"We'll be arriving in the city of Starr soon," said Katerina, sitting next to the professor on the cart.

  The young girl who had joined Munib's caravan was quite tactful and never complained about anything. Caspar, who had decided to continue the journey with the professor, also noted the girl's good manners and articulate speech. Perhaps she had run away from her noble family and was now traveling to see the world, something her family had restricted her from doing. Munib and Caspar loved such stories, and their spirit of adventure and travel, as well as their desire to see new things in their lifetime, meant the young man could understand the professor's wish to help the girl see the world, considering the man's own desire to see the sea. For this reason, they had traveled along the border of the Republic of Salt and the Kingdom of Stone, as Munib did not want to spoil his impression of the Republic's huge lake and wanted to compare it with the sea on the return journey.

  "How much longer do we have?" the professor asked the girl.

  "About half an hour, if not less," Katerina replied, fidgeting slightly on the wooden bench.

  Munib chuckled inwardly, noting this moment—the girl was most likely not accustomed to sitting on wooden benches for long periods. Throughout the journey, no matter how hard she tried, it was very noticeable that this was somewhat stressful for her and that she was not used to this kind of travel. However, that didn't mean she was gloomy; on the contrary, to the surprise of Caspar and Munib, Katerina was cheerful and high-spirited, like a bird that had finally escaped its cage. Their journey had lasted about half a month, and now they were approaching their destination. What would become of the young maiden next, the professor hadn't considered, but he thought to offer her to continue traveling with him at least as far as the capital.

  "Professor!" Caspar shouted, somewhere ahead of their large caravan, gradually approaching Munib and Katerina's cart.

  "Yes, my young protégé," Munib smiled as the young man ran up to him. He was shirtless, and although he wasn't even out of breath, sweat still trickled down his muscular body. Katerina, catching sight of the young man, turned away and muttered something like "Shameless," blushing slightly, making Munib smile even wider.

  "I saw a city in the distance! We're approaching Starr!" the lad grinned, then looked happily at Katerina, who still wasn't looking in Caspar's direction. "Ka... I mean, Katerina! What's wro... with you? Are you feeling unwell? You're so flushed!"

  Munib could no longer contain himself and burst out laughing at this little exchange, because Katerina jumped off the cart and silently gave chase to Caspar, who immediately started running away from her, laughing merrily as well. The girl, still not uttering a single word, tried to catch the nimble lad, and he, unlike the girl, was not sparing with words, actively teasing her during their little chase. What surprised Munib even more was that Caspar managed to keep his breath, despite running away from the far-from-slow Katerina, while still talking. In this playful manner, they began passing the first, sparse houses along their path, until they reached the stone city walls.

  Waiting for them at the gates stood a short, old man dressed in a black tailcoat, his long gray hair gathered in a neat ponytail. Flanking him were two other people, clad in heavy and cumbersome armor—local knights. On their belts, as Munib noted, hung not the usual swords or other cold weapons typical for the Kingdom of Crow—although sheathed swords were also present—but what stood out more were the muskets hanging nearby. Behind these knights, not standing out too much, were a couple of young lads, whom the professor would have estimated to be between fourteen and twenty years old. They had backpacks on their backs. These were most likely pages, taken into service by the knights. Caspar had told him about them once:

  "In our kingdom, there is a separate type of troops—knights. They are not very numerous, and mostly consist of the younger sons of nobles, because their equipment is usually quite expensive. But at the very least, they are all strong warriors. Usually, a noble has up to ten knights in his service, and that's quite enough to defend his domains. Therefore, most village lads want to enter a knight's service to become his page, because then the knight might yield his place to the page, or if he dies, the page will take his place—provided, of course, the noble doesn't object. But usually, pages are chosen from those they trust, because if you follow a knight, he must give you an official document stating you are his page; otherwise, you're just an assistant and nothing more. So, nobles don't mind a page taking the place of a fallen knight; then they don't have to look for a new one, and the page, if he has served for a long time, will certainly have learned from his patron, or at least observed him. Some knights do take pages and train them to become their replacements, and then they retire."

  Continuing to observe the lads, the professor noticed the backpacks—apparently containing provisions, as well as cartridges for the muskets. Munib also suspected that it was not very convenient for knights to reload their weapons in such massive armor, and presumably the pages handled that. Drawing closer, Munib also noted a strange coat of arms on their armor—three parallel red lines. As far as the man knew from heraldry, the coat of arms of the Starr family was a falling star, so these knights were clearly not from Charles's house. He had corresponded with Baron Starr for several years, but had never heard of such a coat of arms. Moreover, the old man was clearly not his longtime correspondent, for as far as Munib knew, Charles had been around forty years old. Could this be that Viscount Lines the Duchess of Blood had mentioned? But what was he doing here, if he needed to speak with Baron Starr? Munib sighed wearily, realizing he understood little of this complex politics of the Kingdom of Crow.

