Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 11. Do Not Make Trouble?
“Just to remind you,” Ruan said with a smile. “Although the Iron family is not as powerful as the three Great Families, it’s very strict with imposing its own rules. They won’t care about your status when punishing any misbehavior so unless you want to spend a few weeks in detainment, do not do anything overly stupid,” he reminded, still somewhat worried if Laien wouldn’t cause rucks at the first opportunity. He had a reputation of doing just that, after all.
“Thanks for the warning,” Laien said and rolled his eyes. Ruan truly was like a nagging older brother; he was a bit like Tin’Long, though he was a fair bit harder to deal with.
Yin, on the other hand, chuckled quietly, then exchanged a glance with Laien. He could tell Laien was still getting annoyed by those comments from Ruan, but not nearly as much as before. He was glad to see that Laien took his advice to heart.
“Aah, whatever. Let’s hurry up and get there,” Laien said and kicked Bellicose’s sides, sending his mount straight into a gallop. Yin smirked a little and follow suit and so did the remaining seven of the group. The Iron Fort wasn’t like any city; its gates were opened only in the morning and in the evening. Since they ended up arriving in the late afternoon, they would need to request a permission to enter. Thus, everyone who was left behind would need to wait a few hours for the gates to open around the sunset.
“Who goes?” one of the soldiers on top of the walls called out in a bored voice, amplifying it with his Qi as to not need to go through the effort of shouting.
“We request entry and a meeting with the General,” Ruan replied simply, in a very militaristic jargon; he dropped all formalities and pleasantries and stated his position in the smallest amount of words possible. He then raised his hand and caused a golden sigil with two crossed sword to appear between his fingers.
“!” the bored soldier instantly straightened his back. The sigil in the man’s hand was a military pass of the highest tier. Apart from Generals, only the most influential people in the country would be granted the honor of carrying it. “Open the gate! Call for the sergeant!” the soldier shouted, the tone of his voice betraying some of the agitation he was feeling. He had actually shown himself in such a lazy, unbefitting of a soldier way to important guests! He really hoped he didn’t bring too much shame to the Iron Knights.
“So we had something like this?” Laien asked with a slight smile. He had his own ring from Sinra, but to average soldiers like those, a military pass would be of much more importance.
“I can give it to you if you want,” Ruan said with a helpless laugh. “It won’t be of much use outside the Sarkcente Kingdom though,” he added and glanced at Laien meaningfully.
“Nah, no need,” Laien shrugged his shoulders. It would be less of a hassle to let Ruan handle all the formalities along the way so butting in to be the center of attention every time simply wasn’t worth it. Also, it was beginning to seem a bit childish to him to be trying to show-off each and every time. “Those walls really feel tall now that we are right next to them,” he mentioned as the huge gate began slowly opening with some creaking and metallic sounds coming from the mechanism hidden in the walls.
“There are more impressive things further in,” Ruan said with a laugh, leading the boys and the rest of their group into the Iron Fort.
Laien raised his eyebrows, but the moment he rode past the outer walls he understood what Ruan meant. Instead of a courtyard and a clear path into the ‘city’, what emerged before them was another thick wall and two paths leading right and left. From what they could see… there appeared to be many other passages, making it practically impossible to figure out where to go for anyone seeing the interiors for the first time.
“As you can see, it’s a maze,” Ruan explained smugly. “Even after getting over the outer walls, the enemies would need to force their way through this maze and the many traps and ambushes within it. Their casualties would be terrible… and there are still inner walls and then the core walls around the castle within the citadel. Without a truly elite unit of Realm of Heroes experts, attacking the Iron Fort is basically a suicide,” he stated confidently, obviously taking quite a bit of pride in the defensive might of the Iron Fort; the iron gateway defending their country!
“The regular population is highly militant too,” he brought up. “All the citizens can be mobilized if necessary. With its three hundred thousand potential defenders, the invading army would need at least a swarm of thirty to forty million fearless soldiers to conquer the Iron Fort in a regular way,” he said somewhat absentmindedly, imagining what a scene of carnage like that would look like.
