Hundreds of people walk right and left, head to head as he could see. Bustling is a weak word to describe what is here, and William completely underestimated the potential of this city's Central District.

 

Reaching this place has been alright, but going forward? Not that much.

 

Although, this is not so much obvious in the main streets which are wider. Since the access paths to those side streets are rather tight with paths that go directly to the shopping venues, and trading venues respectively. People accumulate where are the most potential to get business done, and that is precisely what William sees at the moment.

 

“I have no time for this shit…” He gives up and rather goes on the wider street, by a side of the pavement walks around the river.

 

Pavement is done in almost the same structure as everything he has seen so far. The same could be said about the bridge he crossed a few moments ago. Pillars protrude from the waters of the rivers, which are, in fact, steady currents from the ocean. They are here to provide water and everything across every district. Boats drift in many parts of the river, and William assumes they are here for the transportation of people, or trade.

 

William even notes a few bigger ships, but not many as he walks. At least in this part of the city, there seems to be no abundant trade through the river. He could not even walk to the river, as there is no walkthrough available to reach the water, as it is probably not something important for the everyday citizen.

 

Looking around the main streets, which curve around the many sections of the smaller streets on his left, William watches the same situations occur in the same way as before. People are everywhere he sees. Shouting and the clutter of voices left him rather speechless, and memories of the camps almost make it seem familiar. Yet, he still dislikes this crowded space.

 

Such shopping districts are in the camps he has lived in. Although with not such a high level of build quality, it at least resembles the hectic nature to provide oneself with food and everyday needs. One of his smaller memories is a notion of the walk, with the warm hand of his mother throughout the marketplace of the nameless camp. He felt happy back then, as he was way too young to understand any meaningful words in the current and chaotic world.

 

That, William completely understands, and every human being is the same. No matter where or how they are living.

 

Suddenly, he takes a note of a sight that says.

 

Library of the Federation.

 

“That point arrow is probably the direction?” William assumes and follows forth. Such signs are occasionally in many parts of his walk, but none of them points to something interesting. Just the name of the streets that are useless to him. But, in fact, he follows the direction of the piercing tower right across the buildings.

 

In this amount of walk he endures, William spent not only looking around the surroundings but also at the people. Not like he wants to be bothering them, but with casual and neutral glances, he manages to seek out the people's appearances in this city. He does not want to make anyone uncomfortable in this summer weather, and the way the majority of people are clothed is much better than himself. This not one bit bothers him. It is just an observation he makes.

 

Although it is the morning, everyone wears jeans, fabric trousers, and shirts. Some even had jackets of military and casual hoodies. Not a lot of variety is there, but it could be understood that fashion is not important as in the past. People need the functionality and the quality came to them in a form of low-cost, and high-functioning probes of cotton, which are still available in vast amounts in many forms. Farms and workplaces are in constant ways to provide clothes since people need them all the time.

 

Humanity and its economics are not something Willian ever loved, but learning a thing or two about them is mandatory for anyone who has a decent brain in their head.

 

William knows the reason for a few answers since the main course of his livelihood was not the orphanage. He could sleep there, and feed himself through the people who were in charge, but time in a day was not spent doing anything.

 

He, too, had a job. To be precise, many jobs, since the camps had a lot of issues and careful care was put into their locations. Usually a plain with good views, with a river to go along with them.

 

The builders structured farms around the defensive walls or building in general with many acres of land to cultivate. Potatoes, tomatoes, and fields upon fields of wheat are what William took care of for years. That and the animal fields were managed and sought out by workers since they had the most recourses. One had to manage rows of sheep, cows, rabbits, and chickens to make their needs.

 

Barter is used in such situations since camps had no method to make the money accessible to everyone equally, so decades of stress and experience led to a simple use of good old barter trades. Milk, pounds of wheat, or anything of similar value could be traded for clothes or any kind of food that one needs. It is an old-fashioned way of doing things, but William sees it differently. Not like he is bothered with the way credits are in the Federation... it's just... yeah, he does find it bothersome.

 

Orphanages William was part of had few fields within their property. Taking care of their own needs, they generally provided enough for kids and workers. But not every day or month was good. Since Canada is not the best source of peace in the winters, which are especially tough when William thought about them.

 

He spent the majority of winters taking care of the animals that needed to be taken care of. Feeding them dried grass from the distant fields beyond the proximity of camps was his everyday life.

 

Such was the life of the majority of people who want their life to be peaceful in the camps, and madame Anderson was quite keen on giving William whatever task there was. Of course, he could then choose to take some resources for himself if he accomplished every job to perfection.

 

It was not only that, since any source of the camp had a start. Leadership and a sort of government are within the camps. They have rules to follow and trade with anything in their possessions. Certain feudal methods are similar to this, but people can get used to them. Nothing better is anywhere, anyway.

 

In the past, the remaining powers of Canada or the USA did not hold many opportunities for the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people stationed in such camps. Most often than not, the people who fell in power after the catastrophic decades which followed the discovery of the Emblems. It was the kind of history, that is not well known, as the majority of people involved are already dead since the discovery of the first Emblems happened generations ago.

 

They fell short and often ended up in camps themselves. The cases of the camps in Canada and the USA were enormous, and nobody cared about the so-called Constitutions in the USA. The chaos ensued, and camps underwent major changes in the last decade since the Federation took some consideration for them. At least back then, when the Federation rose to power.

