The Empire had once been seven, seven kingdoms and seven Lords. A land split unequally amongst its sovereigns of the central continent, far from lawless—it couldn't be, simply war hungry, too preoccupied with borders that didn't exist, separations that seemed meaningless and hatred whose origins none could trace back to. Such was commonplace amongst the ravenous bowels of man, they'd grown used to that; they're kings and queens had at least, spilling lush grounds in an ocean of blood, a world drowned beneath the scarlet whilst embroiled with its conflicts of the East and West, the deep forests, the rolling desserts, the islands to the North and the Winters to the South, their vastness and their people…It'd been that ceaseless age of enmity towards its neighbors that'd brought them together all those eons ago. How fitting, when such bloodshed was directed towards themselves en masse only then was its insanity so blatant. The common threat of extinction had been the key, the ever foolish key that'd taken so long and at the end of it all they'd come to gain the more prevalent answer that'd eluded them until now; that that too was meaningless, that war was meaningless, hatred was meaningless, greed, power and all that was vile. From that day onward, the alliance was null, their borders were null, seven kingdoms, seven rulers relinquished themselves to the greater good of the Empire.
What a weirdly twisted story of…redemption? well, who knew anyway. If only progress meant cheaper apartments, then again they were robbed not so long ago. The desire, however, wouldn't be unwarranted. From the fractured seven kingdoms it once was, the country itself had grown large—a little too large. Technological advancements propagated like wild fire within its inner cities, the outskirts of them, however, took a little longer than most. Glory to progress he'd always say though, taking a train instead of traveling all the way there on horseback or foot was splendid, wishful thinking however would've loved it if it all wasn't so expensive to maintain. They'd been in flight for over a few hours since dawn, the dull amber's had long since shifted to the bright barren blues before they'd found a safe spot to land outside of the city, far enough from the watch towers gleaning over the horizons in glinting spires, the lenses of their giant telescopes reflecting the light from the distance ahead.
Wonders of such had waned over the years through close proximity but even then, the magnificence of it was still hard to throw off. Even from a distance, its towering stone walls of deep greys fluttered with the crimson flags of the Empire's pride, a lion headed chimera draped over the wall's edge above its accents of steel where the flags fluttered. An imposing mix of stone and metal, one could probably imagine there'd been a symbolic reason for that; a personification of strength? Eternity? Two sturdy materials they'd given that kind of meaning to, of course the obvious idea was that it was a great monument of defense but with advices of nobility in its construction, it wasn't pointless to think of such.
Tilting his head at the familiar sight, Gale commented, "There's plans to put cannons up there, remember the ones on top off Alyre?"
"Thunder dragons?" Gohlm inquired, earning a nod. They were an interesting work of art or at least, Tenma had gushed over them that way. Colossal smoothbore cannons accelerating projectiles through the use of repulsion magic—a fancy term for a technique in barrier magic that applied the aspects of 'deflection' to set the object in motion, several other barriers lining the barrel in regards to the nature of most barriers that resisted the more what was attacking opposed it. Used correctly, the projectile is loaded in, slammed against the first barrier that deflects it back, adding more momentum to the initial, then slams the second and is deflected with further force in regards to its new momentum and goes faster, stacking the process up through several barriers before its ejected with a sound like thunder. Tenma had seen them in action once, although the concept always eluded him, how was the thing supposed to slam into the second barrier and be ejected towards the third, wouldn't it simply fail to make its way through and strike the base all over again? He didn't quite get it and Tenma's cryptic responses about tweaking a spell and different ways barriers could be applied never really helped with that mystery, then again he was no artificer.
Shaking his head at the thought, he sighed, "For all their talks about peace, they're quite fond of their military"
The gates between the walls of Thrimbohre sat wide open, stationed guards at its entrance as with any city, men and women in deep blue uniforms standing or otherwise sitting there with their rifles not far off—slung on their shoulders even; there was little need for much vigilance anyway, besides, any real danger would've been noted by their watchtowers. Long before getting within the vicinity of the city, just after they'd left camp, the two had made sure to have their adventurers licenses well in their hands. It was a small, card-like thing, a dog tag even. Black in colour and metallic in nature with a small flat jewel encrusted at its corner, inscriptions burned atop its surface stated their names, age, years of employment and combat profession. The two wore them around their necks, taking them off once they'd made it to the gate; it'd be an annoying reprimanding session if someone mentioned the fact that they hadn't had their licenses on the whole time.
