I spend the next five days slowly making my way overland to the city indicated on the crude map the old man has given me.

After a day, the surroundings slowly change, going from incessant farmland to a rougher wilderness. Still populated, but less densely, the next house often being invisible until I reach the next hill over. I pass through three villages, and one more small town. None further than half a days travel from another, which I guess makes sense since people walk everywhere. I wouldn’t want to sleep out in the open after visiting town either.

The sparse habitation I find also seems to be mostly within half a days walk of the population centers I pass. There’s a few huts and farms outside the populated areas, but I have to believe those people went to live in the middle of nowhere deliberately.

I eat my way through several days worth of provisions, and my sack becomes noticeably lighter every day. I don’t lack for water though, passing by two streams and a small river. Between those and the water-skin I took from the bandit, I’m never thirsty.

On the way, I’ve mostly tried to avoid people, especially after the incident. Any time I saw any large group coming towards me, I’d quickly hide off road. It was actually surprisingly easy to see those coming due to the dust they kicked up on the road. I’m happy to say that I have no idea who or what any of those dust clouds were. There was also the occasional lone traveler, but we mostly just left each other alone, though some gave me wary glances, and others said hello.

What there was more of was caravans, though those often traveled in the same direction as me, and it was sometimes hard to notice them until they were nearly overtaking me. They gave me some hope that I was going the right direction though. After the first day of this, I’d quickly figured out the appropriate thing to do in that scenario by virtue of observing other travelers do it, and any passing caravan thereafter could be politely greeted and sent on their way.

There was a minor event when I took my scarf off after not seeing anyone for half a day or so on a smaller road in the middle of my journey, and forgot I had done so. I know, stupid, but walking and seeing nothing but trees for hours on end deadens the mind. I’d strapped on the sword right after leaving the town, and kept it there every day, because, lone woman traveling makes a tempting target. Can’t be too paranoid in that regard.

Unfortunately it bit me in the ass when I came across a man traveling in the opposite direction from me. I didn’t pay much attention to him, and he to me. But right as he was passing by he apparently finally noticed me, and let out this bloodcurdling scream, then dashed away from me at the highest speed possible. I tried to stop him of course, but that only made it worse, and he started dropping random possessions. To keep me busy I suppose, but what the hell. So I just let him run off. From that moment on I kept the scarf firmly on my head regardless of the fact nobody might be watching.

I’m not particularly worried he might call the guards on me. By the time he made it anywhere relevant and back, I’d be long gone.

As if to make my earlier discovery worse, one thing he dropped was another pouch full of coins. I should probably consider it sort of stolen, and the man didn’t actually do anything to me, so maybe I shouldn’t use it. But then I look at it next to the other pouch that I intentionally took from the village, and I can’t quite tell if my reasoning is logical or just driven by feelings. Either way, there’s no way I can return it to him, so I might as well keep it.

The coins in the travelers’ pouch are more interesting than what I found earlier. There’s 3 large silvers, 5 small silvers, and a whole bunch of those square copper ones with a hole in. Maybe they used to put them on a string or something?

I’m now the proud owner of three hefty silver coins, each about 3 centimeters wide. I also have five smaller silver coins that measure 2 centimeters across, and when you add the 23 new tiny copper coins to the seven I already had, which are just 1.5 centimeters on each side and as flat as can be without slicing your fingers on the edges, it adds up to quite a collection. All of these coins look just like you’d imagine old coins would: they have that rough, worn appearance, as if someone bashed them with a hammer, leaving their edges cracked and uneven.

I instead securely lodge this all in one of my belt pouches, instead of the two loose pouches that these people apparently love. One that I can keep closed with a little strap. I’m not sure how the man could untie his pouch so quickly. It’s almost like he had it ready to throw at me. Maybe he was prepared for bandits?

I’m left wondering how much money it actually is though, as I have no idea about the exchange rate. The size of the large silvers seems to say they’re at least twice as valuable as the small ones just by virtue of the material, but I have no idea if it’s actually silver, pure, or something like that. Same for the copper, which I just call copper by virtue of it having vaguely that color.

