It didn't take them a long time to reach the end of the crowd of people that already passed the border. By the time they reached this point, Verkel's wagon still had about one kilometre to reach the current endpoint of the queue.

'Rushing the horses might have worked in the short distance… To rush like that without even knowing how far the destination is...' Mike shrugged as he thought about the sad fate of fatso's horse. Not only forced to pull an overstocked wagon, but a merchant himself also weighted his own worth, not to speak about armoured guard lying on the trunk.

Soon after arriving, Mike stopped nearby one of the many wagons around.

"Hey mate! Mind if I ask how long do you think will take to reach the gate?"

"Sorry my friend, I would like to know the estimate myself. I hope we can enter the city before night breaks out."

Elderly trader from the nearby coach expressed himself.

"I feel got you here. Camping outside with city this close would kill me."

Mike said while jumping down from the couch.

"I will be the one to kill you if I won't sleep on the bed tonight."

Xyenna poked her head over carriage walls. With her squinted eyes and lips tightened into a straight line, one could take her threats seriously.

'Oh, someone just woke up!' Mike could quickly deduct it from her messy hair and agonising fire deep in her eyes.

Thankfully for him, this short exchange was long enough to make the whole crowd move forward a bit. While it didn't seem like much, in reality, it signalled that the checking ongoing in the gate wasn't either harsh or prolonged. Yes, they still had a few hours of patiently moving forward, but the nightmare of camping outside became very unlikely to happen!

As they were creeping forward, Mike finally had a long time to observe city surroundings. Apparently, the first section of the walls was once destined to become the main line of defence against the Empire. Only a change of the head wearing the Imperial crown, Grey Army never reached so far into the former Altarcia core.

As the borders established themselves farther to the west, old fortifications got incorporated into the closest city in the area.

Despite lacking funds, locals finished the walls with their own efforts, enclosing an enormous area surrounding the real city core.

True stronghold from the past that became a bustling city of today was hidden behind those insane walls and a few kilometres of farmlands and tense villages.

Along the great wall extended another network of farms, sheds and houses. Sadly, this beautiful image was corroded by the silly state most of them were. Instead of lush wheat-fields, only barren earth remained. In the place of old vineyards, a desert with orderly placed sticks, once used as a support for the grapes.

As Mike was immersing himself in this pitiful sight of poverty, the queue moved a little again. The sudden movement made him look at the masses in front. Prompted by this image, he turned around to search for the rest of his company.

Bern was rather close, separated from him by barely a few carriages. At this distance, everyone could easily notice hostile looks he was sending him. As to avoid any unnecessary conflicts from arising, the young merchant ignored the bearded face of the mature trader as he looked out for Verkel.

Thanks to the greater distance that separated them, it took him a while to locate a fatso position. Squeezed between two large carriages, he could even let his reins lie beside him. His horse didn't have much choice besides moving forward as far as the back of other carriage allowed him. Normal people would really panic in this kind of situation; As their wagon could easily get damaged in that situation, Verkel didn't look bothered by it in the slightest.

'Seems like we will be the first to go through the gate' Mike quickly realised. Unsurprisingly, a lot of guards were patrolling the queue, stopping any attempts to cut the line or cause troubles.

'In theory, I should be thankful for their care, but on the other side I hope Xyen won't be the one to put their attention on us…' young merchant sent a quick, worried look at his guard.

Apparently, he didn't have to worry about it at all, since the source of his worries was fast asleep! Following the old military rule, Xyenna never missed the chance to have some rest. In her line of work, being fresh and being tired made a great difference, and no one knew when the danger could come.

Unfortunately, Mike couldn't allow himself such a luxury as sleep. As the coachmen of his carriage, he had to patiently guide the horses along the queue, making sure that both his horse and wagons surrounding his won't get damaged.

Finally, after close to three hours filled with boredom and resignation, a young merchant reached the gate. Made of big stone blocks, the west gate was truly an architectural masterpiece. Armed with thick, wooden doors with metal plates covering most of it from both sides… Everyone stepping through them could feel how insignificant they are!

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There were two teams of guards, taking care of the passage. While one appeared free, their colleagues had their hands full. By pulling short straw in the lottery, they sealed their fate of checking out an endless sea of merchants. Visibly tired by the task, they didn't even pretend to be serious about the job. After all, their duty was superficial only! Every smuggler eventually finds his way to the castle basement and all the troublemakers will be caught out from the streets. Why would they bother for nothing?

After passing through the line of guards, Mike's carriage rolled into the gateway. Overwhelmed by almost seven meters long tunnel, a young merchant couldn't help but gulp his saliva down. He finally understood what might have caused a long period of peace between Altarcia and the Empire. After all, there wasn't enough suicidal youth in the whole Empire to forcefully burst through this defences over and over again!

