On the other hand, Arthur sped up and overtook Justin who had started to lose all interest in riding. His back hurt, and complaints kept flowing from his mouth. Behind the two, Cedric was speeding at a moderate pace, seemingly enjoying his time with the wild. The hunting grounds at the foot of Ataraxia's mountain had a vast green plain with no trees at all after driving several kilometres from the dense forest area. When they finally reached the place, Justin had almost passed out in the saddle. And to avoid unwanted events, a company commander sat behind him and helped him hold the reins. From behind, they looked like a couple. Cedric laughed loudly in the back. His voice reached the ears of the second prince who was still blushing.
The bodyguards moving under the ministry of rites walked around the hunting grounds while guiding a herd of elephants and other symbolic animals, laughing in the distance. When they saw Cedric whistling loudly and summoning his saker eagle, the crowd chuckled in admiration. One of them commented, "Tsk tsk tsk. Even though the Crown Prince is very incompetent in some ways, I can't deny the fact that his combat prowess is impressive. If he had been more manageable, he might have become the second Grand Marshal instead. "
"The two of them aren't that far apart in age either," his friend replied.
The little bodyguard snickered, "Age has nothing to do with it."
"But if the Crown Prince was more focused and a little pious, wouldn't he be a perfect person? Perfection is impossible. God is just. Therefore, the Crown Prince was created with the power of a monster but with a lazy and dispassionate nature. His excites only in amusement parks on Hemingway St and not on the battlefield, like the Grand Marshal!" another person rattled off at an incoherent talking point. They continued to talk while holding the branches to direct the big elephant to the right path. At their waists, each carried a small sword the size of an adult's arm. They wear white uniforms with special black vests.
On the other hand, a large and ferocious saker eagle landed on Cedric's arm. At its feet was wrapped a paper the size of a finger. Cedric reached for it and read its contents.
[Madam is fine. She insisted on hunting rabbits around the tent, so we let her.]
Cedric crumpled the paper and put it in his trouser pocket.
-0-
By late afternoon, the weather around the hunting grounds was getting colder. A 6-foot-tall man was sweating profusely. His black shirt was tightly pressed against his body. His golden blonde hair looked wet and limp, but it didn't detract from his handsomeness at all. His amber eyes narrowed sharply, looking at the deer running in the distance. The wheat husk was exposed under the orange glow of the twilight. His hand grabbed an arrow on his back, hooked it onto the bow, pulled the tail of the arrow firmly, and hurled it at an insane speed without any burden as if a 50-pound longbow was nothing.
The Marshal, Alastair Riven Elaxi, moved forward to take a look at his prey, and found the deer that had been running before was now sprawled on the ground. Its eyes were still burning with life, but they were only remnants. Alastair crouched wearily, touching several places on the deer's body with his index finger.
A woman crouched beside him, commenting. "You're throwing a tantrum again, huh?"
Alastair did not comment. The sweat from his forehead trickled down the tip of his sharp nose, then slid down and dripped onto the ground. The woman beside him watched the scene seriously. Alastair turned, his forehead furrowed. But he didn't say anything.
Rea, the woman with the black robe covering her entire body, chuckled. Her pale, tiny finger touched the crease on Alastair's forehead, mocking him. "You look old if you frown."
Alastair caught the finger and pushed it away, flatly saying, "I'm indeed old." This year he's 37 years old. Even though his outward appearance still looks like that of a man in his mid-20s. As people say, the Grand Marshal and the Crown Prince absolutely refuse to be aged.
Rea laughed, saying, "I won't allow that."
Alastair didn't respond. He was about to carry the deer on his shoulder when a man sprinted towards him from behind. The man called out in a loud voice. "Grand Marshal!"
Rea smiled blankly, and immediately stood up. Her hands pulled her cloak quite high as she spun around like a skilled dancer. In that moments, she created a gentle gust of wind before her body suddenly disappeared in midair. Alastair didn't look at her at all.
