Journey to the Volantis (1)

Traveling in the medieval fantasy world sucked; that was the conclusion to which Valkorion came because it was indeed true.

Even though he invested some money and hired a rather luxurious carriage for both him and Melisandre. 

They were riding a rather spacious carriage that was being pulled by two Iron-Headed Bulls, and when he told that the carriage was big, it was even bigger because it was more like some sort of warwagon that even had two rooms in it.

Of course, it cost around one hundred gold coins to rent the wagon for the two of them for their journey to the Orange Shores, with one stop at the Volantis to resupply and another stop most probably would be at the Mantarys, but they won't be staying for a long at the Mantarys.

Mostly because Mantarys, more than a city or town, was a military outpost, and 99% of people living in the Mnatary were soldiers, Legionaries, or people affiliated with the military of the Valyrian Freehold, as Mantarys guarded the northern entrance to the peninsula.

The person who was controlling the carriage was a former adventurer who retired, and he could fight rather well, so he didn't really have problems taking him to the Orange Shores, even though it was a bit far. 

Not to mention, he was assured that the two of them would fight against the bandits and other unsavory elements if they encountered them during the journey to the Orange Shores. The roads to the Volantis were notoriously famous for being prime targets for the robbers and bandits very often.

The journey to the Volantis would take around one month or so; fortunately enough, the carriage or wagon or whatever he rented was rather luxurious and specifically created for long-term travels.

The priestess of the Red Temple assured him that there would be enough of riches within the Undead Asylum Catacombs, so he didn't really hesitate when it came to investing money in the transportation means and and other things that were needed for their little expedition.

In the end, everything would return back once he looted the Catacombs. Hopefully, some things will still remain there even after many years. He could then just dump them through the Clan Ferros as he had a rather very good relationship with the Camille Ferros.

For sure, the silver-haired woman would give him a good price on everything that he obtained from the former Firelink Shrine. Hopefully, the remnants of the Firelink Shrine would have enough good things in them for him to loot.

He also knew that Melisandre wouldn't really care about the things that he took from the former Firelink Shrine, as she was only interested in the objects that were of importance to the Red Temple and nothing more.

Everything else was relatively inconsequential.

This was the advance of going into such ruins with the priestess of the Lord of Light. She didn't really care about the world's possessions in this aspect, as the sole thing that she was right now interested in was the mission from her Lord.

At the same time, Valkorion wasn't 100% sure of that, because the woman was nigh impossible to read. She was one of the people who found it very hard to read, and it was almost impossible to know what she was thinking about.

"Have you ever visited Volantis?"

Valkorion asked the red priestess who was laying on the couch within the huge wagon as they were talking about the situation in the Essos and politics. It was a rather interesting talk, because Melisandre was a rather educated person and knew many things. 

Especially about the relationships between various factions across the known world of Faerûn, which was something akin to her specialty. She was able to explain many things to Valkorion that he didn't really understand. 

"Three times or so... within the structures of the Red Temple, I am stationed mostly in the Asshai as the native of the place or sent to the quests like this, so there are not many opportunities for me to leave my posts, but Volantis is a really impressive city. One could say that it is the greatest city in the Freehold if you don't know the cities located on the Valyrian Peninsula."

Valkorion listened to what the red witch was saying about the Volantis and also about her own position with the Red Temple, because even that was rather handy information.

Volantis was very famous for being the most important fortress city in the northern parts of the Valyrian Freehold and the holder of the way to the core of the Valyrian Freehold. If someone wanted to attack the Valyrian Freehold on the ground, there were only two possibilities, or technically three. 

The impossible one, the third one was the cross through the Painted Mountains, but that was what it seemed like... Impossible because the army would need to either avoid the endless hordes of the goblinoid and whatever was living in the mountain range or confront it.

Such tasks were not only impossible but also utterly foolish because the attraction that any army would create when crossing through the Painted Mountains would most probably attract there every single goblinoid and ancient monster and Extraordinary Creature living in the entire mountain range.

The second possibility was to cross through the Demon Road from the side of Slaver's Bay, but even that would require either bypassing or going through parts of the Painted Mountains, so it wasn't that ideal way.

The simplest and most straightforward way to enter the Valyrain Freehold was from the west, through the Volantis.

Due to that, the Valyrian Freehold spared no resources to turn the entire city into an impregnable fortress city that would be able to withstand a siege of even the greatest armies that the world has seen.

Every bit of the walls was made from Blackstone, and the city was never breached in the entire history it stood; not even the first and outermost wall of the city was ever breached; that alone spoke volumes about the power of the fortress city of Volantis.

"Should the Volantis be dangerous for you? You know... the Church of the Dragon Gods is prevalent there, and much of their upper clergy are permanently stationed in the city; some are even calling the Volantis, the city of the Dragon Gods or the city of the faith..."

Valkorion knew that the Volantis was deeply under the influence of the Church of the Dragon God, more than any other place within the Freehold. Valyrians were relatively religiously tolerant as long as the religion wasn't worshipping one of the Evil Gods, Evil Entities, or whatever in those lines.

Basically, as long as it worshipped someone who was neutral or good, or someone who wasn't insistent on causing problems, they wouldn't really care. But to some religions that were worshipping some Evil Gods, Evil Entities, some other begins or Outer Gods...

Then, only death awaited...

And yeah, apparently, the Outer Gods were a thing in this world as well.

And that was also supposed to be the utmost secret from the wide population.

That probably summarizes it...

Still, Valkorion was rather curious why she insisted on stopping at the Volantis because, for the followers of the Red God, it was very hostile territory.