Chapter 12: Blackstone City
Keen had lived in a rural town since he was six years old, making him truly naive. Linley felt that Jenny was equally naive.
With just a few words, Linley managed to fool the little guy Keen.
At the same time, Linley roughly understood the situation between Keen and his sister.
"Inheriting the position of county city lord isn't that simple." Linley, unlike these two naive siblings, saw much deeper.
In the O'Brien Empire, the highest level of cities was naturally the imperial capital, followed by the provincial capitals of the seven provinces. Below the provincial capitals were the county cities, then ordinary small cities, and below that, rural towns.
The position of a county city lord held considerable status.
How could such a position easily fall into the hands of a naive young man from the countryside?
*******
After a night of training, when he opened his eyes again, it was already dawn.
"Lord Lei, we should reach the empire's border city by evening," Rounds said cheerfully. "Lord Lei, how about joining us for breakfast?"
"Alright."
Linley brought Bebe along as he walked over. As for Hei Lu... the food there wasn't nearly enough for him. Late last night, Hei Lu had already gone into the Magical Beast Mountain Range for a good meal.
On a carriage not far from Linley.
"Sis, I'm going down first." Keen jumped off the carriage happily.
Lambert watched Keen's carefree demeanor, shook his head inwardly, then looked at Jenny. Lambert knew very well that Jenny was kind-hearted and equally naive.
"Miss, don't rush down yet." Lambert forced a smile.
"Grandpa Lambert, is something the matter?" Jenny looked at Lambert with wide, puzzled eyes.
Lambert said, "Miss, you've seen it too—we encountered bandits and robbers on the road. Once we reach the border city, we'll have to part ways with this convoy. Then it'll just be an old man like me escorting you, Miss, and the young master. If we run into bandits on the way, I might not be able to fend them off."
Jenny couldn't help recalling the scene of the bandits attacking last night.
"Right, what should we do then?" Jenny grew a bit nervous.
Lambert smiled and said, "Miss, haven't you noticed that Lord Lei? Even that bandit leader was killed by Lord Lei with a single sword strike. If Lord Lei protects you, there will definitely be no danger."
Jenny was eighteen after all, not as clueless as Keen.
"Grandpa Lambert, would a strong person like that agree if I invited him?" Jenny looked at Lambert.
Lambert encouraged her with a smile, "Don't worry, just say this. Tell him that you and Keen are the children of the city lord of Chi'er County City, and that Keen is returning to inherit the city lord position. If he protects you back, once you return to Chi'er County City, you will surely reward him handsomely. Remember... don't say anything else, and don't tell him you used to live in a rural town. Just say that."
Lambert knew very well that if they revealed all their details to the other party, he probably wouldn't agree.
"Oh."
Jenny didn't notice the discrepancy between what Lambert said and the truth.
"Go ahead, remember. Be sincere." Lambert encouraged.
"Mm." Jenny nodded, took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and got off the carriage.
Watching Jenny descend, Lambert sighed inwardly. "Ah, Madam, you couldn't let go of that grudge even in death, insisting that Jenny and Keen inherit the city lord position. Count Wade is dead, but the First Madam and the others probably won't let Keen inherit so easily."
"If we have a level-nine expert protecting us, that would be very reassuring." Last night, Lambert had heard others say that McKinley had reached the level-eight warrior stage. Yet Linley had effortlessly killed McKinley with one sword strike. In Lambert's view, Linley should be a level-nine expert.
********
The wind blew gently. After eating his fill, Linley rested comfortably for a while, waiting for the journey to resume.
"O'Brien Empire, ah, we'll arrive tonight." Linley lay on the flatbed carriage, lazily waiting to set off. But then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a graceful figure approaching.
"Jenny?" Linley sat up in confusion.
Jenny walked over somewhat nervously. Seeing Linley sit up and look at her, she quickly forced a smile. "Lord Lei, hello."
"Miss Jenny, hello." Linley was a bit puzzled. What did Miss Jenny want?
Jenny stood there hesitating for a moment, not knowing how to start.
"Miss Jenny, is there something you need?" Linley asked.
Jenny's face flushed slightly, and she looked nervous. "Lord Lei, it's like this. My younger brother and I are heading to our father's county city. He's going to inherit the city lord position. But I'm worried about the dangers on the road, so I wanted to ask you, Lord Lei... if you could protect us."
After saying this in one breath, Jenny started to stammer.
Linley had a general idea of the O'Brien Empire's geography. His younger brother, Wharton, was in the southernmost province of the O'Brien Empire—the O'Brien Province.
Where he was now should be the Northwestern Province of the O'Brien Empire.
From the Northwestern Province to the southernmost O'Brien Province would probably take a year or so. Of course, if Linley rode the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard, he could cover a thousand miles a day and arrive within ten days.
But Linley wasn't in a hurry.
His brother was studying at the O'Brien Academy. What was the rush to go there? The most important thing now was training and improving his strength.
"Protect you? For how long?" Linley asked with a smile.
"Not too long," Jenny said quickly. "Chi'er County City is in the Northwestern Province. From here, it should take about ten days to half a month. When we get there, we'll definitely thank you properly."
"Thank me?"
Linley sighed inwardly. With his experience, he could tell that a county city lord's position wouldn't be so easily handed over to two naive siblings without any backing.
"We'll give you a lot of gold coins," Jenny said, looking at Linley expectantly.
Linley joked, "How many gold coins?"
