The walls of Magnolia City appeared on the horizon.
The walls were tall. At least as tall as a city's walls ought to be. As the caravan advanced, they stretched endlessly to the right and left, their endpoints vanishing from sight. At least for ordinary people. Unlike them, Evra could see the boundary of the walls curving further inward.
The stonework was different from that of the Yellow City—it was older but looked heavier. Yet, this was an illusion. He had heard this from some researchers along the way. The walls of Magnolia City weren't as strong as they appeared. Each block rested upon another as if precisely calculated. An ancient method had been used for construction. Watchtowers rose at regular intervals, flags atop them fluttering open and closed in the wind.
The city was larger than the Yellow City. Nor was it the first city larger than the Yellow City that Evra had encountered.
Magnolia City was the kingdom's western border, but it didn't possess a long wall line. The Chimera River flowed a short distance away—a marshy stretch, but not the kind to sustain a powerful army. There was no living space in the immediate vicinity capable of harboring an army. For those coming from the west, this city was the only option to advance. It could not be passed without being taken. Therefore, instead of drawing a wall directly along the border that would be difficult to build, reinforcing the city directly had always made more sense.
Evra inspected the walls. He looked for a long time.
Then he looked beside him.
Denis was also watching the walls. In a pensive silence, he had a small bag beside him, his hands empty. Whatever he was thinking couldn't be read from his face, but his gaze was not vacant—he flourished in his own reflections.
A bit further away, Milena was looking at a place separate from the two of them.
In front of the walls, on both sides of the road approaching the city, fields stretched out. Magnolia fields. Not all of them had bloomed in this season, but there were those that had—pale purple, turning to white in places. Milena had looked in that direction and was still looking. The caravan was advancing, there was noise around, horse hooves were striking the earth. It was as if she heard none of this.
Evra saw her look. His eyes lingered there for a while.
Denis turned his head. He looked at Evra. He had noticed that the thing in Evra's eyes as he looked at Milena was the same as the look of Milena watching the magnolias.
Did he laugh? No.
Did he say anything? No.
He looked ahead. He knew nothing about the two of them, but he knew that what he imagined was a fire that burned people. Not realizing you were burning for a little longer wouldn't kill someone.
No, in this case, it would prolong their life.
After a while, Milena pulled her head away. Her eyes left the field, moving elsewhere.
Evra also quickly took his eyes off her. He swiftly observed his surroundings to see if anyone had noticed him. With his ability, he must have noticed Denis looking at him, but when Denis looked at him, it was momentary. Like the momentary glances of other people. Therefore, Evra did not suspect anything. He turned to Denis.
"Knowing someone here makes things easier," he said. "It's good that you came."
Denis laughed faintly. His laugh wasn't actually that relaxed.
"We'll see."
"Whatever your purpose may be, trying was the right decision."
Denis didn't answer for a while. He watched the walls. The caravan was approaching the gate, shouting had started at the front—identity checks, permit documents, routine noise.
"I don't know if I made a mistake," his voice was low, as if speaking to himself. "I'm not sure."
Evra didn't say anything.
"But there was no other first step anyway." Denis placed his hands on his knees. "I just... want to follow her. Wherever she has been taken, I will find her. I know she loves me too. I—"
He stopped for a moment. He realized he had spoken too much. He fell silent.
The caravan didn't slow down. It continued to advance toward the gate. But they had come quite close.
"Do you know about the Western Border Army?" Denis asked.
"Not much."
"It includes more than just the armies of Magnolia City. The border army of the Forgotten Kingdom. Although there is a border command in the Outer State as well, the royal family doesn't like to squeeze that place too tightly. Therefore, their main focus on the western border is Magnolia City. More precisely, the State... Lord's." He let out a deep sigh. "The Commander-in-Chief is City Lord Inuaki." Denis said without lowering his voice; the wind and wheel noise covered the conversation anyway. "He is said to be in the late stages of the Sage Realm. Under him, there are four Western Border Commanders—each in the Sage Realm, each at the head of armies of thousands of people."
"How many people in total?"
"Each commander has ten Majors. Each Major manages a thousand people."
Evra calculated. "An army of forty thousand people?"
"That's what's written."
Evra looked at the length of the walls again. In the Yellow City, there weren't even twenty thousand. He knew there was a difference between cities as well, but Evra found an army of this level in a border city... inadequate.
"Border city," said Denis. "The majority of the normal population is already soldiers or hunters. That's the kind of people who live here—those who couldn't hold on elsewhere or didn't want to stay somewhere else. A lot of lonely men. If everyone enlisted in the army, this number could easily double."
Evra didn't say anything. He digested this.
As the walls approached, their height was better understood—the stones were large, the joints between them neat. Soldiers could be seen on the battlements above, many Beginning Realm experts and Foundation Establishment Realm experts as well. Seeing them made Denis feel even more inferior.
