----------------------------------------
“Welcome to Gleisvale, lasses and lads. By Crustacia’s twin-tails, I haven’t been to this city since my cousin Broggi and I decided to break some taboos and make our blasthammer. Mhmm.”
There was one thing I immediately noticed the moment we entered Gleisvale, and that was the architecture. The towns we visited on the way here all had similar, medieval-type buildings reminiscent of what you would see in Artorias. Gleisvale, however, had something Grimnir called a dwarven-human fusion style.
“Cities or towns who often trade or interact with us tazongs usually develop a tazong-akong hybrid style to their buildings and city layout. Not that it’s a surprise, since tazongn architects and stonemasons are the best, gahahaha!” Grimnir laughed out loud as he manned the coachman spot, explaining everything to us while we looked outside the RV from Tasianna's garden on the second floor. “We tazongs use metal and stone for nearly everything. Wood or anything easily flammable is forbidden to use as building materials not only because of our lifestyle but also because of the fact we Taz dwarves sometimes spew out flames when we get drunk.”
“That hasn’t happened to you yet,” Saori noted. “And we go out drinking often enough that I know your drunken habits. So, do you have it so well under control that you made your carriage out of wood?”
“Ha, of course, bladdarg! But accidents happen when you’re young, and if a group of apprentices goes wild for a night, any taverns and houses made with wood might catch on fire. That said, a wooden carriage is faster and easier to move, and I don’t see any other Taz outside of me in Artorias. Besides, do you honestly believe some equerochsen could drive a metal or stone carriage forward?”
After entering the city, Grimnir began giving us a general idea of how the city was structured. Similar to the cities in Artorias, there was a slum, a middle, a merchant, and an affluent district, all with the same functions as their counterparts in Cedaraille and Griffonpeak.
However, the main difference between those cities and Gleisvale was the fact that there was a dedicated artisan district where a ton of dwarves lived and worked whenever they came to the city, as well as an underground train area. The last invention the Revolution Queen brought from Earth to Peolynca; there was a station right beneath the mountain.
That’s right, a mountain. Gleisvale was built by the dwarves under the Ankoran mountain ranges and inside a valley called Centipedeclaws, named such due to the numerous hills along the valley path which looked like the legs of a centipede. Monsters roamed the area around these hills, and they were arranged in such a manner that I could understand why it would be hard to siege Gleisvale — there was only one easy path into the valley, a chokepoint.
Before we entered the valley, we went through a small town built to help merchants pass through the valley without any problems. Numerous caravans were waiting there for the next guide. The reason for this was 'cause of the uneasy road as well as the possibility of going off the beaten path and getting lost. Useful, but the issue was you had to pay for a safe trip through Centipedeclaws, and then you had to pay an entry fee into the city.
Fucking capitalism, dude!
Still, after coming out of that rather uncontrolled valley filled with trees and other annoying road bumps, Gleisvale sure looked like the light at the end of the tunnel. Civilization amid a wild forest.
And it sure utilized the dwarves inside the city well enough. The walls surrounding the city and the entrance to the underground train were created entirely by dwarven hands instead of magic spells. However, Grimnir told us these dwarves only worked if the project was suitable for their talents, so normal houses or the mansions of the rich were made by earth mages.
Still, the architects and builders took inspiration from their dwarven artisans or were apprentices under them, and they used this knowledge in their own contracts. For example, the houses in the middle district looked very Renaissance Venice according to Saori. So, a bunch of brick houses, but I guess she also meant the canal running through the city similar to Venice.
“There are three main points of interest in this city. The first is Gleisvale’s river port, made by us tazongs so the humans here could properly use the river Gleislain. We were also the ones to construct this whole waterway flowing from the mountain through Gleisvale into the valley,” Grimnir said while we drove on a bridge, built above the waterway in question.
“This place sure is a different sight from Aureolis and Artorias. More progressive, I guess?” Tatsuya commented, to which Kyouya agreed.
“While not as modern looking as this city, I heard that the Groushia duchy’s capital similarly contracted dwarves to improve their architecture, correct, Grimnir-san?”
“Mhmm, correct, lad,” Grimnir nodded while keeping his eyes on the busy street, trying his best to have the garms avoid accidentally hitting something due to their size. “The kings of the hold and the Ankoran King are politically unable to directly work with any human country since our friendship with the yfleis is too strong. While we can forgive grudges, the Ankoran crown does not forget slights and insults to our allies… but that doesn’t affect the individual tazics and inkos. We are too stubborn to accept such a law, you see.”
