Respite

The car stopped near a vast, old style japanese wall. Three men and a woman exited it and stopped in front of the massive wooden doors. Atop them stood a board with the name Waning Moon Clan’s Residential Grounds inscribed in it.

“Hm, so you masquerade as an old traditional rich clan.” Affirmed Gaius, looking around. ”Traditional place, I'm guessing the Association is old?”

“Indeed, the association has existed for three hundred years. It was created by a married Chinese couple, he was a ki user and she a mage, who came to Japan to run from enemies in China.” Answered Sakura.

Akihiko went ahead and spoke with the gatekeepers.

"Mister Ryuunosuke, may I ask what your first mission was like?"

"It's been tough. I feel so powerless right now, so weak. I couldn't do anything."

"That is objectively wrong," interjected Gaius, "you did the most important thing, freeing me. But aside of that it's true that you are weak, of both strength and spirit. Three months of training and three spells for it shows a lack of commitment and effort,. I learned more and my teacher was terrible, with my talent being, and I quote, 'Like a rabbit trying to write'. I only got as far as I did due to my ability allowing me to practice more. Furthermore you aren't ready for action, you lack the patience, courage and calm needed to make correct decisions under stress."

"Huh?! Where did that come from?!"

"While Gaius Atiius Quadratos said it with the tact of a truck, he is right. It's within your capabilities to do much more. If you don't wish to retire from the Hidden World you have to have a better work ethic Mister Ryuunosuke, or your talent will be wasted."

"I say things as I see it, I won't lie or coddle people. If they want to grow they must be faced with their shortcomings, doing otherwise is to hinder them. Also you can call me Quadratus or Gaius, Miss Tsuchimikado"

"Very well Gaius, then call me Sakura. Also, you need to work on your delivery."

"That is- Oh, he's back."

Akihiko returned with an young man in a kimono with designs of azure, green, silver, and golden asian dragons.

“Allow me to welcome you to the Waning Moon Association, Master Gaius Atiius Quadratus. My name is Ma Chao, son of the current head of the Moon Dragon Branch of this organisation.” The man bowed after saying this. “I'll be your guide during your stay here. The meeting with the elders and heads shall commence in two hours. In that time would you prefer for me to bring you to your accommodations or to give you a tour of the Association.”

Gaius returned the bow. “If possible I would like to take a quick bath, since I haven't been bathed in 267 years. Afterwards I would gladly take the tour.”

“Ugh.”

“Mister Ryuunosuke, be more respectful. It is not his fault that his caretakers were so careless.” Ma Chao chided him. “Very well follow me, please. Mister Ryuunosuke and Master Akihiko please follow Fujimoto Ryuichi and make your report. Master Sakura, my father and Master Ma Jiang will meet you now.”

“If possible I would like for them to be in the interview Mister Ma.” Interjected Gaius.

“That can be arranged.” Answered Ma Chao.

“Very well, see you two later.”

In a wooden room filled with steam Gaius relaxed while washing himself. “Such luck that I ended in the country that loves baths as much as we romans did. A pity that they don't have a cold pool or a sauna here. Oh well, better that when I was in the mountain at least. A fire, copper bathtub and stream water were not as fulfilling as this. At least not when I had to prepare it myself.” Gaius sighed. "The world's changed, for the better overall. No slavery and no institutionalised discrimination in most modern countries, human rights, we can walk outside with symbols of our faith and not be killed, equal laws… A pity so much had to be sacrificed in order to reach this point. Tragedies, massacres, wars, and the recent problem of environmental destruction. And democracy’s weird, how do they even make it work? In Rome it didn't work for too long, the Republic had many problems.”

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He stood up and went to the bath, submerging in the hot water. “Am I a relic? Should I even exist in this time period? Even my former way of life has been discarded, now monks live in community. What exactly should I do?”

He fell silent and simply began to stare at the air while enjoying the bath for a while.

Eventually a voice was heard.

“Master Atiius, a tour of the facilities would take at least an hour and a half. If you wish to see it all you should get out now.”

“Thank you, Master Ma Chao, I'll get out now.”

Three minutes later he was out and dressed in new clothes, a simple white shirt and blue pants. They moved to the front of the building in which he had taken a bath.

“This is the residential building, five stories tall, a 100 metres long and a 100 metres wide. It's the most basic of accommodations offered by the association. Very few members live here since over half of our members have their own houses, and of the rest a third are families that have traditionally been part of the association and have their own private quarters. There are also better accommodations that can be earned.

Both those and the quarters can be found going through that fence over there. It occupies a full fourth of the terrains, being formed of high rise buildings with high quality apartments and individual mansions and houses.

The path to your right branches out in three. What do you prefer, administrative building, training grounds and school or recreative terrains?”

“The meeting will be in the administrative building, right?”

“Yes, in the Moon God Pavillion.”

“Then leave that place for last. I don't care about the order otherwise.”

“Very well.” They began walking and passed a collection of buildings to the right. “That place is the administrative section. Farther to the right there is a bifurcation. To the south there are the recreational districts, where members put forward any kind of mundane or supernatural products, be they material or otherwise.”

They moved towards it and came to a square.

“The building to your right is the supermarket where all official shops and facilities are housed. To your left is the bazaar, where stalls and temporary shops are placed. The building in the centre contains several parks and environmental reconstructions, both for recreational purposes or for supernatural entities who need or are more comfortable in said environments.”

They did a quick tour of all three buildings and retraced their steps. This time going to the training grounds. Once they were there Ma Chao warned Gaius.

“This place holds both the school and research facilities, to your right, and the training grounds for practical lessons or experiments, to your left. We do not have time nor authorisation for a full tour so we will only visit the elementary to middle class facilities. In other words where twenty to thirty participant classes are held.”

“How do these classes work? Do they substitute normal education or are they additional?” Inquired Gaius.

“Depends, for those who can't go to ordinary schooling for some reason, such as power incontinence or simply not wanting to, it serves as a full academic experience. However in case one has outside education the supernatural education takes place after school hours, two hours a day for ten hours total. Weekends are free.”

“Exactly how many people does this association has, to have such a comprehensive system?”

“About fifteen thousand between humans and other creatures.” Answered Ma Chao.

Gaius was startled. “How many inhabitants does this city have?”

“15000 from us and 3000 from the Blue Leathers. 200 from the Auction, but they are very powerful. 50 under the employ of the Medical Company as security. 2000 from miscellaneous groups with less than 30 members, 600 independents. 20,000 supernatural creatures living among us, and 80,000 supernatural creatures that hide in other dimensions. So, about average for a city with 600,000 inhabitants, the mundane kind.”

“That's… I never knew there were so many.”

“That's because in your age they used to live outside human civilisation, but with it's expansion many came to live among us.”

Having finished their tour they went to the administrative district, it was composed of three buildings and one path that went to a Japanese style mansion.

“That building is for residence permits, documentation and the such for members. The one behind us is the mission and law keeping building, it has all facilities required for the proper administration on this city. The building to the northeast is the same as the first one except for guests and non-members.

And finally that mansion is the Moon God Association and it holds residences of the clan head, the elders, branch leaders, and their families. It is where the overall and highest security decisions are made.”

Gaius looked around with wide eyes, and sighed. “It's as you people say, I was but a frog in a well, a big fish in a small pond. There's still time, where should we go first?”

“First let's get you acquainted with the administrative buildings, then I suggest you tour the Moon God Pavillion. It's three hundred years old and in my opinion a work of art.”

“Then I shall accept your suggestion.” Answered Gaius, smiling.