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The guards before Raven Fortress saw that Merlin and the others remained motionless. A sneer appeared on their faces as they said, "This is Raven Fortress, the Black Moon Kingdom! Just yesterday, there were people claiming to be princes and princesses of some royal family. Hmph, didn't they still obediently hand over enough gold before passing through here? Either leave the horses behind or pay enough gold. There is no other choice!"
Old Wilson and Baron Barman were both seething with rage, glaring hard at the guards. Yet they had retained their reason and did not make a move. Before such a military fortress, let alone a mere thousand or so knights, even tens of thousands of well-equipped, rigorously trained knights would be unable to breach this heavily guarded military stronghold.
Merlin had no solution either, so he could only say quietly to Old Wilson, "Father, let's go. We'll return to the convoy first and discuss it carefully."
Thus, Old Wilson and the others returned to the convoy.
Merlin spoke first. "Handing over the horses is absolutely impossible. It seems Princess Shirley and the others also paid enough gold before these guards allowed them to take their horses through Raven Fortress. If there is no other way, we can only do our utmost to gather one hundred and twenty thousand gold coins first..."
After a long while, Old Wilson finally said in a low voice, "Over the years, all the tax revenue from my