The Cezar Kingdom(1)

The next day, when the sun peeked out on the horizon, Cale was already sitting with Fenrir on his lap, enjoying the light breeze that slipped through his armor.

"So this is the Cezar Kingdom. It's nothing compared to Lulah Kingdom" Cale muttered, looking off into the distance where a huge city appeared, surrounded on each side by massive walls.

Unlike the Romulus Kingdom, he had visited before, this one seemed to be more vivid, utilized, and altogether more colorful.

"How is it? Do you like it?" asked Cale, having seen Leo glance at the horizon as well.

"Nothing special," Leo replied coolly, but he still took a few more seconds to look at the kingdom from afar. He'd spent his entire life in the village and never explored anywhere but the forest around it, so it was still a fascinating experience to see such a large place.

-

After a few more minutes of driving, the carriage finally stopped in front of the massive, wooden gate. Two guards stood beside the entrance, holding spears in their hands.

"Sir! We will need to check your carriage before we allow you to enter the kingdom!" Said one of the guards with a serious expression on his face.

"I don't mind, but there are no valuables here," Cale replied casually before jumping on the ground.

The guards didn't listen to any of Cale's words and still examined the entire cart, even going so far as to look underneath. However, after finding nothing but a terrifying child staring at them like some sort of beast, they sighed in exasperation.

"Bringing wild beasts into the kingdom costs two silvers," the soldier said after noticing Fenrir resting on Cale's shoulder, "We need to see your face as well," one of them added.

"Gentlemen...I don't think there's any need to go through such trouble..." said Cale casually before mischievously pulling a shimmering stone from under his armor. Both guards gulped at the sight of the glowing gem as they looked around. Fortunately, no one was looking towards the cart at the moment since most of the guards were on a break or slacking off.

"I hope you have a nice stay in our kingdom, Sir," one of the guards said before taking the Qi Stone from Cale's hands. While the guards silently returned to their original place with a hidden smile on their faces, Cale jumped into the carriage and continued to drive.

'So getting into the kingdom is that easy nowadays? Is it because no wars are going on right now?' Cale thought, looking around.

The inside of the kingdom looked even more vibrant than the outside. Countless people, both commoners, and warriors, could be seen walking around, not even bothering to glance at the carriage that had arrived.

"Leo, we need to go now," Cale said calmly before jumping off the wagon himself, followed by the rather doubtful boy. Cale, however, didn't even bother to say anything as he moved further into the crowd, leaving the wooden carriage in the middle of the road. Since it was a rented cart, Cale didn't want to get into too much trouble by suddenly running into the actual owner.

-

"So what do we do now? You said we were here to buy resources for cultivation, but do you have any money at all?" asked Leo after a few minutes of walking.

"I have enough to cover our living expenses for a few days, but after that, we'll have to earn it," Cale answered directly. Nevertheless, he didn't care too much about the money since that wasn't his goal in the first place. Acquiring resources to further Leo's cultivation was only a secondary matter at the moment.

'I think this place should be big enough,' Cale thought as he stopped in front of a medium-sized residence. Albeit faint, there was an unpleasant smell emanating from the building that caused most people passing by to move away.

"We will be staying in this building for the next few days. You will train with the materials I bring you," Cale said as the boy nodded in response. The smell didn't bother him much. On the contrary, it reminded him of the usual day in the village when he needed to spend hours working with his father.

"Huh, um...welcome."

After entering the building, they were greeted by a burly man who mumbled a few sentences with difficulty.

"We need a room for ten days to stay" Cale didn't bother to greet the owner of the building and immediately got down to business.

"It's one silver a night...But we can discuss the price" the man said with a few doubts. The quality of the building and the rooms was definitely below average, but he couldn't do anything about it due to his size. He barely had enough money to keep himself from starving, and having someone come here was a rarity.

"No need," Cale tossed a glowing rock towards the man, which nearly slipped out of his hands.

"Wait, sir! This is a Qi Stone, it's more valuable than ten silver coins! I can't take something like that!"

"Who said I'm going to give it to you? I'm still waiting for the change," Cale replied as realization hit the man. With sweat on his brow, he quickly pulled out all of his savings.

Basic quality Qi Stone were usually priced at one gold coin, so Cale was given ninety silver pieces.

"I hope you have a great stay!" Said the man as he bowed slightly, causing his belly to impel back and forth. Cale completely ignored his words and walked into the room, later being followed by the silent youth.

The inside of the room was definitely better than the outside. It was covered in dust since it wasn't given any attention, but at least it didn't reek of sweat.

"You can start your training, Leo. I have some personal business to attend to at the moment, but I will bring you some herbs later" Cale said.

"Hmm" Leo didn't answer, but stood in the corner, unable to suppress the urge to cultivate. The feeling of getting stronger was extremely addictive, as it felt like he was getting closer to his goal with each passing second.

While Leo had already closed his eyes, Cale, after double-checking everything around him, took out the black box from inside his armor. All the papers, especially the notebook he had read about earlier, were in place. One paper, however, caught Cale's particular interest.

It was a piece of writing with "A Sudden Encounter" lettered on it in large characters. Although Cale had read it through many times before, he still decided to repeat the process.

-

<A Sudden Encounter>

It was a rainy day...