Chapter 100: First Advanced town (First Part)

In the same way as every journey has a start, a first step without which nothing would have been possible, every journey also has an end.

This end was finally right in front of my eyes.

Standing proudly on the other side of the vast plain we just entered was the first Advanced town: Humanity’s strongest bastion inside the wilderness. Even from far away, the wall of solid gray stones circling it and hiding any building inside was easily dwarfing the height of the wall around the Advanced town where Paul and Alianelle previously lived.

I didn’t let the sea of animals’ and deviants’ corpses, literally paving the way for us, dampen my relief at the sight of what was for a long time an impossible goal to reach. A single glance at the faces of my comrades near me was enough to know that I wasn’t the only one with this thought inside my head.

Even Himara and Seth probably felt some kind of relief as we were relentlessly pursued by a horde for the last two days. With their natural unfair advantage in stamina, our Vrapy were usually also fast enough to distance this kind of threat sooner or later. However, our eagerness to reach our destination as soon as possible had made us dangerously shorten the time allowed for these creatures to eat and rest.

We nearly paid dearly for this mistake.

We were forced to push the Vrapy so far beyond their limits to escape that even Walmir was starting to worry. Seeing the usually stoic reptilian animals standing weakly on their muscular legs with their head lowered, their large back arched and their breathing unsteady was proof enough that it was high time to arrive.

Even creatures deemed as tireless by many had their limits after all.

Aware of this reality just as much as I was, Walmir didn’t immediately urge the Vrapy at full speed. With a moderate pace, our faithful quadrupedal companions marched forward. Therefore, we had all the time to see up close the numerous traces of battles around the town.

Among the craters, trenches, and corpses rotting under the harsh rays of the sun, a few groups of soldiers could be seen patrolling and even sometimes making sure of the death of some animals with a spear in their head. Apparently, the lessening number of daily attacks from small groups of animals and deviants these past few days wasn’t entirely due to our growing distance from the central and most dangerous part of the wilderness.

Judging by the impressive traces of battles and the corpses of dozens of different species all around us, it was more than obvious that a fair number of the animals rampaging in this part of the wilderness had met a swift demise when they had tried to overrun this city. Like a normally unstoppable wave finally powerlessly crashing against walls too tall and too sturdy for them.

The numerous camps disseminated around to bear a part of the attacks probably also had a part to play in this success.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Ilan had mistaken my surprise at the number of cadavers around the city for plain awe at the certainly noteworthy walls surrounding it.

“Yeah. I’m just glad this town hasn’t fallen like all the others,” I replied matter-of-factly.

This answer wasn’t one he had expected as Ilan ceased to stroke his dense dark beard pensively to look at me with round eyes.

“Fall? The first Advanced town?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Told you not to trust his appearance. He may look like a noble’s child but he is as uneducated as you all sorry lot,” supplemented Jazor with a mocking laugh behind me.

“Because of course, you consider yourself educated?” I snapped sarcastically.

“Of course! I am from the Dwarven nobility after all,” was his immediate answer none of us believed.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he confirmed with his faithful pipe in his mouth.

Both Ilan and I shared a glance enough to convey the same thought.

“Your clan is lost,” I concluded.

Undeterred by our mockery, Jazor let out a huge cloud of smoke from his mouth and, with a satisfied smile, replied calmly.

“Can’t really argue with that… Well, sissy, instead of trying to make me appear as a fool; do you want to know why you just said something really stupid out loud just a moment ago?”

I shrugged my shoulders, the only signal he apparently needed to share his infinite knowledge with a commoner like me.

“This city isn’t just protected by this big wall. There is magic at play here. Very powerful and very rare ever since the last war.”

“A Lost magic?” I blurted out.

“Exactly. You’re maybe not as helpless as I thought, after all,” he concluded sagely.

Tired of watching the corpses paraded before my eyes, and trying to distract myself from the pestilent odor assailing my nostrils, I patiently waited for him to continue his explanation.

I waited with bated breath for nothing as Jazor had apparently shared enough of his wisdom for today.

“Jazor?”

“Hum?”

“Damnit, finish what you were saying!” I finally blasted, exasperated.

