[Luke POV]
“Village Head, please take care of everyone.”
“I shall do my best, your Highness.”
“Stop crying Sebas, I won’t bring you with me.”
“Sniffles”
“I will be safe, Sebas, Cynthia is with me. Surprise me when I return.”
Sebas raised his head and looked at me.
“I will make sure to surprise you, your Highness!”
“Your Highness, we’re ready.”
I nodded as I hugged Sebas.
“We’ll be back.”
“I shall wait for your return, your Highness. Be safe.”
.
.
.
I gazed outside my carriage and saw 50 guards riding horses as they escorted 10 carriages. Behind me, I brought 40 engineering students who can help in the road construction. As well as some people from the medic unit, Miss Amari wanted to come but I had her stay to train the medics.
Rowan Company’s caravan was moving in the same group as us, although Rowan himself did not join us he decided to head to the empire to acquire some land I described.
“Your Highness.”
Marco spoke up while reading some documents.
“It seems like the 500 guards that were sent to prepare your camp have arrived in the Town of Willow, it has been deemed safe since the noble who rules that town is a Baron friend of Rowan. It’s 10 km away from the capital so the supply depot will not be a problem while we’re there.”
“I keep telling you guys we don’t need it…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You can’t stop it your Highness… they already agreed to lower it to this much, I’m pretty sure they will no longer budge. Even though I am now worried, that many people might laugh at you for only bringing 50 people.”
“The village is still developing; it needs the guards. Though I’ll let it pass right now, the 50 you guys picked are cool.”
“Magic swordsmen are indeed worthy of protecting you… Still…”
I ignored Marco as he tried to justify bringing 550 guards to the capital. As I leaned on Cynthia and closed my eyes.
.
.
.
It took us three weeks to arrive at the town of Willow. This town resided along the river that was south of us. By boat, it would take them 9 days to reach Neverwinter. However not many merchants utilize this route due to the shallow waters.
For now, we are done with the road construction.
We stayed in the town of Willow for 3 days since the gates would not open to allow the Knights or guards to enter the capital until the noble parade began.
I reluctantly agreed.
In those three days my guards, the engineers, craftsmen, merchants, and some of the town’s residents got drunk. I’m glad they are having fun. In a few days, they have to separate again due to the mercenaries needing to enter the capital before the parade begins.
I made sure to pay for everything they drank.
.
.
.
The outskirts of the capital were painted in a multitude of colours. The knights’ armour and the banner of the ones they served flew. It was a time for nobles to showcase their power to the common people of the capital.
Some noble families brought close to 5,000 people. This parade culture signifies the founding of the Kingdom when the now Ducal families marched to the capital to lay down their crown on the foot of the Arthurian 1,000 years ago. Something that a dev wrote in the forums and I confirmed it in the Royal Library growing up.
Instead of continuing the war after winter, the Kings decided to instead unite the kingdom under the Arthurias family. The New Year Festival signified the Kingdom’s birth.
The most recent in history is almost two decades ago when the Duke of Claudias brought 15,000 soldiers to the capital, to celebrate the engagement of the King and his Daughter.
“All in formation!”
“The Dukes’ armies will enter first as always.”
Chatters could be heard among them.
“Hey, look at that.”
“Seriously?”
“They look decent. It's a shame that those men serve such a Lord.”
“They can’t even paint their carriage.”
“They probably picked the black colour because they’re mourning their pride as nobles.”
“Or they didn’t have enough funds to paint.”
“I wonder who’s inside the carriage.”
“They have curtains inside the carriage!”
“But to only provide 5 guards per carriage?”
“He should have just stayed in his domain.”
People spoke as they noticed our group.
“Your Highness, permission to slaughter them all.”
“Rejected Cynthia.”
“I think some of those are from the Arren domain, I can ensure that they live a horrendous life in Romwell and our domain.”
“Not happening Marco.”
It took a while for the other nobles to enter until it was just us. Some residents of the capital laughed at us, there was also one who threw a tomato towards me. But the diamond glass blocked it.
Maybe the people of this world are not used to glass yet. After all, only the Western nobles had them this year. We made some money when we sold them, though theirs had real glass instead of a diamond one.