"Bem-vindo a casa!" Inki said as she waved her arm.
We were currently standing over a cliff that looked out over a massive bustling town. It wasn't nearly as primitive as I expected it to be. However, instead of thatched roofs brick and mortar, all the housing was made from living trees that had been shaped to fit hut structures.
The trees themselves were absolutely massive!
[ This looks like a dark elf town! ]
In all of my experience playing video games, I couldn't help be shocked at the living structures that made up the houses for Inki's village. What had surprised me as we all got closer was that there were both men and women in the town.
" I thought this town was supposed to be women only?" I said confused.
" Oh hahah they are still spreading those rumours above ground?" Inki said with a belly laugh as we headed towards the town.
" Our people have a .. what's your word… hmm.. Matriarchy system in place." Inki said laughing.
" Oh, so women are in charge here?" Sora said behind me excitedly.
" Exactly," Loki said with a nod.
" But where did the no men thing come from then?" Nathan said with his head tilted.
" That is because men here do not go to battle… You are the first outsiders to see our male folk!" Lulu said as she walked next to Inki with a giggle.
" To be exact our males are limited, we are more likely to give birth to females rather than males. So they are quite precious to us. We would rather they stay safe in the village" Inki said as we approached the front gate.
Two tall women looked down on us confused.
" Eles são tão pálidos. Eles estão doentes?" One of the female guards said.
" Muito magra." the second guard said as she looked at Loki.
" Now now there will be more than enough time to get to know them! Don't cause them too much grief." Lulu said to the guards as they straightened up.
It had not been even a moment since we walked through the entrance that we were swarmed by tonnes of people. The first thing they did was greet Inki then each of the guards that accompanied her.
They were speaking a strange tongue I couldn't understand but they seemed extremely happy that everyone was safe.
[ It looks like Inki is really popular with her people. ]
I looked over at the commotion and seeing everyone's boards smiles I couldn't help be swept up at the moment as I watched Inki's guards unload what they had caught for the day and handed it out to the villages.
Inki then said a few words to everyone before they turned around and faced us. It wasn't long before they were looking at us as if we were exhibits at a museum.
It wasn't until one brave child came up to me to touch my " exotic" clothing that the rest of the townsfolk realised that we were not a threat.
One by one they touched our hair and looked at our clothing.
Some tried to talk to us but everyone besides Loki was in the same boat as me... Unable to understand them. All we could do was give an apologetic look as we smiled.
" Don't worry you will learn soon enough!" Loki said as he patted me on the shoulder and answers some questions the villages had about us.
" Alright it is time to go," Inki said before she lead us away from the excited crowd.
" Yuki! I like this place it smells nice" Kibbles said as he rested on my shoulder.
For some reason as soon as Kibbles had shown me his drawing ( which was pretty good for a spirit beast) He refused to let me leave his sight. I had decided that in future I would spend a little more time with him since he had become so clingy.
Maybe he was lonely?
As I was absently mindedly thinking about Kibbles we had finally made our way the biggest tree in the village.
" This is my house," Inki said with a proud tone.
It wasn't long before a bunch of people came out with a bunch of different coloured magic stones.
" These are your keys to your houses do not lose them," Inki said smiling.
Finally, we were lead our the Village and shown where the various shops and points of interest were. They had no use for currency since there were no outsiders to trade with so they still used the barter system here.
It was not the same as trading a chicken for some vegetables here since they used items called job tokens.
Inki explained that each family or person would receive work tokens that would allow people to collect goods based on what they did and how long they worked for.
I was surprised to find out that even working on domestic duties like raising children would allow someone to receive a work token.
[ Seems this place is rather forward thinking!]
We had spent the entire day looking around before it was finally time to find our houses. Each one of us was given our own tree house. The houses were not the biggest in the world but mine at least was just enough for me.
[ A fully furnished one bedroom house with toilet, shower and kitchen... This would be very expensive back home!]
I said goodbye to everyone and made my way to my new bedroom.
The best, chairs, desk and cabinet were all handcrafted and seemly made from the local trees that were growing in the area. Honestly I felt right at home.. Minus a single problem.
As I walked down stairs and checked what could be considered a fridge I realised I had no idea how to cook the food here.
Everything that had been supplied to me in my food storage was complete foreign to me.
[ What is this strange pink carrot looking thing?!]
As I held up my newly found treasured pink carrot I couldn't help but sigh.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
I was so startled I dropped the carrot on the ground!
I quickly looked around to see if anyone knew I dropped it before I picked it up and stuffed it back into the fridge.
There was a woman waiting at the door.
She seemed young because she was shorter than most of the other Amazonians. She had long grey hair tied up with various pieces of leather. She seemed a little nervous as she stood there.
[ I wonder why she is here.]
" Are you Yuki Akiyo?" The girl said as she played with her thumbs.
" I am may I ask why you are here?" I responded.