“Forty million? Ha!” the grey-haired and grey-bearded sergeant called out with a snort and a smile as he approached on a war horse. “A thousand of our ancestors fought off two million enemies in a wooden fort! To take down our Iron Fort they’d better bring at least half a billion people if they want to stand a chance!” the sergeant stated proudly, the fire of passion still burning strongly in his eyes despite his senior age.
“Glory to the Ishtar,” Ruan greeted with a smile and made a gesture as if he was drawing a sword with his right hand, then clenched his fist at the end.
“Glory to the Ishtar,” the sergeant replied calmly and did the same gesture. He noticed the two boys looking at him in confusion so he spoke up quickly in a grandfather-like way. “You youths from the mainland don’t need to concern yourselves with salutes. Those are only for the warriors and the followers of Ishtar,” he explained, unable to prevent a hint of contempt from sneaking into his voice. He had received the news of what had happened during the Grand Gathering, so he knew full well who those two boys in front of him were.
“Daniel, don’t be too harsh on the kids,” Ruan said and laughed a little. Judging by Daniel’s expression he was as stubborn as ever.
“Ah, who cares about those mainland kids,” the old sergeant, Daniel said dismissingly. “More importantly, why don’t you stay longer this time? I could introduce you to my granddaughter,” he suggested with a wry smile and laughed when the look on Ruan’s face turned sour.
“Just lead us to the castle,” Ruan said with a sigh. “We will be troubling General Agnes himself. I have the fortune, or misfortune, however, you’d like to call it, to be escorting quite important kiddos,” he explained, personally looking forward to talking with General Agnes again.
“Hrm?” Daniel raised an eyebrow, then took another look at Laien and Yin. He nodded, for some reason looking at the boys in a more positive way than before.
“The devil is not here, is what I would like to say to your smug face,” Daniel said with a laugh. “He is supposed to return in the morning, so if you want to talk with him you can do so tomorrow,” he explained, then kept going almost habitually, feeling a bit too relaxed in Ruan’s presence. “Lately the devil had been spending less and less time in the Iron Fort and had been joining every minor expedition, not only into the Anarchic Lands but even to the neighboring countries or to the eastern plains. People are whispering that he is having problems with his family life…” he mentioned and wanted to say more, but halfway through realized he was saying too much.
“You’d better not mention what I just said in front of the General if you hold your life dear. As long as it’s about military affairs, he will be happy to bore you to death if you let him but don’t pry into his personal life. Eh, what am I even saying, you wouldn’t do something so stupid,” he said with a resigned smirk, but gave Laien and Yin a reprimanding glance right afterward. Their status in the mainland didn’t matter much here; if they valued their well-being they really should hold their tongues.
“Why do all the adults think we will make a fuss or make trouble?” Laien asked frowningly. Did all adults view children as nothing but troublemakers?
“Because it’s what kids do,” Yin said and chuckled carefreely. “And it’s what we can do too… as long as it’s only harmless fun,” he added and smirked at Laien, the little exchange between the two of them causing Ruan and Daniel to shake their heads helplessly. There was no helping some kids, eh?
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“Let’s get going, I would rather get back here before the night flood hours begin,” Daniel said and turned his horse around, riding away to the right from the gate.
“He’s right, it will take us about half an hour to reach the castle even if we hurry,” Ruan supported the idea of not wasting time and followed his old friend. Laien, Yin and the other six did the same and headed for a ride through the complicated maze of the Iron Fort.
Around half an hour later, the ten of them emerged through the gate leading to the inner district; one which at the very least somewhat resembled a city, but was quite apparently built in a sturdy, easy to defend and hard to attack way. The houses were of very varying sizes, but the roads were all small and tight. There was no main road and instead only another labyrinth of streets filled with dozens if not hundreds of dead ends.
Compared to Neil City, the Iron Fort certainly had a more gloomy, oppressive atmosphere to it. It was a place only a certain kind of people would be able to happily live in.
As they were making their way through the obscure streets of the inner city, Daniel would sometimes mention a few things about the area they were passing through.
