“You must have been just about to rest, yes? We have prepared a meal.”
Had she prepared it in advance? How had she known?
With that thought, Crang cast his gaze behind the woman named Illain Rengadis. He saw several people with grass and dirt stuck to their boots. Three or four were still heaving their shoulders as they caught their breath, and every one of them was a beastman with a nimble body.
‘Beastmen.’
Dunbakel’s sense of smell was special even among beastmen, but even without that special quality, a beastman’s sense of smell was clearly superior to that of other races.
‘A trained beastman makes an excellent ranger.’
Common sense from the continent did not change just because they had entered the Empire.
‘They waited for us to come, observed us, and prepared the cooking.’
They had boiled the stew and prepared the food very slowly, then calculated when the party would appear and started giving off the scent in earnest.
‘To the people being welcomed, it would look like magic.’
It was similar to what Kraiss did. He made it feel, from the opponent’s perspective, as though he had predicted everything.
‘Though that big-eyed bastard doesn’t intend all of it.’
That fellow often adjusted on the spot more than one would think.
The woman before him, smiling brightly as the head of a merchant group, resembled Kraiss and yet did not. She had calculated every aspect of herself that she would reveal. She was showing them her ability.
‘Interesting.’
Crang kept smiling and observed the situation. Looking closely, most of the people approaching were full of interest not in him, but in Enkrid. Their attitude toward him was almost as though they were simply greeting him and letting him pass.
“So you two are the famous Black Flower and Golden Witch. A fairy and a witch. That is a rare combination.”
“Lady Illain.”
Seriana reacted to her words. Illain merely acknowledged her with her eyes and waited for the two women’s responses.
Esther was silent as usual. Shinar did not even give her a glance.
“Temares, what do you think of this woman?”
Shinar had roughly noticed the standard by which the dragonkin evaluated people. A merchant, and one armed with slyness at that. No matter what skin wrapped the outside, the words that would come from Temares’s mouth were obvious.
“She reeks. You are ugly.”
Lemon-blond hair, deep sunken yellow eyes that looked like gold. Since those words came from eyes that held mystery, the strange feeling created by that imbalance was enough to bewilder a person. That was exactly what Shinar had intended.
Illain lost her words for a moment. Enkrid, who had been listening beside them, said,
“You’ve grown sly, Shinar.”
Shinar caught those words smoothly.
“Does that not make me look more charming?”
Crang, who was watching, held back the urge to laugh.
Those two did not change anywhere. Illain was a merchant. That was why the current situation was not welcome to her. She had invested actions and words, yet far from profit, she had failed even to recover her principal.
‘Still, her emotions don’t show on her face.’
Seriana was not a low-level opponent either, but this side was not easy to deal with.
Was the Empire’s embrace that deep and wide?
People of this caliber all worked for the Empire. That was quite impressive.
“...You are an amusing person.”
Illain was a woman overflowing with confidence. For that reason, she was not swayed by another’s words. In other words, she easily let whatever the dragonkin said flow past her.
Then it was time to receive the meal. One beastman knight within the merchant group stared fixedly at their side.
‘A knight, I suppose?’
Crang did not have an eye for recognizing knights, but he had the discernment to gauge an opponent’s skill through other things.
That beastman had been staring fixedly at Enkrid for a while now, and judging by the angle at which Rem’s mouth rose after noticing it, it was obvious. Meanwhile, Enkrid ate his food properly and efficiently. He knew how to sleep when it was time to sleep and eat when it was time to eat. That was an attitude worth learning from.
Only after watching them eat did the Royal Guard take their own meal.
“You do not have even one attendant.”
Illain spoke to him. Crang answered with a shrug.
“As you can see, I am more comfortable without one.”
He had lived longer wandering the continent than living as a king. In terms of stamina alone, Crang was no ordinary person either. Not that he could be compared to a knight.
In any case, could this really be called field food? The thoroughly boiled chicken stew and thick golden-brown grilled bacon were, no matter how one looked at them, the kind that spoiled easily.
‘Cold objects.’
In the merchant group’s tents set up behind them, there must have been several valuable items. Pretending not to be interested, Crang ate and drank while looking around.
The Rengadis Merchant Group belonged to the Empire, but its name had spread as far as the continent, and Rengadis’s combat peddlers were even more famous.
Combat peddlers were those who traveled the continent in small numbers, groups of peddlers good at fighting. Even when bandits and monsters overran the continent, they still ran around for the sake of trade. Crang had encountered one of them long ago and traveled with them for a short while, so he knew a certain amount about them.
