“I guess the best option would be to avoid his death, but that isn’t something under our control or that we can influence. Reina should know that doing that would help the princess, but if she didn’t try it… it is beyond her means, or anyone’s, for that matter.”
The path toward the capital was pretty straightforward, and the group didn’t find many obstacles. Even the people going in the opposite direction seemed like they wanted to avoid trouble, probably because the horses they were riding looked like the ones used in wars.
“Don’t worry, buddy. Even if they think that you are ugly, it is what is inside that counts.”
Nightstorm grunted in annoyance. Zelos was just joking, but it looked like he didn’t like it when his appearance was the reason for the joke. Even though it was obvious that Zelos bought him because he was impressive-looking and majestic.
When the group stopped for lunch, Zelos was forced to give Nightstorm an apple to get rid of his bad mood. That kind of habit probably wasn’t a good idea, but Zelos felt that it was all right. When the time came, he had confidence that Nightstorm wouldn’t let him down.
“About how we will proceed once we arrive in the capital. We will just silently look for an inn that offers food as well, and then we will eat in our rooms. We will end up getting enough attention as it is, so we don’t want to draw even further. Tomorrow, we will head to the palace and then look around for some guards who don’t look suspicious from a distance, and then we will reveal that we have a gift from a merchant in the west called Reino. Once the message reaches the princess, she should be able to catch up to this.”
“... Do you think that not many people know Reina’s name, Captain?”
“I would bet on no. It has been a while since anyone tried to get on their bad side, and people here should be more concerned about the power struggle in the capital.”
It made sense. It had been a while since the group had seen Heirina using her head, but she was still sharp as usual. They confirmed that soon enough when they resumed their journey and soon found a small cavalry unit ahead moving in the opposite direction. They moved to the side of the path to avoid them, but the unit still stopped.
“Hold it.”
An armored man with a spear on his back and without wearing his helmet suddenly jumped from his horse and then walked toward the group. Others of his underlings did the same, so Heirina was compelled to do the same. The man looked a bit like Hei, but he had a lot more grey hair on his beard and a bit spiky hair. He didn’t pass a weird aura, but Zelos still moved his head a bit to be ready to grab his iron balls in case something happened.
“My name is Igor, a guard of the imperial capital. May I ask for your name?”
The group wanted to stay incognito, so revealing their real names now would be a problem. However, lying also would be a problem if they were found out later. So, Heirina hesitated for a moment.
“My name is Heirina. How can I help you?”
“Your group looks like a group of young mercenaries. Did you hear about people looking to hire sell swords in the capital?”
Zelos had grown quite a bit, so he didn’t look much like a kid, but like a very young mercenary. Nightstorm also helped him look more imposing. The metal club on his back also helped his image as well.
“We have heard of that, but we are going to the capital for another reason.”
“Is that so… Well, I wish you luck on your business. I just want to warn you that the capital is in a bit of disarray lately, so be cautious with those you interact with. Don’t believe in the promises of people who might be wanting to lure you into something convenient and profitable.”
“I am thankful for the warning.”
The guard nodded and then returned to his horse. Before long, the unit followed their journey, and Zelos and the others wondered what was about. Still, after checking that they had a bunch of wagons loaded on the back of their formation, he had an idea of what was going on.
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“It seems that they were reallocated to somewhere else… he looked like an upstanding guy, the type that assholes in the capital planning to stir things up wouldn’t want to be around when they put their plan in action.”
Everyone nodded. That seemed like a fair assessment of the situation. Although there was no need for that, his followers were all wearing helmets, probably to hide their expressions instead of the real goal of the helmets. As soon as Heirina climbed back onto her horse, Zelos landed a question.
“Do any of you know how things work in the absence of the emperor?”
“... While the power is passed down in the imperial family. If the emperor is out of the picture, then the prime minister takes the reins of the situation until the emperor dies and his successor becomes twenty years old. Even if the heir is a male, he wouldn’t be able to rule until his coming-of-age ceremony.”
