Fate Online: Shadow

Chapter 520: A Knight, Town of Novaria

"Whoa! How come this place is not famous yet?"

When the two women finally reached the edge of their destination, Storm Moonlight couldn't help but immediately exclaim at the sight that greeted them after exiting the forest.

Standing on the edge of a ten meter high cliff, the two women marveled at the beautiful sight before them.

On the horizon was a small town surrounding a small lagoon in the middle in a C shape where they can see small boats sailing the waters, and in the middle of the lagoon was an island with a very noticeable structure, a walled castle.

Beyond the lagoon is finally the ocean where the main trade of the town is located, the port.

"Beautiful isn't it? I've seen this scene many times, but it still amazes me everytime I come here" Ripley said as her eyes feasted at the beauty before their eyes.

"Come on, let's continue on the road"

The two continued their journey, as with their progression, more and more people started joining them on the road.

Earlier, there were barely people they met on the way here, but this time, peddlers and groups of adventurers started emerging from the different paths the others had taken.

"There's actually more than one path leading to this town?" Storm Moonlight was slightly surprised when she finally noticed that there were actually other roads from the one they had taken.

One path was near the coastline, but the most surprising one was the large tunnel below the cliff that they emerged from earlier.

"The coastline and the tunnel were mostly used by the common folk, while the one we took were for the nobles, the rich merchants or the ones who can afford the toll fee. Didn't you notice the sentry post we passed by earlier and the squad of patrolling cavalry that we met along the way?" Ripley cleared up the confusion in her mind.

"I thought that was pretty normal for the lord of this land to have his troops patrol his land" Storm Moonlight replied, which actually makes sense since even modern times has police patrolling their area of jurisdiction.

"The forest path is the easiest and safest way to get to this town," Ripley replied.

"Just hold on a second, you're no rich merchant and I didn't see you pay any toll fees earlier. You…did you actually receive a noble title without our knowledge?"

She ignored her as her eyes started to wander around this time, but not even ten seconds later, something suddenly clicked in her mind and Storm Moonlight quickly snapped her head towards Ripley, the latter part of her words were uttered in a hushed tone.

"Oh. the first time I discovered this place. I stumbled upon the eldest daughter of the Baron that was on the brink of getting kidnapped. Her guards were getting decimated by the bandits infamous on the area near the coastline and offered my assistance at that time.

My performance must have impressed her so much that she rewarded me with a Knighthood" Ripley casually replied, but she couldn't hide the tinge of arrogance in her tone when she uttered the latter part of her words.

As mentioned before, receiving a noble status is extremely difficult even if a player has a high prestige or reputation.

The cause? The Nobles.

The nobles are strict in giving out titles, since one must hold up the virtues of courage, humility , justice, honor and loyalty. Though nobles have quite the bad rep since a lot of them are quite corrupt, something the players weren't surprised to find out the longer one plays the game.

"I see loyalty and a little justice in you, but the rest? You're a mean b*tch. What? I'm just being honest with you" Storm Moonlight was a little jealous and couldn't help but take a jab at her.

"Shut up. Just know that I can finally start working on climbing the social ladder since I'm now a Knight" Ripley just snorted.

Everyone starts at the bottom, even for the hereditary children of the nobles. They must have accomplishments and deeds attached to them if they want to inherit the family title. Though Shadow's situation was a whole lot different since Everwinter was under no jurisdiction of any Kingdom or Empire.

The two finally reached the line for visitors wanting to enter the town, but they just rode past them as Ripley led them towards a small gate beside the main large gate.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

A burly soldier suddenly emerged from the side and blocked their path.

Ripley slowly and calmly pushed her robe back and revealed a silver token with a beautifully carved clam shell in the middle of it.

"I am Ripley, The Wolfsbane, Knight of the Blue Order" she announced in a dignified and commanding tone as she slightly pulled her hood up, just enough for the soldier to see her face.

"Greetings Sir Ripley! Apologies, open the gates!"

When the soldier recognized who it was, he immediately stood in attention and that included the other soldiers in the area when they heard her.

"It's been a while Hans"

"Likewise sir"

Ripley smiled at the guard who stopped them earlier and greeted the soldiers they rode past with a nod as they entered the town.

[You have entered the Town of Novaria]

"Seems like you've made quite the name here" Storm Moonlight finally opened her mouth after both of them successfully entered the town.

"Some of them were the soldiers who accompanied The Lady that day. So of course they would recognize me" Ripley stated.

"Come on, let's drop by the Baron Estate first before we resume what we came here for" she added and already started leading the way.

"Why?" Storm Moonlight said while looking around.

"It is a custom for anyone holding a peerage to first drop by the lord of this land, to state their purpose for coming here. For me on the other hand, it is a must since a member of the Baron Household here was the one who conferred me the Knighthood. In addition, I'm also a member of the Knight Order here, so I need to give a report to the Commander" Ripley explained.

"If you're a Knight in this domain, why are you not staying here and instead, you're roaming around like you're a knight-errant?" Even with her limited knowledge about noble customs, she knows that Knights cannot just casually stroll outside the domain of the lord they serve.

"Information gathering, a Repeatable Quest"

"..."

Storm Moonlight didn't question her anymore as her simple answer already explained everything.

With everything finally out of the way, Storm Moonlight can finally get a closer look of their current surroundings.

The place was actually quite quaint like any other towns they saw before. The only difference for Novaria compared to the other towns they visited was that the streets here were actually quite clean and paved with stones like the Roman roads, and the people here looked happy and quite boisterous with a few kids running joyfully along the sidewalk.

There were also the occasional peddlers advertising their wares they went past to and also spotted a few players along the way.

"What a beautiful town. It would have been great if all of this was real"

Taking in the smell of the ocean breeze, Storm Moonlight couldn't help but comment after she completed her observation of the state of the town.

"Indeed"

Ripley smiled and nodded in agreement.