Chapter 52: Sixth Episode: Chapter 6 (2/2)

”Alright then! Do you want to take a look at it?” The duke pointed towards the world outside the window. ”Look at the people of Andrew, which in the future might even be your people.”

Oscar chuckled before he turned towards the direction his father was pointing at. The young man did not ignore the hidden meaning behind the words of his father, but he could not be bothered at the moment. Andrew, Narcissus, Knight! The young man kept repeating these few words in his heart as if they were a meditation mantra. Although his immediate situation and status were much envious by the others, he knew that right now, only one thing mattered to him the most – his mother, and this place was where her mother was buried.

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Noon, Church's year 791, the 19th day of 7th month.

The highest-ranking-escort team of the Andrew family escorted the two members of the royal family of Morisette Dynasty into Andrew Haila. At 12 o'clock on this special day, the moment the commanding officer, who stood by the side of the city gate, caught a glimpse of the knights in the front row of the welcoming cavalry, two rows of 100 knights sounded the bugle horn simultaneously at his command. Almost immediately, on both sides of the street, the people of Andrew Haila greeted the royal family with an earth-shattering cheer. The whole city fell into a passionate atmosphere that almost resembled a carnival ambiance.

After the painstaking efforts of the Narcissus people over the last four centuries, Andrew Haila had become not only a fortress that was impossible to be seized but also a sacred place in the hearts of Narcissus Knights.

The city walls of Andrew Haila was 32 meters high. One might be wonder how tall that really was? That meant that once the gates were closed, only birds could enter the city. The city was 12 kilometers long from east to west, and 10 kilometers wide from north to south. When the city's tallest wall was completely established, Andrew Haila began a strict planning of its urban construction. Unlike the open cities in other parts of Westland, although the economy and population of Andrew Haila had made great strides during its recovery period, the various buildings in the city were strictly forbidden to go beyond the compound of the city walls.

The population and economic condition of the Westland did not begin to develop vigorously until the mid-sixth century. During this period, many emerging cities were born and attracted a large number of immigrants. As a result, the influx of immigrants led to a never-ending urban construction. The walls of many cities were fundamentally neglected and the new areas constructed had long been extended beyond the city walls. In consideration of defense purposes, all countries spontaneously began to build forts near any strategic places or by the perimeters of major cities, in order to defend against possible enemies.

The Andrew family did not apply this strategy. The Persian’s reserve force was still as forceful as they were four centuries ago, and they seemed to be naturally born as knights. To be as unprotected as those in the western part of the Westland was a terrible idea. In the name of the God of Light, hopefully, those cities would never be encountered by the Persians.

In respect to this, the Andrew family strictly obeyed the ancient Acropolis construction model. Its urban construction resembled a steel barrow, as the rule of defense was prioritized in the construction of drainage systems, underground roads, water sources and grain reserves. Take Andrew Haila as an example, within the territory of its largest city, three city walls still retained their original state.

City walls were also called defensive walls. Almost all the cities in the Westland had demolished the construction of city walls, as they basically separated the urban areas into different parts which seriously hindered the traffic, and in turn, limited the development of the city to a great extent. It could be said that this was indeed a very backward construction method. However, Andrew Haila was situated in a location different from any other place. It was the front line of resistance, and every city must always be prepared to face the attack of enemies. Andrew Haila was the spirit and soul of the Andrew territory; it has never fallen into the hands of the enemy from the day it was established. Although this was strongly related to the determined resistance of the Narcissus soldiers and its people, the main reason that had it crowned as ”Undefeated Fortress” was mostly due to the grace of the indestructible high city walls. Not to mention, the hoarding forts and the trebuchet that was constantly upgraded into bigger and stronger.

Among the three defensive walls in Andrew Haila, one of them had been encountered by the Persians back around 300 years ago. However, never again since then. All the city walls were generally high, and they divided the city into four regular rectangles. Instead of saying Andrew Haila had four defensive walls, perhaps one could also say that Andrew Haila was the generic name of four separated cities.

