Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 581: The mighty winter winds

Balhae, Vernium Kingdom

Whoosh!

The dawn of a new day brings about a certain dark tiding in the form of the wind

The wind has become even colder. It felt like winter has come early to the land. Today, the cold is different than the other feeling of cold 

To the people that have been here for tens of thousands of years, even they feel something strange about this coldness.

When the Wall emerges from the ground, when the sound of the Horn was sounded, Darkness flows out from the Three Kingdoms, the sun shines upon the land, bringing boundless life to this land where Darkness had reigned

Now, it was the area of the Ten Tribes that was covered in Darkness. 

Since that day, when morning came, a breezy calm wind would blow and in the afternoon, the sun shines with just enough heat, the night would just be cool enough without freezing temperature.

The people of the Three tribes believes this is the land of the bountiful promised to them

But today, suddenly a cold had envelop the land inside the Wall. Like an ominous omen, a mighty winter had blown.

The coldness is unlike anything that the people of the Three Great tribes had felt in their life. If even they felt like that, then the Outlanders even more so.

There are of course some mercenaries from Vorthy that also took refuge in the state of Balhae.

Most of them are mercenaries from the Mercenary Guild. 

One would expect that a person from such a land of cold and snow would feel that this cold is nothing. 

But even they, covered in their thick fur coat and their thick animals fur blanket stuffed with cotton from Ming also admitted that this cold that is blowing through the land is colder than even their coldest winter

That is how one would described extreme cold. 

That even a warrior from Vorthy could not stand its cold.

In brothels, the customers hugged the whore without even thinking of doing anything with the thing between their thighs but instead hugged them with the desire to warm one bodies.

In such a cold, even that thing could not get up. 

And even the whores, who at most night feint a smile and pretend to be happy being hugged by sweaty, outsized and dirty men did not have such feeling as they are being hugged

Like people covering themselves with warmth, what they wanted from each other is not to satisfy the pent up desire of the loins but to crave each other warmth.

In homes, the same could be said for families. They huddled together, husband hug their wives, and children hugged their parents.

Those who have fireplace, throws their wood and burn it and huddle around it like it is a source of life.

Outside the castle, far away from the walls, some people had gathered in squares, huddle around a large bonfire that seems to at least repel the cold air and wind 

This kind of gathering would rarely be seen in the Human Continent. But it is very common for people of the tribe to gather outside of their houses

While there are many stone houses in the Three Kingdoms, different from the settlements of the Ten Tribes that lives in their ancestral land with their wooden tent and tree houses for those that settled in thick deep forest, the Three Great tribes still retains a lot of their culture

The fire is burning on most of the empty squares. But this fire was controlled.

And it is not only happening in the city.

Even in the barracks of the army, not far from the castle, these tribespeople still burn the fire from last night dance to warm themselves

There were many tribespeople that have followed the Outsider Emperor in his quest. They were integrated toward Arial army

Since the beginning of Arial journey into the Shadowlands, he had never lost a battle. They have always been fearless but today they look up into the sky and frowned.

And they feel fear.

This weather is unusual. Unusual thing is a usual thing for the people outside the Shadowlands.

But, even weirdness has a rule. Cold weather and shrilling winds in the night with the sound of animals howling, screeching, humming, usually signify the coming of an evil spirit.

Seeing omens of death and will o wisp in a journey in the night usually would be warning.

But this kind of cold? 

A cold where it envelops the entire city? 

A wind that comes out of nowhere, a thick clouds covers the sun and coldness of winter in a change of weather as fickle as a woman?

This is very unusual. Some were reminded of the story of the Mighty Winter that would come at the beginning of the Battle of the Ages.

Inside two camps there is two people. One of them is on the south part of the military cordoned area.

The other one is on the north. These two people are the two of the Twelve Great Generals of the Empire.

The soldiers they command is mostly the soldiers that they had cultivated in Eden. 

These are old veterans in the art of war and young men and soldiers that was assigned to them

These soldiers were prepared to tackle the unexpected. They were told of the peculiarities of the New World by the generals.

Fortunately, during sailing the seas, Light blessed them. 

Here were no great storms that swept their ship and there are no great waves that would try to destroy their ship

But these soldiers who had never seen any other continent, was immediately entranced by the mystical sight of the New World.

