At the gate, two tall elf soldiers were guarding the entrance.

"Halt!" one of the soldiers stopped us from entering the gate.

"Persis?" The guard shouted to confirm the dwarf's identity.

"Yes!" Persis responded.

The guard nodded, and we continued walking to the city, but his companion stopped us.

"Wait! The dwarf can go, but that thing? Where is its cedula?"

The other guard tapped his companion on the chest.

"Newbie! That's his pet!"

I look to Persis.

"I am a pet?"

The alarmed guard yelled to his companion.

"IT TALKS" Then he raised both of his hands towards me.

His companion saw his confusion, "Yes, it talks, but it lives only for 30 years at best!"

"What?"

"So can we go now?" Persis interrupted.

The alarmed guard stooped down to my level and petted my head.

"Oh, poor kid, live well here in the Silver City."

The eyes of the elf soldier seemed sincere and filled with remorse.

I checked on the puppy, and he was still sleeping inside my clothes, making me look fat. The wolf is sleeping to aid in its wounds' recovery, which was good in my opinion. Persis seemed very popular among the citizens of the city; there was no one on the streets or among the vendors who didn't greet him until we reached the marketplace, which was full of vendors, mostly dwarves or dark elves. I rarely saw other races like fairies, especially orcs. Many vendors gave us food and looked at me as if I were about to die, and they wanted to show me love before I passed away.

"You seem very popular in the city, Persis." I said.

"Well!" he responded with smug on his face.

Then Persis told me about what happened 200 years ago. There was a plague that spread in the city, infecting the elves, orcs, dwarves, and fairies. Only the angels were immune to the plague, and they even called it the black plague, reminiscent of the Black Death in Europe in the 1340s. Before, there was no sanitation in the city, but thanks to the dwarves led by Persis, underground sewage and proper sanitation were implemented.

"to be honest it was one of your predecessors who design sewage system, and we dwarves just follow the plan, thanks to him we earned citizenship here." Persis boasted.

"So why didn't my predecessor reveal his race to earn the credit on behalf of the men?" I asked out of confusion.

"Because one of your predecessors is criminal and get executed here."

"You mean Iros?"

"Ye.." Persis was about to answer when suddenly, an angel descended from the sky in front of us. For the second time around, I saw another angel beside the prince; however, that angel was wearing armor and a crown too.

"Persis, the crowned prince is looking for you. Go to the Cathedral at once."

Then, after that, he flew off.

"Is he talking about the prince we met last night?"

"No!"

"There is another prince?"

"Yes, there are two princes in this city, one we met last night is big brother"

"Wait!? But he is talking about the crowned prince, isn't he? And the prince from last night has a crown floating above his head. Why is he has a crown if he is not the crowned prince? Then the angel that commanded you to go to the cathedral is wearing a crown too. I am freaking confused right now."

"Well I want to answer your question but first thing first, we need ride." Persis snob my confusion with a serious look on his face, as if he was going to go to war.

Persis fetched a horse-drawn carriage; this is the mode of transportation here in the new world.

"To Basilica"

The coach is also a dwarf.

"Ok," the coach responded.

"I will sleep, don't disturb me," Persis told me.

"But what about my ques.."

"Aa.. aaa.." He raised his finger.

"my instruction first before your concern" then he went to sleep.

My eyes wandered to the scenery of the city. The ambiance was very medieval-looking, with different shops here and there selling products and services. I saw a lot of bakeries as well. Children in expensive-looking clothes were running around with their dark elf nannies watching over them. Everything seemed prosperous and alive. Trees were well planted along the sides of the road to provide shade for the people walking. Beautiful young fairies spread sparkles in the air. There were residential areas for nobles and palaces owned by the angels. There wasn't a palace I saw without parties.

Finally, we were near our destination, which was the basilica. But it looked like the Temple of Zeus in Greece, the only difference being the silver lining engraved on the temple that resembled human and angel figures, seeming to tell a story.

"AAAhhhhh!!!.. Basilica! Where good citizen of city goes here to discuss laws, business dispute and family quarrels, wells family quarrels of nobles at least, most of time elves nobles who usually disagree about small matters like, what is dinner for tonight or dress code in specific occasions"

I was shocked by Persis's sudden talking.

"What kind of law?"

"Nonsense kind of law, if you want to have hypocrite companions, all you need is go here."

the coach suddenly speak, "Buddy, we are here at your destination."

"Thank you my friend" then he gave the fellow dwarf some copper coins.

We enter to the basilica. Inside, you could see a crowd of elves, dwarves, and fairies gathering. In the middle stood a very handsome, young-looking fairy boy who appeared to be around fourteen years old.

