The two trek along the stretching stone road towards the capital of the Dukedom, looking over the sights to behold along the way. Trees of different hues of green, a river by the left stretching towards the opposite side of the country, and stone bridges wide enough for a wagon or two to pass built over the infinite river.
The road was somewhat peaceful, neither predator nor peaceful wildlife stopped them on their track, rather they would occasionally meet a squadron of spearmen patrolling along the stone road, some checking on the people that entered or exit the country by the road.
Although the two met no adversaries along the way, they did not forget to train their skills as they camp at night, one mastering their mana control and the other sword fighting against a tree where they would lay under for the night.
Several moons have passed, Ora's light has once more climbed the ladder of the day as Zakel and Mus cower behind the horizon, in fear of being engulfed under Ora's gaze along the surface.
The two reached a hill that sees over the capital as a side of it touches the rushing sea heading onto the sandy shores. They marvel at the amount of people that can be seen walking in and out the walls of the city, as farmers and traders awake a bit later than the patrolling guards along the edge of the city.
"Halt!" As they were about to enter the premises of the capital, a Loguard yells out at the two who were about to enter through the city gates.
"The two of ye are unfamiliar to my eyes, state yer purpose on entering the city walls?" Continued the Loguard, as he attempts to intimidate them by looking at them with his deathly eyes.
Vernack walks forward, unfazed by the intimidation of the Loguard and returns a look towards his face.
"Our purpose is to become a knight under Duke Cristos, who will fight against the Supriars." Replied Vernack, as he returns an intimidating aura, causing the Loguard to chill the moment his eyes land on Vernack's gaze.
Vernack takes out the crest given to him by Felguard Pylot a few moons ago when they were about to enter the premises of Baron Slies' border castle. The Loguard was taken aback by Vernack's action, but he investigates more on the crest that he showed to him.
"Knight Pylot's crest! That means yer recommended by the knight himself, excuse my authority, let me lead ye towards the barracks!" Realizing the meaning of the crest, the Loguard composes himself and guides the two onward.
"Had ye showed Sir Pylot's crest first, damned old me would have not questioned ye of any suspicion!" The Loguard said aloud, as he greets some of the commoners as they pass along the path.
The two said nothing as they followed the Loguard, only chuckling at the ad libs of the Loguard and taking in the sight of the bustling city filled with people from different races. Elturean mercenaries guarding high-class merchants, a group of Grove Elfins settling themselves within the capital, and Mortals of different color and sizes just getting by the day within the capital.
Half the time it took to boil a pot of water, the two finally arrived at the large barracks made for aspiring knights within the capital, the field around it filled with newly enlisted Loguards being trained under an imposing Mortal, his tunic seemed to almost rip if he tries to swing his arms, a bald head which exposed several wrinkles on his forehead.
"If you want to become a knight, you better endure this routine daily! Building the body will help you endure even several arrows hitting your chest!" The imposing trainer lectures the newly enlisted Loguards, his gaze scanning over the lanky Mortals of different genders, sensing that only a few of the people from this batch would endure the training to become a knight.
The newly enlisted Loguards, ran along the field, a large percent of them already tired after a few laps, but an outstanding few preserved as they showed determination to endure the pain of the training.
"If ye wants to become a Felguard, ye will have to join in the ranks of the Loguards and endure this training daily, poor old me could not endure the training after a long time and was given the position of a city guard instead." The Loguard shook his head, as he sees the eyes of some of the new Loguards already showing signs of giving up in about a few days time.
"If it is about daily exercises, then we can endure that, we have long been physically nourished so this will probably nothing." Vernack confidently said, shrugging off the attempt to intimidate people from ever enlisting into the army of Cristos.
The Loguard only smirked at Vernack's confidence, knowing that people only say such thing at the start and regret it later. The Loguard directed them towards the enlistment area and greeted his farewell to return to his duties as a city guard.
The two walked towards the enlistment area and sees a large line of aspirants, people of different genders and sizes showing eagerness to become a knight as the tension between the Supriars and the Cristos only increased when more villages are raided and travelers along the Dukedom's border are constantly threatened by the movement of the Supriars everyday.
"Jon, I will go on ahead and enlist, why not both you and Bale look around for us to shelter tonight." Said Vernack, as he tightens the sack bag filled with his belongings and mentally prepares himself to wait on the long line of enlistment.
Jon gently nods in reply and urges Bale back to the area filled with different inns and check for any vacant rooms for two.
"Excuse me lady, which inn do you suggest two people should stay?" As Jon searches around the area, he would strike up conversations with the locals asking around for a highly suggested inn by the locals.
"Oh dear, I do not go to inns much often, but lately I heard that The Shadow Rock have renovated their inn and are using some sort of new material to make their beds more comfortable than before, but the cost of living in there has been harsh for commoners ever since then." A middle-aged woman wearing a long brown wool dress replied to Jon while carrying a basket filled with several wheat bread.
