The Encounter
The Encounter
Walking out from the gate of the castle, the baron sighed in relief as he saw the guards turned to leave.
He took the wet handkerchief in order to wipe his forehead, spat on the ground and imagined that he had spat on the face of the prince. It seemed that spitting was not enough to comfort him and he trod on his spit as if he were treading on the prince.
"Even though you warded off the demonic beasts, do you think you could gain a firm foothold in the Western Region? I'll let you have your moment. Let's see for how long it'll last! If I were not receiving reliable information, I wouldn't have come to Border Town so early," Cornelius thought to himself. Generally speaking, the nobles would come back to the town later than the civilians. After all, the strenuous work of mining and hunting were not their responsibilities. All they needed to do was to monitor the production progress every now and then, and wait for the date of the ore delivery. In their spare time, they would also go to the hunter's family to purchase some furs of superior quality.
But something changed this year. Cornelius heard from the financial director Sir Reynolds that Duke Ryan prepared to expel Prince Roland from the Western Region. It was not in betrayal of the Kingdom of Graycastle but in obedience to the will of the new king, Timothy Wimbledon. "Roland Wimbledon would no longer be the Lord of Border Town, and the new fief would be conferred upon after he returned to the king's city to report his work."
As the superstar of the duke, Sir Reynolds spent only five years to be promoted from the municipal administrative governor to the financial director. Had he not relied on his connections with distant relatives and bribed them with furs, he would not have known the intention of the hierarchy of the Western Region.
It was just an excuse going under the name of 'conferring with new a fief after returning to the king's city to report his work'. Even Cornelius knew that the prince would be guillotined without opportunities to explain his behavior. If Prince Roland went back, he would be at the mercy of the new king, Timothy Wimbledon.
Without any doubt, the Western Region would still be under the jurisdiction of the duke. If it was only His Majesty Timothy who gave the order, the matter may be under debate. If Duke Ryan handled the matter in person, Roland Wimbledon would not be any different from a stray cur.
That was why Cornelius came to Border Town in haste. On the one hand, he wanted to purchase some furs of superior quality, on the other hand, he planned to sell his house. Over the past years, the common people would take refuge in Longsong Stronghold. It was understandable that there would be no furs in stock. But it was totally different this year because they did not leave here. Anyhow, they would stock some good furs. He could not only make some money by reselling the furs but also choose some superior furs to please Sir Reynolds.
The second reason was to thank Sir Reynolds for helping Cornelius arrange a job in the City Hall. Even a sinecure would be better off than staying in this poor area. The house was useless to him and therefore he wanted to sell it as soon as possible. No one knew when the duke would take action to deal with Roland. If these lowlifes made a last-ditch struggle and burned his house into ashes, it would be not a good deal.
But what he did not think of was that his house was torn apart by Prince Roland instead of being burned down by those lowlifes. Cornelius would be mad as a wet hen with the thought of this. What a good house! Although one hundred and fifty gold royals was a little expensive, it valued at least 30 gold royals.
In order to get the compensation of the house as soon as possible, he had made the compromise to receive only 20 gold royals. How could His Highness treat him like this? He paid nothing for it but also threatened that he had committed a crime of defection. Did not he know all the nobles would withdraw from here every Month of Demons?
Hold on... Cornelius slowed down and suddenly felt there was something different with the prince. He had heard that Prince Roland was of evil nature and was whimsical. His behavior of deliberately molesting Mrs. Simon when he first arrived at Border Town was regarded as a joke among the nobles. His impression, however, was that the prince was not as he had heard before. The prince did not fly into a rage or reject to the value of the house but used another seemingly reasonable excuse. He spoke in a calm voice all the way, but Cornelius was so scared that he obediently gave up his ownership to the house. Would the prince have killed him if he insisted that he was the owner of the house?
At the thought of his talk with the prince, Cornelius could not help but shiver. He had a feeling like he was talking with the duke.
Cornelius shook his head and put this unhappy memory behind him. Anyhow, Prince Roland would be in trouble soon. He would absolutely laugh at him when Duke Ryan took over Border Town and remanded him to the king's city. Perhaps he could turn to the duke for justice at the cost of 20 gold royals.
He felt relieved at the thought of this. Now that he had collected several furs of superior quality, and his house had been occupied by others, he thought that he would better go to Longsong Stronghold. "It was really a brazen to say 'tell those nobles who had the same misunderstanding as you'. When I go back to Longsong Stronghold, I'll be certain to tell others how pretentious Roland was!"
Cornelius brushed against a lady in a hood when he left the castle district and walked down the long slope.
He should not have felt so surprised. The women were all dressed in this way among the townspeople in the town. It was in the king's city that he could see beautiful girls or ladies. Cornelius was really stunned when he saw the wind blowing a corner of the hood as if the air around had frozen.
Oh my god! What a beautiful lady she was! She had aquamarine eyes and long hair. Her beauty was incomparable, even if he just had a glance at her. She would take the shine off from those princesses and debutantes. Why would she be in Border Town?
He looked back and wanted to catch up to her, only to find that she was walking towards the castle district.
Was she the girl of His Highness? After a moment of hesitation, the baron finally gave up on catching up with her. He did not want to have to be connected with Prince Roland anymore. The duke would punish the prince, and instead, he was more concerned that he should return to Longsong Stronghold.
He went on board to a single-mast boat berthing in the wharf. The boatman pulled the sail, and the boat undocked from the wharf. Soon, he was underway towards Longsong Stronghold.
Another extraordinary view came into the eyes of Cornelius, who was enjoying the sunshine at that moment.
About five meters away from Border Town, he saw a crowd of people who wore the same dark brown leather armor with long wooden guns on their backs. They were standing in rows and moving forwards on the snowy ground. He could not see the overall picture of the entire line because the trees blocked his sight, but he guessed there were at least more than a hundred of them.
Could it be… farmers that Prince Roland used for fighting against the demonic beasts?
Cornelius could imagine how cold they were, even though he had never experienced it. However, they did not stop but continuously moved forward, as if the snow, at a thickness of one foot deep, had no influence on them...
He really wanted to laugh at them but he failed. A question, unwittingly, came to his mind. "Could the knights in charge by Duke Ryan make it?"