Each of them had become stronger as a result of this journey. The fights with bandits had given them a fair share of battle scars across the chest and flanks that were all probably appealing to the females. Their swordsmanship had improved by at least 3 times. Being knights, they were granted the ceremonial knight outfit of the Swiftheart noble retinue. They also had the steel war barding and cavalry armor of mounted knights. That would certainly make a big difference when fighting other centaurs. Both also had new steel swords given to them from the Swifthearts when the baron visited us here in the capital. A two handed blade was given to them. I had also bought the pair a silver necklace and an iron ring with a sapphire each. Those were all treasures beyond their wildest dreams while living with their large tribe. Finding a mate would be easy. As the fairer sex, they would be the ones that the females would be fighting for. Still, they would set themselves apart as prizes that the best studs around would want to mount. Both were willing to accompany with me as I returned to the portal.
Fighting more bandits along the way would help keep the legacy of our vicious natures alive in the minds of the people we encountered along the way. Petras and Jeran were ready to go in the morning. However, there was one thing that they wanted to do first. We had to stop by the shady part of the city. There was a slave trader there. I was a bit wary of going there. They wanted to see if there were any female centaurs they could buy. Since they both were adamant that they were never going back to their tribe, it made some sense. They were still slaves to their biology. During their next heat, they would want to be mounted and actually bred. It was instinctual. Even if all they had now was great, it did not mean that they did not want children of their own. In fact, it made the desire for having children even more prominent. Tribal life was all about being great warriors so the strongest studs could spread their genes and make their tribes stronger. Even if males could not mount and sire children, they still wanted to pass on the genes too. Petras and Jeran were certainly strong and fast.
It would be nice for them to start families of their own. Who knows? Maybe having a clan of powerful centaur knights as vassals would be an asset to the Swifthearts. The brothers certainly benefitted from them being on the big journey here. I was actually surprised when Evan and one of Fabien's attendant knights came to see them off. At least Petras and Jeran made friends along the way. We set out with me on Petras's back. I did not know if it was a fortunate or unfortunate thing or not, but there were no centaur slaves in the market. The slavers were sizing the 3 of us up though. We drew our weapons to give them a show of force. That was enough to get them to back down a bit. Whether they liked it or not, we were all knights. It certainly would fetch them an amazing price, but we were not easy targets. Once it was confirmed that we could not buy the freedom of any centaurs, I smiled and said "It seems like there is nothing that we want to purchase. We will be leaving now!" We then slowly left the lot that they owned. After that, we all left the capital together. It was finally time to go.
