Chapter Eleven Arrival at Gasperau

  Arriving at Budapest's arranged hotel, everyone rested for a night in Frak City and continued their journey the next day.

  Town Mayor Andrew is still nowhere to be seen, and it's Buda who represents him to see everyone off. After sending them off at the city gate, Buda apologized again: "Please forgive the town mayor for his absence. However, the gates of Farak will always be open to you."

  "Haha, it should be us thanking you instead. Thanks for the hospitality last night." Javier smiled and waved at him: "Then, take good care of your health, Mayor Andrew."

  As he saw the crowd, Buda hesitated for a moment and suddenly lowered his voice: "The battle with the Lavierte Federation was really beautiful. In fact, many people in Farak also admire your bravery. Have a good trip."

  He didn't wait for everyone's reaction and turned back into the city.

  "Everyone has their own difficulties." Javier said with some emotion: "It seems we've all misunderstood him."

  After leaving the city of Farak, the crowd followed the road at the foot of the Mana Mountains and turned westward. Two days later, they began their journey through the Mana Mountains at a mountain pass called "Giant's Footprint".

  The undulating and rugged Mana Range, at this pass suddenly dips down to form a gentle two-kilometer-wide belt that traverses the entire range.

  It is said that when the God King Tyr created the continent of Veronica, his servant "Giant Finkel" accidentally stepped on this mountain range and left a gap in the towering mountains, so this pass was named "Giant's Seal".

  Although it's called a gentle pass, this mountain pass is actually a hilly area, only compared to the towering mountains on both sides, it looks very flat. After passing through the Mana Mountains, the Kingdom of Gasparde is right in front of you.

  Such a strategic location, Gaspar naturally would not ignore, they built a sentry post here, garrisoned ... 200 troops! To act as guardian.

  There's no way, because on this side of the mountain pass is the edge of the Veronica continent, and apart from a few broken towns, there really isn't anything worth defending. The Gasperd army built this outpost just out of habit to mark the border.

  Walking in the mountain pass, looking at the steep mountains on both sides, and underfoot are lush hills and shrubs, it's really like walking in the footprints of a giant.

  The Gasperdi outpost was built two-thirds of the way up the mountain pass, on the side closer to the Kingdom of Gasperd. On the right-hand ridge there was a noticeable flat area that jutted out into the pass, and the outpost had been constructed on this flat area, with its back against the rock face, overlooking the entire pass from above.

  The current state of the Kingdom of Gasparde has made the normally lax border checks much stricter. The commander in charge of the checkpoint is a stout-eared officer named Proman. After interrogating everyone for a long time, he finally let them pass with a wave of his hand after receiving a "little gift" from Javier.

  And so, at the moment they crossed the checkpoint, everyone finally set foot on the land of the Kingdom of Gasparde.

  After passing through the Mana Mountain Range and hurrying for three more days, the group finally arrived at the capital of the Gasparde Kingdom, Orlatte City.

  Orate City was built on the site of the old capital of the former Kingdom of Saint Bremen, and can be said to be one of the oldest cities in the entire continent of Veronia. To this day, many relics of the Kingdom of Saint Bremen are still preserved within the city.

  Standing high and looking down at Orlat City, this city is located in a vast and flat river valley. After hundreds of years of continuous renovation and expansion, the city has reached an astonishing scale. The entire city is divided into two parts: the inner city that belongs to the original capital of the Kingdom of Saint Brimania, and the outer new city expanded over the years.

  The inner city is built on a raised terrain, making it higher than the new city in the outer circle. This is also the core of the entire Orat City. There are many ancient and magnificent buildings in the inner city, including the Gasperd Palace, which is surrounded by a high wall that protects it tightly. Even if the outer city is occupied, the defensive power of the inner city alone can last for a long time.

  The new city, which was built later, surrounds the inner city and is slightly lower than the inner city. Due to consideration of the living needs of a large number of residents, the buildings in the new city are not as regular and magnificent as those in the inner city. Countless residential houses, markets, squares and other buildings jointly form a dense and lively new area.

