CHAPTER 5 – EVALUATING ARCHITECTURE

⌈Oh… Excuse me! Nice to meet you, miss girlfriend!⌋

⌈No, Green. You got it wrong, she’s..⌋

⌈Yes.. wrong indeed. There’s no way I’d ever get along with someone like him, much less be in a relationship.. He’s the worst.⌋

Her words agitated me far more than they should've...

⌈Oi! You were the one who single-handedly obliterated my lifelong dream of living my days beside a loving snow elf wife within five minutes flat! Who do you think is the bad guy here?⌋

⌈Tsk.. And you were the one who tried to spy on me. Twice...⌋

⌈Twice!? I already told you I couldn't look through your clothes even if I wanted to!⌋

⌈And now you're implying that you'd want to do so? Tsk..⌋

That's one too many clicks of tongue, miss.

⌈Nee~, When did you two get close enough to start fighting?⌋

Grace butted in again beautifully, right before I was able to reply to Lumi's baseless accusations.

She’s making things way harder than they have to be. This is not what ‘being close enough to have fights’ means, you idiot! Even Seth was laughing this time. Lumi crossed her arms and started pouting. She might be an adult but she sure acts like a kid.

⌈Oh… so that’s how it was. Uh... I'm sorry, miss! Say, shall we get going around the town?⌋

⌈Sure, kiddo. Do you mind if these two tag along?⌋

Seth asked.

⌈Not a problem! Friends of my friends are my friends too!⌋

⌈Aah! You’re so cute! Cute! Nee~ Your name, what’s your name?⌋

⌈Name’s Green! At your service!⌋

Green saluted with such vigor that his flat cap almost fell. His clothing today seemed to be of much higher quality than yesterday. He must’ve looked towards today. Green sure is a good kid. He’s helpful too since I don’t know the town all that well yet. He seemed to take a liking to me when I sold the Midnight Wyvern rags to his mom. Or maybe his mom told him to be on his best behavior after that. Who knows?

⌈Alright, kiddo. Can you take us to the town square? If I correctly recall, that’s where the Adventurer Trials are held.⌋

⌈Can, do! The trials will start there tomorrow come noon! Say... Will the two pretty ladies also become adventurers!?⌋

⌈Oh my, aren’t you a charmer! Me and the ice princess over there are also going take part in the trials! We’ll become top-rated adventurers in no time! Just you watch!⌋

Grace proudly declared, brimming with confidence.

⌈That’s awesome! You sure are amazing! Should we get going now? The streets will get really busy soon, you know?⌋

We started strolling towards the town square. The streets were stunning, to say the least, and my sense wonder only grew, as we wandered through the city. Witnessing the harmonious combination of wondrous constructs built on the unaltered hills surrounded by trees and plants woven in between from up close was surreal. Apart from the two great streams running across the city splitting the capital into it’s four distinctive districts, there was also an abundance of smaller streams that ran all throughout the countless streets.

Green pointed out several interesting stores, as we made our way through the trading district. They had everything from the general goods to the bakery. There were some stores I definitely want to visit at least once, like the alchemist and the smith. Not that I’d really buy anything. I just want to witness alchemy and smithing in person, preferably with magic involved.

We bought some meat skewers from a stall by the street. The taste was gentle, and the meat was juicy and tender. Beef, maybe? It’s probably for the best that I don’t think about the origin of any meat I eat in this world too much. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm quite sure I’ve managed to eat a larger variety of foods after coming to this world than I had in the past year of living on my own.

I almost had some time to get homesick before we finally arrived at the town square.

We were met with a massive, circular plaza, paved with the same white marble-like stone as most of the bigger buildings currently surrounding us. Streams of magic power, similar to the ones in the grand marble structures, ran towards the middle, in the cracks between the stones, painting a picture of a mysterious pattern on the ground. In the middle stood a grand fountain, decorated by a sculpture of a monstrous dragon. My guess would be that it was the Dragon of Origin. The radius of the square or rather, the circle, was no less than a hundred meters.

Behind the fountain, on the other end of the plaza, stood a building unlike any other. Though modest in height, when compared to the other structures towering around it, it more than made up for its lack of size with the ornamental details sculpted into it's supporting pillars and the arch of its entrance. It also seemed to utilize the magical streams in its design, but it did so in much higher concentration than the surrounding buildings. At a mere glance, one would instantly recognize that said building was built for religious purposes, and as all religious buildings did, this building too, sported a certain motif. The Enneagram of the Nine Gods. A stylized nine-pointed star, representing the nine gods and their distinctive elements.

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⌈We’re here! So.. isn’t it amazing?⌋

Green proudly announced.

⌈Yeah! It is. It sure is!⌋

⌈I-Indeed..⌋

The girls were enchanted, and I'll admit, it was a lot to take in indeed.. This whole world was a lot to take in.

⌈This world is quite something, isn't it? Young man..⌋

What was that?

I heard a feeble old voice calling out to me from beneath the trees on the outer ring of the plaza.

