An hour since the last chapter…

Tristan, Royal Capital, A carriage rolling down the streets

 

There are a lot of ways that you can tell how prosperous a city is, the prices of food, the quality of the streets, and the happiness of the citizens. One thing you don’t want to see is beautiful buildings all around you and streets that are immaculate with manure getting picked up as soon as it falls from a creature's backside. All being done by workers with bags under their eyes, exposed ribs, and a collar around their neck. It gets even worse when you see common citizens who are rushing from job to job in a similar state of malnourishment and misery.

 

“How much is a bag of flour?” Ashton asked.

 

“10 copper pieces,” Natalay told him after a moment.

 

“And how much is a loaf of bread?” He asked.

 

“10 copper pieces.” She replied.

 

Ashton looked at the streets that were made from dark green cobblestones and concrete that was lime green. Large windows composed of smaller square panes were used on stonework buildings that were built from limestone and the same green concrete. They displayed various goods and he could see large pillars of smoke rising from countless stoves and large plumes from the various blacksmiths. The smell of cooking food assaulted his nostrils and the smells drifted from eateries that had open doors and large displays with food hidden behind the gauzy cloth to keep the insects out.

 

The wood that was used had an almost orange color to it from the oils it was stained with, while the boards were rough, the wood had a nice look to it with large grains. A lake sat in the center of the city where buildings were built on docks and further towards the center was the keep where the royal family stayed. It was a large imposing building that looked similar to a church with a large stained window on the front displaying the symbol of the royal family, a black dragon. King Prosperity was a bastard child who was said to have been tossed into the Hollister river that flowed through the city from the lake and into the mountains.

 

He claimed that his frugality was taught to him by a dragon who made his home in the mountains outside of the massive walls of the royal capital. Every king changed the name of the royal capital just as they changed their name when they took the throne, so most people called it the royal capital to avoid confusion. The current king was called KingAusterity, his goal had been to try to reign in the noble's behavior and the royal capital was renamed Comfort, the City of Plenty. But in Ashton’s eyes, he was starting to see that dystopia took on many forms.

 

“Is there a large copper and a large silver piece too?” He asked.

 

“No,” Natalay answered immediately.

 

That is awful… Why are the prices so inflated? Ashton had already read that Tristain was the largest food producer in the region. They traded food to Galvos, Atrollia, and the sand nomads in the desert to the south, without this ability they would have already been invaded by one of the powers and conquered already. Ashton had no idea what was happening, but walking along the street beside the carriage he saw countless people who looked like little more than beggars moving from building to building. They stood in stark contrast to the immaculate streets and clean stone buildings.

 

The carriage that Ashe was on was made of a wood that had grain so dark he almost thought it was stained black, but the rings in the wood stood out as they were rust-colored. The wheels were wrapped in leather that looked like they had come from a large snake or lizard, and gold had been used liberally to coat the nails and crude bolts. Pulling the carriage was not a horse but a large gray and a sand-colored team of wolves that were the size of donkeys. Muzzles had been put over their mouths that reflected the gold leaf used to match the carriage, and the driver was an old man wearing a suit of polished black armor and a thick collar.

 

Sitting on one side of the carriage wearing fine black trousers and polished boots was Ashton who was trying not to sweat wearing the heavy fur coat. On the other side of him sharing a bench were Natalay and Kumiho. While they had accepted that he wasn’t Ashe Grayfield, they still weren’t comfortable being next to him, he also didn’t feel very comfortable being next to them. Soap was considered a luxury item and the girls had a strong natural smell that seemed to attract him.

 

The inside of the carriage was just as exquisite as the outside of it was, with thick cushioned seats stuffed with cotton and padded with leather. The seats were more comfortable than any sofa he had sat on during his time on Earth and the cotton had an almost foam-like quality to it. Flowers were kept in the carriage to provide a nice smell to cover up the smell drifting from the sewers. Along the stone streets, rusty iron grates had been installed for dumping the chamber pots that came from the various houses. 

 

The only places in town that didn’t have this smell were the various restaurants, taverns, and flower carts that were sprinkled around the city. One shop they passed by caught his attention from the strong smell and the wood that it was constructed from. The wood was a pale green and was constructed by gluing together 1 inch(2.54CM) squared boards into large sheets. There were no windows on the floor and instead of a door there was a steel grate that people were talking through and a line had formed outside of the building.

