It's been several days since the caravan left the bloody battlefield and was just about the reach their destination, but there was a eerie silence surrounding them this whole time. The people had a grim expression on their faces, reason being different for different individuals.
The soldiers because, most of them had lost their good friends they had for most of their life.
The Elder because of the loss of more than half of the troops in his watch.
The students because of their unforgettable first memory about survival.
Everyone had their own tales to tell in their own language while none beign the wiser about the other.
Arthur was also sitting in his foremost carriage and was looking outside at the scenes as he usually does.
Two more days passed just like that, the cycles of day and night repeated itself and the group continued their journey.
One day, as the first first rays of dusk shone on the group, the driver of Arthur's carriage woke the children up and said
" Wake up kids or you're gonna miss this view. We have reached the Reiner Barony!"
The kids slowly got up, with some rubbing their eyes while some muttering something in a barely audible voice. When they looked at the city almost hundred times bigger than their village, they were awed and excitement bubbled within them to explore it whole. The carriage driver glanced at that look and shook his head with a smile.
"Don't be happy just yet, we are still half a day away from the place." The driver's voice resonated in the kids ears, breaking whatever dreams they were having.
The caravan continued for another half a day untill it reached the entry gate of the Reiner Barony.
Arthur saw two ways to enter the Barony, the first one had a long line of carriages just like his forming a long line. While the second one had was almost empty except the lavishly decorated carriages passing through it occasionally.
He couldn't understand why the people were going through the second way. Therefore he made in way towards the front of his carriage from inside, where the driver was seated.
He saw that the driver was alone and sat by his side. The driver looked at him and said
" Ask what you want to know."
"How do you know I wanted to ask something?" Arthur asked, his face covered with the experession of astonishment.
" Well, your face says it all. Now ask" The driver said with a laugh
" Okay. Why are the people not going in through the other side when it's almost empty?" Arthur asked
"Well... You see those luxurious carriages?" The driver asked in return. When he got a nod from the other side he continued
" Those luxurious carriages have nobles sitting in them and that passage is built specifically for nobles to travel without wasting their time. In fact every city, be it from a Barony or a Duchy, have these special entrances." The driver said and Arthur asked his next question as he pointed his fingers at the guards interacting with carriages.
" What are they doing with the carriages?"
"Oh, they are just collecting payment in exchange for the entry in the Barony. But don't worry, we don't have to pay them."
"Why?" Arthur blurted out
" Because we are here for the purpose of awakening of you kids, in fact every person that came here for their awakening doesn't have to pay a single penny while entering the city. The Shane Kingdom has declared it as a crime and the punishment for it is rether severe." The driver explained in detail
" Does that mean we aren't the only one here for awakening?"
" You are indeed right, there are more children here than our whole village's population combined just for their awakening." The man said which left Arthur awestrucked.
"You're kidding right? There can't be that much people in a city....right?" Arthur asked in disbelief.
"Well last time I heard, there were 80 billion people in this world and that was the estimates of a mage four hundred years. There are prone to be more than that after all these years." The man said as even he himself became amazed by the numbers.
" Forget it, you'll just hurt your head thinking about all of this."
Arthur nodded in a daze and thought about the money that even small nobles like Baron Reiner made if the minimum amount of people that pay entrance fee are those that his eyes can see right now. His thought lead him to a single conclusion. He'll be filthy rich.
But he shook his head out of that thought because he knew that dreaming of becoming a noble was impossible to him when he hasn't even awakened his abilities.
Therefore, Arthur waited silently by the driver's side. After two or three hours, it was their turn. Arthur looked at the guards who were adorned with a somewhat rusty armour and their sharp weapons having a little blunt edges. All in all, the Barony was either poor or the corruption here was thriving.
He saw the guards came near his group and the driver showed his a stone pass like thing. The next thing he saw was the guard opening the door with any questions and him successfully entering the Reiner Barony.
The carriage driver started going in the west of the city and that made a kid question
" Mister, why are we going west?"
" The Baron has made living arrangements for everyone that is going to appear in the awakening test." Said the carriage driver.
Arthur still sat by the driver's side as they went towards the west and reached their designated place in two hours.
The carriages stopped and the students started taking their possessions off the carriages. Arthur had just a light backpack with him, therefore he put it on his shoulders and walked out.
The carriage driver came to his side and pointed at a direction as he speaked
"Look" he said
Arthur looked in the direction he was pointing and saw groups of carriages pulled by the same mounts on which he rode on till now.
What's interesting about those carriages were that they had cages on them and in those cages were individuals of different races having barely the energy to walk, as if they didn't get food for several days to eat.
Some of the cages were covered with black cloths and the visibility in those were very low.
Arthur asked about those cages to the carriage driver who was by his side
" What are those cages for? It's not like they can get away even without those."
" Those cages aren't there to prevent them from escaping, they are there to show the identity of those people to everyone." Replied the carriage driver without diverting his eyes from the cages.
" Who are those people?" asked Arthur
" They're slaves, most likely taken when their kingdoms or tribes were defeated in war. " Said the driver as he muttered again
"One should know the consequences of war before starting it."
Arthur fully agreed with this thought but forgot about this matter as slaves were more common in this world than carriages on road.
Arthur saw as the slave caravan coming towards his group's side, Arthur saw different types of slaves as they passed him.
When he was bored after seeing all of them, Arthur was about to turn around and go somewhere else when something or rather someone caught his eyes, prompting him to stop.