Chapter 994: Chapter 56 City Lord of the City of Light_5
Aldos stood up and said, "I still have a lot of things to deal with, so I’ll be leaving first. If you need anything, just use this token; no one will stop you."
After the three of them saw Aldos off, Kary had someone bring Ah Dai a set of magic robes, also red to symbolize the identity of a fire mage, but this set had a special feature—the hexagram on the chest was made with gold threads, with ordinary magic crystals in red at the six apexes. On the right shoulder, there were nine golden hexagram stars, signifying the status of a guild elder. Wearing this splendid magic robe, Ah Dai couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward, but he couldn’t refuse Kary’s kind gesture and simply had to accept it. Kary originally wanted to let him choose some magic items from the guild’s collection, but Ah Dai refused them all. After all, he knew his magic level was not very high; those magic items would be of no use to him. The next morning, as Ah Dai and the others were leaving, Kary personally escorted them to the West City Gate of the City of Light and gave Ah Dai a hundred amethyst coins for travel expenses, which Ah Dai reluctantly accepted after attempts to decline.
Yan Li initially wanted to buy some horses, but Yan Shi, after examining the map, realized that the terrain entering the Empire of Sunset City was complicated and that horses would find it difficult to pass, so he abandoned the idea. Thus, the three of them continued on their journey to the Empire of Sunset City. The greatest gain for Ah Dai in the City of Light was not the title of elder of the Mage Guild or Aldos’s token, but employing the blood of the Divine Dragon to subdue a bone dragon. The physical attack power of the bone dragon was so strong that it was superior to Ah Dai’s own untransformed state, and it would surely become a great aid to him in the future.
Two days later, the trio finally crossed the Province of Light and came to the border between the Empire of Huasheng and the Empire of Sunset City. Facing the military camps that stretched as far as the eye could see without discernible borders, they were stunned. Yan Li exclaimed, "How can there be so many troops here? How are we supposed to get through?"
Yan Shi pondered and said, "It seems that the relationship between the Empire of Huasheng and the Empire of Sunset City is very tense! These must be the defensive forces of the Empire of Huasheng. By the looks of it, I guess there are probably more than a hundred thousand people."
Yan Li looked at Ah Dai and said, "No wonder Lord Aldos wanted to give you a token. Without it, it would be impossible to pass through the stationed troops."
Ah Dai took out the token from his bosom and said, "Then let’s go. Uncle Aldos said that with this token we could pass through the imperial troops of Huasheng freely, didn’t he?"
The three of them walked towards the camp from the front; when they were still hundreds of meters away from the camp, they were stopped by patrolling infantry. However, once Ah Dai showed Aldos’s token, the infantry recognized its origin and dared not neglect them. They quickly led them into the camp.
In the military system of the Empire of Huasheng, ten people made up a small team, a hundred people a squadron, a thousand people a battalion, and ten battalions, or ten thousand people, composed a legion. Ten legions formed a group army, with the Group Army Commander responsible. The hundred thousand people stationed here were the only group army of the Province of Light. Their commander was naturally Governor Aldos of the Province of Light. These troops could also be called Aldos’s direct troops, known as the Tiger Army of Light. Under the leadership of the Tiger of Light Aldos, they had made countless meritorious services for the Empire of Huasheng. They were the most formidable force, aside from the Holy Light Knights led by Commander Feng Wen.
Because Aldos had many affairs to attend to in the Province of Light, he naturally wouldn’t command here in person. Temporarily taking his place was his top general, Viscount Xiphil, commander of the First Legion of Light. Xiphil was cautious, excelled in defense, fiercely loyal, and highly trusted by Aldos. With Xiphil commanding the forces stationed here, even if the Sunset Empire suddenly attacked, Aldos was confident that the enemy would not be able to approach an inch. The infantry that stopped Ah Dai and the others, since they were holding Aldos’s token, treated them as messengers from the City of Light and directly reported them to the command of the group army.
Xiphil was in the midst of a conference with the other nine legion commanders and some staff and generals of the group army. As soon as he heard that messengers had arrived from the City of Light, he hurriedly invited Ah Dai and the others into the command headquarters.
The command headquarters was a large tent set up temporarily, extremely spacious, covering a hundred square meters. Entering the tent, Ah Dai and his companions, who had little experience with the world, were taken aback by the sight of the armoured, imposing generals and felt somewhat panicked. They were merely passing through but had not expected to be received by the commander here.
Xiphil descended from the chief’s position, examined the three men up and down for a few moments, and while he couldn’t see Ah Dai’s face clearly due to the bulky mage’s cloak, he recognized the insignia on Ah Dai’s shoulder. Surprised, he quickly said courteously, "Viscount Xiphil has failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive me, elder. What commands does the Governor have?" He internally chided the messenger for not clarifying the identity of the visitors. The status of an elder of the Mage Guild was exceedingly esteemed, and he should have gone out to meet them personally.