‘There are several combat peddlers too.’
At this level, it had to be seen as prior preparation. They had known they were coming and waited. Even for the greatest merchant group in the Empire, knights would not be common existences.
‘It is a welcome tailored specifically for Enkrid.’
Crang reached that conclusion, and he was right.
“I imagine you are curious why I came personally?”
Illain skillfully tried to lead the conversation.
“No.”
“Not at all.”
Shinar and Esther answered at the same time. In this situation, seizing control of the conversation was impossible.
“...You are truly difficult people.”
The beauty who could shake a castle by herself showed a troubled smile. Strangely, even though she was being rebuffed this way, no one easily stepped forward.
‘They must have agreed on it beforehand.’
Not to step forward no matter what happened.
Crang watched and grasped things like the dynamics of power.
Then why were they going out of their way to do this?
‘Even I don’t know that much.’
A few words were exchanged, and the meal ended. Then Enkrid picked up his sword.
“Come out.”
So suddenly? Well, this was not the first or second time this friend had acted like that.
At those words, the beastman knight rose from his seat. Crang had not seen anything, but had they already measured each other and finished preparing to fight without words? Judging from the mood, yes.
Because the beastman had torn half-cooked meat off the rib, the corners of his mouth were stained red.
“I am Rubratiger of Rengadis.”
“Enkrid of Naurillia.”
He looked like a friend whose head was full of muscle, but he knew where he was and knew how he should act. Because of that, when he introduced himself, Enkrid put Naurillia before his name rather than Border Guard, then raised his sword. The two clashed once more.
As for Crang, watching, he could not tell what was passing how.
“Do you think he will win?”
So he asked the head of the Royal Guard.
“Would I know just because I’m looking? But.”
“But?”
“It is hard to imagine the commander of the Mad Order losing.”
That is the same for me.
Thinking that, Crang looked at Rem. He was overflowing with ease. Then he would win.
If his captain seemed likely to lose and be in danger, Rem was not someone who would keep that sort of attitude. From directly behind him, having arrived at some point, Jaxon spoke.
“He wins. He is a little better than that knight named Falan we saw before, but they are much the same.”
Crang felt chills at the voice that suddenly sounded, but he did not show it and simply nodded.
When had this bastard come? In any case, he was a ghost-like friend.
Just as he said, Enkrid won. The face of the friend who ended the fight was full of joy, along with a faint flush.
“That technique.”
Enkrid spoke.
“I didn’t think it would be blocked there.”
The beastman answered. One was standing, and the other had one hand on the ground. As they looked at each other that way, there was not a hint of malice in their eyes.
He is different from Knight Falan.
Based on Crang’s own feeling, Falan had been somehow dirty, but this beastman now was like an open field clean even in the heart.
“Beautiful.”
The dragonkin muttered.
‘Yes, that is also one of his standards.’
For some reason, whenever the dragonkin saw someone above a certain level, he kept throwing out the word beautiful. It had been the same for Crang.
“You are a king? A beautiful king indeed.”
What is a beautiful king supposed to be? Crang continued to watch the situation as an observer.
Though the fight had been lost, Illain’s expression was bright.
“Your skill truly is outstanding. Rubra is one of the three strongest in the merchant group.”
After that, Illain threw several remarks toward Enkrid that went beyond goodwill and into bold expression.
“How would you feel about adding the mistress of a merchant group beside the Black Flower and the Golden Witch? I think a nickname like Lady of the Scales would suit me.”
It was half a joke, but from the start, it was a joke with bones in it.
She is aiming for Enkrid.
Well, it had no effect at all. The fairy snorted and gripped her sword. The beastman knight blocked Illain’s front.
“It would be better to refrain from such words. That fairy seems half mad.”
The beastman knight said. Crang remembered those words because he had heard them several times.
‘Are there many mad fairies in the Empire?’
Even if no monsters or bandits seemed visible across this vast land, this was also a place where people lived.
‘They must have their own problems.’
No, they would have many.
That was the conclusion he had reached while conversing with Seriana. If there were no problems, there would be no reason for rule of law or iron men to appear.
‘A world where people live.’
Only, it was a world somehow different from the places he had known until now.
Crang became an observer and spectator. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, despite being a king, very few people paid attention to him. It was because their interest in Enkrid was so great.
The tents provided by the merchant group were even furnished with camp beds.
‘Properly done.’
Crang closed his eyes early. From outside, he heard Enkrid clashing with the beastman again.
“You want to go again? Human, I like you.”
Beastmen were a race honest in expressing emotion. He showed Enkrid boundless goodwill.