  The Saint-Nicolas canal, which originally was a moat surrounding the inner city, has become an inland waterway as the city expanded. Boats come and go on the river, transporting all sorts of goods to Aurillac.

  In addition, in the suburbs outside the city, there are scattered farmhouses, pastures, various handicraft workshops and warehouses of merchant teams, covering a vast area, serving as an auxiliary to the normal operation of the huge city.

  From a distance, this magnificent city with its three-tiered structure and clear hierarchy is breathtaking enough to leave anyone speechless. It's said that just one Orlais City gathers a quarter of the population of Gaspard. Despite Gaspard's small territory, this prosperous ancient city, which has been thriving for thousands of years, is among the top in the entire continent of Veronia.

  It was no surprise, therefore, that when the grandeur of Orlat City came into view, Raymond and his companions were left staring in shock.

  Raymond had never seen a city larger than Beast Tooth City since he was young, and he thought that was already impressive enough. But compared to the city in front of him now, Beast Tooth City seemed like a crude and failed product.

  It seems that the outside world is indeed not something that the impoverished beastman empire can compare to.

  The cat girl next to her was even more shocked, with her mouth wide open for half a day: "Meow, won't such a big city crush the ground?"

  "It's truly living up to its reputation, it's even bigger than the royal city of Duskhaven in Dinerral." Javier said with a tone full of reverence.

  "If we could take this city once, how much money would that be worth?" Harlot licked his lips.

  Freddy didn't say a word, but stared crazily at the city in front of him with an intense gaze.

  "Come on, Orlate's fine wine is quite famous." The elf Hilnis urged.

  That evening, the group arrived smoothly at the foot of Orlate City and entered the city after being inspected by the city guards.

  "We've made it this far, what's your plan now?" Ramon asked Javier as they walked down the wide street.

  The city is really too big, and when you first enter it, the feeling of unfamiliarity and powerlessness can easily make people get lost in it and don't know what to do.

  Javier gazed out of the carriage window at the densely packed buildings lining both sides of the street and said, "No hurry, let's find an inn to stay in for tonight first, then try to gather some information about Orlate's current situation before making a decision."

  Just as they were speaking, a long bugle call suddenly came from the direction of the city gate, followed by a team of knights wearing Gasperd uniforms slowly riding over, driving away pedestrians on the road: "Everyone immediately move to the side of the road!"

  Pedestrians on the road hastily made way to both sides, and soon the wide street was emptied. The roadsides were packed with people, all curiously looking towards the city gate.

  On someone else's turf, Raymond and his group naturally wouldn't stir up trouble. They also drove the carriage to the side of the road and occupied a spot by themselves.

  Before long, another cavalry team rushed over, shouting loudly at some pedestrians who had stepped forward a little, driving them back, making the incoming person even more impressive.

  "Who is it, with such a big attitude." For a moment, everyone was guessing.

  After waiting for more than ten minutes, a long blast of the horn and a neat sound of horseshoes first broke the calm on the scene. Then, a cavalry team of nearly a hundred people slowly came from the direction of the city gate.

  These cavalrymen were extremely eye-catching, wearing white full-body heavy armor, and the tall war horses also wore white horse armor. All the knights lowered the visors of their helmets to cover their faces, and held their lances in the same posture, motionless. With the war horses' uniform pace, they seemed like machines made from the same mold, cold and suffocating.

  As the cavalry passed by, pedestrians who had already stood at the edge of the street involuntarily retreated further back, like a wave moving with the cavalry, showing the terrible pressure it gave to people.

  Following the cavalry was a luxurious carriage drawn by four fine horses, with a group of men wearing black monk robes following in front and behind. They all lowered their heads, silently following the carriage as they walked, oblivious to everything around them.

  The curtains of the carriage were low and could not be seen what kind of person was carrying, but just by looking at such a momentum, it was known that the people inside were absolutely not simple.

  At this time, when they saw the strange emblem embroidered on the robes of those men, the crowd on both sides of the street burst into exclamations, some people kept making gestures similar to prayers, and some even knelt down towards the carriage.

