Aeric stretched as he woke up, throwing off his sheets and putting on his clothing. He’d filled his wardrobe with various amounts of those suits he liked to wear. He’d tried out some different colour combinations but he still thought that his first one with the solid orange was the one that suited him best and was the one that he preferred to wear. He put that one on today, checked himself in the mirror. Tousled his hair a bit before he smiled in satisfaction and headed out the door.
He near skipped his way to the kitchen, where he saw Xii working on breakfast as usual. He admired his now girlfriend with a smile as he watched her humming a song as she chopped some vegetables. He walked over to her and leaned over her shoulder, giving her a kiss on her cheek as he hugged her from behind. “You know, doing this makes me feel like such a husband.”
She laughed as she turned her head and returned his kiss. She smiled up at him and leaned into his hug, “Husband might be a little too fast, I do like the whole boyfriend thing though. This makes my mornings pretty great.”
“I can agree to that. I’m still surprised we didn’t end up in one of our beds together, I’ll admit that.”
“Well if we’re gonna do this I’ll do it more at your pace. Taking things slow and building a good foundation I believe you called it.”
Aeric smiled, “I can live with that, as long as you don’t mind me hugging and kissing you all the time.”
“I really really don’t mind.”
Another voice spoke up, “I do, makes me jealous.”
They turned and the couple smiled at Hurma, “No it doesn’t, it just makes you want to head over to Gorguvand and do it yourself.”
Hurma smiled back at them, “Hugging stone isn’t all it’s made up to be. I’ll admit that. Then again the emotion behind it is more important than the sensation itself.”
“True, although if both feel great then that’s just extra. I totally want all the extra, not gonna lie.”
They heard a soft growl as Aliami joined their morning gathering, “Personally I’d rather sleep on a bed of coins. Money is great.”
Hurma glanced at her, “Doesn’t make for a very good bed though. It’s bound to give you back problems. Better use that coin to buy an expensive good quality bed instead.”
Aliami raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “I meant hypothetically, obviously.”
“Don’t you mean you meant it as symbolism?” Aeric said with a smirk.
A growl answered him as the leonid ploffed into a chair, “Doesn’t matter I’m just here for breakfast. Not to argue on terminology.”
“Well breakfast I can do, here you go. A vegetable stir fry omelet, as requested!”
“This was requested? I’d prefer some more meat.”
A slap resounded through the room as a thick slab of bacon landed next to the vegetable omelet. “Way ahead of you, damn carnivore.”
“I’m more of a selective omnivore. But thank you for the bacon. Smells great as always Xii.”
“Why thank you.”
The leonid turned to Aeric as Xii put a plate before him and put some food on it with a wink, Aeric grinned and made a swing at her ass which she deftly dodged with a sly grin. The leonid rolled her eyes and focused on Aeric. “We’ll be heading to the cotton guys this morning. The man is named Erland. He’s the one who will be sourcing the material for us.”
“Anything I need to know ahead of time?”
“Not really, just don’t forget to bring that pair of jeans you already have. Why do you call it a pair by the way, when it’s only a single piece?”
Aeric opened his mouth to answer before shutting it and then cocking his head in thought, “I have no clue actually, it’s just what it’s called.”
The leonid shrugged, “Doesn’t matter I guess, anyway, the visit will take a couple hours. They might ask you to help with some of their experiment attempts.”
“Sounds interesting, as long as I don’t have to do it every day. Experimenting, just saying it makes me feel like an intellectual.”
A figure dropped into the chair next to him, “You’re many things but I wouldn’t call you an intellectual. Most creative passion guys aren’t really the intellectual or rational types. And you’re definitely the mad creative scientist type.”
Aeric grinned at his girlfriend, “Well you did just say I’m the scientist type, and those are totally intellectuals. I do need jeans before I can go further with making the stuff for the show though. I kind of want to at least have some of them that I can fit for you and Yi.”
“Preparing to show off our assets?”
Aeric snorted at her emphasis, “Totally, showing off your stuff is something I’d gladly do. As long as I’m the one that gets the most eye candy of course.”
