Winner Takes All

Leaving the Military Merit Office.

The five of them did not linger for long, and went straight back to their barracks.

Debut suggested that they should have a celebration.

After all, it was their first Supreme Merit in Earthly Hierarchy in the Cavalry. Such an occasion should be celebrated grandly. However, Achilles shook his head, and suggested that buying some meat and wine was sufficient enough as a celebration.

This confused Debut and the others, even Jack was confused.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Supreme Merit in Earthly Hierarchy was an achievement only surpassed by Heavenly Hierarchy.

Why was Achilles so humble?

Seeing as the four of them was eyeing him, he explained while smiling, "It's just that I don't want something like Shawn's incident happening again. Back in the days when I was a Chief Guard, I pissed off a lot of people, and now I got thrown down to this rank here by the Commander. Even though I know a lot of people, there could still be people who want to take revenge on me, just like what happened to Shawn. if we'd went to the tavern, we'll come off as bastards that are showing off."

After a while, Achilles shrugged, "Also, this time, our achievement was too great, ironically. There are bound to be people that are upset with our exploits."

With his explanation, Jack and the others also came to that realization.

Achilles was right.

It did not take much work for them to get the Supreme Merit in Earthly Hierarchy.

They were certain that not everyone would congratulate them sincerely.

The Dragon Cavalry consisted of three hundred thousand men, all of them shaped by Zenith to be an invincible super-soldier. Normally, the inner thoughts of these people were very hard to predict. "Debut and the rest of you, go and buy some nice food and wine. Sergeant White and I will go back to our barracks first," Jack said.

The three of them nodded and left for the tavern.

Achilles looked at Jack instead, smiled helplessly and said, "I knew it, you want to ask me something, don't you?"

"Let's go, we'll talk along the way."

Jack shrugged while smiling, "Come on now, do me a favour and tell me about it.”

Achilles smiled in return, not rejecting Jack's request.

Even if he didn't tell Jack about it right now, Zenith would tell him sooner or later.

However, Achilles kept his mouth shut during the journey back to their barracks.

He asked Jack only when they were about to reach their camp, "What do you wanna know?"

"What's the deal with the insignia?"

Jack asked straight to the point. Them being awarded the Supreme Merit in Earthly Hierarchy must be thanks to that insignia.

"That is a very common insignia, but it has a vastly different meaning behind it."

Achilles did not tell him immediately, and said in a deep tone, "Let's put it this way, the ones that understand what that insignia means in the Dragon Cavalry are the Twelve Golden Guards and the Commander himself. Even for us, it took us two years before we knew the true meaning behind that insignia. It has always been a secret in the Cavalry!"

"You need be at that high of a position just to understand it?"

Even if he had guessed that that was the answer, after confirming it with Achilles, Jack couldn't help but be surprised.

"It has too large of an influence, it might affect the morale of the troopers!"

After checking their surroundings and made sure that no one was within earshot, Achilles whispered, "That is the Coalition Order!"

Coalition Order!?

Jack was shocked and curious.

Achilles continued, "The hundreds foreign tribes had always been defeated by the Dragon Cavalry. Anyone who dares to step foot onto the border of the Northern Territories shall feel the wrath of the mighty Dragon Cavalry, and get driven back to where they belong."

He added, "I believe you've already experienced how windy and cold it is here, close to the border. The place inhabited by the foreign tribes is also like this, but a helluva lot worse. Which is one of the reason why they've been trying to move southwards all these years."

"But, after all these years of trying to breach the border, basically all of the Families in the Northern Territories had gotten their asses handed to them by us. Also, we had observed that the conflicts around the border had been slowing down since two years ago. With that, Commander Harol brought the Twelve Golden Guards and went on a covert operation deep in the Northern Territories to find out what's the situation."

Jack frowned, "And you guys found out about the Coalition Order during that operation?"

"Yes!"

Achilles nodded and even had a touch of anxiousness show on his gaze, "We found out that all these years of us dominating the foreign tribes, with all of them getting crushed one way or another, and none of them able to gain any ground against us, had lead to them forming an alliance with one another since two year ago. With all of the Families forming an alliance, the Coalition Order is created..."

"Rumble!" sounded when Achilles finished his sentence.

Despite that fact that he had lowered his voice to be barely audible by the both of them.

Jack was still shocked as if lightning struck right next to him when Achilles said that.

The foreign tribes Alliance... That was some groundbreaking news!

One of the reasons for the border being an indestructible fortress all these years was thanks to Zenith Harol and his Dragon Cavalry!

Other than that was the fact that the foreign tribes were divided and fought by their lonesome. Some of them even had rivalries with other Families.

This also formed an awkward situation of internal conflicts. Every single one of them wanted to move southwards, and rushed headfirst onto the fortress that was the Dragon Cavalry.

After headbutting the fortress and unsurprisingly being severely injured, they retreated back to the Northern Territories and fought with each other again.

Even the few that managed to pull off something resembling an alliance were still utterly destroyed by the Dragon Cavalry.

This time, however,...All of them were forming an alliance!

If all of the foreign tribes were able to set aside their differences and rivalries, cooperate with each other, and all charged southwards at the same time... "Now I understand why you guys don't want the news to spread."

Jack started worrying, "If this information got out, the morale of the entire Dragon Cavalry would be turned into soft, mushy mud!"

Achilles put on a helpless smile, "We've been keeping an eye on the situation for the past two years. However, the foreign tribes were very sneaky about this, so it was extremely hard for us to notice their actions and figure out their directions. On the flip side, thanks to their internal conflicts, their rivalries couldn't be resolved immediately. Which is why it took two years for them to finally form an alliance." "So, is this why you had such a massive reaction when you saw the Coalition Order? And immediately reported it to the Commander?" asked Jack.

Achilles nodded in agreement, "The Oirat tribe is not considered to be a strong tribe by any means. We mopped the floor with their asses with both eyes closed back then and destroyed their morale. This time, they were daring enough to scout out the southern part of the South Giant City and carried Coalition Order on their bodies. If more people knew this, it would be less than desirable to say the least." Jack's eyes shined as realization hit him like a truck.

A tribe that was destroyed by the Dragon Cavalry was undoubtedly a homeless dog.

When said homeless dog came back to fight the tiger that destroyed it before with unforeseen courage, they were probably not just feeling courageous for the heck of it, they probably had someone backing them!

"Maybe after two years, they did succeed in pulling off an alliance." Jack muttered under his breath.

Achilles nodded with a heavy heart, looked anxious and said, "When I reported this to the Commander, even he was shocked. For our discovery, we should be awarded something higher than a Supreme Merit in Earthly Hierarchy, such as a Heavenly Hierarchy, that should be sufficient. Commander Harol also wanted to keep your identity hidden, so he decided to lower the level of our award!"☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