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Chapter 39 Journey

The trial of Raine ended in a dismal fashion, leaving the entire family astonished—if they even had glasses.

To be fair, the family members didn't harbor any ill will towards Renn. Although he was handsome and had beautiful elven noblewomen throwing themselves at him... he had only returned to the family after many years away, and they weren't very familiar with each other, so it was hard to say that there was any deep-seated hatred.

It was mainly the old marquis who arranged it behind the scenes.

Within the family, almost everyone holding a high position of power was either a confidant or a loyal follower of Marquis Fahr. The old marquis only needed to give a hint during private conversations, and these people would naturally go back and instruct their nephews and nieces to launch a fierce interrogation of Renn at the interrogation meeting.

These soldiers charging into battle had no idea that the old marquis was behind it all.

The old marquess's immediate announcement of "pardoning Rennes" has caused an awkward situation for everyone.

The younger generation felt they had run into the old marquis's line of fire; how could a tiger possibly eat its own cubs?
Although the elders didn't show it on the surface, they definitely harbored resentment towards the old marquis. So, we're playing the villains here, and you suddenly say, "Let's pretend nothing happened," treating us like clowns and jesters?
The one who lost the most face was undoubtedly Marquis Fahre himself.

Of course, the old marquis didn't care. With the carrot of royal favor dangling in front of him, he was already grinning from ear to ear.

It should be noted that military nobles like the Fahre family, who guard the border, only had the opportunity to meet the royal family when the marquis changed!
And what's more, you have to wait in line, until His Majesty finishes dealing with other more important matters before he can see you. After the meeting, it's just a few polite words, a mere formality.

Where else can you find someone like Ryan who is directly called upon to meet and talk with important figures?
"You must report this to Her Majesty the Queen." Near the gates of Haiyan City, the old Marquis held Rein's hands and earnestly instructed him, "Our Faher family has been guarding the southernmost part of the fertile lands of the River Bend Province for generations, watching over and monitoring the wild elves in the mountains for the Empire, and we will never allow these elf remnants to invade the border!"

“Yes, Father. Please don’t say any more.” Renn calmly pried his fingers apart. “There are elves watching here.”

Marquis Fahel, belatedly realizing what was happening, looked at Elrina and Bersalia and smiled sheepishly:

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by the races behind you. I was referring to the wild elves in the mountains."

“I understand,” Bersalia said with a smile. “The wild tribes are the common enemy of all nobles, regardless of race.”

“It’s wonderful that you understand,” Marquis Fahre said with emotion. “Loyalty is the soul of our nobility. It is of utmost importance, yet it is such a pity that our lord cannot witness it…”

He turned and waved, signaling his entourage to follow.

When nobles traveled, they were accompanied by guards, maids, and attendants. Guards were responsible for protecting their masters, maids for taking care of their daily needs, and attendants for various physical chores.

As the lord of Salt Island, Raine obviously didn't have enough manpower, so Marquis Fahl generously provided him with a full complement.

Since we are going to the capital to pay our respects to Her Majesty the Empress, we cannot disgrace our family!

After the two sides bid each other farewell, the group, including Rein, Ellina, and Bersalia, left Searock City in a grand procession.

The Reach Province is extremely large, and the Fahl family's territory is located on the southeastern border of the Reach Province, making the journey extremely long.

The group first needs to head due north, cross the Fertile Lands, and finally arrive at High Rock, the city of House Malorne.

Crossing the Long River from High Rock City leads to the Riverlands. This region is characterized by a dense network of rivers, forming a hydrological network like the veins of a leaf, which fragments the noble territories, hence its name.

Crossing the Riverlands leads to the Southern Territory, one of the Empire's four borders. This is a territory directly under the Imperial Household, characterized by numerous plains and a dense population. It is located in the heart of the Empire and is distinctly different from the River Bend Province, which is dominated by rivers and hills.

When traveling in the River Bend province, you may encounter bandits, savages, or even monsters in places far from the city, all of which pose a threat to business travelers.