I made shelters, if I had the chance, or slept outside, if I didn’t. I’m not sure if I should have insisted on a shelter every day, but I haven’t been mauled by any animals, so it’s probably fine. Anyway, sleeping out in the open was fine, until that one night it wasn’t, and I was soaked from top to bottom in what seemed like a second. It’s pretty disturbing to wake up in the middle of the night and find yourself a soggy mess. Luckily the rain was over soon, but afterwards I had great difficulties going back to sleep as it reminded me of that one day when I spent the night sleeping in animal pi… I just don’t want to think about that any more.

image [https://pub-43e7e0f137a34d1ca1ce3be7325ba046.r2.dev/Group.png]

I’m not all that high above the plain, but my perspective gives me a good view of the city.

It lies on the edge of the ocean, where a smallish river runs into the sea. I suppose they built it there so they’d have access to both freshwater as well as the sea. The city sits right on top of the river, and it sort of equally splits it in half.

There’s an inner city with massive crenelated walls constructed of rough stone that must be like five meters high and at least two meters thick, allowing plenty of space for any defenders to maneuver. Every hundred to two hundred meters a ten meter high round tower sits on the wall, topped with a tiled roof and an overhang that allows anyone inside to attack those below.

Then there is an outer city, that expands out of the inner city on one side, and covers a few hundred meters to the left of the inner city. I imagine that was added later, when the city grew too big for the inner walls. There is a smaller wall brick wall surrounding it that looks a mere 3 meters high, and much less thick, probably mostly aimed at preventing easy access? Guess they ran out of money after constructing the main wall. It’d still be hard for anyone to casually scale, as the top leans over a bit. Nor can I imagine anyone without a siege engine—or magic—breaking through it. It’s weird how something that would be a temporary obstacle if you had explosives, is nearly impassable in this era.

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There’s a gate on every major side of the inner city, though the outer wall to the left merely has an opening where the wall just ceases for a few meters and then continues.

On the whole, the inner city looks unassailable from all landwards directions. Though I wonder if magic would have any effect on it. That thought I had earlier about pebbles comes back to me, and I wonder what a pebble launched at railgun velocities would do to those walls. Anyone could walk right into the outer city if that gate were undefended though. There’s nothing like a moat either, which I’d sort of expected. Maybe digging it around the entire city would be too much? But then they did build that wall.

On the seaward side, the city sports a port that spans nearly the entire length of the city, filled with ships. There’s too many to count, but there are two main types. Fat ones that are used for trading. Cogs? And a whole fleet of galleys, like from Age of Empires. I don’t quite recall their name. Triremes?

All the land around the city is cultivated, but not a tree is in sight anywhere on the plain surrounding it. I suppose everything that was there has been cannibalized to create either ships or buildings.

The city is a lot larger than I expected. It must be like ten times the size of that town I passed through. Which, when I consider it, is just barely bigger than the town I grew up in, but an order of magnitude smaller than the city I used to live. Even so, it doesn’t feel that way.

I’ve seen remnants of old cities before. But it’s always a little part of the city wall here, a gate that is still standing there. There’s even some old castles, but they never seemed quite as imposing as castles were supposed to look in my imagination.

This is different, and hella impressive. I’m almost glad I was transported here just because I get to see this. It’s like I imagine people felt when seeing to the Theodosian walls of Constantinople for the first time.

I can’t help but be excited as I make my way down to the main entrance of the inner city.

image [https://pub-43e7e0f137a34d1ca1ce3be7325ba046.r2.dev/Group.png]

When I get closer to the city, I note that there is a long line of wagons waiting their turn to enter the city. I peek around the end of the line, wondering if there’s a separate line for individuals trying to enter. After all, I’m not exactly equal to a wagon.

It worries me what I might have to go through to enter the city, my mind is filled with examples of corruption, bribes and thorough inspections before the guards let you through. I wonder if the line is this long because of that?

As dusk approaches, I can picture everyone here eager to get into the city before it’s completely dark.

Feeling a bit shameless, I walk past the line. I wonder if I’m really just supposed to stand at the end of it, waiting like a chump. I guess there’s no harm in going to the front to first see what is actually happening. As I walk to the front, I note some dirty looks being thrown my way by the people waiting, more or less confirming my suspicion that I’m supposed to wait my turn. But whatever, I’m just here to look, not cut in line.

