The square was bustling with activity. Humans, Beastmen and large reptilian creatures could be seen all around, going about their way, choosing various streets that connected to the square.
At the centre was a large fountain, at the base of which stood a man wearing a dark trenchcoat. In the middle of such a brightly lit environment, he stood out like a sore thumb. It didn't help that he had a large weapon strapped to his back, still shimmering with the gleam of iron and brass alloy. Strangely, the man didn't seem to mind all the attention.
He looked silently at his reflection in the water. His hat was in his hand, revealing his short black hair and striking red eyes. He had a chiseled jawline and sleek, pointy eyes like that of an eagle.
"This isn't an illusion..." He muttered to himself.
He could still feel the power of miracle. Same with glory. Using them to confirm his senses wasn't too hard of a task. He could either wish from the Miracle, or degrade the mental attack through glory. None of them had given them a response, meaning, his situation was very much a reality.
Furthermore, even though he heavily suspected a great one's involvement, he could not sense any blasphemy around him, or on him.
Such a thing, although brought relief, also raised a lot of questions to his mind.
Where was he? Why had he been transported here? What could possibly be the reason for such an occurrence?
He looked at the sky. In the distance, he could see his raven... nay, multiple ravens going for recon all around the city.
He needed information, and luckily, he had the best tool for it.
A Hunter's raven, just like the Hunters, was imbued with miracle. They could split themselves into many, understand human language and emotions and to some extent, manipulate their size.
Lugunica... Royal Capital... that's interesting...
All hunters shared a connection to their raven. Through it, a hunter could instantly gain information that the raven had scouted.
In his mind, he had already begun to form a rudimentary map of the entire capital.
The sunlight reflected off of the water which splashed off of the fountain. Hedin watched his own reflection, distorting in the chaotic water.
Just then, he felt someone approach him to the right.
He turned his head to look. A child, no older than 7.
"Uncle! Are you a knight?!" The child asked with an excited grin. Hedin noticed a tooth missing from his mouth.
He smiled warmly and shook his head.
"No, child." He noticed the child mother approaching. Instantly, she grabbed his hand and began to drag him away.
"What did I tell you about talking to strangers!"
Hedin shook his head and donned his hat back.
The sunlight fell upon his hat, casting a long shadow over his face. The glow from his red eyes looked striking under the shadow.
Slowly, he put his hand into his pockets and began to walk in a particular direction.
...
The capital city of Lugunica was gigantic. It was built atop a network of layers formed from elevations in height. Each layer was symbolically and literally divisions in social classes. The topmost layer stood as the royal castle which towered over the capital.
Moving down, it was the royals, lesser royals, knight households, merchants and magnates, commoners, and finally, the slums.
It was all information that was built into the infrastructure itself. Each layer had vastly different levels of architectural complexity, lifestyle and cleanliness. Even an idiot would be able to tell the social structure from looking at the layered city, much less Hedin– who considered himself a somewhat sharp idiot.
The city itself was circular in form and was surrounded by high outer walls. From the main gate at the wall, a large main road led right into the heart of the city, the royal castle.
He had arrived in the 'commercial district' of the capital. The middle line in the hierarchy. Evidently seen by the multitude of shops, stalls and goods carriages going about their way in the streets.
His ravens also came to know of something called the 'royal selection.' Apparently, Lugunica, as a country, was without a king to lead it.
Curious... Hedin mused, expertly maneuvering through the packed streets. Stalls lay on both sides of the street, selling wares, fruits and all kinds of trinkets.
He stopped in front of a sign which displayed cryptic texts, alongside caricatures of various denominations of coins.
"Hmm.. I can't read this, but the language itself doesn't seem too different from mine in speaking." Hedin judged.
He continued on his way.
As he went through the streets, he received various looks from the passerbys.
Evidently, they had not seen such peculiar clothing as the type he adorned. Either that, or Hedin himself was the one that looked striking. He roamed the streets for a long time. Approximately an hour. He tried to strike up conversations along the way– and since people weren't avoiding him, it was easier than it would have been. But even so, given his clothing and the weapon he carried, the people, although didn't outright display their fear, were notably uncomfortable when talking to him.
He had avoided running into the guards while he did his exploring. Chance was, they wouldn't take kindly to an illegal immigrant in their country, the royal capital no less. It also didn't help that he carried a blade at his back, which, although it was partially sheathed, would be grounds for scrutiny.
He made his way to one of the main roads, meant for travelling straight into the upper levels of the capital.
The road was lined by bricks at the centre and the sidewalks were mostly stone. Lamp posts lined the sides every 12 or so meters and street vendors weren't seen here. There were, however, a plethora of shops and fine establishments one could choose to visit.
Bars and book stores, restaurants and guard posts. The road itself was populated by carriages at the centre, while it's periphery had many people going about and docked carriages which were unloading goods.
In the sunlight, it made for a peaceful, almost picturesque scenery.
Just then, a momentary disturbance caught his attention.
A sharp sound, made by the reptilian creatures called the ground dragon about 5 lampposts away. It strode forth with a jerk, running over some crates and towards a small child!
Hedin's pupils narrowed instantly and strength burst out from his legs.
The world around him turned into a blur as he dashed forward, the ground getting pushed under his feet!
Whooosh!
