When we went to my parents' room, luckily they were finished. I had to beg for a long time to get permission from my mother, and after breakfast, I was able to get permission to go to the city, although I couldn't get it for hunting. After dressing me in a long black shirt and a white wolf fur coat, she braided my hair. I didn't know how my hair looked right then, but the wolf head on my right shoulder looked cool, so I trusted my mom's style. After my mother whispered something in Nazir's ear, we left the house.

And just now, after about 20 minutes on horseback, we had arrived in the huge city that I had been watching from the balcony of our house for a long time. Nazir was riding the horse, and I was sitting in front of him, holding the reins sometimes.

Everywhere I looked, I saw either incredibly detailed sculptures, temple-like houses with pillars, or restaurants reminiscent of medieval inns. And the city was incredibly crowded. Surprisingly, there were no walls protecting the city. We came here following a big stone road among the trees, and when we entered the main gate, the huge road was divided into two parts with a thin lane full of roses in the middle. No matter how big the sidewalks were, the crowds at the entrance were so large that some of the people walked on the side of the road. There was little traffic on the roads with horses and carriages. When I looked at the crowd again, I noticed something.

If I remembered correctly, the name of the race of bear men, werewolves, pandas, rabbits, cats, etc., who walked, talked, and dressed like humans was Argon. For example, the cat-type Argons were people who resembled a cat in every part of their body but were human-sized and lived like humans.

The Mehums were the race that looked like humans but had features such as cat, dog, fox, bear ears and tails. Like anime cat girls.

I see a lot of dwarves around, demons, elves, even elves with different skin colors like blue or purple, argons, mehums and lots of half elves. I can distinguish half-elves from pure elves by their shorter ears. But I think I saw only about 10 humans in the whole crowd.

I threw my head back and looked at Nazir, “Aren't there very few 'humans' around?”

He looked at me with a confused face. “What do you mean, my lord?”

“I thought humans were the most populated race?”

After looking around for a while, he turned his head to me.

“Maybe 1000 years ago? Most of the humans mixed with other races so that their children would be stronger and live longer. They have very short lifespans.

If you want to see humans, I think Xadora and Xinshui are the only kingdoms where humans are in the majority.”

“Why is that?”

“I might be remembering wrong but Xadorans don't allow humans to marry other races and Xinshuans can extend their lifespan with something they called cultivation.”

“Is Xadorans a bit racist?”

“A little bit, maybe.”

I looked at him in silence for a while and then continued to look around. I didn’t know what to say, it was strange.

“You said human lifespans are too short, how long can a half elf live?”

“Up to 800 years and I'll be 103 in 3 months, if you are wondering.”

“My father? They never celebrate their birthdays.”

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He chuckled after my words.

“It probably loses its meaning after something like 200th time, my lord.

Lord Eliar is more than 300 years old but I'm not sure exactly how old he is.”

“My mother?”

He paused for a moment, looked up and moved his head left and right.

“She might have even seen the Unification.

So, probably more than 1500.”

“Huh?!”

I raised my voice a little in surprise, but it was lost in the crowd.

Nazir chuckled and then looked at me with a smile.

“Yes, being a pureblood is literally a gift from gods. You are very lucky, my lord.

But your race is not very well known among the public, if we were not under the sun right now, most of the people around us would probably think you were a vampire because of your eyes.

So if someone asks, say you're a half elf.”

After I nodded to him, I realized that we were passing by a large statue. An old man with a long beard was holding what looked like a lightning bolt, and next to him was another bearded man with a trident.

I pointed my finger at the statue “Are they Jupiter and Neptune?” and Nazir nodded.

“Yes, my lord.”

After a moment of silence, I asked the question that had been on my mind for a long time “Nazir, have you ever heard of a god named Zeus or Poseidon?” When I was reading a book about gods, I saw that gods like Jupiter, Odin, Amaterasu, Sun Wukong, Tengri, Anubis, etc. existed in this world, but the gods in the Greek mythology did not.

