Reaching the city, Allan wondered about something. It was caused by Sarey and her comment. In the past days, right about the revealed fangs of the Timeless Kingdom, Allan heard it from her at last. That talk of war wasn't that surprising to him, but regardless of that, he still found it very frustrating. She told him a few bits and pieces which caused his heart and mind to beat faster, angering him that the war again appeared in his life.
The invasion and monstrosity of having the home destroyed were happening once again as he appeared in this world. What sort of timely heavenly disaster this was? That was what he thought when he heard about it, cursing in his mind, unable to change it.
“Timeless kingdom... I swear if you will take even a step over the lands of Zigmund's property... I won't hesitate to protect it for the life of mine.” Allan made a promise to himself, remembering the kindness of Sarey and Zigmund.
No matter what, that time when he will have some sense to go against this fate was nearing. Though, as he was right now, he wasn't ready to do much. The unclear case of his strength in the scheme of mortal realms wasn't something that could fight the heavens.
In the past, 36 made some unclear remarks about the world of Immortals. Some pieces from his talks as well as Allan's clever persuasion led him to slip some information, causing either marvel or shock in Allan's mind.
From what he could gather, Immortal formed many kinds of powers. Be it from nations, and even kingdoms made from Immortal families, clans, and sects, made it the most likely scenario. What surprises him was even the mention of some powers like that, owning the entire planet, which was crazy to think about. It also seemed to him that it was incredibly complicated. But in a sense, little similar to the conflicts of mortal worlds.
Add ways immortals had at their disposal, and politics that could span planetary constellations, and the scope would be beyond common understanding. At first, it sounded more ridiculous to him than anything else, but not impossible so. His current heart went through a lot in a small amount of time, causing him to discern the world in much wider aspects. Those were the kinds that didn't amount to much, even in the grand scheme of the universe, or even the planet itself. He was nobody, for a lack of better terms.
Mortal times were, of course, limited by their lifespans. Living for 50 to 70 years was considered to be quite good already by such standards. Above that, the royalty could go up to 100, or higher depending on the degree of power they had. Those kinds of royals could have proper care about their lives and even extend their lives through the use of heavenly ingredients.
In this sense, money or status could lead to a better life, untouchable by any commoner. However, those weren't the issue that one would find in that situation. Caring little, of being unaware of it was normal in such a situation. Lives beneath such people were given at that moment.
Regardless of the underlying thing of the kingdoms, this wasn't the case in the Tricloud region. This place was safe to be considered independent from such struggles or problems. The lead of three schools that acted as protectors as a whole acted as a shielding status for such things to occur.
Citizens didn't need to worry about taxes or rules, which usually stemmed from the power of the aristocracy. That were some laws that most often than not, acted more against the citizens than not.
Instead, there were slight fees in the broader merchant transactions which happened from one city to another. It was a kind of complicated process which included the premise of kingdom rules but significantly reduced for profits, or angering the citizens.
This led to a much more positive view of the rulers of the Tricloud Region, being the three schools. They were hidden, not doing anything significant from the perspective of common folks. Those three schools had their own worries and thing to do.
Instead of then, there was the military faction in the name of the Tricloud Alliance that acted for the citizens. Their numbers go from common folks who were recruited there or some faction from the three schools. Like this, there was a good status quo amongst this region and its people. All the way from the common folk who decided to accept the rules of the Tricloud, helping to retain the current position on the continent. After all, it could always be worst, and the current situation was more than favorable in the last hundred or so years.
While that was the case, the lives were lives. Millions of them had to have their livelihoods, and they indeed did. Trade, mining, farms, crafting, and selling all kinds of goods were a minor amount of transactions on the scale of this region. It was all a humongous machine of mortal lands, where all kinds of recourses were steadily making their lives better.
Taking a wider look at the picture as a whole, it was frankly a stretch to call it a good idea to form this independent nation. At least from the point of view of the neighboring kingdoms and nations around the Tricloud region. The timeless Kingdom was a such example.
Being completely inland and surrounded by 5 different powers made it quite apparent that the power of establishing any kind of peace was questionable for a prolonged period of time.
Only history prevailed in such a situation, as the current pace didn't look that good. In fact, it was as if the history of countless ages was repeating in steady cycles. Death of one nation would go for another, making a cycle of lives that would never cease, or stop. It was the case of power, hunger for that, or stupidity of people in the higher stage of the mortal world. Who knew the cases? The mortal didn't and commoners were nothing more than a rat, ready to be used, with little thought put into it.
The Timeless kingdom and its vague ambition, untold to man's heart, were staging a war in the northern sections, and others too. Many staging skirmishes were all over the west and northern parts of the borders, according to the latest reports that Sarey read about. With this trip to the city, she hoped to achieve more information that wasn't available to the normal public, meaning what Zigmund told her or not.
