Rebirth of the Phoenix God

Coming to the young man's rescue, a man who was not only dressed as a cook but whose entire posture and body screamed that he dabbled in the trade for years, stood between me and the guards, preventing them from drawing their swords against me.

"Let me apologise once again, dear sirs. Just like this idiot said, opening the barrels might cause the freshly made wine to spoil. Seeing how the situation in the entire town is, how about we do it in this way?"

Turning his head towards Fen, the young man's saviour pointed his hand at the barrels stacked on the carriage before quickly ordering.

"Hit it."

For only briefest of the moments, the cook's eyes turned towards Fen's ladle, giving him the necessary hint as to what he was supposed to do.

"Yes, sir!"

Wrestling his wirst out of the guards' leader grip, Fen moved two steps forward before taking a swing… And smacking it right against the side of the first barrel from his left!

Clang!

Outside of the sound of the metal hitting against the sturdy wood that the barrel was made off, nothing else happened. While the sound was actually quite low, it also proved that the barrel wasn't at least empty!

"I get what you want. Men, test all the barrels and let's move on. As for him…"

Directing his slightly annoyed but at the same time amused sight towards Fen, the guards' leader ended up only shaking his head before patting the cook on his shoulder.

"I hope you will take better care of this guy from now on. To be frank, if not for you, I would slash him into a thousand pieces by now!"

Leaving off with this rather rude remark, the guards' leader finally gestured at his people and moved on towards the next carriage. Watching them with his entire attention while caressing the handle of his ladle, Fen did his absolute best to look as if he was still angry at their attempts at opening his barrels!

"We shouldn't have any troubles now. Go and have a seat at one of the barrels."

Accompanying the departing guards with his eyes, the cook gave Fen his order but remained standing by the carriage by himself. Only when the city guards finally moved to the next carriage did he release a deep sigh before taking a seat next to the young man himself.

"I can tell what you want to ask, but let me do the speaking. As long I'm the one mumbling to himself, no one will pay you any mind, no matter what will be the content of our… one-sided talk."

Taking a rather long moment to put his personal belonging and clothes in the way that basically created a comfortable cushion on top of the barrel he was attempting to sit at, the cook finally placed his enormous bottom on the top of the container. Outside of the sudden burst of worry that the poor wood that made up the barrel wouldn't be able to sustain the weight of the heavy man even despite metal reinforcements that kept it together, Fen didn't really have any other impressions of the man. 

"Let's start with the most obvious thing, why Nataniel isn't here. Do I really need to explain it or are you smart enough to understand it?"

Given the circumstances of their situation, Nataniel could only refer to a single person out of everyone that Fen met in the city. As for the question itself, given how the entire thing was an attempt to make the young man disappear into the crowd, bringing someone as famed as the local powerhouse of the Thief's gate would have the adverse effect to what they were trying to accomplish!

"I see."

Taking Fen's slight nod for an answer, the fat man fell into deep thought before his eyes regained their clarity.

"I guess the next thing would be how come the remnants of the old kingdom are still here, with Royals doing close to nothing to eradicate them… Haha, from the glint in your eyes I can tell you are quite interested in it, aren't you?"

Initially attempting to nod his head again, Fen suddenly froze as a group of soldiers on the horseback galloped beside them. In the very next moment, a loud noise of explosion followed by the clanging of metal hitting against metal resounded in the entire city, even though the source of the sound was relatively far away!

"Oh, it seems like it started. We should have some time to talk in peace now. Anyway, about history. You see, back during the great war that put an end to the old regime, the old kingdom had three armies."

Reaching to the side, the man in front of Fen somehow managed to pull out a small, clay bottle. As he uncorked it, a sweet fragrance of a delicate drink filled the cook's immediate surrounding, easily reaching to Fen's nostrils.

"Their main army consisted of the sworn brothers. While I have no clue how it applied to their history, it's said that only the main army could pride itself in being in the direct line of descent from the pioneers that settled this land and created the kingdom in the first place. That means… that if you stop stirring the juice soup even for a moment, the wine will go bad!"

This sudden change of topic managed to catch Fen off guard. Using all his willpower to stop the flinch caused by the surprise, the young man managed to calm down just in time for yet another group of mounted soldiers to pass their carriage. At the same time, their vehicle finally started to move, along with the entire caravan.

"It seems like they are done bribing the guards… Anyway, back to the topic."

Sharing a single yet meaningful comment about the inner workings of the caravan, Fen's guardian quickly shook those idle thoughts out of his round head before fixing his posture on his makeshift seat and once again focusing on the topic that mattered a lot to the young man.

"Outside of the main army, there was the first army. I know their name is confusing as they were second in reality, but it doesn't really matter at this point. If we were to use modern wording, they were made out of veterans mixed with a few arcanists that were too weak to join the main army. And then there was the third army."

As the fat man arrived at this point of the story, his face suddenly soured, as if just the reminder of those events long gone was enough to put him into depression.

At first, the break that the man took from telling his story seemed as if he was just trying to gather his thoughts in order to tell it in a better and more precise way, but with the shadow suddenly enveloping their carriage, Fen understood that they just arrived at the gate.

Even with the commotion happening on the other end of the city, there was no way that no guards would be present in this place, so talking about the history of the country that had to die in order for the current empire to be born was not something that a fugitive like him would be willing to engage in.

"Anyway…"

Only nearly half an hour later, when the gate and the entire city behind it were nothing more but a dot on the horizon did the man pick up his story. Additionally, the further the two of them got away from the city along with the entire caravan, the complexion of the cook's face improved more and more as if that city had the ability to drain the energy from him.

"During the campaign that put an end to the Kingdom, or to be more precise, during the grand battle that decided the fate of the entire war… Only the main and the first army were present. While the records of the empire claim that the battle ended in their decisive victory… It will suffice to say that out of two hundred thousand warriors that the coalition managed to muster for the war, only twenty thousand remained to see the birth of the new reality. And you don't need to be a genius to know that if sixty thousand men of the second army were present during the battle, then the history could follow vastly different course!"

Shaking his head once again, as if actually uttering those words managed to drain all the energy that the man recovered thanks to leaving the city, the cook took a moment to regain his composure before raising his sight back on Fen's face.

"Back then, the second army… No, I won't give you any ideas. While a lot of people likes to claim that they have betrayed their overlords, some of the people love to defend them by claiming that their lack of action was caused by the spies from the modern-day empire… In reality, there is no conclusive evidence that could support any of those statements. But no matter what caused our ancestors to hold back, we have to keep facing the consequences of their sin. That's why Nataniel was so eager to help you out."

Ending the lecture, the fat man suddenly stood up from his seat, nearly causing three of the nearby barrels to fall out of the carriage. Bringing his hand up, the man pointed at the direction they were travelling.

"Once we get to Kharag, you will be on your own. While people like me are willing to contribute a lot to help the rightful descendants of the Phoenixian tribe, not everyone shares this sentiment."