Imperial Throne

Chapter 116: Yam's Request

West Fort was the key development center for the White Mountain Territory over the next few years.

It primarily consisted of three zones: the innermost was a defensive castle structure, which also served as the core complex of the entire West Fort, composed of a castle and related facilities—including but not limited to a prison, barracks, and a military training area. The outermost section was the first defense zone, made up of segmented walls with arrow slits, watchtowers, and equipped with internal buffer segments and trap zones.

Between the main castle and the first defense zone lay the residential and commercial areas.

Since Lily had already relocated a group of residents there, physicians were naturally available in West Fort.

However, their medical skills were certainly no match for the physicians hired by the City Lord's Manor of White Mountain City. But for simple treatments, such as basic care and the setting and splinting of broken bones, they were still more than capable.

In fact, considering the recovery abilities of Bloodline Users, unless the injuries were severe or there was extensive internal bleeding, they would typically heal very quickly.

By the time Yam was brought to West Fort, his broken bones had already begun to mend on their own.

Even so, the others did not dare to take any chances, for Yam’s identity was anything but ordinary, and thus warranted proper attention.

Hod had led two Bloodline Knights of the Flame Hound bloodline deep into the Eaglehead Mountains to track down the group disguised as a merchant caravan.

Sien had also, immediately after escorting Yam back to West Fort, organized the soldiers of the castle to intensify patrols across the northern part of the White Mountain Territory. However, due to an overall shortage of manpower, these large-scale patrols still had many blind spots.

That said, the general public had no idea what the White Mountain Territory was actually up to.

To them, it simply looked like another random episode of madness from the territory.

The result, however, was that quite a few smugglers were flushed out. But unlike the big fish that had been captured during previous crackdowns, these small fry were worth little. Even the value of their smuggled goods was negligible. Under normal circumstances, Sien would have just turned a blind eye and allowed these nobodies to earn their meager profit.

But this time was different.

A group of powerful strangers had suddenly appeared in the White Mountain Territory, and they had even disguised their identities. For the territory, this was a genuine cause for alarm, and the fate of those unlucky ones could be easily imagined.

Almost the very next day after Yam was brought back to West Fort, all sorts of information began spreading rapidly from the White Mountain Territory to the surrounding regions.

However, the intelligence personnel from those other territories had no access to the real details. All the corpses had been disposed of by Yam immediately, and each Bloodline Knight involved had been assigned their own duties. Thus, by the time the intelligence was passed on and embellished through the rumor mill, it had completely deviated from the truth. The only part that remained somewhat accurate was the news that “Yam was injured.”

Many interpreted it as Yam having discovered a group of powerful smugglers, leading to a clash in which he was injured and the smugglers escaped successfully. Otherwise, there was simply no explaining why Yam would return injured and why West Fort would descend into such a frenzied state—clearly, the operation had failed.

...

Meanwhile, as rumors began to ferment outside, Yam summoned Aliman Shelf at West Fort.

The young leader of the Shelf Mercenary Group.

“Oh, buddy, you really look awful,” Aliman appeared thoroughly drunk as he approached, even hiccupping as he walked in.

Yam looked curiously at Sien. “Did you give him alcohol?”

“No,” Sien replied with a strange expression. “He seems to have a drunken reaction to the ‘Calmative Agent.’ I’m not sure what ingredients are in it, but after he drank it, he ended up like this.”

Sien thought for a moment, then added, “Once the power of his bloodline was suppressed, he got drunk.”

“Is there a way to sober him up?”

Yam looked helplessly at Aliman, who was now wandering aimlessly around the room and even muttering at a painting of a woman on the wall. It didn’t seem like any proper conversation was possible.

“Oh, lady, you truly are a beauty.”

“The most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”

Perhaps thinking his words lacked sincerity, Aliman added with emphasis, “Just like the rainbow berries in Beastfang Liquor.”

The Beastfang Beast was a common first-tier magical beast found in the western regions of the kingdom. Its bloodline ability allowed it to secrete a venom with a paralyzing effect. Depending on the dosage, the effect varied, but it was ineffective against third-tier Bloodline Users and couldn't even kill a first-tier one. Thus, it was considered one of the most useless bloodlines among the first-tier category.

Still, while its bloodline wasn’t sought after, its pair of tusks were highly coveted by many alcohol merchants.

