The next four days passed in a flash, with the rain coming down hard from the skies, produced from the thick layer of dark clouds that loomed over Waterfall City.
Waterfall City was not alone in this though.
It was the same old weather that had been greeting the entire Great Manta Kingdom for the past few weeks, so nobody was surprised.
Due to this rain, the streets that were originally packed with people during other times of the year were now largely empty, except for a few souls who had to brave the weathers for necessary errands.
Under such harsh weathers, two riders hurriedly approached the western gate of the city.
"Halt your horses!" one of the guards shouted when the riders got too close for comfort.
The two riders obliged, not wanting to appear hostile.
They dismounted and quickly led their mounts to a spot under the shelter of the city walls, where the guards were standing in front of the gate.
"By His Majesty's decree, we are here to inform Waterfall City to open its city gate in preparation for welcoming the expedition army personally led by the king!" one of the riders proudly raised a golden token in front of the guards.
It was a palm sized hexagonal token that fit nicely in the rider's hand. On it was the emblem of the Great Manta Kingdom, as well as other exquisite carvings that bordered the emblem.
It was the royal family's Authority Token, used as a symbol to represent the personal authority of a member of the royal family in their absence.
But something was slightly different about this token.
In addition to the usual carvings, there was an additional shape of a crown at the top – the symbol of the king!
"Y-Yes!" the guard nodded immediately, and one of the guards hurriedly ran off into the city to pass on the message.
Count Bastion was a man who relished in his absolute authority over his fief, which included Waterfall City in its midst.
Being located at the far Eastern border, he had a legitimate reason to amass a large army in the name of safeguarding the kingdom's borders and protecting national interests.
At the same time, having a powerful army serving under his Aron family also allowed Count Bastion to rule his fief with an iron fist, directly quashing anyone whom he had any misgivings against.
In other words, his will was the law for as far as his fief extended!
But if there was one thing he hated about his current position, then it was the number of demihumans and beasts that existed in the wilderness towards the East of the city!
And especially those blasted goblins that had been acting really rampantly as of late, repeatedly attacking multiple villages in his land!
If not for the fact that those cowards had been holing up in the Dragontail Valley that was not exactly the best place to march an army into, he would have long ordered his soldiers to take them out!
Instead, he had only been able to react to the goblins' attacks, many a times being too late to stop the goblins even after having his army immediately rush over upon receiving such news.
As a result of his inability to effectively resolve this problem, as well as some personality issues, his reputation in the kingdom, especially among commoners, was not exactly the most illustrious.
And at this moment, Count Bastion was lying in bed with a young beauty in his arms, his hands gently roaming around the lady's body as lust filled his eyes.
Just as he was about to remove his clothes and get to the good part, loud knocks on the room's door disturbed him from his trance.
"My Lord, there is a report from the city gate!"
The guard shouted from outside.
"I am busy! Do not bother me if it is nothing important!" Count Bastion answered in annoyance before turning his gaze back to the lady in his bed, who responded with a bashful smile.
"There is an army approaching the city, and is asking for the opening of the city gate!"
"An army?" Count Bastion was shocked still for a moment. "Have you found out who leads the army?"
"I-it appears to be the newly crowned king of the Great Manta Kingdom, King Roland! May I know if I should get the guards to open the gates?"
"Are you stupid? If you are not going to open the gate for the king, then who are you going to open it for? Get your ass to it right now! If the king's army is held up for even one second extra, then get ready to be severely punished!" Count Bastion shouted in exasperation after hearing that, and hurriedly got up from bed.
He was no longer in the mood to indulge in physical pleasure, but at the same time he was feeling especially annoyed about being interrupted.
This wastrel king…what could he be doing this far away from the capital, and leading an army along with him to boot?
He quickly readied himself before leaving for the city gate, but not before remembering to order the preparation of a feast in order to welcome the arrival of the sovereign.
The two riders from before had truly made haste on their errand, but they were still not able to arrive much earlier than the main army due to the harsh weather conditions.
When Count Bastion finally arrived at the city wall that was overlooking the western city gate, the expedition army led by King Roland had already arrived at a point not far from the front of the city gate.
Thankfully, the gate was already opened, and Count Bastion hurried down to greet the visiting army.
It was hardly the best weather to be welcoming someone at the city gate, but he still had no choice but to do so in consideration of the other party's status.
