Massive walls covered the entire city... No, correction, a massive city with massive white walls in a massive majestic lake. It seemed extremely unnatural. To think such a city was built on the lake was unthinkable. A checkpoint before the lake that resembled a small white fortress showed. As we entered the gates to this checkpoint, I suddenly realized... the small white fort looking checkpoint was a small city with a large army presence. Merchants passed through the busy checkpoint for this small checkpoint, and we with the small-ish force of the Holy Kingdom riders took another entrance in.
... it only made me realize how special Asashio was to the Holy Kingdom... Yet even as special as she was, I felt like the Holy Kingdom's policies made her nothing more than a merited person, rather than an esteemed absolute-monarch that the Kawachi Empire Nobles were.
"Here you go Asashio of the Wind. Everything from here is safe; I wish you and your friends a safe journey to the Holy Magician." That... No, thinking further, it was clearly a much higher ranking person than an officer... Clearly all the riders escorting us were of much higher importance; some wore heavy white armor and held massive shields with heavy-looking halberds while others wore a lighter variant of the white armor.
A carriage was quickly brought forward with the drivers being one of the white-clad knights.
Asashio and Aikito dismounted from Gelmund's horse and quickly entered the carriage. "Thank you Holy General Remeon, I wish you victory when you are sent over to the Kawachi Empire Front." Asashio responded back... Holy General Remeon, huh.
I dismounted to let Kou into the carriage before remounting. From the open--, wait...?
"You aren't coming into the carriage Tenshi?" Asashio asked me... Wait, no, it was opened window... Definitely not a carriage one would ride in the outside environment.
"No, I plan to ride the horse there." I replied... half the reason because I did want to ride the horse, and another being that I simply wished to improve my horse riding skills.
After some preparations, we set off onto another road. This was was surprisingly empty, and as soon as we neared another empty checkpoint and left... did we, or maybe I saw it...
A massive sparkling, crystal-blue lake surrounded us on both sides. Straight was a pure-white road leading to more walls and what looked like a castle arching above that. Besides the glorious capital, two more roads - golden-white brick roads - shone off in the distance. Ahead in our road was full of life; peddlers, everyday citizens, and of course guards and knights.
"Welcome to Astoria, the centerpiece of the Holy Kingdom, supposedly the beginning of our world." Asashio proclaimed... I could believe her statement of the origin of the world with this place's natural beauty, especially the sparkling lake.
Insert future illustration, no joke.
I went forward with my horse in front. Helmsmen was opposite of me on the other side of the carriage escorting as well. With both of us it seemed more like a knight and perhaps a Magician escorting a carriage with another knight driving a special convoy.
... thinking about it, carrying no weapon makes me look more like a Magician than ever... Of course the short I wore was quite unrefined, but horse riding with the hem of a dress or skirt would be more unrefined... It was also easier without a doubt.
Upon reaching the gate... Correction, the line reaching the gate, Helmsmen and I went behind our carriage and waited... waited... waited for a while...
I decided to break the silence between me and Helmsmen. It would help against the chatter of the other peddlers. "Helmsmen... have you met or challenged a Holy Knight ever?" I decided on a safe question for Helmsmen...
"No, during the last aggression period between the Kawachi Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Astera, I only ever fought Holy Kingdom Knights--, they aren't Holy Knights by miles from what I've heard. The best opponent I fought in a un-restricted duel was a Imperial Magi-Knight, which I lost to horribly. Though I matched his sword skills." Huh... Imperial Magi-Knights. I've heard of them, elite knights with excellent skill and Magic Potential along with the Captain of the Imperial Magi-Knights having the authority to overrule even field-army generals. The so called Heroes of the Kawachi Empire, beings only just less than Count Magicians, the authority of the Kawachi Empire. This only made me wonder what the Holy Knights would be like in skill and power.
"How... would you rate the Imperial Hunters to these elite-knight groups?... or these Imperial groups Helmsmen?" I decided to ask another question to him... I doubt he would know it, but...
