Leif had never thought so many people could be in one place without anyone dying, the streets bustled with cheers, screams and claps, it was clear to the boy that Allera was some kind of hero to these people, but other than that there was only one thing he couldnt stop looking at, the gigantic building all around, almost as if there where castles and towers all over the streets, and not only that but it seemed that the farthest you went to taller and more complex these towers became, he noticed the streets where made entirely out of colorful polished bricks, there was no dirty or rocks around, Allera, Gregory and Katlyn slowly made their way up the streets, waving at the crowd that adored them.
Leif: [So this is New Pallac...]
Loland: [Looks like a whole 'nother world, don't it?]
The man responded with a chuckle.
Leif: [It does, I didn't even know castles could get this huge...]
Loland: [Those aren't castles boy, those are like... little houses stacked on top of eachother.]
Leif was more than surprised, he thought this entire city was made out of castles from hundreds of noble people, but the thought that normal people could live along inside these enormous constructions was a bit baffling.
???: [Leif Crows?]
The boy looked to the side and saw three people wearing the soldier unniform from Allera's troops, red leather under polished black armor, the three where a huge tanned man with long square and thick brown beard and a shaved head, another man, shorter and more pale with longer black hair and a tall brown woman with tightly braid down hair, the man with the square beard seemed to be in charge.
Leif: [Who's asking?]
The man with the square beard looked down at the brown woman, she looked up at him then stepped forward.
???: [Where Thern..]
She gestured towards the pale man.
???: [Markus..]
She gestured towards the man with the square beard.
Mell: [And I am Mell.]
Leif: [What do you want from me?]
Mell: [We were ordered to escort you towards the home of General Allera.]
He stepped down from the ship along with them, the four got on horses and begun to ride away through another path in the city, Leif looked back at the ship and saw the captain waving him goodbye, he waved back and followed the three soldiers, they knew well the paths throughout the city that wouldnt be crowed thanks to Allera's arrival, Leif enjoyed the ride, memorizing the paths between buildings and the way towards there.
Mell: [Following this path we should arrive there at least 15 minutes earlier than General Allera.]
She said, looking back at the boy, he continued to look around, amazed at the sky-high castles and the polished streets.
Leif: [How... was this city built?]
This time it was Thern that looked back at him.
Thern: [The entire city was mostly built by the Warlocks of the old times, tho the other workers helped a lot.]
Leif: [The entire city was built by runic speaking..]
He looked back at the castle like houses and the individual polished rocks that were assembled into colorful shapes and patterns, it should have been obvious to him, who had witnessed the capabilities of runic, that this would have been almost impossible to achieve without it.
Leif: [Does New Pallac have a king? Or an Emperor?]
Mell: [You could say so, but it's more governed by a group, the chairs of New Pallac.]
Leif: [Chairs?]
Thern: [The chairs are the most important people in the Pallaccian Empire.]
Mell: [The Emperor of New Pallac, the Archwarlock grand meister of the Pallaccian Academy, the head of the federation of merchants, the representative of Kirthia... They're all important and have influence on the actions of New Pallac.]
Leif: [I see...]
Leif asked them some questions from time to time, but otherwise, the ride was quick and silent, by the end, when they finally arrived at Allera's palac, there was no sight of her ir the giant crowd following her, the palace was massive, even with the black wall that circled all around it, he was still able to see the massive black pillars and the red roof.
Mell: [There it is Sunfort.]
The redwood gates opened, draging on the dirt, before the actual palace there where alteast 100 meters of gardens and plants, he could see three small gazebos in the garden, made with white painted wood and with redwood roofs, the four of them rode their horses through the dirt path right in the middle that led to the main entrance of the palace, a black stone flight of stairs that made it up to a giant pair of doors made out of redwood and with golden accents on the patterns, the four got down from their horses and made their ways up the stairs, Markus grasped the golden knocker and use it, giving the door three sounding knocks, the person who opened it was a older man, he had brown skin and a small scar over his thick lips, despite having some skin blemishes, short grey hair and wrinkles he looked quite conserved, he wore a formal black suit with a white undershirt and a black tie.
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???: [Markus, I see you've brought the boy mentioned in Master Allera's letter.]
Markus: [Yes.]
The man in the suit looked at the boy.
Kastro: [Its a pleasure, Mr.Crows, im Kastro the head butler of Sunfort.]
Leif's nose wrinkled at the "mister" added to his last name, Markus turned him.
Markus: [That was it child.]
He said, the three soldiers turned and begun to make their way down the stairs, Leif look down at their backs, then he turned to Kastro.
Leif: [Am i gonna work here or what?]
Kastro: [Of course not, your stay will be simply temporary, theres a month and a half left until the next academic year begins, Master Allera has allowed you to stay until then.]
Leif: [I'm gonna stay here...]
He felt his heart begin to pump a little, he never thought he'd even see a building like this even more live in one.
Kastro: [Now please, Mr.Crows, follow me, I'll prepare you a warm bath.]
Leif enthusiastically followed him, a bath sound more then enjoyable, it had been more then a week since he took his last bath, if wiping yourself with a hot wet towel could even be considered a bath, he imagined what kind of luxurious bath he would take, maybe they had a lot of buckets, or even better one bucket big enough to sit in, and maybe they had a way to warm the water, the boy followed the butler up a long flight of stairs on the main hall of the palace, the handrail was made out a polished deep black wood and a enormous thick red carpet was draped over it that led all the way to the front door, when they reached the top they turned left and walked for a few minutes before turning right once more, then Kastro stopped right in front of a big pair of doors with a lot of golden patterns.
Kastro: [Please wait for a second while I prepare the bath, Mr.Crows.]
