Chapter 32 Gnolls <TOC> Chapter 34 A 100 Million Lire Reward for a Wanted Man
Translator: SumTLMan
Rayne’s knowledge of this world was still very shallow. After all, he had spent most of his past year training with the “Demon Weasel Bandits” and had no contact with the outside world.
Even when Ymir told him her real name, he only thought she was the daughter of a great noble family, not the famous Grand Princess, [Frost Sword Maiden] of the Omagh Empire, Ymir Spoglin!
The only reason he doesn’t know who she is, was that he’s never heard of her at all.
After all, how could he have the leisure of caring about who the names of the countless members of the Emperor’s Royal Family were?
In his previous world, with all information available at one’s fingertips, he couldn’t even remember who the sister of the President of the United States was called. As one of the people at the bottom, who the President’s seven aunts or uncles were called had nothing to do with him.
Because in his past life, these famous people were essentially in two different worlds, and neither side would ever have any intersection with each other!
Also, because Ymir’s face was covered before, Rayne hadn’t associated her with the mysterious woman from the “Hyacinth Tavern”.
After all, he was so sure that the Omagh Empire would definitely wipe out the Bandit Alliance. Even if she had been ambushed by [White Wolf] Barzel, that woman couldn’t possibly appear alone and so seriously injured in the “Bakaaya Highlands”.
Rayne would never have imagined that the Grand Princess would nearly be killed by political intrigue from within the Spoglin Royal Family.
……
Without a detailed map, Rayne’s rough estimate of a straight-line distance of three to five days had actually taken eight days of travel.
Instead of finding “Snow Hawk Keep” at the expected location on the eighth day, they encountered a long migration convoy.
It was a long trackless steam-powered train, about thirty cars long. The long train was covered in thick armour that was almost completely enclosed, resembling a large black steel centipede crawling on the wilderness.
Rayne and his companion had appeared out of the foggy wilderness just in time to come across the train parked for resupply and maintenance.
He walked over and was looking for anyone to ask why there was no sign of the “Snow Hawk Keep”, which was supposed to be nearby.
Rayne was taken aback when he walked up.
He saw that there were so many people around!
It looked like the train carriages were all tightly closed, but there were at least hundreds of people sitting on the roof of each carriage.
The sight looked a bit like one of the super trains of Rayne’s past life, where the roof was filled with parcels and passengers of all shapes and sizes sneaking onto the train wherever they could fit themselves in.
This wouldn’t usually be the case. After all, without the shelter of armour protecting these people on the roofs, they were completely exposed and became easy prey for magical beasts.
This one steam-powered train was a little too crowded for its own good.
…….
The sudden appearance of two strange travellers coming out from the fog also drew the people’s attention on the train.
“Hey, buddy, are you lost?”
“Yo… There’s a chick too, take off your mask and show daddy your face…”
“Haha, these two weren’t just having some fun in the woods and found out that the train they were on had departed after they finished their business, right?”
“…”
It was true that it was rare to see lone humans in the wilderness without a group behind.
After all, without the shelter of a steam-powered machine, it was unlikely that the vast majority of humans would survive through the night on this crisis-ridden Ice Ridge Wilderness.
The stowaways on the carriage roofs hooted and hollered at them in vulgar language as they watched Rayne and his companion approaching.
Especially when they saw Ymir, a woman whose graceful figure was still shapely even in her baggy clothes… The bachelors, moreover, whistled while wasting their breath catcalling.
Not that there was any malice in it, this was just the usual greeting style of the lower classes of this world.
Rayne had been in the bandit gang long enough to have seen this usual sight all before.
But he turned his face to look at Ymir, and it was apparent that the corner of her brow was slightly furrowed, obviously quite uncomfortable with this vulgar way of being greeted.
Rayne didn’t intend on staying long as he had called out towards the people on the roof of the carriages: “Hey… Do you guys know where ‘Snow Hawk Keep’ near this place has gone?”
“Ah… You’re here looking for ‘Snow Hawk Keep’?”
The man on top of the carriage was amazed to hear this and asked several rhetorical questions in quick succession: “Don’t you know? Which rock did you crawl out from that stopped you from hearing about such big news?”
This man’s tone suggested to Rayne that something big had happened in the few days they had been traversing the wilderness. So, what had actually happened?
He explained: “I’m a doctor. My wilderness hunting partner and I were attacked by the wilderness’s magical beasts a few days ago and got separated from each other… So, we wanted to go to ‘Snow Hawk Keep’ to see if they were there.”
Sure enough, his identity as a doctor worked well everywhere.
With that said, the men on the carriage roof stopped yelling and stood in awe.
