The Capital.

The wonderful city of beginnings and ends. It’s the place where one’s adventure begins. Especially now when it has been made official. It’s the place where you see races of many. And if you need something, you’ll probably find it there since it’s where all the trade goes through.

It’s a large city, originally built at the top of the slowly rising hill, and not only for its defensive position but also for the view.

At the very top of the hill is the castle, beautiful and bright, built from the whitest stones from Kul Tarum. The history says that the walls used to be red, but after the alliance between humans and dwarves, the dwarves gifted humans all those stones. They were all used for renovation. The top-level was where the richest lived, enjoying their life. It’s also the most guarded layer.

There was another layer of the wall, made from also white stone, but not as bright as the castle. It was from a different kind of white stone, altogether. Even richer, but also many institutions were placed there. It was also where the adventurer’s guild headquarters was at.

Then the hill began to slowly stabilize, and few rivers ran through the city. There were no more walls, but there was more city than the above layers together. And it was still expanding. After The Wall was built, leaders and builders of Capital no longer saw the need to build yet another layer of the wall. It was no longer necessary for survival. But later they might have come to regret it, as it helped to keep order and check who entered what layer.

The view of the whole city was interesting altogether. While the top layer houses were mostly built from the simpler white stone to keep the theme, only having red roofs, the bottom level was full of many colors. Only the roofs were made of same or similar color. Most were still made of cheaper stone, but as you got further away from the center of Capital, more wood was used. It was, without a doubt, the largest city to exist.

It went without saying that the schools were placed after the first wall, where the richer people lived. So we moved through the first layer of town, looking at how people moved and did their own things, just to reach the second layer. There were many who examined us. Some even recognized me. But it seemed that most people were too busy to notice. Plus, I didn’t wear the super-fancy armor that I had worn during the ceremony when I had made into a hero. Too much attention.

As we walked past the first gate, the streets stopped being crowded immediately. But the stares were more noticeable. More people recognized me. It was evident that the higher-caliber and richer people would learn the face of their new hero. But compared to the lower level, they barely showed any emotion, only whispers.

But we kept moving, till we reached a certain section of the town. It was the new campus - filled with a lot more space and grass. I didn’t even want to ask how they made such space in there and in such short notice.

The buildings on the campus were separated into many different sections. There were dormitories, where adventurers could lodge in. Then there was a library, which was still under construction, left as the last thing to be completed. And then there were few buildings full of classrooms.

But all of the buildings still need some or a lot of visible polishing. They were just done a lot later.

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A lot of younger people walking around, excited. It seemed that at least dormitory was ready and in use. Many looked at me, recognizing me. At least most of the adventurers had finally begun to realize who I was. I bet there were drawings of me circling around.

“Holy shit,” Alice muttered, looking at me. “This is impressive. And in only a few weeks, if I recall?”

“That sounds so unrealistic,” I muttered, giving them a smile.

It was Aldrynte who broke our bubble, amused by our reactions. “Well, a lot of things can be done very quickly, if a lot of resources are poured into it. The biggest resource being the magical essence recovery potions.” She looked at me, wondering if I picked it up.

“So, they have constructors who can build this really fast, using their magical essence? But instead of the usual sleep to recover, they are given potions instead?”

Aldrynte nodded. “There’s still a limit how much one can abuse the potion. But for really fast construction, it works. But as I said, it’s a very-very expensive undertaking. All of this town’s renovation and the fact that this city has grown as big as it is is all thanks to the sorcerers who became constructors. It’s also the main reason why there are so few earth elemental adventurers.”

“Shit, that makes sense,” I muttered, nodding. “How rare is the earth magic in the first place?” I asked, looking at Aldrynte.

“Eh? Well. I’m not sure. I know that earth and air are more of a rarity. And fire and ice are a lot more known. But the last two are used in combat if anything. If we don’t count all the other possible elements.”

“Oh… Fire and Ice are not that rare?” I said, chuckling, peeking at both Aldrynte and Alice, and then finally looking away, still grinning.

“Idiot,” Aldrynte and Alice said at the same time. Those women had made an alliance. I knew it!

As we continued walking past the library, we all saw how a bunch of stones began to move up from a pile. As they moved, they began to change into multiple perfect tile pieces, until they all landed on the roof, ready to be used. We could see two men, full of sweat, at the bottom of the building, talking.

“Wind is also used very often in the construction. Sometimes they can help earth out, to use less magical essence. But they are used mostly to reduce the physical work, as you saw right now,” Aldrynte said as we all walked past the library building towards the dormitory.

“But I have to admit, it’s impressive,” I mumbled.

“They probably have spent countless of hours to perfect the brick-magic,” Alice said, making us all chuckle.

As we reached and stopped in front of the most active house, everyone began to get off the carts, gathering their belongings and supplies. It didn’t take a lot of time before an older man began to speed-walk towards me.

“Hero!” he said as he reached us. “And you two must be Aldrynte and Alice?” We all shared a sharp nod. “Welcome to Bill’s University of Adventuring.”

“Whoaa,” Aurora moaned as she got off the cart as well, happening to hear it. “I’m so fucked,” she muttered as she stepped away from us. I chuckled for a moment.

“Was that-” the older man mumbled, but then just shook his head. “We are very pleased that you’ve arrived. I hope the travel was safe?”

I nodded. “There were no problems.”

“Excellent. I’d love to show you around, but right now I’m only a bearer of some news. Your majesty, the king, would want to see you at once.”

“I assume I can take my companions with me?” I asked, slightly rolling my eyes.

“I don’t know if they will be allowed to enter the main hall, but you can certainly try,” the man said.

Of course it had to begin with diplomacy, and with the king none-the-less. I looked at Aldrynte and Alice, giving them a slight nod. Alice was visibly nervous, while Aldrynte just returned me a nod of her own.