Emperor of Steel

Nemesis, the capital of the Baroque Empire.

A small wagon had entered the southern gate.

Luke and Philip were the ones who were in the wagon with the crest of Rakan.

“Lord, if you keep snooping around, they’ll call you out for wrong reasons.”

No matter what Philip had said, Luke couldn’t take his eyes off the magnificent view of the capital from the wagon window.

‘This is at least 3 times bigger than it was 500 years ago’, Luke thought.

Before turning into a warlock, Luke used to work at the Veritas Magic Tower that was located in Nemesis.

So, the city wasn’t an unfamiliar place for him.

However, over the last 500 years, the owner of the country had changed and the place turned into an Empire. And there, other changes in Nemesis commenced.

The first one was the rise of the tall buildings.

As the population had increased, there were many three to four-story buildings which were very rarely used in the past.

In the downtown, there were buildings with 10 floors too.

And the other things, the city was divided into different localities.

In the past it was simply divided into the city center, the place where the royal palace was located along with the nobles and the wealthy merchants and the outer center was the place of the common people.

But in the current time, the outer center was clearly divided into the residential, commercial, and military districts.

The Baroque Emperor was surely founded by a despicable emperor, but some of the past emperors were good to develop the army and the people over the 500 years.

And those competent emperors introduced various policies and prepared measures for strengthening their capital, and capital maintenance were one of their work.

By dividing the area in the right manner, the administration had developed much smoother and convenient, even if there was an enemy attack or rebellion, it was much easier to defend and respond proactively.

‘But in the end, the work needs to be done by humans, so there will be a gap.’

In case he was going to attack the capital in the later time, it wasn’t a bad thing to look for the loopholes in the administration.

“Is that the Gigant Arena?”

Asked Luke while pointing at the round arena that was to his far right.

Between the roads and the splendid mansions, there was a giant place, and as Philip had mentioned in the past, its size wasn’t comparable to the Lamer’s Gigant Arena.

“It is the proud Royal Gigant Arena.”

The Royal Gigant Arena was the place where the best of the best clans and the best riders from the empire got to show off their skills.

Thousands of tourists from all over Rhodesia move to see the thrilling games in there.

“Then that place?”

Asked Luke pointing over to another building that was on the other side.

Unlike the circular arena, the building was rectangular.

“That is the headquarters of the Knights of Guard. I graduated from the Royal Military Academy and then stayed there for a while.”

The eyes of Philip were infused with anger and dullness.

He had graduated from the Royal Military Academy with outstanding skills.

He was ambitious to take the elite course and become a Hero-class rider, but they were all his hopes.

Not only did he not have any access to the Gigants due to the envy and jealousy of the nobles, but he was made to leave the knights after being cast out.

‘Would they all be doing well, right now?’ thought by Philip himself.

Three people had trapped and framed him.

If the opportunity was presented to him, Philip vowed to take revenge.

“But, I am not able to see the Veritas Magic Tower. I heard that it was in the capital.”

Asked by Luke when the magic tower wasn’t visible even after passing the old location where the tower was there.

“Veritas had been moved to the north suburbs of Nemesis. As the magic tower and the buildings related to it continued to grow, it couldn’t be continued in the capital center.”

Not as fast and wide as the Baroque Empire, but the Veritas Magic Tower continued to grow.

In the Holy Arthenia Empire, there were hundreds of wizards and trainees along with magic towers that had grown into the best ones of the continent, there were more assistants, more workshops, warehouses, and research facilities.

As the number of facilities in the Magic Tower increased, around 300 years ago, a large site was built in the north suburbs of Nemesis and relocated there.

“Those streets of that place are completely filled with wizards and merchants who deal with magic materials on the north side. It was so filled that it had been turned into a zone of wizards, and was called as Veritas Town.”

“That so.”

While Luke and Philip talked about it, the wagon had passed a gate of checking and began to move on a road with luxuriously paved stones.

Unlike the outer region, the sides of the road had antique houses.

The people were relatively quiet and had very few people, however, at times there were gorgeous ladies in noble clothes moving in carriages or wagons which went passed them.

Across the streets of the center, administrative buildings began to appear.

There was also a parliament building where the nobles from various departments such as military, foreign affairs, and internal affairs met.

After passing through several buildings, after tens of meters away, it had come out at last.

The Imperial Palace, the heart of the Baroque Empire.