Maia POV ( Clairs foster mother): 3.5 years after the tournament.
“The topic of today's meeting is the discussion about a possible immigration to Aeron,” Georg said.
Every adult of our village is inside the school and have to speak his opinion about the suggested immigration to Aeron.
“As you all know we're out of the administrative sector from Kirk and nobody cares about us. This applies for taxes and monster attacks. And as such I suggest we should apply for an immigration to Aeron. The caravan leader said that it is a safe and prospering land without discrimination. It's also save from military drafts as it doesn't have a real military. I think it couldn't be better for us if we live in Aeron,” Georg said.
“What about our houses?” One villager asked.
“The caravan leader said that every family gets a free house out of stone, so we only have to bring our belongings,” Georg said.
“What about food? We would have to use almost all our food for the way, we won't have food for the time the crops need to grow,” a woman asked.
“There are special facilities that gives food out for free, they call it welfare,” Georg said.
“Look, I don't say that we all should go at once, I only suggest that a small group will go and first asks for permission and the conditions we will have. Are there any volunteers?” He continued.
“Honey, do you think we should go? I heard that the goddess is called Clair, you think that it is our Clair?” I asked my husband.
“Maybe, Clair is extraordinary and we both saw her training field. The description about her also matches, I think we should go. Even if it's not her, we would have a change of environment,” he said.
I raised my hand and said, “Kurt and I would go.”
“Thank you, anyone, else?” Georg asked and tow more raised their hands.
“We, Kyle and Catrin would like to guard them,” Kyle said.
“I thank you, please come to me after the meeting,” Gerog then said and the topic changed to the education of our children, which I half-heartedly listened to.
An hour later the meeting ended and we four went to Georg, who was waiting for us at the blackboard.
“Again thank you for volunteering as our, well scouts,” he said as we reached him.
“You don't have to, we think that this so-called Goddess of Carring is our Clair and we want to look if it's true,” I said and Kurt nodded.
“Yes and it's thanks to Clair that we became a couple,” Kyle said and hugged Catrin, who smiled.
“Is that so? Then let me get to the point, I can only give you 20 silver, some food and three horses for the travel. I'm sorry but as you all know we aren't exactly a rich village,” Georg said with a bow.
“Don't freet over the details, we'll manage and we have some gold left from Clair,” Kurt said.
“Yeah, we'll manage. When should we depart?” I asked.
“The earlier the better, I would say in three days? We would be faster if we travel as a small group and not with the caravan, which will only come in two weeks,” Kyle said.
“That's okay for me, then we'll go home and prepare,” Kurt said and we said our goodbyes.
Back at home, we began to pack some of our belongings, like clothes, food, utensils and the weapons we got from Clair and then went to sleep.
The next two days past in a flash and we met Kyle, Catrin and Georg at the village entrance, the horses were already saddled and two of them were occupied by Kyle and Catrin. Kurt and I will have to share one.
“Morning, are you ready?” Georg greeted us.
“Yes, we have everything packed, Catrin, please use this sword,” I said and gave Catrin one of the swords forged by Clair.
“This is really good,” she said as she inspected it.
“It's one from Clair, I think it's the fifths weapon she made after I taught her the foundations,” Kurt said, pridefully. We both know that Clair most likely didn't need his help to learn to forge, but he likes to boast about her talent and that he taught her the foundations.
We quickly noticed that Clair is not the small girl she wanted to look like. She's way too bad at hiding her skills. And her behaviour was also not like that of a small girl, who has lost her family.
But she didn't seem like she is a bad person and we felt that she truly liked us. Even if she lied, we love her as a daughter and we had a nice time together.
“Then let's go,” Kyle said and Kurt helped me up on the horse before he himself got on it.
“Have a nice trip,” Georg said and waved at us, as we left.
“It's good that we're near the border, the travel to the wall will only take us a week,” Kyle said a few hours after departure.
“Yes, and I think it's unlikely that we come across of strong monster. Most of them originally live inside the forest and I heard from a merchant that the guards of Aeron are hunting them on mass,” Kurt replied.
“I think every monster below rank 2 will be easily handled by us, now that we have these fine weapons,” Catrin said.
“I hope,” I replied and we continued to travel in silence.
A week later we were able to see the tall wall, it extends in both ways over the horizon.
We got near the wall and a hundred metres before we reach it a shadow came over us.
Not a second later a large silvery man in a full plate armour fell from the sky and landed in front of us, thereby producing a small crater.
All of us were shocked, this guy jumped from a wall that is over 70-metre high wall to us, who are hundred metres away. His stats must be extremely high.
“Please.State.Your Intentions.” a voice that didn't sound like it comes from a living being spoke.
“We'd like to know the location of the next gate,” Kurt hurriedly spoke.
“The.Next.Gate.Is.78.Kilometres.To.The.Left.” the voice said and the guard pointed to our right side. Then he turned around and jumped back on the wall.
“The fuck was that?” Kyle asked.
“I don't know but I think we should go to the right,” Kurt said and we followed the large wall.
“Did you notice?” Catrin asked after some minutes.
“Notice what?” I asked.
“The ground is flat, and there are no obstacles for at least 200 hundred metres away from the wall. It's like something grounded everything,” she said, in a slightly worried tone.
“Now that you said it, yeah. This is weird. But this guy in the armour also was not really normal,” Kyle said.
“I think that was a golem,” I said.
“Golem?” Kyle asked.
“We heard of them during our days as adventurers. It's said that they are made of a material and run on magic and runes. Normally you can find them in old dungeons and they are really strong. It's better to run if they didn't noticed you,” Kurt said.