When I get to the front, the situation is not at all as I expected. There’s a few people on foot that pass through the gate with just a casual inspection from the guards. They’re not even required to pay anything. Seeing that speed, I’m baffled at this massive line standing here.

That's when the next wagon in line creaks forward, and I startle at just how massive it is. That's when I see that this wagon isn't pulled by horses either; instead, it's being moved by a mage, just like the ones carrying lumber that I was following before. The wagon has eye popping dimensions, that remind me of nothing so much as a lorry. It’s nearly 10 meters long, and almost 3 wide. I have a hard time imagining how the one mage can move this thing.

I can’t help but note that this man looks a lot more... professional. The mages on the lumber carts looked like they were for lack of a better word, laborers. This man wears a nice clean tunic, and looks entirely more self-assured. Next to him sits what I assume is a merchant, who wears clothes that are probably even more expensive, which I should probably expect as I assume he’s the mages’ employer.

The wagon they sit on is loaded with all kinds of stuff. Barrels, crates and a heap of sacks. I’m very curious to see how the guards will deal with this one. So I’m again surprised when the merchant flings the guards a single square copper, and they nod at him, after which the wagon lumbers to the gate.

That’s when the trouble starts. And not any kind of trouble I expected. The damn gate is too small.

That, or the wagon is too massive. I’m guessing the gate is exactly three meters across, and as I saw earlier, the wagon is just a tad less. Getting it lined up with the gate is a hard thing in and off itself, but this gate through the massive inner walls is also three meters deep, so if the alignment is not exactly right, it’ll get stuck, and they have to back up and try again.

I don't think the driver is clueless. He's actually doing everything right. It's just that the situation is really tough.

It honestly kind of reminds me of my job. Here is one gate engineer that thinks that surely 3 meters wide should be enough for anyone. And then there’s a wagon builder, that thinks bigger is better, and surely any gate would be large enough to accommodate such a massive wagon. Assumptions and lack of communication were the bane of my life, and I’m sort of relieved to see that it’s nothing exclusive to our era.

In a flash of curiosity, I activate my juice sight, wondering if the mage is using that as we speak, to try to make minute adjustments a bit easier.

To my great surprise, I see little runes flaring up all around on the wagon the mage is sitting on with impressive speed. They’re indistinct, and I’m not sure I could positively say they were runes without having already imagined one in my own mind. I have no idea what these are, as if there’s some haze over them. I involuntarily take a step forward to see better, and that does actually make them a little bit easier to see. I wonder if I’d be able to see it all if I stood right in front of his nose.

It’s a bit like having terribly blurry vision. I wonder if this is like a kid learning again, where I’ll eventually sharply see exactly what the man is doing. It occurs to me that what he’s doing would be nearly impossible if he didn’t have the same bullet time power I have. While the world moves slower, mental processes (and juice moving) are just as fast as they are in realtime.

I can only imagine he’s making minute adjustments to the direction the wagon moves. Though it seems excessive. Doesn’t he just want it to go it back or forward? Maybe a little bit sideways?

I drop the juice sight. If I can see what he’s doing, he might well be able to notice me looking at him too.

There’s no indication of that though, and I suddenly wonder if mages can detect other mages. I didn’t note anything special about the man until he literally showed me he was a mage.

Almost fifteen minutes later, the wagon finally lines up just right and rolls through the gate. The guards, clearly fed up, grumble and curse at the merchant with that enormous wagon. Just then, another hefty wagon lumbers up, and they let out a collective groan.

I resign myself to a long afternoon of waiting, but I’m honestly relieved that the only thing that I’ll have to do to enter the city is wait. Waiting I do though, and when full night has fallen, I finally pass by the guards and into the city. The gatehouse has large, steel banded doors, but I can’t help but admire the massive portcullis that hangs just inside the gate. Its bars nearly as thick around as my forearm. How does a smith even make such a thing?

Then I am through, and I step inside the city for the first time. Will it be better for me than Ronain’s village? He seemed to think so, but I can’t help but feel anxious about what awaits me here.