It was fortunate that the amount of information that went through the public wasn't regulated at all thanks to the work of commoners in the military. Although, it doesn't mean there wasn't more to that than that. There were some versions of truths that can differ, but war was a constantly shifting struggle.
So much can be achieved by sending eagles across vast distances. They travel fast, at speeds unfit for regular cavalry messengers. Those messages will reach across the region in a matter of a single day, providing much-needed sources of information to all kinds of military personnel. In truth, there is a whole lot that a commoner didn't see. That included the protected borders, in the fear of the other nations being inclined to attack too.
Seeing the gates shut, Sarey frowned but still walked to the line of about a dozen travelers. They were standing at the smaller gate which was used instead of the bigger one. It seemed the war still made some difference in this part of the region. Soldiers stood beside the gate, checking everyone if anything was wrong with them. That amounts to nothing but checking their belongings and asking some questions.
Sarey saw nothing right with this since it was impossible to even consider some issue to arise.
Her assumptions included spies but what's the point of that? Some spies wouldn't be bothered with going to this further inland city. If they would make some difference, it would be questionable how? It's not like this town has a high military since it's a trade hub for the surrounding mines and all kinds of businesses. She could imagine armies could charge straight to this city, making any defenses obsolete. That was at least provided by the information she knew about the Timeless Kingdom, and she was right.
Even though this possibility, the soldiers at the gate were letting everyone go inside. The travelers simply stated their intentions of why they were going inside, ending any suspicion that these soldiers had. For some reason knowing, or not, the soldiers nodded their heads and let them go.
It was a quick turn of events, and it was soon Sarey's turn who led Allan with her hand.
“Reason for visit?” A soldier in a regular-looking armor vest asked.
“I work in a restaurant here,” she told, unbothered by whatever business she even has.
“Which one?”
“Shady restaurant.”
“Oh, that one?” soldier smiled, nodding in return. “They had quite a good change of meals recently. I like it quite a bit. What about the friend who is hiding behind your back?” The soldier asked, going back to his work upon noticing the suspicious boy.
“Like me, he is a friend and a visitor who I wanted to introduce to this city.” She said truthfully.
“Why does he have a bandage across his head?”
“He is blind.”
“Prove it.”
“Look...” Sarey made a long look at this man. “I don't think that is appropriate, sir.” Sarey tried to argue over the increasingly strange manner of the soldier's words.
“I have the authority to do so.” He said, not taking a step back.
Allan stopped any further argument by stepping forward. “No need to bother with this. Here you go, sir.” Allan stopped Sarey, who was about to stomp the ground and tell something special to this man.
He took the bandage around his head just enough to reveal his empty sockets. The smooth skin-like texture inside of the eye sockets was revealed to the man, who grunted in disgust, shoving Allan away to stop it. Untold to him, this already didn't look that bad.
Blood, tissues, or even meat were no longer visible, making the skin the sole texture of it. It looked like a texture of what appeared to be skin that healed, regrowing the destroyed flesh and eyes. This was about what the human body could do since regrowing eyes was impossible.
“My god... I am gonna throw up...” The soldier pointed with his finger to the gate, no longer bothered with this pair. “Go on, leave,” he told, forgetting to look at their belongings, or even Allan's strange-looking staff.
Stomping forward, Sarey led Allan away, still somewhat speechless by this man's manners. Entering the city, Sarey was instantly rejuvenated by the sight of quite a surprising amount of people on the sides of the road. Even walkways around the shops and buildings scattered into many streets were full of people.
It was a regular-looking city in a sense of history, but it was wild at this time of the day. Even though Sarey's previous story this morning, this city was still quite developed. There were a lot of funds and businesses done here, which spanned quite a long time. Hundreds of years went into the structural build of this city after all. There was enough space and trade for the surrounding mines, farms, and trade in general across the region. That included other cities and even merchant groups of other nations or kingdoms.
Folks who worked here were mostly men who wanted to get some wealth for themselves or their families. Hunting and working in mines or farms were most profitable with the amount of work they needed.
Seeing this place, Sarey was quite happy since she wasn't there for some time. It was Allan this, training that, or 36's shenanigans, causing her to not have enough time for any visits. “I will briefly describe the surroundings for you, Allan.” Sarey pulled her hand around his, walking side by side around the city's sidewalks.
She talked by herself or answered any question Allan had in mind. The bustling city of this magnitude was something Allan had not heard in a while, enabling his mind to think of something else than his worries.
