The Storm at the City Gate

  In the dead of night, darkness descended upon the land. The endless fields were dotted with sparse farmhouses, their lights extinguished as the farmers, exhausted from a day's toil, yawned and drifted off to sleep. A few mischievous children, reluctant to retire early, snuck out of bed and crawled to the window, pushing aside the wooden boards that covered the openings barred by a few sticks. Their bright eyes took in the only sources of light in the darkness: the moon and the castle on the hill, its three tiers ablaze with torches that shone like night pearls, presenting a lively scene unlike anything found in the village.

  "Lord Gordon and his wife have arrived."

  "Her Ladyship Countess Cay has arrived."

  "The Archbishop of Rist has arrived." The Duke of Mason's court herald loudly announced the visiting noble, as nobles clad in a variety of bright and vibrant attire flocked to the duke's castle, their carriages packed the castle gates, their guards and attendants swarmed and jostled each other.

  "Brother, I just realized how magnificent this castle is." Among these intermediate nobles, an inconspicuous group was mixed in, which was unremarkable because of their simple and unadorned attire, with only two or three attendants by their side, and the attendants' clothes were shabby and pitiful. However, the tall man among them seemed extremely excited, and when he looked at the dozens-of-meters-high castle gate, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

  "Calm down, my brother." Ah Ruo De looked at his brother with a mixture of helplessness and embarrassment. As a modern person who had traveled through time from the 21st century, he was already used to seeing skyscrapers. The city walls that could be climbed using cloud ladders were really not impressive in his eyes. Of course, according to the construction technology of this era, such city walls were sufficient to protect the safety of the people inside.

  Arwade constantly complained about the high city wall, but the gate was designed to be so narrow that two teams could not walk side by side, and as soon as there were a few more people, they would be crowded together and unable to move. This delayed the entry of people into the castle, but the other nobles did not rush, while Arwade immediately thought of the advantages of this design. The weakest part of a castle is the gate, and once the gate is broken through, the narrow entrance can limit the enemy's invasion. It seems that the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated.

  "Who are you? Are you the invited adults?" The palace attendant looked at them with a puzzled gaze and asked, as it was rare to see nobles dressed so plainly attending a banquet. Their family crest was also not often seen, so they blocked Aru's group from proceeding.

  "We were invited by Sir Ebril to attend the banquet." Arwod explained to the court attendant.

  "That's right, let's get going." Yifu impatiently pushed his way forward, his large head causing the palace attendants to involuntarily retreat.

  "Clang~~~." Two guards holding long-handled broad axes thought that Yee Foo was going to harm the palace attendants, so they stepped forward and crossed their long-handled broad axes in front of Yee Foo.

  "Wait, Yifu." Ahuo was afraid of provoking the palace attendants and hastily pulled Yifu away. Their group didn't even get to touch the door of the banquet hall before being chased away. After all, this opportunity wasn't easy to come by; if one had to make an analogy, it would be like a wild goose being invited to a state banquet.

  "Make way, the Earl of Lauteritz is arriving." At this moment, the sound of horseshoes echoed from outside the castle, and a team with the Lauteritz family crest appeared. The vanguard, a knight wearing the Earl's family crest, shouted loudly, and people scurried to both sides. There, the Earl of Lauteritz rode proudly on a pure white horse, walking towards the castle with a flourish. Indeed, he was dressed in a fancy manner - he wore a soft hat adorned with three ostrich feathers in white, gray, and brown, a long robe embroidered with gold and silver, and a high collar with a colorful shoulder pad. Three silk ribbons in yellow, blue, and green were draped across his body. Ardo's eyes widened as he thought this outfit was truly bizarre, but this was the way medieval nobles showed off their wealth.

  "Ah, just in time, Count Lauterbach will surely settle this matter." Suddenly, the court attendant exclaimed with a clap of his hands. He had originally wanted to drive away the impudent Arwed and others, but since Arwed said he was invited by the eldest son of the Duke, Sir Eber, he didn't dare make a decision easily. Now that Count Lauterbach has arrived, why not ask him?

  "Terrible." Arwade thought to himself, how did he run into this troublemaker. The people beside him, Yifu and Sir Wendel, also furrowed their brows involuntarily.

  "Count Lauterbach." The court attendant hastily intercepted the count's progress, bowed and reported to him.

