The Path of Ruin

Kael was actually quite surprised when he first heard that they could get to the capital in only three weeks.

Three weeks was a short time. No matter how fast they moved, they should only be able to get a short distance out of the kingdom in three weeks.

So he found this situation strange. Had the Empire placed its capital so close to the borders...? That... seemed... a bit ridiculous, to be honest. A capital close to the borders meant a capital close to enemies.

Still, he did not question it in any way. He remained silent until the last day of their journey. He continued to kill the creatures and animals he saw, doing his duty as a novice scout.

Fortunately, he had been lucky lately and had been able to add a few extra days to his lifespan. He would enter the city with almost thirteen days left to live. He had done this by killing everything he saw, literally everything, except his so-called 'allies'. Wolves, goblins, a few weak creatures he had trouble identifying, harmless animals like squirrels or deer, and more... just to name a few of the things he had killed.

And so, the night before the last day of their journey, for the first time, they were able to see the 'city' that was their destination. Or rather... its walls.

'Woah...'

Not only were the walls long, and they were really long, but they covered a huge area too.

Even though the mansion of the king's brother, Musthar V. Arcanoa, was in a place like this, Kael had never been out of the places where he worked. When he did, he usually spent the whole journey in the luggage part of a carriage, unable to look out.

So he didn't really know what a big city looked like.

And now, seeing one with his own eyes from far... it almost blew his mind.

And not only that.

As they got closer to the city walls, they started to see people from different groups than their own. Even though it was moving quite smoothly, there was even a small traffic at the entrance gate of the city walls. There were people everywhere.

Merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, soldiers... they could see all kinds of people.

But the strange thing was...

'Bearers... are there more of them than I thought?'

Bearers were always a rarity throughout his life. They were not people he could see everywhere...

But now, as he was examining each and every one of the people in the dense traffic he was in... he could catch a glimpse of some bearers. All it took was a little focus and a particular search, and he could definitely find one.

'Interesting...'

But he did not dwell on this too much. Soon, he began to study other details, to learn new things.

And the first thing he learned... was not only that the Empire's soldiers were systematic and organized, but that everything about it was.

The traffic at the entrance to the walls was carefully directed by officials dressed like soldiers, preventing accidents and controlling the speed of the carriages. Even stranger, Kael saw an official get angry with someone and give him something like a penalty!

Well... he wasn't sure if it was a penalty or not. He thought it was because he heard the man say 'I'm issuing you a ticket'. It was still strange though!

Though... he had never been in cities before or seen how they worked. Not just the Empire, but all cities like this, maybe...?

'I have a lot to learn...'

And that's how it finally came to their group. Kael was not very close to the front of the group, so he could not see exactly what was being done and the procedures. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught Hakon picking up a piece of paper and writing something with a pen.

After that, all the carriages and soldiers, including himself, were examined pretty quickly. Soon after that, the huge gates of the city walls were opened for them.

And when Kael saw the city... he felt fascinated all over again.

The city was big. Really big compared to the town he had spent two months in. He could hardly see the walls on the other side of the city. And not only that, the buildings were large and varied. Almost all of them seemed to be made of concrete, let alone wood, clay, or stone. Each one looked elaborate and of high quality.

And the people were like that too.

Well, not all of them, of course... but most of them seemed clean and well-dressed.

Kael's mind was blown.

"Surprised?"

He paused momentarily as a familiar voice entered his ears. His eyes slowly darted to his right, so that he could make out another figure looming over the carriage he was sitting on. Hakon...

"It's like you're entering a city for the first time."

"Because it's actually my first time..."

In the time that passed, he had become a little closer to Hakon. He called him by his name, Kael, now, for example, instead of his usual 'my little friend'. And he seemed a little more... relaxed around him.

Still, the closeness didn't go any further than that. Hakon didn't completely trust Kael as part of his mission. He was still suspicious of him, which was what he had to do. In a world where nothing was certain, to trust someone completely without knowing them inside out was just... nonsense.

So Kael respected the man's attitude. He didn't try to get too close to him, but he didn't stay too far away either.

"First time, huh..."

Kael paused when he realized that the man had learned something about him and he had given it to him with his own mouth. But then, with a sigh, he decided to forget about it. It wasn't even such an extremely important thing.

"You don't think this is the capital then, do you?"

And yet he couldn't help frowning at these words, a bewildered expression appearing on his face.

"What do you mean...? Isn't this the capital?"

"Oh, so you really didn't know..."

He saw Hakon smiling from behind his mask. Then, Hakon tore his eyes away from the front of the group and turned towards him.

"This is one of the metropolises of the Empire. It is much more important and centralized than normal cities. And it's just as important even if not as important as the capital itself. You've probably thought about it before, the Empire rules almost the entire continent, but... how is communication handled? What about transportation? With such a large and vast territory under its sway, don't the Empire have any problems?"

Yes, Kael had thought about this before. But... he couldn't find an answer, so he didn't pursue it further.

Now all his focus was on Hakon. He was really curious about the rest of his words.

"Well, metropolises make things like this easier. Each metropolis has a large teleportation field and you can move from one metropolis to another. At the same time, since metropolises are sort of commercial centers, they also control the region they are in and the surrounding areas and also collect taxes. You'll learn more about this later, but that's basically it. You can think of metropolises as mini-countries in their own right."

'Teleportation sites, mini-countries...'

This was... important information. So he digested everything in his mind as much as he could. After a short time, he paused.

"So... we are now heading towards a teleportation field to get to the capital?"

"Exactly."

Hakon tore his eyes away from Kael and turned them towards a spot off to their right. Kael looked there with him.

For now, he couldn't see anything there. The buildings were blocking his view, but... the teleportation field had to be that way.

"I see..."

And so it was.

After about ten minutes, after traveling through several streets, they finally arrived at a very large area with no buildings in it.

The area was made up of many different wide, wide squares of ground. Each square had sides of about fifteen meters and were not contiguous. There were gaps between them for carriages to pass through. And soldiers or people, of course. And... each square was constantly used for teleportation.

'This...'

It was too mesmerizing. That's exactly what was going through Kael's mind.

Each of those to be teleported would be positioned on one of these squares. Then they waited for the soldiers who would take care of their teleportation to go through the procedures, they would sign a paper, and then the teleportation would begin.

First, countless strange letters would flash on the square, then they would start to emit light, which would envelop everything that stood on them. And then... the light disappeared in an instant and dissipated as if a balloon had been popped.

In this way, the process of teleportation was completed.

Another area was used for those who were coming from here rather than going elsewhere. There the process was reversed, but it was still the same.

And... it was mesmerizing.

So mesmerizing that by the time Kael realized it was his turn, the carriage he was sitting on had already been placed on a square and signatures were being signed.

Everything took a very short time to complete. After only two minutes or so, the soldier in front of the square he was in was starting the teleportation process.

And Kael was excited. He was really excited. He was wondering what was going to happen.

So... lights started to appear on the square he was standing on, just like the others.

Kael swallowed, held his breath, and focused all his senses on his surroundings.

As the lights surrounded him, he first felt his connection to the world break. Then... a cold sensation suddenly covered his entire skin. For a brief moment, his whole body felt as if it was tingling. But all this was short-lived.

First, the tingling sensation went away, then the cold. Warm air hit his face as the glaring light that prevented him from using his eyes slowly disappeared. Then he saw the fragments of light that surrounded them dissipate.

When he opened his eyes again... he was in a completely different place.

He had finally stepped into the capital of the Empire.