Ashport proved to be much more intact than either Liv or Lanek had expected. Sure, it had looked to be in good condition from a distance, but they had both expected it to show signs of damage from gaunts as they got closer. However, the only damage they spotted was to the doors of individual buildings, which had been shattered or torn off their hinges as they had been in Caelis. Once inside each building, there was no damage to be seen except to some of the interior doors. Surprisingly, even the main gate had been left intact.
This situation all but confirmed to Lanek that the town had been abandoned before the gaunts reached it. From what he could tell, the gaunts didn’t really care about destroying buildings or property for the sake of destruction. Instead, they seemed to only destroy doors or gates that were closed to them as those could be used by the defenders to fight back or to hide civilians from the ravenous monsters. Even back in Caelis, many shops were still intact because the gaunts had found no one to fight or kill inside whereas many homes had been severely damaged due to the residents fighting back or just being slaughtered.
If I had to guess, I would say that the locals probably evacuated into the wilderness or to Laethon, leaving the gates open behind them. When the gaunts arrived, they simply entered through the open gates, tore down the closed doors, and then moved on when they found nothing to kill. I wonder if that’s on purpose? Do the gaunts’ masters want the infrastructure preserved? Hell, I don’t even know what the gaunts or their bosses do once they conquer a world. Maybe they just strip it of resources and move on.
“I don’t know if that’s true, but it very well could be. My people never abandoned their homes, so every village that was wiped out showed similar damage to what we saw in Caelis and Laethon.” Liv responded after Lanek shared his thoughts with her about the condition of Ashport.
The pair walked into the adventurer’s guild, which did indeed have almost the exact layout and features as the one Lanek had sheltered in. However, while it shared the layout, it was about half the size. This made a lot of sense as Caelis was the equivalent of a capital city whereas the town of Ashport would have only housed maybe 3,000. After speaking to Lira and doing a bit of research, Caelis itself had been home to roughly half a million residents while Laethon generally only had about 40,000.
Lanek wasn’t sure if the town had been named Ashport because it was the nearest port to the Ashen Depths or for some other reason. Even speaking to Lira and searching the monastery’s records didn’t really shine any light on the origins of the name, so Lanek just stuck with it being due to the proximity to the dungeon. After all, Lira had said that at the height of the city’s power, adventurers were coming from all over the world to brave the Depths, hence why there were weapons and armor from so many different cultures and civilizations.
While Liv went around closing and barring the windows, Lanek took a look at the door. It was completely intact, which meant that it was likely left open when the city was abandoned. He closed, bolted, and barred the double door before heading deeper into the structure. Meanwhile, Liv had chosen to explore the upper level.
Lanek wandered for a bit before finding the first room he was looking for, the vault. He wasn’t surprised to find it empty since Ashport had clearly had time to leave ahead of an attack, but he was still disappointed. Likewise, he found the guild leader’s quarters bereft of any loot. Regardless, Lanek set his pack down in the room for two reasons. First, it was the most secure room in the structure aside from the vault. Second, it was likely the most comfortable, although still a far cry from the comfort and opulence that the guild leader had lived in at the Caelis guild. Sanguineus and Kazuma strode into the room before claiming their spots and falling asleep, clearly approving of his decision. Lanek wasn’t worried about Maximilian as he knew the demigryph wouldn’t be comfortable in the small room and had decided to settle down in the main room of the guild with Yuri.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
To Lanek’s delight, he found that the water systems were identical to those in Caelis and were still functional. Although, he did have to wait a few moments before he dared to use them as the first few seconds after turning on the faucets resulted in nasty waste pouring out before clear water began flowing. A moment later, Lanek turned at the sound of Liv clearing her throat.
“So, claiming the best room without even talking to me?” Liv asked with an arched eyebrow and a smirk.
Lanek chuckled at her feigned irritation. “Honestly, no. It’s the most secure room in the place and I was planning on sharing it with you. If you want, you can take the bed and I’ll sleep on the floor. I’m pretty used to roughing it at this point. Although, I can use one of the other rooms if you want some privacy.”
“Nah, no need. I think we should both take the bed, it’s not like either one of us is likely to give in to hormones and pounce on the other.”
“You sure?” Lanek asked.
“Gods, was your world so uptight that you guys couldn’t share a bed without sex being a concern? Look, we’re friends and I would hope that we trust each other. On top of that, neither of us has expressed any interest in romance. As far as I’m concerned, we should enjoy what comforts we can get when the opportunity arises since we are going to be on the road for a long time before we reach my village and I doubt we will find any other towns this intact.”
Lanek nodded. “You’re right, this is just silly. I’ll get the fire started and get some food started.”
While Lanek turned toward the hearth, Liv walked toward the washroom and shut the door behind her. Lanek looked at the closed door for a moment and shook his head. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in romance or a relationship, he was quite fond of them and everything that they entailed, but it wasn’t a great situation for it. There were bigger things to worry about and Lanek had been old enough before his transmigration that his every waking moment wasn’t focused on getting laid, so setting aside those urges wasn’t very difficult. On top of that, he had never been a fan of casual sex, much less with a friend where it could potentially ruin the friendship, and he had few enough friends as it was.
It was also a very confusing situation. First, he didn’t want to be in a relationship with someone just because there were no other options available as he, Liv, and Lira were the only humans around and the orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins were very clear about what they thought about the attractiveness of the other races.
The second issue is that despite his current appearance, he was older than Liv by a large margin. Now, he didn’t really care about age gaps in relationships per se, but he had never really had much in common with people that were almost two decades younger than he was. To be fair, I don’t know how old Liv is and Lira is in the same boat as I am in terms of the mismatch between actual age and appearance.
After a moment, he laughed at himself and started cooking on the now blazing fire. I’m just going to stick to rebuilding civilization and Eldros’ power. That’s a whole lot simpler.
While the simple stew Lanek had prepared was cooking away, he pulled out the crown from Laethon. He needed to see if there was anything special about it after having it attract his attention as hard as it had.
Crown of Laethon
This simple crown has adorned the heads of the lords and ladies of Laethon for centuries. By both law and tradition, the crown could not be worn unless the soldiers of Laethon were called to battle as the effects of this artifact were a closely guarded secret known only to those the crown deemed worthy of its power.
That’s all I get, huh? That’s a bit ominous, how does the crown decide who is worthy? Bloodline? Level? What happens if the crown decides you aren’t worthy? I think I’ll just put this away for now.
Lanek tore his eyes away from the crown and moved to return it to his pack when a notification flashed into place before his eyes, refusing to be dismissed.
Do you wish to lay claim to the Crown of Laethon?