His Royal Highness Prince O’Neil Andrew Morisette felt the change of atmosphere as he entered the clan territory. There were not many pedestrians on the road, and the city was completely hidden behind the high walls. In places where essential crops were grown, stood fortresses of all sizes, no matter large and small. Andrew had always imposed a stern control over its grown crops using the metric system unit of gram, and this regulation of supply had never changed a single bit over the years.

Upon entering Andrew Haila, the young man began to wonder if he had been brought abroad? Although the people here were absolutely speaking the language of his hometown, their clothing and facial expressions resembled the characters of a drama. The people danced and laughed exaggeratedly, as well as shared other people’s joy and happiness in a carefree manner, which mattered little to their own wellbeing.

This was the people of Andrew, the father told his youngest son. However, he still had not fully understood everything that he was seeing. Everyone filled their winnowing pans with their own products of fruits. Could it be a tribute? It seemed that sincerity and honesty should have its limitation too. The world outside of the window was like a fantasy kingdom, where people exhilarated for the appearance of knights returning from heaven and broom-riding witches. It seemed like they have had nothing else in this world but happiness.

His Royal Highness Prince O’Neil Andrew Morisette had been deeply mesmerized by the sight in front of him. He had learned about the misery of the Narcissus people as seen in countless biographies and epic works. He was told that after the dreadful battle, nine out of ten houses were destroyed, farmlands were abandoned, and people waited in long queues for the relief provided by the Andrew family. An epidemic disease spread uncontrollably, narcissus flowers withered and fell, a million bodies of sacrificed knights were buried underneath the ground. Young boys of fourteen to fifteen years old were forced to put on armor the size larger than their own body, rode on tall warhorses and headed into the brutal battlefield accompanied by their fathers and brothers. Girls were also put into the war chariots of Andrew, as they busied themselves with sewing military uniform in factories by day and polishing weapons by the afternoon. Even at night, they were not granted rest because they were demanded to bring home the unfinished jobs from the factory. Every person engaged in the production sector would be assigned rations, but the ration given was merely enough for only one day. The people suffered a food shortage during the worst situation; bread became a rarity, and it was common to survive only on a bowl of diluted water-based soup in each family!

Had the literature reported a false account? What appeared in front of the young man was one of the world’s most optimistic and toughest group of people. They lived life happily even when they were trapped in a city made of steel and fortified trapped bars. This was totally unreasonable! The young man did not even spot the slightest hint of misery. All he witnessed was an insanely crazy picture of life entangled in honor and dedication.

”The people of Andrew are indeed the happiest people in the world!” Finally, Duke Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel told his youngest son proudly.

”No! If they really become my people in the future, then I do not want them to live this way,” Oscar replied to his father in a serious tone.

”Oh? Then what do you want for them?”

”I do not know for now. However, I just know that this is not real happiness, at least behind this kind of happiness was exchanged by great sacrifices.”

”So, what can you do for them?”

”I do not know. I just know that if there is something I can do for them, then I must do my best!”

The duke smiled at the answer. He did not continue inquiring his youngest son, but he already knew that the child's heart was filled with grand hopes.

The streets in Andrew Haila were extremely narrow. The Narcissus Knight formation had chosen one of the widest one to stop the cavalry for a short while. Excluding the crowd on both sides of the street, it could still accommodate five horses lined up in parallel.

The design was made entirely out of defense considerations. The strategy was obvious in the design of the architectures around as well. Apart from the Church of Light, all the other buildings were flat-roofed, and they almost all of them maintained at a uniform height. From the distance, square blocks of inequivalent sizes could be seen arranged neatly on the roadside. Each building was a pillbox, but the residences of the aristocratic were extremely extravagant. These grand buildings were comparable to a fortress, set up with roofs that were built for archery battlement purposes and a staircase connected to it. As a result, the city's sky was connected with the top of all these buildings, and the enemies that entered this territory would be attacked from up above the sky and from down beneath the earth. Over here, there was lesser of Dulin's uproar and chaos, and missing Vielonna's romantic atmosphere. However, one thing was for sure - there would never be a shortage of barricades, hiding places for the soldiers, and huge stones that could block the road and defeat the enemy.