“And what if they do?” Catrin asked.
“Then you're dead if you're not, at least, an S-Rank adventurer,” I answered for Kurt.
“But they are seldom aren't they?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, extremely rare. I've never seen one by myself and I hope I won't see one who wants to fight,” Kurt said.
“I don't want to argue with you but I think the word rare doesn't apply to these guys,” Kyle said with a nervous smile.
“Why?” I asked.
“Look at the wall,” He just said and I did.
“There...there are 3 every few hundred metres,” I asked stunned.
“Jup,” he said and we got silent. Riding along the wall, under the constant watch of these guards.
Two hours later we heard roars.
“Do you also hear that?” I asked.
“Yeah, sounds like someone fights against a monster,” Kurt said.
“You think we should look?” Kyle asked.
“Of course not, we're not here for fighting monster and this clearly sounds like a lot of them. I suggest we wait,” Catrin said.
“You're right, we can't see them, so it has to be a strong monster,” I said and we began to wait. A minute later it got silent and we continued and three kilometres further we began to see silhouettes on the ground.
“These things must be large if we're able to see them from here. I mean we're at least a kilometre away from them,” Catrin said.
We continued and the silhouettes got bigger until we could see them clearly.
“These are Örpus,” I said.
“Örpus?” Catrin asked.
“They are Rank-3 monster but only for their strength. You need a party of B-Rank adventurer to hunt one,” I explained.
“And here are what? 30?” Kyle asked.
“Seems so, all of them are dead and it looks like they all got killed by one hit,” Kurt said a little stunned.
“Do you think the guards in the silver plate armour killed them?” Kyle asked.
“If they did, then they managed to do it in a minute,” Kurt said.
“Good that they aren't aggressive towards trespassers,” Catrin said with a pale face.
I just nodded and we continued our ride. Another four hours later we reached a giant gate with a lot of guards and people in front of it.
We got in line and waited until it was our turn.
Half an hour later we were in front and a beastkin male in a leather armour, who looks like a guard, said.
“Good evening, please state your reason for trespassing.”
“We are from a village near the border and want to request a permission for an immigration,” Kurt said politely.
“Immigration? Okay, you have to go to Nahar for that,” He said.
“Nahar?” I asked.
“Yes, it's our capital, a really nice city. It's in the old Dragon Valley,” he said proudly.
“What about the dragons?” Kyle asked.
“Our goddess killed them,” the guard said.
“Killed them? What about the Rank-5 dragon?” I asked shocked.
“Dead,” he said with a smile.
“Whoa,” Kyle said.
“I know right? Anyway, I suggest you sleep in one of the inns where you let your horses and travel by carriage. They are a lot faster than normal horses,” the guard said.
“Why are they faster?” I asked.
“They are created like these guards,” the guard said and pointed at one of the golems in metal plate armour.
“And they are for free, you only need a week from here to Nahar,” he further said.
“A week? Isn't the dragon valley thousands of kilometres away from here?” Kurt asked.
“Yes, but the coaches are really fast and travel without a break. This is why I recommend to let the horses here,” he said.
“Thank you,” Kurt said and we went in.
The other side was a small town, every house looked clean and is out of stone. Some vendors were selling their goods at the street side and restaurants and inns were along the road, which was also made out of stone.
“This inn looks good,” Catrin said and we went inside an inn called °The Waiting Horse°. Kyle was waiting outside with the horses.
It was fairly well visited and the smell of cooked meat drifted in our noses as we came in.
We walked up to the counter and a man behind it said,
“Welcome to the Waiting Horse, what can I do for you?”
“We'd like to rent two rooms for a night,” Kurt said.
“That would be fifty silver, per room,” the man said and I gasps a little from the price. A normal good inn costs not more than a silver per night.
“Why is it so expensive?” Catrin asked.
“We are at the border to the richest and the best kingdom of the world. Naturally a lot of people want to visit it,” he said with a smile.
“But we'll also look for your horse for a month,” he continued.
“Why is this in a bundle?” I asked.
“As I said, many want to see this land and especially the capital. There are daily coaches and most people only want to sleep for a night but also want to let their horses here. So we came up with this bundle. Most of the money are for the horses. The room alone would only cost five silver,” he explained.
“Please wait a moment,” Catrin said and pulled us to the side.
“What now? We don't have a gold coin, not even the horses are that much worth,” she said worriedly.
“We do have a gold coin, however, it's right that the horses aren't that much worth,” Kurt said.
“Why not selling the horses and buying new ones when we come back?” I asked.
“We can do that, it would be cheaper. But first let's ask how much a horse will cost if we buy one here,” Kurt said and we went back to the counter.
“Do you know how much we could get for three horses and how much we will have to buy if we buy new ones?” Kurt asked.
“Well depends on the horse how much you'll get and how much one costs. I think the cheapest are around 5 silver. Do you want to sell yours?” He said.
“Maybe,” Kurt said.
“I could buy them, I'm selling those who aren't picked up after a month,” he said.
“They are outside,” Kurt said and we went out, followed by the man.
“And?”Kyle asked as he saw us.
“We might sell the horses and buy new ones when we go back, it costs too much to let them here,” Kurt said and the man inspected the horses.
“I would give you 10 silver each,” he said after inspecting all of them.
“20,” Kurt said.
“20 is too much, 13,” the man said.
“How about 17?” Kurt then said.
“Hmm, I can't give you more than 15,” the man said.
“15 and we get the rooms for free,” Kurt said.
“Only if you'll pay for the food,” the man said.