"Our basilica should be used only for making laws, and those laws should be in the public interest, not some squabbling of the nobles."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's so absurd! Nobles hold the majority of the wealth of the city; making their concerns a city concern as well!" one of the crowded shouts.

The fairy boy showed a crystal and imbued some magic on it to project a scenario from another argument in the basilica. In the projection, noble elves were seen arguing about what kind of dress they should wear during sleeping time.

"This is the debate that happened yesterday. We have so many citizens living in the slum area in need of our help, and instead, we spend time in the basilica arguing about sleeping dress codes!"

"Kick the squatters out!" another one shouted from the crowd.

"If I agree with you, are you willing to soil your feet in the cropland? Are you willing to lift heavy materials on the construction site? Are you willing to undertake laborious work for our city?"

The crowd was silent, with no one speaking. It was obvious that the fairy boy was right; however, no one dared to break the silence.

"My Friend!!!!" Persis shouted and waved his hand.

The fairy boy decided to dismiss the crowd and flew straight to us.

"Persis! Oh! New musang?"

"Yes!"

"Hi! My name is Katibo."

"I am Godwin Vat.."

"The crowned prince has summoned me; I want you to accompany me." Persis interrupted my introduction

"I am in the middle of an introduction here, rude dwarf!" I exclaimed.

"Sure, no problem!" Katibo seems no concern about my presence.

The fairy flies out of the basilica to fetch us another horse-drawn carriage to go to the Cathedral. Well, how about that? It seems introducing himself is enough to become an acquaintance; the fairy boy didn't bother to know my name.

As we pass through the bridge, the cathedral comes into view. However, the word "cathedral" here doesn't mean a house of worship; it is just a word for the castle of angels where angels reside. But to anyone from the old world, they would call it a cathedral, and I might say, that is one big heck of a cathedral. It's so freaking big! The cathedral was the first thing I saw when I emerged from the giant tree. It seems to be made of one humongous white marble, sculpted in the shape of a cathedral. The roof appears to be painted sky blue, and the beams and posts are plated with silver, if not made entirely of silver. Yes, silver! It's too shiny to be something else! If this cathedral were being built in the old world, it would surely win the Guinness Book of World Records for the most expensive and luxurious exterior design.

Two angels are flying above the cathedral, seemingly on patrol duty, and another pair of angels with their wings spread are guarding the huge door.

As our feet touch the ground, the huge doors open, and three people come out. A very young handsome guy, around 18 years old, is wearing a seemingly ancient Roman-style dress. He stands as tall as the guards beside him, who also has a crown floating above their head. Actually, all the angels that I saw seem to have the same height. It's no brainer to tell who the prince is, and that prince seems excited to meet us.

We walk towards him.

So this is the crowned prince? Well, saying the terminology 'crowned prince' is very confusing for me since every angel that I saw has a crown. The guards beside him, the guards on the huge door, the crown prince—everything has a crown. Maybe a crown is just a common stylish headwear rather than a symbolic royal thing.

"Wise Persis! Come! I want to discuss something with you."

The crowned prince happily greeted us. We stood in his presence and bowed to show respect.

"Your Majesty, how may this old dwarf serve you?"

"Well, you see, I want to build another basilica intended to deal with angels' concerns."

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, if I may, I want to ask what are the angel's concerns that cannot be discussed in our existing basilica? Or why not discuss them here in the cathedral?"

"Well, our basilica doesn't have pools to submerge our tired bodies, and I don't want any arguments to exist in my cathedral." The crowned prince of angel demanded.

"Your Majesty, why not renovate the interior of our basilica to suit your desires?"

"Kringgggg!!"

An elf woman holding a bell and dressed in a priestess outfit emerged from behind the prince.

"Your Majesty, your public service should be adjourned now!"

"Finally," the crown prince sighed.

"Please, Persis and Katibo, come with me. We need to discuss this inside my cathedral, and don't bring your pet."

The dwarf whispered to me.

"Stay outside kid play with your dog for a while"

"Why not bring me along with you?" I responded in the same manner.

"For your own good, now go!" Even though I am intrigued by the topic of the discussion, all I can do is stay outside of the cathedral.

I checked on the puppy inside my clothes, and he seems to feel that I need him, so he woke up.

"Hey there, buddy, it seems we have time to get to know each other."