Finally, the Narcissus Knights opened the gate to the city walls. Above the walls were flooded with excited and enthusiastic people. They prepared innumerable narcissus, and when the troops of the princess and prince passed by the wide corridor of the city gates, people showered them with countless petals of narcissus flowers that fluttered in the air like snow.

After they passed through the last city wall, the cavalry retreated to both sides, and the troop came to a halt in the middle of the road.

Oscar had a vague impression about this place, he remembered it as the only square of the entire Andrew Haila. The square was a special place of the city. When His Grand Eminence Pope Paul I first arrived in the city, the person closest to the God of Light realized that there was no place in the entire city that he could congregate the public to preach the religious teachings. Hence, the church donated golds to build this square, which was later named after the pope as ”Miracle”.

Miracle Square covered an area of a mere 10,000 square meters. When the escort team finally dispersed themselves, the people of Andrew Haila could only gather in the far corner of the city walls, sandwiched among each other to get the perfect view.

After the long wait, the honorable guests of Andrew family eventually descended from the carriage. The Duke, Lady Duchess Celia, and the Young Lady were among the familiar faces known by the public, hence their appearance produced a loud but warm cheer among the crowd. The chaotic waves of cheer seemed to have set the scattered petals around the air to a new height.

Alanis was no stranger to this kind of loud welcoming scene. She wore an over-elaborated palace dress, and on her royal blue cape was embroidered the totem of Morisette Royal Family – a Golden Lion. In her hand, she held a cane symbolizing the power of the emperor, which was the only treasure her father had ever given to her. But of course, she would have to return it to the Royal Secretariat when she returned to Dulin.

The prudent Royal Highness Princess followed closely behind the Duke of Andrew. She noticed that the Andrew family was indeed a highly combatant armed force. For instance, the guards that were consisted of only paladins; no one would doubt the ability and strength of the paladins trained by Andrew family.

The Duke boarded the high podium at the north end of the square under the escort of multiple knights. The setting of the high podium was rather confusing - a wide stone wall was inlaid around the circular walkway, and the side of the stone walls and the exterior city walls were connected at 90-degree angle. Following the duke’s footsteps, the princess also boarded the podium. The young prince went after her. The bright girl figured out an intriguing phenomenon after she stood on the podium. The stone walls beside the high podium seemed to have blocked out the chaos of the outside world. In here, the loud cheer that came from the crowd sounded dull and anomalous.

As the call of bugle horn sounded briefly and forcefully, the crowd immediately quiet down like a trained army. The princess and the prince almost thought they had hallucinated the instantaneous peace and calm.

The Duke performed a precise military salute, and all the knights in the square which held different army banners uniformly by hand moved them down to an equivalent angle.

Petals of narcissus quietly fluttered around in the air. At this moment, the entire Andrew Haila seemed to have lost its life.

”Andrew!” The Duke had finally spoken. The princess eventually found out why the square was named ”Miracles” when she heard the duke's voice echoed effortlessly in all directions at the same time. The young girl suddenly remembered the passage she had read before in the ancient books which talked about the whispering gallery.

”In all honor, Andrew would like to welcome our most distinguished guest, Her Royal Highness Princess Alanis Alfa Morisette, the third daughter of His Great Majesty the Emperor of Titan Alpha III! The people of Andrew and the army of Andrew, I hope with your most sincere heart and warmest cheers, we could express our greatest admiration to the princess!”

The moment the duke’s voice faded, the crowd broke into enthusiastic applause and loud cheers.

Alanis presented herself at the duke’s motion, and the crowd was quiet once again. The princess was somewhat amazed at the discipline of the Narcissus people, it could not be compared to those ordinary citizens of Dulin!

