The next morning, we bid farewell to the Mountainfolks or rather they bid farewell to us.
We'd gone to bed in the village but woke up in the middle of nowhere with one or maybe two of them. The rest had finished deconstructing their village and were halfway to the port.
"Thank you for showing us such marvelous equipment."
"You know, if you want, you can use my name," I said. "They know me well."
"We will if the situation needs for it."
That being said, the guard- whose name was something like Rocky or Brocky, I wasn't sure- left.
Meanwhile, our journey resumed.
Another week till our first major city. And at least a couple more weeks till we reached the end of this fucking continent. But wait, that was considering we could get a fast carriage. If the next city also had cow pulled stuff then…
Sigh….
***
Marble houses.
Not just floors but actual marble walls. The patterns were wild. So many different kinds of patterns, some symmetrical, some just downright wild. If the outsides were this tantalizing, I couldn't imagine what the insides would be.
"We're staying at one of those places, right?" I said.
"No. Too expensive."
We entered the city of Treaties: Disparisa. Surrounded by huge white walls on all sides, it was truly a marvel to stare at. I'd noticed the city last evening and although we'd been walking since morning, it wasn't until late afternoon when we finally reached the city. That's how filthy huge it was. Or at least the walls and some of the buildings on the other side were.
Ayun Empire was the largest country in the world and had the second largest temple of Askavan in existence. The empire had multiple capitals, one of which was this city. Famous for deals and treaties and legal stuff but sadly no honeycrisps.
Sigh.
"We can always just visit some of the public houses," Kayla said.
"We cannot," Alustur said. "Most public places do not have the same marble walls. Only the church."
"I guess we can maybe see the church?" I wondered.
I didn't get any yes from any one of them.
Sigh.
I suppose our hatred for the church had come back to bite us in the ass.
The city had many marble buildings but most of which were residential homes of nobles or big shot merchants. Actually, the whole city was a bit different than I'd imagined. On one hand it was huge. Like huge- huge. I hadn't seen any city so far to be this huge. Even West Siran wasn't this big. On the other hand, it was a posh area. The roads were wider, there were more carriages around, and people had much better clothes than usual. I hadn't seen any street peddlers or beggars or villagers.
Even the road we used, was pretty damn well built.
"Why is it so empty though?" I wondered.
"Traffic from this side of the country is rare," Alustur said. "Wait till you see the other side of the city."
Oh boy.
We first went to the guild, which was huge and although should have been marble, wasn't. Only the flooring was marble. The walls were wood.
Sigh.
"We would like to stay the night," he offered his card. I did too. The guild could provide us with rooms, assuming they had stuff available (and our ranks were high enough).
I thought this place would have a lot of adventurers but it wasn't that crowded. If anything, Shirushi port had more adventurers.
They gave us two rooms. Both single.
"We'll have to deal with it," Alustur said. "You two wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor, yes?"
"I'm fine with it," Kayla said. She gave her brother a glance who nodded.
"The food here is bland," Alustur said. "So if you want something with more spices, we'll have to go looking. Disparisa has a rich nightlife. However, it also has its traps. I would not recommend going out at night."
"You're talking as though I'd sneak out or something." I shrugged.
"You've had a record of doing unpredictable things, so I'm only reminding you to be careful."
He had a point.
Finally, a decent bed at last!
A really decent bed!
I could sleep well!
Kayla entered and made her bed on the floor.
"You can join my bed if you want," I said. "There's space."
"It's fine. I move around a lot in my sleep. Might clobber you."
"Oh okay."
"Good night."
Hmm… I thought it'd be awkward but we were too tired for that.
So, I slept good for a while.
I had a dream about mom making me soup.
Good times.