Emerging from the hatch, I asked the coachman why he had stopped.
"The army is blocking the road. They're checking all the carriages ahead of us."
Looking ahead I notice the large roadblock ahead. The road was blocked by makeshift barriers made of logs, behind which stood a procession of iron-clad soldiers.
Off to the sides of the road were more soldiers, checking carriages and conversing with their occupants.
Directly in front of us were two soldiers, flagging us down and yelling to pull aside.
"That's not the Army," I say, "That's the Imperial Guard,"
"How can you tell?" the coachman asks.
"Their armour. See the red streaks around their breastplates and pauldrons?" I say while pointing at the approaching soldier.
The coachman mutters an "I see" and scratches his head in response.
Just before he arrives though, I hear Cephi's voice in my head.
'Don't bother hiding your identity, they're there for you, go with them.'
'Are you okay?' I asked, as their voice sounded more cluttered than usual.
'Just a bit excited' they reply.
Is that so, what a weird guy.
I don't bother to ask if they're sure or not, they would have told me if they weren't.
"Stay here, I'll be back shortly," I say to the coachman, before hopping off the carriage and walking towards the Soldier.
The soldier, seeing me walk towards him, stopped, and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Stop there! Get back in the carriage, I'll be with you shortly," he yelled.
Yikes, looks like these guys are on edge, well, they're rarely mobilised after all. They spend most of their time training, they must be excited to be in the field for once.
Of course, there was a simple solution to this.
I remove my hood and mask, revealing my identity to the soldier.
It was pretty funny to watch his eyes triple in size as he realised who I was. After all, in the entire empire, there was only one person with red hair and a pair of mismatched eyes.
I assume.
I'm the vicinity of the capital at least.
As the soldier bent his knee to salute, I waved to stop him.
"Ah, we can skip that, take me to your commander."
The soldier, with a newfound glint in his eyes, bowed slightly and began walking towards the blockade, beckoning me to follow him.
I spared a glance at the coachman before following the soldier, though, he seemed a bit shaken.
Well, it makes sense, he was just unknowingly harbouring the prince of an empire after all.
Soon enough, I was in front of a makeshift tent with two guardsmen standing at the entrance, they immediately recognised my identity and tried to salute me, but I waved them off, I was still not used to people doing that.
The guardsman that led me there did not follow as I entered the tent.
Entering, I quickly spare a glance at the interior of the tent.
It was a relatively large mostly empty space.
The walls were the same colour as the tent, a crimson red, go figure.
There was a large, simplistic-looking, rectangular, wooden table in the centre of the space, surrounded by equally as simplistic chairs, though they were at least adorned with cushions, of high quality it seemed.
There was also a space behind the table lined with smaller tables, with various items laid out on them, such as books, various scrolls, and a tea set.
Near the chair at the head of the table stood a familiar figure.
I was surprised as Silvia greeted me with a wave.
"Silvia? What are you doing here?" I ask in a tone that didn't seem to carry much surprise.
"I'm here to pick you up of course, surprised?"
I nod, "I'm sure I told the guardsman to carry me to his commander though? I'm not sure one of my maids counts."
She smiles and gestures to herself.
"Remember earlier when I said that every servant of the palace was a capable mage or knight? We also each hold an honorary military rank that corresponds to our position within the palace", she said, before pointing to herself, "As the Head Maid and Her Imperial Highness' lady-in-waiting, my rank is rather high."
I simply nod, even maids could be soldiers under the God of War's banner.
But anyway, I should figure out what's happening first and foremost.
"Can I assume that this means that my mission is cancelled?"
Silvia nods and gestures to the seat at the head of the table with her hand in a bow.
"Yes, it was never our intention to allow you to travel to the Eastern Territory without a proper entourage in the first place."
As I take a seat, Silvia adeptly brings forth the tea set and pours me a cup.
As I take a sip, the strong, well-drawn taste of tea is almost completely drowned out by the sugar.
Now this, was tea.
I had never drank tea in my past life, I'd always drink coffee or some other caffeine derivative, so when I got here and found no coffee of any type, I was dumbfounded.
Luckily there was tea. Though, originally, it was initially served to me with very little, if no sugar at all, leaving me with warm bitter leaf juice.
But over the years I have made sure to make my insistence on having, admittedly ludicrous, amounts of sugar added.
As I lost myself in my thoughts, Silvia continued.
"The entire mission was created as a means to root out a few unsavoury characters who had taken up residence in the Central Territory. So far, it's been very successful."
Looking up from my tea and at her, I let the silence hang for a bit.
I mean, didn't you just admit to using me as bait?
No, worse than that, I'm a prince you know? And not just your run-of-the-mill prince either, but one of an Empire.
During my education, the difference between an Empire and a Kingdom was always reiterated heavily.
A kingdom had a number of restrictions placed on them by the Gods, so-called 'Heavenly Diminuations', and these restrictions are waived entirely on becoming an Empire.
With this, the status of the rulers of an Empire was always raised to an almost god-like level.
Well, maybe not exactly god-like. But they were universally exalted and revered.
Not only that, but I was the sole heir you know?
Not many people know about my immortality either, only two people besides myself do.
Though I'm not certain that Cephi counts as one entity alone...
Anyway, my point is that should I fall into harm's way, that would be problematic, to say the least.
I frowned slightly as I lost myself in thought.
Silvia continued standing as I continued to complain in my mind.
As the minutes passed by, her smile grew a bit strained, and she began fidgeting.
It must have been five minutes before her voice pulled me away from my thoughts.
"Your Highness?"
Ah right, focus, we were in the middle of a conservation.
"So, what happens now?"