Shifting at their approach, a hand was raised by one of the guards, stopping them just short of making it through before a second came from beside the gate. Routine checks like this were normal, mandatory but not common. Rarely did anyone leave the city from its main gate much less enter from it, with the added fact that anywhere from which the eyes could see was imperial territory there was little need for all this but precautions came from prior experience or at least a fear of something greater, either way it was a boring job with equally boring duties so when the mans emerald gaze swept over them with an expression that didn't betray much knowledge to their thoughts, they stopped just a few feet short of their figures holding their licenses in hand before raising a brow; emotion slipping through the cracks quicker than they'd been hidden. "What a sight for sore eyes, y'all never bore. Adventurers huh? " The guard joked, stepping forward to take their licenses.
His gloved hands flipped the cards over to their backs, watching the light glint over the surface where instead of black its true colour as a deep shade of crimson was revealed; confirmation that it was Indril, a metal the guild procured themselves, unique to them. He flipped the cards back, noting the jewel before the information burned across the tags and handed them over a minute later. "Gohlm and Valera, hm? welcome back" He stepped aside as they walked ahead, another guard that'd been watching, shouted over whilst seated across a curb; "Exit through the front gate next time too, eh? We're dying here!" they groaned, another raising a brow.
"You signed up for this you know?"
"I signed for the guards patrol, the military you oaf"
"Guards patrol, military—the same god damn thing? Crisis, Dale, you're a graduate"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Glancing back as the seated guard stood, the one with emerald eyes interjected, "Alright, that's enough! Continue like this and we're not switching over with the next sorry bastards coming here"
"Tsk" He begrudgingly sat back down again.
"…And Besides, everyone knows Dale's never graduated" The man scoffed, earning a few laughs.
"Captain!!"
𖤓
Tossing the tag over his neck again as he mumbled something along the lines of 'unnecessary', he hadn't missed having to dodge an oncoming bicycle cycling down the stone paved roads amidst the chattering foot traffic, glancing towards them, the man atop of it waved an apologetic hand up but continued to race down the street, disappearing beyond a gentle bend. Pausing at that as tolling bell chimes resonated from across the city, signaling midday if he had to guess whilst the clopping hooves of horses pulling closed carriages passed them by and he shook his head through a sigh, Thrimbohre indeed, they were home…
How long had it been since it'd all ended? A couple decades perhaps? No, sixty if memory served right. It'd been sixty years since they'd made up their differences, since the war had ended. A millennia worth of ceaseless conflicts put to rest, they hadn't healed but they were making strides. Sixty years ago this had been a battleground, a phantom piece of Imperial territory engulfed by the war efforts. Bare land now supported towering infrastructures, buildings of varying measures scattered along the plain isles, face-bricked and smoothed stone, wood and accented coppers, statues of the seven and most importantly Theia herself; the robed hooded goddess of ages past, sweeping a gaze away from them as they walked, signs stood above some of these buildings surrounded by dulled out lights where it was easy to envision how brightly they shone in the depths of nightfall.
Sidestepping a sizeable gaggle of passing people gossiping among themselves or with newspapers in hand, the only thing one couldn't miss about the place was the crowds although he couldn't truly say he disliked it, the bustle wasn't suffocating, nor was the chatter. Glancing off towards the sounds of bellowing air horns at the arrival of returning airships, Gale relaxed, tilting his head over to the side, "I don't know about you but I'm really missing a bed now that we're back, I don't think I'll wake up for a while" Gohlm couldn't agree more, they both needed it. At the very least escort clients offered accommodations at times, was this how all hunters lived? Maybe those just starting, the less experienced, either way, these little escapades had truly garnered a new found respect for the wild bunch that called this their lifelong profession—pity even when he factored in sleep, ignoring his throbbing neck and even more so the small resurgence of his unattended injuries.
