We began to make our way towards the west gate of Dragon’s Foot which was the name given to the city. The reason for this city receiving this name despite never having any report of it coming into contact with dragons was due to it being the closest city to the base of a mountain range which was the home of what some believe to be thousands of dragons. Some even believed that if you looked at the range from the top of the city walls with some luck you would be able to spot one.
Although I have never seen a single one or heard anyone claim to have seen one.
Walking the streets of the slums, people who have appearances of almost corpses with some of them probably being actual corpses. Their skin was covered in rashes and dark spots, the clothes that they
wore were closer to rags or resembling more of a large big piece of cloth wrapped around their body than any actual article of clothing. One thing that was certain was that regardless of where you would look you would find holes and through them you can see that most had the bones of their ribs coming out of their bodies. Their appearance reflected the reality that these people had been abandoned.
Most of the people who inhabited the Slums of Dragon’s Foot were the refugees of the destroyed Brumal State who had no value and therefore could do nothing but waste away until they died. The reason why these people and us who had no value were placed within the slums and not enslaved was due to the grandfather of the current viscount banning slavery within their territory.
Eventually we made it past the slums and were in the main streets that have a lively atmosphere. While walking down the main street I notice that there is a group of 3 knights that are wearing a uniform which is different from the ones of the local knights who serve the local viscount.
The local knights would normally wear armor that was predominantly made from leather. The helmets of the local knights also did not cover any part of their face and simply went around their head.
On the other hand these knights wore crimson capes that covered their entire backs and went over their shoulders allowing only the front of their armor to be visible.They had armors which were completely made of a metallic material and covered the entirety of their body. Their helmets resembled that of a face of a bird with feathers made up of a red, yellow, and orange color on top of it.
The final place where I noticed a clear difference was with the coat of arms that the armors had, the local knights had a simple bird which had its wings spread with only a few colors on it. On the other hand the 3 knights coat of arms had a shield with a lion that had a flaming mane sitting down facing forward within it. Perching above the shield there was a large bird made of flames which was wrapping their enormous wings around the shield.
Seeing that there were clear distinctions between the two I decided to ask.“Hey dad, why is there a group of 3 knights walking around in the city that look different from the normal ones?”
“ I was never a knight of this kingdom so I’m not certain but if I had to guess from their small number they are members of the Unified Trinity. A group that was created when the three kingdoms allied with each kingdom having 8 representatives within the group. They were the most elite force of the kingdoms and one member was always with their monarch. Although that was in the past. During the war they lost 15 members leading to a drastic decrease in power. Because of that and the war ending their duties changed from the front lines and constant fighting to doing whatever task their respective kingdom wanted. Those 3 members most likely are performing an investigation within the city that was assigned by those within the capitol or they were personally requested by the local viscount.”
Seeing that both armors had the presence of birds I decided to ask. “ Why do they all have birds on them, is it something that all knights have or is it related to the alliance?”
He takes a moment to think then responds “ No, the reason why they all have a variation of a bird is because it represents the protectors of the royal family. Specifically with the phoenix. They believe that when the kingdom was first created a primordial god related to fire appeared in front of the royal founder in the form of a phoenix and established a contract with them. After some generations the contract was broken, but it allowed the bloodline of the royal family to be imbued with the flame attribute. This innate connection to the attribute is seen as a gift or as of the god still protecting them which is why the phoenix is used so much by the royal family. Similarly anyone who is subservient to the royal family is represented by a bird which is beneath the phoenix.”
Hearing this I asked ”But what about the other two kingdoms what are animal do they use”
Again he takes a moment to think of his answer and responds “ To my knowledge neither of them use an animal. One uses swords in some form, as swordsmanship has a major importance within the kingdom. The other uses a crown and some symbols. Although I do think that a kingdom south of the alliance utilizes a wolf on their coat of arms, that’s the extent of my knowledge on that however .”
As we continued walking, the topics began to become more mundane and eventually we stopped talking and simply walked towards the west gate.
