Chapter 944 (2/2)
Lily’s face almost turned green. “What’s he doing?”
Hao Ren saw the old scholar was busy fiddling with the levers and steering. Gritting his teeth, he hissed. “….He’s gonna drift!”
All along the dust ridden wasteland, two rickety art museum exhibits kicked up a storm of dust and dirt as they darted across the landscape. The deafening roar of the engines echoed throughout the empty wilds. Two scholars sat at the front of their vehicles, slamming the accelerator with all their might as they cursed each other. The elderly Master Orrow could not win a shouting match, so he focused on slamming the throttle with practiced ease. The old ‘tank’ had managed to overtake the Eisenstadt’s bone tank and leave it in the dust. At the same time, the Eisenstadt scholar hammered the horn repeatedly, like a enraged bull not giving up its chase.
Master Orrow shouted at Willy. “That bastard! He has a horn! If your father would have given me a little more authority, I could have installed a new horn for the Steelbeast!”
Hao Ren was already driven to a daze by the roar of the engines. He wanted to yell at the old scholar. “Just listen to noise this vehicle is making! The engine itself would have echoed through the entire street! A horn may not even be as loud as that rickety wheels! What good does installing one do? A musical accompaniment?!”
The insane, bizzare and outright freakish race continued for who knows how long. Hao Ren only remembered the latter part of the journey was like the world being smothered by dust and engine noise. But it seems like the temporary peace accord was real, and while the Eisenstadt soldiers continued leering at them, like their driver did, there were no contact made between the two. After a long and insane journey across the waitlist, the two vehicles had safely reached their destination. They had arrived at the end of this enclosed space. The Furnace of the Ancestors stood proudly before them.
A loud “KACHAK!” later, the Steelbeast stopped amidst the smoke and dust. The nails and wires rattled wildly. The rickety old vehicle stopped proudly by the roadside, as it showed off its glorious journey to the place. Not only was all its wheels still in place, even the carriage was in one piece.
The Eisenstadt bone tank too stopped beside the Steelbeast. Some of the bones on the carriage had already came off during the wild ride across the wasteland. A few soldiers grumbled as they noticed the missing bones and wondered how were they going to replace them.
Master Orrow swung his robes as he got off the chair. The moment he got off the vehicle, he immediately hunched at the speed one’s eye could catch before trudging slowly towards Willy. Coughing softly, he spoke. “Children, we’re here.”
“….”
It seems like the old man’s buff had just ran out, and it got dispelled the moment he got off the vehicle!
The Eisenstadt soldiers threw Willy and Master Orrow an angry stare, but with the peace accord in place, and this was the area closest to the Furnace of the Ancestors, even the ‘barbaric’ Eisenstadtians would not pick a fight here. So the Viking-like warriors clad in leather cuirass and axes only threw angry glances at their erstwhile competitor. Their focus however quickly shifted towards Hao Ren and his crew. Their odd clothing would have made them the center of attention anywhere they went.
Yet in this society where chaos was the order of the day, having just weird clothings alone would not be particulary harmful. At most you would attract greedy glances at your clean pair of clothes. If you have any self-defense capability, this was pretty much an afterthought.
“The last time I came here was for the ceremony of adulthood.” Willy hid away from the glances of the Eisenstadt soldiers before speaking to Hao Ren. “The royal city of the Kingdom of Highspire is just beside the furnance. It’s a majestic fortress and here on is royal territory. Those outsiders will not dare to do anything foolish.”
Hao Ren did not respond. His focus was fully on the Furnace of the Ancestors.