Chapter 414 - Like taking candy from a baby
Chapter 414 - Like taking candy from a baby
The Kingdom of Brediais a little country with a population of almost 300,000 people including a small population of beast-men. Bordered by a river to the North, a small sea to the South, a bamboo forest to the East, and woodlands to the West, the country of Bredia mainly thrived in wood production, mining, and foreign trade as well as tourism.
The country's landscape was cheerful; impressive architecture, jade green fields, and green, open fields were just a sliver of the elegance Bredia had to offer, which was why the country was treasured among foreigners.
The people of Bredia were neighborly towards foreigners and tended to welcome them with open arms. They felt foreigners could fortify the country's well being.
Bredia had moderate laws and law enforcement, which was expected in their circumstances. The people were troubled by the growing bandit problems as Bredia had a lot of forests that had been used by the bandits to hide.
The kingdom was divided into 3 baronies; Bradford, Whiteridge, and Sarton on top of the Capital where the king resides. After the tournament, three baronies were reduced to 2 as Bradford became a kingdom itself under Ghost.
There was visible tension among the people after what happened in the tournament. Many criticized King Bredia for letting go of Bradford while some sympathized with the king.
Instead of carriages suited for the king, Michael decided to fly to the Capital along with the group of escorts King Bredia sent. The one-third of the army King Bredia agreed to give him had just reached Bradford and were making themselves at home. It would take at least a couple of weeks for them to relocate their families according to Gaya. It was Gaya's idea to relocate the soldiers' families to Bradford. She was already having a meeting with Elder Sandra to discuss the financial side of things needed for relocation.
The plus side of this was Bradford had so many empty lands which could be used to build new homes. The downside was it would take some time before finishing all the new homes required. According to Gaya, until the soldiers completely sever their ties with Bredia, their loyalty would remain to King Bredia instead of Ghost and her.
It made sense to Michael hence he went with her plan. After all, she had more knowledge and experience in ruling than him. She was so excited as he had never seen Gaya act so excited.
"We have so much work to do. How long will this take?" asked Gaya while flying towards the capital of Bredia.
The five of the escorts flying in front of them had three armed soldiers who seemed to be the royal guards and one of the remaining two was an old man in his seventies while the other was a middle-aged man dressed in crimson red robes.
The two of them were visibly surprised. They didn't expect the king and his girlfriend would travel to another place, a place that viewed them as enemies without any soldiers or bodyguards. Obviously, Ghost was powerful but not that powerful to escape the wrath of an entire country if they chose to attack him.
After almost three hours of flying, the outskirts of the capital began to come into their view. The city was surrounded by a city wall made of granite stones. Golden paddy fields blanketed the land outside of the city walls, creating beautiful scenery.
While flying forwards, the two men without wearing the metal armor drew some signs in the air as golden runes materialized before them. The golden runes flew towards the city before fading away.
Then nothing happened. They just continued their journey towards the castle that remained tall and majestic at the end of the city.
The castle of Bredia wasn't as majestic as the castle of House Kane. In fact, it was not even fair for this castle to be compared with House Kane. Still, the castle was elegant. Ten slim, round towers that looked as though they were piercing the sky were the first they saw of this castle and were connected by giant, firm walls made of white stone contrary to the blackish granite stone city wall. Tall, wide windows were scattered generously around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, along with symmetric holes for archers and artillery.
A moderate gate with hefty metal doors, a regular bridge, and various artillery equipment guarded the only passage into the castle built upon a mountain top, but it was not the only way in, which fortunately only very few know. Since they were flying, they had no need of going through the main gate and the guards.
As they were flying towards the castle, they noticed the various large houses scattered outside the castle gates, surprisingly the rich were comfortable with living outside the gates as well. This castle showed signs of expansion as some parts were clearly built more recently than others, the inhabitants were already working on another part and hoped to keep expanding.
Many children playing on the paved pathways looked up at them with their hands waving. Many nobles failed to notice them but Michael noticed the several groups of people gathered on the streets with labels and signboards. If he had to guess, he would say they were waiting for him, not to welcome but to show their disapproval.
"Poor people, hehehe" chuckled Gaya looking at the protesters. They seemed clueless which amused Gaya. She couldn't care less about what these Bredians think.
