Chapter 427 425:Arlington City

After a long and troublesome journey, Alex and his men finally arrived at Arlington City.

And as expected, the capital of the Arkham Empire looked glorious and prosperous.

Long walls surrounded the place like a fortress while a river flowed before it.

What hadn't Alex witnessed during this journey?

From people staring up with blank looks while resigning to their fate and dying because of not having their fill to people who were trying their best to survive even if they have to become bandits or thieves.

At every turn of the road, they had come across a team of bandits who were trying to loot them.

Alex's immediate action should be to kill them at one glance but those weren't usual bandits but the common people who threaten them with an axe, sickle and kitchen knives which made Alex's heart bitter.

It was a sight that Alex didn't want to witness anymore. Even a stone-hearted person may melt after witnessing such a scene.

Alex used soft means to knock them and then place the beast he hunted near them along with things of some daily use.

He didn't give them money which may cause more trouble than required.

For the first time in his life, he felt that he had done a great deed by looting Count Gray.

He exchanges the money for clothes and food and puts them in commendable people's hideouts while passing through it was limited to people whom he witnesses suffering.

The lands near the border were still in good condition but as he moved toward the border, Alex caught a glimpse of the agricultural lands where a single crop wasn't able to grow.

Many towns and cities were already deserted and became villages with no one in sight.

The farmlands have become desert and arid regions.

Alex attempted to clear the lands where he passed through as much as possible which had exhausted him on the journey.

But finally, he could breathe an air of freshness which made him feel revitalised once again.

Snob...Snob...

Max and many others even cried tears of joy.

Just the term Capital City made the whole city look different.

It seemed as if the surrounding buildings, the clothes that people were wearing, the grass on the streets and even the trees planted in front of the houses looked much more elegant and stylish.

Max and others eyed their surroundings with barely contained excitement.

Aeon looked at Max and others behaving pathetically and looked another way to see Johnson looking at everything with the same expression and sighed.

This was the centre of Arkham's economic and political system and the place was even more vibrant than Zenith but people's expectations and hopes seemed to float in the air still, these people are too much.

"All of you calm yourself. Don't make yourself look like a country bumpkin. Don't disgrace our Lord." Aeon shouted and looked at Alex for some more words but he almost stumbled when he saw Alex's teary expression.

"Lord, you also..."

"Sorry, Aeon I wasn't able to hold myself. I have been missing good food for a while." Alex muttered.

Riya smiled helplessly and wrapped her hands around his arms.

Alex and his men arrived before the huge inner City walls where a large number of guards checked people.

They have to go inside the inner zone if they want to enter the headquarters of the Lockhart Merchant group.

"Why is there such strict checking?" Alex murmured.

"Things have been a bit chaotic so they need to verify our identity."One of the passersby spoke.

There were four passage gates.

One for normal people.

One for awakened ones.

One was for merchants and the other was exclusively for Nobles and Royals.

Arlington city was divided into two zones.

Outer and inner

The inner area is the core zone where many nobles and rich people were concentrated while the outer was an area for lesser ones.

The division wasn't done based on wealth rather it was done to concentrate the security forces to identify suspicious individuals during the ongoing crisis.

And it was fairly successful as many demons and dark Elves had been caught due to this.

Alex's carriage stood in the line of the Merchants.

One by one, the carriage went in after checking and it was time for Alex.

Alex and Riya walked down from the carriage.

"What is inside?"An officer asked.

"Clothes, beast skin and their parts."

The official noted down and asked others to check.

"Do you have a registered Merchant licence?"

"No Sir, that's the reason we are here. I am an adventurer who has been bestowed with some luck. After scraping all the valuable parts from the beast, I made some profit and wanted to start a business in the City."

"Adventure huh! Do you have proof!"

Alex took out his adventurer licence and handed it to the officer who analysed it carefully.

"Hmm!"

"Sir there is nothing wrong with it?"The people spoke after searching the carriage.

The officer nodded and looked at the group of men behind Alex and asked about them.

"They are the people I hired for safety. You know the condition of the outside world. It is disheartening."

"Yeah, you are correct about that but we shouldn't lose hope."

"All clear, let them pass."

Alex finally breathed in relief.

Some of his men had entered through a common passage while some entered with him.

"Sir look at that!" One of the men shouted while looking at the poster.

Alex's carriage halted and he gazed at the poster.

The poster says to donate something for the cause of others and help others in times of need.

There were also many posters with various advice returned on them.

Preferring animal husbandry and rearing during the current crisis.

Further enlistment of armed personnel.

It was quite a noteworthy approach which made Alex remember about his past when the government advertised their schemes through these posters.

While looking at the poster and hoardings, the one which garnered the most attention was the voluntary training of all common masses for a certain period.

"They are even going to train the common people," Johnson asked with a look of surprise.

"Are you all underestimating the common men?" Alex asked with a stern expression.

"Lord, wouldn't it be a waste of resources when the reserves are already all-time low?"

Alex shook his head and laughed"They don't need to give them too many resources. Just basic training and knowledge of formation is enough and if someone is lucky to awaken then that would also benefit them a lot."

"Though common people can become self-sufficient through this, it also means they have the power to fight and could oppose the ruling forces," Aeon spoke while thinking about the pros and cons.

"Do you think Arkham had the luxury to think all of this now?"

Alex couldn't help but praise the man who came up with this. It was a really good move.

People underestimate the common man too much.

If hundreds of common men gathered and ganged up wouldn't a Disciple rank be defeated easily?

Alex saw the burning fire in people's eyes on the way. If common people could arm themselves with weapons to deal with enemies, they could even risk their lives to take out the other side.

Once forced into a no-retreat situation the army made of command people might surely change the scale if stronger ones are taken care of by the main forces.

"First let's look for a place to stay and after that, I want all of you to visit Church and offer your prayer."

"Athena would be angry if she knew that we haven't prayed for a while."