At Bennett Castle.
Today was the last day of the year, and tomorrow would be the New Year.
During dinner, the Knight of Bennett took out a letter—a rectangle parcel and handed them over to Zach "This is a new year's gift from Abel. Look how good he is to you. Even Mother and I did not get any."
It must have seemed like Knight of Bennett was being salty, Nora rolled her eyes and said: "our son had only been gone for a month and he has not stopped writing letters to us. Do you really want a present that badly?"
Zach took the letter and parcels. But as he was opening it, he realized that within the parcel was a large sword.
"Wow. This is a master level sword of a hundred skills." Zach immediately recognized the sword as he took it out of the cover. A Sword of a hundred skills had always been a demanding piece in the market. Although it has a crazy price of 1,000 gold coins, there were still countless wealthy people rushing to buy it.
Big Swords were a knight's most significant possession.
Despite just being made fun of by his wife, seeing the Sword of a hundred skills when he only had a sword of 80 skills. Knight of Bennett couldn't help but exclaim "I really do want a present"
"Let me have a look." As a knight, the Knight of Bennett could not resist the temptation for good weaponry. He took the sword from Zach's hand and began waving it in the middle of the dining room. "This kid Abel... he hasn't even fully settled down at Harry's castle, and he's already begun to take random things from it—making it gifts. Next time I will write him a letter giving him a good lecture about this."
"That's not the case." Said Zach as he opened up Abel's letter "In the letter, Abel said that this is the first weapon he ever forged and decided to give me a New Year's gift."
The Knight of Bennett suddenly stopped waving the sword in mid-air. He stared at Zach's letter and asked, "Did you say Abel had forged this sword himself?"
"Yes, father, Abel said it very clearly in the letter" Zach answered with certainty.
"Impossible. Marshall has also learned how to forge in the past, but the most he could make after a whole year of training was a table knife. You are telling me that Abel could forge a Sword of a hundred skill after one month?"
The Knight of Bennett felt like he made a big mistake for giving Abel away. At first, he thought he would only regret this decision after a few years, but now, he was completely lost for words.
It had been a very unusual new year within the Bennett castle with Zach's surprise, Bennett's regret, and Nora's sentiment. Yet, Abel was unaware of this In Harry's Castle.
At Harry's Castle, the Knight of Marshall and Abel were sitting in a carriage on the way to Harvest City to attend the New Year cocktail party hosted by viscount Dickens. The party was supposed to start at night, but the Marshall Knight and Abel had already set off early in the morning.
The road from Knight of Marshall's castle to Harvest City was constructed very well. The entire road was made out of small flat stones with a slight curve bulging out of the middle. Therefore, you could barely feel any vibration on the carriage, and in only an hour they had already traveled for more than 100 kilometers.
From afar, Harvest City looked just a crouching tiger. However, one could only feel its majestic grandeur from up close. It was the largest city in Duchy of Carmel. It's surrounding walls were up to 20 meters high with dozens of cannons penetrating from the sides. All of this just showed how well guarded the city was.
"Uncle Marshall, why is Harvest City so strictly guarded?" Abel asked as he stared at the 20-meter-high wall and the countless numbers of defensive weapons.
Abel elaborated his question, "Harvest city was located in the southernmost part of the Holy Land, which was once a territory that belonged to the humans. It was also said to be separated from the orc empire by one of the safest duchies. So why does the city look like it's about to be in a war?"
"Abel, there is at least one official knight in every block of Duchy of Carmel, and Harvest City is no exception. It's city owner, the honorable viscount Dickens, was also the leader of the city's knights."
The eyes of the Knight of Marshall had become somewhat dreary. He seemed engrossed in his memories. "It's all because of the Orc Empire," he sighed.
"The Orc Empire is located in the far north. It was guarded by one of mankind's greatest alliance, who were the Miracle Cities defense guards". Abel knew about the Miracle City defense guards. If it wasn't for their efforts to fight off the orcs, Humans would've lost a great amount of land to live on.
The orcs were the most bloodthirsty beings in this world. Due to their insanely high birth rate, they were always in a constant food crisis. As a means to avoid starvation, they would wage war against other races for food—at the same time, this would also effectively reduce the number of mouths they had to feed.
