Chapter 323: A Mysterious Guest
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Peace Festival was the day the whole Pan Continent celebrated their survival after war. It was the most important holiday. No matter how much people had suffered the previous year, they all hoped they would have a happy and safe new year. The third day after the Peace Festival, Anfey, Christian and a few others slowly walked into Violet City. They all looked tired except for Anfey, who still looked as fresh as usual. They worked out regularly, but travelling a couple of days at night really tired them out. As for Anfey, they did not see him as regular person. In fact, he liked the day and night reversed. The only thing he did not like was the nights here without lights and entertainment.
People looked different than before. They all looked sort of excited. As the festival had approached, the sadness and sorrow had eased. Whether people liked it or not, the living would gradually forget the sadness and sorrow. Frankly, it showed the strong willpower of people.
Anfey walked around to check out his residence. From a distance, the basic structure looked complete. He wanted to see what it was like inside.
His earl’s residence seemed to have high security. Anfey only lingered a little bit and tried to peek inside a few times, but a few guards had already noticed him. Anfey immediately spurred on his horse and called Christian and few others to the end of the street.
The garrison residence’s security was not as high as the earl’s residence. There were only four guards at the gate. When Anfey left Violet City, there was no garrison. Patrols were in charge of the safety of the city. Governor Urter governed the city. These soldiers in the garrison all dressed neatly and looked professional. Anfey knew Urter had contributed a lot to it.
Anfey jumped off the horse first and walked over with a smile. "Hi. Does Master Urter live here?"
"Who are you?" one of the garrisons asked in the group that walked up to Anfey.
"We are his old friends. Could you let him know we are here," Anfey said.
"Old friends?" The garrisons looked at each other. The same garrison asked before others could, "The governor did not come back until midnight. He is still resting. If you want to see him, please come back in the evening."
"Please, we are indeed Master Urter’s friends," Anfey appealed, holding out his hand with two gold coins in it.
The garrisons’ attention was drawn to the gold coins. To royalty, the gold coins were not a lot of money, but these garrisons’ annual salaries were only a few gold coins. The two gold coins were enough for them to have a few days of luxury.
"I am sorry. The governor did not come back from the earl’s residence until midnight. You do not look like you have something urgent. Please come back in the evening. Master Urter has worked very hard all day. Please let him rest a little more." The garrison sounded nicer. "This…please take them back. We do not need them." That garrison knew a person who could toss around two gold coins must be somebody significant. He did not want to offend Anfey.
"Please! We have traveled a long distance. We wish to report to Master Urter." Anfey turned his hand. More than a dozen gold coins appeared.
Those garrisons could not help staring at the coins. They lost themselves in the gold coins. Anfey smiled. As he turned his hand over, he had passed the coins to the soldier. However, as the first coin touched that soldier’s palm, he pulled his hand back as he received a shock. He let the gold coins fall on the ground.
"Why are you…" Anfey was shocked for a second.
The soldier’s eyes flashed a fierce look. He sounded like he was begging. "I am sorry, we cannot disturb the governor. If you have something urgent, you can tell me first." He did not want to offend someone who could easily toss two gold coins at him. Now he dared not offend Anfey, so he addressed Anfey with even more respect.
Anfey looked at the gold coins at his feet. His lips curled into a smile. It was not hard to organize a garrison, but it was hard to train a highly-qualified garrison unit. If he had wondered whether these soldiers were qualified or not, seeing a few of them gave Anfey an idea what the whole city garrison was like. It was not that they did not want gold coins, but they were able to control their desires. It was not easy for them. After hearing the soldiers talk about how hard Urter had worked, Anfey was quite satisfied with this garrison.
When Anfey laid his eyes back on the garrisons, he looked like he was ready to kill someone. "Don’t make it harder than it should be."
"What do you mean?" The temperature seemed it dropped in the air. That soldier was alert and moved one step back.
