The bastard child becomes the empires royal consort-Chapter 59: Kahl [1]

The sun was high in the sky, looking over the land when the group finally traversed the final stretch of road.

The smell hit them first, not the scent of wood and damp earth that they’d grown used to over the last week and a half, but a sharp saltiness that stung the nose.

"We’re finally here!" Jack shouted with a grin. "Welcome to Kahl, the Northern continent’s seaport city!"

As the carriage rattled down the coastal road, the view of the seaport city unfolded before them like a sprawling map.

Built into a massive, natural limestone dome that curved around a deep-water bay, the seaport was a vertical structure of buildings.

The deep-water bay was connected to the ocean, it wasn’t the calm, pale water of the rivers, it was a deep indigo, paired with large ocean waves crashing against the coast.

Dominating the entire view was the great lighthouse of Kahl, a colossal tower of iron and glass built in the centre of the bay, its rotating lens sat silent during the day but still kept watch over the city.

Docked on the bay were ships, hundreds upon hundreds of ships, Alan could see massive cargo ships readied with supplies, then wooden masterpieces of pirate ships, some smaller ones and others too big, all placed on standby.

"Julia... wake up..." Alan grumbled, nudging Julia, who was still fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

Her hair was a tangled mess of blonde, and a small patch of drool latched onto Alan’s dark robes, claiming a permanent residence.

"Mmm... five more minutes..." Julia weakly muttered with her eyes sealed shut.

Alan sighed helplessly, his mind wandering back to the morning’s awkward start.

Alan jolted awake at the very same cliff he fell asleep on, only to find Julia still asleep with her arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

Although embarrassed and flustered, Alan ended up carrying Julia all the way back to the camp, earning a hateful glare from Iris and a whole lot of unnecessary accusations.

In fact, Alan himself was very confused, Julia wasn’t the type to sleep in, usually she’d be the first one up the moment the sun rose, so he was obviously baffled by her current state.

What was worse was that once they were in the carriage, Julia refused to properly sit up and continued using Alan as her pillow, at first, Alan was very embarrassed, but now he was simply just annoyed.

"She seems to trust you too much," Iris remarked with a sulky tone, leaning out the window.

Sparky was perched on her head, the blue ’cat’s’ fur was standing on end, his nose frantically twitching at the smell of the ocean.

"Honestly, yeah." Alan agreed, even he thought Julia was trusting him much more than she should be.

"Maybe she’s just extremely innocent?" Lucian suggested, tightening his white blindfold around his eyes. "Or maybe she trusts everyone unconditionally?"

"Well, being innocent is fine, but at the same time could cost her dearly..." Alan frowned.

"I don’t know what kind of impression you two have of her." Iris sighed, lightly shaking her head. "But no, Juli doesn’t just trust people."

"Then...?" Alan gestured to the asleep Julia. "Mind explaining this?"

"I don’t know." Iris rubbed his chin. "Normally she is kind of... cold and indifferent to everyone?"

"I can picture that." Alan said, recalling the occasional moments where Julia’s facial features would go completely blank.

"But she’s different with you." Iris hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder why."

"It’s because of his smell." The answer came quickly, Julia snapped her eyes open, raising herself from Alan’s shoulder with a bright smile.

"...My smell...?" Alan frowned faintly, he lifted the collar of his robe and took a small, cautious whiff. "Oi, Lucian, do I smell like anything?"

Lucian moved closer to Alan, then leaned in.

Sniff Sniff

He twitched his nose.

"You do smell." Lucian stated flatly.

"Like what?"

"Like something."

"You’re fucking useless."

"I wouldn’t be surprised if he couldn’t smell what I’m smelling." Julia giggled. "You see, my nose has always been a little different."

"Oh, so like an animal or something."

"Not quite." Julia picked up her golden silk and began wrapping it around her eyes. "I can smell something else... I don’t know what it exactly is, but it’s nice."

"If you say so." Alan shrugged, dismissing the conversation, then became all the more aware of the little patch of drool on his robes.