”Ah ... I ...” the princess stuttered. She suddenly became a little stunned as she had never done a speech like this before, especially not in front of such a large crowd.

”I ... I sincerely thank His Excellency the Duke of the Andrew family, the Narcissus Knights of the Andrew family, and the person of Narcissus for your... uh ... affectionate to me! On behalf of my father Alfa III the Majestic Emperor of Titan, I would like to convey his regards to his people. All of you have not failed to live up to the glory of God. You have proved yourself to be... the loving sons of God! You are all Titan’s most noble, and most loyal warrior!”

Even though the crowd cheered empathetically for her successful speech, the cheeks of Her Royal Highness Princess were already reddened with embarrassment. She felt that her stuttering speech had embarrassed the face of the royal family. Duke Andrew was all to blame for this! Why had no one told her that she would be asked to give a speech!

Dortmund smiled encouragingly at the princess. In fact, this was just an official form of the ceremony, the people of Andrew did not like meaningless speeches anyway.

”I believe we all have been waiting and discussing this moment for a long time. The young man, the one who was sent to prison for the sake of preserving the dignity of Andrew and the purity of Narcissus has finally returned!”

The princess was a little jealous of the young prince. The crowd below him were crazy over him. Was he really that popular among the people?

Oscar stood up to the podium and waited for a long time to begin speaking, but the people of Narcissus did not seem like they intended to stop cheering for him. These people tossed flowers toward the podium, and some even raised aloft banners that were written with a variety of affectionate words. The scene had made the young man grin from ear to ear.

Without a choice, the bugler sounded the horn once again, and the crowd eventually quieted down after three calls.

The young prince took two steps forward until he came to the edge of the high platform. From where he stood, it seemed like the whole world was looking at him. He suddenly accustomed himself to admire this feeling of adoration by millions of people.

”Tell me! Who am I?” The prince spoke softly, but the Narcissus crowd responded loudly by calling the boy's name.

”Louder!” shouted the prince!

”O’Neil Andrew Morisette!”

”And louder!” cried the young man with his deep hoarse voice!

”O’Neil Andrew Morisette!” Finally, countless voices gathered into one, and the entire Andrew Haila was filled with this name!

”Thank you!” The prince retreated back. What a strange way to end a speech!

People looked at each other and wondered what this meant? But some people had come to understand it. He was O’Neil Andrew Morisette! As someone from Narcissus who was surnamed Andrew, even though he was greatly hurt by his tormented past, but as long as the people of Narcissus still remembered his name in their minds, all of the sacrifices were worth it. Just like any other children of Andrew, he lived up his name to dignity and glory!

He could hear some clapping for him, but there was only one! However, soon that one sound became louder and louder. Later, whistles and cheers poured in like a thunderstorm. The people of Narcissus had gone crazy for him! They used all their strength to shout out the name of the young man!

”Oscar!” ”Oscar!” ”Oscar!” ”Oscar!” ”Oscar!” ”Oscar!”

Kamille Rayen signaled a few knights next to him, and they rushed to the high podium. Together, they raised the fat young man high up in the air, and walked into the crowd!

The knight's move shocked the young fat man! But he soon adapted to it! The people of Narcissus flocked forward and eagerly raised their arms. Everyone chanted his name as if it was a mantra, and they all wanted to touch this little Narcissus hero!

The knights moved forward in the crowd with great difficulty, as numerous hands extended toward the elated boy, obstructing the knights' vision. Yes! Oscar had never been happier! Smiles bloomed across his delighted face like beautiful narcissus flowers.

”Welcome back! Your Royal Highness Prince!”

”Long live the prince!”

”You are a hero, my royal highness!”

”Thank you!” ”Thank you!” ”Thank you all!” The teenager responded to everybody who blessed him and tried his best to tightly clench each pair of hands that attempted to touch his.

It was nice to be back home! In the sea of people, O’Neil Andrew Morisette thought to himself.