“No, is the captain the only one who gets to have fun?”
That meant Rem would step forward too. Crang let those words flow to one side and soon fell asleep.
They traveled with the merchant group for two days, and though the head of the Rengadis Merchant Group seemed to have Enkrid as her goal, in the end, she accomplished nothing. Even so, the woman named Illain turned away without lingering attachment.
“When we were sending a matchmaker to Border Guard before, Lady Illain was mentioned before me, but she rejected it immediately. And now she acts like that.”
Seriana came over and told him in a whisper.
“It seems you do not get along with her.”
Crang asked indirectly. The relationship between the two did not seem particularly pleasant.
“We are not on good terms. She became the head of the merchant group with the Empire’s power behind her, yet skipped the oath of loyalty.”
So that was what displeased her.
Was that to say she was a half-footed Imperial official and the head of a merchant group? A typical opportunist?
Over the two days, Crang picked up various stories around the merchant group and exchanged a few words with Illain Rengadis as well.
This was not because of any particular intent or purpose, but out of pure interest.
“There is no merchant group in the Empire other than Rengadis.”
The only thing he gained was that one sentence, but that was not small either.
‘Lockfried seeks mutual prosperity.’
They did not see other merchant groups as competitors, but dreamed of a structure where everyone ate well and lived well together.
Rengadis was different. They were a monopoly. They managed and distributed everything themselves. Rather than a merchant group, they themselves were another kingdom.
Even as they traveled the road again, guests continued to come.
“You are the Demonic Knight? I am Namar of the Lightning Hands. Can we have a match?”
He was a Black man whose face was so dark that he would not seem to need separate concealment at night.
Judging by the fact that Temares said nothing in particular, he had not approached while hiding some sly inner thought or with another intent.
He had literally come after hearing rumors of the Mad Order of Knights from the continent.
“As much as you like.”
Enkrid welcomed them all. That did not mean he stopped the moving carriage. He used brief rest periods along the way.
Those who approached also looked busy.
Fortunately, if it could be called fortunate, there were no surprise attacks like the one at the beginning. Even if there had been, they likely would not have served much purpose.
“Well, my. People keep coming.”
The coachwoman and assassin, who had probably leaked all the information about the party by now, frowned with one eyebrow.
“Speak from far away.”
Jaxon showed wariness as he looked at her.
Crang met three more Imperial knights who paid no attention to his presence. Since he could not understand the process of their fights even by watching, he simply watched.
After the man called Lightning Hands, two more people stopped the carriage, and Enkrid crossed swords with all of them. He sparred seriously with some, and lightly with others.
“Your skill truly is outstanding. I hope you will remain in the Empire.”
Among them, there was even a knight who revealed his inner thoughts that way.
‘Am I not even in his eyes?’
If asked whether that knight’s intent was foul, that was not the case either. He had simply suggested, purely, that Enkrid take hold of something better.
In other words, he was a knight with no tact. They picked up the pace a little after that and saw two more new Imperial cities. Every city was large, and the walls were high.
‘There are many mountains to cross before even the capital, the heart of the Empire.’
If they fought, just knowing the terrain of this area would be helpful.
Out of habit, Crang memorized the shape of the surrounding land, the lay of the terrain, the appearance of the cities, and the like. Amid that, he felt interest too.
The Empire was certainly more advanced than the continent. Not only its food culture, but even its daily necessities were far more refined than those of the continent. For example, even a single wooden bowl was properly carved. It was not the bowl itself that impressed him, but the great variety and quality of the various goods sold in the shops.
‘The general standard is high.’
The objects they used, and the level of awareness of the people living there as well. On top of that, every race was mixed together. It was a place with an atmosphere and scent clearly different from the continent.
Giants and Frokk shared drinks, and humans and beastmen walked together like lovers.
He saw all of it, kept what he should keep, and let flow what he should let flow. He carefully observed what had impressed him and could be applied, and passed over what he did not understand even after seeing.
If Kraiss had come, he would have been excited and carefully examined this and that. Also, though there were parts different from the continent, there were many similar parts too.
‘Unifying the currency and unifying the language.’
Was that done to guide development into a similar form?
He did not know. Holding that question, Crang reached the Imperial capital.
Could grandeur be expressed in words? Crang had no confidence that he could describe the gates and walls now visible to his eyes.
A golden tree was engraved on the pure white castle gate, and the tall walls extending left and right were certainly high enough that even a knight could not cross them.
He did not even feel like counting the number of spires. The outer gate opened, and Crang and the party entered.
At last, it was the Imperial capital.

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