With a small smile at the corner of his lips, which gave me the certainty that this scoundrel was doing this on purpose, Jazor let out another massive cloud of smoke — dispersing at the same time a strangely pleasant odor of hazelnuts — before finally resuming his explanation.

“Maybe even Ilan doesn’t know that, but do you know that it’s the Ryunno clan who founded this city?” he slowly asked with his back straighter than ever, probably to appear more dignified.

Even Ilan shook his head despite apparently being only mildly interested in what Jazor had to explain.

“Well, it was built around a massive site of elemental stones, as it turned out, the most important one of the entire continent found even till today. After the war, the Ryunno clan declared this resource as their exclusive right, but without enough manpower to directly develop and exploit it, they asked the Humans and the Dwarves to do it for them. This unprecedented close collaboration of these two races — notoriously unwelcomed inside the wilderness — created this town and started the conquest of the wilderness by the Dorell kingdom, a conquest, if I may add, that took one hell of a hit these past weeks. Aware that something like that may happen one day and to make sure this city will continue to stand, the Ryunno clan exceptionally allowed one powerful Lost magic — forbidden since the end of the war — to be taken directly from their archives and used on the walls of this town,” he finally concluded.

It was just like Jazor to dump a massive amount of information without a care in the world if his words were really understood just after making us specifically ask for explanations.

Fortunately, I already knew a few basic pieces of information about the Ryunno clan.

As the true victor of the last war, they exterminated the Ancient Human clan; chased the Shinawa people back into the sea, and condemned the Beastmen tribes to slavery, but they had also imposed several rules on their allies.

The main one being the only racial law of this world explicitly telling that it was strictly forbidden to harm a member of the Ryunno clan no matter the circumstances. A rule that the man in purple — that Alianelle described to us after I found her unconscious inside the Ryunno clan member’s carriage — splendidly ignored. Breaking this rule was the most likely reason for the rays of pure destruction that fell from the sky shortly after and for the wrath of the wilderness that followed.

Another rule, less known to the general public, that they imposed on their allies and co-victors of the war was the ban on all written magic.

Mysterious and complicated to use properly, this form of magic nonetheless offered far more possibilities than any other type of magic. They guided the mana in intricate patterns and were able to perform acts impossible for any sentient being to do on their own. It was without a doubt this kind of magic that was used to reincarnate me, although I had no clue how magic could have been possible in my old world.

One thing was sure, this written magic proved something that Walmir said to me not long ago.

Magic is endless but Humans are not.

You could perfectly understand an element and spend a lifetime developing a magic related to its aspects, but some things were simply impossible to do because of the amount of mana required or simply because of the complexity of the mana shaping needed to accomplish it.

Humans were the ones to invent this technique, but all the other races — except the elves — saw the importance and potential advantage such a magic could wield. As a result, each race involved in this worldwide conflict developed their own written magic and used it in one way or another during the war.

Only the Ryunno clan despised it, preferring to trust their natural unfair advantage with the more traditional types of magic.

However, one written magic developed by the Ancient Human clan had apparently threatened the very survival of the Ryunno clan during the war, making it impossible for them to ignore it any longer. So they simply destroyed all traces of this magic after the war: stealing, destroying and even killing if necessary to finally keep the research for them only in their famous archives.

Thus, it slowly disappeared, many of its applications forgotten until it was simply deemed as lost hence the now common but wrong name of ‘Lost magic’.

It wasn’t lost after all but stolen and forbidden.

The Ryunno clan still allowed the use of a few selected ones for very specific purposes. For example, I knew this was how artifacts were created: they had a magic circle drawn on them. However, the fact that the entire wall of the city slowly getting closer had benefited from a specific Lost magic was indeed surprising and something I could have never imagined.

“Damn, I really nailed you with that one!” laughed Jazor heartily.

Realizing that I had spent too much time in my thoughts, I quickly tried to find something to say to end his teasing and came up with the only question that crossed my mind at this instant.

“What do they need elemental stones for, anyway?”

“Your guess is as good as mine on this one. It can store mana in its most natural shape and is as a result necessary to use the most powerful and demanding Lost magic.A good chunk of the stones extracted from the mine here are used to power the Lost magic of the wall. However, given the quantity extracted each year solely for them, they could also use it for something else, but I have no idea what it could be. All I know is that it’s forbidden to own an elemental stone beyond a certain grade.”

