Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"I won't let the scourge of my lands enter my castle. Either prepare to die, or leave my province."

It took a while for the messenger to catch up with the group. Given how he initially followed the wrong direction, expecting the group of mercenaries to still be east of Ofmase, by the time he finally caught up, Fen's party was already approaching Iyuethei, a town that had nothing to do with the governor of the province they just passed through.

"Go back to your lord and tell him that we do not care in the slightest about his opinions. We are the envoys from the Kinarian nobility to the King himself, and anyone who will dare to infringe on our wellbeing will declare war upon our employers."

Casting the poor messenger aside as quickly as he spouted his own lord's insults, Fen didn't bother to dawdle with that pitiful man. With the city bearing this strange, melodic yet insanely hard name to spell already growing out in the distance, there was absolutely no point in wasting the time. 

Especially with how Fen's time was slowly running out. With Astyrran taking them one day to reach and with the young man plans to spend the night in the city in front of them, they would only have one day remaining to reach the capital before the scheduled meeting with the rest of his friends. Taking into account how the seeing with the monarch would also take its time, the young arcanist had no other choice but to hurry up during the last stretch of his journey.

"Let's go, men."

After two days in the saddle, the young man no longer protested about riding the horse. While it felt as if he was chaining himself to the ground, binding a rope around his fingers, Fen no longer treated it as a torture, but just a necessary measure to hide his true potential.

After all, even in the entire world, there was only a handful of arcanist capable of the feats that Fen was using on his daily basis!

'I wonder whether they heard the news already…'

While some of the rumours that Fen and his friends spread intentionally were bound to make its way all the way across the entire country, the same couldn't be said about the true news of what has happened. With how the marked of the information was flooded by Fen's colleagues, there was a small chance that this strangely named city still had no clue about the true development of the events.

Slowing down their pace as they got closer to the city, Fen could finally take a moment to look around.

Compared to the eastern provinces, the hints at the country's deterioration have yet to appear. With the mutual raiding and schemes only limiting themselves to the far-eastern provinces, detachment of the entire east from the Heptarchy could be said to be, strangely enough, a reason for its momentary respite.

After years of the conflict brewing under the surface, even with draconian taxes, lands currently owned by the independent former employer of Fen and the mercenaries had their maintenance cost raised above what they could actually provide. This money deficit was also the reason why all the problems started in the easy.

With the monarch himself laying his hand on absolutely all the trade profits from the road as it was solely Royal part of the domain, it was no wonder that east was the first to brew unrest with how this road was the major source of the local income.

But now? So far, the country didn't seem to face any real financial issue. With all the gold and riches stored by the nobles and the king himself, it would be still possible to salvage the situation…

But only if a real leader were to take the reins and introduce his reforms unhindered for a few years. That could save Kiznar from the total collapse. Otherwise, a slow realisation that the foundations of their power eroded awaited anyone that got too comfortable on their seat to observe the world for how it changes. 

Looking around, the young man could see that the farmlands around the city still prospered. Thinned out crowds of people were currently marching through the fields and dropping grains on the specially prepared earth. With the harvest done, now it was the time to prepare the fields for the next year. And it was also a perfect time for the hostile takeover that Fen had in mind all along!

"Let's go!"

Even though they were already close to the city, Fen still hurried his horse a bit. Just watching at the peaceful life of the people around the city made his heart bleed a bit. While it would still take quite a considerable amount of time, his actions would ultimately destroy the current way of living for those people. And hailing from a simple village himself, the young man couldn't help but feel guilty for turning exactly in the type of man that he would fear back in his early days.

With one of Fen's man sprinting on his horse forward to inform the city guards about the appearance of the envoy, the tensest period of time that could appear during their visit in towns appeared. From the reaction of the city guards, the young mercenary could learn what he could expect from this province and even the capital in the first place. 

"My lord!"

Soon enough, the man sent forward came back. From how he was allowing himself to stand on his stirrups in order to make himself visible from an even greater distance, a small spark of hope appeared in Fen's heart.

After all, the idea of spending the night in the mud outside of the city while marching to their potential deaths in the capital wasn't as appealing as enjoying their rest in the warm featherbed in some inn behind the safely of the city walls!

"My lord. It just so happens that the King of the Heptarchy is visiting the city! While we were allowed inside, the seeing with the monarch will take place only in two days from now!"

Quickly stalling his horse as soon as he appeared beside the rest of his group, the messenger gave his full report, adding some details whispered directly to his commander's ear.

"Okay then, let's not waste any time. We are going to enter the city! Everyone, make sure to behave. We are here as guests, not raiders. If I as much as hear of a single instance of raising commotions for any damned reason… The local King will have to wait for me to be done with you before he will be capable to exact his own revenge!"

Jokingly threatening his group, Fen couldn't stop himself from smiling when his people looked at him with their eyes widened. In the middle of the possibly enemy town, currently visited by not only the King but most likely a huge retinue of his along with his personal guard… How stupid and naive one would have to be to start anything in a town like this?

With no further delays, Fen's entire company managed to easily pass by the walls, only to find themselves surrounded in the very next moment. Yet, as dangerous as it might sound, the people that enclosed them at the mouth of the main street of the town, worse ceremonial uniforms and equipment. Even if they attempted to stop the mercenaries from doing anything, those funny and fragile weapons of theirs not even mentioning the impractical but impressively looking armour that they wore would be the bane of those poor soldiers.

Thankfully, before Fen's men could get uneasy about being surrounded like that, an officer came out to the front of the formation before bowing slightly and reciting the words with a voice perfectly matching his young, gentle appearance.

"Our beloved monarch cannot see to the meeting with the brave warriors of the east, but that doesn't mean our greatest king would dare to leave them unattended. Respectable warriors, on behalf of our bright ruler, I would like to invite you to the best quarters in the town. It would be unbecoming of the royal dignity if people risking their lives for the betterment of all were to pay for a roof over their heads during a diplomatic mission of this magnitude!"

After reciting what he had to say, the young officer didn't bother to waste even a single second more on the mercenaries, putting his hands behind his back and marching deeper into the city instead. 

"He doesn't like us…"

It was clear to see for everyone that this messenger only delivered the King's message because it was his duty, not because this kind of development was something he enjoyed. But that situation also created a huge question - if even a lowly officer like that, someone who would be sent to deliver the messages to and fro, knew how dangerous the presence of Fen's group in the Kinzarian hinterlands was, how could the King himself be ignorant of it?

"Sir, I don't like this idea… If we follow them to whatever place they picked, we won't be able to do anything at all. If it's all a trap…"

With one of the mercenaries leaning over the saddle of their horses towards their commander's ear, Fen nodded his head to gesture that he heard the man's words. 

But he didn't really bother himself with them. After all, why would a king dare to scheme against his group if he was near the focus of the action with his own body? All it would take was a stray, strong mercenary to break out of the encirclement to potentially hurt the king! 

Fen shook his head.

'As I thought… It would be impossible for him to be so brave…'

In just a few moments of following the royal entourage, Fen's group finally found the place where they were invited to stay. And given how the second floor of the building had a huge balcony directly connected to the top of the walls, there was absolutely no damned way that anyone would dare to attack them.

After all, why would it be a problem to just block the front door of the inn and instantly evacuate to the walls, only to escape from the city with no one being able to do anything in case of some trouble?