The man replied again: “Oh… Well, you’ll be disappointed. ‘Snow Hawk Keep’ departed five days ago to round up the rebels because they were conscripted by the Empire…”
Someone else interjected: “Yes! Many of us here were originally from the ‘outer city’ around ‘Blazing Steel Fortress’. We weren’t qualified to follow the mechanical city, so our only option was to follow this train and migrate elsewhere…”
The inner cities of the steam-powered mechanical cities were limited in size, and permanent residents usually had to pay a large sum of money to qualify for residency, which was a bit like buying a house and settling down in his previous life.
The “outer city people” were usually the poor who couldn’t afford to pay the entrance fee for entering a city. They lived in shacks built at the foot of the mechanical city walls where they were more or less sheltered from the wilderness.
When they were forced to migrate in the face of war, they were naturally not entitled to follow the city.
Therefore, these people on the carriage roofs were all war refugees, and it’s no wonder there were so many stowaways on the carriage roofs…
“‘Snow Hawk Keep’ is gone?”
Rayne felt like his luck had run out as his mind was trying to figure out where else to go.
On the other hand, Ymir focused on the conversation’s information and let out a soft whisper: “Rounding up the rebels?”
Where in the Empire did the rebels come from, apart from the bandits?
…….
If it were two people with unknown origins, the train wouldn’t have even opened its doors at all.
After all, an encounter with the spies from the bandit gangs would’ve spelt doom for the entire train convoy.
But Rayne, a doctor in a white coat, had a “friendly aura” about him. As they were talking, a heavy door opened, and a small red-nosed steward in a train uniform emerged.
The steward’s name was Paul “Red Nose”, and he had a similar position as a ticket inspector on the train and took charge of the last seven train carriages.
Paul looked at Rayne, who was wearing a raven gas mask, and asked: “Did you just say… You’re a doctor?”
Rayne didn’t dare to be presumptuous. He wasn’t a real qualified doctor at this level, so he corrected him: “To be precise, I’m an apprentice doctor.”
“Oh… That’s great!”
Paul didn’t seem to mind too much as a flash of excitement appeared on his face: “We happened to need a doctor on the train. If you are willing to provide some medical assistance on our train carriage, I can offer both of you two seats in one of the carriages free of charge.”
The implication was clear: If you’re a fake doctor or cannot give the corresponding medical treatment, you’ll probably have to endure the cold wind like the stowaways on the roof of the train carriages.
After all, both Rayne and Ymir were only looking for a human gathering place. Neither of them had any plans on taking a train ride on their long journey.
Rayne was in no hurry to say yes but asked: “Mr Paul, apart from ‘Snow Hawk Keep’, where is the nearest mechanical city around here?”
“Unfortunately… Doctor.”
Paul spread his hands and said: “Because of the war, all mechanical cities in this thousand-kilometre area were forced into the draft. If you miss this train belonging to our ‘Thorn Birds Chamber of Commerce’. It’ll probably be very dangerous for you and your companion to continue travelling in the wilderness.”
After a pause, he continued: “As you can see, we’re actually sold out of tickets for this train, and if it weren’t for the fact that you are an honourable doctor, this humble steward wouldn’t have opened the train door.”
Rayne’s eyes twitched as he listened and felt a little troubled by this new piece of information.
If the human cities thousands of kilometres around had all gone to war, where were they supposed to go?
Perhaps the only way to leave was to get on this train?
Thinking about this, Rayne looked at Ymir beside him, wanting to ask the big boss for her opinion.
But at that moment, Ymir looked a little off, clearly not focused on this issue.
She, who hadn’t taken the initiative to speak at all throughout the journey, took the rare step of speaking up and asked Paul: “Could you please tell me if it’s true what you said earlier about ‘Snow Hawk Keep’ fighting against the rebels?”
The voice was surprisingly pleasant, and Paul was also amazed at the question.
Although Ymir wore a gas mask that only revealed a pair of turquoise blue eyes, one could guess that she has a stunningly beautiful face.
Paul took one look at her and replied: “Yes… The Emperor has issued a decree to the entire Empire that Bath Asconius, the First Imperial Commander [Grand General Stormwind], has rebelled. The major war mechanical cities belonging to the three southern provinces have been ordered to gather and suppress him. All mechanical cities in the region have been ordered to assemble and round up the rebels…”
“What?!”
Ymir’s tone snapped upon hearing his words, and a bitterly cold aura suddenly erupted from her gaze.
[Grand General Stormwind] Bath was her most loyal subject and the best military commander in the Empire. He would never rebel!
Thinking of her own inexplicable encounter when she was ambushed by the enemy Empire’s Vampire Prince, she had a good idea of what the Empress was up to when she heard this piece of news!
The political landscape in the Omagh Empire is about to change…
Chapter 32 Gnolls <TOC> Chapter 34 A 100 Million Lire Reward for a Wanted Man