Chapter 223: Torch Town Is More Qualified
Andre stared at the two mayors in front of him—Gerant and Lubin.
Gerant had brought more than ten people with him. All of them had silver-tier armor and longswords. There were two carriages, and a silver-tier magical beast pulled the carriages. It seemed very quiet. There was no bloodl.u.s.t in the eyes of the silver-tier magical beast at all. Instead, their eyes were filled with wisdom. He wondered if he had seen it wrongly.
As for Lubin, he had also brought more than ten guards with him. Compared to Gerrard, those people were much weaker. The armor and weapons on their bodies were bronze-tier. The magical beasts that pulled the carriages were only silver-tier fire-swallowing beasts that looked sluggish. Their turbid eyes only rolled once after a long time. They could not be compared to the silver-tier magical beast, Unicorn Pegasus, that had a single horn and beautiful wings in front of Gerant’s carriage.
The only thing worthy of praise was Lubin’s carriage—the fiery-red carriage as a whole. The front, back, left, and right of the carriage had carvings of galloping red horses. He knew that it was a gold-tier item called the Galloping Vulcan chariot. It could travel thousands of miles in a day. It was Lubin’s most valuable treasure. He did not expect to see it that day.
In comparison, they looked ordinary as they flew.
While Andre a.s.sessed the two of them, Gerant and Lubin evaluated each other. Gerant had been searching for Moriarty’s whereabouts when he noticed Moriarty’s figure in the armor of one of the accompanying guards. He heaved a sigh of relief.
Lubin was watching the people Gerant had brought over, as well as the magical beasts. His expression was unflattering. He had gone there to investigate Blackmoon Castle and to give a gift to Sylvan. He had hoped that Sylvan would change his mind. He wanted to make Torch Town the largest town on the border.
It looked like it was not only people in Monte Town, but the magical beasts pulling the carriages had silver-tier saddles as well. Such wealth and grandeur did not appear to be typical of Monte Town in the past. Perhaps those were Blackmoon Castle’s doing; that made him nervous about his trip to Blackmoon Castle.
However, he immediately felt relieved. He had spent a lot of money to entice Sylvan. He would even bring his prized Galloping Vulcan chariot, which he had kept for many years. There were a few gold-tier items from Torch Town on that gold-tier war chariot. It should be enough to tempt Lord Sylvan, in addition to a large sum of money.
“Mayor Andre, you must be joking. Fairy Town is very far from here. In addition, you guys flew here. We came here by carriages. The speed is definitely different! Since everyone is here, I don’t think we should stand here and reminisce. Let’s go in and take a look.”
Lubin smiled at Andre as he turned around. Gerant stopped him as he was about to start walking. “Wait a second. Lady Adele from Scarlet Town has yet to arrive. We are not all here yet.”
“Perhaps Adele arrived before us. Otherwise, it will take half a day or even a day for her to arrive. Are you prepared to wait? You can wait here by yourself if you want. We will go in to meet the border count. I wonder what the border count will think when he learns that you are willing to wait for a mayor more than him?” Lubin sneered.
Gerant frowned and was about to retort when Andre waved his hand and said, “Alright, everyone, stop arguing. Lubin is right. The border count has summoned us. He should take precedence. Let’s go in.”
The others did not object because Andre had said so. The three groups of people moved slowly toward Blackmoon Castle.
Lubin deliberately walked at the back and moved closer to Gerant. “Gerant, I know you have made contact with Blackmoon Castle in advance, but don’t celebrate too early. It is still unknown who will benefit in the end.”
He purposefully did not wait for Adele. His plan was simple. One fewer person meant one less compet.i.tor. He needed to seize the opportunity to persuade Sylvan to reconsider.
“What are you talking about?”
Gerland appeared perplexed. His gaze was fixed on Moriarty, who was s.h.i.+fting between his guards. Sweat dripped from his brow. He was aware that Andre was a gold-tier warrior who had previously served as Sylvan’s bodyguard. If he discovered Moriarty’s tracks, he would undoubtedly be dragged into it. That would be a disaster.
“Don’t pretend to be muddle-headed in front of me.”
Lubin had a disdainful look on his face. He snorted coldly. “If I had not hit the nail on the head, why would you be sweating so much?”
“I’m wearing too many layers. It’s hot!”
Gerant’s focus s.h.i.+fted. Moriarty had unexpectedly emerged from the armor of one of the guards. He moved his nose, jumped on one of the guards’ heads, and then jumped on the person Lubin had brought with him. Then he climbed into Lubin’s oddly shaped flaming carriage. He had no idea what he was doing, which caused him to break out in cold sweat.
“How ridiculous. Do you actually feel hot in that weather?”
“Did you see the lava flowing down the city wall in front of you? I think there’s something wrong with the heat.”
While they were arguing, they came to the foot of Blackmoon Town’s high walls. As they stood beneath the wall, they gazed up at the more than a hundred-meter-high wall and the hot lava that flowed down from it. They could not help but come to a halt. Lubin yanked on the velvet scarf that hung around his neck. The heat had turned his face bright red.