"Juli, you need to do your hair." Iris suddenly approached the awake Julia.

"I don’t want to..."

"You need to."

"Noooo."

As the two girls had a mild argument while Iris cleaned up Julia’s hair, Alan changed into a new pair of dark robes and peered out the window.

The carriage rumbled over a massive stone bridge that served as the city’s main highway, below them, Alan could see thousands of people moving like ants, sailors moving in the crowd, questionably dressed pirates, merchants in silk, and ragged labourers hauling crates.

The carriage suddenly decelerated as it reached the gate.

The gateway was a gargantuan arch carved directly into the seaside cliffs, reinforced with iron-plated oak doors that looked thick enough to withstand storms, high above the arch, the stone was etched with the name of the seaport city, "KAHL".

"We’re entering the city." Jack announced as they entered the shadow of the tunnel-like gate. "Just play your part convincingly, and we’ll be fine."

"You heard him." Alan turned to the group. "Stick to the script, we’re just commoners."

But quickly thought about what he just said, even from his perspective, the group’s appearance right now didn’t seem like commoners at the slightest... Hmm, who cares? They’ll figure it out, probably.

The carriage jerked to a stop as a heavy gauntlet slammed against the side of the wood.

"State your business and supply." a gruff voice demanded.

"Goods from all over the continent." Jack leaned out, putting on a leisurely smile, like he’d done this before. "I also got four passengers in the back."

"Passengers?" The guard raised an eyebrow and moved to the side of the carriage, he stepped up to the window and used the butt of his spear to lift the curtain.

The guard’s eyes scanned the interior, pausing on Lucian, who was idly standing there, then on Iris’s frown, Julia in the middle of fixing her hair and Alan awkwardly smiling.

Sparky had completely turned invisible without a trace, leaving only a slight dent on the plush seat.

"What kind of passengers are these...?" The guard let out a baffled voice, his eyes lingering on the silk wrapped around the group’s eyes. "...Wait, have I seen you all somewhere before?"

"No." Alan instantly denied it.

"Right..." The guard cleared his throat. "Either way, identification?"

"Ah." Alan looked behind him, Lucian shook his head, and so did Iris, Julia didn’t even react, instead she was too busy readying herself.

Alan meant to go to the church in the first district during his stay over at the capital city in order to get himself some identification but just never ended up doing it in time, and now, well, the place is in utter ruins, there wasn’t much he could do.

And for whatever reason, Iris and Julia didn’t even have their identification, Lucian he could understand, but what the hell were those two doing?

"We don’t have them..."

"Not suspicious at all..." The guard stared blankly. "Just a group of blindfolded people, without any identification for themselves, definitely not suspicious..."

Jack at the front of the carriage began noticing something was wrong and looked over, meanwhile the guard was reaching into his pocket, perhaps for a signal to alarm the station of intruders.

Just before the guard did anything, Alan did the one thing that could possibly save them in their current situation.

Thup

He threw a pouch of coins at the guard.

The pouch hit him in the chest before the guard caught the little but heavy leather bag and then slowly opened it, sneaking a peek at the inside.

His eyes widened for a split second before maintaining that same slow pace, he pushed the pouch into his coat and looked up at Alan’s group with a renewed servile smile.

"One hundred percent not suspicious!" The guard snapped his fingers, acting as a signal to the gate operators.

Thump

The enormous gates of the seaport city grinded open, allowing access into the city.

"Move along." The guard stepped back, dropping the carriage curtain. "Please enjoy your stay."

The carriage soon resumed moving forward, the wheels transitioned from dirt to the proper cobblestones of a city road.

As they emerged from the dark tunnel of the gate, the sheer noise of Kahl hit them, a deafening noise of shouting vendors, clanking chains, and the distant, rhythmic crash of the ocean tide.

They finally made it into Kahl.

"How much did you pay him?" Lucian decided to ask.

"...enough to make me want to rob this place..." Alan answered, leaning back and finally letting out a breath.