Published: July 5, 2025
It is the second night of the seven-night continuous posting.
(Added at 22:21 on January 11th)
The last line had disappeared... I apologize.
“So this is a fort, huh?”
“They said it was Fort Zalash.”
Ryo and Abel rode on Andalusia and Feiwan, passing through the gate while pulling ten massive carts behind them.
Even after passing through, this was still not the town.
“That’s quite a large bridge.”
“The massive carts can easily pass through, but it’s heavily guarded.”
“As expected of a ‘fort.’”
Inside the gate, there was a large, long bridge.
From the perspective of defense, it would be very effective.
“A rocky mountain with a lookout tower, a river, and a bridge... huh? A river?”
“It seems it’s not accurately a river after all.”
“This is... a fort in the middle of a lake?”
“Probably... it's a huge oasis, not a lake.”
“Unbelievable...”
Indeed, from the bridge, the two saw a sight that resembled a massive oasis, with the fort sitting on an island.
“A huge oasis and an island fort beyond the wasteland? You couldn’t tell at all from the main road…”
“This oasis... is surrounded by rocks?”
“Kind of like a caldera lake?”
“Caldera? What’s that?”
“No, it’s an oasis inside a giant, dish-shaped rocky mountain, and there’s an island in the center.”
Ryo gave up on the explanation and organized his thoughts.
The inner and outer appearances of the rocky mountains were completely different.
“There are many rocky mountains on the island too.”
“It looks like people live inside the carved-out rocks.”
As the two crossed the bridge and entered the island, they were surprised once more.
What they saw there was definitely not what one would imagine a ‘fort’ to be; it was much closer to a desert trading city.
There were stalls lined along the path, and buildings made of stacked bricks.
However, there were also many rocky mountains with buildings visible along the slopes and at the summit.
“Surely, the important people must live at the top of the rocky mountains.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. And daily, they likely take pleasure in watching us commoners below. They probably drink while saying ‘Look, people are like ants.’”
“As always, Ryo’s image is quite distorted.”
Abel shrugged at Ryo's delusions.
Abel is the king of the Naitorei Kingdom.
In other words, he is the most ‘important person’ in the kingdom.
By the way, Ryo is the first duke of the Naitorei Kingdom.
In other words, he is the second most ‘important person’ in the kingdom.
“Does Ryo also live in a high place and say those kinds of things?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t say that. I’m a duke who stands close to the people!”
For some reason, Ryo answered proudly.
“I don’t think I would say such things either.”
“You might not say it now. But eventually, Abel might become an arrogant king or something.”
“What’s that supposed to mean...?”
“If that happens, I will stop you by force.”
Ryo said with an unexpectedly grim expression.
“Uh, okay, then please do.”
A friend who stops the king’s rampage... It would undoubtedly make for a wonderful story.
“This is definitely beyond the scale of a fort.”
“Yeah, there are a lot of people, and it’s huge.”
Both Ryo and Abel were astonished by the scale of Fort Zalash.
“While I can’t say it’s as big as Run... it might have a population similar to Kairadi.”
“How many people does Kairadi have?”
“I think it’s around 20,000 to 30,000.”
“That’s in one fort...”
It was indeed not the scale of a ‘fort’ that they were accustomed to.
After walking for a while...
“Oh right, we need money.”
“Pardon?”
“Ryo, can you quickly produce the funds from the Eastern Nations?”
“Yeah, I can, but... it won’t be usable in this fort, right?”
“It may not work as currency, but it should as gold.”
“...Huh?”
As Abel continued on, Ryo, still tilting his head in confusion, followed him.
The ten massive carts were following along as well, but the wide road posed no issues.