“Building a city wall out of a 100-meter-high rock and lava—interesting. Just from that point alone, Blackmoon Castle does have something extraordinary.”
That was all.
Lubin did not say that in his heart. Torch Town was rich in fire-swallowing beast oil, so smearing the oil on the city wall to create a burning city wall was a common method of defending against enemies. It reminded him of the lava wall in front of him. Torch Town’s wall was only one-tenth the height of the wall in front of him, but that was because a little over the ten-meter wall was sufficient. Torch Town did not have to spend a lot of money to build a higher wall.
Lubin felt that Torch Town was superior to Blackmoon Town after comparing the two discreetly.
At that point, he heard a loud boom, and the wall in front of him shook violently. Then, arms, legs, and heads sprouted from the wall in front of everyone’s eyes. They stood up gradually, and a huge hole the size of a door appeared between their legs.
Watson and a group of people from Blackmoon Castle were waiting behind the hole, smiling as they looked outside.
“What’s going on? Those walls can move on their own?”
Lubin raised his head in disbelief as he looked up at the walls that had turned into lava golems in front of him. The walls were made of those lava golems, and Blackmoon Town’s surrounding walls were flowing with lava as far as the eye could see. Was it possible that the entire wall was made of lava golems?
That was too shocking.
At first, he a.s.sumed that Blackmoon Town’s walls were only 100 meters tall and flowing with lava and that Torch Town could not do it even if they tried hard enough. However, he could not speak because he was too shocked. Those Fairy Town residents were also taken aback. Gerant was the only one who knew Blackmoon Town sold giant rock golems, so he was slightly relieved when he saw that scene.
..
Watson took a close look at the people from the three towns.
Sylvan had begun to make preparations to welcome those people two days ago after he announced that Blackmoon Town had been appointed as the ruler of the border. Zeke, Zenoah, and Peter had also just returned. He gave them the three Wish for the World rings that he had prepared for them. Then he noticed the people from the three towns congregated outside the town. He did not have time to prepare because they had arrived almost simultaneously.
Of course, he did not pay too much attention to it.
In the past, when he welcomed people from those towns, he would consider using the Blackmoon Knights or the Golden Flash to intimidate them. He would have needed to plan ahead of time. However, things had changed. The Blackmoon Town had grown strong enough. He did not have to do anything to make everyone understand that Blackmoon Town was sacred and untouchable.
“Mayor Gerant, I did not expect to see you again so soon! Don’t tell me you’ve been following us ever since we left the city?”
Zeke and the other two brothers stood beside Watson, directing the guards they had brought back from Monte Town to move boxes of gold coins from the carriage. Zeke twisted his hand around the Wish for the World ring he had just received. He asked with a smile that was not a smile.
“Young Master Zeke, you must be joking. I rushed here after receiving news from the border count. I have no intention of following you, Young Masters! Who are you, Young Masters? Even if you gave me the courage, I would not dare to follow you.”
Gerant smiled. His gaze drifted as he examined the Galloping Vulcan Chariot, a gold-tier item brought by Lubin. He was on the lookout for Moriarty’s shadow—it was entirely his fault that he was interrogated. What if Zeke and the other two discovered he had been tailing them and blamed it on him? It would be even worse if Moriarty caused any trouble.
Fortunately, Moriarty’s shadow emerged from the Galloping Vulcan Chariot. It seemed that he had not done anything, which made him feel relieved.
“Dear guests, you have come from afar. You must be tired from your journey. I will send someone to take you to rest now,” Watson said to everyone with a smile. Lubin cut him off in his speech. “There is no need to take a break. We have come to see the border count. Get him, please.”
Lubin’s demeanor toward Watson was arrogant. He seemed to think that the person in front of him was a child who was unworthy of his time.
“I am here. Who is looking for me?”
A dignified voice came from the sky as two rays of light descended from the same place. They were Sylvan and Antonio. The latter had regained his youth; he looked bright and handsome. Plus, the handsome Sylvan did not look like a human. When the two of them stood together, they attracted everyone’s attention.
Lubin was the first to react. He dashed forward and knelt on one knee in front of Sylvan. “Lubin, the mayor of Torch Town, greets the great border count. I am here to see you, Lord Sylvan, whom I had not seen in a long time. On the other hand, it is about border unification. I have some thoughts of my own.”
“Greetings, Lord Sylvan.”
Following closely behind, Gerant and Andre also came forward to greet him.
“Oh? What views do you have?”
Sylvan cast a thoughtful look at Lubin. The latter did not seem to notice and simply lowered his head. He said with a sonorous and forceful voice, “Blackmoon Castle, in my opinion, is merely a rising power. It would be difficult for them to accept the responsibility of border command. To do that job, one must be familiar with the border and possess the necessary skills. I am not bragging, but I believe Torch Town is more capable than Blackmoon Castle. We are better qualified to be the force in charge of the border!”