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nA few hours ago before reaching the territory of Duke Walmart.

nWhile Leonhart’s expeditionary forces were passing through the area, the loud sound of metal clanging instantly frightened everyone.

nLeonhart’s forces reacted quickly and raised their guard. By now, they had already positioned themselves in a defensive formation.

nThe defenders raised their shields and took out huge iron towers shields locked onto each other forming a tall defensive tower for safety measures around the Royal carriage.

nThe wall curled and circled the king’s carriage and protected the king against any possible arrow projectiles.

nThe most powerful warriors had already taken out their battalions and rushed forward passing through the tall trees patrolling the area.

nTheir long hair fluttered in the wind and their tall tall figures gave everyone a sense of security.

nAeon and Ben who were in the lead were like two ferocious tigers that carefully observed what was going on with their dark red capes fluttering in the wind.

nLeo who stood in front of the carriage let out a hoarse fierce roar sending the others warning as terrifying killing intent flashed in his eyes.

nAeon was observing around and suddenly raised his hand.

nA flash of an arrow appeared before his eyes but Aeon was faster and caught it with his hand.

nCRUCK!

nAeon crushed the arrow while Ben narrowed his eyes as he heard the shouting and clanging of metallic getting closer.

nAeon noticed many figures nearby.

n“Some people are not afraid of death,” Aeon spoke in a hoarse voice and his figure disappeared.

nThe trees and ground shook as a fierce battle ensued which was already over as fast as it appeared.

nAeon, who apprehended three men to gain some information, suddenly heard a loud voice.

n“Please don’t kill him!”

nAeon narrowed his eyes to see a hundred well-armed infantry standing before him.

n“Who are you? Identify yourself?” Ben asked, raising his sword.

n“We are on a joint expedition to catch these people. These twelve gangsters had killed many and plundered the resources.”

n“See this there is a bounty of 5 gold coins on their name.” The Captain of the joint expedition forces spoke.

nAeon asked the soldiers to relay it to the king.

n“Hand the culprit over them, Aeon!”

nAeon heard the loud command from behind and threw them towards Bright’s forces.

nThe Captain nodded and the man was about to leave when he heard a loud voice.

n“Did I permit you to leave?”

nThe captain’s eyes narrowed as he heard the King’s voice and spoke in a humble tone”Your Majesty, did I show any kind of disrespect.”

n“You said that they have a bounty of 5 gold coins.”

n“So, handover the five gold coins. Leonhart badly needs money. Five gold coins mean a lot.”

nThe captain was tongue-tied on hearing the King’s words.

n“Majesty, we don’t have that much money.”

n“Hmmm!”

n“Report to higher-ups, if before stepping out of Bright I don’t get five gold coins. Bright will surely lose more than it owes.”

nAlex’s voice echoed throughout the place.

nAlthough the captain wanted to mock him he didn’t know why but he felt that the words he heard were soon going to be true soon.

nIn this way, their forces had been harassed one after another.

nSometimes, they were attacked by bandits, sometimes monsters or mercenaries.

nBut things started to go weary and Bright crossed the limits many times seeing Alex taking on everything without fighting back.

nThey even started to form a preconceived notion that King Alex was a coward who didn’t like to fight in other territories.

nIt’s like thr saying that even a lion behaves like a dog in another lane.

nAs they proceeded forward, they didn’t see a large number of infantry and cavaliers from the Bright Kingdom anymore but there were about dozens of scouts from Bright that followed behind Leonhart’s troops and closely monitored their troop’s movements.

nMax was already losing his patience and he even lashed out taking out his axe trying to kill them but was stopped by Ben at the last moment.

nThe soldiers of Bright had their own freedom and could legally do anything and go anywhere in their Kingdom.

nIf Max and Alex charge with their troops, that would give a reason to start the war and they would be held guilty. They just needed a suitable reason to fight back but since Alex was staying back, Bright threw all kinds of dirt on it.

nAround the afternoon of that day, the troop finally walked out of the thick mountains and forest giving them a sense of relief but the peaceful and happy atmosphere didn’t last long.

nThe soldiers started to feel unrestrained in the open space and the fresh swift wind blowing there cleared their stuffed and annoying feeling caused by those bastards Bright forces

nBut as soon as they emerged, they were greeted by a huge number of soldiers near the Fortress, the soldiers were armed and well equipped and were ready for war.

nThe Fortress had been formed by cutting the mountain. On one end of the mountain, many watchtowers were present which would give a strategic advantage to the archers and one could see the whole battlefield from there.

nBetween two mountains was a narrow valley or pass which was the only way to pass through.

nIf there would be a war, they were surely unfavorable position due to the terrain, and Bright on the other hand seemed to be fully prepared and had a huge strategic advantage here

nJust a single command from the higher up and Leonhart’s forces had to face a full-scale war.

nBloodshed was around the corner and the atmosphere was quite tense.

nMany soldiers skipped a beat while they tried to contain the anger and boiling blood of rushing heads and slay the enemies that were before them.

nAlex stared at the scene with a calm expression as if he could somehow predict what was going to happen.

nAs expected, they didn’t fight them and explained that there was a military drill going on here.

nAlex, who had been silent throughout the journey, had already engraved the marks which he needed to take care of later.

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