[Romaritime Kingdom, Maple Town]
Although the distance between the empire cities of the mountains and the Romaritime Kingdom wasn't separated by much, the construction of their houses was completely different and more modern. Unlike the wooden cabins of the Empire, the people of Romaritime built their houses more like in the old-style Roman way.
Their houses were made from processed wood, mostly made of carved boards, finely tuned cuts, and precise placements, which were far more complex than the wood cabins I'd seen back in the Empire by a long shot. Several buildings were made entirely from brick and mortar, sitting in the middle of town.
Another big difference between the Empire towns and the towns of the Romaritime Kingdom was that their houses were plastered with what I assumed was cement, and then they even painted their walls with simple colors like light red and Orange, and some were even greenish.
As with any civilization without access to many natural blue pigments, however, I notice that there are no houses with either purple or Blue colors, which could only mean that the paint they used derived from plants or insects, a fairly ingenious way to make paint in the ancient world.
The people living under the Romaritime kingdom seemed happier overall than those under the Empire, possibly because, as I heard, they barely get taxed or forced to conscript, and it's all thanks to the generous King and the overall nobility of the Nation.
From Thomas's complaints before he took us on that crazy trip, it sounded like the Emperor didn't care about his subjects and just kept shaking them down for all they were worth, which was a cruel strategy. Still, I mean, look at his territory and military power, I guess.
From where I sat, the military strenght that the Emperor might have or the vast territory he conquered would eventually fall on him or his heir. There was simply no way for such a reign of terror to go on forever without making the people angry and looking to depose him or, even worse, kill him during a revolution. It would just be a matter of time.
At least the declining power of the nobility would dictate the Nation's success in my world, but from what I've been learning, things in this world are a little different. The nobility is not only born into political power but also tends to be the ones that are most blessed with Mana or magic, in other words, which greatly shoots over most peasants.
So, an uprising from the people in this world was next to impossible, according to the data I've collected in the short amount of time I've lived in Maple Town. Aside from integrating into society, my goal is still clear: I have to move away from the border as soon as possible and make it as far as possible since my anti-magic prowess will quickly spread.
A word about my anti-magic will reach the Emperor, and if any soldiers survived the avalanche, they will most likely think I could've also survived, so it would only be a matter of time before they resume their search for me. Since they're a powerful empire, I doubt the Romaritime Nation will try to stop them.
"Big sis Annabel, look! That Dragonaki had the same color or hair as you!" Chimaru soon drops me back into the real world as he makes a stupid remark about my Orange hair and the butt hair of a Blue Dragonaki walking in the middle of the street, which made me feel a little offended.
I ignored Chimaru for the time being and just continued to walk along the main road as I prepared to hunt for some food. Now that I'd recovered my mobility after spending three days in bed eating disgusting human food, I needed to taste some blood pronto, or I would lose it!
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"Hey! Big sis! Why are you so pale?" Chimaru asks more and more stupid questions when I continue to ignore him, like, "Why are your eyes red? Hey! Big sis! BIG SIS!" Chimaru keeps getting on my face until I can't keep ignoring him, forcing me to respond to some dumb questions.
"My hair is Orange because I ate too many of them," I'd rather lie to him and get him away from me instead of saying 'I don't know' because that wouldn't be a satisfying answer for him. "OOOOHHH! So if I eat lots of oranges, will my hair also turn Orange like yours, big sis!!?" Chimaru responds with such eagerness it reminds me of a kid for a second.
"I doubt it," My answer is rather cold and to the point since I just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible so I could go out of town to hunt an animal so I could suck some blood. Honestly, the more Chimaru bothered me, the more he started to look like an appetizing snack.
"Why would you say that!? Big sis is so mean!" Chimaru responds, using that term I disliked quite a lot, 'Big sis.' Just how old did this kid think I was!? Sure, I was above his age, but Big Sis makes it sound like I am about to get married at age twenty or something! Stop it!
"Here's a question for you, Chimaru. Why are you following me?" I finally gathered the courage to go straight to try and ditch him since my patience with the kid started to run dry fast. "I'm just ensuring you don't get hurt, Big sis! I have to protect Big Sis from danger as your little brother! A male family member must watch out for their female relatives, right?"
"I guess you're right, Chimaru, but I can take care of myself. besides, I wanted to do something risky out in the wild today; I'm sure that must be scary for you." I try to hush Chimaru away by exaggerating the risk level of my task at hand, which would be pretty easy since I learned to hunt from the best in the Empire.
"Ha! I don't fear anything! There's nothing that could ever frighten me!" Chimaru triumphantly states while puffing out his chest, followed by a weird salute. Out of nowhere, I swear this kid was more random than the ones back in my world, and it's teens who had their brains rotted out by TikTok.
"Booh!" I test out Chimaru's courage and reaction time by simply taking him by surprise with a simple, loud boo and a quick scary pose that quickly makes him scream in fear. "Ahhh!" Chimaru screams as I finish my test on him, clearly showing that he is just a naive kid who isn't ready to go hunting with me. He would just slow me down.
"Get back home, Chimaru; I'll return with dinner in a few hours. I know how to hunt; I've got this." Chimaru smirks and soon stands up while pointing his index finger at me. "I knew you were up to something! But I can't believe you, girls don't know how to hunt! That's impossible!"
{Sigh} This kid, man, I was so close to bitting down his neck and getting it over with, but I somehow started feeling less hatred toward him the more he showed me his naive beliefs. "If you can keep up with me, see me do it. Do you see the town exit gate over there?" I point toward the town's gates, to which he nods.
"If you manage to beat me or catch up to me, then you can come, but if not, then HEY! WE HAVEN'T STARTED YET!" Chimaru just barely hears my rules out before he starts running without letting me finish. The rude bastard takes a massive lead of around 150 feet before I immediately catch up to him.
"Holy crap! Big sis is fast! OH NOO!!" Chimaru screams right behind me as I rapidly reach the exit gates in about half the amount of time it takes him to get there, with him being clearly out of breath by the end of it. Man, Buster's training taught me how to control my breathing much more than I expected. I guess his method really had proven its results.
{Chimaru heavy panting}
"How!? How? Girls aren't that fast. How are you so fast?" Chimaru struggles to catch his breath for a couple of seconds before he recovers after panting like a dog for a while. "Who taught you that?" I finally asked him out of curiosity since all his views had to come from somewhere.
"The teachers at school say so. That's why we always give girls a headstart or a handicap in all sports we can in physical education class." Uh? It is such an ingenious way to compensate for regular male physical superiority even in this world. I guess if it worked, it worked, right? Now I wondered how strong and fast a regular male vampire was, knowing I was already faster than most humans.