When the artificial gravity stabilized, Hao Ren and the rest continued their journey towards Hearthfire. Now Willy knew why he did not see any Eisenstadt or Freiburg soldiers along the way. They had received word from their families and had gone into hiding. Perhaps this was a good thing, he no longer had to worry about being captured by the enemy and having his head turned into some knight's collection.
"You can predict the gravity … the time of the Rising?" Nangong Sanba asked Willy.
"The scholars know how to predict." Willy described. "They will watch for flashes in the depths of the caverns and hear sounds from afar. They will be able to warn of the Rising before it happens. But that is not always the case. Mother Nature will suddenly lose her power, and for that, the scholars who failed to predict will have to suffer a whipping to make up for their mistake. "
They had been walking on the Royal Main Street for quite some time now, and Hao Ren suddenly saw the road ahead was blocked off by a 'wall' made of steel, plastic, tires and other trash. The wall was a few meters tall and was held in place by steel wires and rivets. A row of light bulbs hung from the top, and the gate was a metal fence with sharp steel spikes. Willy happily pointed ahead. "This is Hearthfire!"
Hao Ren looked at the trash wall, and after a long while, he said, "Very … unique."
On a wooden tower at the top of the city wall stood a sentinel. When they saw a stranger approaching, they immediately raised their javelins and bows and questioned the newcomer's identity. Willy immediately stepped forward and raised his hands to show off his armor. "I am Willy of the Mormo Family! Open the gates and let us in! "
"Willy?" A soldier on the wall recognized Willy's face and laughed. "Hahaha, look! Our 'warrior' has returned from the battlefield, and both his arms and legs are still there!"
Another soldier noticed Hao Ren and the rest behind Willy. "Who are those people?"
"They are my friends." Willy tried to sound authoritative as he puffed his chest and replied. "I have vouched for them. They will be protected in Hearthfire. Open the gates now!"
The soldiers on the wall seemed to want to continue mocking Willy, but they seemed to be wary of the fact that he was a noble, and so they opened the gates. Hao Ren followed his young guide into Hearthfire, and he found that the city was actually an old run-down factory. The walls around the factory were about to crumble, and the locals used metal plates and trash to fill in the old walls to build a new one. There was a large empty space inside the wall, and it was probably the factory's open-air storage area. Now there were all sorts of metal sheds, and it became Hearthfire's military camp and civilian district. The original factory was right in the middle of Hearthfire. It was a three storey tall reinforced concrete building, and the main structure was still intact. There were even a few unbroken windows. Red and green colored cloth hung from the roof of the factory. Without a doubt, this was the city lord's palace, and the nobles' castle.
Many of the soldiers in the civilian district greeted Willy when they saw him. Their greetings were mixed with mockery and mockery. Not all of them were malicious, but there was little kindness. The soldiers who dared to mock him had another insignia on their chests, and those who only had a military insignia did not dare to cross the line when they saw Willy. Hao Ren guessed that the second insignia was the mark of a noble.
Willy was probably a noble, and he looked like he was about to lose that honor.
At the 'castle', which was the old factory, Willy took a few deep breaths before he mustered the courage to step forward. "I'll bring you to see my father. He is the governor here."
Hao Ren followed behind the young man as they walked into the abandoned factory that had been abandoned for at least a few hundred years. The factory, too, had been thoroughly remodelled, and the huge machines, which were now useless, were now covered with boards and sheets of iron, and made into the bases and partitions of the various sheds and staircases. The whole factory looked like a strange and closely stacked cage. Willy brought them to the top floor of the factory, and the situation there was slightly better. This was the original office area, and there were neatly arranged offices and rest rooms.
Willy stopped in front of a red door. He tidied up his armor and carefully knocked on the door.
After getting permission from the person in the room, he pushed the door open and motioned for Hao Ren and the rest to follow behind him.
A middle-aged man with thinning hair was sitting behind the desk in the room, flipping through some documents. He seemed to know who was visiting, so he didn't even lift his head. "I didn't expect you to come back alive. I thought you would die in battle in Scrap Iron Alley. That way, your blood can at least protect the dignity of our family."
"Father." Willy lowered his head, as if he was used to the mockery. "I'm back."
The middle-aged man closed the document in his hand. "I've told you before, you're not a member of the Mormore family. You're just a lowly soldier living in Ironhide Barracks. So I want to know why you didn't report to the barracks when you came back, and instead came to me first."
The middle-aged man looked up at Hao Ren and the rest, and the strangely dressed strangers made him frown. "I heard that my son brought back some refugees with him. I thought they were as bad as he was … Who are you people?"
"We're travelers from other places who happened to pass by here." Hao Ren said calmly. "We fought alongside your son in exchange for permission to rest in your castle."
"Fought alongside?" The viceroy repeated the word with a strange expression. "You're the one who saved this idiot from the battlefield."
Willy bit his lip, and suddenly pulled out some colorful cloth from his pocket. "Father, I really did fight! These are the spoils of war I brought back! "
The cloth was the emblem he had taken from the Eisenstadt soldiers. The viceroy did not smile when he saw the emblem. He only took the cloth from Willy's hand with a straight face and threw them on the ground.
"Only beggars would pick up trash from the ground," the viceroy angrily rebuked Willy, "there's not even a drop of blood on your sword. Could it be that these emblems were given to you by their masters?"
The poor young man was silent. He picked up the cloth with a face full of shame, but he could not utter a single word.
"Useless thing. You only know how to follow those wizards and listen to their nonsense. You're not even as good as your two sisters. Thank goodness you're a bastard, or I'd die of shame." The viceroy grumbled angrily, but when he looked at Hao Ren, he managed to hide his terrible expression. "As for you lot … You've helped the Kingdom of Highspire on the battlefield, and Hearthfire welcomes brave warriors like you. You can find a place to rest in the metal floor of the castle. You're free to come and go as you please, but do not wander around the castle. "
Hao Ren had a lot of questions to ask the man before him, but he realized that he was not the kind of person who was easy to communicate with. So he put them aside for now and decided to find out more about this' world 'in other parts of Hearthfire. They bade farewell to the viceroy and left the place with Willy leading the way.
The viceroy's young son did not get any comfort or relaxation from the meeting. In fact, he was drenched in sweat when he left his father's room. Lily asked curiously, "Looks like your father doesn't like you that much huh?"
"I'm just a bastard, and in the Kingdom of Highspire, bastards are not treated as family members. The law states that we must be of the same status as our parents. Even the king's bastard is the same, not to mention someone like me." Willy smiled bitterly. "My father wanted me to be a soldier, but I'm not cut out for it. I prefer to be with the scholars. They tell me stories from the past of this world. I think that's more interesting than fighting. "
Hao Ren's heart skipped a beat. "Stories from the past of this world? Can you let me meet those scholars? "
Willy nodded happily. "Of course. I can arrange for you to meet Master Orrow. He's the most knowledgeable person in this place. While my father doesn't like him, he's still well respected in Hearthfire."
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