“Raise the gates!”

Sammuel saw a grand 8-meter-tall iron gate rise up. The scale of which was larger than anything he had seen before. It seemed like common iron but he could sense a strange kind of sturdiness from it. From his observations, although it might not be able to block a Great Being, it would at the very least be able to defend against an Ascendant Realm expert for a while. From the protective measures in place, it seemed much more serious than how Aganth handled things.

“This looks like it’ll be hard to get out of.” Sammuel subconsciously muttered.

“Of course it is! This is one of the frontlines against the Hallowed Gap! Say, where have you been? You look a little too… roughed up, so to speak.” Gregor didn’t hesitate to stick by Sammuel.

Sammuel turned his gaze from the overwhelming walls surrounding the kingdom and towards the young man interrupting him. From how he was acting, Sammuel could tell that Gregor was a troublemaker. Still, there was no harm in trying to figure out the situation from him. After all, Gregor was the only loudmouth here. Everyone else was keeping to themselves.

“Through a war.”

“Oh! That makes much more sense.” Gregor nodded his head and began to rant. “Was it the war between the Coail Kingdom and the Naga Tribe? Hmm, you smell a bit of naga blood but it’s too faint. Let’s see, naga blood… Yeah, I don’t know.”

Sammuel wanted to ask Gregor what he had going in his mind but decided against it. Gregor seemed to be far too lax considering that he knew more than he looked like.

“You know what naga blood smells like?” Another captive suddenly asked. There was great curiosity behind his actions that could've easily been mistaken for fanaticism.

Gregor began to look from Sammuel then back to the the man who just asked in quick succession. “Ah… No, I don’t. I was just guessing. Hehe.”

“Tch. Nevermind.” He decided not to bother with Gregor. From his perspective, Gregor seemed to know something interesting yet he apparently wasn’t budging. There was going to be time for them to mingle with each other later on so there was no need to rush.

“Then why did you say that?” Sammuel asked.

Gregor came closer to whisper towards Sammuel’s ear. “I’ll be honest, I’m just cool like that..”

Definitely a troublemaker.

Taking that part of him away, Sammuel didn’t feel anything odd about it. This was going to be an interesting sequence of events then. He was going to make his choices carefully this time around.

“Why did you whisper that to me then?”

“I felt like it. Plus, do you see her?” Gregor pointed with his eyes to a young girl completely wrapped up in cloth. “I bet she’s cute if she lifts up her mask. Don’t you agree?”

Sammuel grabbed Gregor’s face and pushed him away. This made Gregor fall on his back with a dazed expression.

“What was that for?!”

“You said we’re in serious trouble. Why are you so carefree?”

“Can’t I have a bit of fun before I kick the bucket? It’s not like anything will change from now on.” Gregor heard an audible clack as the gate’s chains were stuck in place by a mechanism. They could finally enter the kingdom. “I feel like the sky isn’t so blue anymore. Haha…”

Blue? The sun’s about to set. It’s already dawn. What is he on about?

A small detail. A detail that Sammuel would be sure to remember. He wasn’t going to approach Gregor just to ask this one small detail. He took his own spot in a corner of the half-sliced cage. Gregor made sure to sit by him as if they were the best of friends.

“Stop getting so close to me.”

“Eh? But we’re the closest in age. So by that logic, we should stick together.”

“I'd rather not.”

The horses brought the half-broken cage forward. On the way, there were a few citizens who saw them being brought forward. With their mana shackled, there was no possible way for them to attack other than brute force. As such, the citizens were safe from possible harm.

The architecture was humble. In fact, Sammuel would even go as far as to say that this place was ancient. Some buildings were new while others seemed to have taken the brunt of the effect of time. A few structures had fauna growing out of it while some were newly built and had the same aesthetic as those in Aganth. It was a mixture of ancient and modern constructions.

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Taking it even further, the amenities inside the kingdom were two grades lower than the one in Aganth. This was to be expected. Aganth was a center of trade for many species. It was nonsensical for it to be behind in development. As a result, Aganth prioritized trade while lacking the necessary defensive aspects it should have. It wouldn’t have fallen so easily if there was more manpower.

Although it was baseless, Sammuel felt as if this kingdom would be able to survive until reinforcements arrived. This was merely a few weeks of distance from Aganth yet it seemed to have its own culture and social norms.

He didn’t hold any grudge for this kingdom not giving aid. If the King of this kingdom, which Sammuel assumed to be one of the strongest forces was only equal to Weston then they would’ve only added to the casualties.