“Agreed,” Kurt said and they shook hands.
“I'll get the stable boy and then we make the transaction,” the man said and went inside his inn.
“So why are we selling them again?” Kyle asked as he left.
“And why for only 15 silver? They are worth 20,” he added.
“Because it would cost us a gold coin for letting them stay here for a month. And because he is paying 20 silver, the rooms normally also cost 5 silver,” Kurt said.
“Ah okay,” Kyle said and we took the luggage down from the horses while the man came with a young boy.
“Here are your 45 silver and the keys for your rooms they have the numbers 5 and 6,” the man said and gave us two keys.
“Thanks and we don't want to eat dinner,” Kurt said.
“HAHAHA, you tricked me,” the man said wile laughing.
“We never said we will eat something,” Kurt said also with a laugh.
“True true, do you want to eat breakfast?” the man asked.
“How much would it cost?” Kurt asked.
“25 copper each,” the man said.
“Then yes,” Kurt said.
“Then have a good night,” the man said and went back to his counter.
“His reaction is better than I expected,” Kurt said as he left.
“Indeed,” I said and we went to our rooms.
“See you tomorrow,” Kyle said as he went with Catrin inside their room.
“Night,” I said and went with Kurt in our room.
The room was nice, a large bed with a soft mattress, a desk with two chairs and a small commode were inside of it.
“It's warm,” Kurt said.
“Yeah,” I said, noticing that it's warmer in here than outside.
We put our luggage on the desk and went to sleep, the pillow and blanket were really soft and clean.
Not many inns are this clean.
The next day we woke up to the smell of fresh bread.
We got dressed and went down to the eating section, where we found Kyle and Catrin, already sitting at a table.
“Morning,” I said, still a little sleepy and sat down next to Catrin.
“I spoke with the owner of the inn and he said that the coach will be here in five hours. He said we should go and wait for it after breakfast apparently the line will be long,” Catrin said.
“Okay, what's on the menu?” Kurt asked and waived for a waitress.
“Fresh bread and potato soup or bread with a fried egg,” Catrin said.
The waitress came and Kurt said, “I'd like to have the bread with the fried egg and is it possible to also fry the bread?”
“It is,” the waitress said and then looked at me.
“I'd like to have the potato soup with bread,” I said and she left after a nod.
“Did you notice the warmth of the room?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, strange isn't it?” I said.
“I looked around the room and found a small device that generated heat, I think it is a magic device,” he said.
“Magic device? Aren't those really expensive?” I asked.
“I thought so as well and asked the owner and he said that it was included in the inn. It's apparently possible to get heated rooms, water dispenser and cooling boxes if you pay more for the house.
He said he had to pay 20 gold for the whole inn and that only the devices alone would be more than enough to get the money back,” Kyle said.
“Why isn't he detaching them then?” Kurt asked.
“I asked the same and he said that it would be stupid if he does that. He said that every inn has these devices and he was also warned that they would get broken if he tries to detach them, apparently they are secured by a rune and aren't really destructible or detachable,” Kyle said.
“Sounds too good to be true, I mean an inn for 20 gold with so many magic devices?” I said, not really believing what Kyle said.
“The owner said that it's normal and that every house can have these things, they only cost some money. He said that a normal house with four rooms, a kitchen and a living room is free for everyone and that it'll only cost money if you want to have a magic device,” Kyle said.
“If that is true, wouldn't a lot more people try to immigrate?” Kurt asked.
“There are a lot of people. You can either buy yourself a permission, apply for a job and get one through it or hope you're lucky and get one of the limited places. It's easier to get a permission for a village than for a place inside the cities,” he said.
“I hope we will get a permission,” I said.
“Yeah,” Kurt said and the food came. It was good and made full. After eating we paid and walked to the coach a line was already forming.
“Good that we're early, these are only twenty people,” Catrin said as we lined in.
Three hours later a commotion broke out behind us.
“What's going on there?” I asked and turned around.
“Don't know,” Kurt said.
The commotion got louder and we were able to hear someone shouting.
“Let me at the front, I'm Count Philipe Grey of Hülüg,” a man shouted.
“We don't care, your rank is nothing worth here,” another man shouted back.
“You plebeian, I'll get your head for speaking like that to me,” the first man shouted angrily.
“Try it,” the second man shouted mockingly.
“Guards kill this plebeian,” the first men shouted and it was silent for a moment.
“Get on my shoulders,” Kurt said and lifted me on his shoulders.
Now I was able to see over the other people and could see a man, wearing expensive clothes with a red face and two guards behind him. Another man was standing in front of him, showing a mocking grin.
“Can you see something?” He then asked.
“Psst!” I said and tried to listen.
“I don't care about the laws of this country, kill him,” the man with the expensive clothes then shouted.
“I'll pay you for following orders,” he continued.
The guard said something but I wasn't able to hear him but it clearly further agitated the man because he got redder than he already was.
“Fine then I'll do it by myself,” the man shouted and unsheathed a sword.
Suddenly a ´gust of wind came from the direction of the wall and in the next moment four of these giant plate armour golems were around the man with expensive clothing. Their weapons were drawn.
“Get out of my way you fucking golems,” the man screamed but the golems didn't move.
“I would calm down,” another man, who came running from the direction of the gate, said.
“Who're you?” The man with expensive clothes asked.
“I'm a guard of this city and you're officially banned from this country for attempted murder ,” the guard said.
“You can't ban me, I'm a count,” the man said.
