The royal manor's carriage was not a four-wheeled passenger vehicle but a two-wheeled cargo cart — essentially a flatbed with wooden planks nailed around all four sides. However, since Viscount Timba would be riding in it, the manor's steward ordered the servants to clean out the bed, hang tapestries along the walls, and shove a sofa inside, transforming it into a rather awkward makeshift passenger carriage.
Viscount Timba dozed on the sofa while Carrick and Tagel each took a small stool on either side.
The Haniabada Kingdom was an archipelago nation that didn't produce horses. Bringing them in from abroad was enormously profitable — but also extremely risky. Horses fell ill easily, couldn't tolerate long sea voyages, and often only a third to half of them survived the journey, forcing sellers to raise prices to offset losses. Of course, this applied to quality steeds and prized breeds; ordinary horses used for hauling cargo weren't so particular.
The horse pulling their cart was a Northland breed, with the royal manor's branding number — nineteen — seared onto its hindquarters. The driver was a slave overseer who had promised all manner of favors to his companions to win this particular job. Everyone knew that escorting Viscount Timba back to the royal city would earn a handsome reward.
As they neared the royal city, they encountered a great army setting out on campaign. The driver skillfully pulled the cart to the roadside to let the army pass, intending to resume once the troops had gone by. But Carrick suddenly went wild inside the carriage, bouncing around and whooping with excitement, immediately catching the attention of the advance riders.
Several knights spurred their horses up to the cart and bellowed: "Who are you? What do you think you're doing, shouting and screaming here?"
Viscount Timba woke groggily from his nap on the sofa, yawned, and asked: "Why have we stopped?"
The driver had already respectfully informed the knights who the carriage belonged to and who its passengers were. Upon learning that Viscount Timba — brother of the First Imperial Consort — had escaped from the enemy who had seized Nubit Port, the knights didn't dare cause trouble. Four of them stayed behind to stand guard while two rode back to report.
Before long, a large group of knights descended upon them, bringing along a lavishly decorated four-wheeled passenger carriage.
The lead knight was a man in his forties or fifties with a handlebar mustache. He strode up laughing and embraced Viscount Timba: "My poor little Timba, you've finally come back! Do you have any idea how worried your sister has been? Before I departed, she begged me to find you and bring you back. I never imagined I'd complete this task so quickly. Ha ha, get in the carriage — I'll have someone escort you to the palace to see your sister…"
And just like that, Viscount Timba was whisked away in the splendid carriage, without so much as a goodbye to anyone. Han and the mute proved quick-witted and rushed over to stand on the carriage's outer step. The mustachioed knight recognized them as Viscount Timba's slaves, waved his hand, and the carriage carrying the viscount and his two slaves swept off into the distance…
Throughout this entire episode, Carrick, Tagel, and Lorist were completely ignored, reduced to background extras. As the carriage disappeared, the mustachioed knight gave a quiet command, and the group of knights thundered away.
The royal manor's cart remained by the roadside, waiting for the army to pass. Carrick was dumbfounded — he'd never expected to be abandoned by Viscount Timba. Now he was completely penniless, without even a place to stay once they reached the royal city.
The driver cursed and swore. His big patron was gone; this trip had been for nothing. Without Viscount Timba, there'd be no reward, and he had no idea what to tell his companions when he got back. Growing angrier by the minute, he turned on Carrick and berated him viciously, blaming him for going crazy and drawing the knights' attention, which had led to Viscount Timba being snatched away. The driver was already considering stripping Carrick bare and confiscating his sword as payment for the trip…
Carrick huddled in the corner of the carriage without a word, as dejected as a castrated rooster. In terms of status he was beneath the driver — the man was at least a slave overseer at the royal manor, while Carrick was merely a minor functionary in the inner city of Nubit Port, which was now in enemy hands…
Lorist gave Tagel a meaningful glance. Tagel understood immediately, fished out a gold Forde, and slipped it into the driver's hand. With an easy smile, he told the driver he was the eldest young master of the vice president of the Peterson Trading Company, and promised that there would be further rewards once they reached the royal city — the trip wouldn't be in vain. He then struck up casual conversation.