There were always humans who had lived near the Orc Empire. As they were an easy target to be pillaged, they gathered themselves up and built a military fortress alongside the passage of the Budapest mountains, separating the human civilization and the orc empire. That construction was known as Miracle City.
"As long as the Miracle City is there. We don't need to worry about an orc invasion," the Knight of Marshall said.
"In the past few decades, the orc empire has developed a new way of attack. They used flying beasts to carry them over the Budapest mountains and destroyed our back force". He said in a somewhat skeptical tone, "it's destruction indeed... But I believe it's more like a trial attack."
As they were speaking, the carriage reached the gate of Harvest city. There was a long queue in front of a 10-meter-high gate. Next to the gate, there were a bunch of soldiers checking and charging the visitors one by one. They seemed to operate at a very slow speed, and from the length of the queue, Abel thought it might be another hour before they could get in.
But the carriage did not stop. Instead, they entered the city directly from the other side, passing by the people standing in the queue, looking jealously at them.
Whether he was in the Bennett Castle or the Harry Castle, Abel had always felt that he was just a bit wealthier compared to the people around him. Yet, this was the first time he had truly experienced the privilege of being a royal.
Abel was still getting used to how things work in this new world. In his old world, if a person tried to jump in the queue, others would look at you with contempt. But in here, Abel did not even get called off the carriage and went straight into the city.
The carriage arrived at a courtyard. It was Knight of Marshall's temporary residence in Harvest City. The moment they reached the gate, the housekeeper, Robin, immediately came out and greeted them.
"Robin, Abel will be staying here for the next two days. Clean up that independent house and make a place for Abel to stay" said knight Marshall to the housekeeper as he got off the carriage.
"Yes, Master."
Housekeeper Robin knew that the Knight of Marshall had an adopted son and soon he would become the inheritor of the castle. However, it was only after hearing these commands by Knight of Marshall, that Robin could fully understand the importance of the young master.
Besides the master's private house, the best place to live was that independent house, yet Knight of Marshall had offered it to Abel without hesitation.
"Abel, do you want to come with me to visit my friends or go to play in harvest city."
Seeing Abel's look of hesitation, The Knight of Marshall couldn't help but smile, "Of course, I will arrange Robin as your accompany to explore Harvest City."
The Knight of Marshall did care about Abel. Not only did he understand Abel's choice by just looking at his expression, but he would also always respect his decision and never force him into doing anything he would be uncomfortable with.
Abel rejected the company of housekeeper Robin. He just went off with his horse and began exploring the different shops in the street. Even though the streets of Harvest City were very wide, because of the New Year, there were people everywhere.
Suddenly, Abel came across a noisy group of people arguing. The voice seemed very familiar, so Abel decided to lead the horse forward. It was Zach. He was arguing with three young men wearing leather armor. There was also a young girl with blonde hair, probably the age of 17 or 18, standing on the side watching the argument intensely. She seemed like a witty and playful type. When she laughed, there was a touch of cunningness in her eyes.
"Big Brother!" Yelled Abel's excitedly. It was such a surprise to see his family here. Abel jumped off his horse and ran towards Zach.
"Abel!" Zach replied as he gave Abel a tight hug.
Afterward, Zach turned toward the three men and introduced them to each other "This is my brother Abel."
"And Abel... This is Martin, Joshua, and Bob"
The young girl gave a slight bow to Abel, and introduced herself with a chuckle, "Hello, my name is Emily" as she curiously scanned Abel.
Abel returned to the bow and saw the big brother Zach sneakily glanced at Emily's expression. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on here. Zach was a young adult, after all. Abel laughed on the outside, but he wondered if he should write a letter to mum about this.
Martin had never have guessed that Abel would be so young. He was lost for words for a moment there, "Are you the one who forged the Sword of a hundred skills for Zach?"
Abel smiled and nodded, " Yes."
"Wow, really?!" Martin immediately gave a passionate bow and said, "it was such a pleasure to meet you! I didn't expect you to be so young!"
Martin seemed to be a talkative and straightforward person. Must be a nice guy to hang around, Abel thought