“I can and will, your title is nothing worth here. And we don't like a snobbish troublemaker who thinks they are something important. Everyone in this country has the same rights. You're lucky that we're in a border city. Further inside and you would have been locked away for a few years. Throw him out,” the guard said and the golems picked him up.
“You fuckers, let me down or I'll kill you, my brother is the baron of Rurr,” the man screamed but he was carried out of the city while the crowd cheered.
“Let me down,” I said and patted Kurt's head. He let me down and they looked at me, waiting for the story.
“A noble tried to get in front with his title but someone didn't let him. He got angry and tried to kill him but the golems stopped him. A guard then said that he's banned from the country and led him out,” I explained in a short summary.
“So it's true that nobility isn't worth anything in this country?” Catrin asked.
“Seems like it,” I said.
“I like that,” Kyle said with a grin.
“This country looks more and more like the perfect place for us normal citizen,” Kurt said and I could only agree.
An hour later a line of five long and large coaches came and around hundred people were allowed inside. It really was good that we came early because a large crowd had to go back and wait for the next coach.
The coach was spacious and twenty people could sit in each. The coach was segmented into four parts. One led to a second floor with twenty small rooms, each room with a single bed. One had a large kitchen, one was a living room with a board full of games and the last one had comfy seating.
“This is really good for a free ride,” I said and went to the living room.
“Of course, it's good, this was built by the goddess. There are over a thousand of these coaches in the whole kingdom,” a man who also came inside the living room said.
“You speak like you know the country,” Kyle said.
“Sure I do, I live in Nahar and was out of the country to meet a friend. I'm a merchant,” the man said.
“My name is Kurt, this is my wife Maia, and our friends Kyle and Catrin, could you tell us more about this country?” Kurt said and motioned for us to sit down at one of the tables.
“Why not, I'm Jore,” Jore said and sat down.
The moment we all sat Jore asked, “So what do you want to know?”
“Well like how is it to life in Aeron, what are the differences to the other countries and what should we look out for?” Kurt listed.
“The life is really good, way better than in the other countries. There are almost no poor people and everyone gets a job. Those who have some skill try to become an apprentice by one of the crafting masters and those who have no skill will get a job from the government like a logger, farmer or maybe street cleaner. These aren't paid as good as the other jobs but keep you over the water until you've learned something else.
Everyone gets a new house when he settles down, full with furniture, you can upgrade your furniture with money and it's way less expensive than it normally would be. My house, a two story house with eight rooms, for example, has enchantments that make my house cool or warm, I also have some for running water and cooling my food or heating it up. This only cost 5 gold,” he explained and all of us made wide eyes.
“The differences are even better. Everyone has the same rights, as you probably have seen with the noble who got banned. There is no slavery and nobles of every rank are under the same laws as us normal citizen, even the queen,” he further said.
“But there still are nobles, what makes them special?” Kyle asked.
“There are some, however here nobility isn't something you inherit, you have to earn it by heavily contributing to the country. It only has some benefits like a private coach or one of those golem guards. But every benefit is also buyable and let me say this beforehand, the golems are only protecting you, they are able to notice if you are the aggressor. If you are they won't help you, on the contrary, they will arrest you.
The higher nobles are also allowed to suggest some changes to the country, this privilege is not buyable and only for the highest nobles. But they can't change what they want to, there are some rules that aren't changeable like the none discrimination law against other races.
You surely think that the children of these nobles still get a better treatment, which is true and untrue at the same time. They are more likely to get accepted by a better crafting master, however, they still can't boss others around and have to follow the same laws as every other person. And their treatment stops when they are of age, which is when they are fifteen.
The next major difference is that there is basically no discrimination against other races or people. Everyone is judged by their skill and will to do something for the community.
So if any one of you is against other races you should get over it or leave,” he said and looked at each of us.
Seeing that none of us frowned, he continued,
“You might have already heard that no one has to starve. This is indeed true, there are special houses called welfare. You'll get two meals a day for free if you come there. It's nothing extravagant, just bread and a few fruits or vegetables, but still more than any other country will give you for free.
Hmm, the next thing would be the education. Every child has to attend school until it is 14 and there are no special classes for rich people. Your class will be determined by a variety of tests.
The higher you are the more attention you'll get from the teachers.
There are three different grades.
The first one has the best students, they are taught in small groups of 5, the second grade will be thought in groups of 20 and the third grade will be thought in groups of 30. The lessons are individualised if you're in the first grade, anything below is standardised.
What else? Ah yes, there is giant library free for everyone, it's only forbidden to lend the books.
There are even courses for the adults who can't read.
Any questions?” he said.
“How high are the taxes?” Kurt asked.
“They are way lower than in Kirk but will rise up to almost the same amount in six years. Something that is meant to help the new settlers,” Jore said.
“This all sounds too good to be true,” Catrin said.
“And all this was made by Clair?” I said.
“So you know the real name of our goddess? Are you also a believer in the Church of Carring?” Jore asked.
“We are her foster parents,” Kurt said boastfully.
“Yes yes and I'm the husband of the queen Kyli,” Jore said with a wave of his hand.
“But it's true, do you have the [Identification] skill?” Kurt said.
“I do but what does that bring?” Jore asked.
“Here, that is one of the first weapons that were forged by Clair,” Kurt said and gave Jore a sword made by Clair.
Jore looked over it and then said.
“It's true that the smith who made this sword was a master crafter named Clair but it doesn't prove that it was made by our goddess,” Jore said and handed the sword back.
“But it's true,” Kurt said dejected and I patted his shoulder.
“Let's come to the things we should look out too,” Kyle said, trying to get back to the main topic.
