushioned chairs in the center of the room.
The monarch sat at the head of the table flanked on his left and right by the palace assistant and his royal cultivator.
Ben sat down next to the royal cultivator to put everyone at ease. If he was in close to the royal cultivator they would not be anxious about the monarch being so close to him. The spies both sat quietly in the chairs next to Ben.
The monarch looked to Ben and said, "This is my personal assistant Callum and you have already met Jabari Holden my royal cultivator and I am Reidar Caegon the 8th Monarch of the Caegon Dynasty. A few hundred years back my ancestor led a revolt against the Rodara Kingdom and here we are now." He explained with a smile.
As Ben listened to Reidar Caegon finish his introductions, he brought out a map of the continent his kingdom was on.
Since we are doing proper introductions allow me to introduce my two investigators here. This is Marius and this gentleman is Henrik and I am Ben King a cultivator, a mage, and the King of the Avalon Kingdom.
Ben surprised everyone when he pulled a map out of thin air and introduced himself.
Before anyone could respond he placed the large map in the center of the table for everyone to see. It was obvious this landmass was not the continent they knew and the details of the map were astonishing.
In this era, it was unheard of to have a map of an entire continent especially one that showed every forest, river, town, and city.
Ben explained that this was the continent he had come from. He also gave them a quick recap of how the eight kingdoms and become the nine kingdoms. Then he explained how these nine kingdoms suddenly became six kingdoms due to his Avalon absorbing three of them.
He wanted these people to understand his militaries strength so he described how he had steamrolled each kingdom that had stood in his way.
He explained the training his troops had gone through and how many cultivator/magi he had. While they all listened in stunned silence Ben crossed the room far away from everyone and raised both hands.
In his left hand he cast a large ball of fire and in his right hand, he held a large rotating ball of electricity. He gave them a second to see him cast the spells before he dismissed them. This was only a demonstration to let them know he was truly a mage and a cultivator.
Ben returned to his chair and purchased a now available map of this continent, which was unlocked for purchase once he discovered this land.
He placed the kingdom map he had shown them earlier into his inventory and replaced it with the new map of their continent.
Every one of them all couldn't help but gasp! A complete map of their entire continent! It included the northern snow regions, Zion Island to the south, and the empires to the east!
As they all looked over the map with their eyes rolling in their sockets Ben looked to the Caegon and Rodara border.
The Caegon Dynasty was located on a peninsula and it had a small border that connected it to the mainland. It was surrounded by the ocean and a long inlet cut up along its eastern side
Ben looked up from the map and said, "I have heard the Rodara King has begun making arrangements to invade your Caegon Dynasty. The first thing I would like to know is, does your Dynasty have an army or do you draft males from the population to fight?"
"We do not have full-time soldiers like your kingdom. Only the empires to the east have the money and population size to field and train an army. The other kingdoms and dynasties all levy male subjects in times of war. Our armies may not stand up against trained soldiers but they are fine against other levied armies." The monarch explained.
"I see, and how many men can your dynasty field in times of war?"
This was a sensitive question to ask and Ben didn't mind if they answered he was more curious to how much they would trust him. If they chose to not answer then he would discontinue the plan he was working up to sharing with them.
The monarch leaned back while looking up at the ceiling in thought for a moment before he spoke up. "I would say somewhere around or above fifteen thousand men could be levied if we were serious and had time. If it were a rushed operation around ten thousand could be quickly assembled." The monarch honestly responded.
"Does this mean since the Rodara Kingdom has three more towns than you that they can raise an army of up to or more than twenty thousand troops?" Ben asked.
The king's assistant spoke up this time as he looked at a parchment which must have had war estimates written on it."Possibly. Their population had more noble families, merchants, and craftsmen who would not be levied to go to war. We are predicting they will have anywhere from eighteen to twenty-one thousand men assembled when they cross the border."
Ben opened his virtual text doc that listed his troops.
