NOVEL NEXT Chapter 90: Don’t be scared
At the top of the Angio Castle, there was a room built opulently out of clear, frosted, and stained glass. The ceiling was completely clear, showing rotating clouds crackling with lightning.
The Angio King stood at the clear glass windows, looking over his lands. There was the faint smell of ozone around him from the lightning that occasionally sparked across his skin.
There was a quiet knock at the door.
“Come in.”
King Augustus’s gold eyes turned to the side as a servant entered his room.
The servant knelt on one knee. “Your Royal Majesty, Marquis Terra has returned to his fief. Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood accompanied him. They have dealt with all the bandit raids.”
King Augustus’s eyes flashed coldly. “How?”
“It’s not clear,” the servant said. “They arrived early this morning. However, the Sedaverian flying carriages cannot go that fast.”
King Augustus’s lips pulled back into a sneer. Prince Rian must have secret carriages that could travel many times faster than what was publicly sold. “Keep an eye on them.”
“Yes, Your Royal Majesty.”
After the servant left, King Augustus called in some more people. These people entered with barely a sound. They knelt to receive their orders.
Ren Xiyang and Rian didn’t dally long in the Terra castle. After lunch, they flew back to Sedaveria and rejoined their entourage in the evening. They travelled less on the return trip, as the entourage had continued to the next resting point on the schedule.
The Royal Guards were relieved to see their Crown Prince return safe and sound. Prince Rian had expressly ordered Earl Rosewood not to levitate them along with Marquis Terra’s group, which meant they were left behind.
Count Aegean was getting better at ignoring Crown Prince Rian’s imprudent actions. If Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood encountered someone they couldn’t defeat, there would be much bigger problems at hand.
The rest of the trip through Sedaveria continued as planned. After six days, they arrived at the Cedar fief by the Sedavaria-Angio border.
The North-South mountain range provided a natural border between Angio and Sedaveria. The largest flat crossing was overseen by the Storm family, the strongest lightning-mage family in the kingdom. It was often a tense location.
In contrast, the Cedar fief’s mountain crossing was more difficult but much calmer. The populations on both sides frequently mixed and familial ties crossed borders.
Here, lush mountains capped with snow loomed over the towns and villages in the Cedar fief. Tall coniferous trees, including cedars, were a common feature in the landscape.
The largest town was at the border crossing, by the valley between the mountains. Over the years, trees had been cleared and peasants and earth mages had levelled the land further, producing a sufficiently mild incline that allowed laden caravans to pass over.
The convoy approached the border town, but rather than continuing, they turned slightly to the north towards the manor house of the resident noble, Baroness Cedar. (The remaining opportunistic travellers separated from them there.) They reached the manor in the afternoon.
Baroness Cedar awaited them at the front of the manor, along with the rest of her family and many of her servants.
The Royal Guards at the front parted, and the Imperial carriage came to a stop first in front of the manor house. The floating carriage descended halfway. A Royal Guard opened the carriage door.
Prince Rian emerged first, smiling at those waiting.
“We greet His Highness!”
“Thank you for your welcome,” Prince Rian said. He glanced back at the carriage.
Earl Rosewood came out. His red eyes were cold and his face was expressionless. He inclined his head. “Baroness Cedar.”
Baroness Cedar’s eyes widened slightly. “We greet Earl Rosewood,” she said, not at all fazed by Earl Rosewood’s face.
Unlike the blade-covered-in-silk smiling prince, Baroness Cedar was familiar with and preferred the direct Earl Rosewood. Earl Rosewood had visited the Cedar fief several times previously. The Rosewood fief sold food at the Cedar fief and bought various stone and wood building materials, and affiliated merchant caravans often passed through the main border town.
One by one, the remaining nobles alighted.
After the full round of greetings, Baroness Cedar said, “Please come in, we have prepared your suites and dinner will be served later in the main dining hall. If you have any requests, I’ll do my best to fulfil them.”
While most of the convoy headed inside, Earl Rosewood remained outside. Because of this, Lady Florence and Prince Rian lingered too.
Count Aegean had paused for a moment but ultimately headed inside. He already knew what they wanted and he wasn’t interested.
“How can I help you?” Baroness Cedar asked.
“When is the best time to check on your fields?” Earl Rosewood asked.
“Why not now, if you’re not tired?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll come too,” Lady Florence Sage said. “I heard that you planted some of Ayden’s new seeds?”