“We are going through the main crafting district in the inner city. As far as military equipment goes, we are self-sufficient. We have the craft guilds and the iron and coal mines in the mountains. In the event of a siege, we can keep repairing and producing necessary equipment for three decades.”
“We are passing by the common district. There are mostly regular houses, a few schools and some taverns around. It gets pretty lively during the night, but now everyone is at work.”
“Further to the east are the butchers. We keep livestock in that district, the small market for outsiders is located there too. We have rations for ten years stored, just in case.”
Laien and Yin looked at each other and smiled helplessly. It looked like the people of the Iron Fort were as obsessed with defending the country as the stories claimed.
“Now we are out of the residential area and you can see some more interesting structures located in the inner city. Can you hear the sounds of steel clashing? Right there are the many training grounds for the youths and adults alike. The grounds are occupied every day without exception. Right next to them there is a storehouse for all kind of equipment and the stables with our war horses. On the other side of the road, further to the right, this lone big building there, this is the academy where the officers study the warfare. And lastly, behind the officer’s quarters, we have our own arena where the tournaments and duels are held almost daily.”
“That sounds interesting indeed,” Laien said with a laugh. They had been making haste during the last two days so he and Yin hadn’t had a chance to properly stretch their muscles. Thankfully, an opportunity to do just that was presenting itself.
“Glad to hear that,” Daniel said approvingly. No matter if the youths were from the mainland or from somewhere else, if they were fond of places of training and honing oneselves they would gain a lot in his eyes. “Leave that for later though, you should get yourself quartered in the castle first. Then you can ask someone to take you to the training grounds,” he said as they were approaching the gate to the core district.
“Four guards?” Laien was a bit surprised by the sight. He didn’t quite go as far as to prove the four men with his spiritual sense, but he was pretty sure they were all martial masters. To have four martial masters guard the gate… even the Great Martial Schools weren’t so overbearing with their rules. No Elders would agree to do a job as mundane as that while those four men, on the other hand, didn’t look all that displeased with their work.
“The bunch is here to speak with the General Agnes, can you get them a place to stay?” Daniel asked one of the guards, skipping the common salute. He was a sergeant, but he was stationed at the outer walls. His position wasn’t all that high so it wasn’t surprising he didn’t know those elite soldiers by their names; more often than not only those who were friends or were of similar standing would greet themselves with a salute. Since those four didn’t initiate it the moment they got close, it wasn’t up to him to be forcing them to do it either.
“All of them?” the man asked with a frown and glanced briefly at the golden sigil Ruan took out to show them. “The leader of the guards and the young masters can enter, the rest will stay in the barracks,” he stated bluntly, not intending to argue over the matter at all.
“You heard him,” Daniel said with a shrug of his shoulders and gestured Ruan and the boys to go ahead and enter the core district. As for the remaining six, he would quickly take them to the barracks and return to his post, hopefully in time to avoid the streams of the people trying to get in or out of the Iron Fort.
“Leave your horses and follow me,” the man at the gate ordered simply and without waiting to confirm if the three did as he told them to, began walking towards the castle.
“They will take them to the stables, no need to concern yourselves,” Ruan assured the boys and gestured them to hurry up. Iron Knights didn’t like to be kept waiting and he surely didn’t want to antagonize the people in this castle. Often all that was needed was one careless word or one action to have almost all the people of the Iron Fort to turn against you, especially if you were a ‘mainlander’, even if only a former one.
From the inside, the castle looked just like it did from the outside; plain, cold and unamusing. There were no decorations or bright colors anywhere, everything was made of stone and gave off a depressing feeling. The rooms the guard led them to were equally militant; one medium-sized wardrobe, a night table, a candle and a bed was all one person would get. The silver lining was they had two-people rooms available, one of which Laien and Yin chose for themselves.
“Do not cause trouble until the General arrives,” the guard reprimanded seriously. “You will be notified when you should come to see the General. The meals are up to you to get though. I recommend the canteen just outside the gate,” he said a bit more amiably, but then left without another word.