With a gold Forde in his pocket, the driver's attitude transformed instantly. He became warm and accommodating, answering every question. He told Tagel that the mustachioed knight from earlier was the current King Luther III's uncle, a Two-Star
Lorist carefully observed the so-called elite Imperial Guard Corps that Carrick had been boasting about for the entire journey, but he quickly grew unimpressed. The soldiers passing by the carriage wore their armor askew, dragged along in sloppy formations, and complained without cease. Some were even bragging to companions about how many slave women they'd bedded the night before and their heroic exploits of maintaining their prowess, with a ring of soldiers crowding around begging for the explicit details…
He hoped that Ross the Tiger and the others could follow his plan to pin down this Imperial Guard Corps without hitting too hard — otherwise, if they scared the Corps so badly that it retreated back into the royal city, it would derail his rescue operation…
By noon, the Imperial Guard Corps had finally passed through, followed by a long train of supply wagons. These too were drawn by a single horse each, but with about a dozen slaves helping to push. The cargo was piled high and heavy on every wagon; one horse alone could barely budge them. Soldiers with whips lashed the slaves continuously, cursing them as "lazy good-for-nothings…"
After another two hours, the carriage was finally able to proceed. When they arrived at Hamidas Royal City, Lorist was stunned by the colossal fortress before him. He had never expected that in this archipelago nation under a slave system, there would exist a magnificent stronghold rivaling the imperial capital itself.
The driver spoke with both pride and smugness: when the Haniabada Kingdom was first established, the capital had been at Nubit Port. But the second king, Luther I, decided to develop the royal city plain. He mobilized over three hundred thousand slaves and spent twenty-eight years constructing this magnificent castle, naming it Hamidas Royal City after himself.
Lorist now felt a severe headache coming on. He had never imagined Hamidas Royal City would be such an enormous fortress. Putting it bluntly, it was practically a mirror image of his family's Maple Forest Villa — Maple Forest Villa sat atop a protruding rock massif, with only a single two-to-three-hundred-meter uphill avenue as the sole approach for a direct assault.
Hamidas Royal City was similar in design, except it occupied a hill with half the summit sheared away, covering over ten times the area of Maple Forest Villa. From a distance, it looked like a city perched atop a towering platform. The approach ramp alone snaked back and forth for over a thousand meters. Everywhere else, sheer stone cliffs over thirty meters high were topped by city walls another ten meters tall — a forty-to-fifty-meter elevation difference that would make any attacker's blood run cold. A frontal assault was the only option.
Such a royal city could only fall through a prolonged siege that starved it into submission. But on the way here, Lorist had learned from Viscount Timba that Hamidas Royal City had enough provisions stored to feed fifty to sixty thousand people for three years. That meant even a siege was impossible — nobody would park a hundred-thousand-strong army here to sit around for three years. That would be pure waste, and no one could foot the bill.
Lorist realized that all of his specialized siege weapons — the wheeled crossbows, the trebuchets — would be completely useless against Hamidas Royal City. Because of the elevation difference, these weapons would have to get dangerously close to the walls to hit the battlements, making them easy prey for the long-range weapons on the ramparts. He recalled that even Nubit Port's inner city walls had mounted over a hundred heavy siege crossbows — the royal city's walls would surely have more, not fewer…
Lorist wanted to curse. In his wildest dreams he hadn't expected the royal city of this slave-based archipelago nation to look like this. He'd assumed it would be comparable to the Wendebury Royal City of the Iblia Kingdom at most — a backwater overseas nation ignored by the Galentea Continent, a kingdom founded by pirates. How could they possibly have built such a magnificent fortress?
The only thing Lorist was grateful for in that moment was that he had changed his strategy, luring the Imperial Guard Corps away from the royal city to fight in those hill regions. If he'd stuck with the original plan — assaulting Hamidas Royal City directly after destroying the enemy at Nubit Port — everyone would have been completely stunned upon arriving at its gates…
The driver, sitting nearby, noticed Lorist's lips moving without a sound and asked curiously: "What's wrong with you?"
Lorist replied: "Nothing. Just a pain in the balls."
"A pain in the… balls?" The driver pondered this for quite a while without understanding. He was about to ask for clarification when they reached the city gate.
Entry required payment — one small silver coin per person. Additionally, because of wartime, the gate guards conducted strict inspections. If Viscount Timba were still with them, they could have strolled through without paying a copper. But without Timba, Carrick ran into trouble.
