The carriage continued down the road. The countryside slowly turned into suburbs, as the rows of corn transformed into humble houses.

As the distance to the city became closer, the higher economic status was evident. Rather than shoddy wooden houses, houses here were made of nice tiling and brick.

The fields became fewer, and more specialized trades were evident. Passing a town on the way to the city, there were blacksmiths, masons, butchers, and other tradesmen about.

The flat terrain started to go downhill. The city was built close to sea level, the countryside being significantly higher up.

"Passing the great slope now. Should be close." Jonathan said.

The great slope is what brought everyone down to the city. It was a massive road that went down a lengthy downhill, straying away from the high up flat countryside.

Alaric clutched his arm, to check if it was still there. Despite some time passing, he was still a little shaken by the vision.

Alaric was smiling. This was good. It would likely prove to be a hint towards future action. As soon as he would have access to paper and a pen, he wanted to write down everything. Prophetic visions were definitely a good sign.

The sky was darkening as well. The sky was orange, but was settling into the night. Alaric would have to quickly find a inn before it got dark. Merchant Coast was a relatively safe city, but it was never completely safe.

The Wolf Slayer guild had a complicated relationship with the city. Being magic users, they had immense power over the people, and were both feared and revered.

There were few issues of direct evil usage of power, but that didn't mean their power wasn't misused. Merchant Coast had a non-magic police force who handled the crime in the city, but occassionaly the mages would try to step in.

Fame and reputation was everything for a mage, so getting your name in the paper with something like "Heroic mage stops serial killer in his tracks!" would be a godsend towards the career of a mage.

But this wasn't always the case. Excessive force was common.

Alaric had been to the city multiple times before for buying things, and a certain experience was burned into his mind regarding how the mages used their power.

He was about fifteen, and in a central marketplace getting some foods. Sometimes the vegetables in the village wouldn't always cut it, so he had to go into the city to get some real meats that weren't fish or the skinny ass chickens in the village.

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It was a nice day and the marketplace was lively with people buying and selling numerous things.

This peaceful atmosphere was then broken by a sudden utterance.

"You stole from the wrong store. You will be put to justice!!!"

A young mage uttering a corny line had shouted out, catching the attention of everyone. People turned their heads towards the stall, including Alaric.

It was a dye stand, selling expensive and rare dyes.

The alleged thief was now being stared at by all of the surrounding people, before she started running to get away from them all. The mage was a wind mage, using wind to increase their movement speed.

The thief was also young, maybe about seventeen. She was a normal looking girl, who didn't seem very malicious. She was wearing a simple blue dress, and she seemed shocked after she was accused.

Of course, she had actually stolen something, she was holding a thing of dye with a tag still on it.

But she didn't deserve what happened next.

The mage was running extremely fast, pushing away the crown to get at the girl.

"Stop in the name of windmage Stephen!!!" The mage said before releasing a strong gust of the wind at the girl.

It was strong. Way to strong.

The wind, target at the girl, sent her about 100 feet into the air.

The crowd went completely silent, frozen completely. Of course, Alaric was part of this, not feeling like taking action in any direction.

Then before anyone unfroze, the girls body crashed to the ground in a mess of broken bones and bleeding flesh.

Wails of disgust resounded throughout the audience, the mage that had done the deed was still frozen, a look of horror plastered on his face.

Alaric returned from the memory. Mages were difficult to understand. Alaric was of the opinion that magic should be like drugs alcohol and guns, one should only be able to learn how to use them and apply them either under extreme supervision or not until they have enough judgement to use them.

The city was rapidly approaching. From the height on the slope that they were at right now, they could see the entirety of the city.

The city was large and had many tall buildings, all about six stories tall or higher. There was a massive border wall, that encircled the city and some of the ocean outside of it. There were three large gates on the land side for entering.

There were even more gates on the water side, all highly guarded. Although the Merchant Coast defined itself as a place of multicultural exchange and tolerance, this was only able to be made true by the extensive safety measures present. With mages present in the world, cities would have to be cautious about who they would let it.

There were a plethora of boats in the harbor, mostly docked. There were almost no boats in the outside water, as it was too dark for major unloading of cargo and goods.

Eventually, they reached the gate where they were stopped by a city guard.

"How many do you have?" The guard asked. They were wearing a large metal mask that muffled their voice, so their gender wasn't obvious.

"3 in the back."

"Any mages?"

"No."

"The guard looked in the back, seeing the three.

"Whats with the fish eyed guy?" The guard asked.

"Birth defect. You know some are like that out in the country." The driver responded.

"Alright. Go on in."

The driver went inside the city and then dropped them off before heading off somewhere to park and stay for the night.

The three of them were now in the city at dark.

Alaric would now have to find a place to rest before the next day.