Yflei, dwarven for elf, have a pretty tight bond with the dwarves, so I guess that was to be expected. From the sounds of it, I guess the Ankoran King did have a reason to create an alliance with Artorias, just to satisfy those still interested in working with humans. If this alliance went through without a hitch, it could benefit every human country.
Grimnir continued pointing out the notable landmarks of the city. “Second, we have the seat of the capital and the building hosting Estralia’s senate and its president, the Mercurial Hold. There, we will also find the local merchant guild since in Estralia they hold immense influence, even more than the mage’s and adventurer guilds. The name comes from a combination of the Merchant God, Mercurias, and the fact it was a dwarven fortress before the guild took it over.”
Drawing our attention to the huge structure etched into the mountain at the far end of the city, it reminded me a bit of the royal citadel of Griffonpeak. Of course, unlike King Drangleic’s home, there weren’t any griffons or hippogryphs to help them fly up to that hold. Instead, the place had a proper bridge to it, and there was also a path within the mountain to get up there.
While the headquarters of the local merchant guild was in the fortress, there was a branch within the city for everyday usage. Since Estralia was ruled through wealth, guilds and organizations able to bring in a large amount of wealth were the most important for the city. Money is absolute power here.
“And then, lastly, we have the most important location in this city. The train station, the last creation Goddess Chihiro gave us before she departed her mortal life. Gleisvale has a station here, and, if we make it in time, we could use the train to reach as far as the Beastman Alliance’s territory. In addition, a tazongn blacksmith and trainfaring guilds are located there.”
“Oh, seriously?!” I exclaimed. “I want to see it! Hey, Grimnir, mind showing us around there if you already know the place?”
“…” However, unlike how talkative he was while praising anything the dwarves made, Grimnir became silent the moment I proposed going to “the most important location in this city.” It took a bit of awkward silence before he responded. “… After we’re done with the mandatory stuff, alright, lass?”
Hmm?
In any case, I knew something was bothering him, but I decided to not speak about it for now. Grimnir was a stubborn and grumbling man. If he didn’t want to do something, he wouldn’t. As such, he never attended any aristocratic meeting or met King Drangleic. I guess, since he was my retainer, he was using his status to ignore a royal summons, and I never wanted to force him.
Regardless, he was right that we had some mandatory stuff to do before we could frolic around the city. For example, the “Heroes of Aurena” and I, one of her champions, had to announce our presence at the local temple. It was our duty, after all. Then, there was the need to acquire suitable accommodation. We would mostly stay inside the RV, but we needed a place to park it legally. In a place where thievery was low, hopefully.
And that was exactly what we did.
Unlike Griffonpeak and Cedaraille, the local temple of Aurena wasn’t exactly placed close to the affluent district; in fact, it was located at the border of the merchant and artisan district, next to a general temple of the Origin Gods and one fully dedicated to a subordinate god, Mercurias.
<[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
“Thank you, thank you, Champion Hestia and Saint Candidate Asaka! We humble priests weren’t worth such a powerful blessing. Please, allow us to welcome you two and the heroes into Estralia.”
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Outside of Tasianna and Elrick, I was attending this mandatory introduction with only the members of The Misfits. Tamae and her party were back in Griffonpeak, and they didn’t want to come if they could avoid it. To them, these meetings were usually very tiresome.
“Just a question, you like to show-off, huh?” Asaka asked me in a whisper as we followed the clergymen. “I mean, I usually only do it up to Minor, since I don’t exactly have the mana to give a stronger buff. You, on the other hand, have like an infinite supply, in my opinion. These priests are easily impressed if you can do the blessing thing on your own, so you don’t have to do anything better than minor.”
I shrugged my shoulders before using [Telepathy] to reply. [“As you would expect from an idol, I do like being in people’s minds. Also, I learned that showing off your ability is the most reliable way to prove to the local temple that you can be trusted and are the real deal. Our strategy to prevent Aureolis from excommunicating Artorias and plunge them into a war before the alliance is sealed is for me to prove my worth. I have to act like a real champion.”]
Eshe taught me it was important for the morale of the followers that champions were strong enough to fulfill their duty. Saints weren’t expected to be powerhouses, so what Asaka mentioned only applied to her, since she was only a candidate. I had to show off.
While walking through the church, I noticed a certain lack of, well, grandeur around it. Sure, it was just after lunchtime so I didn’t expect a lot of followers to be here, but the number of clergymen was also quite low. In fact, the temple was significantly smaller than any I’d visited before.