“Yes let's do that. There is not much you should look out too. We have the same normal laws like don't steal, kill or hurt anyone. Common sense will mostly be enough. You can get a small book with the laws at every guard house if you want to know more.
The most you have to look out for is to not denigrate the Church of Carring, it's not illegal but most vendors and inns won't sell anything to you if they get wind of it. The whole country was created by the goddess and the people love her, even if they don't believe in being her a god. There is no rule for religion, you're allowed to believe what you want, as long as you don't disturb or harm other people with it.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Oh and never ever draw a weapon if you're near a golem guard, they will disarm you, even if they have to rip your arm off. If you're attacked, defend yourself but throw the weapon away the moment a golem comes. They might disarm both parties by hacking their hands off if they see you with a weapon. They will call for a living guard, whom you can tell your story. Those will then investigate further.
That's mostly it, anything else will be better if you see it first hand,” Jore said, ending his explanation.
“Thank you for the information,” we said and he just waived with his hand and left the room.
“This county truly looks like a utopia,” I said and stood up, waling to the games.
“Yes,” Kurt agreed and watched me as I pulled a game out of the board.
“Let's play some games so that the time passes faster,” I said and we played for the next seven days all of the games inside the coach. Sometimes we cooked in the kitchen or relaxed in the comfy seating but most of the time we played games. My favourite is the game called monopoly, I like the idea of owning major cities.
Seven days later we arrived in Nahar. We travelled through the forest and even through a very long tunnel, sometimes passing by other coaches.
This city is beyond anything I've ever seen. It's a valley surrounded by high mountains with mansions inside of them. The city is gigantic and we came across parks and even some lakes as we drove at a fast pace through it. It looks like there are special streets for the coach who aren't trespassed by people. This is logical, the coaches are way too fast to stop if someone suddenly runs in their way.
We got slower and stopped in a hall with four different streets. Every street leads to one cardinal point.
“Nahar please exit, the coach will travel to the border city of Tongva in twenty minutes,” a loud voice sounded from outside.
We took our luggage and went out, into a crowd of people of many different races, there were humans, elfs, dwarfs and a lot of different kinds of beaskins. Some of them running in a hurry or talking in small groups, but all of them were friendly with each other and none looked like he was less worth than the other.
“ I think we should ask for directions,” Catrin said and we walked to a small hut with the sign °Information°.
“Hello, we'd like to know where we have to go if we want to apply for an immigration,” I said and a lion beastkin woman looked at me.
“You'll have to go to the registration building, it's in the government district of the city. There is a sign with the words °Government District°. A coach will come every ten minutes and bring you there. The coach costs ten copper per person,” the woman said with a smile.
“Thank you,” I said and we searched for the sign.
We quickly found it, it's in a line to other signs and some people were already waiting for the next coach.
“This city looks so clean and new,” Kyle said as we walked to the sign.
“Yes and it's so organized,” Catrin said.
“I just hope we are allowed to immigrate, I want to live here,” Kurt said.
It would really be nice to live in this country.
We reached the sign and had to wait for a few minutes until a coach came, it was also pulled by golem horses but they weren't as fast as the first ones. A door opened at the front and a line formed.
A few moments later it was our turn and we stepped in, a man was sitting in a chair with a window and looked at us.
“Four people,” I said and gave him forty copper.
He took the copper, put it into a box with a lot of money and pushed four times on a button.
“Step through this turnstile,” he said and pointed at something that kinda looked like a board.
“How?” I asked confused, this is clearly a plank.
“New aren't cha? Just walk against the plank, it will move away,” he said and I cautiously walked against the plank. Which really moved away and let me through. Kurt, Catrin and Kyle followed me.
We sat down on a bench and waited for the departure. Which came as everyone had a seat.
The coach moved through the city at the speed of a horse, sometimes halting for another coach that will cross our path or sometimes halting at a sign like the first one where people will get out or in. Every time the man in front screamed where we are.
“Government district, last halt,” the man screamed one last time and stood up. He then walked to the other side of the coach and sat down at an exact copy of the first end.
We stepped out and were in front of a large building with a long line in front of it.
“I think this will take some time,” Kurt said and we got in line.
An hour later we finally were inside and saw four more lines, each has a counter at the end and a lot of golem guards and real guards were standing at the side. Shortly after we learned why some people were against the things they got said at the counter and tried to make a fuss. Those were quickly thrown out.
A few more hours later and we finally were at the counter.
“Good day, how can I help you?” a man behind a window asked.
“We're from a small village and want to request for an immigration of our village,” Kurt said politely.
“Do you want to settle down in a city or build a new village?” The man asked.
“We'd like to build a new village,” Kurt said.
“Please wait a moment,” the man said and stood up. He then walked to the back and looked through a stack of papers inside a closet.
He came back a few moments later and made an apologetic face.
“I'm sorry but all of the village building permissions for this week are full, you have to come back next Monday and try again,” he then said.
“Isn't there another way?” Kurt asked.
“There is the possibility to buy the permission but it costs 30 gold it is for a village of 100 people,” he said and saw in our faces that we haven't so much money.
“I would recommend coming early in the morning. If you haven't already have an inn I would recommend an inn near the main district, the temples and many different interesting places are near it. You just have to go back to the coach station and wait at the sign with °Main District° on it,” he then said.
“Yes, thank you,” Kurt said dejected and we went to the main district.
The district was bustling with live, everywhere were people, sitting out of an restaurant or walking along the street, looking at the many shops that showed their goods.