 

“What is that shop?” Ashton asked since he couldn’t figure out what it was from the outside.

 

Kumiho sniffed the air several times with her little nose before she gave an animal-like snort. “It’s an alchemist.” 

 

“Is that where the potions come from?” He asked.

 

“No, Ashe Grayfield gets them from the Grand Alchemist who serves the royal family,” Natalay answered. “All alchemy shops like to use that wood in their construction because it absorbs moisture and helps preserve herbs and magical plants. We have some boxes made from it in the kitchen to preserve spices.”

 

Around the massive keep in the middle of the lake, several large towers stood surrounding the white building, each was one of the colors of the rainbow. The massive green tower out on the waters had also been constructed from this wood and green limestone, it was a beautiful structure. A large red tower made from bricks had a massive plume of smoke rising from the top of it like a volcano that stood next to the orange one that had a massive sawmill built right into the button of it.it was positioned in the middle of the river at the mouth of the lake to turn two large water wheels and most of the building was made of orange timbers like the ones in the city. 

 

A Yellow limestone tower sat next to the one for metalworking and woodworking. It connected to these two towers using a bridge and several suspended bridges ran high above the waters between them and carts ran across the buildings using complicated pulley systems and thick ropes. Most of the weapons, armor, and ammunition came from these towers, and the best craftsmen that the royal family could employ stayed in them. The mage’s tower was in a blue limestone that was thick and covered in arcane wards and enchantments.

 

The last two towers were indigo and violet which were stout towers that were shorter than the other five. They also weren’t positioned very far onto the lake's waters and large brightly lit bridges connected to the city; these towers belonged to the magistrate and the house of Lords. Indigo was for the Magistrate and violet was for the House of Lords and just like their moniker as the hands of the royal family to administer justice, the only bridge to the keep ran between these two towers. 

 

Due to the large lake acting as the center of the city several rivers flowed in feeding the lake and several left in the direction of Galvos to the northeast and Artollia in the northwest. These various rivers were the main way that goods were transported through the city using flat barges and long poles that could stick in the mud. The most impressive sight was the walls that were taller than the length of a soccer field and he wasn’t able to gauge their thickness due to the angle but they seemed to slope the taller they got and he imagined that cannons were placed along the top.

 

“Is that a knight?” Ashton asked, seeing a man walking down the street in full plate armor with several swords belted and hung at his side.

 

“No! He is an adventurer! He reeks of blood!” Kumiho scowled and her eyes started becoming more bestial as her anger flared up. 

 

“You can tell a knight from an adventurer based on the cloth wrapped around their shoulder.” Natalay pointed to a scarf that was tied around the man’s right arm over his pauldron. It was bright orange and almost impossible to miss and had a black embroidery of a winged bird crushing arrows and spears in its talons. “It is a crime to impersonate the military so all of the adventurers wear those orange bands when they are in cities for their safety.”

 

“Their ‘own’ safety?” Ashton asked with some confusion.

 

“Yes, if they get accused of impersonating the military it is punishable by execution,” Natalay told him ominously.

 

Ashton took one look and saw that the orange band was always at least the thickness of a palm and they let the tied ends hang in the wind. They were all in a clear place that was easily visible to anyone who possessed eyes, the colorful band is what drew his eyes to the armor-clad man in the first place. Then his eyes were drawn to a giant who stood at 8 feet(244CM) tall who was wearing armor from head to foot and made loud thumping noises whenever he took a step. The first word that came to his mind was power armor, but this one lacked the mechanisms he associated with it. 

 

The helmet was fixed to the neck and didn't move, it resembled a frog’s head with a slit that ran around the outside that would have represented the mouth. The shoulders were made of segmented plates and featured several different crests and they were also present across the chest plate. On the back of this knight was a massive shield the size of a door that was curved and could almost hide the knight's massive figure.

 

“...And… what about that?” Ashton asked, pointing to the large figure.

 

“He is a noble guard,” Natalay answered simply.

 

“No, no, no, I got that because his armor has the brands of various noble houses. I mean that shield. Why is the logo for our house painted on it as well as an advertisement for a tavern?!” Ashton asked in shock.