It could be compared to the orphanage of Griffonpeak, before it was destroyed during the invasion. A medium-sized elongated room for prayers and sermons, with hallways around it leading into the other rooms. There was a shrine room dedicated only to Aurena here, since the temple next to it handled the rest of the Origin Gods. The rest of the rooms were reserved for the clergy, like the kitchen, dining room, sleeping area, and also the bishop’s study. But, that was about it.
Nevermind the cathedral in Griffonpeak, even the temple in Firwood, a smaller town, was larger than this place. There was a library there, an altar room for rituals or training of the priests, and a greeting room for nobles. In addition, I hadn’t seen a single gray-robed priest around.
“Excuse me, we just arrived today from Artorias, but I noticed there aren’t any gray-robed priests around here. Do you not employ them?” I asked the bishop managing this temple.
He shook his head and explained with a wry smile. “Ah, no, we don’t, Champion Hestia. The gray and white priest relationship is mostly a thing maintained by nobles. In Estralia, the temples here do not rely on gray-robed priests to manage the holy buildings. Instead, we must do it ourselves, but we do have volunteers come and go to aid us.”
“Volunteers?” Asaka wondered.
“Yes, mostly adventurers or fledgling healers who wish to learn the magic of the Goddess. We do still follow the laws of Aureolis where we have to induct the members, so these volunteers usually have to stay with us for a whole year before we teach them our spells. They help us a lot, but they also leave us if they aren’t interested in the life of a clergyman.”
Without the caste system, Estralia had a different culture overall, even affecting the local church. Well, I wasn’t a big fan of the white-robed and gray-robed relationship since it reminded me too much of a master and servant system. I knew it wasn’t officially the case, but I always felt the latter were treated more like slaves, really.
At the welcoming “party,” the clergy thanked us for visiting them and also gave us the usual speech about “the Goddess has blessed us with your presence!” and “if you require our aid, please, do not hesitate to ask.” The students usually received a tithe from the local temple as a sign of support, but I decided to forgo that.
Yes, it was rude not to accept it, as it isn’t seen as a sign of generosity, but a showing of superiority. You know, “your money and goods aren’t worth my time,” kinda thing. A temple being able to support and help a champion or saint on their journey means the temple was doing alright. I remembered getting some money and stuff from the cathedral in Griffonpeak, but I just handed it all over to Eshe, who invested this money into the orphanage.
I was kinda doing the same thing here, but instead of just refusing it, I was also here for charity. Instead of them giving me something, I gave them some gifts. Mostly, the pelts, hide, and meat from the monsters the virigresses and garms hunted on our way through the valley. They were all still fresh so they couldn’t be used up by the clergy before they began to rot, so we offered to cure it for them.
“Oooooh?! Champion Hestia, w-what is this?!” The bishop’s eyes brightened at the sight of all the pelts from the D and E rank monsters we hunted on the way.
“A donation. We will be intruding for some time as we stay in Gleisvale, and Saint Candidate Asaka and I intend to provide some white graces to the people around here. We know this is your duty, but since we are still young blessed, we also want to prove to the Goddess that she has chosen the correct candidates. As such, this is our contribution to the church. Please, accept it and our blessing to brighten the future of this temple.”
“Oo-oh, Champion Hestia! Saint Candidate Asaka!!!” The bishop and the priests kneeled and prostrated themselves before us, showering us with words of gratitude. “We are not worthy of your help! We apologize for worrying you! As the bishop of this temple, I ask for your forgiveness for not being able to provide you with more! Thank you, thank you for your generosity!”
Huh, guess Yorshka was right.
Yorshka explained to me that Estralia wasn’t extremely pious towards Aurena due to the mercantile nature of this republic. Still, they bordered Aureolis and had a population of mostly humans, so a temple dedicated to Aurena was still important and had to be maintained.
I just thought she meant it wouldn’t be as impressive as the cathedral in Griffonpeak. Since Gleisvale was also a capital, I thought at minimum, it would still be impressive to look at. Boy, was I wrong. And boy did I improvise well enough to figure out that giving them some gifts would help me out more.
And with such a small gift that came from our garms and virigresses hunting to level up, we just earned ourselves an easy ally in this city already. Hopefully, they will be useful for later.
“Is the small stature of the temple due to the worship of Mercurias in the city?” Haruka asked after everything settled down and we had a chance to speak with the bishop.
