LXII

  Immediately, loud noises and lots of movement flooded his senses, and with the effects of the travel, his head was spinning. It didn’t help that he wanted to throw up, an uneasy feeling spreading outwards from his stomach. A soft voice tried speaking to him, but with his current state, he only managed to put his hand up apologetically. Another thing that he instantly noticed was the air. He couldn’t really place what it was, but after his Mana Core pulsed contently, he assumed that there was more mana present around him. It made him feel better, almost strengthening him, and in a way, he felt comfortable. To put it simply, it just felt right. After a few moments, he managed to open his eyes and stand straight, noticing the concerned female standing before him.

  Kaz was speechless by the female that stood before him, as she was a Race that he had never seen before. For one, she was actually shorter than him, which was pretty much impossible where he was from, and second, she was so beautiful. If he had to describe it from the Races he knew, it would be more of a mix between an Elf and a Human, with sharp cheekbones and jawline, pointed ears that were shorter and wider than Elves, with the height of a Gnome in their early teen years.

  Flushing with embarrassment, he started explaining himself, “Sorry, it was my first time going through a Gateway, and I never felt so weird before in my life.”

  The female, nodded understandingly, reassuring him, “Do not worry, that is a common occurrence. If you are ready, I can guide you to a Clerk that will ask a few questions to see how we can help you with your visit to Cordia.”

  Kaz nodded, allowing himself to get dragged by the female, as he took in his surroundings. He noticed that the Gateway Room was many times bigger than the one back home in Aros, and the quality of the structure was apparent. Smooth and colored stones were artistically arranged, creating imagery of nature across the whole floor, with certain accents to help guide someone around the massive room. Big carved wooden beams held up the massive ceiling, with lots of wooden support beams, each sporting a carved design, displaying what he assumed were important historical events of this Realm.

  They approached another room, and this is where all the Clerks were. The difference here was that there was one large desk that followed two of the walls, all in one piece. The Clerks were all separated by a wood and glass divider, that had various flower designs artistically painted on. One thing Kaz noticed as they were walking towards an available Clerk, was that majority of the people here looked like the female who was guiding him. It was such an odd feeling to be around people who were his height, even more odd since he was slightly taller than most.

  The female introduced the Clerk, saying, “This is Rubrika, and she will help you out. Hope to see you soon!”

  The Clerk, named Rubrika, smiled brightly at him, and informed him, “As you probably know, this is the capital city, Doria, in the Realm of Cordia. Since you are able to understand Korva, the Mage who assisted you, I am assuming you have a Quest in our Realm or you have some kind of Passive Skill?”

  Kaz tilted his head, because she only mentioned the female who helped him, who he now knew was named Korva, but also there being a Passive Skill for understanding languages was interesting. He asked her, “Is there such a thing to have a Passive Skill to understand and speak various languages?”

  Rubrika informed him with a grin, “Yes, there is such a Passive Skill. In fact, I do have the Skill myself, as it is very important for my Calling. Even now, I am speaking in the native tongue of the Realm, and you understand, which means you have a Quest for our Realm.”

  Kaz told her, while also bringing up his Quest to share it with her, “Yes, I have a Quest for my Revelation in this Realm for an unknown reason, as I had never been here before.”

  The Clerk read over his Quest, and he saw her eyes briefly glow before turning back to him, asking him, “Would you also be able to share your [ Status ] with me? I must confirm you are not someone who is being looked for or if you have a history where we must deny you access to our Realm.”

  He slightly hesitated, but decided to just share it with her to prevent any problems from stemming. She assured him, “Do not worry, it is standard procedure, and we keep the information confi—wow, you are a three-star Mage!”

  Kaz winced at her outburst, not expecting that reaction from someone who had seen thousands, if not tens of thousands of Adventurers in her time. Rubrika seemed to notice his reaction and tried to return to her professional state with a small clearing of her throat. She explained herself, saying, “While I do see many Adventurers, seeing a three-star is a very rare occurrence. I apologize for my reaction, but it gives me a rush whenever I encounter a three-star Adventurer, it’s almost as if they’re part of the Emperor’s Family. I do not even know how I would react if I met someone from the Emperor’s Family.”

  Kaz just stared blankly at the Clerk, deciding to keep silent as he couldn’t relate to what she was saying. She realized she went off again, and this time, actually returned back to normal, and told him, “From what I see for your Quest, you have to journey to the Katre Mountains, which is down South from here. Since it is getting late, I recommend beginning your journey tomorrow morning. You can stay here at the Guild, or you can spend the night in one of our many inns in Doria.”

  Another night to pay for a room in the Guild, especially in a new place, sounded amazing to Kaz. Thinking back on the times he stayed at the Guild, it was always incredible, as the beds were the best. Kaz informed her, “I would like to pay for a night then here at the Guild. Wouldn’t be my first time, and I have only good things to say about my experiences back home in the Guild.”

  Rubrika smiled and nodded. She brought out a flat slab of stone, and she squinted her eyes, possibly reading something on it. Kaz tried to look over at the slab, but couldn’t see anything, and just assumed it was just another page for her [ Archive ], possibly where she could check the status of all the rooms. With a frown, she notified Kaz, “Unfortunately, we are out of rooms, which is very rare. I’m very sorry about that, but I can point you to an Inn that I would personally recommend. It is roughly the same price per night as here, with similar conditions to our rooms.”

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  Shrugging his shoulders, he replied, “Of course, no worries. Just give me some directions, preferably on a piece of parchment please, as I get lost easily.”

  Rubrika wrote out directions for him on a small slip of parchment and walked him through it. She even tried to cheer him up, saying that this way he would get to experience the Capital, saying it is a great place for walking around. Kaz took her word for it and departed for the Merius Inn.

