The clouds gliding across the blue sky could be seen in the puddle of water.
At least until a horse stepped on it, travelling towards the city of Plied.
This was the most important city in the entirety of the Istreid Kingdom as it sat atop the mines of Gustan Mountain, which produced sixty per cent of Istreid's exports and allowed it to be a fully self sufficient kingdom when it came to arms manufacturing and gold formation.
The city was split into two halves, the Old Plied on the edge of the southern cliff of a three kilometre deep rift that ran for hundreds of kilometres.
Atop the northern cliff was New Plied, constructed barely a century ago.
The two halves were joined together by bridges, running one and a half kilometres from one cliff to another.
On the sides of these cliffs were mining stations, where the miners reported for duty before mining inside the mountains.
"So this is Plied!"
Aurelia said in excitement, sitting in the pit on the carriage, with a wide smile, she turned back towards Raghav.
Sitting at the back of the pit, typing away on his laptop, wearing his glasses with a serious expression on his face.
Occasionally, he would look into his phone and then back into the laptop.
Moving back to sit beside him, she looked into the screen and saw what appeared to be a black screen, with Raghav typing a small line of random symbols.
She looked at his work, leaning onto his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"I am coding something that we will need later."
She leaned away, pointing towards the city. "Do you know anything about the city?"
Raghav looked at her for a moment and then shook his head.
Clapping, she held onto his arm, pointing towards the city. "Perfect, let me tell you everything. I have heard and read about it thousands of times."
"That would be nice." He responded, continuing with his coding.
"So in 942 TNW, the kingdom was on the brink of civil war. Due to the twin sons of King Monreid, Crowned Princes Lereid and Watreid. They were at each other's throats in an attempt to seize the throne. Both were cunning and strong, fearing that their rivalry would tear apart the kingdom and force it into a war with itself. He proposed a duel between the two princes; whoever won would sit as king, and whoever lost would be exiled from the nation."
She stood up, pointing towards the rift. "This was the ground where the historical duel took place. The rift was created when Prince Lereid and Prince Watreid clashed one last time, and they both fell into the rift, where they fought barehanded, their powers exhausted, their armour shattered. That was when Prince Lereid choked Prince Watreid unconscious, and amidst the ruins at the bottom, he found gold."
Finishing her story telling she turned around, clapping her hands. "That is the story of how the gold depository was discovered, and soon after, the first mine was set up by Rob Plied. Over the years, it grew from a small settlement to a metropolitan city, which thirty one and a half million people call home."
"This will be your first time seeing it in person. Are you excited?"
"Extremely. Raghav, thank you for making this detour."
Closing his laptop, Raghav took off his glasses and placed them in their case before handing his phone to her as he stood up. "I have done nothing for you to thank me."
He then turned around and walked towards the sunlight in the rear compartment. "Could you ask An to join me for a moment? I could use her help."
Then he climbed inside, leaving Aurelia to admire the view as she plugged in Raghav's earphones and played the songs on shuffle, and the first one was Discord by The Living Tombstone, and she began singing along, the opening lines about something going down through the town.
.
.
Inside the city hall, located at the northern end of New Plied.
Count Adam was sitting at the head of the council with twenty three of the forty one Barons that came under the jurisdiction of Plied County.
His head hung low, resting on his hands.
While the rest of the council were bickering among themselves.
No, calling what was happening a bickering would be an understatement.
This was a verbally violent argument.
Fingers were pointed, voices were raised, and unsavoury words were being used, which did not befit the status of those in this council.
One of the barons looked at the count for a moment, then went back to yelling at the others, before slowly looking at the count again. This time, with anger as he gestured towards him. "The audacity of this motherfucker!"
He then looked around, shaking his head and grabbed a newspaper, throwing it at the count, hitting him in the head.
And he looked back at the baron with red eyes and looked under the desk, grabbing the newspaper and throwing it back at the baron, followed by the file with his pen and the file that was on the desk.
The baron braced with his arms and yelled back at the count. "What the hell was that for?"
This set the count off as he stood up, slamming his fist on the desk multiple times. "SHUT UP!!!! YOU PIECES OF ABSOLUTE DOG SHIT!"
Albeit reluctantly but everyone listened to him and sat down. "I have not slept for one moment since last night. Now I understand the mess we find ourselves in, but pointing fingers and calling each other names or dragging their entire bloodline through mud will not get us out of this hole we have dug ourselves in."
"WE? Who's we? There is no WE!"
