Chapter 95: Eleventh Episode: Chapter 4 (1/2)

Chapter 95: Eleventh Episode: Chapter 4

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The information and the intelligence activities have their roots way back in history. In the books of Ancient Romans, it was written that the earliest intelligence activities were first seen during the Mythical Age in human history. According to the saying, the Ancient Taka Kingdom who treated the God of Sun as its God of Guardian was at war with the Tranver Kingdom. The God of Sun sent a divine horse from His own war chariot to the sky above the enemy to watch every move of the enemy. Then, it would inform every information it received and report them to the Takas. Then, the Taka Kingdom easily attained victory in the war. In this case, the first war that was influenced by the intelligent information appeared.

But, as this war was clouded by the mythical essence, its value was only sufficient to be a reference.

Then who would give a definition to the information war at the end of seventh century in the Church’s Calendar? Actually this was very easily generalized. Information war was basically a special war area that focused on information and anti-information, spies and double spies, stealing secrets and keeping secrets. No matter it it was a war in the decades that were filled with war fire or the calm days that encompassed peacefulness, it never once stopped.

Along with the continuous increasing friction between the monarchies in Westland in the area of politics and economic, this secretive war was getting more and more intense. In a certain sense, it was related to the advancement and deterioration of every country.

Titan was the only country that was famous with its holiness in the Westland. Its land was wide and large, its population was large and its military force powerful. From the day it was born, it became the investigation target of every country. It was particularly so towards the information of every fort in Titan. Even the Imperial Secret Service Department successfully solved a series of huge cases, but there were still some spies that hid very well and deep amongst all occupations in Titan as they made their moves.

Looking at the spies the Secret Service Department found, most of the people were intending to search for military-related information. This was also a specialty of the information war.

”Then in the next lesson, I will discuss in more depth about the collection and investigation of military information with you!”

Oscar nodded. He stood up and gave a soldier salutation to his tutor. When General Rayleigh Thomas walked out of the guest room, Oscar immediately fell back on the sofa. He acted as if he finally saw the end of this.

”How was it, my friend? Are you doing alright?” Torry stuck his head out from the door.

”Come in!” Oscar lazily signalled to the sofa right in front of him.

Torry came in arrogantly. His composure was extremely irritating. ”My friend, is Information Study so boring? You seem very pale. You can’t fool me.”

Oscar raised his eyelid. ”Don’t ‘friend’ me. It smelled like conspiracy to me.”

”Oh god!” Torry made a hand sign as if he was praying to God of Light. ”I swear nothing of that sort.”

”Nothing of that sort?” Oscar smiled coldly. ”Then tell me what you want! Or... What you want me to do. Be more frank. Do you think I don’t know you enough? Being nice to me all of a sudden, that only means you need something from me.”

”Ha... Hahaha!” Torry laughed as he touched his small beard. ”I only want you to give me some tickets for that tournament tomorrow. You know, it is very hard to get in hand. The price in the black market had gone up to....”

Oscar waved his hands. ”Here I thought it was something more serious. Take it! Bring your useless friends, but remember this. Do not cause trouble for me on the seating platform.”

Torry cheerfully took the stack of paper tickets. ”Your Highness, if we won, my friends and I will never cause trouble. But if we lost, hehe! We will cause it a huge trouble! Be assured of that!”

Oscar pursed his lips. ”It looks like the guys competing against us are in bad luck! If they win, they would definitely have divine punishment. But if they lose, they will sure get laughed and mocked at. Ola! Such poor guys.”

Torry smiled even more lowly after hearing that. ”Oh right! Your Highness! Who is the opponent for tomorrow?”

Oscar stared unbelievably at Torry. ”Tomorrow is the final of the Champion Cup!”

”Yes I know! But who is our opponent?”

The Prince used his hands to wipe his face. He needed to make himself more awake. ”You mean... You don’t even know who we are up against in the tournament, then you came here to get tickets from me?”

Torry shrugged. ”Why not? Moreover, no matter who the opponent is, the result will be the same. They are destined to be jerks that have bad luck.”

”To be honest, I am tired of you! Take the tickets and leave my mansion!”

Torry laughed as he walked to the door. ”Your Highness! Do your best tomorrow. I made a huge bet on Chariot of Sun God!”

Oscar rolled his eyes. He truly did not understand why this guy was alive in this world.

Polo began in the fifth century of the Church Calendar. Up to the middle and end of sixth century, it became a proper sports activity. At that time, the polo was the special sports played by the nobles. From the Imperial Family members to the small government officers, the elegant yet competitive nobles were looking forward to this sport. A noble member could not study and not serve the army, but polo was a must learn for him. Even if he did not learn it, he must at least know about the polo tournament.

