Ater (30.12.9973 AS)

They walked outside the Portal Main Station of Ater, a city that didn’t feel much different than Nocturnio. The city was also filled with skyscrapers, but their shapes were less extravagant to the ones in Nocturnio.  The most striking difference though was the mountains. While from Nocturnio the Ater Mountains felt small and far away; in Ater they felt like sleeping giants protecting the city.

Elisabeth guided them through the city. She showed them the most prominent tourist spots the city had to offer. This meant they visited many ruins of the ‘Great War’ and some buildings that were lucky enough survive the Seraph’s charge.

After hours of walking and listening to the history of certain sites, they finally reached a building that stroke Tristan attention. “This is the library of Ater, the largest library in the continent when it comes to the history of the old civilization.” Elisabeth announced proudly. “Although, the city was decimated during the ‘Great War’ the treasures of the library survived. And many authors of the time saw it as their mission to write down what they saw and felt.”

They didn’t have much time left, so they couldn’t actually enter the library, but Tristan felt like he had to visit this place if he wanted to know more about Bella’s mission. He didn’t like the idea of finding out what Bella actually expected of him, so he decided to come here just when he was sure he had nothing better to do.

The historic tour of Ater ended at the ‘Death’s Castle’. The old building reminded more of a medieval fortress than to a palace. Compared to the ‘Schatten’s Castle Tristan had once lived in it was rather modest.

It had been built on top of a small mountain to the west of the city. The castle’s lodge was rather unimpressive. It appeared to be small compared to two watchtowers or the titanic walls surrounding the fortress.

From the inside the lodge was also rather plain, the dominating colors were burgundy for the furniture, brown and grey for the walls made out of a mix of stones and wood. The most notable decorative accessories were the head of different types of beasts adorning the walls in the long corridors.

 After they had unloaded their luggage in their respective rooms, they were greeted by the Mistress and Master of the house.

Abigail’s mother introduced herself as Mutti Letum. Abigail’s mother was a rather tall woman, with long, wavy hazel colored hair. Besides her green eyes, the most prominent feature on her face was her cheekbones.

Her companion introduced himself as Caleb Tod the younger brother of Claudia Tod the head of the Tod clan. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and short brown hair. Brown eyes adorned his thin, rather feminine face.

“Thank you all for coming here!” He said, giving an honest smile. “I don’t know what I would have done if they had done something to my little devil here.” Mutti nodded to the words of her husband. “I’m really thankful to you guys especially to you Tristan.” She added while hugging the boy, putting Tristan in a rather awkward position. He was saved by Elisabeth’s announcement, of the dinner being ready.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

***

After dinner they split into two groups. One group was the women’s group. They decided to go to the living room and have some tea. While the other group consisted of Tristan, Ernesti and Caleb, they decided to stay in the dining room and eat cake there.

“The cake is really good” Tristan commented as he happily munched on the piece Baumkuchen he had gotten. “But it still can’t compare to one of Mitternacht’s cakes.” Ernesti added. “So there is better cake than this, in this world? Maybe I should visit that café next time I visit Nocturnio.” Caleb said cheerfully.

“You sure are lucky; you get to eat that cake everyday!” Ernesti said looking enviously towards Tristan. “Nana doesn’t bake that often at home, unless she is trying a new recipe. Then I’m pretty much her guinea pig and believe me not all cakes she makes taste good.” Tristan answered.

“So your mom works at a café.” Caleb asked with a curious tone. “No, she owns a small café close to the campus of the academy.” Tristan answered. “And what about you, Mister Tod, what does a Tod do to not get bored from so much money and power?” Tristan asked boldly.

“Dad is the Guild Master of the Merchants Guild!” Ernesti answered proudly. “But I once read in a book merchants are free to trade whatever they want to whoever they want.” Tristan stated. “So, I don’t see there any need to have a Merchants Guild.” He continued.

Caleb laughed merrily. “I expected nothing less, from the kid that overtook my little devil in knowledge!” He took a deep breath and started to explain. “You see, the job of the Merchants Guild is to ensure the integrity of the competition. We try to keep the market fair, so that big and small providers have the same rights while trading with the demander.”  Caleb observed Tristan’s face, trying to see if he had followed his explanation.

“Having the same rights to trade sound fine to me, but how can they ensure that small providers can keep up with what the demander asks for? I mean if I needed something important, I would rather go there, where I’m sure to get it with no delays.” Tristan objected.

“Well, to help out the smaller providers, the Merchants Guild, sometimes gives them cheap, short term credits. So they can afford to keep up with the demanded good.” Caleb explained perplexed by the complexity of the questions the five years old boy in front of him was asking.

Tristan smiled at the answer he had gotten. “Cheap short term credits? Sounds great, but how do you decide who gets the money? Do you also support Merchants just starting out?” Caleb looked at the boy with big eyes and smiled at his curiosity. “Yes the guild supports people to start up their business, only if their business plan looks promising.”

Tristan’s eyes lit up, he had known Caleb was the Guild Master of the Merchants Guild from beginning on. He had also known the guild would give credits to merchants to enable them to trade without the fear of running low on supplies. But it was certainly new to him, that the guild would also help newcomers to start up their own business. Now he wanted to find out more about the conditions to get one of said credits.

“So what does a business plan have to contain, so it is considered a good business plan?” Tristan continued. “Well, the most important thing is the idea. It must be something new and fresh, but also doable.”

‘Something amazing like my item shouldn’t be a problem there’ Tristan thought while smiling as bright as the morning sun.  “I hope that clears up all your questions.” Caleb smiled at him. “Yes, Sir, it does. It sure sounds like an interesting job.

They kept chatting till the kids had to go to bed. And so Tristan’s vacation at the Death’s Castle continued without any events worth mentioning.