Beginning of War

While Jay was busy doing all of that on the Grayrock Mountains...

--- Vitales (Capital City of Holtheim) ---

Vitales is a city built on top of a gigantic mountain. Coiled around the mountain was the Crimsonvale Fortress, which looked like a dragon.

The city had a population count of around 800,000 people. It may not seem a lot compared to the cities of Wildergreene. But unlike the people in the cities in Wildergreene where most of the population were just normal folks, the people living in Vitales are war freaks. It may be a child, a lady, an old man, or a cripple, all of them are war freaks. The weakest of these people had 2nd tier fighting classes.

As for how the city itself looks like, most of the establishments were entirely made out of stone and were painted in a maroon color. There were only two passageways that allowed people to enter or leave the city. One of them was located in front of the mountain and was blocked by a gigantic steel gate. Only the city guards or nobles have the power to unlock this gigantic steel gate.

As for the second passageway, it was by entering the Crimsonvale Fortress. The passageway was located on the tail of the dragon-like fortress. But only the king or the queen can pass through here.

The moment Roasted Boar arrived, he was amazed by how the place looked. He was not amazed by the stone buildings or everyone in the city wearing armor, but he was amazed by looking at the Crimsonvale Fortress.

Roasted Boar was currently in disguise. Right now, he looked like a normal knight due to him wearing a steel armor set. The helmet he was wearing covered his entire face. And to make his disguise more realistic, he had a sword and a shield kept on his back.

He tried blending in with the people entering the passageway in front of the mountain, but sadly, he was stopped by the city guards.

"Halt. Pay up or show us the king's token."

Four people in full steel plate armor blocked him. These guys were obviously the city guards in charge of the passageway.

"How much?" Roasted Boar asked since he obviously did not have the king's token these guys were talking about.

"5 Silver."

Roasted Boar handed over 5 silver coins to one of the city guards and they allowed him to pass through the gigantic steel gate after that.

...

The moment he stepped inside the city...

"I hate you!" A young lady wearing a lightweight steel armor shouted as she held a sword in her right hand. She was currently chasing two guys who also had armor on them.

Due to her focusing her attention on these two, she bumped into Roasted Boar.

"Watch it!" Roasted Boar shouted as he shoved the young lady away.

Just as he thought he can finally proceed and look for a way to speak with King Arturus...

"Hey! You look like a decent guy. Come, let's fight!"

A kid who was wearing leather armor shouted as he unsheathed two daggers and approached Roasted Boar.

"What the f**k?" Roasted Boar thought to himself and said, "Scram kid. I have business to attend to."

The moment the people around Roasted Boar heard him telling the kid to scram...

"Hahaha!!! What a weakling. Can't even fight a child."

"Oh? Someone rejected Dagger's challenge?"

"Fight coward!"

As for the kid that challenged Roasted Boar, he laughed loudly and said, "This city ain't for s*its like you! Go back wherever you came from if you ain't fighting me!"

After saying this, the kid sheathed his daggers and left.

...

--- Roasted Boar Tavern ---

"To actually have a tavern named after me..." Roasted Boar did not know how he should react. The reason why he immediately went to this place was because he wanted to know some information about a lot of things.

"Old man. Give me the strongest drink you have. And also some side dishes." Roasted Boar shouted as he sat down near the bar counter.

"Hey, you're that guy who rejected Dagger's challenge." A guy seated beside him said as he grabbed Roasted Boar's shoulder. This guy was wearing a grayish leather armor and a gray cape. As for how his face looked like, he was bald and had a lot of scars on him.

"I don't think you know how things in this city works, so let me give you a friendly reminder. By the way, you can call me Johnny. People knows me as 'Boar Hunter' Johnny."

Since this guy was going to tell him information for free, Roasted Boar just decided to listen. And at the same time, the old man in charge of the bar counter brought his order.

"Want some?" Roasted Boar asked as he poured some of the strange wine on his cup.

"Sure."

After this, Johnny started speaking about things.

"In Vitales, never turn down a challenge from someone. If you turned down three challenges, no matter who the challenger is, the city guards will throw you out of the city. As for how they are keeping track of everyone, that's their secret."

When Roasted Boar heard this, he thought, "What the f*ck is wrong with this city?"

"Since everyone can challenge you, you can also do the same. But never do that magic crap. Magic is banned in this city due to the queen's orders. The moment you create those weird fireballs out of our hands, you will be sucked dry by a weird ghost." Before continuing, Johnny drank the wine Roasted Boar poured for him and ate some peanuts provided on the bar counter.

"If you want to earn some cash in Vitales, you have two choices. Challenge someone or join the hunting expeditions held weekly. As for crimes you can commit in the city, just do whatever you want, no one cares. Steal something, kidnap ladies, killing people, and whatever else you can think of. Just don't go near the Crimsonvale Fortress."

"Should we still recruit people from this place?" Roasted Boar thought to himself as he continued listening to Johnny.

