And so, after a whole year of travelling around Trivis Numerica, Ed and I had safely passed our ITA exams and gotten our passports. Our time there was definitely unforgettable, and we had met countless friends who've made it all possible. Escaping the deadly clutches of our parents and successfully besting a Snair, we had taken its hide and... well, I'm not gonna mention what happened to it... I-In any case, we had hopped aboard a transport wagon that was headed for the capital of Secundis, Stringwood.
There, we witnessed the greatness of Schnell ('s statue) and got ourselves into a whole heap of trouble. Edward was tragically thrown off a viewpoint ledge, and I was falsely accused of harming him intentionally. There was nowhere else to hide, so I ran into a random family restaurant, which is also where I happened to meet the kind and giving Arthur Gray.
He was the reason we had even made it this far, our benefactor that found us in the streets and raised us to heights we thought we’d never reach. He had given us a job with food and shelter in exchange for us taking his granddaughter Anna along with us while we were in Trivis Numerica. The days we've spent in Stringwood with him and Anna were some of the most memorable moments Ed and I could ever hope to experience.
Anna, she was the person that made our journey here fun. With her, we travelled to Station Arfa, where we created the second ever branch of Arthur’s restaurant. With our rocky start that we had there, we worried that we wouldn't make it, but we were saved by a young manager by the name of Carl, who helped us a lot by letting us take over his own restaurant and turning it into a properly-staffed establishment. Working with him was a delight and an honor.
Before we had made it to Leins, though, we stopped by Wheats to visit Ed’s uncle. He treated us not as coworkers, not as colleagues or travelers, but as kids. With him teaching Anna and us the joys of living a laid-back life in the countryside, we had spent the next period tilling the fields. This moment of peace was short lived, however, as during our stay, Anna and I got lost in a forest and were attacked by a Stray Wolf. The battle was fierce, and my arms got badly wounded, though I somehow prevailed thanks to my father's training and a mysterious fire sparking from within the Stray Wolf's intestines. Oddly enough, I sustained no burning injuries.
Barely making it out of this fight alive, we snuck out of mister Ridge’s care and went to Leins. There, we had met up with Graal Thurs, a friend of Arthur’s who helped arrange for us to take the ITA exam and get our passports before we were legally allowed to. The tests were tricky and dubious, but making it felt like rebirth. We had officially become Adventurers.
With passports in tow, Ed said our goodbyes to Anna in my stead, as I was conked out after the exams, and left for Ren, where we rested up and wrote a book about our travels. That was actually the first time the two of us got to act like tourists, in my opinion, as it was the first time we actually had some spending money on us.
The time in Trivis Numerica had its ups and downs, but I don’t regret it for a second. Now, in a wagon headed for Carmen City, we seek an audience with the king to request travel funds.
***
The ride to Carmen City was definitely a long one, taking about two weeks to get there in total. It was unlike anything we’d experienced before, certainly, as the most we've ever spent traveling from one place to another is a day or two at best. This definitely didn’t sit well with my stomach though, and we had to make frequent stops.
After finally arriving at Carmen City, we were simply left awestruck. The entire city shone as if it was made out of gold. Large pillar-like structures and skyscrapers obstructed our view of the sky to the point where we didn’t even know if it was day or night anymore. Walking through the busy streets, we noticed a distinct difference between Trivis Numerica and Carmen, namely in the people. Carmenians as a people are very posh by nature. They keep their heads up high, and they will absolutely refuse to move to the side when passing by you, leading to a lot of people bumping us around. I actually got pretty peeved by this, so I starting shouldering people back at some point, but Ed kept me calm and moved me to the side.
Ed and I were definitely disillusioned by the City of Song. We had expected everyone to be bubbly and chipper, and while not to the point where they’d literally burst into song in the middle of the street, we definitely didn’t expect them to be this rude either. If the king is even 1% like these people, then that doesn’t spell good news for us. Let's hope the royalty here is better than the commoners.
We decided to visit the local ITA hub as we were getting a bit homesick already. Hoping to meet the normal, down to earth travelers we’d met back in Leins, we stood in front of the check-in booth, but were extremely disappointed by the worker's attitude that wasn’t at all unlike the other Carmenians.
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“What do you want, tykes?” He hissed.
“We’re Lune Grimheart and Edward Saint, sir. We’re here to check in per protocol.” I announced.
