Territory (part 2)

"Halt!!"

A knight in the distance screamed as the carriage began to slow down. Before long, our carriage came to a stop, not too far to where the knight is at.

There are more than one knights stationed in this place, and there is nobody else. After all, this place is only a simple scouting outpost for ethelens to always guard the path.

The knights were pointing their weapons at us, but when Kirnos stepped down from the driver's seat, they can see that we are also wearing an ethelen armor.

One that is… much fancier than them.

"A noble armor…!? S-State your identity!"

The leader of the ethelen scouts shouted as Kirnos began to walk closer. And the closer he gets, the more the knights can see his condition.

His armor looked quite messed up, as if he just went through a harsh battle. It was indeed a mess that was caused by him fighting Gilbert's men in the beginning, but we also purposely added some damage to make it even further damaged.

Kirnos took off his helmet, showing a handsome male ethelen.

"Let us through. Now."

He said coldly to the knights, but the scout knight is still quite suspicious. Seeing this, Tyland stepped down and began running towards Kirnos as well.

"Please let us through!! This is an emergency!"

He said with a really tired expression, but the knights are still holding on.

"S-State your identities first!!"

"Here!"

Tyland finally gave out his identity card, one that he has been using for his lifetime. The scout knights took the card and read it, and found that it belonged to the famous son of Duke Sylphon, Tyland Sylphon.

"L-Lord Tyland Sylphon!?"

"Let us through, now!! Hurry!"

The knights began to rush in as they opened the gate. The gate was opened hurriedly, while Tyland and Kirnos returned to the carriage.

Our carriage started moving again, and we finally moved past that scouting post.

"Whew, that went well."

I said while being inside the carriage, but the look on Tyland's face says that he is still worried.

He knows that he is currently taking an assassin to his destination, to kill his king. He knows it, and yet he couldn't do anything about it.

His only duty was to sneak me into Velborn, he won't need to help me any further. And yet, he still felt bad doing it.

The trip continued in silence, and it felt like years until we finally arrived at the next destination.

An ethelen town, it's a town for lumberjacks.

Kirnos said we had to take a stop here otherwise the horse would die from hunger and fatigue. He also said that we could get some meals to eat here, while we are still stopped.

I agreed, and I began roaming around the ethelen town.

Except, Tyland is coming with me.

"You don't have to come with me… I'm just going to be roaming around."

"I need to, otherwise who knows what you will do. I will try to stop you if you try to kill anyone out of inconvenience, so be warned."

"Woah, are you threatening me?"

Tyland shuts up after that, but I simply turned away. I'm not going to look around, I'm actually curious what an ethelen town is really like.

From the outside, it's really just like any human town. Buildings, people roaming around doing their businesses, workers being exceptionally loud, it's the exact same view as a human town.

Except, everyone here has horns and long ears.

Ethelens… are very similar to humans, aren't they?

After looking around, I noticed that there are some shop stalls where I could've bought stuff from. But after seeing that they use a completely different money system, I know that I wouldn't be able to buy anything.

Luckily Tyland is the son of the richest Duke in the kingdom, he has a ton of money. We bought an ethelen meal called meatballs, basically it's meat but in the shape of round balls covered in sauce.

Tastes good.

"One of the best things about being an ethelen, is that the food here is always tasty."

"Oh… is that so?"

Tyland said once we were back at the carriage. 

Kirnos has already finished feeding the horses, and it has been about fifteen minutes since we stopped. We are good to go again.

The trip continued, and we didn't go to any other towns or villages along the way. We did come across like one or two, but we could only view them from a distance since the paths we took are the ones that lead to the capital, and not to the said towns or villages.

And after a little bit more movement, we finally made it.

"Look at that. We're here."

Tyland suddenly said during the trip. I was having my back laid to the seat, so I quickly got up and stared at the same direction as him, outside the window.

What we are looking at are castle walls.

It was indeed tall, like thirty to forty meters tall. It also looked quite fortified with all those windows on the wall, possibly having a ranged weaponry right behind it. The top of it also looked like it is traversable, which means archers can be placed on that position.

