It was late at night when the carriage finally arrived in the city of Ortario. Hal and Tai got off the carriage, and as Tai stayed back to pay the carriage driver, Hal took his time to examine the large city he now stood in.
The city of Ortario was huge, with four great towers that stood at the four cardinal points of the city, each towers' clock faces had was made from different color crystals same as those from the cave, they gave a dazzling radiance that illuminated a huge part of the city for each clock face there by splitting it into four sectors that glowed with the corresponding light.
Going clockwise from the north, there was a tower that glowed with a dazzling golden yellow, rivalling the sun in beauty, and to the east was a tower that emitted a stunning blue, mirroring the grace of water.
To the south, the tower glowed a bright emerald green, evoking a peaceful natural vibe, and to the west, there was a tower that shone with a fiery red hue that captured the fury of an unbound flame.
From where he stood, he saw four roads, one coming from each of the towers, as they glowered with the same radiance as their origin; the four roads led to the most dazzling building. It was a large mansion that dwarfed most of the buildings except the four great towers standing at the corners of the city.
The mansion gave off its dazzling glow, its windows shimmered, and the four fountains in front of it let out large jets of water that were illuminated to give off the same colour as the four towers.
Hal was completely taken aback by the beauty of the city, as a proud voice pulled him out of his feeling of awe, "Told you we have the most beautiful city" Hal turned and stared at Tai, who stared back with a smug look on their face.
Hal sighed as he nodded to the handsome swordsman, who smiled diligently back. He then looked around the place they happened to be in the current moment. They were under the soothing embrace of the blue tower, surrounded by different merchant shops as far as the eye could see. People conducted business left and right of them. Could it be that each area had a specific type of people who lived there?
His thoughts felt more and more true the more Tai led him through the city. He could hear the handsome swordsman mumble in front of him, but seemed not to pay attention to him; instead, he continued to observe the area. He could see people dressed in beautiful gowns, some wore casual clothes, others dressed like merchants, and the rest wore armour.
Each type of person carried out business with the merchants, who were the majority in the area, but soon enough he bumped into Tai who turned to him speaking with an excited tone "This guy he can take us to the hunter residential area and before you ask it's the red part okay now let's go the others must be worried"
The carriage sped off, transporting them to the red area of the city. "Hmmm, the hunter residential area, so I was right" Indeed, his thoughts about the city were accurate, so if the red zone was for these hunters, then the blue zone was for merchants, but if so, then what of the green and yellow areas and also who were these hunters?
Hal thought of asking Tai, but after answering so many questions for him, he thought not to as the carriage finally arrived in the red area of the city. If the blue area was full of merchant shops and marketplaces, then the red area was filled with hunter companies, at least that is what Tai called them.
According to Tai, hunters were meant to be something akin to police officers, but he hadn't gone into full detail about them, telling him how Lady Roxanne would explain more later, "I wonder who she might be".
The people here wore different types of armour that ranged from old and run down to finely tuned and polished as his eyes swept through the people he turned to himself frowning at his bloodied night wear, he proceeded to face Tai who wore a leather armour that was mostly battered and bruised at this point he sighed as the carriage soon came to a halt.
The two got out of the carriage after which Tai led down him through many different alley ways as if trying to confuse but then they finally arrived a building that was three stories tall it was hidden away from the rest and looked slightly run down it had a sign of a silver sword that welcome all that happened to see the building.
Tai didn't waste time entering the building, which led him through a corridor that led to the reception table with two staircases next to it that led upwards, as the other took you below the building.
At the reception sat a woman with beautiful red hair that flowed down in a luscious streak of hair. She appeared to be in her twenties and gave off the aura of confidence and a calm mentality as she spoke gently, "Welcome to the Silver Sword Hunter Company".
She turned to face them, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of them "Tai, you're back" Tai smiled as the receptionist got up from her table, speaking to him with a concerned tone "Where the hell did you go? The entire company was worried because you were gone three days, and look at you, you're all banged up"
Her face quickly turned to a frown as she continued in an irritated voice, "In the condition you're in, Lady Roxanne won't be happy" Tai giggled with a sense of guilt and answered in his defense "I'll explain later Tiffane cause it's a lot but all you need to know is that the only reason I made it out was him".
Tiffane's calm gaze finally fell to him, causing him to shudder slightly as the young lady asked, "So, which company are you from?" Hal pulled back, but before he could answer, Tai spoke first, "Well, he doesn't remember a thing, so he doesn't belong to any but I was hoping that he could join ours"
The lady continued to admire him as if considering her choices before finally speaking, "I can't decide if he joins, but I'll let him speak to Lady Roxanne, and you go get patched up" Tai gave Hal a reassuring smile before climbing up the building, disappearing out of sight.
Tiffane left the counter and moved to the staircase leading downward "Please, follow me," she led him down the staircase, moving with a steady gait. She mostly kept quiet as the two made their way through the hall, which was lined with crystals that were made to glow a white colour.
There were also many doors in the hall where they led to, Hal didn't know where. Instead, he was led to the end of it "Please wait here for a bit", she entered the door and closed it behind her. Hal waited for a few minutes before the lady opened the door "Lady Roxanne will meet you now".
Hal was hesitant with his steps as he slowly entered the office of the leader of this company. Behind the door was an office filled with shelves that each housed their own set of books, they seemed to be written in a language he didn't understand, though it looked quite familiar.
Behind the table of the office was a lady with lavish black and deep blue eyes that gave her a calm sense of beauty. She wore a beautiful red gown with purple embroidery, which surprised Hal to see why the police of a fantasy world would where a gown, even though Tiffane was wearing one, hers, though, was a dull green colour and looked not as expensive as of the woman in front of him she appeared to be in her prime thirties as her cold calm demeaner caused Hal to tense up.
"So they told me that you want to join us" Hal would rather not join the police, but according to his circumstances, he found himself unable to refuse. He nodded calmly as the lady's lips twisted into a smile, "I also heard you saved Tai," and again he nodded calmly.
Her smile widened a little before quickly fading away, and in the next moment, a slender rapier was now at his neck as its silver round hilt reflected in his eyes the lady's eyes gleamed with a blood lust that sent a chill down Hal's spine as he heard her cold voice enter his ears, "Who are you"
"You see, the books behind me are a record of all people currently living in our kingdom, and your name was not among them. Please explain" Hal was confused about how she had looked through all the books behind her in such a short time. He felt his heartbeat increase, but forced himself to calm down.
"I….I don't know anything, all I know is that I woke up in a cave with glowing walls, that's all I remember," Lady Roxanne's eyes moved to Tiffane, who nodded lightly as she retracted the rapier from his neck. Feeling that his legs had grown weak, he fell to the floor, unable to stand up for a moment.
She sheathed her blade, proceeding to sit back at her table "Okay then, Mr. Hal, you and I are going to have quite the chat then" Hal turned to Lady Roxanne and found himself wishing he had said no.