Jenny gritted her teeth and said, "Ten thousand gold coins, how about that?" Jenny had lived in a rural town since she was ten, and using one or two gold coins usually lasted a long time. She knew the county city had money, and she thought ten thousand gold coins—an astronomical figure—should be enough.
"Ten thousand gold coins?"
Last night, the mercenary group leader had wanted to give Linley ten thousand gold coins as thanks. In fact, forget the wealth in Linley's space ring; just as a master sculptor, a single one of his works now sold for over a hundred thousand gold coins.
"Not enough?" Jenny asked nervously.
Linley looked at Jenny and said, "Miss Jenny, how much do you and Keen spend in a year in that rural town?"
"Rural town?" Jenny was startled. Lambert had just told her not to mention that she used to live in a rural town, but Linley clearly already knew.
Jenny answered honestly, "About a few dozen gold coins a year, since we also had to pay for our mother's medical treatment. Um, Lord Lei, I don't have that many gold coins right now, but I will in the future."
What a naive girl. Linley had to admit it.
"Well, actually, the empire should be pretty safe inside. Grandpa Lambert is probably just overthinking things. Um, I'll be going now." Jenny was flustered, her words becoming jumbled.
"No, I want to ask—how many gold coins can you offer right now?" Linley spoke up.
Hearing that the county city was in the Northwestern Province, Linley decided to help them out along the way. After all, he was heading from the Northwestern Province to the O'Brien Province anyway.
"Right now? I have ten gold coins on me." Jenny took a small pouch from her pocket. "There are some more with Grandpa Lambert."
Linley took the pouch and pulled out one gold coin.
"That's enough." Linley put the gold coin into his own pocket. "From now on, you're under my protection. Of course, this one gold coin is just a deposit. Once your brother becomes city lord, I'll collect the remaining 9,999 gold coins."
Jenny was overjoyed.
"Thank you, thank you." Jenny's face flushed with excitement.
******
The convoy moved forward again. The Blackstriped Cloud Leopard ran alongside the flatbed carriage, growling doubtfully at Bebe. "Bebe, the master accepted the job for just ten thousand gold coins?"
To hire an expert of Linley's level, even a hundred thousand gold coins wouldn't be enough.
Linley had killed a level-eight magical beast. The value of a single level-eight magic core alone was at least five hundred thousand gold coins. Generally, level-eight warriors struggled to kill level-eight magical beasts; only level-nine experts had a sure chance.
"Hei Lu, what do you know? The boss is being kind-hearted, understand?" Bebe growled back at the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard.
The two magical beasts exchanged low growls in their own language. Linley watched them chat and just smiled, lying quietly on the flatbed carriage.
"Creak, creak~~~"
The carriage rattled rhythmically as it moved forward. When the sun set and evening arrived, the convoy finally reached the outskirts of the O'Brien Empire's border city.
Linley sat on the carriage, gazing at the city ahead.
The entire city was pitch-black, like a giant magical beast crouching there. The city walls were a full thirty meters high—a height non-experts would struggle to climb.
"Blackstone City, the northwestern bulwark of the O'Brien Empire." Linley had long heard of Blackstone City's fame.
Throughout history, many large-scale battles had occurred at Blackstone City. Even after many years, as one approached the city, one could see a layer of dark red on the massive black stones of the walls—the color of blood stained over countless years.
"We'll part ways here." Malon shouted loudly outside the city.
According to the mission terms, their mercenary group only had to escort the convoy this far. Immediately, merchants and ordinary travelers formed small groups, carrying their bags and leading their carriages toward the city gates.
"Brother Lei." Keen called out from the carriage.
Along the way, once Keen learned that Linley would protect them, he grew close to Linley. Linley let Keen call him "big brother" since Linley himself was only twenty-one.
"Let's go together."
Linley led the two-meter-tall, four-meter-long black leopard straight toward the city gate. The lazy gate guards, seeing the black leopard beside Linley, all panicked and backed away several meters.
Leopard-type, lion-type, and tiger-type magical beasts were all high-level creatures. Even the weakest leopard or lion-type magical beast was probably at least level seven.
Since it wasn't wartime, the gate inspection was very lax.
The guards didn't even check Linley; they just let him through.
"Heavens, what level is that black leopard? It just looked at me, and my heart nearly stopped!" a gate guard exclaimed in shock.
An older guard nearby lowered his voice and said, "Keep it down. As far as I know, the lowest-level leopard-type magical beast is the Goldstriped Leopard, which is level seven. That black leopard is at least level eight."
...
"Wow, Blackstone City is so bustling!" Keen's eyes lit up as he looked around.
On the main street of Blackstone City, Linley, Keen, and Jenny walked side by side. Jenny wore a peaked cap pulled low, with a veil hanging from the brim. After all, her beauty would attract trouble.
"You call this bustling?" Bebe muttered from Linley's shoulder.
Blackstone City was a city of war. Though trade made it somewhat prosperous, it couldn't compare to the former holy capital, Fenlai City, or even the royal capital of a kingdom, Hess City—there was a considerable gap.
"Watch out." Linley's figure turned into a blur as he flashed in front of Keen and Jenny.
"Thud." "Thud."
Linley swung his right hand and caught two arrows.
"Trying to escape?" Linley flicked his wrist, sending the two arrows back in the opposite direction, piercing the throats of two men who were already trying to flee in the distance.
"Guh—"
The two men clutched their throats in terror, then collapsed and died on the spot.
"Ah!" The previously peaceful street erupted in screams as people scattered in panic.
"Let's go." Linley said to the stunned Keen and Jenny. (Two chapters finished!)