The time for our conversation had lasted even longer than I had first thought, for by the time I returned my attention to our surroundings, our carriage had already left the muddy, blood-soaked path for a flat, dry scree a dozen meters away from the main gate.

I didn’t linger long in front of the impressive, seemingly impenetrable black steel gate, as three guards wearing a traditional gray hauberk clumsily covered by a dark-gray tunic were approaching us in long, determined strides with their mud-smeared boots.

We were forced to stop and wait for Walmir to talk to them and negotiate our entry. While one of them was talking to him in a voice too low for me to hear, his two companions circled our carriage and slowly watched us appreciatively one by one as if trying to decipher a hidden truth behind our exhausted faces.

The talking went on so long that I was starting to worry we would be denied entry when finally the voice of the leader of these men spoke loudly enough for us all to hear.

“Alright, you can go. Open the gate!”

The sigh of relief I let out was completely covered by the screeching noise of the massive gate opening unnaturally quickly in front of us. Walmir didn’t hesitate and made the two Vrapy growl in exasperation when he urged them forward much faster than when we crossed the plain as if he was afraid that the guard would change his mind.

If this worry was real, then it was unfound as the gate stayed open long enough for our pitiful carriage to pass through before closing in a massive slamming that made Alianelle jump in surprise behind me.

I crossed Paul’s gaze immediately after and swiftly understood what was on his mind behind his pensive face and wrinkled brows. The entry inside this city wasn’t as easy as he had imagined when he had stolen our carriage. Even with children and despite the exceptional nature of our situation, the short interaction Walmir had with the guards near the gates made it pretty clear that it wasn’t sure they would have let them enter without him.

Another checkpoint inside the town, a full search of the carriage and more armed guards than I could remember to escort us made it more than obvious how worried about the current state of the wilderness they truly were. Walmir made it clear that entering this town would be less easy than the others, but even he seemed surprised by the guards’ zealousness.

Another reminder, if I needed any, of how much effort Humans and Dwarves had to make to establish a lasting place inside the wilderness.

Elves and Beastmen tribes were tolerated and even accepted by the lifeforms around because of their proximity to nature. On the contrary, Humans and Dwarves because of their weak compatibility with the living beings here and their natural tendency of trying to reshape their environment — even if it meant disfiguring it — were clearly not welcomed.

Advanced towns could only exist because of their strong defenses and the combined efforts of the camps disseminated around to absorb the violence of the true residents of these indomitable lands. However, the wrath of the wilderness created by the beams of pure destruction raining down on it had completely upset the fragile balance the inhabitants of this fortified city had enjoyed for so long.

They were abruptly reminded of the only truth of this land that they had forgotten over the years.

They were tolerated, not accepted and they had certainly not conquered this territory.

No race could hope to conquer the wilderness because this kind of conflict would awaken untold horror in the deepest part of the wilderness no one was willing to confront. And now that the illusionary peace was broken, they were afraid of what this land had in store for them.

“What are you waiting for? Just go!”

The harsh voice of a plump guard armed with a long spear put an end to my thinking. Walmir apologized and quickly made the Vrapy accelerate without telling this rude man that he and his colleagues were the reason for our prolonged presence near the walls.

We passed under an impressive arcade hiding from view, but not from my senses, two guards probably armed with bows and certainly ready to take us down at the first sign of trouble. The road connecting the gate to the outskirts of the city we took afterward was well-maintained, but the same couldn’t be said about the wooden houses bordering it. Some of them had seen too many winters and no amount of planks awkwardly put together to fill the gaps was quite enough to give it a dignified appearance.

Soon after, the white smoke of furnaces working at full capacity obstructed my view of these dilapidated houses while noises unfamiliar for someone who had lived several months far from any civilization reached me. Nonetheless, it didn’t take me long to recognize the distinctive noise of anvils welcoming the familiar battering of hammers to create metal.

