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Chapter 8 - The Royal Capital

The gentle breeze of an autumn evening sent chills down Theo’s spine, his fur forgotten back at Stoneguard, back at Paul’s home. He was a nice old man, a great man who had helped a complete stranger without doubt. It was truly a fortune to have met him, who had helped him. Healing him in turn was a right thing to do, morally.

He stared at the giant building before him, built of white stone, shining in the light of dawn. It was truly a masterpiece, even bigger than the first tree. It was shaped in such a way that it had pointy tips, several of them.

Theo checked his belt, and felt that the pouch was still there. Apparently, coins were everything in what Kayla called a royal capital. There were ten gold in it, for saving her life. A gold equaled ten silver and one silver was equal to ten copper. He could live out his life in peace or start a trade and live his life in luxury, but Theo couldn’t see how he would benefit from trades. It was changing what he had with another’s, of equal value. It was strange, really.

The first thing that came to mind was going back and checking out the forest, but he was persuaded not to by Richard. He’d would hunt down the stray beasts and get more coins. As for why he shouldn’t, that was because he might be surrounded by the monsters and killed, who was a great asset in the upcoming war with the enemy nation.

He had learned a lot from the entire day he had travelled with the princess. He learned that there were empires called Four Great Empires: Aveilorn, The Holy Realm, Ansanar and Yaserla, also there were certain kingdoms called Five Noble Nations: Bleuria, Sorolona, Torvali, Brakava and Delvaria.

Then there were the five great races of human, wildkin, ogre, goblin and elves. He had grown happy after hearing that goblins still existed in this world, but it was a turn off to find out they only lived in the forests, in small tribes who were less than civilized, and more often than not, raided caravans.

Now that he was alone as can be, in a city filled with humans, he resembled a stray animal if anything. There was no guide to help him, and certainly no one would help someone even worse than a country bumpkin in the capital, as long as he didn’t give them the money.

And money was his lifeline in the city, from her words. He’d most likely only get a silver in a month at most, making his pouch the most prized possession he could ever have, and will ever. She gave a reward system, consisting of five gold every time he defeated a monster, and the travel expenses would be taken care of by the kingdom. That was rather suspicious, how would they be able to find him in such a vast place?

He really wanted to put the fire out, and maybe his powers answered him in his sleep. That must be the reason, or rather he wanted to believe that. After all, someone else having these powers seemed to not make too much sense, but the hope of finding one other than himself was rather fascinating, and would relieve a lot of stress from his shoulders.

He turned backwards, the moving boxes, called chariots, being dragged by horses everywhere. The ground was made of stone, surprisingly. Maybe these people placed them here, or took the top off a cave. He bet on the latter.

The buildings were also made of something similar to stone, but it didn’t have the gaps, making it look like something made inside a rock, but they were perfectly quadratic in shape, quite surprising.

The humans might have learned how to cut stone effortlessly, and they used it for their homes. That was rather smart, as rocks were the hardest materials in the world, as far as Theo knew. Someone bumped into him, and he turned to look at the person. A man, resembling a giant ball than anything else, stood there. His hair was slicked back, and from the looks of it, and the rarity of these clothes he had seen during his travel, this man would be what was called a noble.

They were rich, and held a great amount of power. Kayla had warned him not to anger one, and even she wouldn’t be able to help him much if the noble had a lot of influence.

“Look where you’re going, peasant!” The man shouted as he crossed his hands in front of him. “I’ll let you go just this once, considering you give me ten gold. After all, I’m a generous man.”

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Theo looked at the man, considering the possibility of Kayla lying to him, but in the end, everything led up to the man lying, including him bumping into Theo not so accidentally and accusing him of doing just that.

Then his eyes turned cold, staring at the man indifferently, who stood a head shorter than him, looking up at him with doubtful eyes.

“Do you know who I am?! I am Viscount Bart, and I will not be-“ The man’s words were cut short as he ran away, rather quickly for his size and weight, but looked hilarious. Theo couldn’t hold his laughter and he chuckled. It was just like the fae pranks, but thankfully, on others.

