The days passed with growing excitement within Zoe as they approached the capital, with an increasing number of carriages passing them as they left the capitals. Merchants and travellers, small caravans from the seemingly plethora of villages scattered around the capital.
Even a day or two away from the capital, civilization seemed to thrive. Dozens of very well worn trails leading through the trees that Zoe wished she had the time to go visit but made a note to try and remember later. Often times they had people walking along them, carrying large bags full of crops and clothes or hauling small carts behind them with goods piled up the small walls.
Zoe felt the need to rush ahead, to Cosmic Step her way up to the capital walls and see it for herself — a day with Gorlon and his wife wasn’t long, but it was a lot longer than the seconds she’d spend if she went by herself. It was hard not to give in to the feeling as the horses’ hooves clattered along the well worn dirt road, slowly bringing them towards her destination.
They set up camp as night fell for the last time before they’d arrive at the city, tying the horses to the nearby trees and building up a small campfire. Gorlon cooked a simple meal — a salad filled with colourful vegetables and a small piece of meat that was quite overcooked on the hot fire in Zoe’s opinion. The dark exterior had a bit of a pleasant crunch to it, but the interior was dry and tough, getting stuck between her teeth.
Kim took the first watch — Zoe offered to just take all three, but nobody needed to sleep every single night anyway so it seemed to be more of a habitual thing than a necessary thing. Zoe hopped up in one of the trees and extended the branch she was on with her magic, creating a somewhat comfortable perch to sit on as the night passed.
At a point, Zoe wondered if it wouldn’t just be more efficient to hire people to pull the carriages rather than horses. Or at the very least, more powerful magical horses that could pull them for longer. With so few people at higher levels needing to sleep every night, it seemed like a massive waste of time to be stopping every night to let the horses rest.
Of course the horses deserved to rest, but perhaps they didn’t need to pull the carriages at all. They could just be left at home, or out in the wild to be themselves. Maybe there was some other reason that Zoe wasn’t thinking of for the horses to still be pulling the carriages though.
Just the shame of having to pull it yourself? The pride of being able to afford the time wasting, or a display of wealth to show off their magnificent beasts? She wasn’t sure, but it seemed a little odd to her. In the first place, at the speeds that some people could travel it seemed more efficient to just run back and forth several times with storage items than to haul everything at once. Less risk of being robbed for all you were worth by the unscrupulous folk who lived out in the wilds, too.
The night passed and when the sun began to rise again, Gorlon and his guards fed the horses and hitched them to the carriages. In a few short hours, as the sun neared its peak, Zoe began to see the walls of the capital in the distance, poking through the dense forest of trees whenever she happened to have a line of sight through them.
Overbearing was an understatement, she decided. The walls were massive, and felt like she was walking towards a distant mountain. Even as the horses clopped along, they just didn’t seem to be getting any closer. An ever present monolith far in the distance, unmoving and unchanging.
Another hour passed before she realized she was getting closer as the walls poked above the canopy in the less dense areas. In another hour, the forest cleared and she saw the walls for all of their glory. Massive, towering constructions of solid white stone towering over the massive fields that surrounded the city. As far as Zoe could see to her left or right, the walls seemed to just be a flat wall with only the slightest hint of a curve.
A heavy metal gate sat at the end of the road, almost two kilometers ahead of them between two enormous fields of crops. Rows and rows of wheat, or brul? Or whatever grain they grew here were growing, stretching kilometers in each direction.
The scale of the city was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. How many people would live in the city, how many people would you need for so many enormous fields to sustain them? Millions? Tens of millions?
It was an awe inspiring sight, and she hadn’t even reached the gate yet, hadn’t even seen inside the walls at the buildings. Hadn’t caught the slightest glimpse of the castle that was said to be within those terrifying walls. What were they trying to fend off with those walls, Zoe wondered? Were they practical, or just for show? Keeping the wildlife out would require much less, and stopping an invasion with all the magic the world had to offer would take more, she imagined.
Were the walls enchanted? Every bit of those enormous walls filled with mana and given purpose? It only made sense, if they were supposed to be functional. Otherwise even Zoe herself had little doubt she could smash through them if she wanted to.
The journey to the gate felt like it took an eternity as Zoe watched row after row of crop fly by on either side of her. A line of carriages was formed outside, stretching a few hundred meters down the road and the caravan stopped at the end of it. Every few minutes, the line lurched forward as somebody was let through into the city, and more groups lined up behind them.
A few individuals walked along, passing the groups of carriages and walking straight up to the gate, passing the horde of carts and horses. Another guard at the front of the gate spoke to them for a minute, and then they were let into the city. Individuals were let in earlier, Zoe wondered? Maybe they had some kind of express pass?
“Why do they get to cut ahead?" Zoe asked Gorlon next to her at the front of the carriage.
“No luggage. Almost everything brought into the city needs to be registered with the guards.” Gorlon answered.
“What if they had storage items or a skill or something?" Zoe asked.
“Then they’d be in this line, waiting to claim everything they’re bringing in.” Gorlon said. “Most of the people walking up are farmers or hunters. Residents of the city, off doing jobs. They’re bringing back the same thing they left with. Possibly with some carcasses from their hunt, or crops from their farm which they already alerted the guards to before they left. Or they just don’t have enough stuff for it to be worth claiming.
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“But everybody in this line that we’re in has an abundance of things to claim. We’re merchants here to peddle our wares, or people from other cities moving everything they own to the capital. The city wants to know what’s being brought in before it’s given the chance to cause problems inside.”