Michael noticed the two men show their objection to her laughter by frowning. Yet, they knew better to open their mouths. One of the tall towers had a metal door that glowed before opening. Through the tower, they flew down into the throne hall where he saw a young girl in a sparkling blue dress that screamed princess. When Michael and Gaya landed in the middle of the throne hall, she turned back. Immediately the gentle smile on her face disappeared. Instead, a rather cold and murderous look appeared on her face. If one had an acute sense of hearing, they could hear her teeth grinding against each other and the rising beats of her heart.
"Your Royal Highness" the five of them bowed towards her in unison while Gaya was busy scratching her ear. She did not even look at the princess. Michael on the other hand remained calm and cool as usual.
"Humph," Princess Katherine snickered as she walked forward gracefully.
"Where is the treasury?"
Asked Gaya looking around the throne hall. She wasn't impressed by the throne hall, not even a bit. Neither the modest braziers that enclosed each of the fourteen alabaster columns light up the entire throne hall and engulf everything in a flickering radiance nor did the lilac rug split the entire hall in half from the doors to the throne while swallowtail banners with emblazoned tassels the walls impressed the Princess of Nagaland.
She looked at the grand throne of bronze sitting atop a tall elevated platform quite a distance behind the princess. The throne was covered in hundreds of elaborate patterns and fixed on each of the rather slim feet is a gemmed symbolic emblem. The fluffy pillows were a light lilac and these too had been adorned with ornate quilting. Currently, the throne was empty as the king was nowhere to be seen.
"The treasury will be the first place thieves would look for" The Princess coldly said, shocking the men behind her.
"Yeah, we hate thieves too"
Michael let Gaya deal with the princess. It was funny to see Gaya talk to the princess with a serious face while she was obviously fanning Katherine's anger flames for fun.
"Is that so?" Katherine gritted her teeth,
"If you don't mind, lead the way please princess. We have things to do, like ruling a kingdom" Gaya spoke, waving her hands.
"Humph, follow me" Yet again the princess snickered before turning back. She then began to walk towards a silver door guarded by a fully armored soldier who stood 7ft tall.
The soldier stomped the ground with his leg as the silver door slid open to reveal the pathway lit with golden chandeliers. Only their steps could be heard as no one uttered any word. The five men who escorted Michael here remained silent while following them behind.
"Lalalala…tudu..tudududu…lalalala"
Michael tried not to chuckle hearing Gaya singing. He didn't know the lyrics but enjoyed her funny gibberish. It seemed as though Gaya was trying to piss off Katherine.
"Tuttudu…dudududu….tututu"
"Tuttudu…dudududu….tututu"
"Tuttudu…dudududu….tututu"
"Tuttudu…dudududu….tututu"
"Tuttudu…dudududu….tututu"
After hearing the same gibberish again and again for almost fifteen minutes, Katherine couldnt hold back anymore,
"Will you please shut up?"
"Nope. Hey Ghost, remind me to invite the Winstons to the party"
"I already sent the invites," said Michael,
"Leave them alone. They are good people," Katherine almost lost her composure. She did not want people like Ghost to get close to the Winstons. Especially after what he did to Andrews and her.
"We are good people. If not for us, somebody would have been under six feet by now" said Gaya. The others felt the situation getting tensed up by the second. They just wanted to get this done before the two girls try to kill each other,
"When the time comes, Andrews will settle his debt," Katherine said firmly.
"Let us pick one more thing from the treasury and we'll call it even. We will forget about saving his butt at that time forever. How about that princess? Are you willing to settle your sweetheart's debt?"
"Your Roya-"
The two unarmored men immediately tried to stop the princess but it was too late as Katherine stopped them with a wave of her hand. She turned back to look at Gaya,
"I will settle his debt but after this, you are never to speak of Andrews ever again"
"Deal"
Michael couldn't believe how easily the princess got manipulated by Gaya.
"Unbelievable" Michael said to himself,
"Heheheh, like taking candy from a baby…too easy" Gaya laughed out aloud inside. The Princess was unbelievably easy to manipulate.
Gaya almost felt bad for not asking for a couple of more items instead of asking for only one more.