The man seemed to be running for his life, and Theo stopped his laughter and turned around, searching for the one that had scared the noble that much. His sight landed on a boy, not much older than him, wearing full black clothes, shining in the light due to an unknown reason.

He was quite handsome, and looked to be well-mannered from the small frown on his face. Only good natured people had it on their faces most of the time, Theo knew from experience.

The boy was striking, but Theo didn’t understand one little thing.

Why would the noble run?

That became obvious as the man walked closer, staring right at Theo’s eye. His legs halted their movements, his body stiffening instantly as the eye, glowing a menacing yellow established eye contact. It glowed even brighter than the sun, overtaking all, and soon, the only thing he could see was those eyes.

They closed up on him, and he instantly fell to his knees. This felt familiar, as if it had happened before. Theo searched his mind for it, but it was clouded.

However, one thing he could do was… burn it all to oblivion.

He covered his eyes with his flames, his sight slowly returning to him. Not even five seconds later, Theo stood up as if nothing happened. The glowing eyes revealed themselves in their normal form, a dull yellow color.

The boy’s eyes widened as he stared right at Theo’s eyes, with eyes as wide as possible that they looked like they were about to pop out.

“Kneel!” The black attired boy shouted as Theo merely stared at the boy, not even bothering to react. A sudden force on his sides made him stumble three steps to the side. Turning his eyes to the attacker, he noticed it was Kayla, wearing her armor still, but a lighter one from the looks of it.

“Brother, I hope you can refrain from using your powers on bystanders.” Kayla said. “Especially my benefactor.”

The man snorted, and sent a nasty glare Theo’s way as he walked away. Kayla walked towards him with a sigh, shaking her head.

“Please forgive him. He thinks the world is supposed to be ruled, and humans were born to serve him.” Kayla explained, and pointed at Theo. “It was rather lucky I came in time, or you would have become a broken excuse of yourself who couldn’t even move without his orders.”

Theo laughed heartily, surprising the princess. The street had been vacated, only the wind and the back of the mysterious man to keep them company.

“Don’t worry about me.” Theo said.

He then thought to himself, just how terrifying the man could be. If he hadn’t burned away the effect on his eyes, then he might have become just what she described. After all, he couldn’t do anything but obey him. Truly dangerous, but it thrilled Theo. A great hunt consisted of a hunter and a worthy prey. But now wasn’t the time. He’d find him, and hunt him down to the ends of the universe if he wanted to. Now, however, he had to learn more about this world. Kayla was the best conduit in his opinion.

But one thing stuck out like a sore thumb.

If there was someone as strong as this in Bleuria, then they might possibly retaliate against a few mages. Then there was minimal need for him as Theo couldn’t see proud ones like the one he met on the road coming in with an army. He knew from experience, and they were pretty similar to the fae, after all.

“I was wondering. Could you find me a place to stay?” Theo asked.

“Ah, you shouldn’t worry about that. They are written down on the signs. And sorry, I can’t. I’m in a hurry.” Kayla said and left, waving her hand.

Theo shook his head.

He had told her that he was from another world, but she had forgotten all about it the day after. Truly strange. And that came with his inability to read, let alone write. Luckily, he could understand the language, and that was that. Asking around was best, actually. He didn’t mind befriending some.

Theo didn’t feel like he should find a place to stay in the center, and walked past to the edges of the city. It wasn’t truly big to say, merely packed to the brim. Hundreds of people past by and then he was in a less inhabited part of the city, the sun setting behind the mountain.

The exhausted civilians travelling to the army had woken up late, those who hadn’t slept for a day. They were dropped off at the military base outside the rock mountains, called walls. There they would undergo training and some would be returned home. And as night swiftly approached, Theo was left to fend for himself, all alone.

There were several houses with signs hanging from them, and one had that of a cup, bubble oozing out. He, for some reason, felt that this was the right place to start looking from. The strange symbols would most likely be the letters, and Theo noted their shapes befor

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