Barrels crafted from the tusks of this beast could naturally infuse the liquor with a mild numbing effect during the brewing process. However, since the flavor leaned bitter, it had to be balanced with a particularly sweet berry.

The most well-known was the rainbow-colored mildew berry of the kingdom’s west, also called the rainbow mildew fruit—not because it was rare, but precisely because it was so cheap, making its price accessible to most. For commoners and mercenaries, this liquor was truly excellent in quality and price, making it extremely popular.

Aliman, being a mercenary, saying such things wasn’t all that strange.

What he meant was likely comparing the subject to the most precious existence—by mercenary standards, this was probably Aliman performing beyond expectations.

It was just that his affectionate words were directed at a painting, which made it somewhat unbearable to watch.

“Oh, lady, why won’t you speak to me?”

“Is my sincerity not enough to move you?”

“Your heart is as cold and unfeeling as the northern frost, not even offering a single cold word to me.”

“But if so, why do you still show me such a charming smile?”

“I understand now, you’re testing me, aren’t you?”

Yam looked at Aliman, whose body language was gradually becoming more expressive, and spoke with a headache, “Get him sobered up already. If this continues, I’m afraid that ‘Smile of the Goddess of Victory’ will be ruined.”

Sien was also struggling to suppress his laughter. “Lord Yam, the prison doesn’t have so many… decorations, so I think you understand.”

“I don’t,” Yam shook his head, “and I won’t allow you to hang strange things in his cell.”

“All right,” Sien sighed in slight disappointment.

But he quickly had Aliman dragged out to be sobered up.

Unfortunately, the usual sobering methods were quite ineffective, to the point where Aliman fell asleep twice during the process. Thus, the impatient Yam had to hold back and wait until the next day, when Aliman was fully awake, to summon him again.

But this time, it wasn’t in the room, but in the dining hall of West Fort.

“Oh, our ‘Rainbow Mildew Berry’ has arrived!”

Seeing the now-sober Aliman arrive, Borm immediately put down his spoon and jumped up with a cheer while still drinking his thick soup.

Aliman gave him a puzzled glance and then sat opposite Yam at Sien’s signal.

Yam’s injuries hadn’t fully healed. Theoretically, he shouldn’t be moving around, but he didn’t want to lie in bed like a patient. That was why he came to the dining hall personally instead of waiting in his room to be served—though his current status did indeed entitle him to such treatment.

“What’s with them?”

Aliman glanced at Borm and the others, noticing the odd looks everyone was giving him.

“Do you usually drink?”

“No,” Aliman shook his head. “My father said alcohol dulls the will, so no one in my family drinks… except my uncle. He developed a severe drinking problem, and that’s what ultimately led to his death. Since then, I swore never to drink.”

“I think you’d be better off drinking a little,” Yam shook his head.

Even he drank from time to time.

So imagining a mercenary who didn’t drink at all was hard for Yam.

“You called me here just to make me drink?” Aliman gave Yam a strange look, then picked up a wooden cup nearby to check if it actually contained alcohol.

“No,” Yam shook his head, deciding not to pursue the topic of Aliman drinking. Instead, he asked, “You mentioned before that you encountered that merchant caravan in the Bayor Territory.”

“Yes,” Aliman nodded. Though he found Yam’s question strange, he still repeated the story.

It was the same version Yam had heard the first time. No extra details, no missing parts. Even small follow-up questions matched up, and there were no logical inconsistencies. That allowed Yam to confirm that what Aliman said was true—at least not something he could have fabricated.

“Then… did you see anyone with green hair in that caravan?”

“Green hair?” Aliman looked confused. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Aliman nodded. “None of them concealed their appearance, so I can confirm there were no green-haired people in that caravan. Among them, the most common hair color was brown, with the least being pale red—only two individuals. The rest had blonde, brunette, and grey hair, but no green. In fact, if someone had green hair, such a striking color, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember.”

“Is it possible someone didn’t appear in front of you?”

“Impossible,” Aliman shook his head again. “That caravan didn’t have any wagons. Unless someone disguised themselves as cargo and hid in the crates.”

“Do you think it’s possible someone really hid in the crates?”

“Well…” Aliman was about to say it was impossible, but as the words reached his lips, he hesitated. “Honestly, I can’t be sure. Because among the goods carried by that group, there were several obviously large items. So yes, it’s possible someone was hiding insi…”