  When the caravan came to a complete halt before the city gates, Munib jumped off his cart and walked towards the head of their column. There, he witnessed a rather strange scene: a slightly sweaty Katerina looked with astonishment as the knights and their pages knelt, except for the old man, who merely bowed his head.

  "Forgive my impertinence, Your Highness, but I am too old to kneel before you," the old man said, not raising his head.

  "You must be mistaking me for someone else," Katerina said in surprise, clearly not expecting this, but continuing to hold her back proudly straight.

  "Not at all, Your Highness, the younger Lady Blood," the old man replied to her.

  Now the professor himself was surprised. The younger Lady Blood? So she was either the daughter or granddaughter of that old hag? When the man remembered her, a chill ran down his spine, and a slight feeling of fear. She had frightened him with her entire being. He had the sensation that before him sat not an old woman, but some kind of monster that morally oppressed him with the weight of her lived years, which clearly numbered more than one human lifetime. Yes, the elder Lady Katerina Blood emanated an aura of fear that the man could not counter. But it turned out the younger one possessed nothing of the sort. Of course, now he could see common features between the girl and the woman, but until the old man had said it, the professor hadn't even paid attention, and Katerina's behavior itself was not like that of her mother? grandmother?—it didn't matter now—but the two were clearly very different. And that address to her... Your Highness? That's how one addressed the king and his family, but Katerina clearly didn't bear the surname Crow. Why, then?

  Munib's thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Caspar, still shirtless. The lad clearly hadn't sensed the oppressive atmosphere prevailing here, but as soon as he approached the girl, one of the knights stood up, drew his sword, and pointed it at the young man.

  "How dare you, a churl, appear in such a lewd state before His Highness!" said the knight in a rather un-bassy voice, in which Munib detected feminine intonations. Apparently, a woman could also be a knight, although Caspar hadn't said that only men became knights, only mentioning nobles. The old man also raised his head, and to the professor's surprise, there was no trace of emotion in his eyes, as if he had been dead for a long time.

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  "His Highness? Where?" Caspar asked in surprise, tilting his head to the side.

  The knight did not deign to answer the lad and strode quickly towards him, thinking this was a provocation. Just as Munib was about to shout the voice command to activate the Mu-6, Katerina stepped between the knight and Caspar. But now her gaze had completely changed.

  "Kneel," she uttered simply, and Munib again felt that cold aura he had experienced in that huge palace, although it wasn't as oppressive as the elder Katerina's. Now he had no doubt that this girl was a relative of that old beast.

  The female knight stopped before Katerina and immediately obeyed her command, kneeling on one knee, saying nothing.

  "It is not very polite to command another's knights, Your Highness," said the old man, beginning to move slowly towards her.

  "It is not very polite to attack my friends," Katerina parried, continuing to stand her ground, holding her back straight.

  "To continue in this vein, Your Highness, appearing before a princess in such a careless state is also not very polite," the old man replied, stopping right before her, remaining standing near the kneeling knight. Caspar also looked surprised, muttering something like "princess?" "Although, Bridget definitely overstepped the mark. Please forgive her; she was only thinking of you, Your Highness. Your disappearance has alarmed the entire kingdom."

  Munib still couldn't understand how Katerina could be a princess with the surname Blood, but he began to move slowly towards the old man. After all, he was, regardless, the head of this delegation, and the fact that they had a runaway princess was nothing more than a coincidence.

  "I take it you are Lord Howard, Viscount Lines?" Katerina said, standing opposite the old man.

  "Yes, that's correct, Your Highness," the Viscount replied. "Forgive us, we are currently having financial difficulties, and we didn't know you would be arriving with the delegation from the Free City of Starhorod; otherwise, we would have arranged a more lavish ceremony."

  "It's quite alright, Lord Howard. I don't need a herald to understand who is currently in the city of Starr, considering Lord Leon is away studying, and Lord Charles has been dead for several months," Katerina said, not averting her gaze from Howard.

  "What do you mean, Charles is dead?" Munib said in surprise, finally reaching Katerina and the old man.

  "You must be Professor Munib? Pleased to meet you. You've probably already heard, but allow me to introduce myself personally. Lord Howard, Viscount Lines serving Lord Eduard, Count Sky," the old man said, slightly inclining his head. "Forgive me that I can only incline my head; old age prevents me from doing certain things more actively."

  "It's quite alright," Munib waved off these apologies like an annoying fly. "I am indeed Professor Munib, but that's not important right now. How long ago did Charles die?"

  Howard turned his glassy eyes to Munib, and the man could find no glimmer of emotion in them. But he felt that the old man standing before him was considering many possible answers, as if he were not a human but some kind of puppet capable of solving multiple tasks simultaneously.

  "Almost half a year has passed. I thought you received our message about Lord Charles's death. Even if it didn't reach the city of Starhorod, a copy should have been given to you in the city of Blood," Viscount Lines answered honestly, maintaining calm in his voice.