Polo was an elegant yet highly dangerous sport. There were two competing teams in a tournament. Each team had nine people, some country allowed eight people without the Goalkeeper. The rules were simple. Within the competition ground, as long as the spherical small ball was not out of bounds, then hitting it into the goalpost of the opposite team brought a point for its team. There were three judges to watch the tournament during the tournament. Their duty was to watch the square’s border line and all grabbing actions between the team members. When there was team member at fault, they could issue a fault at the team. There were many ways of giving faults. Some was to give the right of holding the ball to the opposing team. Some was to immediately order the person to go off court.

Having said that, using a stick that had curves to fight for a small ball comparable to the head of a baby on a horse was not an easy thing! First, you need to have an excellent purebred horse. It needed to be good at running back and forth for long distances and also possessed explosive strength. If these were not important, then your purebred horse must be able to know the way to coordinate with your companions.

Secondly, the rider must have an exceptional equestrian skills. The members of the opposing team would not let you hit the ball into their net easily. If your equestrian skill was not good, you would not even meet with the opportunity to take the ball in your hands, not to mention scoring points. Excellent attackers usually have one or two specialties up their sleeves. Some were able to place themselves under the horse belly. Some could dodge and move on the running horse. Some could even stand upside-down on the horse and do a cartwheel by the saddle. Whenever the crowds stood and cheered, and there were no changes to the scoring board, then some riders must have done some impressive movements on the horse.

Thus, when we say polo was a dangerous sport, we should talk about the Titan Emperor Alfa III His Majesty. Few people knew that he had an uncle, but this uncle of his was mentally ill. According to rumors, it was caused by an injury when he fell off the horse during a polo tournament when he was young.

But it was because of such risks that the value and stimulation of the tournament were increased. When the riders waved their sticks closing in on the defense area of their opponent as if they were in war, the crazy crowd would use all kinds of objects on the seating platform to make noise. They would cheer very loudly. Sometimes, they would even sing the rhymes of the God for the heroic contenders.

The passion towards polo was international. Take Titan Empire as an example, Dulin University would organize a Morisette Champion Cup every three years. This tournament has a sixty-year of history. Almost all the monarchies in Westland send their representing team to this large-scale event. Except Titan Imperial Military Academy, the few strong teams include Hoilland Sea University and Faran Paris University. These three teams almost took over the Champion Cup every time. Of course there would always be exception. But at least there would not be this year! The tournament has already gone to its final stage. Tomorrow and that was tenth day of the fourth month of Year 794, Dulin Imperial Military Academy representatives would fight for champion with Faran Paris University team. And Hoilland Sea University would fight for the second runner-up with another team.

”Alright! My kids! Are you ready?” General Horonzo instructed the team members to come together. As the coach for an always-winning team, it was afraid that this old General was even more nervous that the little jerks he had under him.

”You little jerks! How many times do I have to say this? Move faster! Who is that? What’s wrong with your uniform? Is it for woman? Get your collar tidy and button tight. We are a champion team, not some gangsters gathering!”

Nine members who were about to go on the court squatted down around the coach. Even while they were all scolded by this old thing, they still stared intently and passionately at the general.

”Old rules! The Big Ears will be the goalkeeper. Fiery Eyes and Banana Skin will be the left and right strikers respectively. Green pea fly and Carpet are the middle guards. Sparta, Black Tea and Cesparamo Red Ass Lion Dog will be the left wing, right wing and the center back respectively!”

”Darry!” The old coach suddenly took one of the team members by his collar. ”Hell! Can’t you give your jujube horse a simpler name? I almost bit my own tongue just now!”

This member whose name was Darry looked innocently at the coach. Actually it was only General Horonzo who had the habit of using the name of the horse to call his team members.

”Lastly! The big one Rayshure, you are a free man!”

Oscar nodded as he shook his hitting stick.

”My little guy, did you bring your knife? You won’t fight with others on the court again like last time right?” The coach stared restlessly at ”small Rayshure”.

Oscar rolled his eyes. ”Please old man. Can’t you say other things? That was last year!”

That was right. That was still year 793. Oscar then was still a newbie in the tournament. He only knew how to do things rashly. Otherwise, he only relied on the speed of Rayshure to pull a sneak attack. If he still lost this way, then this Prince would use his last resort: to fight.

But things must change for the better right? Oscar at last understood the concept of the sportsmanship. He began to study the related strategy and knowledge about the tournament. For such a smart and extremely energetic guy, bringing some result on the competition ground was without a doubt. Among many thin horses, Rayshure, who still seemed rather big, also helped him a lot. None of the horses could run as fast as it. There was no horse that dared to fight with it as well. On top of that, there was no horse that had stronger stamina than it. Most of the time, once a horse was kicked by Rayshure, if this unlucky guy could stand up and continue the competition, it would stay far away from Rayshure. Of course, it was under the situation that it still could stand up after being kicked by Rayshure.