 

“I don’t know, you paid for it!” Natalay replied in exasperation. “Those suits of armor cost hundreds of platinum coins to produce, and the nobles were allowed to put a coat of arms on the armor that was sized based on their contribution.”

 

“He used it as advertising…” An image appeared in his head of King Prosperity who thought ‘Knights covered in the symbols of the lords of Tristain, how imposing!’ and immediately mandated their creation, little did he know this is what they would be used for.

 

Even with all of the logos of the various houses, the knight's large armored figures were imposing as the noble guard took positions around the city. They also saw more standard guards wielding rifles that had bayonets fixed to the sides of the barrels, they wore coats that were indigo and hung to their knees with split tails in the back with black trousers tucked into tall boots that shone in the light and sat below the men’s knees. A tricorn hat with a feather hanging out of the side completed the guards' look and a curved saber hung at their side in a slim sheath that was decorated in a silver color that matched the ornamentation on the guns.

 

These bright shining figures were surrounded by people that looked wretched, but one thing he noticed was that they were all well dressed. Most of them wore uniforms for their various jobs, they were colorful under the sunlight, the only color absent was the purples that signified royalty and the nobles. Women of various races and species could be seen wearing revealing clothing that showed off their alluring figures as they tried to solicit male customers into their shops. The scent of tobacco smoked from pipes drifted out of the various carriages and he could occasionally catch the scent of something sweet and cloying.

 

“You said an average family makes a gold coin a year? I am starting to feel like that is just enough to starve, but not enough to be poor.” Ashton commented as he leaned back in the carriage and rubbed his tired face. 

 

“That is a good way to put it, to be poor you need to have some money... but never enough.” Natalay agreed.

 

“Kumiho thinks they should just kill the rich people and take their money!” The fox woman said savagely.

 

“That would just create even more chaos, who decides who should get that wealth? Money, in general, is a problem if greed is unregulated and destroying a system without something to put in its place is irresponsible.” Ashton concluded. “A lot of countries in my world fell quickly after they destroyed the ruling class since they weren’t able to put something better in its place.”

 

“She never said anything about destroying the system though?” Natalay said with shock.

 

Ashton pointed at the window hard enough that his finger thumped against it painfully, but he didn’t care about it. In his mind, he couldn’t understand how Natalay couldn’t see it but she had never taken a social studies class before.

 

“Look outside and tell me what led to the first civil war.” He ordered her.

 

“Greedy nobles?” She muttered the common answer that was given.

 

“That is what caused it, so how do you think the people lived and felt under those greedy nobles?” He pried further.

 

She could see the skinny beastmen, humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin walking the streets among the adventurers who wore armor that had scratches and dents. The weapons were well worn, or in some cases, dotted with rust spots. The only people who were smiling were the ones riding around in ornate carriages pulled by a variety of different beasts. 

 

“Once people become nobles no matter how good of a person they were they have no motivation to continue supporting the people. It makes much more sense to instead exploit them and take as much as you can from them to increase your influence within the royal capital!” Ashton sighed out angrily and shook his head as he leaned back into the seat of his carriage.

 

Taking a few breaths to calm himself down, he decided to use this as a moment to teach them something. “The royal family maintains their position because they have a unique ability that allows them to create these storage rings. That is why their family maintains the rule of Tristain even after two civil wars.”

 

While enchanting could make a trunk or a bag store more than it could naturally hold using spatial magic, none of them were very useful on a battlefield. To store an item in the ring he wore it required spending a large amount of mana to put it in the space that was attached to the ring and the mana had to come from the person using it to put it in the storage space. They were priceless outside of Tristain; both the Empress of Galvos and the Pope of Argollia paid large sums of money to secure some of these rings. They were just that useful since they didn’t require a magical stone to power them which allowed them to become so small.

 

“Combat abilities are valued but only in the military, most ruling lines have abilities that make them invaluable to the nation, the Pope of Argollia can extend a person’s natural life by absorbing essence from monsters,” Ashton explained. “What if none of that mattered? What would happen if abilities no longer mattered and instead people rose based on their ability?” 

