News of Chambord's King completing his training and exiting seclusion quickly spread throughout the kingdom.
The people from the other kingdoms who were here to secretly observe and gather information became even more careful and active. The reason why they were here was to see how strong the sharply rising Chambord Kingdom was, so their kingdoms could better prepare for the upcoming Zenit Military Practice. There were 250 affiliated kingdoms under Zenit Empire; although most of the kings and their kingdoms were weak, there were a few conspirers and ambitious figures. They had big visions and wanted to consider all of their opponents into their future plans. Therefore, gathering information and intelligence was very important to them.
Of course, there were also some organizations that were built around gathering and selling information, so they also had their people in Chambord Kingdom.
All these people thought that it would be hard to get this important information, and they were ready to put up some sacrifices to get it. However, none of them expected the young king to host a kingdom-wide celebration on the square in front of the holy temple right after he finished his training. Everyone saw the handsome king of Chambord with his beautiful, goddess-like fiancée and future queen of Chambord at this celebration. Even all the key leaders and officials on both the civil and military side appeared on this celebration. What was the most surprising to a lot of people was that the eldest princess Tanasha of Zenit Empire who had a very high status also came to this celebration. She talked to Chambord's king intimately as if they were old friends who hadn't see each other for a while.
This celebration gave almost all the scouts and "detectives" the chance to meet all the influential figures at Chambord and observe and estimate Chambord's real strength.
What made them feel even more "blessed" and was that during the climax of the celebration, the King of Chambord actually put on a so-called "Military Review". The two strange and mysterious military forces of Chambord – Saint Seiya and Bylaw Enforcement Force – also uncovered their veils and showed everyone what they were made of.
There were only fifty people in the Saint Seiya formation. Like cavaliers, each of them was riding a fully armored Level 4 Demon Beast, called Roaring Flaming Beasts. These were the trophies from the battle that Chambord with the other nine kingdoms. This was within expectations of the scouts and the people from the other kingdoms, but what the cavaliers had in their hands caused the spies to break a sweat – the huge shields that had hooks on them looked more like doors, and the huge war axes with long poles and thick blades were as long as a sword… There was one common theme between the weapons in the Saint Seiya's hands, and that was – Huge!
The Bylaw Enforcement Officers on the other hand numbered two hundred. They were wearing light armor and helmets with a T-Shaped nose guard. With one hand on spears, the other hands on shields, and top-quality war horses under them, they looked very mighty and high-spirited. When the two hundred soldiers charged through the square with the horses and weapons, the atmosphere seemed a little murderous and dominating.
The citizens of Chambord were delighted to see this.
Compared with the soldiers who looked like broke farmers four months ago, this military force represented a drastic and magnificent improvement. All of them had seen the changes in the four months little by little, and all of them were witnesses of the path of power that Chambord was on and still marching on. When they saw the sharp and confident soldiers and the chilling weapons, they all felt an unprecedented security.
But to the scouts and people from the various other kingdom, the truth seemed very optimistic to them. In fact, they were ready to see a strictly commanded military with a ton of people in front of them; after all, this kingdom had crushed the force that was made up by nine other kingdoms. However, none of them expected to see that Chambord's official military was only made up with three hundred soldiers. Also, from what they were hearing from the whispers between the citizens of Chambord, this really was all the soldiers that Chambord had, and there weren't any hidden forces.
"How… This is all of Chambord's military? Could it be that the King of Chambord beat the troops made up of the nine kingdoms with these little soldiers?" On the outer square, many people had secretly answered all the questions in their minds.
"There are only three hundred soldiers. Although they look very strong and powerful, how much harm could they do?" After some people saw this scene, big rocks were lifted from their shoulders. "It looks like Mister Count was being over-cautious; there isn't anything to worry about in Chambord."
"A military of this level is far from the military in the rumors. It looks like the force made up by the nine kingdoms was a bunch of crap. Too bad that more than sixty Roaring Flame Beasts fell into King of Chambord's hands! Maybe I can think of a way to get these Roaring Flame Beasts into my hands!" Some people were getting greedy; after all, more than sixty Roaring Flame Beasts were a huge sum of treasure.
Of course, not all of the scouts and people from other kingdoms were greedy and near-sighted.
Some of the scouts from the other kingdoms who were hidden in the dark had seen the details and clues that a lot of other people missed.
"The power surging on the King of Chambord is huge and hard to estimate. It looks like he advanced to an even higher level in last month of training… It was rumored that he had killed three-star warriors in the past, so he is probably very close to a four-star warrior!"
"The relationship that the King of Chambord has with the Eldest Princess of Zenit is not normal. Could there be any mysterious or unknown secrets?"
"There are a few warriors that are worthy of paying attention to. Maybe Mister Viscount will be interested in them. If Mister Viscount can recruit these people under his arms, then Chambord Kingdom will pose no threat anymore…"
The celebration party only came to an end near midnight. Except for a small group of people, the undercurrents that were calm a few days ago started to move secretly.