”Then! How about this? Let us kick some Faran’s ass!” The old coach reached out his hands.

”Kick some Faran’s ass!” Numerous hands layered upon each other.

”Get on the horse!” Along with the order of General Horonzo, nine team members agilely jumped on their war horses.

”Salute!” It should be noted that they were all soldiers.

General Horonzo slowly raised his arms and returned the salutations to his kids. Under the solemn atmosphere before the ‘war’, the gate that led to the competition ground slowly rose.

This was a square-shaped competition ground that was packed with people. When the imperial flag of Morisette was raised at one side of the gate, the people suddenly dropped dead silent. Then, huge cheers exploded. There were nobles who came from all place in Titan. They were a bunch of polo enthusiasts. If the kids from Dulin Imperial Military Academy won, then we should not doubt that these crazy spectators would jump right into the competition ground. Then, they would throw the team members towards the spectator’s seat one by one. At that time, even the misses and the madams could share the happiness of victory as well.

Along with a series of quick drumrolls, the team members representing Titan came into sight! Numerous flower petals flew down from the spectator’s seats as if it was a flower rain. The bright colors were woven with the beautiful sunlight in the air. A brief look at it seemed like numerous bright rainbows hung on the sky. The cheers became even more passionate. The people did not even care what the tournament host was talking about. They only came for the tournament, not for tea party. Some gangsters even threw tomatoes at the tournament host. So, they successfully forced the out-of-pitch guy off the stage. The patrolling soldiers who were maintaining the rules at the place immediately rushed to the scene, but they left disheartened before they even saw the face of those people. These mischievous people were all sons of Marquis or Duke. The patrolling soldiers did not want to cause trouble for themselves.

Faran Paris University’s representatives came onto the competition ground. Even though there were also cheers on the seating platform, but the dominating sound was the shooing. The nobles of Titan were not friendly towards Farans because Farans always sent their army to disturb the Don River area. This matter was always complained by the Titans.

Two teams walked around the competition ground once before stopping at the middle of the place whilst facing each other. After looking carefully at the opponent’s face, Oscar could not help but exchanged glances with his captain, and that was the left striker Fiery Eyes. They have played once with this team of Faran at the round Robin stage before, but there was no such guy that wore a mask.

Just when the judge was about to announce the commencement of tournament, a red object suddenly came flying towards them in a beautiful parabola curve. Under the shocking exclamation of the spectators and the team members, the red object hit that Faran’s golden mask accurately.

A lifeless voice suddenly overwhelmed the laughter of the people. ”I have seen this kid with the mask at the circus before! Objection! I want to object! The Faran actually allowed a clown to participate in the competition. This is an act of underestimating Titan!”

The people immediately followed into this statement. Since Dulin Imperial Military Academy and Paris University have always been rivals, both of the teams were destined to begin the competition under the intense furious scolding of the polo enthusiasts.

”Damn polo gangsters of Titan!” This Faran threw his mask far away with shaken hands. ”Judge! The one who wants to object is me. If you can’t punish those guys, we will withdraw from the competition immediately!”

Oscar already recognized that guy. It was actually Prince Kristen.

”That will be better, Sir Judge. If our opponent wanted to quit, then we will be the champion, right?”

The judge nodded. He had no intention of caring about the request of the Faran’s team member. As a judge, he only dealt with the matter in the court.

Kristen was furious beyond words. Originally, he wanted to teach the proud people of Titan a lesson, especially the Prince who rode on a monster. But he never thought that that tomato was aimed so accurately at him. This way, the unnamed hero who wore a golden mask would not exist anymore. In exchange, it was only a poor guy whose face was dripping with red juice.

”You only have yourself to blame! Why make yourself look like a clown for no reason?” Oscar said as he turned his horse away. He already knew the competition today would not be as easy as usual. This little Kristen probably came for him.

As expected, the Faran did not quit the competition. After three thumping of drum, both sides spread out into their own formation. The Imperial Military Academy’s ”Big Ears” was an expert in finger-guessing game. He only used one round to win the right to start.

The captain made a hand sign to little Oscar who was wandering at the middle of road. The first round of attack, regular fight!

The judge blew the whistle that signaled the start of competition.

The ball of the size of a baby’s brain was hit out from the middle left line. The Imperial Military Academy’s middle guard Green Pea Fly received the ball. Facing the opponent’s defense from the sides, Green Pea Fly sent the ball back to the back center Cesparamo Red Ass Lion Dog. The back center adjusted his hitting stick to the best position to hit the ball, then swung his stick as hard as possible. The freeman Rayshure sped up suddenly. Two Faran team members who were defending against him immediately were left behind. One of the horse of the team member was too close to Rayshure. It was kicked at the calf by the monster from Narcissus County. This caused it extreme pain that it shuddered.