  "No, no one gave anything to our delegation. At least, I received no such messages," Munib said.

  "Well, I think we can discuss this in more comfortable surroundings than discussing such important matters in the middle of the street, and especially hindering ordinary citizens from entering and leaving the city. A place has been prepared for your caravan outside the city where you can leave the train. Your people may enter the city; we have specially rented several houses for you within the city walls. But if your people find this inconvenient, they are perfectly free to remain outside the city walls, but then, to our regret, we cannot guarantee their safety," Lord Howard said slowly, not taking his gaze off the professor. "And now, if you don't mind, Professor Munib, Your Highness, would you be so kind as to accompany me? Oh, your young protégé, I believe his name is Caspar, may also follow us, provided he looks a little more presentable."

  These words made the young man blush, and he immediately disappeared among the carts, rushing towards where he had left his belongings. Munib, on the contrary, immediately nodded slightly, not waiting for his Caspar to get dressed. As fond as the professor was of the young man, not everything was meant for his ears.

  Katerina also did not wait for Caspar and simply walked into the city, not minding that the old Viscount was still standing before them. The knight named Bridget immediately rose and followed the princess, and her page followed her. Howard, watching the girl boldly enter the city, merely shrugged and also followed her, gesturing for Munib to follow him.

  "Mu-6 A-1 and A-2, follow me," the professor said loudly, and somewhere behind, a sluggish movement began. Fabric fell away from one of the carts, revealing four metal constructs, vaguely resembling humans. Two of them slowly stood up, emitting the crackle of coals familiar to everyone in the caravan, and clouds of smoke billowed from the pipes located on their shoulders. When both Mu-6 approached him, Munib noticed that the Viscount had stopped because of the noise the professor's creations made and was watching them with interest. But the old man's gaze remained just as emotionless. And with this small procession, the man and the old man entered the city.

  To his surprise, Munib found that the city of Starr was not as attractive as the city of Blood. There were no majestic buildings teeming with various stone statues that seemed like they could pounce on you, no wide avenues crowded with people and horse-drawn carts, no double walls for city defense, and the city itself, as the man understood, was much smaller. However, he could not call the city poor; on the contrary, it looked good. Munib hadn't noticed any slums as they made their way to the central square, and the townspeople's clothing, while not rich, looked at least neat and clean. Of course, this did not apply to people working in the fields—the professor noticed them as they passed by, carrying various tools for work, such as pitchforks or scythes. But even those people looked relatively clean. Many passersby looked at Munib in surprise as he passed with the Mu-6, but he didn't sense fear from them. The professor couldn't yet understand why—was it because Viscount Lines was walking beside him, or because this was a lingering influence of Charles?

  On the central square itself stood a small fountain, in the center of which rose a small statue of a young man catching a falling star. On its pedestal were engraved some inscriptions which, to his surprise, Munib could not read.

  "That is the old language of the Kingdom of Celestial," Howard explained, having noticed the professor's slight hesitation. "The statue itself is of the city's founder—Oliver Starr, after whom the city was named, and whose surname became the title for his descendants."

  Munib merely nodded at this bit of information from the Viscount, and they continued on their way. After about five minutes of walking, they reached a small manor that looked richer and more well-kept than all the other buildings they had encountered on their way. Already waiting by the gates of this building were Katerina and the knight Bridget. Howard merely waved his hand, and one of the pages walking with them ran to open the gate and knock on the door, saying something to the maid who opened it.

  Approaching the entrance of the house, the professor ordered the Mu-6 to switch to standby mode. The two metal constructs stopped, ceasing to emit the clouds of hot steam rising from their shoulders. He also warned the nearby servants not to touch his metal constructs, as they could burn themselves. Munib had deliberately not cooled the upper parts of his creations to make it harder for potential enemies to knock over a Mu-6 without suffering serious burns. The professor had managed to make the metal temperature high enough to be hot, but still not hot enough to start melting from excessive heat.

  Entering the manor, it did not strike the professor as particularly rich or lavish, especially compared to the palace of Blood, where everything teemed with abundance and luxury. On the contrary, this place seemed even somewhat modest. Only when they entered the study where Viscount Lines planned to receive them did Munib notice a painting of a young man with fair hair. Glancing lower, the man also read the inscription "Leon Starr," already in the common tongue known to him—the language used for diplomatic and other missions, and which had, in general, become part of everyday life in many kingdoms. Howard sat on a sofa opposite this portrait, gesturing for the professor and Katerina to take seats opposite him. The two knights, except for Bridget, did not follow them, leaving only four people in the room.

  "Allow me to introduce myself once more," the old man said. "My name is Lord Howard, Viscount Lines serving Lord Eduard, Count Sky. I am in charge of the financial side of matters and am also temporarily acting for the current Baron Starr, Lord Leon. But before we discuss the train and the railway, let's address the matter of how we can arrange things so that you are not executed for kidnapping Princess Katerina, Professor Munib."