They arrived at the gate. Officials stood at the front—two soldiers, one with a ledger in hand. The caravan leader didn't dismount; he leaned down.
"We come from Faye Town. Trade and passengers."
The soldier looked at the list. "How many passengers?"
"15."
The other soldier walked along the side of the wagons. He moved slowly, there was no rush. He looked at the goods, looked at the faces. He stopped at Evra—for a second, maybe less. He passed. He came to Milena. The blonde woman looked at him, the man averted his eyes and continued.
He returned to the front. He said something to the lead soldier in a low voice.
"Weapons?" asked the lead soldier.
The caravan leader bowed his head. "Registered."
The soldier gave the document back. He turned around. It didn't seem as if there was anything interesting here.
The gate opened. With the massive gate opening with a heavy sound, the two horse carriages entered.
Shortly after entering the city, they decided to part ways. Denis already had a record within the army and needed to go see his former superior. At the same time, he wanted to find out exactly where his lover had been taken. For this, the first step was to gather information from his surroundings.
Milena, meanwhile, did not get up from where she sat for a while, a bottle of alcohol in her hand. Evra furrowed his brows as he looked at the bottle. The Drunken Sage Wuma. He knew Milena was his daughter, but seeing the same habits in her hands didn't feel good at all. Evra felt quite reluctant when asking her if she wanted to go together.
Milena, perhaps, had felt this reluctance. Or perhaps not. "I have something else to do," she said, and Evra didn't pursue her. They parted ways there.
Evra asked the people around for the registration hall, and after getting directions, he set off.
The registration hall was a large building. Its door was double-winged and stood open—coarse voices from inside could easily be heard, Evra took a deep breath as he walked in.
Despite trusting his ability, he was still a greenhorn who would join the army for the first time.
There were many elements indicating that war was approaching. One of them was the raise in the army soldiers' salary. This raise caused many people to decide to join the military. The crowd in the hall was one of the waves that this raise called to enlist.
While the strength level was being tested on one side of the hall, paperwork registration was being done on the other side.
In the strength test, an officer applied pressure to the person in front of him, and based on this, they measured the cultivation corresponding to their physical strength. The vast majority of those in line had no cultivation. However, the physical strength of people who did physical training could be accepted as the Beginning Realm. A few had real cultivation, the Beginning Realm. Occasionally, someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm would come up, and the officer would act a bit more careful and polite then.
Two people managed the registration desk. Both were broad-shouldered, standing tall—they were in the Foundation Establishment Realm. They were sitting, but there was a military order in their posture, and their difference from other people was immediately apparent. They processed the pile of papers in front of them with mechanical speed.
Evra got in line. It didn't take long for his turn to come.
A burly man was behind Evra, but seeing how slender Evra was, he tried to cut ahead of him. He didn't even care about Evra.
Evra took a step forward.
"Ha, you must have a death wish."
Evra said nothing. He waited.
He knew fighting wasn't allowed here. Moreover, even if this man punched him directly, Evra wouldn't feel any pain. It would be surprising if he even felt an itch.
The man didn't insult him, but tried to convince Evra to attack him with his rude movements. That way, he would have a justified reason when he beat Evra, but seeing at some point that Evra didn't care, he grumbled and turned back around.
His turn came.
He stepped in front of the desk. One of the officers spoke without raising his head.
"Name?"
"Evra."
"Surname?"
"None."
The officer wrote. "Age?"
"Seventeen."
This time, the officer raised his head. He looked at Evra. People coming at this age happened sometimes. If they had cultivation, they deserved no less respect than those in the Foundation Establishment Realm. The officer didn't say much but looked—at his age, his build, his general appearance. Then he bent down again, trying to hide his interest.
"Do you have cultivation?"
"I do."
"Move to the testing corner."
Evra didn't move. He stood right where he was.
"Can I do it here?"
The officer put his pen down. He looked at the other, who shrugged. Actually, both were skeptical about how this youth would show his strength level in front of them, but because he possessed cultivation, they decided to give him some space.
"Do it."
Evra raised his hand into the air, and origin energy calmly materialized in front of his hand. It swirled before them like a translucent wind.
The papers on the desk trembled. The pen in the officer's hand froze.
Those behind weren't sure what was happening, but the man who had just burdened Evra could see the situation quite clearly. His face had turned completely pale.
One of the officers stood up. The other stood up too. Both were looking at Evra—the fatigue was gone from their faces, replaced by something else.
An Origin Master. An Origin Master had come to the registration hall. Seventeen years old.
One turned around, walking with quick steps toward the inner door.
"Forgive me, please!" The rude man from before now bowed before Evra. "Please, spare my life."
Evra merely sighed.