"I suggest The Rider's Inn since the things they have in there are enough to satisfy commoners, some hearty food made by the chef, I favor that inn over the neighboring ones." Said another middle-aged man, with a brawny physique and scruffy beard, his eyes clearly showing him reminiscing the time he spent inside The Rider's Inn.
"Ah, I highly suggest Saddled Pub, they have their own stable where ye can let yer horse rest there for the time being, even have their own groomer for yer horse, pay them a full silver, yer horse would be as clean as a baby's bottom!" A Theron vendor directs Jon towards a large wooden pub with a stable attached to its side, with a number of mounts stabled inside.
After half a day of asking around the locals which inn they would suggest, Bale and Jon ended up resting along the edge of a fountain in the middle of the city.
"Bale, I never knew just finding a place to lodge in is harder than just living out in the woods." Jon said aloud, wiping off the sweat from his face after a long search for a preferable place for the three of them.
"Living in the--" Before Jon could finish his sentence, he hears a loud cry for help from his right side.
He and Bale immediately turned to look and sees three scrawny Mortals wearing the same green bandana running from away from three different directions, each carrying different item stolen from a stall.
Without thinking twice, Jon rides atop Bale and urges Bale to chase one of the green bandana thieves carrying a small golden statue of what seemed to be a dragon resting on a mountain.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Get out of the way!" The thief carrying the golden statue yells out as he pushes people away and zigzag into one of the alleyways of the city.
"Excuse me, coming through, chasing a thief right now!" Jon and Bale struggle to chase the thief as locals were blocking the path without knowing that a thief passed by them.
A few moments later, Jon arrives at the alleyway that lead to three passages, one ahead, two on both sides. Jon scratches his head as he tries to figure out where the thief would have went to.
"Oi kid, get out of the way, it is our duty to chase those thieves!" A Loguard yelled out as two fellow Loguards tag along behind her, pushing Bale out of the way and ran towards the left passage.
Seeing that the Loguards went left, Jon urges Bale straight ahead, towards a curving passage in front of them.
Moments after, Jon sees the thief struggling to climb up one of their ropes used to escape from a chase as the golden statue was heavy enough to add to his weight, barely cutting the rope.
"Stop right there thief!" Jon yells out and throws a dagger, accurately cutting the rope the thief was climbing on.
Ga! The thief yelped out in pain and the golden statue dropping a short distance away from him. In response to Jon interfering his escape, the thief threw a dagger of his own towards Jon and lunges himself to take the golden statue again.
Before Jon would move Bale, Bale instinctively dodged on its own and charged at the thief, knocking him down.
"Stay down thief!" Jon hops off of Bale and unsheathes the short sword he carried since leaving Pyrlord's camp, placing the sharp end of the blade right next to the thief's neck.
"Kid, you do not know what you are getting to by stopping me!" The thief curses at Jon, his expression showing fear, but not because of Jon holding his life.
"I have no care whatsoever you may threaten me with, but you are a thief and a thief needs to face punishment, just like what my chief said before!" He brushes off the thief's threat and waits for the Loguards to arrive.
Half the time it took to boil water later, the same group of Loguards that Jon met beforehand appears while searching for the thief. Jon sat beside the thief while Bale placed most of its weight on one of its hooves, pushing down the thief.
"Praise Ansi, you are finally here!" Jon immediately stood from his seat, looking tired of waiting for the guards to arrive.
"Ye was able to catch the thief? Child of unknown origins, thank you for the cooperation!" The female Loguard walks up to Jon and slightly bows, she then gestures two of the Loguards behind her to take the thief to prison.
"May I know the name of our cooperator?" The female Loguard politely asks as the two guards behind her act as the second ear in listening to Jon's reply.
"Jon, my name is Jon." He hesitates at first, but the look the guards were giving him pressured him enough to force him to say something.
The three Loguards looked at each other for a moment and nodded in sync, as if they spoke to each other during the silence.
"Well Jon, according to the law of the Dukedom, ye must come with us to reward ye for yer cooperation." Said one of the Loguards.
Jon looked back at Bale as if questioning the horse if they should go or not, and in response Bale only stood beside Jon showing a sign of agreement to whatever he decides to do.
"Alright then, but I would also like to ask for a place to lodge in for me and my... brother, we just came inside the capital as soon as Ora's light rose." Jon hesitantly replied after a moment of thinking about what to say.
The Loguards looked at each other and after a few moments nodded in reply, guiding Jon and the thief towards the capital's prison.
****
Ora's light has finally reached its peak, the presence of Nerva is gone as only Ora is alone in the bright clear sky over the land of Wesout. The locals and the entering aspirants for the kingdom, some aspiring to become mages, have begun settling down for the day, as some eat inside pubs and others have taken their nap for the noon.