The man behind had reached him. Profuse sweat was raining down on these two dashing men. After stabilizing his breathing, the small soldier from the imperial army regiment spoke, "Grand Marshal, the Emperor's banquet is about to begin. It's best if we go back to the tent and get ready."
The Marshal is a quiet person. Not getting a response from him was commonplace. The little soldier continued, "The public kitchen is under the control of the Palace Service Directorate, so the eunuchs are arrogant towards the soldiers. Because we can't even have a table banquet with the Emperor or important people like you, it's not only our salaries that suck, even our dinner rations are pathetic too."
The treatment of the eunuchs was getting worse day by day. To find out whether a military lineup had the intention of revolting or not, the Emperor had to at least have accomplices and ears stationed in each military post. The most suitable tasks for such a role were imperial censors. The problem is, to be able to bring imperial censorship into the field requires a letter of assignment issued by two ministries, believe the ministry of justice and the ministry of review. The emperor could have bypassed the procedure and directly exercised his right as the direct superior of the imperial censors, but such an action would raise question marks from all sides. Worse yet, the Emperor will be branded as a perfunctory leader. The Emperor's final choice was to use weaklings whose entire lives depended on the Emperor's mercy and who would not 'offend' the military with their positions. And the most suitable choice for the role was the eunuch.
Ever since they got the job of being palace accomplices and supervising every military post, they walked every day with their chests outstretched and their chins raised higher and higher. Their attitude is getting arrogant. Their treatment in the palace might seem friendly, but as long as no eyes were looking, on the field, their demeanour was like that of a bandit. With fingers flexed like sissies, the castrated people were absolutely disgusting to look at. The eunuchs did not dare to lay their hands on the Grand Marshal just because he was the Emperor's nephew. If he came from an ordinary family like most of the other generals, perhaps his luck wouldn't be this good.
Alastair commented, "Trash can only act like trash. If they act like trash somewhere, then there's no doubt that place is a trash can."
The little soldier laughed disdainfully, "Are you saying that the palace is a trash can?"
Alastair spoke dryly, "I won't deny it."
The two of them walk side by side. The Marshal slung his military uniform over his shoulders, looking relaxed and dashing. As they were almost at the area near the campsite, a sound startled the two of them.
"Marshal, isn't that the sound of gunshots?" the little soldier commented with a bit of panic. Only people from the imperial clan were allowed to carry firearms in their hands just in case of an unforeseen emergency. Even a commander-in-chief of the rank of Grand Marshal was not allowed to carry it.
"Go back to camp and bring some troops here if I don't come back in 15 minutes. Only do that when there's no serious situation around the camp area. If something bad happens there, fire a flare."
"Roger!" The little soldier ran against the Marshal who followed the source of the gunshot through his instincts.
.
.
On the other hand, Viona was walking around the area near the camp to see what kind of herbs she could bring home. The special reason why she accepted Arthur's invitation was for this. The man was so understanding of her love for her little profession that he immediately offered her the opportunity to hunt herbs in a limited area like this. Little healers like Viona will mostly find and replenish their stockpile of herbs from the outskirts of the forest, and even then they still have to compete with other people who are after the same thing. Therefore, more and more herbal plants are increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain.
On the other hand, the forest at the foot of Mount Ataraxia was a limited area belonging to the palace, not just anyone could enter here, let alone go around to pick up herbs that were scattered around here. Apart from the court healers and those in authority, people like Viona couldn't enter. And when Arthur offered to bring her here, she was overjoyed. She immediately forgot her fear of the harsh treatment of the noble juveniles and agreed. Arthur also promised to take care of her, so she didn't have to worry. Especially seeing the other day when they accidentally met in front of the hunting grounds, the Crown Princess didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards her, unlike her usual where she was so aggressively pestering her and accusing her of being the one who had snatched Arthur away.