“That I can arrange.” She answered with a grin as she bumped her shoulder into his. Xii turned to Aliami, “You’ll probably have to be the test subject for the furry kind of people.”
The leonid shrugged, “I’d expected as much, Aeric has few acquaintances of the furry kind.”
“Well, you can’t help the type of people you meet. Meera could also be a test subject. I just don’t know where she lives or how to reach her. Then you have Varush but he isn’t really the jean-wearing kind I think. I also need to find a golem or two who would be okay with trying out my graffiti idea. Preferably the younger, more open-minded kind of people.”
“Planning to set a trend?”
“Well, I do think it would be great to overwhelm the city with colorful ideas. The city is already vibrant, add some color to it and it will become truly lively. I think we’d all enjoy that, plus it might make us actually become known for that. We’ll see how it goes.”
Hurma raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him, “You wanna give our city a title? End up with us being called the City of Fashion or somesuch.”
Aeric blinked, tapping his chin in thought, “I was thinking more of being called the City of Colour. Sounds more fun than the city of fashion, too one-dimensional.”
The others laughed and Aeric watched Xii shake her head, “Well who knows you may indeed be the reason our city ends up with a title.”
“Or you will be the reason, reach level fifty and we’d be the city of the triple exquisites or something.”
“That's a pretty bad title, I’d prefer the city of color.” Aliami mumbled.
They spent the rest of the breakfast discussing various titles for their city. City of Colours remained one of the favorites. Aeric stretched once more as he stepped outside the city and bathed in the morning sun. It was another gorgeous day and he was rather excited to go on a field trip. Not a bad way to start a Monday.
“So where is the cotton place?”
Aliami turned to him and pointed a finger in the distance, “It’s outside the walls, we’ll be taking a carriage to get there. It’s connected to one of the villages that have sprung up around the city.”
Aeric blinked, realizing he hadn’t even left the city since he’d come here. “Isn’t that dangerous for the people? This is the frontier right, lots of monsters and the like?”
Aliami shrugged, “Not really an increase in monsters, more that the ones that appear aren’t as widely known as the ones in the center. Undocumented, not that you have to worry. The area around the city and the villages are regularly patrolled and with the number of adventurers and the like, the surroundings have been pretty much cleared out of hostiles.”
“Wasn’t worried really, mostly curious. I uuuhh, kinda assumed you’d be stronger than the average monster we might come across.”
The leonid turned to him and grinned pearly fangs glinting in the morning light. “Well you’re not wrong, most monsters I could take care of.”
As they headed towards the city gate Aeric asked another question, “How does that work by the way, does a merchant have skills that they can use in combat against monsters. Or is it just that you are physically strong enough and/or skilled enough to take them out?”
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“In my case, it’s both, as I said we have a bit of divine beast blood me and Ursmir. Makes us a decent bit stronger than the average beast-kin. If you grow up in the tribes then you learn to hunt, each of us can at least hold our own. There was a time when the tribe thought me and Ursmir would be the new champions of the tribe.”
“But that didn’t happen? Or is it some horrible traumatic past you don’t want to talk about.”
Aliami snorted, “Nothing of the sort, our tribe ended up settling near the academy. Me and Ursmir joined it and we each chose separate paths. Ursmir kept focusing on combat, which he’d always had a knack for. Me? I studied a variety of things, art, economy, and politics. I studied everything I thought would help me become the best merchant. Both my brother and I are considered Academy success stories.”
“So what happened to the tribe, did they join you when you guys settled this city?”
She shook her head, “No, they stayed on academy grounds. A few of our members are faculty of the academy now. We teach a lot of the hunting classes, as well as some of the more tribal carving classes.”
“They have tribal carving classes?”
“The academy makes it a point that they have classes for just about anything. If you want to learn it, you can probably find a teacher at the academy. It’s part of what their fame is based on.”
“Are they very selective in who gets to study at the school?”
