Chapter 45

If Ben was going to travel deep into an empire capable of fielding one hundred thousand troops, he would need to continue to improve his military strength. These days it always seemed that he would never have enough troops to deal with the next emergency that came his way.

The further he traveled in this world the stronger the enemies would become. Ben was beginning to now realize the lesser god who sent him here had done a huge favor for him by translocating him to a small weaker section of this world.

With this in mind, he entered his cathedral and opened his Build Menu. Under the Landscape and Decoration Category, he opened the custom Statue menu. Ben closed his eyes for a few minutes to recall the details of the image of the lesser god and then began to design a thirty-foot tall likeness of it.

Ben had remembered once reading that the Romans and Greeks had actually painted the white statues that were discovered thousands of years later. We had always assumed they were always simply pure white but over the centuries the paint had simply faded away.

He first had the thought to replicate this method and apply paint to a marble statue of the lesser god. Then as he thought it over this would only lead to continuous maintenance of the surface of the statue. Even if the painted statue was indoors it would still fade over time.

This then led him to take his idea a step beyond simply painting. He used the system to actually change the color of the marble itself. He could color the marble hair, skin, clothes, and other details to make a statue that appeared to be lifelike.

The finished product was an impressive thirty-foot representation of the lesser god looking down toward the pews below with a slight smile on his face. Anyone who entered the cathedral would have their eyes immediately drawn to the towering image of a handsome well-built man with white hair and red eyes.

The system details to color were beyond impressive. It looked like the statue might come to life and begin walking around the large cathedral at any moment.

Ben had goosebumps looking over the statue as he thought, 'This is perfect! I think with this statue the cathedral can now truly be a place of worship to this world's true god.'

Happy with his work, he left the cathedral to continue hiring more soldier. Over the past few days, he continued to use the profits coming in from his businesses and the extra tax money acquired from the other regions to build his military strength.

He had just finished adding another fifteen hundred mounted knights to his military ranks when he received an unexpected notification.

[Auto_Notice] You have recruited over thirty thousand recruits since your first recruit was made!

[Auto_Notice] You have unlocked a new option in the Recruitment Menu!

[Auto_Notice] A Custom Class option is now available for you to use!

Ben already had the Recruitment Menu open. He saw when the option had appeared after the final notice. He clicked on the new Custom Class and it opened a detailed menu that would allow him to now make classes of soldiers beyond what he had to pick from before.

If he wanted to make a sling thrower, a two-handed sword wielder, or even a musketeer, Ben could use the menu to assign certain types of weapons to the class not excluding custom-made weapons as well!

'This is an incredible option! I can recreate military units from Earth or even make special weapons for a particular class to wield now! When I have more time I will have to see what this option is capable of making. For now, I should head over to the Lunia region and begin teleporting my troops over to make the journey into the Broven Empire.'

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On the Lunia and Broven border, inside the Avalon command tent.

Ben stood before a map tacked to a board in front of his generals and said, "The Broven Empire has reached out to us wishing to form friendly relations with our Avalon Kingdom. I am not sure if we can trust their intention, so we shall be advancing into their territory with extreme caution."

Ben used his dagger to point at the map while saying, "We are currently here on the border of the Lunia region and the Broven Empire. I have brought over twenty-five thousand troops along with our Dire Tigers, War Elephants, Dragons, and shock troops. We have plenty of troops back home protecting Dragonshome and our borders so we can concentrate on our current mission without worries."

"The Broven Empire is aware that we are bringing troops along for security. I just happen to...accidentally leave out how many I would bring with me."

"Ha-ha-ha," The generals all had a laugh at how their king claimed to have accidentally not mentioned he was bringing an army large enough to conquer this Broven Empire along with him.

I hope they are sincere in their requests and wish to improve relations between us. We finally have finished dealing with the aftermath of invading these northern regions. I really don't want to spend my entire youth marching from one war to the next!" Ben said as he shook his head and sighed.

"All we can do is move forward for now and keep our eyes and ears open. Once your regiments have eaten breakfast have them pack up camp, and we will cross over the border and begin our journey to the Broven Empire." Ben explained as he dismissed his generals.

The generals left the command tent to pass along Ben's orders and prepare the troops for the march eastward.

The Avalon army was on the move an hour later and crossed the Broven border without any difficulties. The Broven emperor knew when Ben would be crossing the border thanks to the two of them keeping in touch through diplomats.

The emperor wanting to show Ben respect had sent a squad of his palace guards to the border to escort Ben and provide additional security.

When these waiting palace guards saw the procession of troops and creatures following behind The line of hundreds of carriages and armored mounted men they were stunned senseless.