Anfey did not answer. He looked back and saw very few people on the street. The garrison residence was located at the very end of the street. No matter what he did, it would not draw others’ attention. He walked straight ahead to the gate. The soldier’s face suddenly changed. He pulled his sword out and pointed at Anfey’s chest. He yelled, "Step back, or…"
Before the soldier could even finish talking, Anfey had reached his hand out and grabbed the sword at his chest. He shook it upwards and then the soldier flew backwards. When the rest of soldiers saw their fellow get thrown so easily, they were smart and gave up the idea of stopping Anfey. Two soldiers ran over to hold their fellow up while the other soldier ran inside of the garrison residence. He yelled as he ran. "Hurry up, send out an alert! Enemy, enemy!"
"Shut up!" A voice came from the distance. Urter showed up in the courtyard. He stared at Anfey, who had already walked in. He muttered something, but did not know what to say. If Anfey officially had arrived in Violet City, he should have received notice, and it would be easy. Now Anfey’s appearance shocked him, and he was not sure whether Anfey wanted to let others know who he was.
Christian and Suzanna followed Anfey in. Blavi stayed behind to keep an eye on things outside. Anfey nodded at Urter and smiled. He knew what Urter’s concerns were.
"Master, you are back," Urter said with respect. Those soldiers holding weapons in front of Urter were shocked.
"You probably did not think I would come, did you?" Anfey asked.
"I knew you had left Sacred City, but did not think you would come so fast." Urter moved to the side. "Master, come inside. It is more convenient to talk inside."
"Ok," Anfey said with a nod. He walked two steps forward, but suddenly stopped. "Did you enroll these soldiers in the garrison?"
"Yes." Urter was confused for a second. "Master, did they offend you?"
"They just did their jobs. They have done a good job. Urter, you have a good eye." Anfey smiled and strode into the living room.
"Master, these…" A garrison asked timidly, pointing at the gold coins on the floor.
Urter seemed to know what had happened when he saw the coins. He said in a low voice, "You have done a good job. These are the rewards the earl gave you. You can take them."
The soldiers were shocked for a second before they cheered. They hurried to pick up the gold coins. The soldier who Anfey threw acted the fastest. Anfey did not mean to hurt him and he was fine. There were few people who were not greedy. The soldiers liked gold coins as much as others, but they knew what they could take and what they could not. Now they did not have to worry about picking them up.
"Where is City Master Aroben?"Anfey asked as he looked around.
"He is still resting. He has been overtired for the past few days. His condition was not stable and made me worry about him." Urter sighed and closed the door behind him.
"Then don’t bother him." Anfey took a seat.
"Master, did you get rich recently?" Urter asked.
"That’s correct," Anfey said, laughing.
"I was wondering why master was so generous," Urter said with a smile. "Master, can you help me a little? I need to build an earl’s residence and enroll more soldiers in the garrison. Yet I do not have any income for the city budget. I am going crazy."
"You look quite happy, and you do not look like you are forced to do anything," Anfey said.
"That was because General Winkler helped me. He asked his supervisor to spare me some money from the budget in Shansa Empire, otherwise the construction of the earl’s residence construction would have stopped a long time ago."
"General Winkler?" Anfey wondered.
"Didn’t General Miorich tell you? Before he departed, he left a unit of palace guards in Violet City. General Winkler was their commander," Urter said.
"Oh, I remember now." Anfey nodded. Miorich had talked about it with him, but did not tell him the name of the commander. Anfey thought Urter had really good diplomatic skills and had connected with Blackania City. It made sense that Miorich’s people helped him.
"Master, the reason you secretly came back to Violet City was…" Urter said.
"Just to check on it." Anfey was quiet for a second, then continued, "Urter, did Marquis Djoser do anything recently?"
"I heard he had a very special and mysterious guest at his house. Marquis Djoser treated him with great respect, but that guest seemed to suddenly disappear. I have sent people to check on the guest, but …" Urter shook his head with a bitter smile. It was obvious he did not find anything.
Anfey smiled. He knew the mysterious guest was Archalchemist Jacob. Because of the opportunity of creating a potion, Jacob had gone to Sacred City. He was good at acting. He did not act too close to Saul, nor too aloof towards him. His acting at Anfey’s wedding was genius. His wedding gift was a bottle of aphrodisiac. Anfey knew Jacob was joking, but to others, it seemed insulting when he gave a young groom a bottle of aphrodisiac. As an archalchemist, he could totally have created a wonderful gift, what could such a small gift like an aphrodisiac mean?