BXBX NOVEL Chapter 173: There was Something Wrong with This Banter
There was not much difference between the evening and night view at the East of the horizon. The sun has not yet set at the West side, and a pale crescent moon was already up in the sky, partly hidden within the blankets of the sky where the blue faded into black.
And those silhouettes that suddenly appeared marched towards the Crusader Gateway with the sky as their backdrop.
Countless soldiers with their shields raised formed the frontlines, and their armor looked way heavier than the ones donned by the soldiers of the Kingdom. The layers of metal clanked together as they marched. They held no weapons; their huge shields were the only things gripped tightly in their hands.
They walked uniformly in a line, and they looked so imposing that it looked like a moving wall.
Behind the troops of soldiers with shields were some people riding horses. They looked very different when compared to ordinary soldiers. All of them were wearing different outfits, and none of them were in armor. With a cursory glance, they consisted of men, women both young and old, and they looked so colorful and relaxed that they did not resemble an army.
However, the bishop’s eyes hardened once he saw these unassuming troops.
Beside these people were the ordinary knights. Swords hung from their waists, long spears were raised high in their hands, armor covered them completely alongside with their horses - they looked like fearless war machines.
Behind the knights were quite a few things that looked like ballista catapults. They were towed by the soldiers that wore less bulky armor, and they marched forward with the rest of the troops.
Further behind were different branches of the armed forces, those that transport supplies or weapons, those that were on standby.... All in all, the whole troop looked extremely sophisticated and well-equipped, and they seemed very ominous as they marched forwards to the Crusader Gateways under the hanging veil of the moonlight.
The bishop stared at the approaching army as he frowned. There was no clue what was he was contemplating in his mind. On the other hand, Benjamin hid in the Gateway. His Water Particle Detection did not have a wide enough detection radius to see the soldiers. Thus, he could only guess that the people from Icor were approaching from afar based solely on the bishop’s reaction.
Benjamin finally managed to sense those people half an hour later after they were near enough the Gateway. He was not surprised by the sheer amount of people; he expected it already when he said that Icor took their time to prepare for this. However, Benjamin was still mildly surprised when he saw the logistical service units – they were prepared for a long and hard war!
However, Benjamin was awestruck when he saw the group that seemed too relaxed within the soldiers, the ones that were not in uniform. From the response he got from the elements around them, Benjamin could tell that all of them were mages.
Although he had no clear idea of how many mages were there exactly, but there were at least 400 of them. Also, they looked very different from those mages Benjamin saw before this. They did not look like the moody and sulky types that hid beneath cloaks; instead, they looked like pampered and protected nobles.
Benjamin could not help himself but inhale sharply. 300-400 mages was not something to be taken lightly, even if there was no indication of their abilities. Their power as spellcasters was menacing enough.
Meanwhile, there were only less than 300 priests that stood guard within the Gateway with the soldiers.
It was still difficult to assemble and coordinate a bunch of spellcasters. To be able to gather that many mages and making them listen to orders and travel with the army within a little more than 10 days, Benjamin had to appreciate and acknowledge that Icor’s capabilities was way greater than he expected.
So many mages were involved; this journey was probably not one that Icor was ‘just trying their luck’.
"It’s been a long time, Mr. White. You’ve seemed to be slacking off your job as bishop that was supposed to guard the borderlands."
Once the troops arrived at the Gateway and stood before the bishop, who stood and stared at them silently. Amongst the mages that came with the soldiers, the only person that was not a mage asked loudly.
She was a woman clad in magnificent soft armor, her golden blonde hair tied high behind her head. Her right eye was covered by a jet black eyepatch, and her left eye shone brightly, arrogant and sharp.
"Your Highness the Queen," greeted the bishop as he gave her a perfunctory bow, "What important matters could have brought Your Highness here to the borders of the Kingdom?"
Their voices were loud. Benjamin could quite hear them by standing close behind the door.
The Queen?
Benjamin never imagined that the Queen of Icor who sent an assassin to assassinate the Pope was blind in one eye. He never dreamt that this fiasco they caused by taking over the Gateway would catch the attention of the Queen, and that Her Highness would personally attend to this.
