"Hmm? The emblem on that four-wheeled carriage giving way is quite rare... Which noble house does it belong to?"
"Ah! Director Nuno, that shouldn't be a noble emblem. It's from a Venetian merchant company... The steward of that company is that great Jewish merchant at the harbor who lends money on one hand and sells city-state luxuries on the other! As for this merchant company's carriage... it really is rarely seen out and about on ordinary days!..."
The Portuguese royal family's four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two great Andalusian horses, rolled steadily along the gravel road outside the city. Another carriage, equally splendid, had withdrawn to the outer edge of the road to let the royal vehicle pass first.
At that moment, the Portuguese royal director, the king's trusted confidant Nuno, was sitting inside the royal carriage. He narrowed his eyes, looking at the tightly closed curtains of the other carriage, but could not see who was seated within, or how many people there were. He watched the two Slavic servants driving the carriage for a while longer, noticed the Leather Armor beneath their outer robes and the short axes at their waists, and at once seemed lost in thought.
"Hmm... A Venetian merchant company carriage, appearing in the commoner district outside the city... And Knight Bruno's residence is in this area too... Interesting!..."
In this era, four-wheeled carriages were still expensive and fragile tools for travel, usable only around major cities with good infrastructure. Once they went thirty li beyond the city, there were no level roads left to drive on, and the axles and chassis were very easily damaged. The chassis mechanism of such a carriage was also relatively complex, and maintenance costs were extremely high—something ordinary minor nobles simply could not afford to keep up... So this was