 

“You are talking about Galvos, their Emperor, or Empress is selected from the person who completes the Agoge with the highest scores in every category. If there is not a clear winner then the tests are carried out until there is.” Natalay told him.

 

“Galvos makes sense! Let the strong rise and the weak fall!” Kumiho humphed. 

 

For over a thousand years Galvos has followed the doctrine that only the best can rise, and no one has the power to change it. While the Emperor or Empress could lead the armies to war, collect taxes, and establish branches of government for different tasks, they couldn’t appoint people. Everyone had to be selected through Agoge. This was the decade-long training regiment that created citizen-soldiers and worked as an assessment of everyone's ability.

 

“How long has the current Empress served Galvos?” Ashton asked in response.

 

Both women went quiet at this, neither of them had a good answer for him since they had to count in their heads.

 

“Sixty-three years, she will turn eighty-two in three months. The Agoge has been completed fifty-three times without a new leader of Galvos coming out after all this time.” Ashton explained. “While this method ensures that the leader of the country is the best, there have been several instances where Galvos has had no leader and been dormant,” Ashton explained. “Now imagine what it would be like for the people who can’t score very high.”

 

“They can only take lowly jobs that don’t provide very good lifestyles…” Natalay concluded.

 

“Instead of the Agoge which has no emotions, we have nobles who will actively work to suppress anyone who cuts into their profits. Rising is probably damn near impossible in Tristain unless you are willing to commit all kinds of heinous deeds.” Ashton explained.

 

“Like feeding Kumiho livers?” The fox woman asked him with a smirk.

 

“I have morals though, what were my terms?” He stated.

 

“Only criminals, or people who committed crimes that would be punishable by death,” Kumiho muttered in annoyance.

 

Ashton had agreed to both of their terms, on top of having to provide all of their daily necessities. He had made lists of everything they needed and the thing that shocked him the most was the food requirement. Natalay alone ate her body weight in food every week and Kumiho needed the meat of various types of monsters. The two of them alone ate more in a meal than he could eat in an entire week even if he tried his hardest.

 

When it came to Kumiho wanting to eat the livers of sentient species, he had been appalled at first as a human until he thought about it a little more from her perspective. He wasn’t going to try to justify it by saying that he wasn’t allowing her to commit murder but he had already seen that the nobles weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. If he had to choose between dying or feeding them to Kumiho, then Kumiho would be getting a snack. He also only had to help her in getting them and didn’t have any timeframe for himself, but he wasn’t going to exploit this.

 

“I think that you should worry that you don’t fall on that list. You know how Ashe Grayfield made his money right?” Natalay asked him.

 

“By mining human misery to its very depths,” Ashton said simply. “I am expecting to see things that will give me nightmares, but I have to face it if I want to change it.” 

 

“If you do that then you are going to bring attention to yourself, more than Ashe Grayfield already got,” Natalay told him seriously. 

 

“But Ashe is not here anymore, I am. I have to live in this world and I am not going to do it by harming people who don’t deserve it.” Ashton concluded.

 

“Kumiho thinks you are speaking humbug!” The fox woman told him with a yawn.

 

“Everyone is a hypocrite in some way. You could also look at hypocrisy as a good thing if you frame it right. Most hypocrisy comes from people claiming they are better people than they are and that you should trust them? That just means that those people all secretly wish that they were better people and had those qualities in the first place. Then they wouldn’t need to be hypocrites.” Ashton told them seriously. “You could almost think of hypocrisy as a sign that everyone wants to be better.”

 

“We have arrived.” A deep male voice called from the armored old man who was driving the carriage. His voice sounded distorted like it was coming through a fan, it was odd enough that he found his eyes drawn towards the window that was behind the two maids.

 

Natalay seemed to sense his confusion as she offered him the explanation he was looking for. “He is a Dullahan, he was a messenger for Tristain before he was beheaded for treason and rose as an undead.”

 

This information caused Ashton’s eyes to settle on the man driving the carriage through the viewing window that faced him. It made the driver’s feeble appearance and emaciated form make a lot more sense. 

 

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the door to the carriage was opened by a man with long blond hair that flowed down his back. He had green eyes the color of a U.S. dollar and a proud bearing with sharp features that made him give off an intense aura. He wore a dark purple coat that was split with tails in the back and featured a breast pocket but it was on the right side instead of over the heart.  White pants shone under the light and were tucked into a pair of highly polished black boots, and over his heart were several medals and awards that Ashton had no idea what they meant.

