The Master of Uradan

Blanche was one of the largest cities in the kingdom of Daksida. The merchant caravan had crossed the forest in a couple of days before reaching it, and in front of them was the outer part of the city.

A wide road led to the western city gate several hundred meters away, embedded in a great wall with a height of about ten meters. Around this large road were different districts and large buildings, in which lived those who did not have enough money to settle inside the city.

After all, the space inside the city of Blanche was limited, and with the inhabitants always more and more numerous, as well as those coming from far away to find themselves unable to enter inside the walls, the city kept expanding until now, thus creating an outer part.

Of course, the count ruling the city could have chosen to build a new wall further away to protect his ever-growing population, but that would cost him way too much money. It was a choice made regularly by the nobles, as they didn't want to waste so much money on a useless wall.

As the caravan began to move into the town, shouts and yells could be heard from all around the place. Surrounding this road which was one of the most frequented ones in the whole city, various shops were benefiting from the density of people.

At the head of the caravan, sitting at the rear of the cart with his legs swinging in the void, Rohan eyed the people who lived nearby curiously.

Back at his duchy, he didn't have the habit to tour the city in which he lived, so the scene before him was not something that he had seen frequently.

What did shock him though, was the absence of guards? There were people everywhere; they were entering and leaving shops; they were looking at stalls; some were walking quickly in a hurry to go somewhere while some were just strolling around there. But even though there were no guards, there wasn't any chaos either.

But, apart from the lack of protection, this city seemed to be pleasant to live in. The people walking around seemed happy. A few children could be seen in the distance as they played running after each other before Rohan saw them plunge into the adjacent streets.

After a few minutes in which the merchant caravan was trying to get across the large road and pass through all the people around there, the carts finally stopped before the large entrance of the inter-city.

The large doors were always open during the day, but as soon as the sun set up, the guards would close them. This way, it was impossible to cross the wall during the night.

The gates were surrounded from both sides by two big towers rising in the sky.

The white walls, a few meters tall, were separating the intramural city where the richest citizens were living.

It didn't mean that all the inhabitants inside the walls were rich, it just meant that they were a bit richer than the other ones.

There, the merchant Delia walked out of the main cart and headed toward the guards. After a few words exchanged between them and a purse full of coins landing on the outstretched hand of the gatekeeper, the carts soon moved again and crossed the large doors.

The inner region of the city was virtually the same as the outside one, at the difference that the streets were cleaner, and patrols could be seen from time to time. The caravan was continuing its path toward the center of the city.

Meanwhile, in one of the largest buildings in the outer-city, a handful of men stood in a line in front of a man.

This man had black hair, cut in a way that those seeing it could think it was done with a sword. He had a rough square face as if it was graven from a stone.

"Explain to me exactly what happened and why the warrior is not with you before I whip and send you all to the mines for the rest of your life." His throaty voice filled the ears of the men.

He had a calm tone, but the men in front of him couldn't help but shiver.

"Um," one of them said, "to tell you the truth sir, we don't know how it did happen, we had everything ready ..."

*CLAP*

The man clapped his hands against the desk in front of him and cut off the monologue the fool was about to start.

"Get to the point, before I decide to cut out what makes you a man."

Sweat was running down the back of the one who had decided to talk. Why had he decided to speak first?

"Err ... We ..." Seeing the dangerous glint in the man's gaze, his speech came out of his mouth faster and faster. "We launched the attack on their convoy and everything was going as planned. Then there was a warrior who landed out of nowhere, and he beat the leader in a few movements. We had no choice but to flee."

"A warrior came out of nowhere? What was he like? That fat Delia couldn't have foreseen this attack though?"

"I… I don't think so sir, he was a young warrior with dark hair and a completely messed up leather armor. He looked like he had been living in the forest for days."

"Okay." He paused for a moment to think. He didn't like unexpected situations like this one, so he decided to remove this unknown element. "Search the whole city to find him. If he hasn't arrived with Delia then it's all good, but if he's in this town and you can't find him, the mines will be far from the worst you will have to go through. Do you understand me correctly?"

""Yes sir!""

"So go, and don't draw attention to yourselves if you find him." He waved them off with an irritated gesture and, as the door closed on the last bandit, he let out a sigh into the empty room.

"Always more complicated. But this damn city will be mine."

Rohan on his side was sitting on an armchair with a cup of tea in his hand. He had been surprised when the convoy had entered a large estate: he had then realized that the man he had taken to be a simple Marchand was the son of a viscount.

There were two types of nobles. Some were given land, in which case they lived in the main town in the heart of the territory they controlled. For example, the father of Rohan, although a count, owned land of barons, and the family domain was in their city which he governed.

There were also the nobles who had no territories. After all, there were only a limited number of lands while the number of nobles kept increasing.

This was the case with Delia Noir's father, the Viscount Noir who lived in Blanche.

In front of Rohan was Delia, also with a cup of tea in hand, this cup has become without its knowledge his savior. The viscount's son was talking so much that Rohan wanted to strangle him, but luckily, as his murder cravings reached a dangerous level, Delia paused and dipped his lips in the cup of tea.

After a few seconds of comfort well-deserved, Delia resumed his monologue.

"So, where was I? Ha yes! The count! The count who rules this city is dying, that's no secret. I mean, he has already lived a rather long life! If I myself could live that long that would be incredible! Ha! How many beautiful women I will have around me, and then the children too! It is important to have a lot of children, you know! I have even thought of the first names of some, the first being .. . "

Rohan lowered his head and looked at the bottom of his cup. Empty. The total void. His gaze was lost for a moment before emerging again.

"... Aiden being the last name I will choose! So as I said, the count is dying, but the problem is that he has no children! Well, he does not have any more, but I do not have the whole story. From what I know he had a son, but he died of some accident. But the point is that the heir is not easy to decide, so their family is cut in half behind two people. "

He stopped to drink a sip of tea, and seeing that Rohan had no more, called a servant to serve him. Rohan was welcoming this pause with relief. He could have summed up everything Delia had said in just two sentences. Well without the names of his future children, but who cares about that?

"And why am I telling you all this? Well because in this city there are two viscounts. My father, Viscount Noir, and Viscount Macker. You will have understood quite quickly Rohan, two families of viscounts in the same place can only wreak havoc. Well, there are other noble families of course, but they're only barons. For example, there is the family ... "

Since when had he started calling Rohan without honorific? He tried to think about it, but, remembering the amount of information he had swallowed, he ended up refraining from doing such a foolish action.

"... but the most important point is that in the family of the viscount Macker, there's a demonic girl. I'm telling you, she's the devil in person! I've also heard that she's working with gangsters. She's the daughter of the viscount, so of course, no one will say anything, and it's not like we have any proof. But here is all I know…"

Rohan was looking out the window. There, a green garden could be seen. Trees trying to intercept the sunlight, but ultimately failing, were standing of all their height, while a little field of flowers was growing under them. He turned his face toward Delia.

"... and all this ultimately led to an internal war between our two families. We each support a different member of the noble's family, so obviously, it's not pretty to see."

All this time for this? Rohan was in a full breakdown.. The count has no direct heir, so he has the choice between two people, and these two people are each supported by one of the two viscounts of the city. Why use a dozen names of his future kids and the description of 46 generations of baron families to simply say that?