His form ripped through the air, speeding up in an instant. And then, he planted his feet into the ground, skidding to a slow pace as he arrived in front of the boy.
The ground dragon roared as it reached them, ready to run the boy over.
At that moment, he grabbed the small child in his arms and rolled to the side!
A metallic clang rang out as the blade at his back slammed into the brick road. Without missing a beat, he got off the ground and let go of the boy.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" Hedin asked in a gentle tone as he held onto the child's shoulder.
The child, visibly shaken from the experience, shook his head in denial. It was not a moment later that cheers erupted form the sides. The people clapped their hands, thanking him for saving the child.
"Oh my lord! Thank you so much!" A healthy woman in her middle ages came forward, her breath ragged and tense as she swept the child into her arms.
Hedin nodded his head in acknowledgement. Accepting people's gratitude took courage, more than to reject it.
And of course, rejecting the gratitude served to both undermine his role and demean the person thanking him.
He noticed the guards rapidly moving towards them, so, supporting his hat with his right hand, he expertly slipped past the crowd who moved to give him space.
He took a smaller street that connected to the main road and like a phantom into the night, he disappeared into the maze like streets of the capital. The ravens overhead told him of all the possible routes, which made it all the more easier.
His steps were sharp and quick. With a small effort, he propelled himself upwards and jumped onto the roof of a building. From there, his nimble figure jumped across the rooftops in a splendid show of parkour.
Finally, he found himself overlooking a bustling street. Various street vendors lined each side of the street, selling vegetables, fruits and clothing. It was the trading street, one of the most frequented streets in the commercial district. Or so he had recently come to find out. But looking at the large amount of people going about, he felt that it's reputation was well earned.
He jumped down from the rooftops, landing in a deserted alleyway and walked out with his hands in his pockets.
I don't have any money and this is an unknown place with a different language. I can't get into any jobs that have to do with logistics. Best I can do is observe for a while and find someplace that takes in labour– something which won't be too hard.
Whatever the time period and wherever the place, hard labour was always needed. And this place, seemingly all too removed from the technologies his birthplace offered, needed labour all the more.
As he approached the stalls, he noticed two small children standing some distance away from a stall. They looked longingly at the apples kept there, their tattered clothing telling all too much about their needs.
Hedin felt a bit bad about their state. He felt that if he had some money, he might have given them some of it, but then, a cold clarity washed over his head.
Looking at their clothes, they must belong to the slums. The commercial district, much less the trading street lies a whole 2 levels above the slums. Why would two children be here all alone? He raised a brow at this observation.
"Raven..." He muttered under his breath. His raven which had been flying overhead landed on one a nearby roof, it's empty red eyes gazing at the two children with unreal concentration.
With that, Hedin decided to leave the matter. It was not that Hedin suspected the two children to be agents of an evil existence– though such a thing did cross his mind.
Neither was it that he deemed them capable of inflicting any extreme harm onto other people– though he momentarily considered such a possibility.
It was simply a precaution. He had met various small children, corrupted by great ones' blasphemy– most of which he had to purge by his own blade and revolver.
Even though he felt no lingering blasphemy on their figures, old habits were hard to get rid of.
Better safe than sorry. He thought to himself.
With that, he began to walk in a random direction.
His raven had split itself into a few dozen copies, each of which was flying over different parts of the capital. Each pair of eyes and each pair of ears gave him crucial information he could use.
Having left his raven, he approached a deserted alleyway. The entrance was partially blocked by some crates and the alley extended further inwards, leading to another major street three turns in.
Hedin sat onto the short flight of stairs that led shortly to a turn. The sunlight filtered from above, casting a diagonal light over the left wall. The rest of the street was covered by a looming shadow. The street was cool and somewhat windy, yet, with Hedin's presence, a strange light filled it, the source of which was neither the sun nor anything visible.
It seemed as if light had simply... existed here since long ago. Hedin took off his hat, letting his short hair flutter slightly in the soft breeze.
There's also this strange... substance I keep sensing in the air. His red eyes focused all around him. Although he could not see anything, he knew something was indeed there.
It was like a flowing stream.
Calm and collected, yet, at the same time, nothing like it.
It felt intangible. And undeniably powerful.
His eyes were a bit unfocused as he contemplated on what to do.
Is this a new source of power? Something the humans of this place were blessed with? Like the glory we harness from the Miracle? But is that even possible? Not to mention that I can't sense a trace of glory in any of the humans here, neither do they have the miracle.
Just then, before he could begin to weigh his options, a loud shout broke his thoughts.
"Hey! You! Spit out everything you got!"
For a moment, Hedin was unsure what to say.
He looked at the exit of the alley. The bright background gave way to reveal a group of three miscreants. One of them had white hair and was considerably lanky. The other was a bulky man with a bandana that hid his purple hair styled into braids. And the last one was a dwarf with a bowl cut.
The first of the three, the lanky man had a knife in his hands and smiled malicious.
Do they not see the weapon I have? Hedin was speechless. But then, he realized that the angle at which he was sitting hid the blade entirely behind his back. The only thing visible was a wooden handle.
As for the revolver at his hip, Hedin doubted such a technology existed here.
This ought to be vexatious...
...
...
~~~
(Image here)
A/N: Read up to 10 advanced chapters on my patreon.
Link: patreon . c o m/Yesnth Just remove the spaces from between.