Once we enter the southern border, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

After a brief assessment, Renn realized the entire itinerary wasn't particularly rushed; three days at a brisk pace, five days at a leisurely pace. In fact, if there was some spare time, they might even be able to temporarily leave Imperial Avenue and visit some special locations in the game that had dungeons…

Forget it.

Adventurers have their own way of playing, and nobles have their own path of action. With so many guards, maids, and followers around, they could all be wiped out in a single dungeon. Then they would have to repair the corpses, revive them, and erase their memories one by one, which would be very troublesome.

Riding his horse, Renn drifted off into thought, with Ellina and Bersalia flanking him on either side. Family knights rode up to flank the three, while attendants and maids rode in a large, open-topped carriage at the rear of the procession, forming a standard noble entourage.

Starting from Searock City, travel northwest for about half a day to reach Eagle Castle, one of the three castles of the Fahr family.

Eagle Castle is located at the southernmost tip of the Fertile Lands and is also the northernmost castle of the Fahl family, responsible for protecting the land trade route from the Fertile Lands to Searock City.

When necessary, it can also be used to defend against the southward invasion of northern armies.

The Fahel family has a tradition of bestowing Eagle's Castle upon the heir designated by the Marquis. The current lord of Eagle's Castle is Dolorwell Fahel, the eldest son of the old Marquis.

Dolores received the messenger knight's message but did not come to greet him personally. Instead, he arranged for two knights to organize farmers to escort the caravan with bread, beans, salted fish, and wine.

That's quite indifferent.

Raine didn't take Lowell's attitude too seriously, since the two brothers weren't familiar with each other at all. So he simply instructed the knights to accept the supplies and politely asked two Eagle Fortress knights to convey his gratitude.

Leaving Eagle Fortress, continue north into the Land of Fertiles.

Vast plains and farmlands stretched out around, golden waves of wheat rippling in the summer sun. The fertile lands of the River Bend province are famous for their fine-textured, slightly sticky "wet wheat," all grown in paddy fields.

Although they were not wearing armor, the knights were exposed to the scorching midday sun, and some of them were sweating profusely even under their robes.

The leader, named Maiser, was a rather kind-looking middle-aged family knight who rode over to ask Renn if they could find a shady place to rest for the time being.

His reasoning was also quite clever. He said that while the knights could continue to endure the high temperatures, the horses had to carry the weight of the riders, equipment, and supplies. If they suffered from heatstroke, they would be unable to move forward. In that case, whether they abandoned the sick horse to transfer supplies or found a nearby lord to exchange horses, it would take even longer.

Raine wasn't some heartless capitalist who treated people as tools, although he did have a fleeting thought of wiping them all out and resurrecting them as tireless, absolutely loyal undead guards...

“Then rest.” He kindly granted Maser’s request.

So the knights turned their horses into the grove of trees near the Imperial Road, where they sat down in the shade and began to drink and eat.

The attendants and maids also got out of the carriage, gathered firewood, fetched water, lit a fire, set up an iron pot, and cooked stewed bean soup with salted fish.

At the maid's service, Renn took out the prepared white bread, tore it into small pieces, and dipped it into the thick soup in the pot. Although the soup only contained salted fish and beans, it seemed to taste barely acceptable.

"Give me a bowl of beans," he instructed the maid.

"Let me do it." Bersalia dismissed the maid and personally stepped forward to serve Renn a bowl of soup, attending to him attentively.

Rein gave Ellina a "learn well" look, then slowly began to enjoy his meal.

Before they had eaten more than a few bites of beans, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance.

Immediately afterwards, several cavalrymen galloping on horseback quickly came into view.

The family knights were on high alert, and immediately grabbed their weapons, mounted their horses, and prepared for battle.

Raine squinted, noticing the emblem embroidered on the cavalryman's robe.

A horse monster with bat wings.

These cavalrymen... belonged to the Imperial Eighth "Nightmare" Border Legion stationed in the River Bend Province.

(End of this chapter)