YM778.TV Chapter 85: Saint Claret
The closer they got to Saint Claret, the more awed they were by the sheer size. This was despite the fact that their minds had been \'prepared\' for what was to come after traveling a cobbled road for hundreds of kilometers already. The cobbled road led directly into the City like a special carpet laid out for royalty.
Saint Claret had four such roads all leading into four \'entrances\' into the City; North, South, East, and West.
The Gang was traveling through the Western path and it was wide enough for their six horses to ride side by side with room to spare.
Their awed expression remained after they stepped into the City proper. However huge they already thought the City was, it seemed even larger now that they were in it proper.
The sun had set and nighttime was coming soon and still, the streets were busy. People were either on horseback just like Henry and the others or were being ferried about in Carriages.
As they rode deeper into the City, the Gang caught sight of multiple complexes and business streets with stores and stalls with some even sporting banners to advertise magical products, and people —peculiarly dressed people—, approached those \'magical\' stalls with serious expressions on their faces.
Henry could have sworn he saw one of these peculiarly dressed people with a broadsword slung across his back but he disappeared into a store too quickly for him to get a good look.
"This is…" Triss started.
"Incredible?" Stefan supplied.
"… much," Triss said to complete her sentence.
Henry knew what she meant. There was something about being here, traveling Saint Claret\'s Streets that made them feel out of place.
Now, of course, there were people in the City dressed similarly to how they were dressed. People with a preference for guns rather than medieval weapons but even they seemed out of place.
Take, for example, the Uniformed men who patrolled the streets. They had guns by their sides, walked about in strict formations with uniformed marches, and were even looked at by denizens of the City with some level of respect and yet, did not seem to truly fit into the City\'s Aesthetic.
Like it was magical and they were— not.
"Hey, those men," Triss said by Henry\'s side with a head gesture at the Uniformed men,
"Don\'t their uniforms look familiar?"
Henry gave it some thought. So did the others as they had heard Triss\' words and almost at the same time, realization dawned in all of their eyes.
"The Train," Henry said.
The men patrolling the streets had on the same uniforms as the Uniformed men the Gang had fought and killed during the Train Job.
"So Maude Aleric had the City Guards protect his property in transit instead of his Vykers?" Stefan said, "He must feel very stupid about it now."
"To be fair, I doubt he expected it to get robbed," Angus said.
Stefan let out a scoff,
"It\'s a valuable item. A magical item. There was always a chance someone was going to try to steal it. Seems like a massive oversight on his part.
Not that I\'m complaining. I don\'t think Kirk would have been the only one to die if a few Vykers had been mixed into the security."
"I think we\'d have managed," Angus said with a smile.
That was a lie.
At the time of the Train Job, Angus\' Spellbinding had not gotten the boost in strength it now had. It was still weakened so Henry did not think they\'d have survived the encounter if they had met Vykers.
Henry looked into Angus\'s face as it dawned on him how quickly things could have gone wrong that day. He wondered if Angus had known there wouldn\'t be Vykers on the Train when he rallied the Gang for the job or did he arrogantly think they\'d manage either way?
That thought brought Henry\'s mind to the task at hand. Angus was as confident now as he was back then but they had been lucky. What if they weren\'t lucky a second time?
The deeper they got into the City of Saint Claret, the larger the houses seemed to become until they were riding past entire districts of Mansions with compounds to match or even surpass that of the Hadron Mansion. It was clear that they were now in the upper-class area of the City.
The number of the uniformed City Guards had increased now and their patrol seemed even more intense while creating checkpoints to ensure not just anyone got into the Mansion Districts.
Angus didn\'t lead them into the Mansion district but rather around it toward an area that looked so segregated that it was clear, it was held at a higher standing compared to any of the Mansions they had passed so far.
There was a squad of City Guards with a tight checkpoint to stop their progress but Angus\'s eyes simply flashed as he said in a clear, confident tone,
"Let us through."
The Guards, all six of them froze in place and their eyes glowed purple for a few seconds like their entire psyche had been gripped by Angus\' Spellbinding.
Killing them was certainly an option but to create a commotion right now before they were at their target seemed unnecessary and even foolish.
The Guards stepped aside and let the Gang through and as they rode in and got closer to it, their eyes were all directed forward at that massive segregated area of the highest standing within the City of Saint Claret.
There was only one \'building\' here and it had a size proportionate to at least three Hadron Mansions put together with a massive compound space to match.
The building looked like an amalgamation of thousands of black stones. Each stone seemed specially selected, hewn, and slotted into place with a particular sense of care.
The Black Manor.
It stood powerfully and with a sense of regality that put any building Henry had ever seen, in his past life and now, to shame.
Angus pulled out a sheet of paper where he had drawn a layout of the Black Manor according to the information he had gotten Vyker Captain and he handed it to Charles.
"Remember the plan?" he asked Charles.
Charles nodded as he took the poorly-drawn map,
"Of course," he said.
Angus nodded with a satisfied smile,
"Good luck."
Charles nodded,
"You too," he said and stretched out a hand which Angus took and shook firmly.
When their hands separated, Angus nudged his horse at the sides and started to trot away even closer to the Black Manor.
"Henry," Triss called out and when Henry looked over at her, she bit her lower lip before she eventually managed to say,
"Be careful."
Henry gave her a wide smile,
"I will," he told her and then added earnestly, "Stay safe."
Triss answered with a nod right before Henry directed Nyx to follow Angus and leave the others behind.
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•••
—The Black Manor—
The sun was gone from the horizon now and the moon was starting to take its place in the sky. It was nighttime and the Saint Claret City Guards —a division of them responsible for the security of the Black Manor—, were ready to spend the night in silence occasionally interspersed with leisure conversations.
But then, out of the blue….
*BANG!!!*
…. Came the sound of a massive explosion along a section of the wall not far from the Gate leading into the Manor compound.
"What the hell was that?" Asked a Guard manning the Gates.
The next second, a bundle of dynamite dropped right between him and his comrades. The fuse was already lit and it blew up in an explosive *BOOOMM!!!*.
Leaping through the resulting flames, dust and blown-up bodies of the explosion were two horses being ridden by two Men. One much older than the other.
A Guard who had only been tossed away by the force of the explosion rose off the ground. His expression went from surprise to fear and he opened his mouth to sound an alarm.
A muzzle flash flared and a bullet stopped that thought in place.
"That would have been such a pointless alarm. Who can your voice call over that the explosion hasn\'t called already?" Angus asked like he was expecting the person he killed to answer.
Speaking of which,
Henry was focused on those the explosion had called over,
"Here they come," he said.
"Are you ready?" Angus asked.
Henry\'s hands went to his gunbelt and he pulled out his guns before cocking their hammers as he let out a sigh,
"As ready as I\'ll ever be."