Chapter 335: The Border City On Lockdown

“Alright, we’ve arrived.”

When Shien spoke up from up on Yulin’s back, the pitch black dragon stopped its flight and instead flapped its wings to hover in place among the clouds, no longer moving forward.

“Arrived, huh?”

Airi woke up right on time, but she still looked very sleepy.

“Uuuh…”

Beatrice also opened her eyes, however she still acted half asleep, like she couldn’t get up at all.

Shien ust handed both Airi and Beatrice over to Lasha while he himself poked his head out from up on dragonback and looked down.

“[Enchant – Farsight].”

Shien added an enchantment to his eyes to grant him the ability to see far further and looked down at the lands beneath the clouds.

There, a city that stood all on its lonesome down on the ground came into Shien’s sight.

It was a fortress city.

The city’s walls were very tall and thick, surrounding the entirety of the city.

Up on the wall, cannon like magic weapons were set one after another, aimed out in all directions. It was quite an intimidating sight.

And in front of that city was a continuous and unbroken mountain chain.

“So that’s the city of Cosmos that has been spoken of over and over before huh?”

Airi seemed to be a bit more awake now and was joining Shien in looking down at the ground. It’s unknown if she had used some kind of magic or if it was just her natural vision, but she was able to clearly see the city below them as well.

Lasha was holding onto the still sleepy Beatrice, so it’s unknown if she saw the city below them or not. Even so, she started calmly explaining.

“Cosmos is the northernmost city of the Mitra Kingdom, located on the border of the Stalim Dukedom. Due to the fact that it’s the city that most closely borders the Ragna Empire, it’s also a fortress city, specifically set to block off the Ragna Empire’s path southward.”

“It’s both a customs pass and a line of defense for the Kingdom.”

“Since it’s a place that must be passed through if the Ragna Empire wants to invade the Kingdom, people from the Empire are also fairly common here. Besides that, it’s also a required stop for any trade between the Kingdom and the Empire, so it’s also a gathering place for many merchants and also people of other races.”

In other words, this is a major melting pot of various races while at the same time being an important communications hub between the people of the Kingdom and Empire.

It’s only natural that a fortress city should be built here and heavily staffed. Only then can they prevent the Empire from taking advantage.

Shien could see it. Over in Cosmos, not only is the city’s barrier always active, the walls, gates, and even streets are also all filled with patrolling knights.

The armies of the Stalim Dukedom have set up military bases pretty much everywhere around Cosmos. They even set up lines of defenses near the mountains, and knights and soldiers could be seen everywhere, giving the entire area a militaristic aura.

“Due to the fact that it’s a fortress city, Cosmos’s most prosperous industry is weapon forging. Not only are many human magic weapons workshops are located here, there are even dwarven smiths working here.”

“Thanks to that, Cosmost had become the greatest magic weapon production location within the Kingdom. The highest quality of magic weapons within the Kingdom are practically all produced here. Even the magic weapons workshops in the Capital tend to sell a lot of their products here.”

“Nearly 40% of the Stalim Dukedom’s annual income relies on the high quality magic weapons sales from here, so magic weapons are extremely profitable here.”

Lasha explained the situation with Cosmos to Shien and Airi.

“Magic weapons, huh?”

Although Airi still looked relatively disinterested, she did give Cosmos a few more looks. It’s obvious that she didn’t expect this city to be so special.

Shien however was thinking about something else.

“If I were to destroy this city, then shouldn’t the Stalim ducal family end up crying in joy?”

Shien’s mind with filled with certain strange and evil thoughts.

As for Beatrice, for some reason, after she had woken up a bit more, she gave the direction where Cosmos is a glance before lightly frowning with a hateful look in her eyes.

No one notice that though. No one saw it.

Airi just yawned as she spoke casually.

“Since we’re already here, why didn’t you bring us down?”

This little girl was still as rough and brutal as always.

“You wouldn’t have forgotten what happened in Jiltry, did you?” Shien spoke with annoyance, “If we were to charge straight into the city while riding a dragon again, then we’d likely end up in a battle.”

This is no joke.

Cosmos isn’t like Jiltry, where anyone could make any trouble as they pleased.

This is the first line of defense against any invasion from the Empire after all. It’s there to defend against the half friendly, half hostile neighboring country. If Shien seriously dared to fly down on his dragon, then he would definitely be detected from far away and end up taking merciless attacks.

At that point, there’s no way that the other side would care if you’re a viscount or not, nor if you’re someone important in the Kingdom.

The borders are the borders. The knights and soldiers of the border city’s duty is to protect their country. They’re acting in service to the Kingdom, not to any specific noble.

The importance is on the different level, and the same goes for the meaning behind their existence. Cosmos isn’t a place where they can just do as they will, and any action on the contrary will end up with the offender being declared having committed treason against the Kingdom sooner or lader.

Shien doesn’t want that to happen.