“Let's search for an inn and then go to the temple from the Church of Carring, maybe we find someone we can convince that we know Clair,” Kyle said, trying to make us hope.
We just tiredly nodded and went to a nearby inn.
The woman at the counter greeted us with a smile and asked,
“Hello, how can I help you?”
“We'd like to rent two rooms for five days,” Catrin said.
“That would be 20 silver, breakfast and a daily bath included. We also have cooling boxes in the rooms for drinks or food,” she said.
Kurt gave her the silver and we walked up to the room and put our luggage down.
“Do you think we will have more luck next week?” I asked him and sat down on the bed.
“I hope, we can't keep waiting here forever, and we only have three gold coins from Clair left,” he said.
“I know, let's just hope we'll have luck with the temple,” I said and it knocked at the door.
Kurt opened it and Kyle was waiting with Catrin at the other side.
“Let's go or it will be too late,” he said and we went down.
“Miss, do you know where we can find the temple from the Church of Carring?” Kyle asked the woman at the counter.
“Sure, it's down the road, then at the square will sign with directions, just follow them,” she said and we thanked her.
Some minutes later we reached a large plaza with a giant temple on it.
The temple was made out of white stone and had tall stone pillars at the entrance with a stairway leading up to the entrance.
“This thing is officially the biggest building I've ever seen in my entire life,” Kyle said and we only could nod in agreement. The whole building is most likely higher than two hundred metres.
We walked the stairs up and came inside a hall with many statues, all of them were extremely well made and showed Clair in different positions.
There were no golem guards but female guards, with really luxurious looking armours and halberds, waiting at the side. They weren't many, only six, but all of them looked like they were radiating power.
The front had an altar with a woman, who wore priest clothes with a multicoloured sign at the chest.
She was kneeling in the front, some people were behind her. Probably praying.
We walked up to the priestess but were not even hundred metres inside stopped by two of the guards.
“Please follow us,” they said and already began to walk to the back, where a door was located.
“Have we done anything wrong?” I asked worried. And a few people were already looking at us.
“No you haven't but an important person wants to meet you,” one guard said, not looking back at us.
“What should we do?” I asked Kurt in a whisper.
“You should follow us, nothing bad will happen,” the guard answered instead of Kurt. Kurt and the others were as unknowing and possibly frightened as I but didn't say anything. We simply followed the guards through the door, through a few rooms until we reached a door that led us outside. A coach was already waiting for us.
One of the guards opened the door of the coach and got inside while the other motioned us to also go inside the coach.
We did and the guard behind us closed the door. The coach immediately began to move and through the windows we saw how we left the main district. We travelled through less crowded parts of the city until we even moved upwards.
“Where are we going?” Kurt asked but the guard didn't answer him.
Half an hour after we got into the coach we stopped in front of a giant mansion.
The guard opened the door and led us in the mansion, the whole building was highly decorated with many paintings and statues.
Fine furniture and expensive carpets, I did not dared to step on them and walked around them. They simply looked too expensive.
The guard let us in a room with a couch. She then turned around and said, “Please wait here, someone will come in a few minutes to greet you.”
After that she went out and closed the door, leaving us alone in this room with extremely expensive looking things.
“What do you think is all this?” Catrin asked.
“I don't know but I sure as hell hope that they recognised Maia or Kurt as Clair's foster parents,” Kyle said.
“But if so, why have they brought us here in this way and not just said that we'll meet Clair?” Kurt asked but none of us had an answer for that.
“Well, nothing we can do. Do you think we can sit down?” Kyle asked.
“I don't know, everything here looks so expensive,” I said and moved my fingers along the carvings on the chair.
“Better we wait while standing, it might be that the nobles here are not like our nobles but we only know of the public picture, not what they do behind closed doors,” Kurt said and we all agreed.
We had to wait for half an hour before we heard foot steps on the other side of the door.
We all turned around, waiting for the person who'll come inside any moment from now.
The door opened and a beastkin woman came inside, she has silver hair with silver wolf ears on top of it. She also wore really expensive clothes with a silvery tail at the back. Five other women were following her.
The woman walked up to me and suddenly hugged me. She hugged me.
“I'm so happy to finally meet you, Clair said that you might come so she said that everyone with the name Maia or Kurt Schmiedehand has to be brought to me. But it looks like a guard in the temple who has gotten the description found you first,” she said and released me from the hug.
“My name is Kyli,” I'm one of the original villagers that got rescued by Clair,” she then said and sat down at one of the chairs.
“Please sit,” she said and we slowly followed her request.
“So why are you here in Nahar?” She asked with a wide smile.
“We...we tried to get a permission for an immigration,” Kurt stuttered.
“Ah yes, did you get one?” She asked.
“No, we were too late,” Kyle said.
“Then I'll pay for one. Rilo could you please arrange for a village permission, of?” she paused and looked at me.
“134 people,” I hurriedly said.
“For 200 people?” She then continued and one of the women bowed and left the room.
“Good, I think Clair will be here in about six hours, she has to come from Turonis,” Kyli then said.
“Turonis? But that is over 10.000 kilometres away from here,” Kurt said stunned.
“Well Clair said that she hasn't told you everything, she said she didn't know if she will be this public at that time, so she hid a lot. I think only her girlfriend Lilia and her friend Ilza know everything. Do you want to eat something?” She said, not caring for our open mouths.
“G..girlfriend? But...but Clair is a woman,” was the only thing Kurt was able to say.
“More importantly, how can she come from Turonis to Nahar in six hours?” I asked a little louder than I wanted to.