The buildings themselves, however, were less of the full wonders the city had to offer. Resisting the growing temptations of standing food stalls and corner bakeries flooding the cities inner sanctums like wild flowers unattended, variety of choice of seldom lost to them. Pausing only just briefly at an elven herb store not too far from one selling the more familiar meats they were used to, the thought flickered before Gale's hand dragged him back into step; a true pity they'd lost to hunger back in Nordebrooke, there was a really nice 'make your own meal' come closer to central square. A regrettable mistake he had to admit, another pity for all those hunters out there as he shook his head, missing the shouting cat fellow waving a paper above his head whilst holding a pile of others in a bag slung to their side where Gale paused to take a look before being bumped into.
"Argh! What damn fool can't see to step aside?!" Came a voice accompanied by the sound of tumbling boxes as they dropped what they'd been holding across the floor, turning around at them once they'd registered what had happened, Gale wondered, "Orlen?" The man raised a brow, looking up from where he stood; he was average height really, sharp eared with a grayish tint on the skin, a nearly black waistcoat and brighter pants topping off his appearance where a similar tag wrapped around his neck whilst he shook his head. "Hm? Ah, Valera, Gohlm, a most pleasant surprise finding you two here" Orlen said, bending down to the first box that'd slipped past his grip as the two naturally followed suit, an apologetic smile from Gale as the latter was pulled back from his absentmindedness.
"Same here, working?" Gale noted the boxes, his slight urgency and a huff as Orlen scoffed with a shake of his head, "How wishful, not today it seems"
Glancing up whilst handing over a box from where he knelt, Gohlm inquired, "Better offers somewhere?" That was normal, the only downsides to the job apart from the dangers was that everyone could apply themselves for hire, too flooded and the client had a variety of options to choose from, even if they did take you, until you were physically on the job and on the task then that status was easily subject to change. Orlen shook his head at that though, grumbling as he recounted, "Worse, don't ask me what's going on but they've got some strict rules on your way to Varlem. Imperial knights all over the place"
Gale let out a sound of amusement, "It's not like you're doing anything illegal over there"
"Tell that to their righteous navy asses, adventurers are nothing more than stylized mercenaries after all" He huffed, placing the last box atop the others they'd picked up across the ground as Gohlm tilted his head to the side, "What's going on in Varlem anyway?"
"Varlem's neighbor's to Arken, the whole area's under some pretty tough management" They looked beside them, the cat fellow holding the newspaper's they'd been selling in their hands whilst now staring between them all; offering them up again. Orlen shook his head after a moments silence, as Val bought the paper, "Just annoying anyway, got to look elsewhere at the very least. I've been meaning a little break anyway"
"Don't let us keep you then, we're dying for some rest ourselves" Orlen nodded, picking the stuff up as he made his way down the road. Staring at him where he left, there was a rustle of paper that caught his attention as Gale gleaned over the paper, "Heart Stealer…?" he mumbled, handing it over as Gohlm neared for a look.
"You must've been outta town for a while, Heart Stealer's been news for weeks, they's calling 'em a professional ya know? Traceless, quiet, Empire's tried it with the mage towers to get a hold on 'em but even they've got it stumped. Soon's they'll try it with the rest of them's magic folk"
"Non-humans, Mages of the coalition?"
He nodded as Gohlm chimed in, "What happens if that fails too?"
The feline slits of his emerald eyes seemed to narrow slightly, a weird excitement behind them that seemed lit by some blazing sense of curiosity, an interest in that speculative future and its outcome, "Who knows mister, there's some out there that's real's eager that they's got a solution. Ask me? I'll tell ya there's some folks that wears deep robes and dark hoods seated atop of tall towers that don't much like them's other's and their solutions...."
Gale raised a brow, "You know a lot about this for a paperboy?"
"That's cause me's a journalist, ma'am"
"Journalist?" Gales eyes widened, glossing over them more properly this time, "Everyone's in love with stories these days you know? Is there…really a need to be selling newspapers out here, you should be doing just fine"
He smiled, "Sure is, I lost my's apartment just yesterday"
..
…
Gohlm sighed as Gale soured, "How do Thrand and Tenma do it.."
He knew the question was rhetorical but Gohlm answered anyway, similarly dejected, "One's got a tavern, the other's an artificer. Maybe a wedding in the woods will be nice?"
Gale winced between a frown but otherwise couldn't refute that that might be a possibility.