Apparently, this Gateway was really important to both parties.
"There were too many arguments about our borders and who owns what lands. I refuse to waste any more of my time on this," the Queen stated calmly as she gazed at the bishop, "Moreover, I did not come here for you. Please leave here as soon as possible and return to your soldiers before my courtesy runs out."
Displeasure flashed across the bishop’s face, but he chose to withhold his temper and swallowed his words when he regarded the mages that flocked around the Queen. He summoned the Wings of Holy Light and flew over the Gateway, dejectedly returning to the Town of Crewe.
The Queen nodded, her face devoid of emotions. She did not rush her orders; instead, she allowed them to settle down by the Gateway and set up a base there. It was as if she was not afraid to wait this out, and the Gateway was firmly within her grasp.
Benjamin took everything in and started considering the way they could escape in this situation. How should he put this? They were in quite a peculiar position now. Just as Benjamin was doing a test run of his strategy within his brain, a voice that was similar to the one in the afternoon rang within the area around the Gateway.
"Greetings, fellow mages within the Gateway. We come from Icor, and we would like to express our sincere respect of your actions in taking over the Gateway. We believe that you must be very exhausted now, as you did persevere for such a long period of time under the siege. Why don’t you open up the door from this side and allow us to enter? We have a lot of your fellow mages with us, and they could help you withstand the attacks from the Church. They could also provide you a home where you could safely and freely use magic...."
When they heard this, the boss lady came out from the storage cabin with ice-stored grapes. She had washed them with a Waterball Spell, and was going to share them with the few ladies in the Mage Guild.
Halfway through the speech, she could not stop herself from asking, "Are you exhausted?"
A lady answered, her words barely comprehendible as her mouth were stuffed with grapes, "Nope! I’m quite happy, actually."
Just like that, the urging from the mages of Icor was brushed off with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Benjamin scoffed coldly when he heard that. He originally had some degree of expectation towards Icor, but that was no longer true after he heard that speech.
Icor’s intention was clear as day: they wanted the Gateway. However, they chose such an obscure way to disclose their intention, with words such as ‘sincere respect’, ‘can help you’, ‘a home where you could safely and freely use magic’.... Their way of expression reminded Benjamin of con artists – so blatantly phony that it disgusted him.
Besides, Benjamin had an unexplained sense of alarm when he faced these mages from Icor.
Thus, he did not make a hurried decision. Instead, he chose to sit by and observe.
Just as the emotional urgings from Icor rang insistently above their heads, another voice echoed in the Gateway from the Kingdom’s side. The mages heard this voice before – in fact, it was the voice from this morning. It joined the act and started to talk, as if it was competing with the other voice.
"Mages in the Gateway, we believe that you come from various parts of the Kingdom, and you have your own families within the Kingdom. Please do not open the door to that side, as they only want to seize the Gateway and attack our holy lands. You may not have any affection left for the Kingdom, but would you be willing to see your old home trampled by the enemies’ hooves as war breaks out from all four corners of the Kingdom? Thus, you should never allow Icor into the Gateway...."
The two voices overlapped, and the mages in the Gateway were perplexed to say the least.
Something felt....strange? They never realized that that was just the beginning.
"Fellow mages within the Gateway, please do not trust their nonsense. They are the guard dogs of the church; did you forget what they did to you? Please, open the doors here and allow us in, and from today onwards, you will be the savior for all the mages in the Kingdom...."
"Mages within the Gateway, please remember the families and friends you have within the Kingdom. Do not trust those liars from Icor. As long as you return the Gateway to us, we will not cause problems for you and will allow your swift departure. The lives of your families and friends now lies within your hands, please consider your actions properly...."
"Fellow mages in the Gateway, as long as you open the Gateway and allow us to go in, our Queen promises 10 pounds of gold for each and every one of you...."
"Our General promised each of you 15 pounds of gold if you return the Gateway to us...."
"The Queen said to give all of you 20 pounds of gold each...."
As he listened to the conflicting declarations from both parties that seemed to grow louder with time, Benjamin stood in the pathway but felt as if he was at a marketplace.
He was quite uncertain.