Beginning 4

"Mother, will we live here from now on?" The white-haired little boy looked out of the carriage window at the gloomy town that seemed to be perched on a mountaintop. He smiled, seemingly oblivious to almost everything.

It could be said that he had very little understanding of what was going on around him. With excitement, he watched the elderly farmers and shepherds along the roadside, waving at them constantly, even if he didn't always get a response.

The mountain they were traveling to was known as Highrock Mountain, and the town nestled between its peak and base was called Highrock City.

The mountain itself, from which it took its name, was almost barren, consisting mostly of barren rocks, except for a few trees that had been planted in recent years. The city had been built for defense purposes during a war about a century and a half ago, and no one could have predicted that it would grow into a proper city.

After the war, the area was abandoned and turned into a makeshift settlement for the homeless and refugees. About twenty years later, the then Emperor noticed the tens of thousands of people living there and decided to turn it into a city. His intentions were simple: to use the excuses of security, transportation, and trade to further exploit the people and fill the Imperial treasury with more gold.

However, it would be an accurate observation to say that his efforts were unsuccessful. This city was impoverished from the beginning and remained so. Even the wealthiest merchant in this city would earn in a month what the average merchant in an ordinary city would earn in a week. Most of the people were farmers, but since other cities were quite far away, bartering remained prevalent due to the lack of better alternatives.

Still, this town had its advantages. First and foremost, it had a clean and isolated water source, seemingly limitless, dug into the mountain. Additionally, as a city that had seen its fair share of warfare, its walls were still intact and had greater fortifications than many larger cities. Most importantly, the city had its own castle keep. This castle had always been the residence of the city's ruler, and now it belonged to the Ninth Prince.

As the carriage continued its journey, more and more people seemed to appear along the naturally formed path. As they approached the city gate, an incredible crowd awaited them, a sight that seemed to have formed naturally.

The Third Concubine was irritated by the gathering of such scruffy-looking people, but there was nothing she could do. Fortunately, they had a hundred Imperial Guards with them, whose mere presence would keep these people at bay. The value placed on the Ninth Prince was evident in the fact that they were assigned the lowest number of one hundred Imperial Guards.

With a slight loss of color in her hands due to grief, the Third Concubine parted the lace curtain with her hands and scanned the crowd, hoping to catch a familiar face in the crowd.

The young prince, overcome with embarrassment, had already withdrawn his head and looked at his mother with tearful eyes.

The third concubine saw only two familiar faces in the crowd. Her father and her former servants. These two faces had awakened her from several sad days and put a smile on her face.

As soon as the carriage stopped, she motioned for her son to get out and then got out herself.

The imperial guards had already pushed aside the common crowd and cleared a path to the city gate. At the end of the path stood her father, her steward, and the current ruler of the city and his family.

The current ruler of the city seemed to be in a hurry. The concubine thought, "He must be looking for an opportunity to escape."

The young prince and the concubine walked slowly to the entrance of the city and stopped to look at the crowd before them.

Later, the concubine's father greeted them with a shout. "Greetings to the Ninth Prince! Welcome!"

"Welcome!" At the same time, the crowd at the city gate shouted, startling the young prince, but he managed to stay calm, as he had been constantly reminded for the past month.

After the greetings, the city's ruler rushed forward and presented the concubine with a seal. She accepted the seal and handed it to the young prince. Then, without a care in the world, she began to walk toward the center of the city, toward the castle.

The young prince found himself in the middle, holding the gold seal. He was so engrossed in the seal that he didn't even notice that his mother had already left. Meanwhile, his mother had said a quick hello to his grandfather and was already on her way to the city, not even paying attention to her father.

When the young prince finally lifted his head from the seal and looked around, he saw an older, white-bearded man in shining silver armor standing right in front of him.

His first reaction was fear, but the old man's smiling face reassured him that he had nothing to fear.

"Oh, my grandson!" The old man bent down and embraced the young prince. The young prince, not knowing what to do, looked at the disappearing figure of his mother walking toward the city and clenched his lips, resisting the urge to cry. Later, he felt relieved when he saw that the man who had embraced him was leading him to his mother. He continued to play with the seal in his hand.

During this time, his grandfather shouted to the guards, "The welcoming ceremony is over! Move to the castle!" He had already boarded the carriage and looked at the departing former ruler of the city. He realized that he had never seen his massive body move so quickly before. He cursed under his breath and thought, "You wretched dog!" But outwardly, he was smiling, reassuring the young prince who had been startled by his earlier shout.

And so the young prince found himself in the position of ruler of the city he would have to rule for years to come.