7 Visit to the Royal Army Facility

The sky was cloudy today, as if even the heavens were aware of the king's schedule and decided to lend a hand.

It was the perfect weather, especially for visiting the Royal Army facility since a large part of the facility was just flat land which did not have shelter from the sun. That was to be expected as well, since the soldiers were required to get used to fighting under different weather conditions.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" the warrior knelt down in greeting when the king entered the assembly hall.

While it was named the assembly hall, it was really just a large clearing with a tall wooden platform set up at the front. The ground was covered with neatly trimmed grass, and the sky acted as the ceiling.

This was where the Royal Army commonly gathered for any announcements to be made, but now it was housing what seemed to be a contingent of nobles instead.

"Rise," King Roland stood at the very front of the group as he received the warrior's greeting.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the warrior got to his feet upon being instructed.

"Your Majesty, this is Alexander Flamers, Captain of the Royal Guards," Duke Ivan stepped forward to make the introductions.

"I see, so it's is Captain Alexander. I suppose you will be our guide for today?" Roland smiled at the warrior standing in front of him.

As its name suggested, the Royal Army was the private army of the royal family, placed under the command of the king. It was also the largest army within the Great Manta Kingdom, greater than that of any noble families.

And within the Royal Army, there was a special unit named as the Royal Guards.

The Royal Guards comprised a selected few who were the elites within the Royal Army. Unlike the rest of the Royal Army who mainly trained to fight on the battlefield, the Royal Guards were entrusted with the personal safety of the royal army, and were strong enough to fight under all situations.

During the great war, the king was once surrounded and faced imminent peril. At that time, it was all thanks to the strength of the Royal Guards that the king had survived long enough to be extracted by reinforcements from the Tonquello army.

Even though the Royal Guards did not have direct authority over the command of the Royal Army, they were still regarded as the leading unit, respected by all members of the Royal Army.

Alexander Flamers, Captain and also the strongest warrior among all the members of the Royal Guards, was the one selected as the acting guide for this visit.

He was renowned for his strength, and was the one person who had never left the previous king's side every time the sovereign left the palace grounds.

Though given the sheer number of nobles, there were naturally other members of the Royal Army accompanying the contingent in order to answer any questions, and Alexander was just the leader of the group.

"Yes, I have the honour to be Your Majesty's guide for today's visit. When I got to know of the visit, I had immediately gathered my men to discuss about who the best pers-"

"Enough, Alexander. Let us enter," Erin interrupted coldly.

"Hahaha! Look at me getting too excited again. Princess Erin is right, this way please, Your Majesty," Alexander laughed as he led the way out of the assembly hall.

Roland's sharp ears picked up on Timothy letting out a sigh of relief after Erin interrupted Alexander's words.

"Is anything bothering you, Timothy?"

"Ah! No, Your Majesty! Nothing is bothering me!" Timothy jumped in surprise, but managed to quickly force out an awkward grin in response.

"Is there anywhere that you wish to see, Your Majesty?" Alexander cut in, drawing Roland's attention away once again.

"Before the speech at the end, I would like to visit the training grounds to see how training is conducted. It would be best if I could see enough to evaluate the average strength of our royal army," Roland was clear about his objectives today.

"That is definitely doable, but wanted to evaluate their strengths from today's performance might be a little difficult. They should be quite nervous from hearing that Your Majesty will be making rounds today, and that might affect the amount of strength they could display. I remember that when I was still a soldier here, I used t-"

"Are the training grounds nearby? Or is it a long walk?" Erin cut in once again.

"It is near, Your Highness," Alexander had been walking half a step behind Roland, who was naturally leading the entire contingent of nobles, but he always pointed the way to the new king whenever they came to a cross-road.

Alexander was not lying, and the group truly arrived quickly at the training grounds. In fact, the walk from the assembly hall had taken them less than five minutes.

They climbed the stairs up to the top of a watchtower, where they had an unobstructed view of the training grounds below. Unfortunately, there was not enough space for all the nobles, so only those of higher standing were allowed to follow.

The training grounds spanned over a large area, and were efficiently divided into different sections. From above, Roland could see different groups of soldiers undergoing various training, such as strength training and dexterity training.

There were also groups that were doing sparring and more importantly, formation training.

On the battlefield, a single person rarely had the ability to make a significant difference. Unless there was an extreme combat genius on one side, strategy and tactics were usually the key to victory. And in order to properly execute the tactics of the commander, formations were extremely important.

Thus, this was also what the Royal Army focused on the most for its training.

"Not too bad, the soldiers seem to be very familiar with the formations and are swift in moving into their positions," Roland nodded in satisfaction.

It looks like the individual fighting ability of the soldiers is the only thing that is limiting the strength of the Royal Army. What can I do in order to help with that?

Roland contemplated in his heart.

While he was fascinated with the training of the soldiers, Roland had not forgotten the reason for his visit. He, too, knew the pain of losing a loved one in battle, and the only way to reduce such outcomes in the future was to have an overwhelmingly strong army, strong enough to completely deter all potential enemies.

If no enemies dared to even think about taking on the Great Manta Kingdom in battle, then there would no longer be any reason for the people to mourn the death of a loved one who died in battle.

That was, of course, disregarding the occurrence of a civil war.