After hearing Heirina’s explanation, for some reason, that kind of situation felt weirdly family-like for Zelos. He didn’t recall hearing anything like that before, so he wondered why that was the case. Regardless, with that in mind, he wondered why, in that situation, the queen was supposedly poisoned, but one didn’t have to be a genius to find the answer. It was to avoid her giving the emperor a male heir. Irlan showed a bothered expression after thinking about that.
“This is still all speculation, but… it looks like the plan to fall the country started more than ten years ago. I find it hard that the prime minister would go that far… why risk destroying the country when he reached that position? He is essentially at the top someone could have reached without relying on his bloodline, after all.”
No one could explain that with certainty. They could only keep speculating, but that was a waste of time. It was better to focus on the mission before anything. A couple of hours later, the group was able to see the imperial capital in a lot more detail. The place was completely fortified with forty meters tall walls, a bunch of guards walking around on those.
Despite that, they could see the numerous layers of the city thanks to its layered structure. In its foundation, countless rocks, probably made or processed with some special trait, gave birth to the first layer of the city, and then the rest was expanded as the population increased.
Still, the upper layers are all made of high-quality wood structures. The houses looked brand new and well-maintained. Among all that, there was the imperial palace, which had many buildings connected together with small ones. There were several tall buildings that were also important places. Since they all looked like they were made of wood, they passed a weird feeling…
“Despite the difference in materials… it looks quite a bit like the town of the natives.”
When the group approached the city’s entrance, they found only a couple of guards there, and they weren’t stopping anyone. There was this weird aura among them, so Zelos wondered if they weren’t working together or if they had chosen different sides. Either way, that worked for the group since they weren’t stopped.
Without wasting any time, they looked and found an inn and quickly rented some rooms in there for them. The place had a stable on the side for the horses, but it looked pretty dirty. So, soon after unpacking his few things, Zelos went there to make things a bit less annoying for Nightstorm.
“I know, I know. Stop your whining.”
Zelos decided to give a hand to everyone’s horses, too, since it would be troublesome if all of them had to leave to do that. They saw through the window of their rooms that Zelos gave them a hand with that, so they didn’t come. When night came, the group had dinner in their rooms, but soon, they reunited in a single room to share what they had already found in the capital. Irlan started.
“It feels like nothing’s wrong here. People are living their lives normally. No one looked at us for more than a few moments, so despite the warning of that man, the people here are still fine.”
“It is probably because no fight broke out yet. This could be a good thing for us. They won’t do anything until the emperor’s death is confirmed. We might have the chance to approach the palace without having to worry too much about it.”
There was also the option of asking Kaitrine to look for anyone who seemed to be on the princess’ side to find a way to contact her, but she was too tired after staying the night outside.
“We will go with the plan of yesterday without making any changes. I think that it will be better if we head to the palace without weapons. That will make us look less dangerous. I don’t think that no one will try anything against us in broad daylight.”
Everyone nodded, so they went to bed after that. Falling asleep was hard, though. They didn’t know what would happen the next day or what the future held for them in the capital. All that they knew was the fact that a single mistake would put them in a bind and probably would cause a lot of problems for the clan and then to their families.
Thanks to that, they woke up with bags under their eyes. They didn’t sleep well, even Zelos, but he started to look much better after he ate something. Since the place looked safe enough, they decided to hide their weapons in their rooms. Zelos didn’t do that since his weapons were so heavy that most people wouldn’t even consider stealing them.
“Remember, stick to the plan and let me handle the talking.”
Everyone nodded silently. They already were following the plan. With that in mind, they left the inn while Heirina was carrying the box surrounded by chains. Now that Zelos thought about it, it was hard to say when the chains started and when they ended or when they turned around… it seemed like some sort of illusion… one could only wonder how that could be opened, but the princess probably knew how to do that.