Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 632: The outer city of balhae (3)

Of course, if this happens in the Human Continent, Arial would not take it so seriously. Instead he would send Leander to take care of it.

Arial even believes that if this happens in the Human Continent even before the news arrived at his desk, the one asking for such a duel would already be dead, and the head of that person would already would be send to his office

One on one duel tradition is almost extinct in the Human Continent and is only practiced among the knightly houses. 

Knightly houses are another term that had surfaced after the establishment of the Empire. Arial had employed many Knights that used to learn at the Knight Academy into his military

This has solved the insufficient commanders in the military

Most of them are given the ranks of commander to lead a small unit of army under his command.

But some are allowed to form legions from the conquered regions of the Emperor. So there was the Legion of Arrandy, Legion of Aetherland, Legion of Eden and so on and so forth.

Most of them moved according to the directive of the Empire which is a bit different than the system of the Twelve Generals. 

And they also have to coordinate with each other unlike the Twelve Great Generals who usually fought their own way and fought their own wars.

But the Legions also have some freedom that is not afforded to the normal soldiers of the Imperial Army. 

One could say that the military during the Conquest was very unorganized. 

If not for the fact that the Emperor is Arial of House Vermont, and that he had high enough charisma and strength to keep the Empire morale strong the Conquest War could have backfire and bring down the newly established Empire. 

Because from the moment that the Empire embarked on a journey of hegemony, inheriting the will of past kings and Emperors that always wanted to try to unify the Human Continent, Eden has set itself against all of the established power of the Human Continent.

Arial at that time was angry at Zettel and to many people that was what started the hegemony war. 

It was an emotional decision

But that did not rob him of his common sense. When he had declared war, he declared it at the best time possible. 

Great Renasia was conquering the mountain tribes and pacifying the tribal confederacy of the desert.

Anvali was in a period of consolidation of power and the High King of Arakath, the Lord of the Demons is allied with Arrandy at that time.

Great Renasia is the only external enemies that could truly pose a great danger to him. 

If at that time Great Renasia is free and instead join in in the war, then it would probably take decades for him to get an advantage. 

But Arial himself is not a person that leave his fate to chance. Seren was a buffer kingdom at that time. Seren himself is protected by the secret force of the Empire.

Of course there is always the sea route. 

There is a great large of the sea water between Vangua and Renasia. 

But Vangua had always cast a wary eye at Great Renasia so they have a functional navy. 

The only reason they could not use their navy to blockade the port of Arrandy when Arial come conquering was that it had to sail the windy and stormy seas of the Dark Sea and they would also draw the ire of Arakath at that time. 

Bu even so, the navy of Vangua was not that advanced. It wasn't until Arial took over Vangua and renamed it Eden, that a reform had been done to the navy.

Still, in the Conquest War, Arial had relied a lot on the legions

Most of these legions were led by Knights. And while they do not use Knights title, they embodied many knightly virtues even in wars. 

And because of the flexibility given to the many military arms of the Empire at that time, The Empire could quickly expand their lands, defeat their enemies, and launch unconventional tactics that the Human Continent has never seen before

When one hears the Conquest War one might think it takes years but actually it only took four years for the Empire to conquer half the entire continent. 

Vern capitulated and become Vassal Kingdoms of the Empire, Aetherland is related by marriage as the sister of the Emperor is betrothed to the Crown Prince of Aetherland.

If one day the Imperial Sister bore a son, then that son would become the future heir of Aetherland and the relationship between the Empire and Aetherland would be as strong as a rock since they would truly be family

Zettel was destroyed, the Church was pacified and from the north to the south, in four years, the military campaign of the Empire had brought peace with steel and blood.

In that four years, blood spilled all over the continent. 

But it is also because of that changes could be enacted quickly and old orders could easily be destroyed. 

People could live without fearing the noble extreme power, prosperity of the land reaches to a new height, new inventions bloomed and productivity increased.

What Arial had done was terrible. The human cost was in the millions

Silas had even warned of the Emperor of this. That his act of trying to unite the Human Continent with military might would incur great casualties.

Millions died in that war. 

In the many wars that the Human Continent fought since the establishment of the Vern dynasty, there was never such a war that involves so many people and kill so many people. 

But because the Empire had won and the Emperor is Arial, peace quickly reigned and unlike regimes before it, Arial had managed to make the Empire even more prosperous

while the process of unification is not yet complete, people believe that there are only two great powers in the Human Continent that could fight for hegemony.

One is the Empire of Eden and the other is the Empire of the Sun, the Great Renasia of the Far East. 

While it is called the Empire in the far east, it is actually far east of Vangua or Eden. 

And because Vanguan nobles at that time called it the Far East Kingdom, the entire Caelum nobles at that time called it the Far East kingdom

In the direction of Arrandy, it is on the south of the border passing Seren. If its Aetherland, it is on the south east.

Regardless of all that, when the dust settled, and more than half of the Human Continent is under the rule of the Empire, Arial had given these knights noble titles and give them territory to rule. 

As most of them are knights, some people in the court calls them Knightly houses. Some even separated from their family and founded their own new houses. 

After all, many of those Knights are also second sons and none of them would gain the title of their father. 

But because of the contribution during the Conquest War, they were given noble titles.

Only this kind of family would send duel when there is a disagreement. 

But even then because of the laws of the Empire, none of these duels lead to death. 

Once a duel letter is sent, they must send another letter to the Hall of Justice to preside over the duel.

The duel would be watched over by the officials of the Hall of Justice. 

And they could not wager their lands unless it is approved by the Emperor for all lands after the establishment of the Empire, theoretically belong to the Emperor.

The Empire is an Empire of Law

Lands could be given but it could also be taken away. 

Titles could be bestowed and it could be revoked. 

This centralization of power of the Emperor is not something that has ever been seen before in the Human Continent.

It is because of this, duels in particular is thought of as impractical and relegated to simply old tradition that could no longer be practiced in the current era

After all, it did not make sense that if one wins in a duel they are more rightful than the other. 

Such notions would undermine the very law that each citizen of the Empire had to abide by.

For example, if someone could defeat Arial in a battle and claim all of the Empire in a single duel, even if Arial could accept it, would the people under him, his officials, his vassal accept it?

That would not make sense at all. Integration of the law of the Empire had render duel fights to simply a way to protest other than some legal binding method. 

While certain Knights honor is still promoted, dueling to determine the judgment of a crime or to wager something is no longer in fashion and in some cases illegal

But this is the New World. 

Arial knows that while the Three Kingdoms styles themselves as kings and Queens, have noble titles like any other kingdoms in the world, they are still tribal in nature. 

There are certain acts and deeds they admired and certain acts and deeds that they despise and disdain

Arial has always been a genius strategist. It is only because he rarely shows it to the world that some other got the limelight and he is more known as the War God of the battlefield.

Arial is confident of his strength and he knows that if he back down from this duel, his reputation probably would be distorted as a coward. 

The people on this land did not care much whether he is declining because of strategic reason or not. They are guided by virtues and emotions.

These virtues make certain Edenian think that they are stupid, 

But it is this virtue, this culture that makes them powerful and united. They would not acknowledge him if he run away from a fight

Of course, they still have to listen to him because of his army. But going forward, he had to use the soldiers of this land.

If even his soldiers could not look at him proudly and follow him wholeheartedly., then there is a problem.

The loyalty of the people of this land is hard to gain. But once it is acquired, it is hard to break

This culture glorifies personal strength and prowess and they treat oaths as sacred as their life. 

Even though he could send his soldiers to deal with this one man, the blowback from this event might make his conquest of the land harder.