... It did take a few seconds for him to answer... "They are nothing to the Imperial Magi-Knights in a straight fight, but they can move freely unlike the Magi-Knights, especially the Imperial Hunters and the Imperial Marksmen." Helmsmen said... Huh... "I suppose I'll give you insider's knowledge here from that Magi-Knight friend.
Of our Imperial Formations, we have the Imperial Knights, the Imperial Magician, Imperial Hunters, Imperial Marksmen, and then the Imperial Magi-Knights. As far as I was told, the Imperial Hunters only have one active-veteran platoon, or around 40 odd Hunters, unlike the Magicians Corp with around 25,000. The Imperial Knights and the Marksmen number around 5,000. The Imperial Knights known for being a mixed-Magic cavalry and infantry, and the Marksmen being an Anti-Magician trained formation. In particular, I believe the Marksmen Platoon we fought was the 2. Marksmen Platoon, who are often sent with the Imperial Hunters in missions. As for the Imperial Magi-Knights, there are only 28, but they hold only slightly less Magic Potential compared to Count Magicians, and it is said that a girl who surpasses even Count Magicians in Magic Potential while also being an absolute terror with blades. That girl acts as the spearhead of their platoon...
That is the complete knowledge that I know of the Kawachi Military. Anything you would like to ask Tenshi?" That was quite a long, interesting lesson. If I had any question in mind... Well, I had no idea what these numbers equaled.
"How would you rate this to normal people, or the Imperial Army?" I asked. I had basic knowledge of the Imperial Army, boasted of around 75,000 trained soldiers. Though now I believe since the Kawachi Empire's aggressions, it numbered to around 150,000 men in total, though most were minimally bare-bone trained soldiers.
"In terms of the Imperial Knights, the entire formation would match around 10,000 trained Imperial Soldiers - not everyone in the Imperial Knights are Imperial Knights, we have about 3,500 squires - though with the drop of soldier quality it would be more around 35,000, as most Imperial Knights have Magic Potential equal to Standard Magicians; and now most Imperial Soldiers have Magic Potential around the level of Support Magicians. Our Imperial Magicians are more relat--," Suddenly the carriage started moving, and our conversation halted. "If you wish, I can give you a basic lesson on military levels of organizations, though I doubt you would with how boring such topics like this are."
"No, it isn't boring. In fact, such a lesson would be much appreciated Helmsmen." I felt like giving commands and organizing things felt interesting. Not to mention that those numbers gave me a basic sense of scale.
The carriage now moved steadily, until we neared the gates to the massive walls. Helmsmen and I both circled around our sides to the front.
"Asashio of the Wind, of course. You all may enter visitors, please enjoy the radiant sun of the Holy Kingdom of Astera, Astoria!" The knight glad in a pure-white golden armor said.
We slowly entered the city through the already opened gates. As we entered and the road opened up, I saw the massive city. Residential buildings that looked out of place from the Kawachi Empire; buildings made from pure-white bricks with gold linings. They screeched tall, and their purity and beauty looked completely in place. Despite the pure-white buildings and such vibrant colors decorated the entrance here, it was clearly the look of a busting town. In front was the castle; a pure-white building that seemed to radiate a golden aura. This entire city was like a white version of Jewels, except befitting a capital city.
Well... I was quite used to scenes like this due to the time in Jewels. Even though I spent most of it in Jewels de Lapins training against Yatori, I slowly got used to large crowds and carriage traffic. Though with a driver that knows the routes, everything was much easier. A simple rule to follow our carriage was much easier than trying to direct Rudel through streets I didn't know or recognize...
... actually... thinking about it, it's been a while since I seen him... Well, I think I should stop with mercenaries, especially if I am to... maintain this path of being Kou's person guard after Helmsmen.
"You two, stay close to me as we enter the Holy Castle. While it is only a rumor, the Holy Castle is said to have a special Defensive Spell imprinted onto it, so beware if anything strange occurs." We neared the castle with Asashio's ominous warning as she looked out the carriage's window.
