According to the cowboy, Surt was the biggest town in the far western region of Noragen: much bigger than Bagen, with businesses from both Noragen and Zlenalgeb, the country next to Noragen. The state was not as rich as Bagen due to the absence of exploitable monster cores and most of the wealth held by individual investors and businesspeople. Still, it was much more diverse since many from Zlenalgeb were Scolks, who had random fur on their bodies and second pairs of ears.
On the day they left Sacom, Roal had disclosed to Akki the fun of Surt: Casinos, nightclubs, and arenas. Yet, he had not revealed the big surprise of the arenas. He only mentioned the existence of the surprise to tantalize Akki. Well, the reaction was bigger than the splash from a weightless grain. Despite all his training when he was young, Akki had little interest in fighting. It was only a tool for hunting monsters to keep traveling. Still, Ranith promised him the surprise was worth a shot. When it came to the spending, the ronin was more concerned due to the loss of fifty Woms they got in Bagen. In contrast, Roal Ranith, an international advisor, was much more confident in the hundred Boms they got in Sacom.
Two weeks was a very short time for traveling back then. However, it could still be tedious if sitting against the food cargo with the head propped on a pillow was all there to do. As an experienced traveler, Roal always spent his spare time reading books, fiction and non-fiction. He had just got a pile of old novels that the Sacom Lord had no interest in. Although easy for the international advisor, killing time on a brougham was much harder for Akki, who could only read some basic words in Commish, the universal language in FASOTO. Thus, he was in charge of the horses for most of the time. Of course, Ranith taught him a few vocabulary words while lying on the crates for about two weeks.
In the early morning of the 13th day on the road, they finally saw City Surt sitting on the vast prairie with routes connecting to 5 directions. Around the borderless city, there was a ring of field surrounding it. Though the ronin could not see the obvious, Ranith could tell that the city's growth was about to peak, and the conflict between classes and groups would quickly rise. All these were the conclusions drawn from the fact that some scruffy wood houses were built on the lands that were part of the ring. Roal remembered that he had predicted this future to the lord the last time he visited.
Akki glanced at the view on his left and on his right again and again. His eyes could not settle on a single straw of wheat or a single chamber built between fields. Not the entire ring was filled with varied crops and vegetables; some fields were at rest, and some were holding stalks and leaves of various types. A Scolk farmer was pushing a horse hoe behind his brown stallion on the soil as dark as ebony. The wooden cogs played their unintentional melody. Another Letteran was manuring his land with a shove and a wain of dung. The smell pictured a scene of an impending harvest. A grey rabbit took a nibble on a carrot leaf before that woman with a pair of canine ears chased it off. Akki could not really tell what leaves belonged to carrots and what belonged to potatoes. He did not even know if there were any potatoes or carrots. He was only appreciating the harmony. A little girl with a cat tail waving in the air laughed and chased a boy with the letter "R" on his right shoulder while their Letteran father and Scolk mother took a spade out of the tool shed between barleys.
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"This harmony between ethnics. Isn't it great?" Akki smiled with several puffs escaping from his already-suppressed chuckle. He would be howling if he were not controlling himself.
"Well, the time of racism has long past us," the old man replied while most of his attention was withdrawn from observing back to his book.
"Yeah," the man's voice lowered as the sealed memory of his homeland flashed in his mind, "Long past…" His left hand slowly reached for the skin bump on his right arm. As he caressed the purple bump, the barbarous scene of tearing the blue gem off the Taoham messenger's forehead became as clear as he was still witnessing it.
The three-sectioned giant staircases outside the supreme hall were as spotless as before. The jade plates inlaid on the intersections of every baluster and banister were purer than the skin of the prettiest Juren with no string of greenness in them. The golden roof of porcelain tiles was gleaming out the divine radiance of the sacred sun. The blood-red pigment on the five rows of pillars was as immutable as the prosperity of the empire and the woe of commoners. The emperor on the gold-made throne had no beard but coal-black hair lying against his golden imperial robe, made out of the skin of the most slaughterous monster in the whole Jura. Every crease on the emperor's face was filled with ambition. He was not so wrinkled yet. All 75 officials were standing on the side of the white runner extending from the bottom of the throne to the gate of the supreme hall. Akki's mother had already left with his sister and brother. That Taoham, wearing his tribal barong tagalog, was kneeling in front of the emperor, glaring up at him with anger in his eyes. His shackled hands were tearing nothing apart but barely themselves. Two executioners held down his shoulders, and the third one walked to the front of the Taoham, holding a pair of metal pliers. As the tips of the pliers pierced the skin around the gem, murderous smiles appeared on the visages of about a dozen armored officials while a few showed pity, and most moved their eyes away. The crown prince stood there, watching the screech of the messenger echoing in the scarlet hall. Akki could have done something. He could at least yell his father's name. He could at least pull the executioners away. He had so much to do; Nothing was done. The emperor's son only witnessed the gem bursting out of the Taoham's forehead. If he had done something, he would've been banished much earlier. Nevertheless, he would have a possibility of forgiving himself.