  "Good heavens, is that the Sidonius Church of the Krote Empire? Are those cavalrymen actually the 'Divine Punishment Knights' of one of the Three Great Divine Chosen Legions?" Hilnis also exclaimed in disbelief: "What kind of person could possibly have the Divine Punishment Knights as their escort?"

  Croatian Empire? Sidonius Church?

  As he heard Cidona's words, the two terms gradually emerged in Raymund's mind. Earlier, when Ricket was briefly introducing the situation on the Veronica continent to Raymund, he mentioned that this continent had the most powerful country. The Sidonius Church is said to have a huge force within the Kingdom of Krot that can rival the royal family.

  Ever since arriving in Hayden, one thing after another, Raymond was busy fighting against the Lavite Federation and almost forgot about what he had heard. It wasn't until he ran into one of them unexpectedly that Raymond realized how small his world had been all along, and this continent was actually much broader than he had imagined.

  After the procession of the Dionysus Church had passed, people were allowed to return to the streets. The scene just now had obviously left a very deep impression on everyone, and there were still many people excitedly discussing it.

  "It's strange that the ones who came to mourn His Majesty the King weren't from the royal family of the Krote Empire, but rather people from the Sidonius Church." a passerby said.

  Another person chimed in, "You know what, the church has been vying for power with the Croft royal family all along. It seems that their struggle has reached an open level now. Sidonis even took away this matter that belongs to the royal family."

  "What's going on, I saw people from the Gordana Plains Alliance just the day before yesterday, they almost got into a fight with soldiers from the Dirk Kingdom. The city is really chaotic these days." Another person shook his head repeatedly.

  "Just wait and see, the best is yet to come. We, Gasperd, have been targeted by everyone."

  ……

  Listening to the discussions of passersby, Freddy revealed a satisfied smile: "Great, I didn't come in vain."

  "You...you're sure we all live here?"

  When he arrived at the most luxurious inn in the inner city, Raymond looked at the magnificent building in front of him, which was like a palace, and when he learned that Javier was going to book half of the inn, he almost thought he had misheard.

  Although he doesn't care much about money, he also knows that this is probably a terrifying figure. Just finding a place to live, no need to be so extravagant, right?

  Seeing Raymond's surprised expression, Javier was taken aback at first, then burst out laughing: "It seems that Mr. Raymond is not quite aware of the strength of our Chamber of Commerce. However, this is necessary, because only when you show corresponding strength can you enter the corresponding level."

  "We must live in such a place because I didn't come this time to deal with small fish and shrimp."

  What else can Raymond say, anyway it's Javier who pays the bill, so be it. But he also understood what Javier meant, people with weak strength will never have the qualification to participate in the game.

  A large group of people flooded into the hotel, and those who could stay here were either wealthy or noble. Javier's lavish spending immediately drew considerable attention. It is believed that within a few days, news about them will spread to every street in Orlate.

  The soldiers who followed them were all bumpkins from Auston and Headington, who had never seen such a luxurious place. Although they were only arranged to stay in ordinary rooms, they were already excited.

  That evening, after settling in, Javier invited Raymond, Freddy, Bastert, Harlot and Hillnis to dinner.

  The place to eat was the hotel's affiliated restaurant, with a beautiful environment. Just looking at the exquisite tableware could make people's appetite surge. From the moment she walked in here, Baster was completely dizzy.

  Just as Javier was ordering, a commotion suddenly erupted at the entrance of the restaurant.

  A middle-aged man in a suit and tie tried to enter the restaurant, but strangely, the doorman blocked him, and they kept arguing.

  "Let me in, I used to be a regular here, have you all forgotten?" the man shouted loudly.

  The waiter blocked his way and said: "I know that, Mr. Akman, but you can't afford to spend any more now, so please leave."

  "Are you saying I don't have any money?" The man's voice suddenly rose: "Do you know who my uncle is? It's the Minister of Internal Affairs, Blaus!"

  It seemed that he had mentioned this name more than once, but the servant still refused to give way: "Of course I know this, in fact everyone knows it, so what? Please leave quickly, otherwise we can only use some not-so-polite methods."

  However, the man was quite persistent and lingered at the door, refusing to leave.

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