Aside from the giant, ancient trees in the forest around the village, Erika had never seen anything so big before. The walls of Morganor were the single largest man-made structure that she’d ever seen. They circled around the whole shire, with no end in sight. When Erika first saw it, she froze and just stared like a startled rabbit until Marian finally shook her out of her daze.

“Really…? That’s Morganor? How isn’t it a polis?” Erika asked, at a loss for any other words.

“It’s classified as a shire for a reason unrelated to size. Do you realize how there’s no fairy ring around?” Marian said. “Even without them, monsters still won’t attack the city.”

Erika looked up at her curiously. “How come?”

“Because of the wonders of magitech.” Marian patted Erika’s head like a parent would to a child. Erika didn’t protest since she was already used to the treatment from Tabitha.

Speaking of Tabitha, was Tabitha thinking of her after she left? Erika wouldn’t be offended even if Tabitha didn’t miss her since she knew how busy Tabitha was with her children. That kind of life was what Erika was running away from in the first place, and Erika didn’t envy her old best friend.

Shifting seamlessly from parent to teacher, Marian pulled a mushroom out of her pocket. Erika had no idea why Marian was carrying around a mushroom, but she didn’t ask since she recognized it as a fairy ring cap— the mushrooms that made up fairy rings.

Erika didn’t really know about fairy rings, but they had always interested her in how they were able to keep away monsters. Sadly, fairy rings were too valuable for her to be messing around with.

“The short answer is that a shire has a repeller. After studying how these fairy ring caps work, we managed to create a device that’s quite similar in function.” Marian split the mushroom apart, revealing an intricate inside with a mysterious pattern.

The cap looked delicious, with how plump and fresh it looked. Erika had the sudden urge to eat it, even though she knew that she couldn’t.

“You won’t understand the details just yet, but for now, all you have to know is that fairy rings channel aether in such a way that when put in a circle, the channeled aether forms a particular pattern in the air that is uncomfortable for monsters.”

“They don’t affect Rovers?” Erika asked. “Rovers are similar to monsters, right?”

“Yes, but Rovers are still human. Monsters are things that have been completely taken over by the power inside them, while we are different. Perhaps in a strong enough pattern, we’ll get uncomfortable too, but so far, a device that can produce something so strong has not yet been developed.”

The mushroom disappeared into Marian’s pocket again, but Erika was watching this time. Bizarrely, there was no lump where the mushroom should’ve been in Marian’s pocket. It was like Marian did a strange disappearing trick that made the mushroom vanish.

She stared at the pocket and where the mushroom disappeared for a moment longer before Marian waved her hand in front of her face. “Hello, Erika? Are you awake?”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Yes, I understand now. So the devices imitate fairy rings, and it’s more useful, right?”

Marian nodded, looking pleased. “Very good.”

“Something like that must have downsides, right?”

“Why, yes. Good observation, Erika.” Marian was back in teacher mode again. “Such a device is bulky and most stationary. If you move it around, the patterns will be disrupted, and the repeller won’t work. That’s why you can’t use it to travel unless you have something more specialized.” She held up one finger. “That’s one. Two is obviously the cost. The materials needed to create such a device are expensive and rare, so only settlements above a certain size can afford one. The rest must use regular fairy rings.”

Erika nodded, mentally noting all the things that Marian was teaching her. It was valuable information about this new world that she was stepping into. Once again, she had learned something new— every day she spent with Marian filled her with new knowledge.

Still on foot, walking slowly, they finally reached the gate. The closer they got to the walls, the fewer monsters there were, and past a certain point, Erika realized that she felt something in the air that made her uncomfortable.

It felt like it was reacting to the Rover’s Mark on her back. The feeling was probably the repelling effect that Marian had just told her about. It was faint, though. After a while, Erika got used to it and learned to ignore it.

Just like how people rarely left the village unless they had to, Erika didn’t see anyone outside of Morganor’s great walls. The only people she saw were those standing at set intervals on the wall’s ramparts.

When they stepped up to the gate made of wood reinforced by black metal, a small side door that looked even more heavily reinforced than the main gate opened up, allowing them to enter the walls.

There, the shirefolks had set up a checkpoint. The man at the desk looked bored, about to doze off, until Marian knocked lightly on the door and entered.

The man took one look at her and jumped to his feet, almost stumbling over himself to get up.

“W-welcome to Morganor! Please, state your business! How can I help you?”

When Erika saw how the man looked at Marian, Ian’s image appeared in her mind. The man and Ian seemed to be cut from the same cloth, and upon first sight, she decided that she didn’t like him.

Marian just continued on as if everything was normal. Her experience from traveling gave her that much adaptability. “Good evening, sir,” she said in her honey-like voice. “I’m just a traveler here to resupply.” She flashed her badge.