⌈It isn’t polite to not answer when someone calls out to you.. Ah, no matter. Are you looking towards becoming an adventurer to learn more about the world? What an interesting way to go about. I wish you the best of luck… Sorry for interrupting your little tour. I’ll see you soon, Son of the Heavens.⌋

⌈Oi!? Old man!⌋

I quickly turned around, but the owner of the voice was nowhere to be seen. What was that about being a Son of the Heavens? Wasn’t I just thinking about how astonishing this entire world was? He knew about my intentions with becoming an adventurer too. I was frozen solid...

⌈Now listen here, kiddo, and listen well. I know I’m older than you, but isn’t that just a tad bit rude to someone who saved you from becoming monster food!?⌋

⌈Eh, Seth? No, it wasn’t meant to you. There was an old man here just now. He called out to me.⌋

⌈Huh? Are you alright? Do you perhaps have spirit fever?⌋

⌈What’s that?⌋

⌈You know, when you get all confused and start to believe that the spirits are talking to you. That’d explain a thing or two…⌋

⌈Do you mean schizophrenia?⌋

⌈Schizo-what now? I asked if you’ve started to think spirits are talking to you.⌋

Schizophrenia or not, it seems like they're aware of conditions like it, and they just go by different names. I wonder what the treatment is like. Maybe the alchemist is able to produce antipsychotic potions! Or maybe I'm just looking too much into this and it's all just magic...

I should learn from this and refrain from sprouting out odd knowledge from my past life when things don't quite seem to match up. It’s better if I don’t create too many misunderstandings.

⌈Ah, actually, don’t mind that. I didn’t too sleep well.⌋

⌈Hahaha! I figured. Sorry for not waking you up by the way… I didn’t exactly know what to do in a situation like that, but enough of that. This place really exceeds all the expectations, huh?⌋

⌈Yeah, it really does! Not that I even had any idea what to expect.⌋

...As I never really described the buildings in the city itself. Though whoever created this wonderland from my barely descriptive scribbles, definitely deserves a raise!

⌈Tomorrow’s going to be the big day. I can’t wait! I’m getting all fired up already!⌋

Seth was getting excited about the trials tomorrow. I was a bit indifferent, as I only really chose to attend because I don’t know what else I could do in this world. I wonder what the trials will have in store for us. Seth already made it pretty clear that adventurers aren’t quite what they used to be, so I doubt they’ll send us out in the wilds to gather herbs or kill monsters. I just hope that it won’t be a written test. Not that my physical prowess is really anything to boast about either...

After carefully examining the whole place and taking a long while to marvel the grandeur of the plaza and the surrounding buildings, we started to make our way to the outskirts of the town.

The further away from the town square you got, the less impressive the buildings got. Despite that, they were still well made and looked sturdy and well constructed. But as soon as we got outside of the walls, the buildings, if they could even be called that, looked like nothing short of shoddy huts one would expect to find in slums. The build quality was on the level of a primitive human settlement at best. Compared to the exquisite craftsmanship inside the walls, the conditions on the outside were preposterous.

What’s even more bizarre, was that nobody seemed to mind at all! They happily went on about their lives without a care in the world. I was convinced that any decent human being would at the very least react to such drastic differences in quality of life, but that was not the case here.

A countless number of plants and fruits that I had never seen previously, were being grown and gathered in the fields surrounding the capital. I couldn’t help but wonder how they’d taste like. There were also familiar ones such as apples, or at least a subspecies that shared a similar look to the counterpart back at home. At first, everything seemed to be in order, until I noticed that the people weren't carrying the fruits and veggies in containers nor carriages, but in their arms and even the fields were being tilled by hand.

Surely it would be to the benefit of all citizens if they invested into the farmlands and settlements outside the walls? I’d like to have a word about efficiency with whoever is in charge around these parts.

I won’t question their farming and gathering methods for now, but even an idiot would be able to notice the difference in build quality between the buildings inside, and outside the walls.

⌈Hey, Green. Do you know why the huts outside are so badly constructed compared to the beautiful buildings on the inside?⌋

⌈Badly constructed? Eh!? What do you mean mister Light?⌋

⌈I mean, those buildings won’t probably last for long, especially under heavy weather. The buildings inside the walls, on the other hand, are really well constructed and will probably hold in even the direst weather.⌋

⌈I don’t… think I know what you mean by that. Sorry, Mister Light.⌋

Green sounded rather disappointed at himself. Thankfully Seth came to his rescue.

⌈Don't worry, Green. I don't understand it either. But I guess I’m getting more and more used to not understanding anything you say, kiddo.⌋

Lumi, who has been silent up until now joined in on the conversation.

⌈Actually... In my opinion, that was a rather reasonable observation on his part. Most newly built houses will collapse during storms and heavy eastern wind, but the ancient buildings inside the walls still stand unscathed. I too, still lack the understanding behind why this is, but what I do understand is the cause of concern. Although I thought it would be common sense that the Races aren’t able to construct such wonders after the Convergence of Gods, it seems that I might be mistaken..⌋

Wasn’t that answer a bit too elaborate? ‘I think he’s right’ would have sufficed. However, she did mention that construction of buildings like the ones inside the walls doesn’t seem to be possible after the Convergence. If I correctly recall, Seth also said something about people not remembering a thing that happened after the Gods descended during the Convergence. He mentioned adventurers granting the races lost knowledge too.

I think I’m onto something here...