City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 24: Mirador Hold

John Falls, Hakan Olofson, Mark Mollegaard, Bjorgy, LemonOx Kaine, Marco, Funki, Loise Taylor, Olaf Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George.

Thap Clang Thap
 
Swords of ironwood clashed, but this training was more like slapping on my flesh than clashing against the sword. 
 
Unlike Dan, Jonah’s training is all-out offensive.
 
He is attacking me rapidly, and I have to stop his sword from hitting me directly in any way; I could dodge, defend or even counter, but I am failing spectacularly, despite him attacking me with the same strength and speed I have.
 
Three out of four of his strikes would hit me, while the one I would stop by either my sword or by dodging, taking help from skills; without them, I could not even stop one attack.
 
Jonah had asked me to use skills from the beginning; according to him, I should get used to them as it is they, which will help me in killing the enemy, and the more familiar I am with them, the better it would be.
 
So, for more than half an hour, I beating from him up; I asked him not to hold anything back, and he was not.
 
Taking his repeated beating is hard, but I had already tried it last night when I sparred against him and Dan after dinner.
 
The spar with them nearly made me vomit what I have eaten.
 
Thap!
 
Another strike of the back of the sword hit me hard against my waist, making me fall on the ground, and I stayed there for a couple of seconds, squirming in pain, before sitting up with laborious breaths.
 
“The speed of your improvement is quite amazing, Mister Silver. Yesterday, you were only taking a beating; today, you have defended one out of four,” said Dan, and he was not mocking but staying in a deadly serious voice.
 
“It is not an improvement; just remember what I have trained for years,” I said. I may have gotten the skills, but I am still not good as old Remus.
 
It will take me some time before I regain everything he had trained for, and seeing the speed of improvement; it shouldn’t take long.
 
A minute later, I got up and walked toward the keep, with pain shooting all over my body with every movement I made; the walk to my room felt like pure torture.
 
The sun hadn’t come up yet, but it would soon. I have ready by then as we leave for Mirador Hold with Captain Markus and his men.
 
Soon, I reached my room, and like I did yesterday morning and night; I put a drop of healing potion into the water and applied it over my body, and rested on the floor.
 
I felt the cold sensation spreading into my skin, and as it spread, the cooling feeling spread, and the pain begin to disappear. 
 
By the time ten minutes had passed, all the pain in my body had disappeared.
 
Getting up, I took a quick bath and changed into a new set of clothes before getting out of my room. 
 
When I reached the bailey, the sun was out, and they were already gathering; even my brother and Madam were out.
 
Madam is staying; she liked being a mother of the lord, and more than that, she knew she needed to be here to help her son.
 
Without her, he will burn the barony down to the ground or get himself killed.
 
“Mister Remus, we will leave in five,” informed Lieutenant Vans as I reached the horses. I nodded my thanks and walked toward the horse I rode yesterday.
 
Jonah and Dan fixed my stuff to the horses before I sat on it; we are going to Mirador Hold by horses. If we are lucky, we should be able to reach there by afternoon or sooner if we were to believe the words of Captain Markus.
 
“Let's go,” said Captain Markus, and his horse moved; as it did, I felt an effect enveloping the horse I was riding and me, and it was reinforced by a couple of more weaker feelings.
 
They had activated their skills, and I could immediately feel their effects, I felt more comfortable and in control of the horse at the same time, and I felt the horse was moving at more ease than yesterday.
 
Most importantly, we have picked up the speed from the start. 
 
In a few seconds, we were out of the castle and in the forest, moving through the road toward the Mirador Hold with a speed that would have tired even racehorses on the earth very quickly, and these horses were just picking up speed.
 
They are getting faster by the minute, and no turns and twists seem to be reducing their speed. 
 
“It is amazing, right?” asked Lieutenant Vans, whose hair is strangely in place, despite the air.
 
“Yes,” I replied, a little louder than I would have. I felt I would have needed to speak loudly, but if I had spoken at normal volume, she would have heard me.
 
Riding at this speed feels exhilarating, and the thing is, despite the speed, there is no; I could see everything clearly, more clearly than I would through my eyes and at a much wider angle.
 
Which, too, is an effect of skill and is very necessary.
 
While the bandits won't attack the people of Mirador Hold, there are always desperate and daring people whose actions one could not predict.
 
Two hours passed, and we crossed a huge distance, and the horses were still running without a stop.
 
Hun!
 
As we rode, we saw the huge entourage of carriages, even bigger than ours; the horses slowed down a little as we passed them before picking up the speed.
 