“And her?” The man looked at Erika, who shrank back behind Marian.

“She’s my companion, of course. I believe that Rovers can bring as many visitors as they like?”

The man nodded, looking at Erika thoughtfully. However, before he could stare for much longer, the temperature of the air dropped. Goosebumps appeared all over Erika’s body, mainly her arms. For a moment, Marian intimidated her.

The man was even worse. He stepped back. “S-sorry. You may enter….”

Marian nodded at him coldly, grabbed Erika’s hand, and led her past the little checkpoint room. A few more twists and turns, and they arrived back out under the open sky, but on the other side of the wall this time. They were in Morganor.

Erika looked around in wonder. Like Erika’s village, Morganor was self-sufficient within its walls. That meant vast lands secured in a way that made the land safe. Compared to her village, Morganor was on a whole other level.

Right after entering, she was greeted with sweeping plains that seemed to be unused. Now, the area wasn’t that big, but it still felt like a colossal waste of space. Being a prominent place with a repeller seemed to have its benefits, although Erika was more surprised that the people of Morganors managed to build such a long wall.

Marian caught her staring and laughed, guessing her thoughts. “Don’t be so surprised. You’d be shocked about what magitech can do. A wall like that is no big deal.”

But that just made Erika look at Marian like she had grown a new head. Still, she was just a country bumpkin, so what did she know? What Marian says must be true.

Past the grassy lands were the farmlands. The fields were still empty since they had just come out of winter, but Erika still felt a pang of jealousy at how much land there was. That much land could feed so many people.

There were also herds of animals grazing in the distance. Cattle, for meat.

“Morganor also has a lake completely enclosed in its walls.”

Erika nodded, already numb to everything.

They hitched a ride on a farmer’s cart and reached the center of the shire, or what Erika imagined a population center of such a huge community to be like: tall buildings, a lot of people. Her imagination hadn’t lied, and there really was more than Erika could imagine ever seeing.

There were so many people that people didn’t know each other. They only knew their neighbors.

Unlike how travelers instantly drew eyes whenever they appeared in her old village, here, nobody batted an eye at their presence. The only exception was a few people that seemed to be attracted to Marian’s beauty.

“Wow… wow.” That was all Erika could say as she walked around, turning and turning. “So this is a shire?”

“Not all shires are like this. The size and strength of their repeller dictate what they’re classified as. Most shires have smaller repellers, and Morganor happens to sit at the upper limits of what could be considered a shire. If they upgrade or improve their device, then perhaps they’ll be classified as a polis by the Consortium.”

Consortium. That term showed up once again, and this time, Marian didn’t rebuff her curious eyes. The taller woman nodded. “Well, I suppose that since you could be considered a proper Rover now, more or less, it’s time for you to learn about the Consortium.”

“Simply put, the Consortium is an organization that spans the entirety of human space. It’s probably one of the largest organizations, with only a few others that are comparable.”

Erika’s eyes widened at that. Here she was, stepping out of her village for the first time, and here Marian was telling her that there was such a broad organization. “How big is ‘human space’ anyway? How far have you traveled, Marian?” she asked, a little afraid of the answer.

But Marian shook her head. “Not that far, really. Compared to how far we’ve spread, I’ve only traveled a small section of it.”

“...Wow.” Marian was an experienced traveler in Erika’s mind. If even Marian claimed that she hasn’t gone far, then the lands that all of humanity took up must be truly vast… Even if they are tiny bubbles of civilization in huge swathes of wilderness.

“And the place we’re heading to now is the local Consortium branch and see what kind of information we can get about your Blessing.”

Hearing that they were going to explore her Blessing, Erika clapped, excited. Although she resolved to figure out her abilities by herself, she wasn’t going to reject help if offered. “Okay!”

Walking through the streets of the enormous, taking in the sights of all the new and different people she saw, Erika felt like her heart was going to burst. She was taking in so much, and it was with her own two eyes rather than just hearing from Marian.

There were all kinds of stores, from clothing to food to entertainment. Erika blushed when she used her newfound literacy to spot a brothel, and she quickly averted her gaze and hurried after Marian.

Aside from that little embarrassment, the walk was smooth. When she almost drooled at the sight of a cake, Marian sighed and brought it for her.

While she was nibbling on the dessert bit by bit, savoring every last bit of sweetness, they arrived at the place that Marian had been talking about. Erika couldn’t miss it if she tried.

The building outshined everything else around it as if it was flaunting its powers. Then again, a worldwide organization is more prestigious, so Erika shouldn’t be surprised that even a branch of it in a large shire is so extravagant in its flair.

Without even pausing to admire the workmanship that had clearly gone into the creation of this artistic temple, however, Marian simply entered, forcing Erika to wolf down the rest of her food and scurry in after her temporary mentor.

A blast of cool air hit her, clearing her mind.