One of the barons pointed at Adam. "WE did not dig this hole, we did not come to this state we are in right now out of our own will, YOU were the one who proposed this idea, it was you who asked us to join you. THIS IS YOUR HOLE. THE OH SO NOBLE COUNT OF PLIED"
Adam listened to the baron's words, with his mouth slightly open and his eyes dead set on the baron in a blank stare, and once he was finished, Adam nodded, clapping his hands.
"Gentlemen, here we have the man of honour and integrity, speaking as if his ass wasn't sticking out at the front of the line when I was SHOVING GOLD COINS up there to get your approval on this."
Just then, the doors to the council were open as a squire came inside, huffing and repeatedly pointing behind himself as he struggled to speak.
"Th…The… Hero…..And Princess….. Aurelia are here! They are headed straight for the council."
They all closed their eyes and bit their lips, and in unison they all thought one thing. 'We're fucked.'
In less than a minute, two figures walked through the doors. On the left was Aurelia, and on her right was Raghav, who looked at the spotlessly clean council chamber.
"Greetings, gentlemen. I hope we are not intruding."
All the council members stood up and bowed towards Aurelia as Count Adam addressed her. "Greetings, your highness! We hope your journey was auspicious. We had been following it in the newspapers. May I ask what brings you to our beautiful city? Please take my seat."
He moved out of the way, offering his seat at the head of the council to her.
However, she refused, raising her hand.
"Spare me the formality. Last night, my captain ran into some adventurers who claimed they were given a commission by you to eradicate the wildlife in this county."
Gulp
"That is indeed true. I, along with everyone present her signed off on the commencement of the commission."
Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. "Did you have prior approval from the Duke? Did you inform the other counts?"
Gulp
"Judging from your reaction, I take the answer to be No. So, tell me, on whose authority did you make the decision to eradicate these creatures?"
Silence fell over the chamber as the members moved their eyes between Aurelia and Count Adam.
"I…we made the decision ourselves out of desperation; we had not the time to seek permission nor the luxury to look for alternative solutions. We had to eradicate the monsters as their presence had harmed thousands and claimed hundreds of lives, this year"
"So? That does not give you the right to eradicate them. I think you have forgotten that there have been thousands of murders in this city alone over the last four months. So, should we eradicate the human race? The wild animals are considered wild for a reason; they are not as civil as us. That is why there are rules to avoid them, create repellents around settlements and roadways. However, outright killing them will destroy the ecosystem of this county and turn it into a barren land."
Shaking her head, she turned around. "This commission will be withdrawn, and a letter will be sent to the Duke of the West and the King, notifying them of what transpired here. All further decisions are there to make."
With her statement made clear, she walked out. Raghav looked at the councilmen before following after her.
"What did you think?" Aurelia smiled at Raghav, who narrowed his eyes. "I think it went well. You did an excellent job."
Once they were outside the city hall. Aurelia held onto Raghav's hands. "You said you wanted to buy something. Should we buy them now?"
Raghav nodded as he began walking towards the mines. "Yes, the sooner we start, the sooner we can leave."
Heat from the factories made the city warm even after being on a mountain.
To combat this, they had left behind their cloaks and were in their adventure attire. Raghav, in his black boots and signature brown jacket, with the silver locket around his neck and the long sword Dharm by his side.
Aurelia, on the other hand, wore a more tactile outfit, with armour knitted into the shoulders and forearms.
Instead of a dress like An, she wore pants, which allowed for mobility and also provided defence with leg braces that reached a little over her knee.
She, too, had her long sword Samarpan by her side.
Currently, they walked through the sand and dirt filled roads, with the smoke rising from the factories around them.
'It is like the industrial London of the early 20th century or what I have seen in movies and shows.'
"People don't seem to recognise you, and neither are they drawn to you like before. Any idea how?" Aurelia said as she looked at the people around.
"They are on the clock; they do not have the luxury of looking at others. On the other hand, whether the people are drawn to me or not entirely depends on the will of The One. If he wants the people to feel his presence within me, the people will. If not, then I will go unnoticed like everyone else."
"I see. Although I want to ask, why are we here in the factories? We can get excellent materials from the showrooms and the metal market."
Stopping in his tracks, Raghav turned to a pile of discarded rocks from a factory and grabbed a stick, poking at the pile. "What we are looking for will not be found within the open market. I am looking for unknown metals. Five to be exact, Aluminium, Silicon, Lead, Nickel and lastly Chromium. I've already sent Shin to gather the ones that are available in the market."