Viona admits that she may have had a big hand in their breakup, but she swears that wasn't her intention. She and Arthur accidentally meet in the depths of the forest when the man gets lost and injured. Viona as a person who is familiar with medicinal herbs and the entire rugged forest terrain immediately saves the man and inadvertently attracts his interest. Even if the injured and a lost person was an evil fugitive, Viona would definitely help him no matter who and how handsome they were. Viona is innocent. Their meeting was a fate line. The Crown Princess' accusations had really pushed her into a corner unfairly.
Sighing, Viona stopped thinking about the past and held a woven bamboo basket in her left hand. She wandered around, crouching in various places, humming happily when she got what she could take home.
Amidst the hum of the Viona folk song, there was the sound of the footsteps of more than a dozen people moving in the distance. Viona automatically stopped her humming. She was squatting among the bushes with her whole body covered. Those people wouldn't be able to see her and she wouldn't be able to see them either. Curious, Viona made a small gap between the tall grass and peeked. Those people were wearing the typical guard squad uniforms, looking dashing and scary for weak-hearted people like Viona. This cute girl blinked innocently. Because she was shy, she continued to hide.
The people moved closer and closer so that their conversation could be caught by Viona's ears. It wasn't a pleasant chat. They said things like ambushes and assassinations, sending chills down her spine. When they got too close to her, Viona even held her breath because of fear.
"What about the other two?"
"Kill the strong and leave the most useless."
Laughed, "After all, the future of this empire is to be ruled by a puppet."
"But, aren't they too relaxed? There are many generals gathered at the hunting event this time around. Even the Grand Marshal is also present. It's not easy to kill two princes at once."
"No problem. Let the higher-ups think about that."
The rude people laughed. Viona, who accidentally overheard, gasped. The jolt was nothing more than a squirrel whose tail had been accidentally stepped on. But in the eyes of the tigers, such a small movement already alerted them. As a result, the group immediately stopped and looked around them carefully. It didn't take long for either of them to find Viona.
"There's a little mouse here." These people were wearing the same clothes worn by the guard line, but their appearance didn't reflect the same warrior impression at all. There were many wounds on their exposed faces and bodies. Their gazes were also very cruel, it was impossible to equate them with a group of bodyguards that Viona knew. One of them pulled Viona from the bushes and exposed her. They raised one of her hands high like a cat holding a mouse's tail, making her have to tiptoe to relieve the pain in her shoulder joint.
Viona's green eyes stared at him barking like a ferocious dog. Even though her position was the most disadvantaged in this condition, her attitude was the complete opposite of that. The soldier who caught her laughed and slapped her hard. Viona's face was slapped to the side filled with shock. Her cheeks were red like beets, and the corners of her torn lips were bleeding. Still lulled in shock, those people also kicked her until she fell on the grass. Holding her stomach in pain, almost crying.
Not far from where Viona was being tortured, there was a woman in a black robe who was quietly watching. A flintlock was played in her hand. The woman sighed tiredly, watching how people she knew were treated badly right before her eyes. It wasn't until Viona looked like she couldn't bear it anymore, then the mysterious woman made a move.
A round, pearl-sized lead ball is inserted into a flintlock muzzle covered with a cloth patch and poked in using a ramrod, an iron bar attached to the bottom of the flintlock muzzle. The hammer that held up the flint at the top of the gun was pulled back. The gunpowder in an oval ampoule is opened and poured over a pan that mediates between the hammer and the frizzen, a small iron bar that will collide with the flint and create a spark to ignite the gunpowder burning in the pan.
The woman took a deep breath, preparing herself for any eventuality. The muzzle of the gun is pointed forward, the trigger is pulled, and the flint rubs against the frizzen reflected by the hammer and creates a spark, igniting the gunpowder to arouse and explode, propelling the lead ball into a high-speed flight.
A strong explosion sound was heard. Due to the flintlock's low range, the bullet didn't kill anyone. On the contrary, it made everyone even warier.
The woman shouted, "Marshal! I am here!"