Emperor of Steel
chapter-8

Chapter 8: Heading to Lamer 3

After arriving at the destination, the two of them rode in a straight path.

After a three day travel, they were finally able to reach Lamer, a port city downstream of the Neir River by dusk.

Lamer, with a population of 200,000 was the second most prosperous commercial city in the Southern Empire.

‘Sure is amazing. The suspicious little fish village has changed into this.’

Luke, who had witnessed the development of Lamer, immediately moved towards the nearest blacksmith.

“You want to sell that statue?”

The blacksmith who was working in full swing asked him.

“Yes.”

At the response of Luke’s, the blacksmith took a close look at the statue and put two fingers.

“Isn’t it too cheap to even find anything to eat?”

Luke hadn’t traveled three days by boat to just play around the games.

He had conversed with Philip and about the merchant possibly offered prices of the object and the prices of the empire.

“Because the price of a fortress bronze drops a lot. It costs us a fair amount of money to melt them and then recycle the statues.”

“But isn’t the outside a gold plating?”

“That is why I’m willing to give 2,000 pesos. If it wasn’t for the gold, it would have been less than 1,000 pesos.”

“I see. Then I guess we’ll try to go somewhere else.”

Right when Luke was about to step out of the blacksmith’s forge, the blacksmith held up his arm.

“Do you think that you’ll be getting more if you go to some other place? Okay then, I’ll give you 50 pesos more.”

“Put those horses and carts aside, I’ll give you 2,500 pesos.”

“Well! How many carts and horses do we have?”

After a squabble between Luke and the blacksmith, another 300 pesos were earned.

And as he was moving to the next destination.

Koork-!

There was a loud noise coming from the stomach of Philip’s.

Scratching his head with a little embarrassment Philip smiled.

“Ahhaha, the beef jerky I had for lunch was too less.”

As they were supposed to get out of the mansion, he wasn’t able to grab much food.

Which was why he decided to end the meal with beef jerky and biscuits, but it wasn’t enough for the sturdy knight.

“Well, it isn’t so urgent so how about we have something? Since we have a little money, let’s eat something nice.”

Thinking about what he had to do with the pesos that he had in his hand, Luke head in the direction of the many lined restaurants.

The two people visited a four star luxurious restaurant located in the center of the mall.

‘How much could have the food culture changed for just 500 years?’

Since a lot of time had passed, there bound to be a few developments.

Luke, sitting by the window, looked at the menu which was handed by a beautifully dressed waitress and asked for some delicious food.

And Philips was the one who was the most excited.

Even if he was a knight, his salary was very limited which made it near to impossible for him to have tasted high-quality food, his mouth was just wide from shock.

“… and what would you like?”

“Young Lord, the 1,500 Bordeaux wine is coming for a good price.”

“Fine, let’s take that then.”

Followed by the advice from Philip, the order was placed.

After a while, the dishes which had been ordered began to appear one after the other.

At first was the soup and the salad, followed by the roasted fish with sauce, goose liver with truffles and a slightly rare cooked steak.

Philip, who had a rather big appetite began to dig in, but Luke, who wanted to taste a lot more took only one or two mouthfuls.

But later he ignored his wish and ate some more.

The chocolate cake came in for the dessert.

“Wow, this is delicious. I feel like the strength in me is rising.”

“Chocolate was originally used as a medicinal tonic in the southern continent. And the raw cocoa seeds were used as money.”

‘The southern continent… did your skills of navigation develop far enough to buy any goods?’

The ocean that lied on the southern side of Rhodesia was rough enough to be called as the ‘Sea of Storms’.

In addition, there were huge marine monsters such as Serpent and as well as Kraken which was tough to get away from in the past.

It was known that there were continent across the sea, all thanks to the voyages of some brave sailors.

However, with the development of engineering over 500 years, humans have actively pioneered the development of larger ships and superior weapons.

The development had opened the South Seas route, allowing the movement from the southern continent to the Rhodesia continent.

Which was why a small fishing village of Lamer had developed into a large port city.

“Phew, it was delicious.”

“Thanks to the young lord, I was able to have a hearty meal after a long time.”

It was just as tasty as it was expensive.

Compared to the food from 500 years ago, the ingredients were much more diverse, and the method of cooking was much better.

The development was particularly remarkable, and that made Luke to often go there and have fun.

Luke enjoyed the gourmet meal and left the restaurant.

Right then, as they tried to move, children flocked towards them like bees.

“Please just give me a dime!”

“I’m hungry, I just want to buy one piece of bread.”

“These people, you aren’t going to move away?”

Philip had yelled at the children who were begging.

And got rebuked by Luke,

“Don’t act rough. What if one of the kids gets hurt?”

“But young lord…”

“Hold on, I’ll give you this, so go and have something.”

Reminiscent of the long-time miserable memory of his orphan times, Luke had given the clinging children the change he had received from the restaurant.

All the children bowed and thanked him again and again.

“Thank you!”

“You will surely be blessed!”

‘Huhu, sweet kids.’

Right when Luke was smiling with a light heart.

Bleep?!

He suddenly heard the sharp whistle from a soldier who appeared on the street wearing a blue uniform.

“Those dirty rats! Run away right now!”

As the words fell from the mouth of the captain, all the other security soldiers rushed over to the children swinging their clubs and kicking them.

“You brats! Didn’t I tell you all to not snoop downtown?!”

“Ahh! I’m sorry, we did a mistake, please let us be!”

“We are constantly nagged because of you guys!”

The street was filled with the swearing of the soldiers and the painful screams of the bleeding children.

Luke was enraged.

Philip’s act of just pushing the children back was nothing when compared to what the soldiers were doing.

‘Those cruel bastards!’

“Young, young Lord!”

But before Philip could even complete his words, Luke had pulled out his sword and put it on the neck of the captain.

“This man! What do you think you are doing to these pitiful kids?!”

“What? Which bastard is this…?!”

The captain was annoyed but taken aback.

If he had be been a commoner, he would have asked for the execution for hindering his duties.

But the boy who was looking into his eyes was completely styled as a noble, both voice and style.

‘Well, why would a noble kid want to step into this mess…?’

The captain of the magistrate, a native of Hyangsa, was annoyed to himself. If he was going to pick a fight with the nobles, then the troubles would just grow.

Which was why he decided to open his mouth and convince the boy in front of him.

And from behind the people, a sharp and majestic voice reverberated.