Chapter 140- Capital City, or Small Country?

Chapter 140- Capital City, or Small Country?

[Keeno POV]

Three weeks have passed since leaving the last city. Fia, after spending another obviously passionate night with Mostima went back to the Divine Domain. What she failed to realize is that she could never escape the teasing. It was just a matter of who got to see the reaction. That aside, she was also preparing for her next job which would take her to the other continent. I also contacted Eblana who, after giving her own updates, I asked if she could possibly set up a meeting between us, Aslan, and the Knight envoy from Lokir. She was curious about the reason, but I told her that it would have to wait until we met in person, though I did let slip they’d be a potential ally.

For her part she had finally stumbled upon a roadblock in her search for secrets. In a part of the castle even she didn’t know existed she found a single corridor. It was heavily guarded with magic. She would have sent some of her undead to brute force any traps, but she didn’t seeing as if she did, she would no doubtedly be found out, so getting to whatever was beyond there was put on hold. We also set up a meeting point at a large abandoned temple that not many people ever visited.

Now, at the present day, we were standing on a hill near the capital city, Pram, Freya, and I completely flabbergasted at the immense size of the place. When Mostima said it would take us a week to get anywhere important, I thought she was exaggerating, but seeing the city with my own eyes made me reconsider that.

“...” (Pram)

“I...” (Freya)

“How does a city this big even exist? Even from what I can remember of my past life no city was ever THIS big!” (Keeno)

“I think it’s the biggest city in the world. Not sure though since it’s been a while since I’ve been on the other continent.” (Mostima)

{It is by a very big margin.}

“I mean, from here it feels like it could be a whole country itself.” (Keeno)

“I honestly wonder how people manage to live there. I mean, what if you need something urgently, but you can only find it on the complete other side of the city?” (Pram)

“Being honest, they have a lot of problems like that. There are a lot of places for things like medicine or healing readily available in most parts of the city, but if you need something specific that can’t be found near you, then you take a multiple day journey to get it. It’s very inconvenient for most citizens, though when I was here last, I heard some rumors that something was in development that would help make this a nonissue.” (Mostima)

“How credible were those rumors?” (Freya)

“As credible as a few drunk metalworkers can be. It’s a good thing none of you need metal for anything, it’s been getting bought up by the crown by the minefull nearly.” (Mostima)

“You need to teach us how to collect information like this. I can always rely on Huginn and Muninn and their growing number of subordinates, and what they say can be...unreliable.” (Keeno)

“Well, they are birds. They can’t all be as smart as those two.” (Pram)

“True. Huginn and Muninn aren’t the best with discipline. At least not yet.” (Keeno)

The two in question squawked in complaint from my tails. They had indeed returned after a week before resting a day then going back out. This was their second rest day before they started working on converting the ravens in this city.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

“Well, standing on a hill overlooking the city isn’t going to get us anywhere.” (Keeno)

“Come to think of it, why do so many cities we’ve been to have hills like this? I mean, it’s not even that steep of a hill and we have a view of the city like we’re standing on a mountain.” (Freya)

{Something I call perspective magic. It’s a little something I cast on the world a long time ago when I was obsessed with that one civilization. They always had interesting art and, to get more of it myself, I made a magic that made painting scenes like this easier. I just never got around to removing said spell because other things kept cropping up, and now it’s basically a part of life.}

“...How do I respond to that?” (Freya)

“You don’t. You just accept it and move on.” (Pram)

{Pram gets it.}

“As someone whose seen many things related to gods in the past, this is rather tame. When you see an angry earth god create a volcano just to eradicate a Fiend nest the size of a small village, then you can talk.” (Mostima)

{Ugh. That guy. I’m glad he’s gone. He was always so arrogant and heavy handed. But enough about all this, get going or you’ll miss the gate.}

We set off toward the city only for all of us minus Mostima to realize that the walls were much taller than we thought. They were so tall that I could have sworn only a giant of, well, giant proportions could build.

I slowly stood up from where I was sitting.

“We need to move. I’ll feel better if I just get used to being here, so we need to get to the meetup spot. It should still be manageable to get to today, I hope. Eblana did say it was near the entrance we’d be coming through.” (Keeno)

I took a step and stumbled a bit before being caught by Freya and Mostima.

{Pram, use you magic on her at full strength. Try some that calms the mind before trying the usual small cures.}

Pram nodded and put a hand on my head. For a minute all I could see was the slightly greenish-white light of the magic before the bad feeling diminished enough for me to walk normally.

{Hmm. It has to do with your Authority of Death. That’s what’s going on.}

“I figured as much.” (Keeno)

“Do you still want us to hold you up?” (Mostima)

“I should be good for a while, but if I nearly fall again, then I’ll gladly accept. Now, let’s get moving. Huginn, Muninn, look for the abandoned temple we’re looking for. Should have one of those big bell towers with a blue bell the same color as my fire.” (Keeno)

The two flew out of my tail and started circling above us in big circles, looking for what I was talking about before spotting our destination and started flying that way. We followed under them, only to realize that getting there would not be as simple as going in a straight line. By the time we finally made it to the temple, it was nearing midnight.

The temple grounds were, for lack of a better word, decrepit. It was in the middle of a small grassy spot, though most of the plants were weeds. The doors to the nearly crumbling stone building were rotted wood one touch away from disintegrating. The one beautiful stained-glass windows were covered in mold, moss, and several were shattered. The only thing that seemed in a relative state of upkeep was the bell tower. It was made of a pristine white stone that reflected the moonlight.

“I don’t care how bad it is, we sleep here for the night.” (Keeno)

I made my way over to a dead tree and slumped down next to it. The others followed suit shortly after and most of us fell asleep immediately while having Huginn and Muninn keeping watch over us.

Chaos Realm:

Tamamo: Things are getting interesting again.

Luna: Finally. Though I’m also impressed about the size of that city.

Want some fun info about that city?

Atmos: Oh? What’s the scoop!?

They are trying to develop a train.

Atmos: A what?

Luna: Oh!...What are you planning, mister Fate-Weaver?

Nothing you need to worry about. It doesn’t concern you.

Atmos: ...Hehehehehehehehe.

Tamamo: *Bonk*

Atmos: OW!!!!!

Tamamo: Don’t get any funny ideas, Atmos.

Atmos: Fine.