"Last piece of advice. Do not trust anyone." Johnny said as he suddenly handed over a sword and a shield to Roasted Boar.

"Your weapons are too easy to grab. Keep them in your storage ring. If I wanted to, I could have already stripped you of your armor without you knowing."

"What the f**k? When did he..." Roasted Boar was shocked as he stored the sword and shield. He was just about to ask Johnny something, but Johnny suddenly disappeared.

"Hey, old man. Where's the guy next to me?" Roasted Boar asked.

"What are you talking about? You are the only one sitting near the bar counter this entire time." The old man said as he looked at Roasted Boar as if he was a lunatic.

...

"Damn... I am getting nowhere." Roasted Boar said softly as he left the tavern.

Just as he was about to look for another tavern or the adventurer's guild in the city, people from the establishments nearby suddenly rushed out and went towards the central area of the city.

"Move it!"

"Dad, it's starting!"

"Hahaha!!! Our king and queen are finally making their move!"

"What is it now?" Roasted Boar asked himself as he heard all the random chatter about something great happening. So he followed where everyone went.

...

--- Crimson Fountain Park

This area was located at the central part of Vitales. It just looked like an ordinary park. The only difference was that the fountain located at the very center of the park had a red liquid flowing on it. Some say it is blood, some say it is just some kind of syrup.

Currently, the place was really crowded. It was as if the entire population of Vitales was gathered in this place. Some were even hanging on top of the establishments or on the rooftops just to watch whatever event was about to happen here.

Roasted Boar was currently one of these people on the rooftops since it was really crowded.

"Hey, what's this thing all about?" Roasted Boar asked a random person near him.

"You must be a foreigner in this lands! In a few minutes, a large archive formation will be activated. Live recordings of Wildergreene getting wrecked by our kingdom will be shown! Hahaha!!!"

When Roasted Boar heard this, he was shocked and thought, "What?!! Am I too late? GOD DAMMIT!"

Indeed, he was really too late.

The archive formation placed on the fountain suddenly activated and a projection of the different cities of Wildergreene was displayed. The only cities that was not projected on the archive formation was Yellowleaf City and Glimmertree City. The thousands of soldiers of Holtheim was also seen in the projections.

...

-- Crimsonvale Fortress, Dragon's Head (Throne Room) --

"Is everyone in position?" Queen Aery asked as she spoke to a red crystal ball in her hands.

"Yes my queen. Everyone is in position." A deep voice replied to her.

"My love, I will wait for you near the Nix River with our main army." King Arturus said as he equipped two large cannons on his hands and vanished.

After that, Queen Aery took out a yellow crystal ball and spoke through it. This crystal ball allowed her to speak to everyone gathered at the Crimson Fountain Park.

"Good evening people of Holtheim. As you may have noticed, Yellowleaf and Glimmertree City are not being displayed right now due to some little s*its called Golden Phoenix. But nevermind that, let the blood festival begin!"

After saying this, she also vanished from the throne room.

...

--- Crimson Fountain Park

"S*it! Sh*t! S*it!!!" Roasted Boar shouted loudly as he pushed through the crowd, attempting to leave the place.

The moment he was about to leave the area...

"So you finally revealed yourself dog." Johnny, the guy who spoke to him earlier at the tavern said as he took out a dagger and licked its blade. Together with Johnny was hundreds of city guards.

"Step aside!" Roasted Boar shouted as he removed his disguise and equipped his blue robes and a wooden staff with a dragon head on it.

"Sorcerer? What an idiot. I think I told you already what would happen if you cast your fancy spells in this city." Johnny said as he approached Roasted Boar.

"Don't worry boy. We won't kill you. We will just cripple you and send you back to your Golden Phoenix s*it or whatever." A city guard said as he unsheathed his sword.

Roasted Boar knew he had no way out of this one unless he uses his spells. Since this was the case, he took out his guild emblem and spoke through it.

"Everyone. Holtheim is on the move. Plan A failed. Move on to Plan B."

After saying this, he looked at the people surrounding him and smirked.

"Magic may not work inside the city, but what if I get out of the city?" Roasted Boar said as he stored his staff away and took out two magic scrolls.

'Time Gate'

'Flutterwings'

After using these two magic scrolls, he managed to escape easily.

"So what if you have your anti-magic barrier formation? Its all useless against magic scrolls dumb f*cks."

Roasted Boar thought to himself as he returned to the passageway he entered from.

"Damn. I forgot about the steel gate." Roasted Boar sighed as he took out another magic scroll.

'Phase Rush'

By using this, he managed to dash through the gigantic steel gate and exit the city.

...

Meanwhile, back at Crimson Fountain Park...

"What?! Where is he?!!" The city guards shouted as they tried to look around the area.

"Keep searching you idiots!" Johnny shouted furiously. Then suddenly, Queen Aery's voice talked to him inside his head.

"Count Johnny. That guy left the city already. Gather your men already and head to Greengarden as soon as possible."

"Understood my queen." Johnny said as he equipped a jet-black steel armor set and vanished from sight.