Jon, along with Bale, returned to the enlistment area, carrying along with them a basket full of the needs of a commoner, two loaves of bread and two small waterskins filled with water. He sees Vernack sitting under the shade of a tree, resting his back on the tree trunk.
"Verna, how did it go?" Asked Jon as he dismounts from Bale and sits opposite from him.
"I have to wait for a while, the enlisters took a break for noon, did not meet any Felguard named Trinida though." Vernack sighs as he takes a loaf of bread and took a large bite.
"You bought all these?" He continues as he searches more inside the basket and drank from one of the waterskins.
"Nay, it was rewarded to me after I caught one of the thieves, also was sponsored a few moon's worth of stay in The Shadow Rock Inn thanks to that." Jon boasts his accomplishment that morning, puffing his chest out and grinning about.
"Bah! At least you had some fun time, does the inn have anywhere Bale can shelter in as well?" Vernack harshly munches on the loaf of bread as he concerns himself with Bale.
"The locals said none of it, but we will find out later." Jon replies, as he cackles at Vernack being obvious with his envy.
The two enjoyed their noon under the shade and later went to check on The Shadow Rock Inn. Surprisingly, the inn had a stable built for the mounts of each guest, well-made and filled with groomers of different age.
Jon and Vernack set their things up inside a room sponsored by the Master of Capital Trials for cooperating in capturing one of the thieves. After settling their things inside their room, Vernack heads back to the enlistment area and waited for his turn to be tested.
Jon stayed at the inn, as he lays himself on the bed with the new material rumored to be used by the inn. The bed was more comfortable than he had imagined, he felt like bliss as he reminisced the feeling of sleeping beside Halungr's thick fur.
After what seemed like forever, Jon dozed off on the bed and Ora's shine slowly moves towards the horizon, with Mus peeking from the East.
As Jon was immersed in his sleep, a faint streak of light crept in from the bottom of the bed, stretching itself towards Jon as if about to grab onto him.
Boom! The moment the faint light touched Jon, the abyss inside Jon immediately moved itself towards the light and ate the movement of mana from within it, then inside Jon's mind a bright green light flashed over the horizon.
"Back inside this world again." Jon mutters to himself, as he runs toward the horizon, following the green light.
"I have checked on them, a child and a boy barely growing a beard, they both looked a bit inexperienced, let Crow handle them." A hooded figure said, as they show a projection of the Jon and Vernack inside the inn.
"Parse got caught by a fucking child, tell Headless to execute him immediately before he starts telling the Master of Capital Trials about our operations!" Another figure wearing a green bandana with gray lines on the its edge said, ordering one of the members that was listening to their conversation.
"Crow, take this coin, use it to bribe the owner of the inn, they know what it means if they interfere with our operations." The figure wearing the green bandana takes out a green coin with a symbol of three daggers in the middle of it and gives it to another hooded figure.
"Thy will be done." The hooded figure took the coin and with a flick of his sleeve he vanishes into thin air, his gravelly voice still echoing inside their secret meeting place.
Along with the disappearance of the person named Crow, the visions stopped moving and forced Jon to awake from his slumber. A quick flash of green light appears from his eyes then instantly fades back to olive green.
Jon immediately grabs his weapons and straps them along his waist. Ever since the attack on Pyrlord's camp, Jon has started to believe in his visions without question, he understood that most of the visions would get are events that were soon to happen so he was prepared to go out and search for the people hunting them down.
He immediately heads on to the private stable owned by the inn and saddles on Bale. They ride out towards the enlistment area, Jon felt the need to tell Vernack about his vision before acting out his impromptu plan to stop their hunters.
****
"Verna, I have something to speak with you, it is urgent!" The moment Jon arrives the enlistment area, he immediately spots Vernack still far from the enlister and approached him without minding the gazes of the other people.
Seeing that Jon was showing urgency, Vernack let go of the thought of it being something related to a fool's errand and followed behind Jon towards the tree they rested on during noon.
"Quickly, pray tell what has you in urgency?" Vernack impatiently asks, as he feels the gaze of the other aspirants watching the two of them.
"A vision, I had a vision that the master of the thief I caught hired someone to take care of us." Understanding Vernack's impatience, Jon straightforwardly informed him.
Vernack eyes widened for a moment before he composed himself again.
"At what time will our assassin take our lives?" He waits for Jon's reply as he thinks of every scenario that could happen, they were never taught by any of Pyrlord's company about defending against assassination attempts so Vernack had to make up scenarios on how he would defend the two of them.
"I could not see what time of day it was, but I am sure that it will be between the rise of the two moons, Mus and Zakel, they believe that the man named 'Crow' is enough to kill us." Replied Jon, as he recalls the image of each figure in his mind.
"I have a plan, let us wait for the night and catch the rat the moment they least expect us to know." Vernack grins and returns back to the line for enlistment.