Clop, clop, clop." A group of carriages moved neatly on the main road.
"Monki Manor? Where is it? " Locke was holding a one-metre-wide map in the carriage. He flipped through it for a long time, but couldn't find it.
"It should be in a province called Lipps in the northwest," said Angelina after thinking for a while.
He then searched for the province of Lipps on the map and finally found a province that was about the size of his thumb in the northwestern region of the Aomar Empire.
"What about Monki Manor?" Locke widened his eyes. He couldn't find any information about Monki Manor in Lipps.
"This is a national map of the empire. It's good enough that we can find the big cities in the province. We'll have to buy a local map when we get to Lipps." Angelina didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She didn't expect him to ask such a stupid question.
It had been three days since they left Princeton. They were here to complete the academy's trial mission.
The carriages were provided by a low-rank Knecht in the team. The horses probably had some kind of rare bloodline. Not only were they fast, but they were also stable. There were very few bumps along the way.
Since it was a trial mission, the students were not allowed to use external forces from their families. Only a carriage like this could be considered as an exception.
They were only here to deal with one or two low-rank Lehrlings, so under Angelina's repeated orders, the shadow guards and capital guards didn't follow them. Instead, they stayed in Princeton to look after the house.
It wasn't just Angelina, but the other members of the team as well. Every one of them was the apple of their eye.
The academy would send people to inspect the selected trial sites from time to time. On one hand, it was to protect the students and avoid unnecessary casualties. On the other hand, it was to monitor whether they were using their families' power.
If they were discovered, they would definitely be expelled from the academy. Even if the margrave's son and daughter were discovered, the same would happen.
The power of the Imperial Royal Academy was unimaginable.
It was July, the hottest period in Aomar. The towns they passed by along the way not only shocked Locke, but also gave him a place to hide from the heat.
The Aomar Empire was vast, and it took them more than half a month to reach the Lipps Province from Princeton.
And this was under the condition that they were traveling at full speed without any supplies.
There were a total of eleven provinces along the way. He was already considering whether he should bring some local specialties for his women on the way back.
"Hey, Bob, can you give me one of your horses when we get back?" Locke put his arm around the shoulders of a brown-skinned young man as he got off the carriage.
His full name was Bob Charles. He was one of the two remaining knights in the squad and was a low-rank Knecht.
"Alright! No problem, I'll send someone to send two to you later. " As expected of the baron's son, Bob was indeed generous. As far as Locke knew, although Bob's father didn't have a high rank, he was an officer in Princeton's city defense army who had a lot of money to spend.
Two rare horses were nothing to Bob.
Locke didn't judge a horse by its appearance. It was a cross between an Aomarian purebred horse and a northern icelandic horse. It wasn't as handsome as an Aomarian purebred horse, but it wasn't as pretty as an icelandic horse. It was in a strange state and looked a little strange.
Very few people were willing to ride them, and most of them were bought to pull carriages.
Locke, on the other hand, was interested in their speed and endurance. He wanted two of them to train his horsemanship.
Monki Manor was located in the southeast of Lipps Province. When their convoy approached, the soldiers from Kanter City in Lipps Province were already waiting there.
"Dear Miss, Viscount Meron has invited everyone from the Imperial Academy to take a break in Kanter City," a knight who claimed to be the captain of the city guards said to Joaquin, who was in the carriages.
"Viscount Meron?" She pondered for a moment before she replied, "I happen to have some free time. Sorry for the trouble."
The convoy headed towards Kanter, which wasn't far from Monki Manor, under the protection of an entire team of city guards.
"What does Viscount Meron want to do?" asked Locke.
"He probably wants to curry favor with them." Angelina had seen enough of these things. Students from the imperial academy held a lot of weight. Locke might not be aware of it, but she knew that these nobles were trying their best to curry favor with them.
Whether it was the future achievements of these knights and casters, or the families and elders behind them, they were all potential investments in the eyes of the shrewd nobles.
Princeton Academy had given them two months to complete the mission. Taking into account half of the time spent on the journey, they only had less than a month to deal with the spirits in Monki Manor.
When they accepted the mission, Joaquin's uncle had made it clear that there would only be two spirits at most. If they were lucky, they could deal with them in a day.
There were two reasons why spirits were more difficult to deal with than other creatures. Firstly, they were difficult to capture due to their ethereal nature, and secondly, they were immune to physical damage.
However, these two points were not worth mentioning in front of a lineup of five casters and three knights.
Locke had already experienced a lot of Aomar's local culture along the way, but he was still shocked by the uniqueness of Kanter.
It turned out to be a city made entirely of grey stone. The city walls, the roads, and the residences were all made of it.
No matter how shallow Locke's knowledge was, he knew that due to its high density, it wasn't easy to transport. Under normal circumstances, only castles or fortresses would use this kind of ore.
Apart from that, he couldn't imagine how these commoners could afford the price of raw gray stone.
Perhaps sensing Locke's surprise, the captain of the city guards explained, "Because Kanter is adjacent to Jungar Gobi, the grey stone that seems expensive to outsiders is not as valuable as wood to the locals."
Locke's mouth twitched slightly.
After escorting everyone in the convoy to the castellan's mansion, the captain led the soldiers away.
"Hahaha, welcome, welcome to Kanter City, everyone from the Imperial Academy!" A burst of laughter came from the castellan's mansion, and a fat man walked out with the help of a maid.
Dinner was settled at a banquet hosted by Viscount Meron. The viscount had invited all the nobles in the city, including lords and barons. There were more than ten of them, and the banquet was very lively.
"I heard that you're here for the spirit of Monki Manor?" Meron raised his glass of red wine and smiled at Joaquin and the rest.
"I can provide you with some help, some 'insignificant' help," said Meron with a smile. Meron said with a smile. From his words, it could be seen that this help was within the scope of the Imperial Academy's permission.
"Is that so? Thank you very much, Viscount Meron." Joaquin raised an eyebrow and raised her glass to toast Meron.
"Well said, well said." Meron chuckled.
He had indeed sent someone to intercept the students from the academy on their way here to please them.
Kanter was poor. It didn't produce any ores, nor was it suitable for farming or grazing. There were no other resources either. The only thing they could offer was the grey stone that was common in Lipps province.
This kind of ore wasn't only produced in their city, but also in other cities. It was impossible for Kanter to export it. Meron's action was to see if he could open up a channel for foreign trade.
Although he was fat, all the lesser nobles in Kanter, including him, who were viscounts, lords and knights, were doing very poorly.
Joaquin seemed to have discovered Meron's intentions, but she didn't point it out. After finishing the glass of red wine, she declined the other nobles' requests to toast her and returned to the room in the castellan's mansion that Meron had arranged for them to rest.