“As will I,” Prince Rian followed up.
“As long as you don’t mind a little walking, you’re all welcome,” Baroness Cedar said. “The experimental crop fields are that way.”
Over the last two years, Ren Xiyang had bred different varieties of staple crops, vegetables, and fruit. Naturally, some were suitable for the rainier climate of the Cedar fief, so he had taken those seeds with him on his second trip to the Cedar fief. He asked Baroness Cedar if she could plant them, and she agreed.
The experimental fields were divided into three major groups: winter wheat, spring wheat, and vegetable crops.
Winter wheat was planted in autumn. After the cold winter—which was important for triggering the flowering process—the wheat was now growing in earnest, producing fields of green.
Meanwhile, the spring wheat was in the process of being planted, with multiple farmers working to get the seeds into the ground as soon as possible.
The head farmer in charge of the experimental fields quickly came over to greet the group.
“We’re here to take a look,” Baroness Cedar said.
The head farmer bowed her head. “Please, allow me to be of help in any way.”
“How did the first round of seeds go?” Ren Xiyang asked.
“My Lord, the winter seed variety number 1 did well, but seed variety numbers 2 and 3 did not…” The head farmer went through all the different seed varieties in turn.
“The wheat harvested from last autumn is stored in the manor, if you’d like to see the final product,” Baroness Cedar added. “The bakers liked the first new winter wheat variety you sent, so that has been planted in the main fields already. As for the second round of seeds growing now…”
The head farmer immediately picked up the hint and introduced all the different seed versions that were being planted in the fields.
After obtaining permission, Florence cast some spells to analyse the soil. She had been doing so all along this trip and was drafting a larger report on the different soil and climate conditions across the kingdom.
Ren Xiyang also did his own tests. “The land here needs a bit more nitrogen,” he said. “Add some phosphate fertilisers near the top of the slope, as it has and will wash down with rain.”
The head farmer glanced at Baroness Cedar first, and then said, “Yes, my Lord.”
After Ren Xiyang and Florence were done examining the experimental fields, Baroness Cedar took them to the main fields to take a look at well.
The chatty Rian talked the least. But he didn’t mind: he learnt more about agriculture, and a serious Ren Xiyang at work was good-looking.
With the sun coming down, they headed back to the manor. Florence and Baroness Cedar made a plan to meet again tomorrow so that Florence could teach Baroness Cedar some useful plant-growing and soil-testing spells.
Three different Cedar manor servants were waiting for them to take them to their rooms. Florence’s room was in a different wing, so she separated from Ren Xiyang and Rian.
Baroness Cedar had placed Rian’s and Ren Xiyang’s suites next to each other. Before Ren Xiyang could enter though, Rian grabbed Ren Xiyang’s arm and pulled him into his own suite first, leaving behind bewildered Cedar manor servants. The not-surprised Royal Guards stayed outside and closed the door for them.
As a matter of habit, Rian cast a sound-blocking spell.
Two of Rian’s servants were waiting in the room, standing by the bathroom door.
“Your Highness, your bath has been prepared.”
“Do you want to stop me to watch you bathe?” Ren Xiyang asked drily. After a long day of travel and traipsing around the fields, both of them needed a wash and a change of clothes before they would be presentable for dinner.
“Why not? Don’t you want to take a closer look?” Rian smirked. “Look, I’m still taller than you.”
“How could I forget?”
“Try a little harder, Earl Rosewood.” Rian reached out to pat Ren Xiyang’s head. Unfortunately, his hand was grabbed and squeezed, hard.
“Now I don’t want to.”
Kudos to the two servants for remaining blank-faced as Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood talked. After over two years, they had grown used to the closeness between the two youths.
With an aching hand, Rian turned to his servants.
The older servant immediately straightened. “Your Highness, you have received two missives.”
Rian nodded. He strode over to the desk and sat down. The servants had unpacked some of his books. One of those books was the collected notes from his and Ren Xiyang’s magical research.
The notes had a magical lock keyed to Rian’s magic.
It also had a magical mechanism that allowed certain servants to send secret missives inside, and another magical mechanism that meant only Rian could retrieve those missives.
Rian retrieved the two latest missives and handed one to Ren Xiyang to read.
Ren Xiyang accepted it, taking a seat on the chair next to the desk. After they each read one missive, Rian swapped.
