The carriage was far more comfortable than the one Alexius had sat in three months ago to see Lord Caymen, at least. However, on these rough and slipshod "roads", if they could even be called that, no matter how cushioned a carriage was, the journey was bound to be rough.
Shifting his legs, the unassuming looking young boy cursed. In English, of course. He didn't want for the carriage driver, who happened to be the personal servant assigned to him, to overhear anything weird.
"Why does this damn country have to be so large? It's almost 3 million square kilometres, larger than Algeria, the largest country in Africa!"
Thinking about how large the Marlonian Empire would have been at its height, he shuddered. At jaw-dropping 30 million square kilometres, it would've been nearly as large the British Empire at its height, which controlled over a quarter of the Earth's land!
Now travelling across that distance with carriages would have been a true nightmare. Just how powerful did the first Emperor have to be to unify such a large area? 'And i don't even want to get started on the other countries on the continent.' He thought.
To the east of the western Ophym continent lay a giant mountain range that would have blocked off nearly all contact with the central and eastern part of the continent, if not for the relatively low-lying badlands to the south.
The badlands had been ruled by the Uria Empire for millenia, which was almost as scary as the Marlowe Empire at its height. Their first king, also dubbed the "First Archmage", was originally from a Western nation. At that time, the human race was on the verge of extinction as halflings, who were extremely well-versed in magic, pushed the human armies back and back.
At the moment when everything seemed to be lost, a strapping young man rose up and led an army against the halflings, defeating them and securing humanity's borders.
He then founded a city and kingdom named after himself, known at that point as the Uria Kingdom, to hold the line against the halflings. He was the one who rallied the competing and disunified states in the west against the halflings, finally crushing the halfling threat.
For the next 400 years, the Uria Kingdom would utterly destroy and take over the lands once held by halflings, bloating to nearly 60 million square kilometres that was barely held together by the Mage-Emperors.
Due to how hard it was to administer, the Empire gave its most loyal administrators large chunks of land in the southern part of the continent to administer, where they developed into kingdoms loyal and reliant on the Uria Empire for their continued survival.
Today, the Uria Empire was still a continental superpower, controlling a huge chunk of the central Ophym continent, being only slightly smaller than the Marlowe Empire was at its peak.
For Alexius, just the thought of these behemoths could send a shiver down his spine. The empires were proof that in this world, strength was everything. For single individuals to be able to carve out their territories and cement their legacy in this massive and unforgiving world, what kinds of monsters were they?
Gazing around the carriage, he sighed. After three months, he was finally on his way to knight Rictor's mansion.
Knight Rictor was a loyal knight of the baron of Littlesberg, whom he had served for many years. As such, he had massive stores of wealth through making connections.
It was said that in the Barony of Littlesberg, the real ruler was Knight Rictor, who also led a massive loan shark operation, making hundreds of thousands of crowns each year.
Not even the Baron made that much from his salary! Therefore, Alexius being able to meet and network with such a powerful man certainly meant good tidings for him- or not, depending on the man.
That was the only silver lining, though. If it was possible, he sincerely wished to go back to Rowan's shabby estate in the small town, where he had many familiar servants and Rowan himself, carefully tending to him. Ah, that was the life!
However, if he did not wish to be trampled over, he would also have to consolidate his own power- the great men in Nessim's history showed that.
And what was the best way to get his own power? Why, become a noble, of course! Knights were one of the lowest rungs of the nobility, but hell, their lives were good!
Compared to the starving peasants, they were living in heaven- of course, their lifestyle was not as extravagant as the high-ranking nobles such as the dukes or the archon himself.
However, their lives were the best that the medieval world had to offer- as long as one didn't get his throat ripped out in war.
Or get infected with dysentery.
Or get operated on with rusty knives.
Or get assassinated.
Or get...
Well, Alexius' point still stood. Living as a nobleman was way better than living as a commoner, and it came with the nice benefit of having the privilege of ransom during wartime.
Let's say Alexius lost a battle and was captured. His enemy, unless they wanted to go against the whole noble order, would not execute him and instead put him up for ransom or just imprison him to get rid of the problem.
The reason for this was simple. Noblemen believed themselves to be of a higher bloodline than commoners, and killing those of "purer blood" was generally frowned upon.
Therefore, cases like Rowan and Lord Caymen, who didn't mind Alexius' common blood, were rare. Most who were like that were either self-made noblemen, or just... poor.
Althought it didn't seem like it, there were also the rich noblemen and the poor noblemen.
Rich noblemen could have a private estate as large as a town and hundreds of servants, while poor noblemen... well, just by looking at Lord Caymen's castle that was made of wood and looked sad could one tell that he wasn't rich.
But the hardships made him more tolerant to common men, which was a good thing for Alexius, so he didn't complain.
Just as he was getting lost in his own thoughts again, his servant's voice rang out from the front of the carriage. "Master, we're here! We're finally here!"
He could almost hear the joy in his voice. The servant, who was barely nineteen this year, had obviously never gone on long journeys before, let alone a seven-hour trip. Alexius sighed once more. 'This world's transportation methods are really too slow!'
'When I become a knight and finally get my own resources, I should really consider making things like spring suspension, the steam engine, or, hell, even a train! I'd like to see if even the archon would be jealous then.'
