RISE OF EROS

Your journey continues at empire

After leaving the city of Manty, Andrew, Oliver, and Zany rode their horses for a couple of hours until night came and it was difficult to see where they were going, so they stopped and set up a small camp.

They were relatively far from the city, as they had ridden at full speed, but they still did not let their guard down. After lighting a bonfire, the three of them sat around the fire and Andrew suddenly said, "Elder Bita."

After calling her, Elder Bita appeared next to them as if she had always been there. Oliver and Zany were not surprised by her appearance, because like Andrew they suspected that she was still following them.

"Then why were you following us, Elder Bita? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful because you saved us a lot of trouble, but…" asked Andrew, and Elder Bita replied seriously, "Boy, it seems that you still don't understand your value."

The old lady paused slightly and continued to explain, "We currently rely on you to communicate with the outside, so we can't let something happen to you."

"You mean you've been following me?" Andrew asked, but Elder Bita shook her head as she replied, "Only after you reached the forest and said you were going to the capital of Tampilla."

"I know that in your Heavenly Palaces, you are untouchable, but outside of them you are too weak, so we cannot leave you without protection," concluded Elder Bita, and Andrew could only thank her.

After a few additional words, Elder Bita disappeared again. They knew that the old woman would protect them from the shadows, but they still remained alert, since they could not depend on her alone.

Elder Bita, seeing this, nodded with pleasure, as this showed that Oliver took his job of protecting Andrew very seriously. Oliver didn't relax just because Elder Bita protected them, because you never knew what dangers they might face, so he stayed alert.

The rest of the way to the capital of Tampilla was quiet. They passed through several towns and cities of different sizes, but they tried to travel incognito, so as not to cause problems, and they succeeded.

Tampilla is a fairly peaceful country. Although their military strength is inferior to that of the Cannaris empire, their capacity for national and international politics is much stronger, as they have managed to maintain harmony both within the country and with their neighboring countries.

Obviously, the fact that Tampilla does not have beastmen and elves living in its territory made things easier for them, but their work in internal and external government cannot be taken away.

Andrew had also noticed that the architecture of the place was similar to that of the colonial period in South America. Andrew had not traveled to that place in his past life, but on Earth, it was not difficult to see photos and videos of different places in the world, so he recognized this similarity.

Although the architecture is similar, that does not mean that this country had anything to do with the South Americans or Spaniards of his old world, they just had a similar development.

When they arrived at the capital of Tampilla they were surprised. While the city is not as large as the capital of the Cannaris empire, it had its own charm. The streets seemed wider and the buildings more colorful.

You could also see that it was a very clean city and even the marginal area seemed very neat and organized. This surprised them because, in all the cities of this world, the marginal area is where all the poor and misfits gather.

It is normal for that area to always be unsightly and dirty, but here it was different. This did not mean that it was perfect, but at least it did not show a bad image like the marginal areas of other cities.

Despite the initial surprise, Andrew and his companions did not stop to look at it for long. They quickly arrived at an inn and rented a room.

After settling in, Andrew wasted no time in sending Oliver to investigate what they needed to do to establish a Heavenly Palace in the city, as they needed a secure foothold quickly.

The capital of Tampilla, like most capital cities in this world, is the most important city in the country. It is where the royal family and the most important nobles of the kingdom are located, so there was a lot of security and at the same time many hidden experts.

For this reason, a demigoddess like Elder Bita couldn't enter without being discovered as she did in the city of Manty. In fact, the old woman had abandoned them a few kilometers ago, because if another demigod found her things could get complicated.

So, Andrew and the others were alone and needed to establish a Heavenly Palace quickly, so that they would have a safe place to shelter in. Although they have no apparent enemies in this place, experience has told them that problems always arise wherever they go.

Oliver did not dare to delay and went to the merchant guild and the city hall to learn what they should do. Fortunately, things were similar to the other cities they had visited.

They could buy a store in the city's red light district and start their business. If there was something different, it was that the price of the establishments in this city was much more expensive for foreigners.

Maybe it was a measure to benefit local merchants, at least that was what Andrew thought, but he didn't give it much thought. They spent a few days looking at the different establishments available for sale and soon found one that suited their needs.

Oliver, although not an expert in gathering information, was well-versed enough to investigate the area and they had understood that the establishment they bought did not have problematic people nearby, so they finalized the transaction.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

With the Heavenly Palace established, Andrew and the others relaxed, as they were now out of danger, but they still had to do several things to get this pleasure house up and running.

While Andrew and the others completed their procedures, the city of Calci in the Cannaris empire was not peaceful. Hell's agents had demonstrated their skill and within a few days had identified the enemy.

Not only had they identified him, but they had discovered his plans. It turns out that Doldo's boss and the leader of Castor's old gang are the same person and he is a spy from the kingdom of Badily.

This kingdom, like the kingdom of Dunnas and Tampilla, is a neighbor of the Cannaris empire and its relations with the empire are neutral, at least in appearance, but like most of the nearby kingdoms, they had great ambitions regarding the technology of the empire.

The empire of Cannaris is a rich and powerful country, so few of its neighbors dare attack it, but the elven food-growing technology and cattle-raising methods of the beastmen were too valuable to be left alone.

This is the reason why, despite the military strength of the empire, their neighbors always mess with them. It turns out that the kingdom of Badily, which had always remained quiet, had been developing a grand plan to destabilize the empire.

The plan was simple but very effective. They planted different men in medium and large cities of the Cannaris empire and made their progress by leaps and bounds.

Although like Doldo, it seemed that they moved forward very quickly, this was not the case. The spies of the Badily kingdom had infiltrated these cities many years ago and secretly began to accumulate relationships and money.

They were so discreet that no one realized that they were involved in almost all the businesses in the city. So now they had started to play their cards and for that, they needed some scapegoats.

They took men like Doldo who had their ambitions and put them in the spotlight as businessmen. Since they controlled many companies in these cities they made these men take over them, giving the impression that they were growing at an accelerated rate.

The reason for this was so that they attracted attention and the empire could not concentrate on what was really happening. In short, the spies of the Badily kingdom controlled the economy of these cities to a certain extent and planned to leave, destabilizing the foundations, that means, the money.

By the time the empire realized it, it would be too late and thus all the blame would fall on Doldo and the other men that the kingdom of Badily used, but that would no longer matter since the economy would already be unstable and the empire in trouble.

At that time the kingdom of Badily would lend its help, but at a high price, that is, the elven crop technology and livestock breeding of the beastmen. Unlike what the kingdom of Tripia tried before with military actions, the kingdom of Badily wanted to obtain this through politics, but by plotting under the table.

Unfortunately, they never expected that someone like Andrew would show up and damage their plans. Although Andrew had nothing to do with what was happening, his bad premonition about what was happening in Calci led him to send Castor and the others and one thing led to another and the emperor found out.

When Emperor Augustus found out about this plan, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, as it was a very calculated plan and one that would hurt them a lot, so he decisively ordered the largest raid to capture spies that the empire had ever seen.

Virtually all of Hell's agents and counterintelligence agents of the empire's ministers and nobles who were loyal to the emperor were mobilized. They found all the spies in the kingdom of Badily and captured or killed them on the spot.

They also expropriated their properties and began to stabilize the situation. Everything was done in secret, but those with the ability noticed these movements and the kingdom of Badily was one of them.

It was impossible for them not to find out since it was their spies who were being captured and killed, but they still didn't say anything, because that would be admitting that they were declaring war on the empire, so they simply swallowed the defeat in silence, but the matter was far from over.