Whispers of the Gods

Chapter 17 Guntar I

"Wow, my lord, take a look."

Farrow's brown eyes shone with wonder.The black curly hair was up and down with the wind, revealing the freckles on his face.

"Madkalin is really a noble and beautiful city! I don't know how many temples and palaces there are in it!"

Guntar Kavalek rode his horse and stopped in front of the west gate of Madkalin City, and was so shocked by the magnificent scene before him that he was speechless.

In the north of the outer wall of Madkalin City, there is an endless wheat field, with a hint of golden yellow in the fresh green, shaking in the breeze.

To the south of the city wall is the Iris River, which runs through the center of the Hastza Empire. The clear and slow water stream shines like a rainbow under the sunlight, just like its name.

The Iris River starts from the southern peak of the Dragon's Back Mountains, passes through Dragon's Rest City, Yanguan Castle, Madkalin City, Midell City, and Moon Harbor City along the way, and finally flows into the Luxi Sea in the north of the empire.

Houses are scattered on both sides of the Iris River in the south of Madkalin City, and small merchant ships travel between small ports.Scents of exotic spices and rosemary are in the air.

The city of Madkalin itself is surrounded by a moat, and there is a higher inner wall inside the outer wall made of limestone blocks. There are dozens of square and octagonal towers on the two walls with crenels. There are arrow slits and crenels on the top of the tower.

Beyond the walls was also visible the rotunda towering over the center of the city, which must have been Madkalin's Hippodrome.

"It's an amazing sight," Guntar said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Guntar spent 22 years of his life in Black Peak Fort. Although there are natural scenery of Black Peak Mountain, Amber Lake and sparse forest there, it is far from the luxurious style that Madkalin City will come to.

I heard that Madkalin City was built in imitation of the old capital of the empire, Xingyu City. I don't know what kind of beautiful scene there is.

"Guntar!" Under the outer wall of the west gate, a tall gray-haired man waved to them. He was wearing a black cloth gown and leather high boots.

"Uncle Beldan!" Guntar dismounted, handed the reins to Farrow, and walked towards Beldan with a smile.

He gave his uncle a warm hug, "Father, mother, me, Duoduo, Umberta, Letif, they miss you very much, Uncle Berdan."

Ever since Beldan left Black Peak City for Madkalin City when he was less than ten years old, he had never seen his uncle again.

Uncle Beldan put his hands on his shoulders and said with a smile: "Let me take a good look at your face, haha, you really have grown up."

"I'm already a knight!" Guntar said proudly, "Commander Redeger personally awarded me this title!"

Uncle Beldan smiled even more happily, "And an Amber Knight! I'm happy for you, nephew. Few people can become knights at your age."

Guntar beckoned Farrow to come over, "This is my squire, Farrow."

"Hello, Lord Beldan." Farrow bowed his head respectfully.

"How do you do, boy," said Uncle Beldan, "I hope my nephew hasn't made things difficult for you."

"No, not at all," Farrow shook his head hastily, "Master Guntar has always been very kind to me."

"What a fine horse," Uncle Beldan sighed looking at the white horse led by Farrow, "Does he have a name?"

"Bai Xue." Guntar replied, "His name is Bai Xue. Duoduo wanted to call him carrot, but I refused."

"Hahaha," Uncle Beldan laughed, "Your brother is still so cute. Come on, let's go into the city and say, you must want to see what the palace looks like."

Walking into the west gate, Guntar finally saw the appearance of the city of Madkalin for the first time in his life: people of all shapes and sizes passed by on the cobbled streets, shirtless men carried sacks, and their skin was shining ; artisans with pots and jugs laughed and spat on the ground; priests in white turbans passed silently by them.

The buildings along the street are three or four storeys high. The street is not wider than that of Black Peak Castle, but it is much noisier than that of Black Peak Castle.

Compared with the fragrance outside the city, the smell inside the city is hard to describe.It smelled of fish, animal skin, sweat, animal excrement, salt, and wine.

The only scents come from the street perfumers, whose stalls line the end of the street, selling pepper, spices, cinnamon, ambergris, musk, frankincense, myrrh, balsam and indigo, and lapis lazuli , nicotine, paraffin, and many herbs and items that Guntar could not name.

"Perfumers set up stalls on the street, and they are very close to the square. This is to let the fragrance in their shops float to the statue of Nemir." Uncle Berdan introduced.

Guntar looked towards the end of the street, and the statue of Nemir was standing at the intersection of entering the square.

"I also hope that there are statues of Atenos like in Black Peak Castle." Guntar said as he walked.

"His Majesty Emperor Wigrich doesn't like the God of War, and it's not as martial as the Amber Knights' Castle Black Peak." Beldan said, "There are quite a few statues of the God of Justice and Law, Quonos in the city." At least, it was built with His Majesty's funding."

"How are you doing here, Uncle Berdan?" asked Guntar. "Have you ever fought any powerful fighters?"

"Unfortunately, not." Uncle Beldan said with a wry smile, "Life in the palace is very ordinary, maybe even more boring than in Black Peak Castle."

"How is it possible? Aren't you the master of swordsmanship in the empire?" Guntar asked suspiciously.

Father Odwald always talked about his elder brother at banquets or banquets, saying that he was the best swordsman in the Hastza Empire, and even His Majesty the Emperor in Madkalin would invite him to teach himself sons.

"I'm just in charge of the sword skills of His Highness the Pope," Beldan said, "His Majesty the Emperor is a peace-loving monarch. Under his rule, I don't need to fight with my old bones."

Guntar was a little depressed. He had never experienced war in his life, and he didn't know what kind of experience it would be.

He missed hearing the war stories told to him by Uncle Beldan and his fathers when he was a child, telling how they fought bravely on the dry land in the south.

He wants to have the wonderful war experience like his fathers, and the battlefield is the place to prove his ability and gain glory.

"What's the matter, boy?" asked Uncle Beldin softly.

"Do you miss fighting, Uncle?" Guntar asked. "Not the kind of wooden sword vs. wooden sword competition on the training ground, but the real steel and steel, blade to blade duel on the battlefield."

Uncle Beldan's eyes widened slightly, and he paused for a while.Then he smiled and said: "The battlefield is like a thing in my previous life to me, and I am very satisfied with my current life."

(End of this chapter)