A situation where a Great Being interferes is no small matter after all. It requires the attention of many great forces. As seen with what happened in Aganth, there would be great consequences ahead. Fortunately, this was not the norm.

Though that leads the following question: Why was Sylph so excited for what was to come?

Sammuel pondered about it a bit.

I don’t have enough clues. All I know so far is that there is some kind of force that wants to kill the prince of this kingdom and… that girl. I don’t know what her identity is but based on how she was acting against the prince, her identity should not be low. Now, there are fifteen suspected culprits, including me. But with how they're handling this, there seems to be something else behind it.

During this short travel time, Sammuel noticed many slight differences. Their lifestyle was a little less free but their bodies were much more developed. Even children showed off decent talent. From the bunch he saw, there were a frighteningly high amount of people with a Bronze Card Quality. There were even two people who had a Silver Card Quality. This rate coming from the lowest ranks of this kingdom already spoke of how terrifying the military might of this kingdom was.

If there were already numerous Bronze and Silver Card Quality from the commoners, he could only tremble before the talent of those prestigious nobles. Sammuel didn’t want to think about too much but this kingdom just might be more dangerous than he had initially thought.

After reaching the center plaza, they made a sharp turn and continued on forward until night. During their long travel, the scale of the kingdom could truly be felt. The prolonged distance of their journey made some more anxious while others more calm. Their true faces began to show slightly.

People like Lilia seemed completely bored out of her mind. She was staring at the skies mindlessly. Counting stars until they reach their destination. There were three people who began to act more frightened. One of them was a girl, seemingly younger than Lilia was, she cried out of nowhere. Her whimpers echoed out.

“Shut up.” An old man frowned. His facial hair had turned white yet the hair on top of his head was still vibrantly black. “Stop crying, or I’ll make you stop crying.“

“Eek!” This sudden gasp did not come from the girl but instead, it came from Gregor. “That’s so scary.”

“You think you’re funny, huh?”

“I don’t! But my friend does!” Gregor placed all the blame on Sammuel. This further made Sammuel think of ditching Gregor as soon as possible. Being acquainted with a troublemaker was not in his plans.

“I haven’t met him before this.” A statement that tried to pry himself away from the situation.

“What? You said you’ll protect me!”

“I didn’t say anything like that.”

“Well uh… She said she’ll protect me!” Gregor pointed at Lilia shamelessly. “A faithful servant of the Great Human of Poverty surely will protect the poor, right?”

The old man glanced at Lilia with a cautious look. He had seen just how much power she could exert even without mana. Although he wasn’t afraid of her, there was no need to escalate things with someone religious. After all, those were more likely the worst fanatics.

Lilia scoffed. “Yeah, so what if I’m going to fight for this liability? What I do is none of your business, old man. Tch, annoying. Just go die off already.”

“Lunatic.” The old man muttered before going back to his place.

Lilia did not take this well. “Oh yeah? I’ll show you who’s a lunatic!” Her temper did not do her status justice. She slammed his fist down on the cage, causing it to flip to her side. If not for the soldiers immediately acting to counteract the force then it would’ve flipped over. Despite being shackled, the inhuman force she could exert was well above what anyone in the group could use.

This brought everyone back to their senses. The dullness of the trip had been reawakened by this sudden stimulation. They began to look at Lilia warily. She was going to be someone that no one wanted to be acquainted with.

“We’re here.” Gregor ignored the sudden use of force that almost flipped the cage over and peered over to see the prison cells deep inside the kingdom. “Home sweet home.”

Before everyone targeted Lilia, Gregor’s words made everyone prioritize their current situation more. Right now, they were all suspects to be interrogated for their involvement in the previous assassination attempt. It would be foolish to attract attention to themselves now.

“Get up.” One of the soldiers grabbed Gregor’s cuffs and grabbed him. As one of the weaker ones in the fray, he had decided to make Gregor an example. Gregor was pulled out of his seat and down on the streets.

“Not so rough. I’m delicate.”

Hearing this unpleasant string of words coming from a man made the soldier irked. The fact that Gregor looked like a rough beggar made it even worse. Stained and tattered clothes barely held up by seemingly magic itself and a stench that should only come from the slums came from his body.

Such language was normally used by ladies of high status yet coming from such a deplorable person felt disgusting. The soldier winded up his leg and landed one clean blow on Gregor’s stomach. Gregor was sent flying towards the jail.

Whilst in midair, Sammuel could’ve sworn he saw Gregor wink at him. This was going to be a troublesome time for him. Gregor’s personality did not fit the current stakes of the situation.

The guard no longer felt like putting the captives in their place. “Just get a move on. Anyone who doesn’t comply will get punished.”