The next day after the banquet Kotori took a trip to visit the city.
It was something that Fawks had initially protested but allowed it after Kotori explained that she likely wouldn’t find the other candidates there.
The other candidates were all royalty. They didn’t mingle with commoners much less go into the city. Kotori had no sort of inhibitions and wanted to visit the city.
If she was going to be queen, she might as well know and learn the people who she would be ruling.
** ** **
The city of Xernos was planned in a curious manner, the roads were small with the exception of the 8 mains roads which radiated from the center of the city in a spoke pattern. Ironically the city didn’t have a palace in the center of the city. The palace was actually located towards the northern end of the city.
The center of the city was reserved for the most important thing of all.
The flagship dungeon of Xernos, the endless dungeon, is known as the “Labyrinthos” or “Lab” among the adventurers. As Fawks had explained, the entire country of Eris had the most dungeon out of all the countries in the world, as a result, the country also went by another name “Adventurer’s Paradise”, and it showed how many adventurers roamed the street.
All sorts of adventurers were roaming the streets and much of the markets seem tailored to this audience. There was a wide assortment of weapons and armor shops on the streets. Merchants even had impromptu stands set up on the ground, stands that were little more than a wide mat laid on the ground.
It was quite a sightseeing the various people walking around, and for once Kotori felt like she was in a fantasy landscape, the adventurers in Faramouth were disappointing to say the least.
Kotori was having plenty of fun walking around and just taking in the atmosphere of the city.
Many of the people were giving her odd looks. She was a Queens candidate after, none of them would leave the palace and if they did ever leave, they would be in a carriage. Watching Kotori walking around was akin to seeing a celebrity in the public.
Thankfully, none of them bothered Kotori since she was accompanied by Amah who scared off any near ‘do wells. Messing with the Queen’s candidate while the Queen’s guard was around was basically a death sentence. Not that it mattered that much, Kotori also had Amelie, Umi, and Lyla with her, all of them were people who would mop the floor with any second-rate adventurer.
Kotori did have some experience with being higher status than commons, she was basically a noble in the Faramouth kingdom, but it didn’t compare to the amount of attention she was currently getting.
People were stopping in the street to gawk at her. When she first arrived, she had be mostly insulated from this behavior since she was basically placed in a carriage the moment she got off the DaiMaru but now she was put in the thick of humanity.
Kotori’s wanderings had led her to a large three-storied building. The building was make out of stone and had a blocky structure.
She could see in large plain lettering on it that said “Adventurers guild”
Quite a few people were streaming in and out of it.
Kotori, with her curious piqued decided to walk into the building. She wanted to see a true adventurers guild and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
As she walked into it, she almost had a nostalgic feeling, a feeling that felt like “ah this is right”
The adventurer’s guild was a lively place but Kotori’s arrival had caused a bit of a ruckus.
[Shun and Anya would like this place] Kotori thought. This was the adventurers guild that they probably envisioned when they were in the frontier city of Feran. Just thinking about those two made Kotori realize how far away from home she had come.
The guild was filled with all sorts of adventurers and towards the back of the building, there was a large counter with several cute receptionists at the desks.
Along another wall was a large wooden board that was filled and covered with several paper notices and requests.
Kotori could see various adventurers pulling the requests from the board and taking them to the desk.
Despite the hustle and bustle the whole guild suddenly went silent at Kotori’s arrival.
Feeling very self-conscious Kotori could only squeak out a few words
“Um… Hi?”
Patreon
I hope you feel better, depression sucks.
I'm sorry to hear that, and hope you are feeling better,, hope you know that you are not alone, it may seem like that sometimes but you are not, far from it!
And this story is far from a faliour! is it perfect? No, but thats okay, nothing is. But you are clearly improving as you write more and more, and your passion for this world come thru in your writing!
Depression is hard to deal with, I know that from experience, and "sometimes all you can do is hope that tomorrow is a better day". And just know this: it's okay, not to be okay. It's good that you see a therapist, it shows that you *seek* help and not just wait to be saved, because "People can't save other people, they can only land a hand"
I hope tomorrow will be a better day for you, and if you need it, feel free to dm Me :)
Hey!
I won't say I understand your struggles, because I don't and that would be disingenuous.
There is some advice I want to give you tough:
-you only have one life, don't end it. No matter how low you fall, you can still climb back!
-about depression: try to get some friend with common interests and spend time with them
-if you have the everyday urban life with little physical effort, try to go to the gym, take swimming or biking. That will get you extremely tired, but leave you in a much better mental state. Also, help you to get more fit, and that helps with the self image if you have problems with that.
Personally, some of shittiest time I had was after I got a good job and the only thing I could think was "What the f*ck am I wasting my life on?" The stuff I mentioned to you helped me a lot, so it might be worth a shot too.
Hope you get better!
Hey, long time reader here, I just made an account just so I could comment here after reading about your hardships. Very sorry to hear about your problems with your depression.
I really like this story and come here everyday to look for the new chapter. Of course I didn't like all the twists and turns, but thats just given. I really hope you'll continue and finish the story in whatever pace or way you or it needs, thats enough for me.
Besides, as someone who wrote online novels before and actually failed to grab any attention, you have every right to feel proud about what you achieved.
Wish you the best of luck!
I hope you find a way to balance yourself and find away to reconnect to life and nature. Please do not talk about killing yourself. In the end experience is just the sum of your failures and to do anything right you need tons of experience...
you need to learn that is okay to fail as it's a nessessary step to improve you never know what you can do better if you can't see what you're doing worrong also different from me you have a future as long you don't push yourself to the edge you can make good life and a legacy life is hard unforgivable uncaring but those that thrive are those that don't give up no matter bad it is
one of the things that i use to control depression is have a walk or talk with someone put a hour to reflect if you keep putting your problems on the back of your mind they will resurge all at once
your stuff is radical
I'm very sorry to hear that. Your story is the best one so far, no need force your self. I wish you the best.