 

Ashton paused and pulled himself from his stupor, he spotted the ring on the man’s finger and immediately knew his identity based on the size and the inscription. A smile crossed his face as he reached out and took the man’s outstretched hand and gave it a firm shake. This was in contrast to the cold sweat that was running down his back and the slight shake he was having to suppress coming from his knees. The man’s grip was incredibly impressive, worthy of one of the most promising young warriors the kingdom of Tristain had ever produced.

 

“Prince Valiant… What a.... surprise!” Ashton greeted the prince warmly.

 

“Hahahaha! Ashe, why are you calling me that all of a sudden? I want you to just call me Val, I hate that outdated tradition!” The Prince said as he glanced around at the various people who followed him to the carriage.

 

They were all in their mid to late twenties with some of the men and women being just into the start of their thirties. This was the age that most people could expect to inherit their houses and take over the lordship, or in the case of some families, get a portion of the family territory to start their ventures with. He could see the crests of many prominent families but none of them were from the great houses like he was. It confused him for a moment because he thought that if it was a gathering of prominent nobles then it would have some members of every family.

 

Stepping onto the cobblestone streets with the outstretched hand from the Prince he looked at the large establishment behind him. A strong floral fragrance was coming from planters that were under each of the large stained windows that depicted scenes of beer mugs overflowing with foam. The words “King’s Cup” were written across the front in gold with a symbol of a crown wrapped around a beer mug. It looked similar to a bar or tavern, but it was upscaled, with a beautiful wood and granite finish, a high sloped ceiling, and several metal smokestacks with odd bends in them stuck out of the roof artistically.

 

Stepping out the carriage he was joined by Kumiho who stood behind him with her head down and her tails had condensed down into a single one that she kept elevated just high enough that it didn’t drag across the floor. Natalay followed but she resembled a catkin with a long black tail and ears in her cream-colored hair. Ashe Grayfield usually brought a pair of combat maids with him, so all of the gathered nobles seemed to think this was a rare show of ease from him. Several couldn’t wait and began offering greetings to him while he was still shaking hands with the prince.

 

He counted close to thirty people standing behind him and in the doors of the large tavern and all of the various voices were making it hard for him to hear the prince speaking. The prince refused to be outdone and simply raised his voice over the crowd of excited nobles.

 

“It was my invitation, it shouldn’t be a surprise at all that I would be here. If anything I should thank you for loaning me your establishment as my venue!” The prince told him enthusiastically. 

 

“I am a citizen… I am just doing my part.” Ashton told him as he forced a smile on his face and tried to hide his shock.

 

I own this?! Huge. That was the first word that came to his mind as it had two floors and a basement. He was led inside by the Prince, through the various people trying to get their attention and what he saw inside was a typical bar setting, but the seats were all made from extravagant leather and the hardwood floor was carpeted. The carpet was uniform and was colored a light red that had a cream color to it making it look like strawberry yogurt. Gold was used as trim on the oaked wood walls that were placed inside of the stone to lighten up the interior.

 

Glass bulbs that were molded to look like flowers were filled with a thick yellow oil that was burning and releasing a rose smell into the air. The flames coming off of it were blue and released only a minor amount of light and heat, but the smell covered up the body odor released by the patrons. With the lack of soaps and other deodorants, he had found that the smell of body odor was a lot more common than what he had experienced on Earth. That mixed with the smells that drifted from the sewers meant that flowers seemed to be everywhere compared to what he had seen on Earth.

 

The only thing out of place in comparison to the usual decor as large barrels of beer that had been cracked open with an ax and were being served to the various nobles. Many people stood with large glass steins that looked like they had been molded and some of them had the logos of the various houses laid onto the glass in different colors. The opulence of the establishment screamed that it was for nobles but he noticed that they were only serving beer. The barrels that were being served were set in cold water that had ice floating around it and guards wearing armor stood around the perimeter of the building carrying rifles with bayonets attached in the colors of Grayfield.

 

Do nobles only drink beer in this world?! Ashton thought in shock.

 

Next Chapter: These Are Adventurers!?!