After finally reaching the exit of the tunnel, Xyenna prompted herself up and gasped in awe. Contrary to the barren lands outside, internal food supply was without a question – great. Redish orchards filled with big apples, wide plots of different's kinds of cereals basking under the sun… In short words, internal farmlands of the city were one of the most beautiful places she has ever seen!

"Feeling amazed, aren't you?"

Young merchant remarked with a small, proud smile. As a trader, he was in this city before, so observing the reactions of people graced with this view for the first time was truly awesome!

"What can I say, it's breathtaking!"

As if not her, Xyenna replied honestly, her dazed look reaching over the colourful carpet of the cereals waving under the gusts of wind.

"You never mentioned that this place would look like that!"

She added after a while, back in her usual form.

"Don't be surprised then, but compared to the city, there is nothing to marvel at here!"

Enjoying it even more with every little surprise Mike had for his companion, he pointed his finger along the road.

"It might be a little hard to spot it from here, but you just wait till you see the city itself!"

After another few moments spent on traversing the remaining distance, the whole glory of the city finally showed itself.

Built on the softly rising hill, sturdy walls encompassed whole earth bulge, not omitting even places that only a madman would risk to climb. Located in the highest point of the hill was the keep, surrounded by turrets towering over the whole city.

For better or worse, their destination wasn't even close to such attractive place! After crossing through layer of internal walls, Mike finally felt safe. Famous from their order, Altarcian cities could be considered best safe heaven in the world. There was even saying that the higher amount of criminals were in the city, the calmer it was!

Letting Xyenna marvel at the various artistic shop fronts and signs, the young merchant guided them through the city outskirts before they finally stopped.

There was nothing eye-catching there when compared to the streets they went through, even the buildings seemed to be made with lower-quality materials. Despite all that, Mike was wearing a rather happy face as he knocked on one of the unremarkable doors.

"Who's there?"

A short, irritated voice came from the depths of the building before the vizier got slammed open.

"Yrwa still works here?"

Simple question, enchanted with a charming smile, must've convinced the owner of the voice from behind the doors. There were three knocks of the locks before doors got slammed open and a massive figure burst out.

Instantly unsheathing her weapon, Xyenna moved to jump out at the aggressor, but before she even managed to put any strength into her legs, foreign giant embraced Mike tightly and swung him around!

Suddenly losing all her strength, the girl immediately deflated and fell on her bottom with resignation written on her face.

"Would you mind not scaring me like that?"

Those words spoken with the accompaniment of disappointed and sulky expression really hit Mike's soft spot. After freeing himself from the giant's embrace, he came back to the carriage and slightly lowered his head.

"Sorry about that. I truly am!" - A mistake has been made, there was no point in denying that. Warriors born in hot water like Xyenna were known to burst out with strength during the time of crisis, only to suffer setback later on. Most of the times it worked great! During the fight, they could give their absolute best and compensate for it by just resting more later. But in case of false alarms like now, this instinctive action was rather bothersome!

"Anyway, let me introduce you guys to each other. This kind golem here is Diaman, while this lovely girl is Xyenna, serving as my bodyguard. That's why I hope you will forgive her action of reaching for a sword!"

Mike said with a hint of a threat in his voice. To girl's surprise, this meat mountain that scared her to her wits put his head down and muttered an apology!

"Going back to the main topic. I came here to ask if you have any free rooms for us and spots in the barn for the carriage? Keep in mind that there will be another party of two coming as well."

"Sure boss, You will always have a room kept for you!"

Diaman replied kindly, before scratching his head.

"But I'm not sure whether there will be enough space for your friends too, let's go ask Ma'am about them!"

"Don't bother yourself. I am already here."

When Mike heard this familiar voice, he swiftly jumped around the giant only to kneel before the old lady on one knee and kiss her hand.

"It's been far too long since I came to visit. May we go in?"

"Oh, you've grown so much! My little Mikey even brought a girl with him! What a great day to be alive!"

The elderly woman exclaimed with joy while tasking Xyenna with a curious gaze.

"Thin tail, modest but sharp bosom, shapely bottom… Thank goddess, your tastes didn't derive much from the norm after all your travels!"

After assessing Mike's bodyguard for a moment, she literally caught her head to express how worried she was.

"Oh, stop it! You make me look like some pinky boy now!"

The young merchant replied with faked anger, only to swiftly change his expression back to a bright smile.

"As you probably heard, we would really use some rooms, both for us, our friends and carriages. Do you think you could help me with that?"