Young Sablethorn made the difficult decision and decided to follow Chaucer's advice. He was naive but lately he could tell the merchant had been scheming behind the scene ever since they failed to capture the village.
" My men! We are going back!" He shouted loudly taking few of his trusted subordinate saying them to get ready to make their way back.
They were concerned leaving the base of the mountain but Commander only needed ten of them rest of them had to stay here and made sure anyone that dare come down the mountain would be detained without question.
There were also few that questioned travelling in the middle of the night but after Sablethorn reprimanded them, they followed suit. Being from the elite knight division they could never defy their commander's orders.
Chaucer also took two of his subordinate to accompany the commander. Without his help there was little chance of them finding the Silver Star's hideout. They hurriedly made their way back to the city. By the time they arrived the sun was already peeking on the horizon.
Everyone was tired riding the horse, galloping all the way back to the city but Sablethorn ordered them to keep moving. They didn't have any time to waste. Chaucer didn't complain even when he was the most affected because of his injured arm wasn't enough to maintain proper balance on the horse.
Thankfully his subordinate were skillful enough to lead the horse, they were slow but by conserving their energy they soon caught up to the Sablethorn's party. He started leading them inland but instead of going inside the city, he steered them toward the outskirt slum outside the wall.
Redwater city was the capital of the area that Sablethorn family controlled. The name was given due to a peculiar phenomenon that happened when it was first established.
The whole area was marshy with a lot of still water surrounding it. Due to it's relatively close proximity to the sea, it tended to get more salty in the summer heat. With not enough freshwater through rain, one summer the water started turning red.
Because there was no such thing as Science people attributed it to superstition and refused to settle here. Only after the king commanded ancestor of Sablethorn giving him this remote land due their accomplishment, they were set to cultivate it. After people settled in the barren land as well as changing climate over the years, the phenomena began a myth but the name remained.
" Sir? Are you sure? we will garner unwanted attention." One of Sablethorn subordinate urged him to consider going in.
" We will go. Anyone that dare to stop our way, just teach them a lesson!" Young Sablethorn was adamant. What lord would he be if he dare not to visit his own family's land?
But on the inside he too was worried seeing the crowded slums. Few months ago before the Seracins invaded, it was small only housing those that wanted to squat and do nothing. Gamblers, convicts, deserters, these type of people used the slums to hide themselves.
Before the war their numbers were barely in the hundreds and people would generally accept them as dirty part of the society. It's not like his father didn't try to rectify the situation in the past but the slums was like a cancer, even if they wipe it out others would take it's place.
But now, it was filled with refugees from East as well as West where the flames of war first started. They kept moving North finally settling down outside the Redwater city waiting the war to die down. Within few months it became a separate city operating under the thumb of criminal organization where even Knights feared to tread.
They could burn it all down but most of these people were innocent, the lord doesn't want blood of innocent on his hand. Beside to clean everything up, they would need upward of a thousand knights. It was something his father can't afford right now because there was always a threat of war reaching their place. It wasn't surprising to find out Silver Star took refuse inside, it was simply heaven for those pesky thieves!
" This way lord." Chaucer was completely unaffected seeing people glare at them. For some reason with his presence even those strong looking ones made way for them.
Sablethorn could see the hatred in their eyes, there were a lot of women and children most of them looked dead inside. Their eyes looked lifeless as they moved in snail's pace going about their way. There were also quite a lot of beggars littering the streets with small cups in their hand.
The situation looked bleak, he could even hear knights commented about the severity of the slums. Sablethorn decided to talk to his father to do something about it after conquering the village.
" Hold! Who dare to bring Knights in master's territory!?" Suddenly they were surrounded the a group of petty thieves. They menacingly looked at shining equipments with greed in their eyes.
Sablethorn held his sword waiting for them to attack when Chaucer came forward pronouncing his presence. When he told that they were here to see Silver, their master they were confused at first but soon someone came from inside and whispered something in ear of what appeared to be leader of the gang.
Just like that, they were able to walk inside without anyone stopping them. Chaucer looked specially smug even berating them on the pretence of them stopping young lord's way. But young Sablethorn knew it was more deeper than that.
They were ready to pounce but only after seeing Chaucer did they gave way. It was clear that it wasn't his first time in this part of town.