They have seen great towering trees. The size itself is bigger than the largest tree they have seen in the Human Continent.

Their forest is teeming with life and there were many creatures that they never had seen before on the Human Continent could be seen here.

They are even monsters. Human Continent might have threats. But monsters are not one of them.

If these soldiers were not told about this beforehand and was prepared first, they might have lost all their courage and they might have tried to run away back to Eden, convinced that the New World is some cursed land in dark fairytales.

And the soldiers of Eden also saw the warhorses of the Green Plains that most of Saranites warrior would ride into battle

They were shocked to see how different the warhorses of the people of the Thirteen tribe compared to their horses in the Human Continent

It is understandable. 

The warhorses of the New World are very stocky and muscly. It was like rocks embedded into the muscle of these warhorses.

And they were larger and taller than the warhorses of Human Continent. 

The two generals were also very impressed with the warhorses of the New World and they even raise the idea of taking them back to the Human Continent later.

If the cavalry of the Empire was supplied with this warhorses, they would be like an unstoppable tide of raging seas sweeping all over the battlefield

Combined with the already fully armed men and these warhorses that just by riding it would already invoke fear in the heart of the enemy, the Empire cavalry could become one of the strongest in the world and could even probably contend with those Anjouian horde

The Empire did not lack horses. 

But that is because the Empire invested a lot of gold and funnels a lot of resources to the rearing of warhorses. 

There are only a few regions that is good enough for the military to rear warhorses in the Empire. 

And it requires good care and constant nurturing. There is also a need to send physicians for these warhorses.

Because of the emphasis put by the Empire on the rearing of warhorses, there is even a department in the Universities all across the Empire that teach specifically on how to rear, to care and to heal warhorses using science and medicine.

After the end of the Conquest War and the Empire had stretched their lands toward the West, the military machine of the Empire had also stopped and it was time to recuperate, to stabilize and to strengthen the base

Yes, Arial is a warrior Emperor. 

But, he is also wise in administrating his Empire. He knows that a large empire that is not stabilized could easily crumble 

If he is simply a warrior Emperor, prosperity would not have thrived that much in his Empire. He knows when to wage war, when to stop it and how best to extract profit from the very vulgar way of war.

Warhorses in the Empire is still quite enough.

But, if there is another war such as the war between Eden and Zettel, that warhorses would deplete really fast

Not to mention if there is a rebellion, a possibility that Arial had always believed would happen. 

It is only because he was tightly holding he reins of the Empire that no one dares to openly rebel against him.

His reputation is built upon millions of bones and rivers of blood. One would think twice before going into war with such a person.

And they would be even more cautious.

The suspect of this rebellion is of course, the old noble families that hold power for most of thousand years since the formation of the Vern Empire in the past

Most of the noble families in the Empire had been oppressed by the Emperor, their fangs were plucked and their wings were cut off during the strengthening of the Imperial power, a plan that was actually designed by Silas Perigord.

One of the reason why Eden could quickly respond to emergencies, and to be united is because of the centralization of the Imperial Power.

It is something that even Great Renasia struggle with. 

The Empress still have to deal with the complaint of the lords and not all of the soldier's in her empire had to listen to her.

While most of them is bonded by the concept of loyalty and honor, and rarely they would not answer the call of the Empress when there is a battle that kind of bond is easily broken in front of benefit.

Arial had never had to worry that the soldiers would not listen to his order. Everything in the Empire follows his order.

There is loyalty to only one person and that is the Emperor that rule the Empire. Renasian and Eden. 

Renasia also had done some changes in their way of governing. As such, even though it is subtle, one could see that there is now rivalry between Eden and Renasia.

Though warhorses would not work that good in the desert of Renasia, having it to deal with the rebellion of the Empire is more than enough. 

And the warhorses of the people of the Thirteen Tribe is very powerful compared to their warhorses.

As such, in the matter of warhorses, the more the better. 

When the two generals ride the warhorses of the New World, they found that it was like riding a mountain.

It was stable, strong and unmovable. 

And the other reason that the two generals of the Empire was even more excited about the idea of bringing these warhorses to Eden, is because their ability of running on the sand.

The Empire of Eden and the Renasian Empire on the Southeast of Arrandy is allied each other on the surface but. who know what would happen in the future.

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