“I’m not here to show off here, nor am I some kind of unstoppable protagonist of a novel. I’m just here to kill an Old Demon Faction while at the same time making a bit of trouble for the Stalim family, that’s all. It’s not like I’m trying to get pulled up on the international stage to fight.

Thanks to that, this time, Shien did not plan on flying over while on Yulin. Instead, he decided to enter the city via the proper method.

“You should just continue waiting for us up in the sky. If you get tired, then it’s fine of you go get some rest up on the nearby mountains. Did you get that? Yulin?”

Shien patted Yulin a few times as he said all that.

“Roar!”

Yulin immediately replied with a roar.

“Aright, we’re going then.”

Shien stood up.

Airi looked like she didn’t care at all. She just got up along with Shien and spread out her enormous draconic wings behind her.

The two of them planned to just jump straight down just like that.

“Lasha, bring Beatrice along ehre.”

Shien also glanced over at Lahsa before his eyse shifted and his mouth twisted up in a grin.

In the end, I’d get to hug you after all!

Unless she could fly on her own anyways.

Shien felf a bit proud of himself in his mind.

“Yes my lord.”

It’s unknown if Lasha had noticed Shien’s thoughts or not, but she just calmly replied before grabbing Beatrice and heading over before Shien.

Shien didn’t hesitate much and directly hugged her to him.

Yeah, she really is soft.

Yeah, she really did smell good.

As he though, this maid is top quality. Although she’s a bit cold, she’s both beautiful and has a great figure, so she’s practically a reward from the heavens.

“Hmph!”

Airi looked like she couldn’t take watching it, so she just let out a humph before coldly speaking up.

“Hurry up, idiot.”

With that said, Airi flapped the draconic wings on her back and glided down.

“I’m coming.”

Shien was completely satisfied too.

“[Enchant – Flight]”

The next second, Shien was holding Lasha while Lasha held Beatrice. The three of them few up together and followed Airi as they headed down toward the ground.

The two both flew toward Cosmos while Yulin opened her mough with a grin and disappeard among the clouds.

Thiis location became peaceful again.

However, Shien and company weren’t actually able to smoothly enter Cosmos. That was an unexpected incident.

…

“This city is under lockdown?”

Shien stood in front of the city’s gates along with Airi, Lasha, and Beatrice. He was visibly surprised when the knight standing guard warned him off.

“That’s right.” The guard said, “This is an order from Duke Stalim himself. This is the official order from the territory’s lord himself. Until the chaos in Cosmos has been resolved, no one is allowed to enter.”

“Is that so?” Shien raised an eyebrow, “Not even nobles?”

“Not even nobles.” The guard spoke forcefully, “This is the lord’s order, and it stands unless your rank is higher than even that of Duke Stalim.”

This is basically just another way of saying that it’s impossible.

Higher than even a duke?

What rank would that be?

This guard was saying that knowing full well of that fact.

Unfortunately for him, he tried to toy with the wrong person.

“My own rank is indeed not as high as that of Duke Stalim’s.” Shien spoke teasingly, “But, I don’t think Duke Stalim would refuse me, who has this, from entering, right?”

As he said that, Shien pulled out the royal token from where it hung on his neck.

“This… This is the royal sigil…!? My apologies…!”

That guard’s eyes widened before he hurriedly took a knee.

Never mind the guard, even the knights and officers around him also hurriedly knelt down.

“Now can I enter?”

Shien put the token away with a calm expression.

“Yeah, I showed off again.”

This are the thoughts of the Hero who just said that he’s not here to show off, nor was he some kind of unstoppable protagonist.

“Um… That…”

That guard however started stuttering hesitantly. He seemed to be in a tough spot.

It’s obvious that he never expected for someone with a rank higher than even duke to actually pop out. He did say that, but he doesn’t seem like he really could just let Shien enter either, so he was stuck between a rock and a hard spot.

“What? Does the Stalim family refuse to heed the will of the royal house?”

Shien’s eyes narrowed.

Shien had even pulled out the royal token after all. If they’re still unwilling to let him in, then he would need to properly consider if there might be some internal secrets involved.

After all, the last time this happened was back with the Ataru Canyon.

It can’t be that this Stalim Family was just like the Garibaldi family and were secretly planning something with the Old Demon Faction behind the Kingdom’s back, right?

As Shien was thinking that, the guard hurriedly shook his head.

“No, it’s not like that.” The guard spoke in a panic, “Only, a lost of strange things really have been happening in the Stalim Dukedom, and Cosmos is where all those strange incidents started. The Old Demon Faction had appeared here before as well, and right now, the city is still in complete chaos. If something dangerous was to happen to my lord within, then we…”

Shien interrupted those words before he could finish.

“I’ve been hearing about strange incidents the entire way here over and over, but just what are those strange things exactly?”

Shien finally asked that question.

“That…”

The guard hesitated a moment before opening his mouth to start explaining.