Locke, who had just realised what level he was at, wasn't discouraged. Compared to the ordinary farmers in Faustian, he was much luckier.
As an insignificant person at the bottom, all he could do was try his best to climb up, climb up, climb up.
Locke had never been very ambitious. He always felt that it didn't matter to him how far he could go in the end as long as he worked hard.
Now that he knew that Garon was a Ritter, Locke started to get closer to him. He didn't expect a Ritter to give him pointers or accept him as a disciple. He just wanted to see how different a Ritter was from a commoner like him.
After observing for nearly a week, Locke came up with a strange answer. "He eats less than the average person?" Locke was speechless as he looked at the words that he had scribbled down.
Knight Garen didn't eat with the ordinary soldiers. Aomar's cavalry guards didn't invite Knight Garen to have dinner with them either. Every time it was mealtime, the Ritter would sit cross-legged and practice by himself.
Locke noticed that every time he ate alone, he would eat a piece of blue meat that he brought with him.
Locke guessed that it should be the flesh of some kind of major monster. Only the flesh of a major monster that was rich in energy could support a Ritter's daily needs.
For example, ever since he started cultivating his Dou Qi, his appetite had more than doubled compared to before.
Princeton City was getting closer and closer as they traveled day by day.
In the December of the new year, Locke spent his twentieth new year in a small town called Lorenza in Aomar. In the blink of an eye, he was already twenty years old.
The new year in a foreign country didn't give him any special feelings. Wasn't it the same when he was fighting in Shalor? The only thing he felt was that this new year was warmer than before.
Whether it was Lia, Angelina, or Glace, they all made sure that he didn't have any regrets during the New Year.
On New Year's Day, Aomar welcomed its first snow of the year. Because of the heavy snow, the delegation stayed in Lorenza for about two days before setting off again.
In mid-January, after three and a half months of travelling across five countries, the delegation finally arrived at their destination, Princeton, the capital of the Aomar Empire.
Princeton was like a giant steel beast lying in the center of the southern part of the Aomar Empire. It was a hundred-meter-tall city whose walls were made of obsidian and steel. It was said that it hadn't been breached for 1,800 years, and it was the capital of the Aomar Empire that had lasted for 3,000 years.
The closer they got to the city, the more they could feel the majesty and grandeur contained within.
Following behind the guards led by Knight Garen, the group of envoys slowly entered Princeton. From the top of the capital, it looked like a small group of ants entering a complicated nest.
Princeton claimed to be able to accommodate a population of four million. The total number of urban residents was already twice the number of Faustians.
A city was a country. This was Princeton.
But when he entered the city, he didn't feel crowded at all. On the contrary, Princeton gave him the impression that it was spacious. Whether it was the asphalt roads that were thirty metres wide or the buildings that were ten metres tall, they gave him the illusion that he was in a country of giants.
"What a behemoth city," Locke exclaimed. Locke sighed. Standing beside him was Angelina. Even the knowledgeable Angelina was in shock for a long time at this moment.
After sending the delegation to the diplomatic office of the Aomar Empire, Knight Garen left with his troops without saying goodbye.
It was already afternoon when the visas for all the members of the delegation were processed in the diplomatic office that was as luxurious as the Faustian palace.
The difference between the Aomar Empire and Faustian was that the commoners here weren't called commoners, but citizens.
The citizens of the empire were divided into three classes. First-class citizens were the noblest, and most merchant families were of this status. Second-class citizens were second, and most of them were handicraft manufacturers. Third-class citizens were the poorest, and they represented the vast peasant class.
The slums were specially built for them. There were very few poor people in Faustian, and as long as they were honest people, they would never starve to death. However, this wasn't the case in the Aomar Empire. It was difficult for the poor to make a comeback in their lifetime. Most of them were captives of defeated countries or slaves who had escaped from the exchange.
The existence of the poor made Locke realise that the Aomar Empire might not be as good as he thought it was.
Although Knight Garen's departure had removed a layer of shackles from the group of envoys, an even heavier shackle would soon follow.
All the soldiers' weapons were backed up and recorded. After the registration, everyone was given a certificate that represented their identity.
The nobles were still nobles, and Angelina was given a countship, which wasn't a low title. In Aomar, a Ritter could only have this title at most.
The other nobles were demoted one level from their original ranks. Viscount Cage was only given the title of a lord, and Locke's knighthood was only given to the son of a noble in the Aomar Empire, which was lower than a knight, but slightly higher than a first-class citizen.
Those who didn't have a title weren't so lucky. Most of them only got the status of a first-class citizen.
How could these spoiled nobles, who had been nobles for decades, agree to it? Before they could cause a scene in the office, the spears and swords from the Aomar Empire had already calmed them down.
It was the same feeling that Garcia and Romm gave him back then. Locke didn't expect that there would be an Ersatz in a small place like the diplomatic office, and it seemed that there was more than one of them.
The status of Glace, Lia, and the other maids was a problem. Locke finally asked Angelina to intercede on their behalf, and they were given first-class citizen status.
Shalor had long perished, so Countess Glace's status was obviously useless. They could only be regarded as foreigners now, and it wouldn't be a problem even if they were caught and sold as slaves by the Aomar Empire.
Fortunately, Angelina was a magnanimous person and didn't embarrass him just because she was jealous.
After exchanging most of the envoys' thalers for mors, a few hundred of them walked out of the office.
"Let's find a place to stay first." Viscount Cage was the first to realize that they were no longer in Faustian, and since they were here, they had to do as the Romans do.
Under the guidance of the Aomar official, the envoys rented a property on Sancheir Street.
The area was comparable to the margrave's mansion, and it was more than enough to accommodate less than three hundred people. In fact, there were only about two hundred people living here, and most of them were imperial guards and shadow guards. They would be responsible for guarding the house.
Angelina wasn't interested in taking care of the nobles and their servants. These Faustian nobles who were also studying here would find their own place to stay.
On the second day after settling in, Angelina entered Princeton Palace on behalf of the Faustian royal family to meet the Aomar Emperor, Alexander XLVI.
The meeting was very short, less than five minutes, but the group of envoys had waited in the palace for an entire day.
On the third day, Angelina followed the address given to her by Garcia and found Garcia's residence in the imperial capital. It was larger than the place they rented, and it seemed like Garcia had a lot of assets.
Because Garcia wasn't in the residence for the time being, Angelina handed the scorpiondrake scales to a butler in the residence. The combined weight of two hundred scorpiondrake scales was close to that of two sets of heavy iron armour, but the old butler carried them casually without batting an eyelid, which shocked Locke.
Locke grinned. You really can't judge a book by its cover.
After that, there was nothing else for them to do. After walking around Princeton for more than ten days, they didn't even cover a tenth of the city. Then, they entered the academy, which was only three streets away from their residential area, Sancheir Street.
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