But after looking at the nobles whom he had met over these two days, Roland firmly believed that none of them would think about such a thing that would jeopardise the peace of the kingdom.

"My gratitude for your compliments, Your Majesty," Alexander thanked Roland on behalf of the soldiers of the Royal Army since he was their acting representative for the day.

"It is a pity that the numbers have reduced after the great war," Princess Erin let out a rare sigh.

"As is the case with every other army in the kingdom," Duke Ivan agreed in melancholy.

As a Duke, even though he spent most of his time in the palace as the Chancellor of State, Ivan had a personal army guarding his own fief as well. They too had suffered heavy losses during the great war, and thus he could clearly empathise with what Erin had mentioned.

The group stayed to watch the soldiers' training for a while more before leaving to tour around the rest of the facility. However, they did not enter the armoury section, which was the place that held the secrets of each army.

Even though the others in the contingent were none other than the nobles of their very own kingdom, Duke Ivan had still suggested that they avoid revealing all their weaponries, and Roland had readily agreed.

After having a formal lunch specially prepared by the chefs of the royal family, where the nobles were joined by the top brass of the Royal Army, everyone once again returned to the assembly hall.

This time, the royal family and Duke Ivan went up the platform in front so as to make sure they were within the sights of everyone present.

It was not just the nobles who had gathered.

The nobles had been instructed to bring along their soldiers and guards who had accompanied them on this visit to the capital, and they were all standing behind each of their masters at the moment.

Not just them, but most of the soldiers who were stationed at the Royal Army facility had joined in the assembly hall, and were standing behind the group of nobles, each with a spear in hand.

But since this was not training, the soldiers naturally had the pole end of the spears resting on the ground.

As Roland looked down from the platform, he could clearly see each and every one present. There was silence despite the huge number of people, as they all waited for their king to address them.

I hate this part of the job, but I guess it can't be helped.

Roland cleared his throat nervously and took a deep breath before beginning.

"For those who are still wondering, as of yesterday, I have been crowned the king of the Great Manta Kingdom."

"All hail Your Majesty!"

The soldiers who were stationed all the way at the back shouted out in unison, the thunderous roar startling some of the weaker hearted nobles who stood in front of them.

"Good spirit!" Roland shouted in response.

His powerful voice thundered across the assembly hall at a volume no softer than the soldiers' combined shout. This startled not just the nobles, but even the soldiers.

They had never expected such a powerful response.

No one present believed that Roland simply had a loud voice.

What he just did was not something that was humanly possible.

There were no other explanations, the king had definitely used a magic spell to increase the volume of his voice. In other words, the king had condensed a mana reserve within himself too.

And judging from how effortless the king had done it, his mana reserve was not small!

What had everyone been calling him? The wastrel king?

Could a wastrel do such a thing?

No!

Their king was strong!

Simply knowing this already caused these hot-blooded soldiers to tighten their grips on the spear in their hands in excitement.

Authority was what they obeyed, but strength was what they respected!

They did not know exactly how strong their king was, but just the fact that he was not some weakling was much better than their expectations.

After all, the previous kings mostly had no fighting ability to speak of.

"I have thought that your morale would be low after the great war, but it seems like you gentlemen are just as strong in mind, as you are strong in body. As expected of the Royal Army of my Great Manta Kingdom!" Roland nodded in satisfaction.

"Our gratitude for your compliments, Your Majesty!" Alexander shouted out from below the platform.

Though still audible to all, his voice was significantly softer than Roland's.

"Is there anything you wish to say to them?" Roland turned to his siblings.

"Do your best!" Princess Helena leaned over the wooden railing as she shouted out at the top of her voice.

Her voice never passed the ranks of the nobles to reach the soldiers, but seeing the princess seemingly trying her best, the soldiers raised their spears and cheered in response nevertheless.

"I believe it is time, Your Majesty," Erin voiced out as the cheers died down.

It is time? It is time for what?

"Ahem!" Roland cleared his throat once again. "Y-You are right. It is time indeed."

Erin smiled after receiving the acknowledgement she was looking for, then turned to look at Duke Ivan, who nodded knowingly.

Duke Ivan stepped forward and mustered the strength in his diaphragm with a deep breath.

"And now the king will start his inspection of the individual families! Due to the large number of people present, only a selected few would have the honour of being tested by the king!" Duke Ivan shouted out.

Is this what Erin was talking about? I will be selecting people for inspection? What kind of inspection is it? Why can't they at least brief me about this so that I can be mentally prepared?

Just like that nobles below, Roland frowned as he heard what Duke Ivan said.

"Now then, please select the ones to be inspected as well as the format of the inspection, Your Majesty," Duke Ivan turned to him and prompted.

W-What the hell? I am supposed to come up with the inspection method? Is he joking with me? Are they secretly trying to make me look bad? Looks like I would have to just wing it again!

Roland took a look below and saw the bewildered faces on the nobles and let out a smile. It seemed he was not the only one who was confused at the moment.

"I do not want to make this complicated, have the strongest warrior in each family come to the front!" Roland's voice thundered across the crowd once again.

Loud murmurs immediately erupted from the crowd as the nobles looked at each other in unease.

Why were the instructions so unclear? What was this inspection all about? Was the king referring to just their guards? What happens if some nobles were stronger than their guards?

Most importantly, would the result of this inspection have any impact on them?