— Generally, the amount of cash stored in our vaults is a secret. But I can tell you that we wouldn't be able to give you even half of the amount stated in the receipt. I'll let you in on a secret: in our kingdom, such an amount in cash can only be guaranteed in four cities — Zalone, Kase, Ure, and Kassia. In other places, there might be issues with such sums.
"Wow. Well, Kassia is the capital, so that's understandable. Ure is the largest city and port of the kingdom, through which most of the trade passes. Zalone is the mining area. But why does Kase get such privileges?"
— Your Grace, may I ask one more question? Why is it possible to get such large sums of cash in the capital of our duchy?
— It seems all foreigners have a similar question, — the priest snorted and leaned back in his chair, — it's related to the history and geography of our kingdom. The Great Northern Route officially begins in the capital. In reality, it only runs between Zalone and Kase; from the duchy's capital, the route starts with the waterway on the Great River, passing through our glorious kingdom's capital and onward to the city of Ure. In Kase, they process mythril ore from the northern mines and forge weapon and armor blanks, which are then sent to Ure. And to answer your unasked question about why the Dukes of Kase have such privileges and process royal ores, I'll say that they are distant relatives of the ruling dynasty. Few know this, but when the great King Edward founded our kingdom and its capital, he granted a fief to his younger brother and gave him the title of duke. Edward Elursky named the capital Kassia, and his younger brother Karl Elursky named his city Kase. And as you understand, they were both from the city of Ure, to which they were related as bastards of the local ruler. Later, the city of Ure was conquered by the kingdom and incorporated into it, and since then, no cities in the kingdom are more important than Kassia, Kase, and Ure.
— Thank you for the history lesson, — the vampire bowed.
"Really, thank you, even the baron didn't know that!"
After finishing the formalities with placing the money in the bank accounts, Alexander said goodbye to the treasurer and left the Church. It was already too late to visit the mage, so he decided to head home. The next task was to find the cart and the two vampires who were managing it. They should have finished all the purchases on the list given in the village. The guys were found near the warehouses.
Standing in the shadow of a building, they watched the porters loading rolls of coarse fabric into the cart. To avoid making a scene in front of the locals and forcing the vampires to run around in the sun, Alexander passed by them, subtly signaling with his eyes that they should follow him. Fortunately, they understood correctly, and no one immediately chased after him. Ten minutes later, the cart emerged from the warehouses and slowly headed toward the city gates.
— Did you buy everything? — As he aligned with the cart, Alexander looked down at his men.
— Yes.
— Then let's go home.
Moving leisurely along the road, they left the city and soon entered the cool shade of the forest. The vampires removed their hoods and relaxed. They could rest their tired eyes from the bright light and just think about their own matters without fear of revealing their inhuman nature and being exposed.
— I wonder, what have the city folks forgotten ahead? — One of the guards became concerned.
And indeed, Alexander now clearly felt that there were people ahead on the road. And they smelled of the city, not the village. Very strange, city people only come to this shore via the route to Zalone, not to Torfyanoe.
— Are they going to rob us now? — the second guard whispered cheerfully.
— Don't talk nonsense. We'll probably end up helping some foolish city dwellers who went to Torfyanoe for iron or to us for oil, — the first guard was completely confident in his opinion and even relaxed.
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