Three days later Chronos was standing on the deck admiring the capital city that lay sprawled out in front of them.
No matter how many times he saw it, it was just as impressive as the first time.
Originally the capital city had been built on and slightly inside of a mountain in the middle of the Leighla Kingdom.
Nobody really knew where the mountain had come from as it stood alone with no mountains or even hills nearby to suggest it was natural. Most assumed that it had been created by a powerful expert in the distant past. But no one really wanted to think about how powerful you had to be to create an entire mountain on a plain.
The main reason why the first king had settled there was that it was an easily defensible location. With the dark beasts and monsters that were swarming everywhere at that point in time being easily defended mattered a lot more than whoever had built it.
Now, a thousand years later, they had hollowed out the entirety of the southern side of the mountain and built a tall castle in the caldera that was left behind. Or rather than being in the caldera they had turned the stone of the mountain itself into the castle creating a castle that was nearly half as tall and half as large as the mountain.
The large walls of the noble section of the city extended from what was left of the east and west sides of the mountain cutting them off from the rest of the city to the south.
Extending from a point just beyond the noble's walls was another wall that went to the south forming a half circle around what was known as the mages city that extended to the south outside of the mountain's caldera.
Right in front of the inner wall were several massive moat-like holes where an ample supply of magistone, magic crystals, and elemental gems were excavated. The amount of natural spirit coming out of those holes was so great that they emitted a gentle blue light at all times.
As far as he knew those mines extended a few kilometers below the surface and they were still finding new veins even after hundreds of years of excavation.
Within the city outside of the noble's quarters were numerous mages towers and research institutes who had gathered here both for the resources and to study the natural spirit that came from the holes.
So many mages had gathered together over the years that many people called the capital the city of magic.
Outside the mages walls was a more normal city created by the commoners that spread out onto the plains. Many had gathered for safety, but some had come to serve the powerful and perhaps gain power themselves.
But looking at it closely Chronos could see the foundations of another wall being built to surround the regular city. From the looks of it that wall would circle around the entire mountain before connecting with itself behind the mountain.
He wondered why the king would build such a fortification as the city was mainly on the south side with very few people living on the north side of the mountain.
Then the ship circled around the southern and western sides of the mountain towards the northwestern slope where he saw several military academies, a noble academy, and several towers that looked like they had docks built into them.
It took him a few minutes to realize that those towers were for docking flying ships.
So that was it. The king was expanding the more restricted parts of the city to the north.
Naturally those would need to be well defended with a wall that circled the whole mountain, even if the construction mages complained that it was a pain to build something that massive.
Overall capital city Leighla was a sight that everyone in the Leighla Kingdom wanted to see at least once.
"All passengers are to return to their rooms until we have docked, and you are allowed to leave," came the captain's voice from the upper deck.
Complaints came from everyone who had gathered on deck to see the sights as they descended but they were swiftly silenced by the captain's next statement.
"If you aren't in your rooms in five minutes, I'll have my men tie you up and hang you overboard until we land."
Chronos briefly considered if seeing the city while dangling in the air would be worth it before deciding that he still needed to pack some of his things before they landed.
Reaching his room, he found Lyla already waiting for him.
"Are you finished packing already?" Chronos asked.
"Yep, just finished, what about you?"
Chronos opened his storage and threw most of his gear lying around the room into it; he could organize it later. Then he picked up his designs and diagrams for his new spear and carefully tucked them away in a corner of his storage before closing it.
"Now I'm done."
Lyla scowled at him, jealousy for his storage flashing in her eyes.
"It's not fair how easy it is for you."
"Don't be too jealous. Last I heard Hrólmir was working on getting a storage set up for everyone."
That brightened Lyla's day, but Chronos would never tell her that it might be a few years based off of his personal experience of creating a storage. Hrólmir might be one of the most powerful beings Chronos had ever met but he lacked a spatial affinity which would make his work very difficult.
"What are we going to do once we land? The temple will definitely want me there for the coming festival and announcement regarding the system. It'll be really hard to meet up once they pick me up."
Chronos considered what to do for a moment.
"I'll take you to my family's mansion first using the excuse of my party needing rest. That'll give us at least a day and then you'll know where to escape to when things are too tough for you in the temple. After that we can only do our best," he said with a wry smile.
The next few weeks weren't looking easy for them, too many people wanted to meet them and there were too many responsibilities that they had to fulfill. Whether they were able to get together again or not was highly questionable at this point in time.
When that thought crossed his mind Chronos heard that mysterious ancient voices' laughter echo in his mind again and he couldn't help suddenly feeling like he had forgotten something important.
Bump.
With a gentle bump the ship docked with a tower, and they were informed that they could leave their rooms.
"Well time to go. Let's find out who's waiting for us first."
Standing the two of them joined Gregory and Sariah on their way to the main deck.