“Not at all.” Aliami shook her head, manes whirling in the wind. “Anyone who can pay the fee can join the Academy, there are classes that are only available to a select few. Some require a variety of tests before you can follow the classes. Some are limited to royalty for example.”
“Because it has secrets?”
“Possibly, I’m not too sure myself. Ruling never really had my interest.”
“Well, I’d like to meet a princess at least once, even if it’s just to say that I’ve done it.”
“Bragging rights?”
Aeric grinned and turned to the leonid, “Well it does make for a good story, it’s one of those things I never coulda imagined happening to me back home. Here? There’s a decent chance it could happen.”
She raised an eyebrow, “That confident your work will reach that level?”
“Well that too, but I mean I have connections here, Xii, you and Lshrkr. All three are the kind of people who could probably get an audience with a princess if they so wished. I mean Fjar is already basically a prince in appearance. Plus isn’t Ursmir kind of a king? Would make you a princess.”
The leonid snorted, shaking her head. “Not even close, I’m more of a baroness if you want a comparison. The lowest rank of nobility. Ursmir might be of higher nobility due to sheer power. But a ruler's class is something else entirely. Neither of our classes has the reach royalty has, it’s more than a mere title. It’s a class, a class with a power that most others can’t ever reach.”
“Is it something with conditions? Do you need to have a few million subjects or something before you become eligible for the class?”
“Don’t know, never really thought about it. I just know that Ursmir doesn’t have one, or a noble title for that matter. Not that he’d want one even if he had the option.”
“Why would he not want a noble title?”
“He considers himself a pure warrior, he doesn’t really do ruling. He leaves most of that decision-making to others. The one thing he does is diplomacy when necessary. But he prefers just fighting his problems instead of talking them through. He’s simple like that.”
Aeric snorted, “If I called the city lord simple I get a feeling I might get arrested.”
Aliami turned and grinned at him, “Well that’s a little sister privilege.”
“True, so what kind of carriage are we taking? What kind of animals do you guys even use to ride on? I expected horses but I don’t even know if you guys have those.”
“We have horses, of various breeds. Just not around here, the terrain is either a full forest or mountainous. Not great for horses, we have Moats.”
“What on earth is a Moat, it sounds like something you place around castles.”
She snorted, “Not that kind of moat, a Moat. A mountainous giant goat. They’re about as tall as a shire horse, a little shorter maybe, but burlier and horned and great for mountain terrain. Pretty good for forests as well. They can have quite the temper though, they’re horns let them defend themselves when the going gets nasty.”
“I can’t imagine the high-class people going around riding oversized goats though.”
Aliami laughed, a glint in her eye as she took in their surroundings, “Yea Moats are not regal or elegant enough for the higher classes to ride around on. Although the dwarves would beg to differ. Some of them have various horse breeds, pegasi, stirvandir and the like-”
“What’s a stirvandir?”
“A six legged storm horse, very fast. Tempestuous nature, great for short sprints and still decent at the longer ones. Not easy to tame though, they’re very proud. Then you have the flying mounts, griffins, wyverns, and giant eagles. I know a desert kingdom called Salli that uses vultures.”
“I’m not sure you people appreciate how awesome all these animals are. I wish we had such a wide variety of large creatures back home. We had our own awesome beasties, but it’s hard to beat the stuff magic can do.” Aeric said as he wistfully looked at the stables where he saw a pair of horses with wisp-like manes.
“The downside is monsters, I doubt your people would be very happy with those.”
“Probably not, although we did end up creating monsters for our games and stories because our own life in comparison is boring. Who knows how monsters would be received back home. People would react in very different ways, no doubt you’d have worshippers to the monster god within the month it happened.”
“You’d have people worshipping destruction and chaos?”
Aeric snorted, “Are you telling me you don’t have people like that. I don’t think so, you definitely do.”
“Well I guess we do have worshippers for the god of chaos, the god of destruction. The insane people that just murder things. I guess if there’s something to be worshipped there will be people that worship it.”
“I bet if there was a god out there who was all about not worshipping things, it would have followers and worshippers.”