“She's flying,” Kyli just said and pulled me out of the room by taking my hand and pulling me along.
The others followed me and we were led into a dining room.
“The food will be ready in an hour, please sit down and tell me about the years you've spent with Clair,” Kyli said and sat down on one of the chairs.
We followed suit and slowly began to tell her the things about the three years she has lived with us. Like the time where she slept with Alice inside a mountain of clothes and we didn't found her for hours. Or how she used too much mana in a basic wind spell and whirled the kitchen in disorder.
In return, Kyli said a lot of things about Clair, how she and other slaves got rescued by her or how she simply made her a queen.
Truth be told I would never have expected to speak so casually with a queen but Kyli seems like a normal friendly person. Time flew by the food was served, eaten, cleared and six hours quickly passed.
The door to the dining room burst open and Clair walked in. She looks different, older and more beautiful. But she still had the same eyes and the long hair I loved so much.
“Mom,” she said and gave me a big hug.
“Hi honey, you've gotten prettier,” I said and patted her head.
“But not taller,” Kyle said with a grin and got a shop on his head from Catrin.
Clair released me from the hug and hugged Kurt after me, who almost began to cry.
She also gave Catrin a hug but left Kyle, who looked dejected, out.
“Why are you here? Did something happen or did you just wanted to look at Aeron?” Clair asked and sat down on my lap like she did in the old days. Strangely she doesn't feel larger.
I looked up from her head and saw Catrin, Kyle and Kurt with an open mouth.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Clair, she..she got younger,” Kyle stuttered.
Younger? I moved my head so that I could see in her face and it's true, now she exactly looks like four years ago.
“How?” I asked.
“Well this is one of the things I didn't say, sorry,” she said earnestly.
“We already know that you hid some things from us,” Kurt said with a smile.
“How? My acting skill should be on LV 10,” Clair mumbled but I heard her.
“Because you are terrible at hiding your skills, we saw your training field and knew that you're not normal after you've made so good swords with the first try,” I said and began to stroke her silky hair.
“Are you angry?” She asked.
“No, your feelings might not been real at the start but they turned real as you stayed with us,” Kurt said with a reassuring smile.
“Thank you,” Clair simply said and got silent.
“So anything you want to tell us?” Kurt asked after a pause.
“Ah yeah, show status Clair to Maia and Kurt,” Clair then said and my hand instantly froze.
Name: Clair/Dex SchmiedehandGender: Male/FemaleAge: 27Level: 1357( next 2%)Profession: Student, GoddessRank: GTitle:
Holocaust bringer, Jaw dropper, The one Who does as he please.
Goddess of the Church of Carring, Founder of Aeron,
Pursuer of Fluffiness, Nemesis of Rabbits, Workaholic,
The one who defies common sense, Gluttony of Chicken
Health: 3.001.000(+999.999.999)HP: Regeneration 1.000(+999.999.999)/ instantMana: 999.999.999(+999.999.999)MP: Regeneration 100.000(+999.999.999)/ instantStamina: 50.001.000(+999.999.999)Stamina: Regeneration 10.000(+999.999.999)/instantStrength: 151.000(+999.999.999)Intelligence: 212.000(+999.999.999)Agility: 176.000(+999.999.999)Wisdom: 213.000(+999.999.999)Class: Whatever you wantThis something was brought in this world
by the true god and it is here to please him
with its actions.
You may pet and hug it as you please.
Has a high consumption rate of chicken.
Race: Aeron
I looked at it and my hands began to shake, my vision began to turn black, but Clair grabbed my hands and squeezed them slightly. I looked down at her, in her large extremely green eyes and my eyes got clearer. But suddenly we heard a thump.
We all looked around and saw that Kurt fell from his chair.
“And it happened again, almost everyone who sees my status gets unconsciousness. Mom, you're the second one who didn't,” Clair said.
“Ah yeah, I remember as she showed it to me, I just fell down and spilled the tea we were drinking,” Kyli said as if she would remember something funny.
“Sweety, what does your status mean with this something was brought into this world?” I asked with a slightly shaky voice.
“I'm not from this world, the true god uses me as his entertainment and I live my life like I want,” Clair said as she got up from my lap and walked around the table to the still laying Kurt. She picked him up, sat him back on his desk and began to poke his cheek.
We all just watched her, still digesting the information.
“Wh..what?” Kurt said as he came back.
“You've fallen unconsciousness,” Clair said.
“Clair? You...your status...YOUR STATUS!” Kurt shouted and grabbed Clair at the shoulders.
“Yes?” She just asked.
“How are these numbers possible? They must be some kind of trick,” Kurt said almost frantic.
“No they are not,” Clair said and I could see as Kurt slowly sunk down.
“Well that never happened,” Clair said.
“What?” I asked worriedly.
“He's unconsciousness, again,” she said and started to continue her poking.
“I think we should let him rest,” Kyle said, not really understanding what happened.
Clair looked up to him and said, “You might be right, you can sleep here. We have enough rooms left,” Clair said and changed into the form of a handsome male elf.
“How?” Catrin and Kyle asked taken back. I almost expected that the status said something about male and female, so this is her male form? He looks as good as her female form.
“My race is not elf, I'm a unique race named Aeron, I can transform between male and female from the age of 10 to 20,” Clair said and picked Kurt up.
“Would you please follow me? The rooms are upstairs,” Clair or better Dex said and we followed him to highly luxurious rooms.
He put Kurt down on the large and good looking bed and turned around while changing back into Clair.
“Mom, do you want to sleep together like in old times?” She asked.
