The four traveled for about four days before they finally saw the outline of Asher City. They started each day at dawn, and stopped to rest when the sun was going down. This schedule was only possible because they were riding Red Maned Horses. If they were using other means of transport, they wouldn't have made it here so quickly by following such a schedule. After all, they didn't have much time to get to Asher City before the next contest. They had about a week to get there. With regular mounts, it would have taken 3 weeks to get to Asher City if they took only 3 hours of rest each day. But with Red Maned Horses they were able to do it in only 4 days and get ample rest too.
"It is large," Lam had an expression of awe as he gazed upon the magnificent walls that blocked the houses of the city from his vision. Although they were still some distance away, he could see the tall and strong walls of Asher City.
Over the course of four days, the twins had shown their terrifying comprehensive abilities by picking up riding skills. Lam wasn't seated with Ivor anymore. He was riding one of the Red Maned Horses.
"Look. There are several warriors manning the walls. It would be difficult for anyone to breach it." Lily pointed at the fortified walls of the city and exclaimed. She was seated on her own Red Maned Horse as well. She had even learned how to ride faster than Lam. It wasn't because Lam was not as intelligent as she was. In all honesty. Lam picked up riding faster than she did. However, the Red Maned Horses were drawn to Lily, so whilst Lam had to get them to trust him enough to allow him to ride, Lily had no such issue. When she picked her Red Maned Horse, the beast was more than delighted to be chosen and didn't give her any issues.
Just like she said, there were several warriors standing atop the walls of the City. They were placed strategically and made it hard for anyone who wanted to sneak into the city to successfully do so.
"Every First Class City is like this," Ivor smiled slightly seeing the expressions of awe on the faces of the twins. Since the twins grew up in a village and never had the permission to adventure outside and see what the world outside the village walls were like, they were easily awed by the majestic sight before them.
There were some people traveling next to them. These people weren't with them. They just happened to bump into them when they got out of the wilderness. After all, they weren't the only ones traveling to Asher City. They were currently surrounded by merchants and traders from several parts of the world. When these people heard Lam and Lily's exclamations they turned to them with scorn on their faces. They knew that such people wouldn't be anything much from the fact that they hadn't even seen a First Class City before. Yet when they saw the twins, they were stunned.
Lily was a beautiful girl, and her joyful smile mixed with her innocent expression and naïve green eyes were intoxicating. Many of them found themselves staring before they tore their gazes away from her face. Yet that didn't help them much, for once they turned away, they ended up looking at Lam. His beautiful black hair and gorgeous face stunned them as well. He was a delicate looking teenager with the disposition of a king. And they were drawn in by his countenance. Yes, he looked excited and free, but it still didn't hide the majesty of his noble aura. They struggled to tear their eyes away from him, and when they did they were caught staring at the figure who rode between the twins.
He was a young man with long golden hair and shaven beard. As if his hair color wasn't enough to make him stand out, his looks were dashing and his blue eyes were full of charm. Yet when he turned to face them they felt like they had been doused into a bucket of freezing water. Although he was smiling, his gaze was cold and held very little emotion. His eyes seemed to look beyond them as though they were insignificant beings, unworthy of his attention, and they felt that way as well. His gaze terrified them, and his indomitable aura shook them out of their senses as they quickly turned their eyes away from him. They looked at the last person belonging to Mane's entourage.
In contrast to the other three, he wasn't that good looking, but he certainly stood out. The last member of that entourage was large man with an aura that seemed to draw people close to him. But they felt that he was anything but ordinary. For although he had a jovial smile on his face, there was an air of invincibility around him that was masked by his friendly demeanor. However, it took only the truly discernable to notice this.
"Mane! Isn't it beautiful?!" Lily turned to Mane with sparkling eyes and asked. Unlike the twins, he didn't seem very impressed with what he was seeing. And why would he be. Mane grew up in Zandor, and the city he grew up in was more developed than Asher City. Although Asher City had far stronger warriors and inhabitants, their walls were still not as tall as those that the kingdoms and empires on Zandor built up. So he wasn't that impressed.