I studied all of the military benefits that the castle walls have while still being on the road, and after a while the carriage arrives at the castle gate.

"State your identities."

The guards by the gate are so much calmer than the scouts we met before. They calmly asked for our identities when we arrived, and Tyland gave him his identity card.

"L-Lord Sylphon!? You're alive!?"

The guards said shockingly after reading it, suddenly bringing quite a few attention to our location.

"Ah… they pronounced me dead, huh?"

"Y-Yes, my lord…"

"That's fine. I'm going to meet none of them, anyway. Let us in, please."

"Yes, my lord!"

The guard then turned towards the other knights by the gate, and they opened the gate very slowly to the side.

Tyland returned to the carriage, and Kirnos rode the carriage inside.

"Are you sure we are going to be okay…?"

Kirnos asked towards the inside while still riding the carriage. Right behind the tray is Tyland, waiting for Kirnos to speak.

"The moment they heard we were alive… you know…"

"It's fine. This is the capital, they wouldn't dare to do anything rash here."

Tyland said to reassure Kirnos. He turned to me, and found me currently sight seeing through the window. Seeing this, Tyland let out a sigh.

"You had bad intentions coming to this kingdom… and yet here you are sight seeing like a child."

Oh, so that's what he was thinking I'm doing?

I was actually analyzing their defenses, like what kind of things they put on their walls, and how they guard the gate just now. I thought about how to weaken them, how to take them down, so I was looking at them through the window.

But I guess having him thinking that I was simply sightseeing might be good.

Other than that, I am studying their barrier.

Velborn is a capital city, just like Ardjestyn. It is fortified with many of the kingdom's strongest defenses, despite being so deep within their territory. They have castle walls, archers ready to snipe at anything.

But the main thing that they boasted for their defenses, is the magical barrier.

It was massive, and it protected the entire city all the way to the skies. I'm sure it's pretty strong as well, I had a hard time ignoring it when I entered that front gate.

Any normal human would've turned to ash the moment they touched the barrier. But Gilbert had taught me how to pierce through it easily and unnoticed, though you have to be stronger than the barrier to be able to do that.

It was rather easy, so taking it down should be rather easy as well.

"Y-Yeah… this place is new to me after all."

I quickly said, and Tyland somehow chuckled.

"Where should we go?"

Kirnos suddenly said to us, and Tyland gave it some thought. He noticed that the armor that we are wearing was quite messed up, be it on purpose or not.

We need a new set if we want to roam around.

"Should we get a new set of gears?"

He turned and asked me, and I nodded.

"Sure."

The carriage made its way towards the nearest blacksmith on that main road. Kirnos parked it at the side of the road, which should've been illegal in Ardjestyn.

KRING!!

The sound of the bell on the door rang as the door opened. The three of us entered, and the shop owner immediately realized that we were warrior knights.

"W-Welcome… how can I help you?"

"We're looking for a new set of armor."

"W-What kind…?"

"The ones that cover our body, preferably light."

"Understood."

The shop owner then went to the back and returned with a single set of armor. Once Tyland confirmed that it is what we wanted, he went to the back again and brought two more sets.

We changed in a changing room that was installed inside the shop, and we exited after we paid.

"So… James. What do you want to do now?"

Hmm? Oh right, my name is James.

"I will start roaming around to look for information. You two… do whatever you want? Just don't get in my way."

Hearing that the mission is finally starting, Kirnos and Tyland stared at one another.

Kirnos then walked to the carriage to just wait, while Tyland moved closer to me.

"I am… coming with you."

"Nope. Goodbye."

"Wait--"

FWOOSHH!!!!

Before he could grab onto me, I already leaped away. I landed on the roof of the blacksmith shop, and I leaped again to another place.

I purposely kept my presence as hidden as possible, since I don't know what kind of warriors that these ethelens have. Who knows if they have a similar heroes system like Ardjestyn does, I don't want to find out the hard way.

I landed on top of what looked to be a church, and I sat down on top of it. The sun is already going to disappear in the west, making the skies incredibly red and orange.

Now then…

What will I do…?