Ruan suppressed a sigh. He loved the people of the Iron Fort for their ideals, but he didn’t find their day-to-day behavior to be too pleasant. It was mainly because of that why he hadn’t chosen to settle down here despite a few good opportunities. He wouldn’t be able to handle the strict life in this place; everything was too loitered with unspoken rules and implied responsibilities for his liking.
“If you want to go somewhere, I can take you there,” he offered and looked at Laien and Yin, yet laughed a little afterward. “Fine, I will come see you in the morning. Try to not get yourselves jailed,” he said helplessly, deciding to give the boys the freedom to do as they liked. He smirked at the two, then turned around and went to take a nap in his own room.
“He was more cool about it that I thought,” Laien commented leisurely, pleasantly surprised by the amount of freedom Ruan was giving them; well, not like it was up to him to decide any of that anyway.
“He said he wouldn’t babysit us, remember?” Yin reminded with a laugh. “So, we are going to those training grounds, right?” he asked with an amused smile. He couldn’t have not noticed Laien’s intentions even if it wasn’t for the spiritual bond between the two of them.
“Yup,” Laien said with a smile. “I’m looking forward to changing the opinion of the ‘mainlanders’ of a few arrogant Iron Knights,” he added humorously and started walking towards the exit.
“They will be surprised, that’s for sure,” Yin said confidently. He didn’t care what other people were saying or thinking about him and he could tell Laien wasn’t all that bothered by it either, at least not anymore, but he wouldn’t mind teaching them a little lesson.
The two of them didn’t expect to bump into anyone in the castle since on their way to the quarters they saw no one, not even any servants, but somehow they ended up meeting a girl; or would a young woman be a more proper word to refer to her with? The girl looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old and was wearing a white dress. To be honest, she looked as if she was returning from some kind high-end party and didn’t fit into the atmosphere of the castle one bit.
Despite the girl’s intriguing appearance, Laien and Yin weren’t interested in chatting with her and intended to simply continue heading to the training grounds. The girl had at first ignored the two of them too, but when they were passing each other in the dark corridor she finally saw their faces better and instantly stopped, then stepped in front of them. “You look great!” she exclaimed with sparkling eyes, looking at Yin as if at an incredibly beautiful doll. “I want you for myself! Come, you will have the honor of becoming my private guard!” she said magnanimously and reached out to grab Yin’s arm to very literally take him with herself.
Contrary to her expectations, however, Yin quickly stepped back and avoided her hand. He smiled awkwardly, not really knowing how to react in a strange situation like this one.
“What’s wrong? You will have anything you could want, you just need to listen to me. Come!” the girl insisted, failing to understand why the boy would be unwilling to become her private guard. He should be happy instead! Remaining completely oblivious, she took a step forward and wanted to grab at Yin again… only to be blocked by Laien who didn’t look amused at all; in fact, he even seemed to be a bit angry.
“I’m not interested in you, move away!” the girl said with a snort and stomped her feet. “I want only this cute boy behind you, I’m not interested in you!” she stated bluntly, but all she managed to accomplish was to make Laien and Yin question if she was in her right mind.
“You ‘want’ him?” Laien asked with a slight frown. “You can’t ‘have’ people just because you want to have them. Who do you think you are anyway?” he asked coldly, but then mentioned a bit randomly, hoping to annoy the oblivious young lady. “He is my partner already anyway, so you can’t have him even if you want to,” he said half-jokingly and amazingly enough, got the exact response he wanted to get. The fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl gave him a furious look, then pretty much shouted in his face.
“Who do I think I am? Who do you think you are?! I’m the daughter of the General Agnes! If you disobey me, I will have my father lynch you when he returns! And stop lying about him being your partner! You are both boys! You can’t be partners!” she insisted almost hysterically, raising her voice higher and higher with each sentence. By the looks of it she was more concerned by Laien’s latter statement than his previous provocation.
Standing behind Laien, Yin couldn’t help himself and smiled wryly. He was totally up for this kind of a game, so he kept quiet and waited for Laien to continue.