  Stepping out into the streets, he noticed how close together everything was, with buildings stacked right next to each other. Every building had the same design template, with a cobblestone base, and then wooden beams and accents. But it was the roofing that stood out to him, being made of a red colored tile, curving upwards slightly as it approached the corners of the roof. He noticed that most of these buildings had a small porch before stepping into the main building, with people just sitting there talking to each other, or some having a long table and serving food to people who stopped by for a quick meal.

  Kaz navigated through the streets, absorbing every single detail, falling in love with what he saw. There was a lot of movement, even on these small streets, with people going in and out of buildings in groups, laughing and just enjoying life. People of all ages as well, not just young people who had nothing to do. It was also easy for Kaz to navigate through the crowds of people, as they would move out of the way, with a small smile or a slight nod of the head. Kaz quickly picked up on that, and returned the small smiles with a small nod of his head.

  He looked down at his parchment and realized that he should be approaching the Inn shortly, seeing the big building with black tiles at the corner of a large street. He approached the intersection, and was blown away by the change of the street. Kaz realized that he was navigating through the side streets this whole time, and now he saw how the actual streets looked like. This street was similar to the one he saw at Aros, very wide, with lots of trees occupying the sides of the street, blooming with reddish orange leafs that littered the streets below them. He noticed the various carriages, but the horses weren’t horses. They were slightly smaller than your traditional horse, with a small pointed face and they had long horns that grew outwards to the sky.

  “Those are what they call deer, a bit different to the mounts you are used to seeing, right?”

  Kaz nearly jumped out of his skin, but he looked to the side where the voice came from, and it was a Human lady who was smiling down at him. He nodded and continued looking at these ‘deer’. The Human lady continued, “They are truly beautiful compared to the robust looking horses that we are used to seeing from our own Realms.”

  Again, he just simply nodded, uncomfortable that the lady was still talking to him. After a few moments when she realized Kaz was not going to engage her in any conversation, she departed. Kaz sighed in relief and continued walking until he arrived at the Merius Inn, which was a large building, similar to the previous designs, although it was all in black and white, abandoning the natural color palettes of the previous buildings.

  He walked right in, and noticed it was similar in its layout to the Guild. He approached the man behind the bar, who was a native of this Realm, and asked for a room. The man nodded, and replied, “It will be ten Silver for the night, and you get breakfast for free.”

  Kaz agreed to that, and with some hesitation brought out the Silver Tokens. He felt a small spike of anxiety as he realized he didn’t ask at the Guild if they used the same Tokens that his Realm used, but to his relief, the Innkeeper took his Silver Tokens, and gave him a key, telling him, “It’ll be the fifth door on the left once you go up the stairs.”

  He thanked the Innkeeper and went up the stairs to his room, and once he found it, decided that he should go out and explore, as he still wanted to get something to eat, and all the food he had seen so far looked and smelled delicious. Before he left though, he approached the same Innkeeper, and asked him, “Sir, I have two questions. One, where is a good place to try something popular to eat in this Realm, and I mean this in no offense, but what Race are you?”

  The Innkeeper stared blankly at him, and then chuckled, replying, “Down the street to the left, there is a small shop run by an older guy, and he sells some of the best soups in town. It is spicy, so if you can handle that, go for it. And for my Race, I am a Celestial, which is the native race of this Realm.”

  Kaz thanked the Innkeeper, with a small nod of his head, which the Innkeeper replied in a similar manner, a genuine smile spreading across his face. Celestial. Interesting name for a Race, but they deserved such a name, as their appearance definitely suited the fancy name. Kaz ventured out, and found the small shop, and like most of the places he saw coming through here, it was a small table where people sat and ordered the food, directly where the Chef would cook. He ordered a small bowl of what they called a noodle soup, and when the man asked him if he likes spicy, Kaz shrugged his shoulders, unsure what that meant.

  The older Chef nodded, understanding that Kaz was unaware of the meaning, and served him a small bowl with what looked like lots of thin strings in a broth that was slightly red. He dove in, starving from his traveling, and closed his eyes in bliss. This food was amazing, and before he could savor it completely, he felt burning coming from his mouth, and in panic, he examined the bowl and his mouth. The Chef noticed this, and laughed, explaining to Kaz, “That is what spicy is. It burns slightly when eating but goes away after a while.”

  Kaz nodded, and ordered another bowl, devouring that one as well. He paid the Chef for the meal, and decided to head back, knowing that he had an early start for tomorrow. As he was heading back, he heard a commotion, and before he knew, people were running all around him, lining up along the street.

  He overheard someone exclaiming, “One of the princes is coming by with his Guard! People are saying it is the Crown Prince!”

  Intrigued by this, he also lined up, and thankfully, he was able to see what they were talking about, as he was slightly taller and was able to see further down the path. Kaz saw a small procession, with maybe twenty Guards, dressed in golden armor, escorting the Crown Prince, who was seated in a similar golden carriage, waving gently at the people. He had golden white hair, which shone just as much as his pristine white robes. Kaz was taken aback by how perfect he looked, as if he weren’t a real person.

  As the carriage neared, he felt the people becoming rougher, trying to get to the front, Kaz stepped back, as he didn’t need to be upfront to see the Prince. As the Crown Prince was almost right in front of him, he made eye contact with Kaz.

  Kaz felt himself freeze under his gaze. The Crown Prince faltered in his waves and tilted his head at Kaz. Those golden yellow eyes sparked something within him, and before Kaz knew it, he quickly walked back towards his Inn in the opposite direction, pulling up his hood tightly around his head. He felt as if he knew those eyes, and it gave him a shiver when he thought about it.