In the morning, the travelers finally arrived at the foot of the colossal mountain where the Palace of the Emperor of the Mist was located, and as expected, there was a great deal of security.
A small town stood at the foot of the mountain, and there were even lots of trees. The mountain probably served as a wall to the freezing winds of Niflheim, thus allowing plants to grow a few times, even if in much less abundance than in Midgard.
However, the white trees were the only beautiful things in the whole place, for as conducive to life and happiness as this small town seemed, compared to the village of the ice dwarves, for example, it had a melancholy atmosphere. The streets seemed empty of inhabitants, and a lot of black smoke came out of large industrial chimneys.
Plus, of course, the patrolling soldiers marching through the streets.
When Valthorn's caravan was spotted approaching, an elf in one of the watchtowers put one hand to his mouth and whistled loudly, attracting the attention of one of the elves in the command tower, who pulled a lever and the gates opened.
The caravan slowly approached the open gates, and Valthorn, the caravan leader, gave orders to the other elves accompanying him: "Prepare for the entrance. Stay alert and follow my instructions to the letter. We don't want to irritate you, Kaizen," he instructed in a firm, authoritative voice as he mounted Shaccar.
Seeing the collectors approaching, the city's soldiers prepared for the inspection.
As Valthorn passed through the gates and dismounted from his Shaccar, one of the soldiers approached him with a clipboard in hand. "Who are you and what is the purpose of your visit?" asked the soldier, with a magic feather floating next to the clipboard.
Valthorn frowned, bored. "Are you serious?"
The soldier, with an even greater expression of boredom mixed with fatigue, simply said:
"Standard procedure, you know."
"We're the A1 Collectors team. We went to collect taxes in the Ice Dwarf Village of Talfor, Alaware City and the Crystal Mine."
The soldier looked at the floating quill, which began to sign everything with a whirl. Then he raised his head and looked at Valthorn: "And how was the weather in the south? Too rough to spend the night?"
"No, we didn't have any setbacks, we just didn't want to share a roof with those iron-smelling dwarves."
"I understand perfectly." The soldier smiled, then looked at the other elves who were standing a little to the side and nodded. "Now, Mr. Valthorn, let's do that inspection before you're allowed to enter the city."
Valthorn nodded understandingly. "Of course, we're used to the necessary procedure."
Inside one of the carriages, Kaizen, Xisrith and their friends hid in silence, tension hanging in the air. They were aware of the importance of staying hidden during the inspection, as any suspicion aroused could jeopardize the entire meticulously crafted plan to infiltrate the Palace of the Emperor of the Mist.
Meanwhile, outside, Valthorn accompanied the soldiers as they inspected the caravan. His serious, authoritative expression conveyed confidence to the soldiers, who seemed to accept his instructions without question, not least because Valthorn was a respected elf and known for being ruthless when collecting taxes.
The soldier in charge of inspecting and checking the collections was a short elf with a keen eye.
The other soldiers began to open the tarpaulins of the carriages one by one, checking the contents and looking for any sign of irregularity.
Inside the first carriage, they found only simple supplies and common goods, nothing that would raise suspicion.
"This is one of Alaware's three supply wagons." Valthorn explained, and a soldier began to count the collection, while the others continued.
In the fourth carriage, however, one of the soldiers noticed a subtle movement under a pile of fabrics. He raised an eyebrow and brought his hand closer, ready to investigate more closely.
Kaizen held his breath as the soldier approached. He exchanged quick glances with his companions, conveying the need to remain calm and not make any sudden movements that might give them away. They were in this carriage, except that the pile of fabrics was actually an illusion conjured up by the magician Alina, and an illusion usually reveals itself at the slightest physical touch.
The soldier put a box to one side and finally reached the pile of fabrics. At that moment, the illusion shattered completely and the soldier saw before his eyes the fabrics crumble like an oil painting being washed away by water.
The man was taken aback by the sight of six people squeezed into the back of that carriage and even let out a gasp of surprise, but Kaizen reached out and used <Psychokinesis>. A blinding glow came out of the elf's eyes and he retreated backwards.
The other soldiers saw the glow and approached the carriage, but when they looked inside they saw nothing but a pile of fabrics and the first soldier with a startled expression on his face. A few moments later, he shook his head and seemed to return to normal.
"Dude, what happened?" One of them asked the first.
"I don't know, I just felt dizzy for a moment."
"Didn't you have breakfast with the others? You need to eat something warm before coming to work in the cold out here, you know our race isn't made to live in such environments." Another elf said and started walking while being used as support by the first soldier. "Hey, boss, I'm taking Gabriel to rest."
The main soldier in charge of the inspection, who was talking to Valthorn, just agreed, because he didn't pay much attention to what had happened and finally the fourth carriage was released to enter the city without further problems.
…
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