 

Shambles of dozens of states in the Canada and USA fell short, and so did the people. Taking care of themselves, they fled. Sometimes they returned to the towns they fled later on, but often remained on the run.

 

William reminisces about those times, but only slightly since he never lived at those times. He could only work in remembrance of the destruction and hope since it involves him and everyone in this world. He learned about those ages and trying time throughout the word of mouth. By older people who were lucky to survive to their 50ties, or older. They are tough bastards who would not back down from the chaos and death. A lot of people are like that everywhere in the world, and William respects them.

 

Although they did not know everything under the heaven. They provided pieces of information and stories since they lived at times when those people met older people in their youth. They experienced much vaster history directly in their lives. It is like a timeless history. A regular thing where the old, taught the young, while the passing ages make the young, became the old. It is not that complicated.

 

Unknown to William, the world in the Federation makes one thing clear to him, and that the sense of government was not lost in time. He could not think too much about it. Only assumptions and guesses are in his heart. From all he could guess, the Federation is like the king, and others are peasants? He is unsure, but he holds the credits in his palm in his pocket. That is the small token of the king that rules the money to provide for the basic need of their citizens.

 

There are also those Towers and bridges of tremendous recourses outside. Who would build that? What sort of recourses the Federation possesses, and from where? The Island in the middle of the ocean is not a nation to rule over the world, nor something that can free humanity.

 

William does not understand, but he could only learn from this point in the present. He would make sure to get as much use as possible from the Library and the generosity that Kaufman provided to him. Economics of the nation called the Federation? Sure, he can learn about it, and perhaps he would even begin to understand a little better about the way nations are built. He could only wait for it.

 

In 15 minutes of leisure walk, a surprising face is on William's face as a rather open venue enters his eyes. It almost resembles a stone plain, with many buildings around while making a huge empty square. In the middle of one wall made of buildings, an utmost beautiful castle is cleaving the air and towers the surroundings. Willian had already seen this for the majority of the walk, yet he did not understand that this was his destination. He followed through the pavement here, with the help of signs.

 

Hundreds of feet into the sky, towers, and the utmost detailed stone architecture, and especially the flag of the Federation, are right in the front of this building. The name is under the rectangular flag of the big depiction of the round lotus, with the Earth's continents inside of it.

 

Carved into the stones underneath the flag, the Library of The Federation.

 

“I must have been an idiot to assume being unable to find such a building. I even saw it from the rounds that I made from the streets, and even from the bridge into this district itself. Such a huge building…” William scowls and could not help but marvel at this sight.

 

The sun and everything made this beautiful to behold.

 

William has not spent a minute of marvels. He continues to look around to make this memory worth remembering.

 

“I bet If I will watch this a hundred times, it will stop being impressive. It will become normal instead. Madame Anderson kept telling me about it like this. Same is the sun, or the oceanic view what I heard some people talk from my memory. I have seen the ocean or the lake in Canada. What is even that impressive in the view of the water? Is it not normal?” William ponders while walking forward to this place.

 

The crowd of people lessens in this place, as there is well enough space for a lot of people. He can get to the Library without pain going through the walls of people.

 

With wonders gone, William comes across the gate of the Library. Tall as almost two Williams, they could fit anyone in the world. He walks straight inside, as there is nothing more than he wanted from the exterior.

 

No. What he wants is precisely what is inside.

 

“Greetings. May I be of some help?” A polite girl in the nice uniform says immediately as he enters inside. She wears a knee-high skirt, with a white blouse behind a custom-made open jacket that has the design of the Library in the corner.

 

Without taking care of the lady, Allan's mouth drops, as he watches the insides, which could not be the least bit unimpressive.

 

Enormous from the outside, the insides are nothing short of that. There are no floors per se, but at least the entrance of the Library goes all the way to the ceiling, and sections of the exterior designs go directly to the design of the interior. A massively tall entrance causes this place to be breathtaking.

 

It was too intense for his weak expectations of William, who gets lost for a couple of moments before the coughing of the girl wakes him up.

 

“Are you new, boy?” She asks in the same polite way.

 

“Oh, my apologies. It seems I made a fool of myself in front of a lady.” William clumsily says as his eyes still travel around this region. Rows of curved stairs go to each floor further than he looks. There are 5 floors, as up as he could see. Each being quite tall and big.

 

“You certainly did, for a newcomer. I have never seen you before, so I will take it, as you have no clue where you are. Don’t excuse yourself. This is a Library of The Federation. A wonder of architecture, while being the most exquisite piece of building in the entire world. It took a decade to build it with the exquisite work of thousands of people and dozens of skilled Walkers. Can you imagine that?” the girl points her fingers around and says directly to William with enthusiasm, which could get to him just from her words alone.

 

Unfortunately for her, William has a protective feeling against any sources that could affect him too much. Although only momentarily, he still fell in disbelief that even Walkers worked on the building of this place.

 

“It is breathtaking. I completely underestimated the Federation, did I not?” William lets out.

 

“Good. As long as you are understanding, it is a good start in the city. With this being done, what are you here for? Sightseeing?” the girl asks in a much more relaxed manner.

 

“Oh, that too I guess, but I am here for the visit to the Library. What else could a person do than read some books or further their horizon when visiting the library? Not eat or milk a cow, I bet?” William counters the girl's hesitant eyes, which William could soon notice.