The leonid barked a laugh, “Probably. People have such variety and many are so very weird.”
“Not that we have a claim on being normal if I’m being fair. Although, I never did ask. Do you believe in anything?”
“If we are talking about religion I suppose our tribe has spiritualism, we worship our ancestors and their deeds. All people of import to the tribe are recorded and their actions are praised and studied even centuries later. We have totems on which their likeness is carved as well as their deeds.”
“Aren’t your people nomadic? How do you take those totems with you?”
“Tribe skills, the totems just reappear wherever we settle. As long as a single member of my tribe remains, so will the totems and our history.”
“That’s so magical and… cool.”
“Anything impressive of the like back home?”
Aeric smiled, “We have the seven wonders of the world. Great works of our people, the great wall of china. A wall thousands of kilometers long, or less. I’m not sure but it surrounded an entire country border. I’m not that clear on the details. You have to know these were made without skills or magic, so to us that is an insanely impressive piece of work.”
“I can’t even imagine building something like that without magic, what are the other six?”
“Let me think if I can remember, I’m pretty sure the pyramids are ones. Giant triangular tombs built for the pharaohs of old. Then you have the… mayan pyramid. It wasn’t a tomb but a place of worship I think. Not sure what it’s called. The ancient city of Petra, carved into a cliffside. Machu Picchu, don’t know if I’m saying that right but it’s an old fortress. Then we have the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Oh and the Taj Mahal in India, built for a lover if I remember correctly. Last but not least the one I’ve actually been to multiple times, the colosseum. A place where ancient gladiators fought. I think that’s it.”
“I’m kind of surprised you actually remember all those.”
Aeric scratched the back of his neck, “I used to be super interested in the wonders of the world. I was always so impressed that things lasted centuries-long throughout time and were still admired by people in modern times. We’ve built taller and bigger buildings of course but those, those were special for their time. Took decades to build probably, it kind of loses the meaning when it can be done within a year.”
“Everyone admires such things around the world, I’d like to see the wonders of our own world eventually. Well with how much capital I’ve been building perhaps we will one day have the chance.”
Aeric grinned, “We can bribe Xii to be our bodyguard for the trip, take some of the others with us as well. Make it a vacation.”
She grinned at him, “That does sound like fun, it also sounds like something in the far future. We have plenty to do here for now.”
As they left the gate a man seated on the driver's seat of a carriage raised a hand at Aliami in greeting. Aliami waved back and walked up to him, “Thanks for taking us Jeorg.”
The man bowed his head and tipped his straw hat, “Thanks for always giving us business miss Aliami. I’ll have you there in a couple of hours.”
“Feel free to join us while we’re there, it should take us a few hours and I’d like you to take us back as well.”
“Course madam, tis what you pay us for.” The elderly man smiled at her and tipped his head in Aeric’s direction as well. “Get in, enjoy the ride. Take a nap if you wish, I’ll let you know when we arrive.”
Aeric followed Aliami as she stepped inside the carriage he blinked as he looked around the inside, it was larger than he expected. It was also wonderfully cooled, the days here had been getting steadily warmer and they were approaching the heart of summer. This felt like an airconditioned room and that was probably exactly what it was. Instead of the hard wood and leather seats he had expected, there were lounge couches placed for them to rest on.
“This is much fancier than I had expected, looks expensive.”
Aliami smiled, “Not really, I kind of own the company.”
Aeric blinked and looked up at her, “Then why’d he thank you for the business?”
“Because I do bring them a lot of business. They are my preferred method of transport for both goods and for when I need to give people a ride or need one myself. They had been having trouble finding customers, so I bought a share of the company and added my client list to theirs. The amount of business they did quintupled. It’s made me good money.”
“You’re about the money as usual.”
“Money does make the world go round.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the centrifugal forces of the universe or something.”
She snorted as she laid back in the coach and watched the landscape move by as they rushed down the roads. Aeric followed her gaze and blinked in surprise at the pace they were setting. The moats moved a lot faster than he had expected, he didn’t feel any jerkiness back here either. They must have really good suspenders.