Three days later, the military force from Chambord that was going to participate in Zenit Empire's Military Practice started to move towards the Empire's Capital noisily and proudly.
The autumn wind pulled on the rectangular-shaped Chambord flags and made them flutter in the air. Every single flag was embroidered by the future queen of Chambord Angela one thread at a time. There was a demon beast that looked like a two-headed dog with one sword and one axe each bitten in each mouths on the flags. This symbol was personally designed by Fei. Of course, the archetype had to include the big black dog Blacky in it. The flag poles pierced at the blue sky, and the fluttering flags looked like many dragons flying in the air; they howled as if they wanted to break away from the flag poles and fly into the sky.
All of Chambord's citizens appeared on the two sides of the street, and they threw flowers and tree branches that represented victory, honors, and bravery. These soldiers were some of the women's husbands, some of the children's fathers, some of the elders' sons, and some of the girls' lovers. All of these people watched their loved ones ride the war horses and go on the journey. They gave their prayers with reluctance, as they all wished for them to come back victorious… Fei was at the very front of the troops. He was in a set of light black armor, and his long black hair fluttered in the wind as he rode on top of the big black dog. As if he was tied to the color black, everything on him was black except for his skin. With a spectacular presence, he flexed his arms as he hugged and kept his beautiful fiancée Angela in his arms.
Today, Angela also put on delicate female armor; it was rare for her to wear that. Under the yellow helmet, her silk-like black hair fluttered in the air, and her light fragrance intrigued Fei's nose. No matter who saw her, their eyes would freeze on her for a few seconds as she gave a bright smile. Angela was already pretty, but she had a different presence when she was in armor.
Behind Fei, Peter-Cech, the Commander of the Saint Seiya Regiment; Drogba and Pierce, the two Golden Saint Seiyas; Lampard, the former number one warrior of Chambord; Oleg, the warden; Emma, the blonde loli; Fernando-Torres, the personal guard; and a lot of other people followed him tightly. This troop included almost all the masters and warriors at Chambord. Fei only left his father-in-law Bast and Brook at Chambord to run everything.
The eldest Princess Tanasha's magic carriage, as well as her guards and servants, were also in the group of people.
This [Goddess of Intelligence] had stayed at Chambord for too long, and she finally decided to return to the empire's capital.
After half an hour, the troop that was going on a long trip finally disappeared in the gold-green grass plain. All of Chambord's citizens that came out of the castle to send the troop off turned around and went back unwillingly. On top of the defense wall, the two big leaders of Chambord – Bast and Brook -stood there and watched until the last flag disappeared from the horizon.
"When his majesty comes back, maybe Chambord will have advanced to a Level 3 Affiliated Kingdom… Oh, probably a Level 2 Affiliate Kingdom, right?"
"Level 2 Affiliated Kingdom? Brook, you probably haven't fully understood his majesty's ambitious." The old and handsome Bast laughed. "His majesty probably didn't even consider a Level 2 Affiliated Kingdom to be much... No one actually knows what Chambord will become from this Military Practice. However, since his majesty left, we can't slack off. Our lazy king has left us with a lot of tasks to complete!"
Brook lightly patted the battlement in front of him as he said heroically, "Haha, yeah. Every time I think of the plan that was explained by his majesty, my blood starts boiling. If we can hit those targets and achieve these goals, then which force would dare to look down on our Chambord Kingdom?"
"Ha, I didn't expect that a dull wooden knot like you would have such emotional side!"
"Hehe…"
…
…
Chambord's territory was so small that it was pitiful. The expeditionary forces weren't fast. But after about four hours of traveling, they were already out of Chambord's territory and had entered the adjacent Raice Kingdom. By this time, they hadn't even walked out of the golden plains yet.
Raice Kingdom was a Level 5 Affiliated Kingdom. Although their kingdom was also weak, they were much stronger than the past Chambord Kingdom. When Chambord Kingdom was at an all-time low, Raice Kingdom wasn't friendly and did a lot of things that were essentially throwing rocks at Chambord Kingdom, who was in a deep well. There were numerous collisions between the two kingdoms, and Chambord Kingdom lost most of the time. As a result, Chambord Kingdom's royals couldn't do anything but hand over treasures despite their anger. The king of Raice Kingdom once said to the kings of the other affiliated kingdom that if he wanted treasures and beautiful women, he could go to Chambord Kingdom anytime and get what he wanted… From that, one could easily tell the relationship the two kingdoms had.
Therefore, this kingdom was considered one of Chambord's opposing forces.
"Everyone pay attention and keep your guard up!"
Cech waved his hands, and more than twenty Saint Seiyas were sent away as scouts. In a two to three kilometer radius, everyone was under the Chambord's Expeditionary Force's monitor.
A huge bird that was more than a meter wide flew in the sky. People in the troop had seen this bird fly down from the sky and land on Fei's shoulder and rub its head against Fei's body. They all knew that it was their king's pet; none of them did the stupid thing of drawing their bows to shoot the bird down for a snack.