”Stop him!” Kristen yelled as he rushed forward. It appeared that his horse was a good one as well. It was not afraid of the humming of Rayshure. Under the control of its master, this little guy came real close to Rayshure bravely!

Right at this moment, Oscar already saw little Kristen who was running towards him from the side at the side of his eyes. This young Prince simply crouched forward with his hitting stick unfazed, but the ball already went from the right side of Rayshure to its left. Kristen finally came to his right side! But Oscar suddenly jumped on the horse back at this moment! He positioned himself at the left side of the saddle to avoid confrontation with Kristen. His left leg hung tightly at the saddle and he used his whole body weight to control the direction of movement of Rayshure. The polo appeared not far away from the goal. The spectators have already all stood up!

Little Kristen took advantage of the situation and made all sorts of little actions. He kept using his boots to kick the back of Rayshure. Suddenly, Oscar steered his large, black horse away from Kristen. At the same time, whistles and cheers filled the whole ground. The ball went in? Little Kristen looked at the troubled gatekeeper and frowned.

”What are you doing? Isn’t all my disturbances wasted now? What exactly are you doing?”

At this moment, Oscar turned back to him. Rayshure stared at this lowly kid with a pair of bright large eyes.

”Those without true ability blame others because of their own mistakes.” Oscar picked up the ball in the net with his stick rather coolly. Then, he signaled the judge. It was because the ball was a little broken. It could not be helped since people of Titan in the end of seventh century in Church Calendar could not produce studier ball yet. Usually, it was changed for seventeen or eighteen times for a typical competition.

Oscar did not even care what little Kristen was being noisy about. He held the ball and trotted towards one side of the seating platform. When he held the ball in his hands at the people on the platform, numerous white and smooth little hands responded to the little Prince. There were actually a bunch of beautiful and young lady at this place. But, there was only one lucky miss.

Sasha E. actually kissed the ball that was full of dust when she received it. This was the first winning shot by her brother in the finals of the Champion Cup. She must kiss it!

”That is my brother! Did you see that? That is my brother!” Sasha held the ball and yelled in a loud voice as she jumped.

The ladies at the side all sent little Oscar flying kisses. The competition continued under the passionate cheers. Two teams did not hold back for each other as if they were in a war. When there was only a few minutes left to the mid game intervals, Prince Kristen of the Faran Kingdom finally had the ball. He successfully got rid of that troublesome left wing. But when he intended to run near the goal, a black silhouette that came from nowhere scared him terribly.

Oscar’s stick had an intense fight with little Kristen under the belly of the horses, but all of a sudden, one of their sticks went flying. Oscar dodged to one side as he held his eyes. He trembled slightly on the back of his horse in intense pain.

The people all stood up one by one. The shooing and the whistles became overwhelming. The judge came rushing towards him. He knew he blew his whistle a little too late. To care for the emotion of the host, the punishment must be harsh. Little Kristen raised his hands at the judge nonchalantly. He accepted the punishment. It was only a shot of his opponent. Nothing much about that.

The dazed little Oscar was helped off the court by his teammates. He seemed to be injured rather badly. The place at his upper eyelid and close to his eyebrow had a huge injury of 3-4 centimeter long. It was hit by the opponent’s stick. This injury was not only bleeding, but the place around it was a series of purple-blue bruises.

Snowstorm kicked the useless doctor of the polo team away. Poison Doctor Percy and Miss Fenrar already came rushing to the scene. Percy began to inspect the injury in a familiar manner. He made sure that there was no injury to the eye and skull before sewing it up for little Oscar.

Oscar held his sister’s hands as he trembled. His sister seemed to be crying, but he did not want to care about this. Anger! This Prince was completely drowned in anger. Machete? Where was my machete? Oscar used his uninjured eye to scan his surroundings. It seemed like he really did not bring his thing. Should he borrow from Snowstorm? Fine! That guy would not borrow it to him. Using his special-made stick? No! That would be too obvious! Then... Then... Sasha?

Percy was finally able to patch the Prince up before the end of the mid game intervals. Oscar kissed his sister as he stood up energetically. But he immediately sat back in a tumble. As expected, losing blood from his head gave him a feeling as if he had a concussion. Sasha worriedly helped his brother. She did know it was planned by Oscar this way.

”I am fine!”

General Horonzo shook his head. ”No! Anyone could see that you are not fine just by a look at you.”

Oscar opened his painful left eye in difficulty. ”I am fine!”

General Horonzo could not do anything except turn to the little miss at the side. ”Have your brother always been a donkey?”