________________________________
Current Ground Troops
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1200: Elven Archers- General Victor
1200: Human Mounted Knights- General Justinus
1200: Human Heavy Infantry Spearmen- General Kaeso
2000: Human Male Dismounted Knights- General Decius
1000: Human Male Javelin Cavalry- General Cassius
1000: Human Male Infantry Phalanx- General Quintus
50 Half-GIant Male Heavy Armored Swordsmen/Heavy Armored Axemen
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20: Human Male Cultivator/Magi
20: Human Female Cultivator/Magi
20: Fairy Female Magi/Cultivators
150: Human Male Engineers: 3 man teams [fifty 12 pound breech-loading rifle]
Fifty Ammunition limbers holding [Canister Shot] and [Explosive Shells]
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100: Human Male Engineers to maintain and operate siege machines
20 Siege Towers
20 Trebuchets
10 Ballista
10 Battering Rams
500 Siege ladders
500 Wooden Mantlets
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"I currently have just over seven thousand six hundred elite troops supported by sixty cultivators who can use magic. I may sound like a braggart but I believe one of my soldiers is equivalent to four levied commoners with the training they gone through and the equipment I have issued them. If this is true then my army's strength is on scale with an army of thirty thousand levied troops. With my troops and the supporting divisions, I think I could defeat the Rodara invasion on open ground, but I will take a lot of casualties."
Ben looked over at the map and pointed at the Rodara border. Where would you predict their army will invade from? Have they begun staging on the border yet or are they keeping their troops mobile?"
The assistant pointed just east of the road in the Rodara Kingdom. "They have built a camp here and erected a few walls around it for protection. If they were to directly invade from their camp toward the northernmost town then they will most likely march straight down the road or alongside it."
"If that is the case then I would think they would capture this northern town and march along the road directly to the capital to try and capture the city and the monarch. If they were to break east to travel along the coast to capture those two towns east of the capital they would be taking an allowing the capital more time to levy men and prepare for them." Ben explained trying to think of how the Rodara invasion would progress.
Everyone seemed to agree with his assessment. The Rodara army would want to blow through the first town and head directly to the capital to prevent the monarch from escaping and/or raising additional troops to defend the capital.
Ben pointed just north of the northern town and said, "After hearing it was Rodara cultivators have attacked my store they have unknowingly declared war on my Kingdom. I will make a deal with you if you give me fifty acres of land two hundred yards north of this northern town I will use my magic engineers to build an enormous fortification there to block the Rodara invasion. If I do build there they will have four options."
Ben began pointing out different spots on the map as he spoke. "They will try to swing west around my fortifications to directly attack the capital, swing east around my fortifications to directly attack the eastern towns and the capital, try to charge past my fortifications to directly attack the town or they will choose the worst option of all and directly attack my castle.
"If they choose to bypass my fortifications I have ways to attack their flanks the entire time they try to push forward. If they directly attack the northern town or my castle they will have to deal with my troops. I have twelve hundred skilled archers who can shoot accurately out to around five hundred yards. This means if I split them into two division one could defend the town from the town walls and the other division could still hit any attackers who attacked the town from the fortifications."
"Ben looked up at the monarch and said, "By giving me this section of land you can triple your military strength during this invasion. It will be possible for you to keep your troops inside the capital and defend against any stragglers who might get around me. If you are not comfortable with me building a fortification inside your borders and having me field my troops here then I will go with my plan B option. Basically, I will keep my troops stationed off the coast on my ship and once Rodara invades and your two armies have nearly wiped each other out I will launch a coastal invasion from the river just east of their capital. Either way, in the end, I plan to invade the Rodara Kingdom and establish an extension of my Avalon Kingdom on this continent."
Everyone looked at Ben wide-eyed all they could think of was "ruthless"! If this young king's army was as strong as he is confident in them, he was a power to not mess with.
They could not believe he had plans to sit back and allow them to whittle down Rodara's troops so he could walk in and capture the Rodara Kingdom without hardly even fighting.
Who was to say after he conquered Rodara that he would not decide to invade their Caegon Dynasty after they had lost a large portion of their men who were fit to fight!
They looked at one another with the same thoughts and silently all agreed it was better to be a friend of Ben's than an enemy! He claims to have sixty cultivators who can use magic if this were also true couldn't he casually march them right into the city in commoner clothes to capture the capital before anyone even realized what was happening?
Ben then stood up and said, "I will give you time to discuss how you wish to proceed. You can also recall your men from my store. I will head back there and begin cleaning up the mess those bastards made. Oh! I will try and track down these cultivators as well and find out how strong they are."
Ben nodded to his men to follow him out and before he left he told the monarch he could keep the continent map he left on the table as a gift. He had seen how he looked at it and knew it would be a valuable asset for his dynasty in many ways.
Ben saluted everyone and said, "I will be looking forward to your response then. Have a great day everyone." He gave a final smile and left the palace to return to his store.