The smell of the ocean was the first thing that informed Anton that they were nearing the coastal city of Whaling. The smell brought forth some almost forgotten memories of when he was a child and his parents on Earth brought him to the beach for a family vacation. Those were the happiest days of his life back then so the smell lifted his mood abundantly.
“Why are you so happy?” Anna asked when he noticed Anders smiling joyfully.
“I just smelled the ocean and it smelled of adventure and excitement!” Anton answered.
“To be honest, I’m excited that we will be leaving this continent too, brother. I hate the undead so much. I wish they were all dead! I feel like we have been running all our lives. I’m now afraid to make friends since I know that there’s a chance that the friendship will be temporary,” Anna said sadly.
“I hope that once we arrive in a new country, we will be able to live happily. But can you imagine all the possibilities that can happen? What kind of countries will we be seeing? Will it be full of powerful wizards dressed in beautiful clothes? Or will it be a country where there would be magical beasts being ridden by powerful cultivators? Or maybe it will be full of magical cowboys!” Anton said excitedly.
“What are cultivators?” Belinda asked.
“What are cowboys?” Ramona asked as well.
Anton's imagination was interrupted by Anna’s maids’ questions. He forgot that those terms were nonexistent in this land.
“Cultivators are some sort of wizards that increased their power by absorbing the power of heavens and earth. They sit and meditate in a single place for hundreds of years until their as powerful as gods. Cowboys are like farmers but they specialize in taking care of cows while riding on top of horses.”
“Does that mean that you’re a cultivator? Since you keep saying that you need to meditate to increase your power,” Anna asked.
“No, I’m not a cultivator. They’re different. I’m still more like a regular wizard that’s why I can still learn the regular spell. The meditation was me not absorbing the energy of the heavens and earth but more like exploring the power hidden in my bloodline.”
Soon they heard Colin shouting that the gates of Whaling were now in view so they opened the window curtains to check them out.
The gates were the same as the gates of Homura. It was tall and thick but the main difference was the smell of the ocean coming out from the city. Another noticeable thing was there were several types of queues at the gates but based on a casual look, the queue depended on whether you were a citizen of Whaling or not, and those who were not citizens were further divided by wealth.
Apparently, Anders already knew where to queue since the merchants in the merchant caravan told him the information. Based on how fast the line was in their queue, this was for the refugees who had incredible wealth or power. Since they had both, they were in the best possible queue.
Anton was glad that the archmages of Zalnothel provided him with documents regarding being a baron and an archmage since those alone were enough for the guards on the gate. He may still have to demonstrate his powers by undergoing a mage test but from the looks of it, Whaling wasn’t as strict as Zalnothel and the documents were enough. It didn’t hurt that they were able to pay a huge amount of gold coins for their entrance fee and their two carriages, magical beasts and brand-new-looking clothes possibly intimidated the guards.
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Upon entering the city of Whaling, Anton saw that it consisted of a hodge-podge of cultures from different places, and more than likely it was because it was a port city. Anders and Nemina asked the guards the best inn they could rent and one of the idlers nearby volunteered to guide them, for a fee of course, and Anders accepted the man’s offer.
Their guide introduced himself but only Anders, Nemina, and Lucas were listening to the man. Anton and the others were looking around but instead of looking like country rubes, because of their clothes and appearance, they instead looked adorably charming based on the reactions of the onlookers.
Surprisingly, their group managed to enter the city ahead of the merchant caravan that they had joined, and instead of Anders waiting for them, he asked the newly hired guide to lead them to the street where the high-class inns were located.
Anton’s blood was boiling in excitement since the city looked really exotic with merchants from different parts of the world selling their wares. He could see what looked like they were humans and other species from somewhere where the desert was prevalent based on their costumes. What excited Anton more was there were humans and weirdly enough, other species that looked Asian, and not just looking like from a single country like China but some looked like they were from Japan, Korea, and even other South East Asian countries.
Anton knew that it was a bit bad of him to compare them to countries from Earth but that was the only description that he could think of. He still couldn’t get over the fact that some of them were different species like a Chinese-looking elf or an Orc that looked like a Japanese Samurai.
In one street, Anton saw some humans and other species wearing western cowboy hats and he almost laughed.
He was happy since based on the population of the foreigners in Whaling, it wasn’t hard for people to travel the ocean. Anton thought that the journey would be filled with danger like sea monsters and magical oceanic creatures but if that were the case, there wouldn’t be so many foreigners in Whaling. Anton was apprehensive about their planned journey to other continents since he had consumed a lot of translated web novels that contained dangerous sea travels and he was expecting that their journey would be a bit like that but looking at the faces of the foreigners, they brought him great comfort.
Soon they arrived in one of the biggest Inn that Anton had seen and as usual, Anders rented a suite consisting of five rooms and a living room. He was astonished at the price but they were wealthy enough to afford them. He was glad that his father was generous enough to rent such a suite wanting to make sure that everyone would be comfortable on their last days in this continent.
Anders, Nemina, and Lucas followed by two dire wolves would handle the business of selling the repaired items and enchanted items. Lunelle and the other girls were responsible for purchasing the necessities they would need like spices and other things.
Devon, Frederick, and Colin would gather information about the best continents and countries they could travel to and Anton would do the same thing but he would move on his own. Once Anders, Nemina, and Lucas were done with selling the items, they would also join in researching the best continent and countries they could travel to but before they started, they met in the living room of their suite.
Anders informed everyone that he and his family, meaning Anton and Anna, had decided to truly leave this continent and they asked everyone if they wanted to come with them or stay here on this continent. Before Anders could open up the fact that he would provide monetary compensation to those who wanted to stay, everyone clamored that they wanted to join them in their travel to another continent.
Anton could see that everyone verily believed that this continent would fall into the hands of the Undead Coalition and no one wanted to remain in what they believed was a doomed land.