So that's what we do. The puppy grows to its original adult wolf size, and we play fetch, chasing each other. He is the chaser, to be specific. The wolf seems to understand what I'm talking about—not like how dogs understand their owners, but I think this beast understands every word I say. That makes playing more fun. I can't avoid remembering my childhood, when my father was still alive, when my mother didn't have to sacrifice so much to pay the bills, and when people around me didn't expect anything from me. However, the heat building up inside my costume, along with my aging muscles and bones, makes the play less enjoyable. So, we end up playing hide and seek instead.

"Buddy! Where are you!!"

I kept looking in the places he usually hid from me, but something felt off. This was our third time playing hide and seek, but it was the only time I couldn't find him. I was already really far away from the base. I always checked the base to see if he had already touched it, but he wasn't there.

"Budddddyyyyyy!!!!???????" I shouted.

And then I saw him in the distance. He was looking into the distance and touching the canister he had been biting with his front paw. I walked towards him.

"Hey, buddy! Where have you been?"

He ignored me, then he bite the bamboo canister again, and then run.

"What the hell?"

Then I run after him.

"Heyyyy!!! Buddy!!! Wait!" I shouted, but he just continued running towards something or someone. Anyway, this dog was giving me a cardio workout today while I was sweating profusely inside my costume.

The wolf ran so fast, but for some reason, I was keeping up with him. Not that I could catch him, but our distance didn't seem to get longer, and I chased him passing from person to person, sometimes having to push them aside.

I could feel the wind hitting my face and passing through my costume, cooling my body at the same time. Now I knew how a motorcycle felt to have an air cooling system and run at 100 miles per hour.

We had sharp turns, but there was a moment when he used the wall in front of him to turn sharply to the left, so I instinctively did the same. Did I just do a little parkour? That was so cool! At 29 years old, I could still pull off that kind of stunt. Then, we did so many parkour stunts as we ran, like climbing over passing horse-drawn carriages, sliding under them, running along the wall, and even running through rooftops. I admit that I enjoyed this chase. I was having the time of my life.

"YYYYAAAAHHHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!"

I chased him even inside the construction site, and the wolf jumped into a very deep, big hole. Instinctively, I jumped too, trusting the wolf that the hole wasn't so deep to be fatal. But I regretted it as my human sense returned to me, and I realized I was falling until...

"Thudddd!!!!"

I landed on an inflated huge bag that seemed made to catch falling people. The surrounding was very dark, but I could still recognize the glowing red eyes looking at me—it was the wolf that I saved. I could still feel the sense of my surroundings, especially the presence of my wolf.

The wolf came over to me and brushed his head against my chest, then walked away. I followed him, and surprisingly, I didn't trip over any random objects. My mind reminded me that we were still in the construction area, and as a former safety officer, I knew that there were many protruding steel bars that I could trip over.

Then I heard chanting and cheering crowds, and I found the light. I ran towards it and saw the silhouette of my dog. As I walked towards the light, the chanting and cheering grew louder. The wolf ran away again, but I was more concerned about where I was going to emerge. When I reached the light, I found myself with other people wearing few armors and holding weapons. Most of them were orcs, as I could easily notice their body build, green skin, and tusks. I saw dark elves here and there holding bows and arrows or daggers. I also noticed that there were warriors too on the opposite side of the arena.

Someone bumped into me from behind.

"What the fuck!" I said in protest.

Three big orcs with war paint on their faces, and one of them wearing a skull of an unknown humanoid, smiled at me in a creepy way. My hair stood on end, and I pushed myself into the crowd of people, away from those creepy bastards.

Out of fear, I took out the dwarven torch that I was still carrying since last night. I looked at my surroundings and realized I was at the large fighting pit.

"Today, we have special rewards for the champion of this royal Ramble!"

A birdcage was lowered from above, lowering enough for everyone to see. Inside the cage was a bottle—an empty glass bottle with the fading label of Jinevra San Michael beer—and an old white bond paper rolled inside.

"This is a newly discovered artifact from the old world. Just like the other scrolls and papers, the writings cannot be read by anyone. It might be useless to you, but the cathedral is willing to pay tons of silver coins for this piece of paper. Or maybe you want to marry a noble's daughter—you can use this as bargaining leverage."

I looked up in awe, surprised by how many worthless things from the old world fetch a price in this new world! Then, my right ear felt a touch of cold air, along with a whisper.

"Get it!"

With those words, I remember the letter of Mr. Arnel

"This could be it!" I muttered to myself [https://img.wattpad.com/bcb2b6056cd421738620399794aa82171d768f59/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6f746e6831615248743376715a673d3d2d313437313638363833382e3137656533623137306634653837653331393534313730393830342e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"This could be it!" I muttered to myself.

"ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"