As the four of them departed the Althun estate together, the house servants gave their farewells. Then they walked with relative haste towards the city centre. As they travelled along Wendolin Street, they saw crowds of people heading in the same direction. Their destination was the city's main square in the centre. Even from a distance, they could see the towers of the gigantic Cathedral of the Annunciation, which towered over everything else. In the morning, as always, a mass had taken place in it, which was announced by the fanfare of trumpets from its towers, which could be heard all over the city. Wenzel and Aurel had also heard them on their arrival in Meglarsbruck. The family soon approached the main square in the long shadow of the cathedral, slowing down due to the large crowds.
When they finally got there, they literally had to push past people to get ahead. The most important building in the square was, of course, the church, whose main tower truly seemed to reach the heavens. Its front was decorated with countless ornaments, but above all with row upon row of statues depicting people. The boy looked up at them and could see that all their faces had been sanded down beyond recognition. He was unaware, that these were statues of saints that had deliberately been made unrecognisable not so long ago. Although, right next to it were some of the most important guilds, whose facades were also large and impressively decorated. In the centre of the square there now was a statue and a wooden podium next to it. Wenzel could not remember a statue in this place. As far as he knew, there had only ever been an empty stone plinth here. What he couldn't know, of course, was that this had once been the site of a large statue of Melgar. This new monument depicted warriors on horseback. "This is the Statue of Victory that is being inaugurated today!", his father told him enthusiastically. There were obviously many dignitaries standing around in the area directly in front of the cathedral, which was fenced off from the rest of the square. On the flagpoles the black griffin on a golden background, which was the flag of the Ordanian Confederacy, and the blue triquetra on a white background, which was the symbol of the Alethic Church, were being flown.
The family tried to get as far to the front as possible, so that they could hear the speaker at the podium. They didn't have to wait long before the speaker stepped out in front of the people. It was none other than the mayor of this town, the "honourable" Anshelm Hagen. He held a cone-shaped object in one hand, which he used to amplify the volume of his voice, at least a little. The crowd quietened down and he began his speech. "Dear citizens of our beautiful Federal City of Meglarsbruck! I welcome you all here today to celebrate the anniversary of our great victory in the war against the Kasharian Hordes." ....And so on and so forth. Wenzel could only hear half of what he was saying anyway, and he wasn't at all interested in "what our soldiers were doing in foreign lands". But everyone else seemed to be listening intently....
"(....) and Kasharovar also became part of our family of nations, our Ordanian Confederacy. Long live King Maximilian!", he now proclaimed loudly. The crowd replied: "Long live the king!" But before he could continue his speech, something else could suddenly be heard from the crowd. Some shouted: "Praise the martyrs!" The mayor then paused briefly and there was a lot of shouting and commotion in the crowd, but this could be heard quite a distance away from them. The mayor forthwith continued his speech. The uproar seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. It was soon quelled by soldiers. Or at least that's what it sounded like. It wasn't as if Wenzel could see what was really going on amidst all the commotion. He just wondered who they meant by "the martyrs". It was clearly something religious again.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
After the address, the parade that everyone had been waiting for finally began. Even before the speech was over, drums and the clopping of hooves could be heard from afar. The knights were already on their way. And they were accompanied by flag bearers and the sound of marching music. The knights trotted on horseback and in full armour along the parade route, which was kept clear on both sides by soldiers from the town garrison and their helpers. The midday sun shone down with full force and reflected off the brightly polished armour, worn by both the knights and their horses. "Must be incredibly hot in that armour," Wenzel thought to himself. Most of the knights had their sheathed swords hanging down to their left, but some had also brought their lances with them. Over their armour they also wore robes, bearing coats of arms that apparently symbolised their orders or noble houses.
Bertold enthusiastically explained all of this to his son, Wenzel: "Do you see the knights with the green shirts and the three chains on their coats of arms? That's the Order of Chains that garrisons Nargyosch and, which won a decisive victory against the hordes at the Battle of Linnanek. Oh, and that one over there is the noble of house Duenitz, who are well-known to fight in almost all battles of the Conferderacy. The knights over there with the axe and the lion in their coat of arms are from the Karantian Order." By necessity Wenzel feigned interest, but barely answered anything he said. He was quite impressed by all the pomp, but he wasn't particularly interested in the "history lesson" his father was trying to give him. He understood, however, that this had less to do with his father's interest in teaching him and more to do with his need to share something that fascinated him with others.
Loud cheers from the crowds could be heard from every direction and petals were thrown down on the parade from the windows and balconies of some houses. In return, the participants of the parade waved at the crowds. Wenzel could not get carried along by this atmosphere. However, he found himself staring at the swords and lances of those riding past again and again. He just thought they looked totally cool. Secretly, he wished to be able to handle such weapons, too.
When his father tried to palaver at him about some knightly orders again, Aurel thankfully stepped in and continued the conversation, or rather the lesson, with his father. Aurel didn’t do this out of a willingness to help his brother, but rather to himself make a positive impression on his father. Finally, the procession slowly drew to a close and they made their way home again. Wenzel was glad it was over. His legs were tired and he couldn't and didn't want to listen to any more of the politics. Above all, however, his headache and dizziness had already taken on severe proportions. He wouldn't last much longer without the stone. They took a leisurely stroll home together along the wide avenues, which were now lined with huge, ancient lime trees.