  "What's the matter?" Count Lauteritz asked with a hint of displeasure on his face, but since it was a court servant wearing the square coat-of-arms of Duke Meissen who had stopped him, he had to swallow his temper and ask slowly.

  "It's like this." The courtier hastily told Count Lauterbach the whole story and asked him what to do.

  "Huh?" Count Lauterbach narrowed his small eyes and looked at Arwed, when he saw the emblem clearly, his eyes suddenly widened and his face turned bright red, shouting loudly, waving the whip in his hand, "Drive these scoundrels away, no, catch them!"

  "What?!" Arwade was taken aback, not expecting Count Lauteritz to react so violently. He and his father and brother beside him instinctively placed their hands on the hilts of their swords at their waists.

  "It is, take them away." The court attendants did not know what had happened, but Count Lauteritz was a close relative of Duke Meissen and one of the most powerful middle-ranking nobles. His words were almost equivalent to an order from the duke himself. With a wave of his hand, the castle guards around him hastily grabbed their weapons and surrounded them.

  "You're mistaken, sir. We were indeed invited to the banquet by Lord Aber." Sir Wendel protested strongly, not wanting things to escalate, but the court attendant had already made up his mind that Sir Wendel and the others were spies trying to sneak in, and he sneered coldly.

  "Hmph, I knew it. With my Oriel eyes, how could I not have seen this crest before? It's probably some commoner trying to fake their way into nobility. Doesn't he know that impersonating a noble is punishable by hanging?"

  "Detestable, we are the Wendel family, knights conferred by the old duke himself." Sir Wendel's anger burned fiercely. He could tolerate others' misunderstandings, but the slander of his honor was more unbearable than killing him. With a loud cry, he drew out his own sword.

  "Let me take care of this kid." Eve's face was red and puffy, his chest heaving with anger that seemed to build up inside him like steam about to explode.

  "Calm down." Arwade's eyebrows were furrowed, he was trying his best to remain calm, but the sight of this arrogant courtier looking down on him made him unable to bear it. He couldn't believe that this damned courtier didn't recognize his family crest, and yet became a courtier for the Duke after undergoing strict noble training, which included identifying all noble family crests, from the Holy Roman Empire royal family to knightly families, but he was humiliating his own family just to curry favor with the powerful Count of Lautzitz.

  "What's going on here? Stop it at once." Just then, a voice came from the castle gate, and out came Sir Ebril, the eldest son of Duke Mason and first in line to inherit, accompanied by General Ralf of the court. The two had just witnessed Arwod and his companions being surrounded by guards, so they hastily shouted loudly.

  "Gentlemen, we have caught a group of scoundrels trying to sneak into the ball." Everyone except Count Lauwicz bowed hastily to the First Successor, and the courtiers even ran up to Lord Eber with fawning congratulations.

  "What?" Sir Ebor was startled, he looked at Arwode and others who were surrounded in the middle, then looked at Count Lauzits on horseback, and immediately understood what had happened, and his heart was filled with great anger.

  "Bang~~~." Abruptly, without warning, Sir Abel swung his right fist and heavily punched the face of the court attendant in front of him. The court attendant let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground, covering his mouth with his hand, spitting out a mixture of blood and teeth onto the floor.

  "Sir Wendel and his family are my honored guests, how dare you block their way, do you want to die?" Sir Eber yelled at the court attendant lying on the ground, but in fact, this sentence has a bit of a sarcastic tone, and the eyebrows of Count Lauzius riding on horseback wrinkled involuntarily.

  "I apologize, sir. I know my foolishness. Please forgive me." The court attendant hastily knelt down to beg for mercy, stretching out his hands in entreaty, but Sir Everard ignored him and walked over to Sir Wendell, leading the knight into the castle.

  When passing by that unlucky court attendant, Sir Wendel ignored him as if he was a pile of dog shit due to his age. However, If didn't have such good temper, he walked past and suddenly turned around with a ferocious expression, scaring the court attendant who tried to stand up but ended up sitting back down on the ground. Looking at the unlucky appearance of the court attendant, If burst out laughing and followed closely behind his father. Arwod walked in front of this guy with a serious face, pointing at the family crest embroidered on his clothes, saying:

  "One day you will remember this emblem, no, all the nobles of Europe will remember this emblem."

  "Ah, ah, yes, yes." The court attendant looked at Arrode's body in horror, that head like a roaring lion, unforgettable for a long time.