The bishop nodded, looking slightly exasperated to admit it. “Mercurias is the God of Mercantilism and Commercialism. Although a foxian, Mercurias represents everything a merchant must strive to become. To Estralia, where wealth is might and status, Mercurias has the most followers in this city, followed by his Origin God, Goddess Zephira. Goddess Plesia is the third largest faith in this city due to the port, while the Goddess remains at a measly fourth place. Sadly, fourth place means little here, so our finances have suffered.”
Healing magic was still the most important function of the white-robed priests, but that was about it for this country. Most festivals and events were centered around Mercurias and Zephira’s subordinate gods, so there wasn’t enough opportunity for the church to acquire donations. Without donations, a larger temple wasn’t needed. Without money, your opinion didn’t matter.
We left the temple afterward and went on to rent a room in a pretty good-looking inn within the merchant district. We only needed it to park our RV there, and I don’t think they would care if we actually used the room or not. As long as they got their money.
Speaking of money, we probably had to make some more sooner or later. The restaurant was a good money source and the Sarlenzia company provided us with our shares on top of the payout from Grimnir’s ores, but the latter had been complaining lately that we needed better quality ones. I also had the feeling we would be spending more money than we should in Estralia, so we better be prepared.
But, first, let’s explore this city, no?
“Hey, Lady Hestia! Can’t believe we would meet up again, right? Hahaha…”
“Gael?”
There were two things we promised to our allies in Griffonpeak. First, we promised to help Amelia spread the influence of the Sarlenzia company into Estralia. The second was to aid Shaturein in gaining a proper foothold in the underground market of Gleisvale; specifically, to help Lady Grengar make a path into the Empire to have her girls spy on the rest of Saori’s students.
She told us she would have a delegate help us. I thought it would be one of her employees. Nope. It was Gael once again.
“… Mister Vangrim offered me a deal to help out for a good amount of money. I accepted it thinking, ‘Cool, more money.’ I didn’t anticipate he wanted me to help you through Lady Grengar…”
I smiled wryly at his conflicted expression. There would probably be trouble with us getting involved with the underworld here, which means Gael’s statement that we always bring him into something troublesome still holds true. Well, I hoped we could prove him wrong, but who was I kidding? Which gangster would want another gangster to invade their territory?
“Do not worry, young one. Conflicts and confrontations build up your personality and character,” Mother tried to comfort Gael, but he just slouched his back even more, trying to look small. “Now, we have much to do! Let us all be off!”
“Understood. Well, we will be heading off now, Hestia. Take care of my students, alright? Ellaine, Shay, Beth, please keep Haruka-san safe,” Saori stated with Gael and Tasianna on her side.
“Yes. Please excuse us, Lady Hestia. We shall take a look into the underground market. Hopefully, there will be some clues there.”
Saori and Gael were the ones responsible for Shaturein’s task while helping Tasianna find the one responsible for the fae hunters. In addition, we still had that problem with the bandits we met on the way, so it was important to find out why the hell they attacked us.
Muraina and Lady Grengar gave us an idea of what the reason could be, but the broken emblem we got from the two non-slave masters was unknown to them. Still, they presumed it would belong to an alchemist gang or something. Sadly, we didn’t get any clues from the sword I found, but if we got to the end of this search, we would probably find them eventually.
Then they would pay.
“We will also be going. We’ll get the paperwork done after everybody is back. Saori, don’t forget to register yourself at the merchant guild once you’re done on your side,” Ellaine informed everybody with Amelia and Haruka beside her, and Beth and Shay behind them acting as their bodyguards.
“Yes, we will be going. There is much to be done to establish the Sarlenzia branch in Gleisvale, but we will make it a success,” Amelia followed up. “Haruka, no need to be so nervous. We are well prepared.”
Trembling slightly, Haruka forced herself to nod. “Y-Yes. I’ll do my best!”
“Don’t tire yourself out too much, Haru-chan,” Asaka comforted her. “Alright, I guess we’ll see each other later on. See you guys back at dinner.”
“Shisho! Please, teach me everything there is to be seen at the train station! I cannot wait to see the grand designs of the dwarves!” Daichi hyped up to Grimnir, but all the latter showed was a slight annoyance.
“Shut up, lad…” he grumbled. “Bladdarg. The fastest way to the station is with a water boat. Let’s go. Can’t wait to get this over with.”
Tatsuya, Kyouya, Daichi, Asaka, Elrick, Mother, and I were coming with Grimnir. Our destination: The train station of Gleisvale, and the last creation of the Revolution Queen. In addition, we would also be meeting a bunch of other dwarves.
A new city, a new experience.