Arrival at the Royal Capital

Victor and Viscount Lugan stepped outside and found James at the door. Lugan and James exchanged bows, then the three of them left the cabin together and headed onto the deck.

The moment Victor arrived on deck, Brando spotted him. The young earl ran over and hugged Victor's leg, shouting excitedly, "Godfather, look at that huge iron gate! It's so tall and so big!"

Victor looked toward the bow. A sluice gate more than ten meters high stretched across the middle of the canal. It seemed to be covered in metal, and perhaps from being submerged year-round, it was as black and gleaming as the water-soaked bluestone on either side. It was an impressive sight.

At that moment, the bow of their passenger ship was only a few meters from the towering gate, and it looked as though they could crash into it at any moment. Yet the ship remained at a safe distance. It had already dropped anchor and stopped in place.

Victor looked back and saw the other passenger ships traveling with them lined up behind their vessel. More than a dozen cargo ships on the canal had also formed a queue and stopped to wait. Behind the fleet was another sluice gate that was closing.

As Victor observed the scene, a shout rang out from above the gate: "Open the floodgate!"

With a scraping sound, a gap appeared in the upper half of the gate, and a massive surge of upstream water came crashing down like a mad beast. It was like a waterfall, striking the bottom of the gate and throwing up white foam two meters high.

Because Victor and the others were standing near the bow, they were all struck by the splashing water. Victor could even feel a faint sting as the droplets hit