The view of it this city was slowly made into his head. He could make the rough buildings which he figured by the amount of noise in this place, and Sarey's comments. He didn't think of this as weird, since it was the first time he was here, to begin with. The walking pedestrians and gusts of wind that flew through the wide or tighter streets made also some differences in his imagination. Adding Sarey's comments, he made some progress in the visual fidelity of his mind, which amounts to nothing but thinking. It was still far from the true appearance of the streets, or even the buildings themselves.
No amount of stress or inability to see would stop him from trying this. With his senses, he found it challenging enough, and Allan wasn't one to stop trying over something very hard. Even now, he trained his mind to accommodate a new location. It wasn't for his future, or anything significant. He simply felt like doing so, because it was better than imagining the surrounding darkness all the time. Like this, he could at least ''see'' something else. If Allan would have a chance, he would exchange his eyes for anything to see this world once again. After all, he felt obnoxious for relying on Sarey all this time, and it made him feel less like a normal human being.
Of course, this went not for some situations. Allan would never be able to walk the forest and irregular roads in the mountain. Those were hard to bypass even with sight, let alone without the ability to see. These paths were impossible to understand without the most important sense.
Sarey led him for almost an hour through the roads, getting him familiar with this new place. It was also something new to her since it was the first time she even explained her home to someone else. Having a friend that she could share it with, was a new experience for her, making her joyful from this moment.
At a corner of the main street, Sarey was about to reach this part she wanted to visit since the beginning. A Shady Restaurant on a side of this bustling road seemed all too inviting to everyone that was passing by.
“Here we are. Care about some food?” She asked Allan, already aware that he couldn't be surprised any longer.
“I would eat a whole pig at any moment since the training. I am quite hungry all the way from the breakfast.” He argued, but not complained.
Sarey led him through the entrance inside. Bustling sounds immediately charged at Allan, who was more than surprised by this. All sounds intensified in this rather chaotic chamber of sounds, caused by the many people in the compacted space. Allan's head fell to dizziness as he had never felt this before, alerting Sarey who noticed his expression. Laughter, talk, and overall bustling of a hundred or so made it quite chaotic. All of this is pushing against Allan's ears, who wasn't used to this kind of place. This was the general seating area, which was right at the entrance to this restaurant.
Sarey faced Allan, who paused shortly upon entering through the entrance. “You alright? What is it?” She asked, worry in her voice.
“Uhh.. this place. I've never been to such a tightly fitted space with so many people. My head hurts just from the ridiculousness of their talking.” Allan said in visible discomfort, placing his remaining hand on his left ear, but it helped little if any.
“Oh. I didn't think of that. It is your first time in such a place. Your ears must be unused by so many people.” Sarey said, pulling him somewhere else. “I will lead you to a better place on the second floor. This is a chaotic place after all.” Sarey said, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the location of the stairs, leading to a better place.
The bustling side of the first floor was the most used place for a quick meal for workers and people who only wanted to fill their stomachs and nothing else.
Apart from the first, most crowded place, there were other floors for different opportunities. Some would even make business over lunch or dinner. Others would have open discussions about some planning their days, weeks, and months in advance in a presence of an excellent meal. One saying was quite fit to tell about this case. With a full stomach, one's mind is much more open.
On the second floor is such a location. It was a semi-open space with rows of seating areas, consisting of large sections of tables with various sizes of parties. They were much wider from each other than on the first floor, which was the place for meals alone.
There were already seated few groups that discussed and ate they fill in their private sections. No one was bothering each other as they spoke about whatever topic they wanted. The tables weren't separated by walls, but they were enough from each other to make it private enough.
“This is much better. Chaos from the first floor doesn't reach this place at all” Allan argued upon finishing being pushed here by Sarey.
“Of course it is!” She said, appearing quite proud of this place. “This is a private area for groups or individual seating. Some more important guests of either some status or wealth are usually the ones coming here.”
“I guess since you are the daughter of the owner, you don't have to worry about either of those, am I right?” Allan asked, after calming his mind a little.
“Hohohohoh. Exactly. Take a seat somewhere. I will have to go back down to notify the staff about us.” Sarey said, leaving his hand for his sake, before storming back to the 1st floor.
“Alright,” Allan said, walking by himself with his staff in hand. Across some sections of the seating areas, he could tell the presence of some people. He knew the rough locations of these occupied tables in a single moment, which made him somewhat happy. So much so, that he smiled upon discovering his long-improved hearing that can take something apart from others. Now, he had to separate this sort of feeling into the flow of combat, which was easier said than done.
While he paid some attention to others in his own way, no one else did the same, since the rough-looking boy with a bandage around his head wasn't that important. That was, apart from one particular individual, who was sitting in the corner. He was someone who had seen this boy before, and he could recognize him.
The one who recognized him was Rengiward, who was here with the entire group of the Tricloud Alliance.