“What if somebody just lied, though? What if somebody just walked up and said they didn’t have anything in their storage items, even though they were carrying several bags of clothes from Korna, for instance?” Zoe asked.
Gorlon scoffed. “I don’t know who would be stupid enough to lie to the royal guards at the gate.” He shook his head. “You would be caught, and you would be punished accordingly, depending on what you were lying about.”
“How would they know, though? I’ve never been here before, it’s all new to me.” Zoe said.
Gorlon raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Zoe. “You trying to start something in the city?"
“No.” Zoe shook her head and raised her hands. “It’s just interesting to me. So I’ll have to claim everything I’m carrying when we get up there too then?"
Gorlon nodded. “You will. I’m not sure how they’ll know you’re lying, but they will find out, and they will catch you. You don’t want to get on the bad side of the royals.”
“Right.” Zoe nodded, and turned her attention back to the enormous walls. Would anything she was carrying cause problems in the town? Most of her belongings were left back in Foizo so she didn’t imagine the city would have any issue with her bringing some spare clothes and cookware with her.
As they got closer, Zoe noticed the little specks at the top of the wall pacing back and forth. People, she realized. Guards? They were too far away for her identify, but there were hundreds of them. Maybe even upwards of a thousand, just on the part of the wall that she could see. Let alone however many would be inside the walls or behind the walls.
Were they all royal guards? All looped and powerful enough to rival even some of the strongest people she’d met? Maybe one of them was whoever it was that raided her dungeon on the moon.
The line lurched forward again and again as the horses moved forward every few minutes, and after a few long hours of waiting, Zoe’s group made it to the front of the gate. There were two guards visible at the entrance, though even more hidden within the hollow walls behind a large stone door in a well lit room with an ornate wooden table in the centre of it.
On the left was a woman with long ginger hair and dark freckled skin, who identified as a level two hundred thirty seven dark blue warrior. She had a polearm that stood on the ground next to her and towered over her head, made of pristine white metal that shone in the sun’s light. On the right was another woman with long ginger hair, but very pale almost translucent looking skin who showed as a level two hundred twenty nine dark blue mage.
The mage looked up at Zoe and Gorlon as they approached. “Halt.” She said with a faint, soft voice.
“I’m Gorlon, of Gorlon’s Wares. I’ve got a variety of imports from the cities I stopped at, you may inspect the carriages.” Gorlon said.
“And the woman?" The mage asked, rapping on the door next to her.
A bald, dark skinned man stepped out with his sword swinging at his waist in its sheathe. Level two hundred sixteen bright red to Zoe’s identify which came as quite a surprise. Sixth tier at barely over two hundred? He walked up to the carriages and began to search through them, asking Kim and Forn about the various products he’d brought with him. Clothes and food, mostly. Though with plenty of minerals and even some beautiful wooden creations from Darpi.
“I’m Zoe, I hitched a ride with them.” Zoe hopped down from the carriage. “I’ve never been here, what’s the proper procedure for this?"
The mage sighed and opened the door next to her. “If you would please enter through this door, Kendrick will walk you through everything you need to get in the city.”
“Kendrick?" Zoe asked.
“That’s me!” A younger looking man said, poking his head out of the door. He was a much lower level one twenty four dark blue warrior. Another impressively low level for having his fifth class. Were they looping to get as many classes as possible, or was it just a coincidence?
“Alright,” Zoe nodded and walked in to the room. Kendrick gestured for her to sit down at the table and summoned a small pile of papers as he sat down across from her. Several other higher level guards stood around the room watching her, with a few more lower level ones who also looked younger scattered around the room. New recruits in training, perhaps?
“Since this is your first time here, we’ll need to get some paperwork done. Just some simple agreements, you won’t cause a political revolution, you won’t commit any crimes, you’re not going to knowingly bring in dangerous materials that could threaten the safety of our citizens, all that kinda stuff.” Kendrick said.
“It’s illegal to cause a political revolution?" Zoe asked.
“Of course.” Kendrick chuckled as he shrugged. “Why wouldn’t it be?"
Zoe nodded. “Fair enough I guess. I think if somebody really wanted to they’d still do it though, but I don’t have any skin in the game anyway so that’s fine.”
Kendrick nodded. “Well if you could please sign on the dotted lines on each of these papers, then. You’re free to take your time reading through it if you need to. We’ll continue whenever you finish.” He summoned an ornate gold pen engraved with a dragon and passed it to Zoe.
Zoe grabbed the pen and the papers then read through them. They were fairly simple and inoffensive — as Kendrick said, they were mostly just telling her not to incite violence and cause trouble, and each had clauses allowing her to break the contracts if she ever wanted at the cost of not being permitted in the city until she remade them again. Satisfied with the terms, Zoe signed each of the papers on the dotted lines, feeling a slight pull on her mana as she wrote with the pen.
“Wonderful!” Kendrick grabbed the papers and stored them way in whichever storage medium he was using. “Then all we need is a list of everything you’re bringing into the city, and we’ll let you be on your way.”
Zoe shared the contents of her two storage bracelets, her storage ring and her storage skill with Kendrick who smiled.
“That’s all fine and dandy.” Kendrick said. “I have to let you know that if anything you’ve said here is found to be untruthful after you are let into the city, you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Knowing this, do you wish to make any changes to your claims?"
Zoe shook her head. “No.”
“Wonderful!" Kendrick stood up and opened up another door on the other side of the building. ”Then welcome to Injellar, Zoe!“