( 2 and a half months later )
Christian had managed to completely gain the trust of the Kingsman clan as he was hailed as a hero by the common people and especially the merchants for his daring trade techniques.
He had completed 100% of the transactions he was assigned and had came out as a reliable and trustworthy partner in these times of crisis.
For Farid, he was a lifeline who kept his position as the commander in chief intact, as he made sure to give Christian a lot of benefits to keep him roped close.
Through his intimate ties with the merchant circle, Christian Grey was able to offload a lot of products at higher margin, making a sizeable supplementary income other than the transport services that he provided, and was also able to gain secret intelligence about military contracts and inflow of defence parts that Severus had no access to.
In the end, while the Kingsman clan thought they had bypassed the worst crisis, the reality of the situation was that they were being fattened up like a sacrificial lamb for slaughter.
On their end they genuinely believed that the Paratus army was distressed about the ' New ' trade route via which Christian Grey smuggled goods, as the leaks in information made it seem like it was the source of Ravan's biggest headache.
In Christian's heart, business was so good that he did not wish for this arrangement to stop anytime soon, but unfortunately for him, he had already been given notice, the day for war was drawing near, exactly two weeks from now he needed to fulfil his obligation to Max and help his men infiltrate Dombivli City.
***********
( Meanwhile Max )
Max studied the reports and finally began having the necessary confidence to win the upcoming war.
Max's current total army strength was about 550,000 troops.
He needed to leave about 150,000 of them to maintain order on the four planets that he controlled, with the majority of them stationed at the Paratus capital.
Max had slowly started to withdraw troops from the Greensoil planet, as by the next 2 weeks he planned on completely abandoning that planet and restoring it's status quo as a Saint Maximus planet.
As per his agreement with Sam, he would continue to develop an urban city there bearing all expenses, however, needing all the soldiers he had at his disposal he intended to pull out every last one of them.
Hence, after everything was said and done Max had about 400,000 men at his disposal for the war on Kingsman planet against about 500,000 Kingsman clan warriors.
His side was down about 100,000 men and would be attacking areas with well established defensive formations, however, despite this clear disadvantage Max was confident to win the fight because of two major reasons.
The first reason was that currently he had 250 tier4 warriors enlisted in his army, a force much larger than the Kingsman clan's 150.
This meant that creating openings amongst enemy defensive formations through powerful spells would not be a big issue.
The second reason was that initially there were 5 tier 5 warriors inside the Kingsman clan
With two of them dying under Max's hands, they now only had 3.
Max was confident in dealing with these 3, as if his strength alone was not enough he still had his clone to back himself up or have his clone summon Angakok.
Computing all these factors in, he was finally prepared for war.
In the back of his mind, Max knew that if he waited 2-3 more months, he could amass larger forces and have better odds of victory. He absolutely had no need to rush this fight since he was in control, but he also knew that his back was against the wall.
There were a lot of wolves eyeing this conflict, and if Max did not establish his control over the region swiftly, he had genuine worries that some third party would get involved in this war.
The second reason was that the war-time salary of soldiers was much higher than peace time salaries.
To maintain a force of 550,000 without having an economic powerhouse like Dombivli city under control, was a humongous expense, and Max did not have the ability to sustain it for much longer.
Both these reasons combined, Max was forced to make the decision to fight a little earlier than he was completely comfortable to do.
*********
( Meanwhile Cervantez and Augustus )
" Angakok has begun to stir… My sources say he has a new chosen one" Augustus Won Knight said as he moved a chess piece.
" Memphidos has also become active in the kingdom of dreams. Surely not a coincidence? " Cervantez replied as he moved his piece
" These ancient god's who were silent since the Chaos Era war have stirred again when there is new Chaos brewing.
Perhaps they too understand that a massive conflict is bound to happen in the next few years and everyone will be forced to participate.
The universe has a history of repeating itself, and I think that after 5000 years it's come to a full cycle.
The Council established an unbiased A.I. Queen to ensure that there be peace, but with the queen's neutrality broken, the seeds of discord have been down" Augustus said as he moved the queen piece on his chessboard with great amusement.
" Check " He said
Cervantez thought carefully about his words, then said " This war, it's both a curse and a boon, if we manage to win then the universe won't be divided in two factions anymore.
There will no longer be a dark faction. That will bring true peace "
Cervantez moved his king piece away from Augustus's queen, averting the check.
" If we lose, there won't be a light faction, " Augustus said, reminding Cervantez that the converse was also true.
" Check "
Cervantez studied the board and realised he was helplessly cornered as he admitted defeat and shook the hand of the old foggie.
In terms of chess, he was the best player the emperor had ever faced.
" Regardless, the only thing that's true is that the Won Knight Monarchy and the Hazelgroove Monarchy will stand together against the dark " Cervantez said with a hopeful expression
" Indeed " Augustus confirmed with a smile as Cervantez sighed
In the upcoming war, the only three nations that could be truly trusted were True Elites Kingdom, the Hazelgroove Empire and the Won Knight Monarchy
—-----
/// A/N - Chapter 14/40, today seems hard///