A Wizard’s Secret

Ravens Castle located in the Kingdom of Blackmoon was an enormous military fortress. The population used to be scarce, but recently, Ravens Castle was visited by many people.

These were the people who escaped from the Kingdom of Light. Some were refugees, some were businessmen, some were small aristocrats; all of them wanted to make their way into Ravens Castle.

That was because Ravens Castle was the only entrance leading to the Kingdom of Blackmoon. Otherwise, they would have to go through thousands of miles of deserted mountains.

The deserted mountains contained with them all sorts of dangers. Almost no one had crossed the barren mountains to get into the Kingdom of Blackmoon. Therefore, the deserted mountains became a natural barrier between the Kingdom of Blackmoon and the Kingdom of Light.

However, it was not easy to enter the Kingdom of Blackmoon through Ravens Castle either. Everyone must pay the required amount of gold coins before they were allowed to pass through. On the other hand, those dressed in ruin and had not enough gold coins were denied entry and held up outside.

These refugees either returned to the Kingdom of Light or waited endlessly for the day Ravens Castle might grant free entry for all until they eventually died in front of Ravens Castle.

“Hey, look, there’s a troop of knights with numerous horse carriages. Hehe, there’s even heavy armored knights… Seems like they’re from an affluent house. We can definitely rip them off with a huge deal later!”

Some of the guards in Ravens Castle noticed a huge fleet in the distance dressed in bright, shiny armors that came with numerous carriages. From experience, they knew they could rip this other wealthy family off for passing through Ravens Castle.

The troop approached Ravens Castle in a steady motion. It was headed by a sturdy middle-aged man who frowned at the sight of Ravens Castle and waved for the troop to stop.

“Father, why did you stop?”

Merlin jumped off from the carriage and walked to the side of Old Wilson.

The troop that the guards were eyeing on was indeed Old Wilson’s troop of nearly two thousand people. After spending three to four days of long journey, they finally arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Blackmoon.

The bandits that escorted Merlin had left. According to the information they provided, the only way to enter the Kingdom of Blackmoon was through Ravens Castle.

Merlin noticed a fortress not far away and assumed that must be Ravens Castle that the bandits mentioned. As long as they passed through Ravens Castle, they would be finally safe, and no longer have to worry about the pursuit from the Church of Light.

Old Wilson pointed at Ravens Castle and said in a deep voice, “Merlin, we must remove our armors and weapons in order to enter Ravens Castle. We’re a large troop, and our combat power will be drastically reduced without weapons and armor. We’ll be in a difficult situation if something unfortunate happens.”

Merlin looked toward the direction of Old Wilson’s finger and noticed that, indeed, several knights were removing their armor and weapons before entering Ravens Castle.

It was not difficult to understand. The Kingdom of Blackmoon would never allow a large number of armed personnel to pass through Ravens Castle. They would be inflicting troubles on themselves if these people were sent by the church.

“Father, we certainly can’t have our large troop bring in armor and weapons. We have no choice but to unload them first, and then find another way upon entering Ravens Castle.”

Merlin thought for a moment but could not come up with a better solution. They had to bear patiently for the better good.

“Well, Merlin, Baron Parman, the three of us can go ahead first.”

Therefore, Old Wilson urged Prat to look after the troop. Along with Baron Parman and Merlin, the group of three headed for Ravens Castle to get a hold of the situation.

The castle guards that have long noticed Merlin and the others immediately barred them aside, then announced in a cold tone, “Leave the horse, remove your armors and weapons, and then pay ten gold coins for each person as entrance fee!”

Old Wilson and Baron Parman’s face fell simultaneously. To remove armor and weapons was not impossible, even if the whole troop of nearly two thousand people had to pay the fees of 20,000 gold coins in total, that was also not a problem to the wealthy Wilson family and Parman family.

However, to leave behind the horses? That exceeded their limit. Without horses, how should they ride their carriages? Were they supposed to let the ladies travel on foot?

Besides, without the horses, this massive troop consisted of two thousand people would move extremely slow, not to mention the problems and tricky situation that would arise along the route.

That idea made Merlin frowned.

“Even the horses? But why did that knight that passed through earlier didn’t leave his horse behind?”

Baron Parman tried to press down the boiling anger beneath his skin and asked in a hoarse voice.

Those guards threw a sideways glance at Baron Parman and sneered, “He was alone. Besides, he’s an Elemental Swordsman, so he’s allowed to keep the horse.”

“You mean, Elemental Swordsmen can keep their horse?”

A guard shifted his attention to Merlin and nodded. “That’s right. Not only Elemental Swordsmen can keep their horse, they can enter right through Ravens Castle in their armors and weapons.”

Merlin and Old Wilson exchanged glances and nodded slightly at each other. Perhaps the Kingdom of Blackmoon was trying to encourage the influx of Elemental Swordsmen from the Kingdom of Light. After all, the Kingdom of Blackmoon and the Kingdom of Light was still in hostility. If they could attract more Elemental Swordsmen, which were the opposition’s strongest military force, that would definitely deal a blow to the Kingdom of Light.

The only thing was, even if Old Wilson and the others would be grant entry, not every person among the two thousand people were Elemental Swordsmen.

“We can leave behind armors and weapons, even the gold coins are not a problem, but can we keep the horses? We have a massive troop, after all. Without horses, we’ll encounter many difficulties even if we manage to pass through Ravens Castle.”

Merlin said to the guards in Ravens Castle calmly. The guards looked at the huge fleet stopped in the distance, and the corners of their mouths curled up into smiles. They also pressed down their voice, “Actually, you can keep your horses, though at the price of sixty gold coins per horse. You can bring your horses along by paying sixty gold coins per person.”

“What? Sixty gold coins?”

Old Wilson’s expression changed immediately. Simultaneously, Imposing Aura and sparks of flames appeared around his body.

If they had to pay the insane amount of sixty gold coins per person, that would mean a total of 120,000 gold coins for the troop of nearly two thousand people. Although the Parman family and the Wilson family were wealthy, 120,000 gold coins was an astronomical figure far exceeded their family properties.

“What are you doing? Want to attack the fortress?”

Old Wilson’s natural burly built was already intimidating. As he released the Imposing Aura, the guards of Ravens Castle immediately became nervous.

Therefore, on top of Ravens Castle, a team of guards appeared within seconds, densely packed around the entire fortress. The heavy crossbows in their hands aiming accurately at Old Wilson, Merlin, and the others. In an instant, the atmosphere in the air tensed up.

Merlin looked up at the guards on the fortress, and his face revealed a slight sense of helplessness. A military fortress as such was itself a terrifying war machine. Although Old Wilson once said that powerful Spell Caster could destroy a military fortress alone, Merlin still had not possessed such ability for now. Even he could not handle if these many arrows shoot across the sky.