Chapter 840: Beacon of Civilization

The coalition's final contingent, from the Western Lumir Federation, becomes the Eleventh Warband.

Beverly, its commander, is forty-seven and a newly advanced Grand Knight. He is a confidant of Dilio, chief consul of the Western Lumir Federation.

The warband carries the Golden Riverbend Banner, representing western Lumir.

The Eleventh Warband is the weakest of them all. Only a quarter of its soldiers are professionals.

Dilio had scraped together even this force with great reluctance.

Compared with the other countries, western Lumir is miserly beyond belief.

The Western Federation is paying for the full sets of equipment supplied by Peace Haven.

Yet the other contingents have brought supplies of their own. Only the Eleventh Warband has arrived with nothing but the clothes on its soldiers' backs. Even its travel rations came from the powers along its route.

Viscount Beverly and his soldiers find it deeply embarrassing.

Fortunately, Peace Haven does not hold it against them. It supplies their warband with an additional five thousand top-quality warhorses.

Weapons and equipment reach the camp in time for the soldiers to familiarize themselves with them.

At least the Eleventh Warband will not disgrace itself at the departure ceremony.

Peace Haven's two warbands are undoubtedly the strongest.

Half of their ten thousand soldiers are professionals.

Pabos is not yet a Grand Knight, but their exchanges have shown everyone how capable the young commander is. He is no weaker than the other newly advanced Grand Knights.

What really draws their attention is his age: only seventeen. It is like seeing Henwell in his youth.

Of course, the main reason no one dares underestimate him is that he is Henwell's son.

Morris, the other warband commander, has only recently become an Iron Knight. Even so, he stands above the rest.

His fighting strength wins the praise of Senar, the coalition's commander-in-chief.

His command ability also earns the other warband commanders' respect during their exchanges and practice engagements.

Senar therefore appoints Morris deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition, in addition to his command of the Tenth Warband.

Senar stands at the peak of the Iron Rank. He is strong enough to lead the coalition, but knows his own limits as a commander.

He can command small or medium engagements involving hundreds of men, or a thousand or more. Faced with tens of thousands, he would be at a loss.

This is not something that theory alone can solve. The mobile coalition army's most important task is to reinforce battlefields on the verge of collapse.

There will be no time to prepare a campaign plan. Everything will depend on decisions made on the spot.

One mistake could cause a defeat on an enormous scale.

It could even decide whether a country survives.

Senar understands his role: to supervise. He must leave actual battle command to men with the necessary experience.

Not long after Henwell's forty-third birthday, the coalition finishes its preparations.

The departure ceremony is really a grand military parade.

Representatives of the various powers watch from the walls of Los City. Below them, each warband salutes as it passes along the main road.

Peace Haven grants a special holiday for the occasion. Countless civilians line both sides of the road to cheer and salute these elites from across the continent.

Cheers rise like a roaring tide, crowds stretch beyond sight, and flowers shower the passing columns without pause.

The sight lifts every soldier's spirits.

Most are not even Peace Haven soldiers, yet the welcome moves them all the same.

For this moment, the entire continent has come together with one purpose.

Eleven warbands, all armored cavalry with standardized equipment: fifty-five thousand troops, a third of them at Knight Rank.

The continent has never seen such a concentration of elite troops.

Their orderly marching columns stretch for miles.

With cheers and encouragement following them all along the route, the coalition's morale reaches its peak.

Excitement sets every soldier's blood racing and brings a flush to his face.

Peace Haven's people have not seen so many troops pass through in a long time either.

Everyone knows these are the combined elites of the kingdoms. They are not fighting for any one power.

They are no longer fighting over territory, resources, love, hatred, or old grudges.

Today, they fight only for the survival of humanity across the continent!

They fight for everyone, whether present here or far away!

That is why Peace Haven's people cheer as these soldiers depart.

Naturally, the cheers are loudest when the Ninth and Tenth Warbands pass.

At the head of the column rides a young man in black-and-red armor, a war lance in his hand.

Many of Peace Haven's elderly residents weep at the sight of Pabos. They see Henwell in him.

More than twenty years ago, Henwell led Peace Haven's army out to its first battle just like this.

Wherever Pabos passes, people drop to one knee of their own accord. They salute Peace Haven's departing young lord and pray for the valiant boy.

Pabos looks at the ranks of kneeling people, and his throat suddenly tightens.

An unfamiliar emotion wells up in him. This is everything his father protects!

He looks back. On the distant city wall, his father smiles and nods. His mother waves with tears in her eyes. His younger brother jumps and pumps his clenched fist...

This is everything I must protect!

He turns back to his soldiers, then to the people kneeling all along the road.

Among them are his soldiers' fathers, mothers, wives, and children...

They are also the people I must protect!

I'll bring you home! I'll protect Peace Haven! Pabos vows silently.

He beckons his standard-bearing guards closer.

Pabos takes Peace Haven's main standard, weighing over fifty kilograms, and raises it high. He rides on without a word, answering everyone who has come to see him off.

Tears fill the people's eyes as they look at the Bloodstained Black Phoenix Banner held high by the young man.

Their emotion spreads, and more and more people begin to weep.

Pabos murmurs, "Courage Forges Peace; Ordinary People Create Glory!"

Far away on the city wall, Henwell smiles and softly repeats, "Courage Forges Peace; Ordinary People Create Glory!"

As though they have heard the father and son's whispers, the soldiers begin murmuring Peace Haven's declaration too.

The murmurs gradually rise into uneven shouts.

The voices merge, and the two warbands shout as one: "Courage Forges Peace; Ordinary People Create Glory!"

Gradually, the civilians take up Peace Haven's declaration of their own accord.

Their scattered voices finally join in a single, united cry.

The Light of Civilization slowly seeps outward from the Bloodstained Black Phoenix Banner, spreading over both warbands. Henwell's smile deepens.

This is the main reason he arranged such a grand parade!

He wants this occasion to win recognition for Peace Haven's new beacon.

The emotion shared at this grand ceremony will allow the Bloodstained Black Phoenix Banner to replace Henwell's personal crest banner and take on the role of Beacon of Civilization.

So far, it is working very well.

In the future, more officers should be able to invoke the Light of Civilization.