Stretching out, he pushed the curtains aside.
His mind froze when he set his eyes on the knight's manor.
What the hell... wasn't this more like a whole damn palace, not a mansion?
Was he in the wrong place? Did the driver turn at the wrong intersection and they ended up at the capital of the Archonate?
He dismissed that thought when he spotted the iconic blue and yellow flags of the Rictor family. Yup, he was definitely in the right place!
'So this is what a few hundred thousand can get you in this country... damn, I regret being born on Earth!' Then, he thought about the delectable, easily available food back home and compared it to the bland wheat bread seasoned with nothing but salt and a side of meat he was now having everyday.
'On second thought, maybe not. Hmm... I wonder whether I should open a restaurant or something. After all, I do know how to cook from my childhood days. Something like fried rice... yeah, I'll have to work on it as soon as I get some free time.'
As Alexius was off spacing out once more, the carriage stopped in front of the mansion's gates.
*Clank! Clank!*
A group of guards in chainmail and shiny half-plate armour walked up to the gate. The leader, a middle-aged man who looked somewhat like Rowan, spoke up.
"And who might this person be? Please, if you haven't received an invitation, return to where you came from. Our lord is attending a gala tonight; the last thing he needs is distraction."
Holding up the carriage's curtains, Alexius replied: "Alexius Dalitso, the adopted son of Knight Rowan Pelaggius. I haven't received an invitation-"
"Then get out. Our master does not want to meet with random commoner children who show up out of the blue."
Alexius frowned. These guards were probably also commoners, why were they so insufferable arrogant? 'Guh! If not for the fact that I haven't awakened my magic power yet, I would've pummeled them into the ground by now!'
Suppressing his instincts as a former military general which had remained sharp even after three years, he faked a smile and added: "You misunderstand me, respected guard. I have been sent here as a page-boy as part of your lord's Military Talent Program, which requested all his retainers send him some trainees."
The guard's expression changed. "Oh... so that's how it is! Please, sir, I'll contact the master of the estate and let you in as soon as he agrees!"
Alexius sneered. As soon as the guard learned that he was in-training and could eventually become a knight, his tone changed and he suddenly became respectful.
'Damn two-faced backstabbers... as soon as they see an opportunity for profit, they jump on it like greedy moneygrubbers! If you wanted to let me through from the start, you might as well just open the gates! So why are we still stuck here?'
Not being able to do anything, however, he sank back into the carriage's seat and awaited the notification.
Minutes passed, and those minutes gradually turned into hours. The sun started to set, but no trace of the guard that had spoken to him before was spotted.
Carriage after carriage carrying what Alexius assumed to be young noble dames here for the gala arrived, and the guards let them through with no problems.
'Bloody bastards! Have they really abandoned me out here?'
Unable to suppress his boiling rage, Alexius threw the door open, scaring his servant, who had fallen asleep, shitless. Seeing his ugly expression, the servant panicked. "Ah! Master! Please calm down, I'm sure the gates will be opened soon!"
It was amusing to see a grown man with fuzz on his chin cry out and beg an eight-year old boy, but Alexius was too angry to give a shit.
Just as he was about to go give those guards a good lesson in curse words, the sound of loud footsteps was heard echoing in the distance.
"The estate master! Salute!"
Suddenly, the rough voice which had spoken to Alexius earlier rang out across the silent air once more.
The guards quickly rushed to their posts, being interrupted in the middle of a game of cards, or lazing about, or something, but none dared to complain.
When the estate master, an old man with greying hair, strangely well-dressed in a colourful and stylish cloak walked over, the guards slammed their fists against their armoured chests, creating a great sound of clanking over the calm and quiet front yard that was only interrupted by occasional excited whoops and cheers coming from the manor itself.
"We greet the honourable estate master!"
Alexius immediately used his years of experience to scrutinize them.
'Hmm, they're certainly very disciplined indeed. This in contrast with Lord Caymen's troops, who only offer their lord some basic courtesies as respect. This just goes to show how well-trained these soldiers are, and, in turn, how rich Knight Rictor is.'
The estate master walked up to Alexius, who was standing out in the open now. Revealing a smile of crooked teeth, he elegantly gestured to the gates, which were now being opened.
"The young Alexius Dalitso... I hope that you've had a great journey and enjoyed our finest hospitality. Our troops are the most well-trained in this region, you know. What the enemy gives, they return tenfold."
Alexius was stunned. Why was there so much hostility hidden between the lines!? Looking at the guard he had spoken to earlier, he realised something.
'He must've complained to the estate master that I was being rude and disrespectful even though he was the one who was disrespectful to me- truly two faced indeed! However, that's not enough to be so unreasonable towards me.'
Looking at the still-smiling estate master, he thought: 'If that's how you see it to the point of making an eight-year-old suffer outside your gates, fine! Don't blame me for being unmerciful! Never fuck with an army general!'
Snorting, he faced the estate master, saying in a kiddish and innocent voice:
"I am very sure of that, sir. I can say that you have truly given me the best treatment your lord can afford to offer- and it is truly generous!"
Hearing this, the old man narrowed his eyes. Did a young boy truly just refute him and insult his master? It was like sparks were flying between the eight-year-old and the possibly sixty-year-old man.