The man said, bowing his head and entering the washroom, closing the door behind him, Leif waited there for a few minutes until Kastro opened the door once more, when he did a cloud of steam seemed to seep off the openings.
Kastro: [Please enter, Mr.Crows.]
Leif walked in and Kastro walked behind him, the entire place seemed to exude this scent of flowers Leif had never smelled in his life.
Kastro: [Please, allow me to take your clothes and replace them, as for your sword and other valuable ill keep them safely guarded.]
Leif thought for a second, he could probably trust the man, but giving up his sword and sack of pieces felt like giving up part of his being, he ended up doing so, taking off his dirty and ragged clothes, the clothes he used for years ever since he left his village, then he unbundled his belt and gave the man his sword and his sack of pieces.
Leif: [If these two disappear I'll rip your throat open.]
Kastro payed no attetion to the threat.
Kastro: [Of course, I'll not allow any other person near either of them, as for your clothes, would you prefer replacements or new ones.]
The boy had never given much thought to his clothes, but he liked having a cloak, concealing his arms and weapons aswell as his figure, making dodging attacks way easier.
Leif: [I dont care, just make sure to give me a cloak, a black one.]
Kastro bowed and turned around to leave.
Leif: [If anything is needed I'll be leaving one of the maids at your disposal right outside.]
Once the man left Leif turned back, before him a small corridor made out of polished yellow stone, the floor was slightly wet with the steam that poured from the well lit room to the right, when Leif got to see the room itself his eyes went a little wide, what they had wasn't a bucket, it was made out of stone and filled to the brim with a green cloudy water with a nice smell, small flowers and strnage leafs floated on the surface, on the side of the stone thing there was a small white bar that was speckled with grounded leaves and spices, he grabbed and analyzed it for a second.
Leif: [What the hell is this?]
He turned around and walked back towards the door, poking his head out he noticed a maid standing by the door, she was short, with caramel skin and curly black hair, with her eyes closed and standing straight.
Leif: [Hey.]
She opened her eyes and turned to bow at him, Leif still didn't understand why these people bowed at him so much, he just reached his hand out of the door and showed the strange white bar.
Leif: [Whats this thing?]
???: [Thats soap, master.]
Once again his nose wrinkled at the "master".
Leif: [Whats it for?]
???: [You rub it against your skin to clean yourself, master.]
Leif: [Ah! Thanks.]
He closed the door before walking back to the room filled with steam and the floral scent, the boy stood over the tub and slowly downed his foot in, the water was warm and strangely thick, he checked for a while and then sat inside, the water hit his chest, that was probably one of the best feelings of his life, he stayed still inside for a few minutes before trying to use the soap bar, he tried to rub it over his forearm and noticed it made white foam and bubbled against the skin.
Leif: [Wow...]
After a few minutes he got up, close to the entrance Kastro had left a towel and a change of clothing, the boy dried his body with the wool cloth and then put on the clothes, he had a new pair of fine leather red boots, thick black leather trousers, a red linen button up shirt and a long thick cloak with the underside made of a black wolf's pelt, he had never seen clothes of this quality before, even his captain preferred to wear simple and cost effective clothing, even the leather was more finely worked on then the rest he had seen, the cloak was something else aswell, the thick cloth was finely sewed with the wolf's pelt and the fur was intact and well kept.
He walked out and on the place of the caramel skinned maide from before stood Kastro, calmly and with his eyes closed, with a folded arm he had the boy's sword, belt and leather pouch.
Leif: [That was great, thanks Kastro.]
Kastro: [At your disposal, Mr.Crows.]
He said as he offered the boy his belongings, Leif took them and buckled the belt around his waist, fixing the sheathed sword tightly against the brown leather belt and tied his pouch of pieces to it aswell, just then they heard the sound of the gate being opened.
Kastro: [It appears Master Allera has arrived, please, Mr.Crows, allow me.]
The man said, bowing before turning away and leaving, Leif watched as the man left, he followed him for a bit after but stopped in front of a window, he pushed the glass up and pushed his head out, the gate had been swinged up and he could tell Allera, Gregory and Katlyn from the rest since they where in front, they where followed by the line of soldiers over 100 on horses and more then 200 at foot, not only that but there was also the crowd that for some reason followed them all the way from the beggening, once the gates begun to close some of the soldiers had to force the civilians away from it.
Leif: [Pft...]
He put his head back inside and closed the window once more, he walked all the way back to the stairway, looking down Kastro had made the maids and butlers make two lines in each side of the entrance door, and when Allera pushed them open with both hands he stepped up and bowed.
Kastro: [Welcome home, Master Allera, it's a pleasure to serve once more.]
Allera: [Ah, Kastro! It's a pleasure to be served my friend.]
She said stepping closer and putting a hand over the mans shoulder, Katlyn and Gregory entered just behind her, Gregory quickly steped ahead and exclaimed.
Gregory: [Good lord I need a bath, is my private chamber already prepared Kastro?]
Kastro: [Yes, young master.]
Katlyn: [And mine? I'm in desperate need of a cleanse aswell.]
Kastro: [Of course.]
Just then Allera spotted Leif leaning against the rail on top of the stairs.
Allera: [Seems Markus has done his job.]
Leif: [Square beard guy? Yeah.]
Leif and Katlyn exchanged glances and then quickly glanced away.
Allera: [It seems Kastro supplied with new clothes, well don't too comfortable, you'll have to wear something else thin night.]
Leif: [Huh?]
Gregory quickly went upstairs, passing by Leif and giving him a small tap on the shoulder, Allera started to step up just after followed by Katlyn.
Allera: [I want him in formal clothes Kastro, listen up boy, we're having a ball.]