Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 12
After a few minutes of walking, Kazuki came upon one of the side gates leading to Edngaul. Before he approached the gate, he made sure to store the large ax he had made on the spot up the road. He didn’t feel like carrying around such an intimidating weapon as his size alone was enough to frighten and pressure others.
There were many travelers and merchants alike coming and going and Kazuki was surprised to see not a single one had to pay a fee to enter. With this much traffic, the amount of taxes the lord of a city this size could make in a given day could be counted in the 10s of thousands of Gold Zeni, yet none fetched over a single coin.
Kazuki as well need not pay anything at all and was allowed to walk straight in, albeit with a few surprised stares from the guards due to his sheer size.
It didn’t stop there either. Walking into the city, everywhere he passed, people would step out of his way or look up at him with apprehension. It was understandable. He was nearly a foot taller than the average male and his impressive muscles were not shy on showing themselves.
Kazuki ignored such stares and walked further and further into the city.
Kazuki thought about how he would return Tilly’s ring to her son. Well over a year had passed since Kazuki had been here but he remembered that Tilly’s son was the lord of Edngaul and their home was a large mansion near the center of town. The city as it existed now was much larger but logically if the city was expanded evenly then the lord’s mansion should still sit in the center. The only worry Kazuki really had was how he would return the ring.
(It’s not like I can just walk up to the city lord’s mansion and say hey, I’ve come to speak to the city lord about his mother. At the same time, I don’t wish to cause too much of a scene and just barge my way in there. I’m not going to wield my strength like an asshole Titan and suppress others.)
As he thought about how to meet with the city lord, Kazuki looked at all the new sights of the city as he headed to the center of Edngaul. There were vast improvements from the once small town. New buildings that were several stories high as well as many beautiful buildings further in. Constant sounds of hammering rang out as things were being built all around.
(This city still isn’t finished. Quite a few of these buildings are still in progress. How did this place become so large within a year?)
Everywhere Kazuki passed, there were crowds of people, making walking around quite inconvenient. He could fly overhead of them but he knew that would cause the barrier within the walls of the city to activate, which would just be another inconvenience. Still walking around these small people was annoying.
Even though the people moved about at a considerable pace as a busy city would. To Kazuki’s eyes, they moved about as fast as a crippled snail. In the end, he couldn’t take it anymore and leaped on top of a nearby roof.
*Fwhoosh*
He moved so fast a gust of wind kicked up several dresses of many women and a few screeched in confusion.
(Hmm, I can get a better view of the city from here and I can move around a lot faster as well.)
From his new point of view, Kazuki spotted a large mansion in the distance. It wasn’t dead center of the city but he found it to be close enough.
(Even if it’s not the city lord’s mansion I’ve only wasted a few seconds heading over. Besides, this way I can get a better look at the city.)
Kazuki moved like a phantom bolt of lightning. Due to this speed, the amount of force he would use to kick off from roof to roof should have caved said roofs in but because of the way he used his aura, he lightened his body to such a degree that it was as if a squirrel was running across a few of the shingles.
An old woman sitting down in her living room picked up a nearby broom the moment after Kazuki had passed by and struck the ceiling several times while complaining.
“Damn rodents! You get off my roof ya here!”
Kazuki was already miles away but he still heard the old woman’s complaint and couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.
(Old granny, if I were a rat id would be the biggest rat you’d ever seen in your life. hehe.)
Kazuki landed softly on the ground a few houses away from the mansion. he had covered several miles of travel in an instant. Had he not been careful on the roofs and just ran as fast as possible he would have arrived even sooner.
Before even arriving near the house, there was a large gate surrounding the property which stretched entirely around it for half a mile. On the grounds of the property, Kazuki could sense several mages at the 2nd stage and a few at the 3rd. Not only that, besides the mansion itself there were other large buildings on the property. Inside those other buildings, there were many soldiers. Kazuki could feel the presence of nearly a thousand inscription tattoos. He could feel the tiny amount of magic flowing out of said tattoos, indicating the number of people who were enhanced.
The last time he was here, old Tilly had a few guards who had inscription tattoos but now there were almost one thousand people who had them.
(They’ve upped security. quite a bit.)
Kazuki walked toward the front gate and of course, there were several soldiers guarding the entrance.
Kazuki still had yet to come up with a way to get in when a guard called out to him.
“Halt! Who are you and why are you approaching the lord’s residence?”
Hearing that, Kazuki grew happy having found his objective.
“My name’s Kazuki. I need to have a word with the city lord. It’s about his mother.”
As soon as Kazuki said that, all of the guard’s expressions changed. They all drew their weapons and their inscription tattoos lit up. They moved in a circle and surrounded Kazuki with blades pointed at him. The guard spoke up once more.
“You dare come here unofficially and bring up the lord’s mother, even after knowing she was murdered you say you have something to discuss with the lord. The business you mention must be a lie right and your intentions are foul.”
“What, and you spout this bullshit why?”
The guard snorted coldly and retorted.
“If you really had official business to discuss with the lord, you would have arrived in a carriage or at least atop a horse and with escorts as well. Not only that, you have not presented a seal or medallion stating your authority or position. You are not a messenger and the way you carry yourself you are clearly no one ordinary. You walk with an air of danger around you. With such a large build and the look of a warrior in your eye, you are clearly a fighter, an unwise one to come to the lord’s residence alone but a fighter no doubt. We will be taking you into custody now and we’ll get out your true intentions for coming here. Do not resist or we will kill you. Men take him!”
As soon as the guard gave out his order, the other men and women surrounding Kazuki lunged forward.
Kazuki could see that these men and women had no intent to kill him and merely were starting out by trying to take him alive. Only if he resisted would they actually have the intent to kill. Kazuki could tell by the way they moved and the way they swung their weapons. They all had their blades backward so the dull side would strike Kazuki.
Kazuki appreciated this. Not only that, the guard leading these men was pretty clever to see all of those things in that brief exchange. Kazuki had come without a plan and really didn’t know if he could just try and see the lord but who knew it would go so south so fast.
As a blade came racing from behind him, Kazuki sighed inwardly before taking a slight sidestep.
Kazuki had already moved but the person attacking him from behind was still attacking the spot he had just left from. Kazuki shook his head. He didn’t wish to prolong this. The way the other guards moved though, Kazuki felt like it would be an eternity before the fight was over. Kazuki couldn’t be bothered to wait that long so he unleashed his aura for a fraction of a second.
This tiny fraction of a second, as soon as this power of his covered all of the guards, the forced slammed them all into the ground face first with a loud…
*Bang*
The force wasn’t quite enough to break the ground, Kazuki wasn’t trying to kill them only incapacitate them and so he did.
They were all knocked out cold. A bit of blood spilled from a few broken noses and maybe a broken bone or two but not much else. Kazuki’s eyes widened. He had held back plenty but still has smashed them into the ground like rag dolls.
(Damn, for a split second I thought I had accidentally killed a few of them. It seems I still need a bit more restraint. )
As Kazuki stood there contemplating that, an alarm rang out. It seems Kazuki’s antics had brought unwanted attention. Kazuki could hear hundreds of guards rushing over.
(Damn, the way this looks, I come out like the bad guy. I’ll leave for now and come back when things quiet down a little.)
Kazuki moved and blurred with unimaginable speed, disappearing into the city.
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