As it happens, during our ITA exams we were told by the instructor that travelers are to check in first and foremost after arriving in a new country. The ITA agent working the booth will then write your name in and notify the other branches of your arrival. This is verification of your current activity and whereabouts, as well as a way to distinguish between slightly inactive adventurers and full-blown deserters.
The snarky agent had suddenly clicked his tongue at us and simply said something along the lines of: "You’re too young to be ITA agents. Scram!" Now I get we're just barely 14, but I’m sure we're not the only underaged adventurers. It can't be that difficult to believe, right? Wait, are we actually the first ever adventurers in the ITA that got our passports before the age of 17? Are we... prodigies?
“Sir, if you could just check our names in the registry-” Ed muttered, only to get yelled at by the ITA agent.
“I don't care! Fuck off and go play somewhere else, otherwise I'm calling an officer of the law, y'hear!?” He suddenly lashed out.
Fearing getting arrested in a foreign country, we decided to leave the matter for now and look for a place to stay while we figured things out. Looks like the life of a prodigy is quite a difficult one to live, after all. We'll need to think of another way to check-in somehow. The inn we stayed at was also quite nasty with its reception of us, however, which turned the entire booking process into a huge slog.
“They really don’t like anything, do they?” Ed asked rhetorically, "Ugh, my legs are killing me. We've been carrying our luggage around town ever since we got out of the wagon, damn..."
Crap, now that you mention it, the fatigue of my legs is starting to catch up to me as well. To tell you the truth, we’re in quite a pinch right now. We still haven’t checked in at the ITA, and we’ve got just a month before we get our first strike. I’d rather we don’t strike out anytime soon, so we should get that sorted ASAP. Though at this point, I think we should focus more on how to live life as a deserter than anything else. Let's see, your passports get voided, and no company will officially hire you as a worker... Yeah, I don't think that option is favorable at all, not one bit.
Another issue we face are the travel funds, we’ve all but given up on requesting to meet with the king for them. If a ruler allows for their countrymen to act like this, then I can only imagine that he’ll have us hanged if we request such a thing of him. This is nothing like any of the places we’ve been to in Trivis Numerica. No, in comparison, Carmen is a lot worse. Sure, we’ve met some bad and selfish people over there, but those were just a couple people probably having a bad day. These people in Carmen are rotten to the core, they radiate “I’m a piece of shit” energy 24/7.
It was at this moment that Ed suggested we skip the funding negotiations and head straight to Great Hiana. We knew for a fact from our parents’ honeymoon stories that Great Hiana was a very welcoming and polite country, so they’ll definitely hear us out. This way we could kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously checking in and asking for advice on how to acquire the travel funds. Nice one, Ed! An idea deserving of a gold star!
At first I was sort of against the idea of leaving a country without properly documenting and exploring it, but Ed persuaded me with words like "We’re not ready for Carmen yet" and "We can always come back at a later time".
"But when will that time come?" I asked, "If we skip out on Carmen right now while it's just under our noses, we'll be too preoccupied with exploring the other countries to return here anytime soon!"
"So?" He said as he tucked himself into his bed.
"So," I replied, "we'll be old men by the time we return, if at all!"
"So?" He once again repeated his question, "They say "With age comes wisdom", right? Just think of this not as us running away, but making a tactical retreat, okay? We're simply not ready for Carmen just yet, but one day we will be. Simple as that."
"Mn..." I then finally gave up against his seemingly flawless logic, "Sigh, I hate it when your warnings make sense...! Fine, first thing we'll do tomorrow is hitch a ride to a Great Hiana!"
"Cool!" He smiled back at me, "Trust me, you won't regret this decision! I'm your guardian angel, after all!"
"I'd die an early death for sure if you were the one taking care of me." I jabbed, "Alrighty, g'night!"
Thus, as we laid in our beds, our eyelids slowly getting heavier by the second, we had decided to clock out for the night and ultimately decided to pull back for now. Our next destination on this journey will be the country known for its bustling citizens and attractive tourist spots.
The Kingdom of Carmen is not yet a place we're experienced enough to properly spend our time in. The people are rude and I'm afraid we won't be getting any meaningful information on such a place. After all, in Trivis Numerica, the adults were the ones sharing most of their stories with us, but here, the adults seem like the only thing they know how to do is scoff and laugh at us. Well, if that's how you wanna play, Carmen, then be my guest! Don't you worry, we’ll come back for you! Just you wait!