Out of the pile, he picked up five rocks and placed them in a carry bag.
"Time to make a deal."
Sparks flew left and right as iron and steel were being hammered into bricks for shipment.
Immediately entering, Raghav made his way towards the cabin beside the gates. "Excuse me! Are you the manager?"
Raghav called out to the person inside, and a man turned around, looking at Raghav through the glass window. He laughed and walked out of the cabin. "I am. Welcome, Raghav, what can I do you for?"
The two men shook hands as Raghav held up the carry bag. "I am looking for these rocks. I am certain you will be able to procure a large quantity of them."
The manager took the bag, placing it on the box and looked at the rocks. "You want this junk? They are worthless rocks that sometimes come with the ores."
"For me, they are useful, and I would appreciate it if you could get me ten kilograms of each rock."
"Must be something from your world. I can arrange them; it will take me a few hours. But first, let's discuss prices."
Crossing his arms, Raghav nodded. "What is your ask?"
"Five silver coins for each ten kilograms. Twenty five for the whole. A further cost will be added if you want them processed."
"That would not be necessary, as for your asking price. I accept, it is understandable because you will have to make a special delivery for these items. However, I must ask, has anyone else bought these same rocks in the past few months in this city?"
Deep in thought, the manager placed his hand under his chin. "Nothing comes to mind, however, and I am telling you this for free, but you won't get the same offer. If you truly want to know, you should try your luck at the DD Tavern. There you will find people willing to sell anything for the right price."
"DD?" Aurelia chuckled. "That's a cute name."
The manager laughed at her words, shaking his head. "Oh, you should visit it."
"We will, thank you for the information. Here are fifteen coins as per the requirement to pay sixty per cent in advance."
Taking the coins from Raghav's hands, he began to count them as he smirked at Raghav. "You sure know the rules."
"Of course, you cannot follow them if you do not know them."
Nodding with his eyebrows raised, the manager chuckled. "First time I ever heard this version, I like it. I will have your orders by evening, Raghav. Will you be taking the delivery from here, or shall I send it to your current accommodation?"
"I will either take it personally or send a man named Eldrain Exter on my behalf; he will show you his adventurer ID as proof of identity."
With that, the manager returned to his cabin, and Aurelia and Raghav moved out of the factory.
"Raghav, the air is really bad around these parts. How do the people even manage in these conditions?" "Breathe through your nose; the hair in the nose will act as a natural filter and make the air less polluting; however, the smell will be bad."
Accepting his advice, she did as he had told her, and it felt better. "That's much better. So we are going to DD Tavern?"
Raghav nodded and crossed the road, approaching a person who was sitting on a wagon as it was being loaded. "Excuse me, could you point us in the direction of DD Tavern?"
His head hung low as he simply pointed to the east as Raghav looked back at Aurelia, gesturing towards east with his head before turning back to the man. "Thank you, mister."
Every now and then, they would ask for directions, and someone would tell them. "It's just up ahead on this road; you can't miss it."
"Thank you, Sister." Raghav thanked the young woman in her middle twenties.
Before walking away with Aurelia. "Raghav, since we are now certain of the direction, I wanted to ask you something."
"Yes, Aurelia?"
"Why have you not told Shin about the quest? He has asked both me and Eldrain about the quest, and the two of us just told him to come and ask you, because you know the most. He is your best friend. Why haven't you told him yet?"
Raghav's face hardened as he exhaled through his nose. "I will tell him, but not right now."
"Do you not trust him yet?"
"No, no, I trust him, no doubt in that. It is just the fact that he is hiding something from me."
"But what could it be?" Raghav stopped holding Aurelia's hand as he pointed towards the tavern.
A quad floored building with balconies attached to the rooms, and at the bottom was a bar, which saw the most footfall as compared to the rest of the shops on the road.
"We will get to know his secret soon enough; for now, we should go inside."
Without responding, Aurelia moved forward with Raghav, and the two opened the door, and inside was a spectacle of chaos.
A bar fight.
Shin was standing on a table, gulping down a bottle of wine, while other adventurers tried to grab his legs, but he tap danced on the table, getting away.
When they failed to catch his feet, they flipped the table, and Shin fell, smashing the bottle on the ground as the wine fell out.
So he simply threw the bottle aside and stood up, punching someone in the face and proclaiming. "Give me more. I am not done yet!"