When Laine and others set foot on the land of the Empire, a week had already passed.

The ocean liner docked at Marinburg, but Laine and Tygris's group did not stay there. Instead, they continued marching upstream along the Rick River. Tygris hurriedly met with the Iphita High Elf Envoy, while Laine originally intended to chat with the Duke of Marinburg, Schultz, but seeing that Tygris didn't wish to linger, he just greeted and left.

When they arrived at the border city of Kalkaart between Marinburg and Rick Territory, Emperor Carl Franz was already there leading the Rick Guard, the Brunswick Great Knight Order, the Calon Castle Great Swordsmen, and many other armies from the capital, awaiting Tygris's arrival. The Empire showed Tygris the warmest welcome, extending the highest level of courtesy to thank him for all he had done for the Empire during the Great Holy War. At the same time, the Empire also welcomed Laine, who was rising rapidly as a new star in Brittania. He had deep ties with the Empire, and his killing of Egil benefited both the western and northern parts of the Empire, which made the Imperial people favorably disposed towards him.

Although Laine felt that perhaps fear played a significant role as well, his might was daunting to the Empire.

The group temporarily stayed in Kalkaart. Carl Franz had already arranged hotels and open spaces in town for the High Elves to set up camp. Tygris, Laine, and others stayed in the hotel.

The spacious hotel suite was luxuriously decorated, clean, and tidy. Teresa and Veronica were fairly familiar with the Empire, so they were fine, but Surya was curious about many things. The female knight opened the hotel window, and from the fifth floor, she gazed upon a prosperous, messy town full of vitality, yet chaotic, appearing before her.

Imperial towns weren't like those in Brittania. Brittania's towns were often built around castles where the lord nobility would plan the town strongly. However, this was not the case in the Empire, where towns often developed from villages. Local nobility preferred to reside in villas and mansions at the corners of towns, or even construct separate castles outside town.

Kalkaart is a town of five thousand people. Though it hasn't reached city scale, it's close. Merchants from Marinburg or other Imperial provinces abound here, the land is fertile, trade is thriving. Towns of Kalkaart's size are scattered throughout Rick Territory. As the most prosperous, enlightened, and powerful province of the Empire, Rick Territory has almost five million people, nearly 80% of Brittania's total population. The diligent governance of the Carl Franz family results in Rick Territory having the Empire's most powerful army, making it one of the few relatively stable provinces with less threat of war.

The other two territories are Avey Territory to the east and Weisen Territory to the south.

(A brief interlude here, the setting is not a game, the vampires of Hilvanian were eliminated by the Empire during the Vampire War. Now, Hilvanian Province is a wasteland with only a few residents living in it, a dead land.)

Laine embraced his wife from behind, burying his head in her golden hair, inhaling the scent of the female knight, and smiled as he asked, "What's wrong? Surya, curious about the Empire?"

The female knight gripped Laine's large hand, "Yes, the Empire... is quite different from Brittania. There's more vitality here, more energy, many residents like to walk with their heads held high."

"Shall we take a stroll on the streets?" Laine was also interested, having seen many guilds on the way into the city: the Boatman Guild, the Blacksmith Guild, the Wharf Workers' Guild, the Doctor's Guild, as well as the Justice Church, Life Church, and Merciful Goddess Church. Even in the depth of winter, the streets remained bustling.

"Hm, won't it delay the dinner banquet?" The female knight was evidently intrigued, yet she wanted to maintain her composure.

"No, we'll just walk around nearby and be back shortly." Laine continued to persuade.

"Well... okay then." Surya agreed. Emperor Carl Franz would host a banquet to entertain them in the evening. It was currently afternoon, and they had plenty of free time.

Twenty minutes later, Laine took Surya and her maid Sylvia for a walk on the streets. The Empire's streets were filthy and chaotic, whether it was people or houses, everything seemed old and dirty. The roadside buildings were of varying ages, humans wore thick cloaks, exhaled cold air, and engaged in business and work. There were quite a few idlers on the street, and many small-town residents and loafers whistles rudely upon seeing the beautiful female knight.

There were many great swordsmen and groups of knights patrolling the streets, clearly because of the emperor's visit. Officials appointed by the lord were going house to house collecting taxes, behaving coarsely and rudely. Many of the lord's patrol soldiers were also on the street, showing two extremes of attitude. They were obsequious to the emperor's great swordsmen and Imperial knights, while fierce and domineering towards civilians, constantly looking for excuses and reasons to levy fines, money that typically never left their pockets.

This was unlike Brittania; Laine held Surya's hand, with Sylvia behind him complaining, "Miss, the people here are so annoying, are all Imperial people like this?"