I know that the Roman gods and the Greek gods are mostly the same, but there are significant differences between the two mythologies and in my old world they were separate gods.

“Never heard of it, my lord.”

“I remember seeing it in a book, but I think I saw it wrong.”

The crowds thinned as we moved further into the city. Looking around was much easier now. I saw 6 amphitheaters and in all of them there was either a show or they were playing music and I was able to see the Colosseum through the buildings, however far away from us. And there was also a huge, tall stone structure in the middle of the city, easily recognizable from all sides, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

“Is there anything specific you'd like to see, my lord?”

“How long would it take to see the whole city?” I asked and “A week… maybe?” he answered.

“A week?”

“Rosarium is one of the largest cities in the empire, my lord.”

I sighed “Where should we go first?”

“There is so much to see, but let's prioritize the places you might enjoy.”

Nazir showed me a huge museum-like temple in our part of the city, a huge fountain with incredibly detailed sculptures, and many other wonderful sites, I even bought my mom a bracelet with a white flower design on it. And after wandering around for hours, Nazir brought me to an open area, almost in the middle of the city, with an incredible crowd. After a bit of riding through the people, Nazir stopped the horse and he looked for a while at a sign that said Northside.

“Is something wrong?”

Nazir looked at me with a smile, "No, nothing," and changed the direction of the horse. Just as we were about to move, a passing carriage stopped and a half elf, who appeared to be middle-aged, dressed in fine white and red silk, rolled down his window and looked at us with a surprised expression, “Nazir?”

“Sir Anthinos?”

“It really is you.”

The man looked Nazir up and down and then continued talking.

“When Yunus told that you were back in the Ocean, I couldn’t believe him.”

“I didn't come back.”

“Sure, if you say so.

Then you're not going to Northside?”

“No, we'll tour a few neighborhoods in the east and then return.”

The man turned his eyes to me.

“Who is this friend of yours?”

“He's a cousin of a friend of mine, I'm showing him the city and killing time while they're busy.”

“You know I've seen Lord Altevia before, right?”

Why was Nazir hiding who I was and also “I've never seen you before.”

The man chuckled. “We never really met, my lord, because you were just a baby then.

So, Aurelia still doesn't want her son to talk with the commoners.”

Nazir slightly frowned and looked at Anthinos, and the man chuckled again.

“What? I am not blaming her, I wouldn't have raised my son here if I didn't have to.

But I hope she realizes, he’ll have to learn how to swim.”

Nazir suddenly started giggling. “Do you want me to tell her exactly what you said?” and Anthinos' eyes widened, “Fuck, no.

But anyway, I won't keep you any longer.

I'm meeting Eliar in a few hours, show him the harbor, you don't have to go through Northside for that.

It was nice to see you, come to my place when you are free.”

Nazir nodded after his words and the man waved at us, he closed his window and the carriage continued on.

What's wrong with this Northside that my mom doesn't want me to go there?

“Nazir, who was that guy?”

“A professional horse thief.”

“What?”

“You heard it right, my lord.”

“How can you be professional at this?”

“He's got tons of people working for him all over the world. They steal special breed horses like Laxendrian, load them onto ships and sells them to Marhea's nobles.

I remember him selling a perfectly black horse in front of my eyes for 600 gold.”

“They load them on ships?”

“Yes, your father's ships.”

“My father's a smuggler?”

“No-yes? How did you learn that word?”

“But there's one thing I don't understand. If he earns that much gold, why doesn't he do his ‘business’ with his own ships?”

“Who will protect him if he does that?”

“Oh…”

“But, my lord… You seem to know a lot about the things we talked about.”

Oh… Play dumb.

“What you mean?”

Nazir looked at me silently for a while, “Though you've spent almost your entire life in Lord Eliar's office.

How many of those books have you read?”

“Mama said I’m a scholar at this point.”

He chuckled, “Yes, you certainly are, my lord.”

I turned my head and looked at the Northside sign for a while.

“Nazir.”

“Yes, my lord?”

“I want to see the Northside.”