"Your humble subject, Count Bastion, humbly welcomes Your Majesty to Waterfall City!"
Count Bastion had waited right behind the open city gate, but he made sure to remain under the shelter of the city wall in order to not get drenched in the downpour.
In order to make sure that he could be heard over the loud sound of rainwater hitting the ground, Count Bastion even had to shout at the top of his voice.
"His Majesty had ordered to spare all pleasantries for now. With how bad the weather is, everyone shall get to shelter before exchanging any greetings!" the man rider at the forefront of the army shouted loudly in response.
Count Bastion nodded in relief.
At least the wastrel king is not as retarded as I thought! If we had to exchange greetings in the small area of shelter under the city wall, then it would be truly stifling!
"Understood, follow my men to the Aron Army facility. It is probably the only place in the city that is big enough to accommodate the entirety of the visiting army!" Count Bastion signalled to a few of the soldiers standing behind him, who promptly left to lead the visiting army away.
Finally relieved that the army had gotten on their way, Count Bastion got onto his horse carriage as well and quickly headed for the same facility.
It was going to take the large army quite a bit of time before every soldier could be settled down.
Count Bastion would have to make sure that the king was properly tended to during this time, and at the same time get ready to greet the king immediately after the king was done with his preparations.
In an inn not far away from the western gate, a group of four was currently calmly having their meal as they sat at a table that was right beside a window.
The four were all looking out of the large window as though they were appreciating the tranquil sight of the lasting rain, but their gazes were in fact all locked in the direction of the city gate.
"Do you recognise the flag held up by the flag bearers of the army?" Klint asked.
"They are flying the flag of the Great Manta Kingdom. It could be the army of any noble," Adel shrugged.
She was the one with the best eyesight of the four, and also the only one capable of clearly seeing the visiting army despite the heavy rain obscuring any vision.
Hearing the Count's previous conversation through the thundering rain though, was impossible even for her.
"Does that mean we do not know anything about the identity of that army?" Klint frowned.
"That is not the case. Just from the fact that even the City Lord has to personally arrive in welcome, we at least know that the army is from a family that is at least of Count rank!" Adel answered.
"Count rank and above as well as from the capital, and even flying the flag of the Great Manta Kingdom…I guess it must be the Royal Army then!" Baroc came to a conclusion that the others had thought of as well.
"Is this the legendary case of a newly crowned king wanting to establish dominance through battle?" Adel smirked mockingly.
"Likely the case, I just hope the commander of the army is someone easy to reason with," Baroc sighed.
Even among the Royal Army, there were many who reported directly to the highest ranked Marshal Dominic, all of whom could have been the one in charge of commanding this expedition army. In fact, even Marshal Dominic could have been the commander this time.
Baroc was not afraid of the status of the commander being too high, in fact, the higher the better! Since that meant the commander would have greater authority in making bold decisions.
However, what he was afraid of was that the commander might be stubborn and did not care to heed his advice.
Baroc had seen far too many incapable people in high ranked posts, many of whom got to their current positions only due to their personal ties among the nobles.
The finest example of such a person would be the newly crowned king.
Even having done nothing to contribute or to prove his worth, he had ended up in the highest position in the entire kingdom, giving him power and authority that surpassed all others.
As someone who strongly believed in meritocracy, Baroc despised such a system, and was thus happy to live his life as an adventurer.
After all, in the adventurers' world, you are judged purely based on your ability and nothing else.
"If the commander is not the type to listen to reason, then we would just have to make him listen by force!" Adel had an evil grin on her face.
"And how are we going to escape after doing so? You think we can take on that army all by ourselves?" Klint laughed, apparently not taking his companion seriously.
"Well, we might not be able to escape together, but I am still quite confident of escaping by myself!"
"Evil woman! Are you trying to have us killed? Leader, just listen to what this girl is saying!"
"Truly an evil notion!" even Winstart chimed in at this point.
"It is not my fault that you guys are slow and heavy on your feet!" Adel exclaimed smugly as she leaned back into her chair.
"All right, guys. Listen up," Baroc leaned forward and pressed his elbows on the surface of the table.
"For now, it is free time for two hours. Go get ready and gear up! After which, let us gather here once again before heading over to request a meeting with the commander of the army. We have to get to the commander before he gets any weird ideas from anyone else, especially from the Waterfall City Lord! Otherwise, convincing him might become slightly more difficult!"