Tagel and Lorist both carried Peterson Trading Company identification and were riding in the royal manor's carriage, so they breezed through the guards' inspection. Carrick, on the other hand, had only brought a sword when he broke out from Nubit Port's inner city, with nothing else on him. To make matters worse, the driver — still furious about Carrick causing them to lose Viscount Timba — deliberately stayed silent and refused to vouch for him. The guards treated him as a hostile threat, hauled him over, and gave him a thorough pat-down, nearly checking every last crevice to see if he was concealing anything…
In the end, Tagel slipped another gold Forde to the driver and gave each guard a large silver coin. The driver finally agreed to vouch that Carrick had come from the royal manor together with them, and only then did the guards release him. After quite a, they finally made it into the city.
Hamidas Royal City was divided into five districts. The carriage entered through the eastern gate. The East District was the largest commercial zone and also a residential area, home to over thirty thousand residents — mostly families of Imperial Guard Corps soldiers. Including slaves, the population was probably around fifty to sixty thousand.
The South District was the noble quarter, where every noble in the Haniabada Kingdom maintained a residence. The West District was a heavily guarded warehousing area — the smallest in size, but housing the royal city's armory and granaries. The North District was further divided into three zones: a slave quarter, an arena district, and the Imperial Guard Corps' garrison. Those who performed construction and maintenance work for the royal city had been given a small corner to shelter in here as well.
The arena district was where the royal city's colosseum was located, along with venues for dog fighting, cockfighting, and the like. It was also the royal city's largest gambling establishment. The slave-owning nobles of the Haniabada Kingdom often wagered fortunes there, gambling on the life-and-death battles of slave gladiators.
The outermost part of the North District housed the Imperial Guard Corps' garrison camp. This way, even if the slaves in the slave quarter or the arena rose up, they would be quickly suppressed without endangering the safety of the other districts.
Beyond the four cardinal districts, the very center was the Royal Court District where the palace stood, encircled by high walls and separated from the surrounding areas.
According to Viscount Timba's intelligence, Hamidas Royal City had the twenty-eight-thousand-strong Imperial Guard Corps, a two-thousand-strong royal guard unit in the Royal Court District, and a one-thousand-strong city defense battalion in each of the four outer districts responsible for patrolling the gates and walls. All told, the royal city's garrison strength came to thirty-four thousand.
Tagel had given the driver an address for a tavern called Flame and Blood, located closest to the North District — it was where El was staying, conveniently situated near the colosseum for daily sword practice.
The carriage traveled for another ten minutes or so before stopping outside the Flame and Blood tavern.
Tagel produced five gold Fordes and handed them to the driver. The driver was overjoyed, thanked them profusely, sang Tagel's praises for a good while, and only then drove off.
The Flame and Blood tavern was even worse than the Red Crow Tavern. The rooms upstairs were none too clean, yet the price was steep — one gold Forde per day. Tagel took three rooms, one for each of them, and ordered the tavern maids and servants to prepare hot baths.
A middle-aged tavern maid carrying hot water took an eager interest in Lorist and tried to proposition him for a bath together. After he firmly rebuffed her persistent advances, she cursed him as a cheapskate, slammed the door, and ran off to Carrick's room next door. Soon enough, enthusiastic sounds of male-female entertainment drifted through the wall.
After his bath, Lorist went to Tagel's door and knocked. Finding no one inside, he headed downstairs and spotted Tagel leaning on the counter, chatting away with the tavern owner. He sat down at a nearby table, ordered a bottle of fruit wine, and sipped it while he waited.
After a while Tagel came over, sat down, called the maid to order some food, glanced around, and said to Lorist in a low voice: "My lord, El isn't in his room. I asked the owner — he said he hasn't seen El for two days now. El went out normally the morning before yesterday, saying he was heading to the colosseum to practice swordsmanship, but he didn't come back that night, nor yesterday, nor today. The owner thinks he might have been invited to stay with some noble — last time, something similar happened and he disappeared for two days before coming back…"
Lorist's gaze sharpened: "What's your read on it?"
"I'm worried something might have happened to El. He wouldn't be socializing with those slave nobles — his persona is that of a sword-obsessed young master who never pays attention to anyone else. After dinner, let's head over toward the colosseum. El and I agreed that he would leave marks outside the arena…" Tagel said in a hushed voice.
"Good. We'll go right after we eat." Lorist nodded.
…(To be continued.)