"It's good," Mane smiled and nodded. Seeing Lily's enthusiastic expression, he wasn't willing to dampen her excitement by showing her an apathetic reaction. Although he wasn't impressed, he still smiled like he was. However, Ivor could see from Mane's eyes that he wasn't swayed by what he was seeing.
"He has definitely seen something better," Ivor concluded, and was surer that Mane was sent by the Ancients now. If Mane knew that his reaction to Asher City had caused Ivor to become even wearier of him, he would have smiled wryly.
Soon the four had reached the gates of the city. There was a long line of people waiting to get in, and the guards at the gate were in charge of making sure people paid the toll to do so.
"This would take forever," Lam sighed when he saw the queue before them. There were several people ahead of them, and it didn't seem like they would be able to get in soon.
"Ignore them. Follow me." Ivor was unfazed by the people before them. He nonchalantly rode his Red Maned Horse past several people. Mane smiled seeing this. He knew that Ivor had an unordinary identity, and it seemed that this identity was useful to get them past the city gates without any trouble. He patted Roxanne on the head and had her follow Ivor. The twins quickly followed as well.
"Hey!"
"Get in line!"
"You think you can do what you want just because you are handsome and pretty folks?"
Many people were annoyed by their actions, and they made their dissatisfactions clear. Lam and Lily blushed in shame since they knew that what they were doing was wrong. They hesitated slightly as to whether they should go ahead.
"Just ignore them," Mane smiled seeing their expressions and told them. Because of Abelard, Mane was used to crossing queues and never having to wait for anything. So he was unfazed by the words of the crowd. Ivor didn't care either. This wasn't his first time doing this. It certainly wasn't his second and it wouldn't be his last either.
"Let them be. The guards would let them have it."
Seeing that Mane and the others still went ahead and weren't trying to move back, the crowd stopped wasting their time. They were eager to see how the guards would deal with the situation. After all, several people had tried stuff like this, and the luckiest ones were beaten to within an inch of their lives.
"Please join the queue or suffer the consequences," one of the warriors at the gate stated coldly when Ivor and the others approached him.
"Animal Hunters," Mane was impressed that they had people with this kind of strength only collecting fees at the gate.
"Oh? I wonder what the consequences for stopping me from entering would be," Ivor smiled faintly as he looked at the guard without any changes to his expression. Since he was seated on a horse and the guard was on the ground, he was literally looking down on him.
"This is Asher City. You cannot act presumptuously here." The other guard stepped forward with his hand on the hilt of his sword. His message was clear: join the queue or die! Lam and Lily looked unsettled and anxious. They had never experienced this before. Mane and Ivor were still calm. Ivor actually looked at them like they were clowns.
The people around had gloating expressions on their faces seeing this. Suddenly, one of them exclaimed loudly,
"Are those Red Maned Horses?!"
His voice was particularly loud, and everyone heard him. Hearing his words, everyone finally paid attention to the horses Mane and co were riding on. They didn't notice them before, but once they observed the horse and saw their red manes they were convinced that they were really Red Maned Horses.
"How may I address you Sir," the guard's cold expression was no more. He had also just noticed the horses were unordinary and realised that the people before him couldn't be ordinary folks. Since Ivor was the oldest and riding in front of them, he naturally deduced that Ivor was the leader of this small group.
"Ivor the Tattler," Ivor responded with a smile, and the guards felt their backs grow cold. They grew pale, like they had heard the name of a great demon. They stutteringly apologized for getting in Ivor's way and let them go through the gates. The twins were stunned by the guards' change, but Mane was alarmed by it.
The fear that the guards had on their faces wasn't feigned, and it wasn't the kind of expression one would have towards an entity of great power. It meant that Ivor's influence in Asher City was greater and more sinister than he thought, and Mane grew more cautious.
"Who exactly is this man?"