Chương 33: Chapter 33

~Talfen, the capital of Coldshore~

Fortunately, Andras and Randall were assigned to a corner of the palace's outer walls, where no one would notice if they went missing for a short while.

The city square was truly not that far away and as soon as they could sneak out of their patrol posts, Randall flagged down a carriage heading for the city square.

It was not out of place to find palace guards at the city square, most of them frequenting the square to visit taverns or brothels during their free time as a way to unwind.

Andras and Randall didn't have the luxury of time to do much more than just get a look around which was more than enough for Andras.

A good number of the people in the square seemed to know Randall, which was expected if he grew up in Talfen.

The stores here were more pristine unlike the stalls of Brightwater market, there were hardly any stalls selling spices or the like. Merely cloth stores, bookstores, the occasional blacksmith and potter, and the numerous taverns and brothels.

They made it back to their patrol posts in good time, lucky to be able to resume their patrol before one of the higher-ranking guards came to spy on them. No doubt hoping to catch them sneaking to the city square, which would get them in trouble.

After Andras' prowess with a sword had spread through the ranks of palace guards like wildfire, the set of guards who had just finished their training had lost their chance to push him around.

Randall, by association, was also freed from the pesky guards who couldn't just leave the guards in training well alone. Especially bothering Randall because he was often all alone.

They knew that they couldn't face Andras head on so they were planning on getting them in trouble with the authorities.

"Eh? Did something happen?" Randall spoke up, causing the guard that had been sneakily watching them from behind a pillar to jump in fright.

"N-No, not at all." The guard was forced to say, his expression darkening with anger.

"Then shouldn't you be at your patrol post?" Randall could say because he had a menacing Andras right beside him.

The spying guard gritted his teeth but swallowed back his retort and walked away, steam literally pouring out his ears.

"You shouldn't taunt them," Andras said calmly, a blank expression on his face like he didn't particularly care about either turnout.

Randall just waved him away. "They're a bunch of spineless scum, they'll leave us alone when it gets too bothersome to keep on bullying us."

Andras' response was silence, his black eyes staring in the direction that the spying guard had gone in.

Now that the visit to the city square was out of the way, Randall went back to the novelty of patrolling the inner court.

"I've heard that compared to the inner court, the rest of the palace is like the city." He gushed, dropping to the ground to lean against the wall, his hand behind his head.

Andras raised a brow. "I see."

He was curious to see the inner court and maybe a little interested but Randall was over the roof.

"Of course, that's where the royal family lives after all, what do you expect?" He boasted.

Andras hummed, wondering if the visiting royalty that he had bumped into earlier today would be in the inner court as well.

"They say that the pillars are made of gold and the ponds are made of crystal." Randall rode right on.

It seemed a bit excessive to Andras but he let his talkative companion have his fun.

"And I know you're a foreigner so you probably haven't heard the legend of the Princess of Coldshore, Princess Aethel," Randall said her name reverently like a prayer.

Andras threw a glance at him, he was of the opinion that females, in general, made Randall very anxious. He made no sounds or comment to show that he was interested in the legend but Randall had long gotten used to his silence.

"It is said that she is so immensely beautiful that her beauty blinds men when they set their eyes on her." He sighed blissfully.

Andras frowned, that sounded troublesome. "How does anyone know what she looks like if she blinds them as soon as they try to look at her?" He asked out of the blue.

Randall was so shocked that the atmosphere that he had weaved around himself with the telling of the legend dissipated. "W-What?"

No one had ever thought to ask that question before.

"I-I don't know." He stuttered slightly, trailing off like he was seriously considering Andras' words.

He personally didn't care for the legend as he wasn't interested in women, they made him nervous. It was just a fun story that the citizens of Coldshore liked to tell. It was about a greatly beautiful Princess, no one bothered to ask logical questions then, it also helped that very few people had actually seen her face.

At least, Andras got Randall to stop talking about it and they spent the rest of their patrol in relative silence. They would be assigned to another station for patrol before dinner and after that, they would patrol the inner court, he was looking forward to it.

He didn't make any mention of it after the first time he asked Randall but he planned to be on guard the entire night. They would not get many chances to patrol the inner court. If he was going to try his hand at doing something that would reward him with the ultimate promotion, now was the time.

It was unlikely that there would be an assailant the first night that he would patrol the inner court, much more an assailant attacking nobility. It didn't hurt to make an effort however, he would just have to be fully prepared for the unexpected.

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