The second in command among the palace guards turned to his captain and asked, "S...sir weren't we sent here to provide them with protection?"

"Thaaat was what our orders were. Now that I have seen this I think we are the ones who will need to be protected." The captain replied.

A palace guard behind the captain said, "I have never seen an army such as this. Those men who ride these creatures are fully encased in metal armor along with the creatures they ride. They could casually ride through a storm of arrows and come out the other side without a scratch. How do you stop a force like that?"

"Forget about those mounted men look above their army what are those sinister creatures flying above them!"

The squad of palace guards looked up and found two black and two red creatures gliding in circles around the slow-moving army. Even from this distance, the dragon fear sent small shivers of fear through them.

They had to force themselves to avert their gaze from the dragons. The longer they watched them fly, the more a voice in the back of their minds screamed at them to run!

The palace guards soon met up with the Avalon generals leading the army and introduced themselves and explained they were sent to escort them to the capital.

Ben remained in his carriage cultivating and allowed the palace guards to join them. When he was informed of the palace guards he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The emperor could have sent them to track his movements and to secretly send out their location as they traveled or it could simply be the emperor showing respect to him.

Either way, Ben was confident in his forces and had a some of the women from the Shadow squad track their movements as they marched and camped at night. There was no way they could slip away with a squad of his Infiltration Assassins watching over them.

The next thirteen days went by without incident. The palace guards had even proved to be useful when passing through the towns along the way and showed no signs of sending messages ahead of them. Whenever a town saw Ben's dangerous looking army approaching they would close the gates and prepare for battle.

The palace guards could be sent ahead to calm down the town guards. This allowed the Avalon army to pass by without having to worry about the town guards trying anything stupid, like launching arrows at them while they passed under the town walls.

Ben had his army camp a half mile from the Broven Capital so as to not apply to much pressure to them but at the same time, he wanted them to see his army and to know they were within striking distance.

When they surveyed the city walls and found only city guards patrolling them, Ben began to think that this emperor may have been on the level with him.

Ben thanked the palace guards for the escort and allowed them to return to the city. Ben had them deliver a message that he would enter the city tomorrow to meet their emperor. It was a little late in the day now and it would be better to get some rest after having traveled all day.

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Broven Empire, Palace Council Chambers.

The sun had set and Ben's army had made camp near the capital city Emperor Landon Lockwood had gathered his officials and the captain of his palace guard for a late meeting.

When reports of a large enemy began to make it to his ears, Emperor Lockwood had everyone report to this hall.

Emperor Landon Lockwood entered the council chamber and sat at the head of the table. He scanned the people who were standing around the table and nodded for them to sit.

When everyone had sat down the emperor said, "Let me first ask my palace guard to explain the situation. I am sure we are all aware already that the Avalon king has arrived outside our city walls. What I want to know is what is the meaning of that massive army out there?"

The captain of the palace guard stood from his seat and said, "I politely inquired about the Avalon army when we first met the Avalon generals. They simply stated that those troops were brought along for their king's security and that the Broven Empire gave them permission to cross the border with Avalon troops."

The emperor nervously chuckled and said, "A king or an emperor normally would travel with a few hundred troops for protection from the reports I have received there are at least twenty thousand troops out there. They even brought along the creatures that we had trouble believing were real. Even at a half mile away it is easy to see those giant lizard creatures out there on the plains near their army."

The members began to question how the Avalon general treated the captain and if he thought they had any ill intentions. They had invited the Avalon king here to improve relations, and they were now in a possibly dangerous situation that they could not defend against.

If that army out there suddenly stormed their walls in the middle of the night there was no way they could stop them! With only around a thousand city and palace guards to defend the capital city it would be a slaughter.

The palace guard explained he did not believe the Avalon king was here to invade them. The way they respectfully treated him and the way they casually moved across the empire seemed they were not in any hurry. If they were here to invade you would expect them to blitz forward and quickly strike before the enemy could make preparations to stop them

Emperor Landon Lockwood after listening to the captain and his officials for some time then said, "It would appear the Avalon King is a cautious young man. I think I can now understand his way of thinking. He wants to improve relations with us, but he has found himself in the sights of other rulers so many times now that he will not take a step forward unless he is prepared to meet any treacherous schemes against him. By bringing this massive army he is prepared to deal with anything we might throw at them.

"If we were to so much as raise a hand against him his troops would be inside our city within the hour. Let's pass the word that if anyone offends the Avalon king during his visit they and their entire family will be sentenced to death! We can not allow anyone to give them a reason to storm in here!"

The Broven emperor made it clear that they would soon be allied with the Avalon kingdom. If anyone were to cause problems not even the gods would be able to save them and their families from destruction.