“I'd like to,” I said and we went to a different bedroom, Kyle and Catrin got one for their own.
“Ah, I forgot my nightgown in the inn,” I said.
“No problem, I have clothes for all sizes,” Clair said and gave me a white nightgown made out of silk.
“This is too expensive,” I said.
“Look,” Clair said and a gold coin materialized in her hand.
“I'm able to produce everything I want, so you don't have to thing about things like this. Money is not important, truth be told I made the whole city with magic,” she said, stunning be for the... I don't know how many times.
“Let's sleep, tomorrow we're going to look for a suitable place of your new village,” Clair said and lay down. I lay next to her and she hugged me, shortly after I fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up while hugging Clair, she was sleeping peacefully.
I began to stroke her hair and she woke up.
“Morning mom,” Clair said.
“Morning sweety,” I replied.
We got dressed, fetched Kyle, Catrin and Kurt and went down to the dinner room, where we had breakfast.
“So where do you like to have your village?” Clair asked as we finished and produced a map of the forest out of nothing.
“How did you do that? Is that a dimensional pocket?” Kurt asked I think he overcame most of the shock from yesterday.
“Something akin,” Clair said and put the map down on the desk, some red circles were on it.
“These circles show already existing or planned villages. You can choose whatever place you like, I'll build a village large enough for 200 people, with houses, a small lake and fields inside a wall. You'll also get double of the normal number of golem guards,” Clair said.
“Just like this?” Kyle asked.
“Of course Mom and Dad housed me for three years and taught me many useful things. This is the least thing I can do. Or do you want to live here in Nahar?” Clair said.
“No, we liked our village,” I said.
“Thanks, Clair,” Kurt said but Clair just smiled at him.
“So where do you want your new village?” She asked and I looked at the map.
“I think near Nahar would be good, can it be at the other side of one of the tunnels?” Kurt asked.
“Sure, which side? I would recommend the side near Tongva, the beaskin are a nice folk and you would get more visitors that way. I'll connect the village with a side arm of the roads, so you'll get some visitors and a coach each week. This way you'll have your peace but won't be too much offside,” she said.
“Sounds good,” I said.
“Good, then let's start immediately, Mom, Kyle and Catrin will head back while Dad and I start to build the village,” Clair said and began to chant a spell which I don't know.
The spell finished and a second Clair came out of her shadow.
“This is a clone of me, it has the same knowledge and half of my skills. It will bring you back, this should take you only 20 to 30 hours, the packing of the village included,” the first Clair said and the second one bowed.
“Packing? You mean all of our belongings and animals?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, I'll give you some dimensional pockets and the clone is able to carry all of you inside a conjured stone house,” Clair said and took a box out of nowhere.
“Inside this box are 100 dimensional pockets, they should be enough for everyone. I need them back,” she said and gave me the box.
“Let's start,” Clair then said and began to walk out. We and her clone followed her.
Outside the clone conjured a small stone house and asked us to go inside, we saw chairs, beds and a large window inside.
While the other Clair just picked Kurt up and two wings sprouted from her back.
She then jumped in the air and I only heard the faint scream of Kurt, as he vanished.
“Let's go,” the clone said and she also sprouted a pair of wings. She then began to fly and I could feel how we started to get faster and faster.
The flight only took us 8 hours and the villagers were shocked and confused as they saw us.
I quickly told them about Aeron and that we would get a new village with houses already build.
They reluctantly agreed to come with us and we put all of the belongings in the dimensional pockets.
The clone then conjured two large stone houses, one for the animals and one for us. It had the same accommodations as the first stone house, however, the house for the animals also had some fodder for them.
We quickly flew back to Aeron, leaving a ghost village behind, and arrived 12 hours later in a village that was larger than our previous village, bigger and had a 20-metre high wall with a lot of guards on it. The fields were already with ripe crops and even inside the walls. There was even a small lake inside of the walls.
The clone dissolved the moment we landed and Kurt came with Clair over to us.
“Hi, this will be your new village, I already build the houses and put furniture inside, Kurt will explain how you'll use the magic devices and your animals can be brought to one of the three barns we prepared,” Clair said and grabbed my hand. She led me to a slightly taller house with a chimney.
“This is your house, it has an integrated forge and a Wintergarden, where you can grow plants even during winter. It has a lot of different magic devices, whom will be explained by dad,” she said as she led me in.
It had the same expensive furniture I already saw in the mansion of Kyli and 6 large rooms, a kitchen, a bath, a living room and a storage room. The forge was attached at the back in a separated house.
“Oh, and before I forget,” Clair said and began to chant a light spell. Suddenly my body felt warm and comforting.
“I don't know if it helped but this was a Tier-10 healing spell, I also healed dad. Those spells are said to heal everything that is not dead, so it might heal your inability to have children,” Clair said like it was the most natural thing to do, casting a Tier-10 spell.
Wait, healing our inability to have children?
“You...you mean we... can have... children now?” I asked, almost crying.
“As I said, I don't know, there can be many reasons for infertility. It can be because something was wrong with your womb or something with dad. I can only say that the spell healed every wound I've ever seen,” she said, trying to not make too much hope.
“Thank you, truly thank you. I'll hope you'll get a little brother or sister soon,” I said and hugged her tightly.
“Okay,” she just said and hugged me back.
It truly will be nice to live here in Aeron....
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Whoa this turned out way longer than I first thought. At first I thought I would only need 1 or 2 k of words for this chapter but it became a little more than 10k. It won't happen often that I'll release two chapters per week, it simply takes too much time to write them.
Anyway, the next chapter will continue with the “story”.