Orange fire, black Styx, were both words worth mentioning. When Roland listened to this description, one question immediately popped up in his mind, wasn’t he talking about oil? Even more, open-flowing oil! How important this black liquid was to the industry’s development no one really had to ask. After all, more than half of modern warfare was because of the need for Oil. The rise and fall of the oil prices could even affect the rise and fall of a number of countries, and even change the patterns of the world. If he could somehow get control over the people in the south, he could maybe get a stable source of oil.
However, for now, Roland did not have the time to think about disputes happening in a faraway area, which was out of his control. So without any better option, he had to postpone the show “since in ancient times” to a later day.
“When I get hold of the throne, I will try to get justice for you.” Roland went in front of the kneeling Iron Axe, “But today you violated the discipline of the First Army. From now on you are sentenced to two days of confinement, during these two days, you will reflect on your wrong doings.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Iron Axe returned excitedly.
“Then let us continue the training,” said Roland to the Knight, “and you will also be responsible for the next march.”
Bryan thought that today’s training had already come to its end, but everyone was still sitting on their place in the driving range, no one dared to disperse on their own.
After all, before Carter left with the Prince, he gave them the order to rest where they were, but not to dissolve.
What should he do, if he had to wait until the time of his patrol, he didn’t want to imagine such a scenario.
“Sir Knight, you said that Captain Iron Axe won’t come back?” asked Nail, who was in the same group as Brian himself, “His unexpected action just now nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“How many times have I told you already, you shouldn’t call me Sir,” Brian corrected him again, “In the First Army, you should call me group leader.” After he was knighted by His Highness, his rank within the army had become a lot of higher. It even came to the point that other people didn’t dare to talk to him, except for Nails — the little man worked as a miner before he joined the Army. He was the only one who would often come to him to talk. According to Nails story’s, don’t mention that he dared to talk with a knight, he even said that he’d had close conversations with His Highness.
“This kind of thing… His Royal Highness won’t blame him too excessively, right?” Although he gave him a reassuring answer, but the wariness in his heart didn’t want to quell down. Once he had seen a civilian who accidentally collided with the occupants of a carriage and afterwards got stabbed to death by the guards on the spot, such a tragedy.
Even so, Iron Axe came from another country, it was still very daring to kneel in front of another woman when His Highness stood directly beside him. Even calling her “Patriarch”, adding all this together was a big break of etiquette.
“I guess that will be the case,” nodded Nail. “I’ve spoken to His Royal Highness personally, he isn’t like the other nobles, uh…” He scratched his head and seemed to try to find the right words. “Even though they almost look the same as him, they act totally different.”
Brian also didn’t want Iron Axe to be punished too hard. After more than one month of collective training, he already felt a deep sense of admiration for this foreigner. Especially when he taught them how to build a tent for the case in which they happen to be stranded in the wild. They all benefitted from the superb skills he patiently taught to them. In the eyes of the Knight, Iron Axe was even more suited to be the Commander of the First Army than Carter was.
“They’re back!” Nail brushed against Brian’s arm, “Hey, I can’t detect Iron Axe within their group.”
No, it was time to stop his imagination from running wild, Carter had already ordered them to line up, according to how they had previously trained. When they were ready, His Highness stepped in front of them and began his speech: “The woman beside me is another witch, her name is Echo. She and Iron Axe had been separated before for many years… According to the rules, Iron Axe was sentenced to days of confinement for disrupting the formation and violating the military discipline. No, I will repeat it once more, you all now belong to the regular army, and the most important rule for a member of this army is to always obey orders and maintain the discipline! Can you understand this?”
“Yes! Your Royal Highness!” Brian like the others shouted his consent. When he had heard that Iron Axe was sentenced to confinement, his heart was finally able to calm down and when he looked in Nails direction, the other one made a wry face.
“During the following training, we will use her ability to simulate a variety of sounds, including musical instruments like horns and drums. She will play several kinds of marching songs, which will be your command to act! Everyone will move in accordance with the drums, always holding the same rhythm, keeping the team in one line.” Here, His Royal Highness paused, “On the battlefield, Echo will always stand behind you. You can think of her as the banner of the First Army, and you have to always protect her with everything you have! Now that I’ve finished saying all this… everyone should become familiar with the next tunes.”
What is a Marching Song? Brian’s head was full of confusion, is it something like the music I occasionally hear when I visit a pub? This kind of soft music should be able to motivate you to move forward?
But when he heard the melody coming out of Echo’s mouth, he realized that he had never heard something like this before. He almost instantly understood the meaning behind His Royal Highness words — the rhythm of the drum directly went into his bones, giving him the desire to move his feet, while at the same time the light melody was provoking his desire to fight.
— This so-called marching song, hearing this it would boost everyone on the battlefield, it was a “Battle Hymn” to encourage everyone to keep on unceasingly moving forward.
Chapter 110 Battle of Eagle City (Part 1)
Through the misty morning fog, Timothy Wimbledon could vaguely see some flags fluttering in the wind at the top of the city’s towers that were in front of him.
He raised his gaze, trying to identify the emblem that was depicted on the banner. The sailboat with a crown pattern on top of a green foundation undoubtedly belonged to his sister, Garcia Wimbledon. It was the city’s largest banner.
The second banner had a white background and the image of a snake twisting around a pagoda. This emblem belonged to the Bayer Family. When Timothy had first became aware of this flag, a feeling of contempt had risen up within his heart. But even after they coming and seeking refuge under the protection of the Queen of Clearwater, they still had enough pride that they’d hung their banner above the city, they were simply too brazen. Wait until I catch you, I will make you eat your own flag, Earl Bayer, he thought.
Finally, there was the Red Lion Tower, belonging to the equally shameless Sheet Family. Outwardly, Timothy appeared expressionless, but inside his heart, he had already condemned Elin Sheet to death. It was also the same for Toman Bayer. Of course, both of them would get their very own banner to eat.
“Sir Neiman, lift my banner, the banner of the Kingdom of Graycastle,” Timothy ordered.
“As you command, Your Majesty.” Agreed knight Linden, and then rushed in the direction of the troops behind them “Long live the King, raise the flag!”