Each missive came from a different agent.
One detailed the latest conflicts, dated back half a week, between the Angio king and his court.
The other outlined some of the Angio king’s recent expenditures.
“It appears that King Augustus is looking forward to our arrival,” Rian said lightly.
Over the last two years, Sedaverian agents had entered the Angio Kingdom. Some were his parents’ agents, but some were Rian’s own agents. He understood the current political factions in Angio, and he knew that there was increasing tension as most of the Angio kingdom had suffered through famine. He expected that the Angio people would not be happy about the costs of hosting a Sedaverian entourage.
Ren Xiyang folded the missive in his hand and gave it back. “Go and bathe, I want to wash up too,” he said, standing up.
“Yes, and don’t forget the outfit I chose for you—”
“Yes, yes.” Ren Xiyang walked out the door.
As he had outgrown his previous clothing, Rian had replaced everything for him and dictated his clothing arrangements whenever the two would appear in public together. There wasn’t any need—everyone knew that Earl Rosewood was part of Prince Rian’s faction, and Ren Xiyang had no intention of leaving.
Well, even a prince had to have his idiosyncrasies, and who was Ren Xiyang to turn down free clothes that he didn’t mind wearing?
The contingent stayed at the Cedar manor for two days.
Rian and Prime Minister Duke Mauveine met formally with Baroness Cedar, talking about court issues.
Rian and the healers met with Baroness Cedar to discuss the logistics of expanding the Royal Healers’ Service to the Cedar fief.
Rian, Ren Xiyang and their staff (including Kel) met with Baroness Cedar to talk about trade.
Florence met with Baroness Cedar to teach plant-growing spells.
And because this was the last point before heading into Angio territory, many of the accompanying servants and staff headed into the border town to acquire last-minute items.
On the day of departure, Baroness Cedar accompanied them to the border walls, beyond which was the mountain crossing.
No other merchants were allowed to take the crossing today. Aside from privilege and safety reasons, logistically, the Sedaverian convoy was so large that no one would be able to go past them on the road anyway.
The border guards opened the gates and the convoy passed through. After the last Royal Guard guard exited, they closed the gates again.
The floating carriages navigated easily over the hilly mountain road. The carts and other carriages had lightening spells cast on them to relieve the difficulty on the horses.
They rested at a clearing halfway through the crossing for lunch.
There was a small cluster of shops there, catering to travellers. However, aside from a few curious/bored Royal Guards who took a look, the convoy was self-sufficient. Servants took tables and chairs for the nobles and healers to sit, and other servants prepared lunch using the pots, pans, and ingredients they carried.
After lunch, Rian dragged Ren Xiyang up and made him go for a walk around the forest. The Royal Guards protested and tried to follow, but Rian was too quick.
The two entered the shady forest.
After walking a short distance, Ren Xiyang produced some soft floating balls of light. As he spread his awareness out, he could sense numerous small heat sources—the mountain’s small animals—scurrying about. There were also large heat sources coming from the people from their contingent and sparse residents of the mountains. There were also people attempting to follow them, poor Royal Guards.
“This is a rare opportunity to visit the top of the mountain, isn’t it?” Rian asked.
“Hm.”
The two flew out of the forest and up. After a mini race, they reached the nearest cold, snow-covered peak. Rian unabashedly moved closer to Ren Xiyang into Ren Xiyang’s warm temperature-controlled sphere. Rian did his part by pulling in fresh air from below.
The peak at the top was flat. On one side was Sedaveria, and on the other side with the kingdom of Angio, and between them was the North-South mountain range.
After taking in the sight of Sedaveria, Rian gazed across at Angio. The Angio side was less green and not as lush as the Sedaverian side. “Soon, we’ll be officially arriving at the Angio Kingdom,” he said. “Are you ready?”
“Don’t be so dramatic, you were in Angio a week ago,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian rolled his eyes. “Can’t you play along? We didn’t visit the Angio kingdom in the middle of the night to help Marquis Terra with a bandit problem. Marquis Terra left abruptly, while we continued on our planned route. Today will be the first time I’m stepped down on Angio land. It would be the first time I visit any foreign country.”
“Oh. In that case, don’t be scared, I’ll protect you,” Ren Xiyang deadpanned.
Rian: “…”
_(:3」∠)_
I need more sleep, I should have learnt from Wen Zhihao in Salted Fish…