‘Baron Harrods,’ I said, a man of considerable power who had earned a barony with merits. 
 
He is a veteran of many wars, and through them, he gained a lot of merit and levels. The prince had done a very smart thing placing him here.
 
He will be my brother’s neighbor, whose territory, too, is on the boundary of Oksall. The orcs would be wise not to attack him, or they will pay a high price.
 
Two more hours passed, and we finally stopped for a break; the break was only fifteen minutes, but it was enough for us to stretch our legs.
 
After fifteen minutes are over, we begin to ride again and, within an hour, come across the entourage of two more nobles
 
Within a week, all the nobles would take control of their territories, making the forest much safer. It will also become a little chaotic as, like the earth; here, too, the nobles squabble over every little thing.
 
Two and half hours passed when we crossed and climbed up the hill, and I finally saw the Mirador Hold.
 
It is a sight to behold.
 
“Amazing, isn’t it?” asked Lieutenant Vans, and I couldn’t help but nod as I looked at the huge black fort, which was between the two big hills. 
 
Usually, forts are above the hills, so the enemies won’t be able to reach them without sufficient effort, but it is not made to defend against the enemies who are alive but dead; this fort is to defend against the undead of Navr.
 
The castle is huge and old, over a thousand and five hundred years old; it had been destroyed by the undead many times and built by whoever controls Renwell regions just as many times.
 
The last time it was destroyed was three and a half years ago, when the undead horde of Navr swept through Renwell region. 
 
Which gave the Empire a chance to snatch it from Tabes.
 
“Let’s go,” said Captain Markus, and the horses began to run down the hill. 
 
As we moved toward the fort, I began to feel constrained in my chest while all the hair in my body stood up.
 
“Take a deep breath Remus; the fort is dangerous, but to our enemies,” said Lieutenant Vans beside me. I nodded thanks and started to do what she had asked me to, and immediately, I began to feel better.
 
I am still feeling like the big dangerous monster staring at me, but I know it is not going to eat me.
 
I had heard about this feeling; when a large number of powerhouses gathered, they created a presence strong enough that the weak-willed fell unconscious when they got close to it.
 
Fifteen minutes later, we reached the giant gate of the fortress; they are huge, three times big as the gate of the blain castle.
 
We stopped as we appeared near the huge gates, and an old man who looked to be in his sixties walked toward us with a team of people behind him.
 
“Captain Markus of the 11th regiment, returning from the guard duty of Blain Castle, with me are Raymond Silver and Remus Silver from the mercantile house of Silver,” said Captain Markus to the old man and handed his badge.
 
“Welcome back to Mirador Hold, Captain,” he said, handing back the badge after checking it while his men checked the badges of the rest of his team while the man turned to us.
 
“Gentlemen,” he said as he appeared beside my uncle and me.
 
We nodded at him and handed him our IDs; he inspected them before handling them back while his men checked our bags and everything.
 
“Everything is great; welcome to Mirador Hold.” He said, and we rode inside, and soon we were out of the huge gates and saw the fort in its reality.
 
“Wow,” is the only thing that came out of my mouth as I looked around.
 
The fort is majestic, the biggest one I have ever seen, with huge, warded walls that even the most powerful spells will have a hard time breaking, on which have cannons that are big as trucks that would decimate anything they hit.
 
There are also huge keeps for different purposes; they look old and worn, with clear signs of the newest repairs. 
 
One could feel the history of this place just standing here and also the danger.
 
I could see the thousands of people, mostly soldiers, marching, standing alone, or guarding, with alertness flashing in their eyes.
 
If the fort gets attacked, it won’t take long for them to assemble and march toward the enemy.
 
“It was nice traveling to you, gentlemen; I hope you will have a pleasant journey to Greltheaven,” said Captain Markus and rode off with his team while we rode toward the building, which had a civilian lodge written in big letters.
 
We put our horses in the stable and walked inside the lodge.
 
“One top suit and six general rooms,” said my uncle to the reception, once again ignoring me. 
 
He had been a little tempered for the day, but now that we had gotten out of the barony, he returned to his usual self.
 
He took the keys and walked out with his assistant and guards while I booked the rooms for my guards and me.
 
I am tired.
 
The journey to the fort had been fast, and Captain Markus and his team had made it comfortable as they could, but I still got tired.
 
It is not just the journey but also the training in the morning.
 
Now, I just want to eat and sleep till all this tiredness gets swept away from me.

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