A few more minutes were necessary to reach what could be considered a more central part of the city. Gone were the wrecked wooden hut — barely decent enough to shelter people inside — replaced by solid houses of clay, bricks, and even stones while shops could be seen all around with their owners speaking to customers a little too few for the number of opened stores.

The displeasing odor of coal and sweat was a little too strong for my taste but it made it clear that we had finally rejoined civilization.

We were finally safe.

The numerous guards I saw on patrol all around with the same grey tunic over a badly adjusted chainmail were the best proof of that. With all these stores around and all these people — Humans or Dwarves — taking care of their daily business without a care in the world about what was happening beyond the wall, it was difficult to realize that we were still inside the wilderness.

“There are fewer guards than usual,” suddenly noticed Ilan sitting beside me.

“Really?” I asked back, not convinced that the number of guards we had seen was truly less than usual.

“They are numerous but look more carefully. How they walk, what they wear… They lack training, experience, and equipment.”

Certainly, another more thorough look at these guards patrolling along the paved streets made it clear that they were quite clumsy. Some looked scruffy with equipment a little too big for them while others had trouble walking smoothly with their spear held straight. Most of them were also quite young even if it was difficult to clearly see their faces with a helmet on their heads.

Apparently surviving the wrath of the wilderness had cost this city more than I initially thought.

The carriage finally stopped on the side of the main street leading probably deeper into the heart of the city. Walmir, who had come down from the coachman seat, appeared on the side of the carriage with a tired smile on his lips.

“This is it, I guess. Our collaboration ends now,” he abruptly declared.

These few words were enough for Jazor to immediately nod and get down from the carriage in an agile leap.

However, it wasn’t enough for me.

“You’re going to report to your employer, aren't you?” I asked with a serious voice.

“Yes, I am.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Definitely not,” was his immediate answer, leaving no room for any kind of negotiation.

Sensing my discomfort, Walmir hurriedly added a few more words.

“Don’t worry, I will keep you updated.”

“Will you?”

Finally, the time for our collaboration had come to an end. They didn’t need us anymore and they now had an obvious advantage against us inside the city. All the trust I had given them along our journey was shaken by this realization. Betraying us now was a possibility.

Sensing the doubt in my voice and the implication our next words would have on their futures, both Himara and Seth put their heads a little bit closer to the bars of their cage.

“Sillath, I promise you: I will warn you myself when the grand auction will take place. Until then, no harm will befall these children, you have my word.”

His outstretched hand immediately after his words showed that he wanted to reassure me; he wanted me to trust him.

I certainly wanted to believe him.

I wanted to believe that I had seen beyond Walmir’s job to truly understand what kind of man he truly was. We had fought side by side and had faced death together more times than any of us could remember. This has to count for something.

It certainly did for me, but was it really the same for him?

Did he lie to me all this time?

Was everything we’ve been through nothing more than an elaborate lie?

The voice of reason had made Jazor and I accept their help when our survival was at stake. However, now without any immediate menace, this voice had disappeared, replaced by voices of doubts continuously expressing their suspicions inside my head.

However, I chased these dangerous thoughts away to listen once more to the much more discreet voice of reason.

What I was offering for Himara’s and Seth’s freedom was more than what they were worth. Jazor was the one who had explained this reality to me so it should be accurate. This deal was advantageous for Walmir and his employer.

That was the truth no matter how much I doubted his true intentions.

After several seconds of thinking, I had reached an answer.

Did he intend to renege on his word?

I refused to believe it, not because of some misplaced trust but simply because it was the most rational thing to do.

So, I did the only thing I thought was sensible in our situation.

I decided to accept his words and give him my trust for now.

I shook his hand too big for mine while staring into his almond eyes, looking for any trace of deceit, any hint of discomfort, but I found none. The same reassuring and calm smile was plastered on his face as he unhurriedly shook my hand for long seconds.

“I trust you, Walmir.”

With these last words, I separated my hand from his and finally got down from the carriage along with Paul, Alianelle, and Ilan.

The carriage with the ominous black cage stubbornly attached to it resumed its course a few seconds later, serenely, with the same symphony of creaks and squeaks of the tortured wood.

Our travel on this dilapidated carriage was over, but I had one mission left before leaving this city.

One last promise to fulfill before my journey truly came to an end.