After two hours of non-stop travel, the Fourth Prince and his Imperial Knight escort finally arrived at the Imperial capital of the Djage Empire, also known as Kalin City. This was the largest city in the entire Djage Empire, with a land area of over 4000 kilometers.
The Imperial Knight, covered in dust, stopped the carriage at the entrance of the Imperial Capital to wake the Fourth Prince. He was currently sleeping in the carriage cozily.
“Your Highness, we have arrived,” she said respectfully.
Shad did not answer her with words, but he nodded his head at her through the glass window. He glanced outside the carriage to take a quick look at the majestic city walls of the Imperial Capital. These walls were over twenty meters tall and manufactured from special materials. Not only that, but they were also enhanced by defensive wards and magical spells to protect from nearly all types of magical attacks. Even an 8th class mage would not be able to damage these walls.
Unlike the other people waiting in line to enter the Imperial Capital, the female knight did not dismount her carriage. Instead, she proceeded to enter a smaller gate that was set aside for powerful nobles and the Imperial family. The queue of people waiting outside the main city gate looked on jealousy.
“Stop, I will continue on foot. You may go,” said the Fourth Prince as soon as the golden carriage passed the city gate. He quickly exited and started making his way down the street.
“Your Highness, please! The Emperor strictly ordered me to bring you to him as quickly as possible,” said the knight. She jumped off the carriage and ran towards the Fourth Prince with her head bowed. She was very anxious and unsure of what to do. If the Fourth Prince wanted to continue on foot, it would take several more hours to arrive at the Imperial Palace. Not only that, but the Djage Empire was currently at war with the Nicolas Empire over a small kingdom that bordered the two. Any spies or assassins that the Nicolas Empire had inside the city would love to strike at the Fourth Prince if they saw him walking through the city alone.
“It’s been two years since I left the capital and I’ve missed it a lot. I want to walk home and look at the changes in the city as well as the people walking around. During the past two years of training, you were the only other human being around, so it will be nice to finally have some company. If you are that worried, then you can just follow behind me,” answered Shad with a playful smile while he continued to move forward.
The female knight could not do anything else except follow Shad. However, she was very surprised to hear him mention her during his two years of training. She had been assigned to protect the Fourth Prince in secret, without alerting him to her presence. Even though the Fourth Prince was technically safe and sound, she had still failed a part of her mission. The Fourth Prince hated the idea of protectors following him everywhere, which is why the Emperor had assigned her to watch him secretly. She was unsure what the repercussions of this failure would be.
As the capital of one of the four great empires within the continent of Egul, the grandeur and magnificence of Kalin City was nearly unmatched. It was considered one of the five megacities of Egul, with more than eight million residents calling it home. Kalin City was divided into three main sectors: the populace sector, the noble sector, and the Imperial sector.
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The populace sector was the largest and most populated of the three sectors, consisting of roughly half the population of the city. This was where most commoners lived. Due to the size and number of people, this sector could be rather chaotic with higher crime rates than the other two sectors, but the Imperial Guard normally kept things under control. After all, most of the people who lived here were regular mortals.
The noble sector was inhabited primarily by the nobility, and was also home to the Kalin Magic Academy, the Hunter’s Guild, and the Mercenaries Guild. Since all mages were granted the title of nobility, there were countless magic weapons stores located here. There were also many servants and guards who lived in this sector that served a noble house. Since there was such a large number of mages and all were granted the status of nobility, they were not all granted land within the empire. As such, one of the best ways for a noble family to showcase their wealth was with a large mansion staffed by many servants. These servants were normally given small rooms within the noble sector so that they would always be nearby if they were needed.
The final sector was the Imperial sector, home of the Imperial family and the Imperial Palace. It was located in the very heart of the city. Similar to the noble sector, many servants and guards were given small quarters here or at the edges of the Imperial Palace so that they could always be ready to serve the Imperial family.
Shad continued to walk down Silver Lane, the primary road of Kalin City. As the primary road of the Imperial Capital, the entire road was constructed with large symmetrical limestone tiles. It was very wide and had enough to space for multiple carriages to travel down it side by side. On each side of the road there were many shops, inns, taverns, and weapons stores. The entire area was full of people going about their daily business.
After about an hour of travel, Shad took one of the carriage taxis to the entrance of the noble sector. He did not want to hurry, but he knew his father would be impatient if he took to long. Despite the fact that he was the Fourth Prince and was used to extreme luxury, nothing made him feel at home like walking through the populace sector.
As they walked down Silver Lane within the noble sector, there were majestic buildings and mansions that housed the nobility, as well as magic weapons stores on each side of the road. It was a stark contrast to the populace sector. Shad saw rich nobles and young ladies chatting and smiling as they walked along. All of them were wearing expensive, fashionable clothes as if they were in a fashion show.
As Shad entered this sector, some of the nearby nobles began to titter quietly amongst themselves while they pointed at Shad. He couldn’t really blame them, as he resembled a commoner due to the plain way he was dressed. To make matters worse, he was eating a piece of meat while he walked around. Even the female knight was slightly uncomfortable with his actions, but she was unable to say or do anything. Everyone knew that the Fourth Prince did not care about etiquette. However, none of the nobles here knew that he was the Fourth Prince. It had been two years since he disappeared from the capital and he had changed greatly. First of all, his original hair color was black, but after two years of training with the purple lightning seed it had turned a dark purple. He was taller and more muscular, and even the aura around him had changed. But to the nobles, he looked like a country bumpkin due to the way he was dressed.
Shad did not get angry with their laughter. After he spent his life on Earth living in the streets, he was very accustomed with the disdainful gazes and did not feel any anger towards them. Instead, he pitied them. They put all this effort simply to create a front for society, and missed out on the best things in life at the same time. Not only that, but many of them were small-minded and could not see the value of a person simply because of his or her status. Their pride and ego clouded their judgement.
After some time, Shad finally made his way to the front of an immense gate shaped like an arch. The other side of the gate was incredibly spacious, and the Imperial Palace could be seen further down Silver Lane. There were fewer people here than the previous sectors, and no carriages. This place was forbidden for ordinary people and lesser nobles, so it was much less crowded.
At the entrance of the arch shaped gateway stood two powerful Imperial Knights. As they watched the female Imperial knight proceed to the gate, they did not dare stop her from entering even though she was not wearing her uniform. As for the commoner youth who was with her, they looked at him questioningly as they did not know who he was or his background. Despite this, they did not dare to stop him either. Not many people could enter the Imperial sector, so this youth was clearly not as simple as he looked.
“I am finally home. I wonder what mother is doing now?” whispered Shad as he looked at the Imperial Palace with a smile on his face. Despite his age on this world, combined with his life on Earth, he would always just be a child in his mother’s eyes, and he couldn’t wait to see her.