Chapter 96: What the future holds

"With this token, your life in the academy will be far better than it would otherwise be. Either way, just follow me silently for a moment. While we might control this area, it still theoretically belongs to the empire so it's better not to probe the nest with unnecessary words and names."

As annoying as it was to have all his question put for later once again, Fen could understand the need for those basic precautions. Given the earlier announcement of the man, the veil that covered all the truth from the young man would most likely be lifted once they would safely board one of the many boats that travelled up and down the river, where no one would be realistically able to eavesdrop what they would be talking about.

Following after the leader along with two of his soldiers that arrived shortly after Fen and Arla, the small group quickly made their way towards the huge settlement. Despite being surrounded by forest from all sides, the huge perimeter of an open plain that created a vast buffer between the line of the trees and the city itself allowed for quite a developed farming to be implemented, basically making the entire town self-sufficient.

But even before Fen could pass its gates, the main reason for its existence was more than obvious. 

It was all about the river.

It didn't take a geographical genius to notice that the only place where that river could be heading, was the land of Kinar Republic. Given how its stream was created from countless small sources converging into a bigger waterway just outside of the city, the reason for Kinarian occupation of this place turned obvious as well.

If that river was going all the way to their capital, then allowing potentially hostile country to control its uppermost parts could be disasterous! Not only in military and economical terms as it would take some great conflict to use this kind of advantage, but mostly in the political aspect of the relationship between the two countries. With this kind of leverage, even if empire were to never even attempt at blocking or poisoning the water, land of Kinar would still have to agree to some huge concessions to keep their water safe!

But those were just some basic observations that Fen made while walking towards the city. Even after their small group passed the gate and merged into the busy crowd, the signs spread around the city only continued to reinforce the young man's notion that this place belonged to the empire on paper only.

From the guards dressed in some impeccably sawn uniforms and carrying some kind of strange weapon lookling like half-pickaxe and half-hammer instead of simple swords or spears like it would normally take place in any other imperial city, even the way the streets were kept in perfect order made it clear that this place had actually nothing to do with the royals!

"Look, we will take the boat from the inner pier."

Focusing his attention on the constructions that the leader of the group pointed at, Fen realised that even though it was spread through the entire length of the river that flew through the city, the buildings above the line of the water were the true heart of the city. Given how quickly the size of the many waterways increased, the speed of the river was abysmall, allowing people to easily travel in both ways with just the oars alone. And that meant, that the fertile lands around the city could not only supply the city alone, but also everything that lied downstream!

"Sir! I need a transit for five, middle class, service fee."

Throwing a bunch of normal words that made up some kind of commercial code, the leader of their group threw a bunch of coins at the counter before pulling out some kind of certificate on a strange paper. Given how the man took it out of his small breast-pocket right in front of Fen's eyes, the young man had no other choice but to realise from the way how the paper unfolded perfectly, without leaving any marks on itself, that it wasn't the simple yet expensive paper that recently started to explode on the imperial markets.

"As per your order. One of my transport ship is scheduled to arrive in a few minutes, so feel free to take a rest on the pier. Here is your token."

Pulling out a simple, carved-out piece of wood from under his counter, the man that sat leisurely in a comfortable chair quickly disregarded their presence, already awaiting another prey that would fill up his coffers a bit.

"Seems like a profitable business…"

Once their group finally stopped by the small pier built as a direct extension of the house where its master was selling the tokens, Fen couldn't stop himself from commenting. It took him just a quick glance at Arla to understand that the girl was far beyond any levels of terror that the young man could comprehend. 

Not willing to bring even more attention to them, rather than following the whims of his heart and pulling the delicate girl into his embrace for as long as it would take to calm her down, Fen had to limit himself to just grasping her hand and intervening his fingers with her own. 

Talking about the daily way of operating the business in the city was just a way to make her feel safe, rather than threatened by every single, smallest noise or crumble that visibly shook her entire body every time it appeared.

"It's a simple job, but unless you already own a plot of land on the shore and within the city, then it's actually pretty hard to make a living out of it. Just the cost of the land that allows you to dabble in the river trade makes it pretty impossible to enter the market, so most of the people can only watch as selected few continues to grow and buy out other shops, while everyone else has to do their bests to earn enough for a loaf of the bread."

Saying those words with clear contempt, the leader of their group would most likely go on a bit more extensive rant about the topic if not for a small ship suddenly breaking free from the stream of the vessels travelling through the middle of the river only to approach their pier.

"Thanks for your cooperation and I wish you enjoyed the travel! Owners of the Guana Tokens, you can enter the boat now!"

Not even bothering to wait for the passengers' on top of the boat to get back to the stable land, the captain of the ship invited the new passengers up. 

To Fen's surprise, their 'places' were not limited to just a small part of the board where they could stand or hopefully have a seat, but it turned out that the token that the leader of their group received gave them access to an entire, huge room at the back of the ship!

"Now, we can finally have some talk. Tell me, what do you want to know?"

After closing the doors behind him and sitting down on one of the chairs, the leader of their group reached to the nearby stool and grabbed one of the unopened bottles. Judging from the aroma that spread out through the wooden room once the man uncorked the bottle, it was just some kind of cheap wine that was already paid for in the price of the ticket.

"First, what did you mean by that token that I showed you changing the situation? Or rather, why do you think that ultimately, we are almost bound to end up in that academy that you mentioned?"

There were simply too many questions that Fen wanted to ask. Starting from learning how his future would look like, through the things that he should be careful about in this new country al the way to the best way to take care of Arla, now that he couldn't just dive into the forest and hope that the spoils would be enough to pay for the living of two people. But out of all those questions, their future still held the mark of priority here.

"The academy? It's pretty simple. No matter who you are or how bad your innate capabilities are, being an arcanist, even a weak one, is still the best way to make sure you won't starve out. That also connects with the token that you showed, as it is a universally accepted proof of the fact that teaching you the art can bring tangible benefits to the entire community of arcanists. But there is one, most important point for the people like you two."

Taking a moment to take a breath and increase the tension in both Fen's and Arla's mind, the leader of their group smiled lightly before finishing.

"With that token, you are basically on a simple road of becoming a republic guard or official as long as you are willing to take this route."