Chereads / Megurion / Chapter 2 - 1.2

Chapter 2 - 1.2

Megurion was just another world in the multiverse, but Hamtalin was not just another country in the world of Megurion. It was one of the four High Kingdoms, holding that title for its land, strength and many other factors, its motto being the famous "miracle".

Each country had very different cultures and lifestyle. People rarely had any interaction outside of their respective countries and therefore, they never traded or merged culture in any way. It was impossible for globalization to happen in Megurion at this rate, which, in a way, could be a good thing.

Either way, the people of the High Kingdoms couldn't travel the lands freely because of a pact that they had agreed on--the High Kingdoms Pact, obviously. In short, it meant peace would be fulfilled if everyone stayed out of each other's way. These four kingdoms sometimes took control of some of the minor countries, which meant it became more difficult for the people of the High Kingdoms to really go anywhere. The people slowly completely settled down in their own countries.

There were still people from the minor kingdoms who traveled around as travelers, traders, mercenaries--but they were considered outcasts by the people of the High Kingdoms, and that made it difficult for them to enter the lands possessed by the four kingdoms. Travelers started to decrease.

Ever since the High Kingdoms Pact was signed by the four countries, Megurion was completely at peace in terms of big wars. However, there were still small ones that occurred every now and then when a kingdom from the High Kingdoms were going to take control of some minor countries, but they usually didn't last long and didn't really give an impact to the world.

The best way to live life in this time was as a person who lived in one of the High Kingdoms. Even better if you were a noble or a royalty. Then again, that was just Valora's personal opinion--which you probably shouldn't trust because as far as she remembered, she'd only lived one life, and that was as a noble, so obviously she would say that--and besides, she didn't even know if those other High Kingdoms had nobles or not. Again, do not trust this girl.

"Did you have fun ditching the party to do whatever it is you did with that commoner?"

"As a matter of fact, mother, I did," Valora replied with a kind smile. She spared her mother a glance before returning her utmost focus to the cheese muffin in front of her. She found muffins to be a mystery. It looked so small and tiny, but it always hard work to finish them unless you cut them into pieces and eat them that way. Valora and Lyra had a theory of how they kept growing inside their wrapping.

Lady Bethany sighed at her daughter's reply. Their relationship was more dealing with each other than actually understanding one another. It was no secret they had different views on quite a lot of things, but despite all the little bickering here and there, they actually still had a normal mother-and-daughter relationship.

Their dining room was not as good as the one in the palace, but it was definitely better than the commoners' and even some other nobles. The main part was of course the large rectangular table with ten chairs at each 'long' sides and one at each 'wide' sides, which equaled to twenty-two.

In front of each chair were all the things anyone would need inside a dining room. The complete set: salad plate, dinner plate, bread plate, soup spoon, teaspoon, dessert spoon, all kinds of knives, forks, glasses and cups--and most importantly--a napkin. Sometimes, it was quite intimidating to face this kind of thing, but Valora got used to it fairly quickly.

"What did you even do with him?" the woman asked. The dining table felt lonely with just the two of them. There were usually around ten to twenty people--the large Antoinette family--but everyone was especially busy today for some reason.

The Antoinette noble family housed some of the best knights in Hamtalin, who were called at dawn today to the palace. It was a rare occurance. Other than that, the women also left early for their usual business--picking flowers, going shopping, et cetera. It was just a very weird coincidence all of them left at the same time, as if they were dreading attending breakfast.

"Secret. You would be angry if you found out. It's better this way, so you don't get high blood pressure," Valora answered casually with a hint of a smirk. Her good mood seemed to increase when her mother got more annoyed. Deciding to give her some slack, the merciful girl changed the subject. "So, when are father and Lyra coming back?"

Bethany sighed again, swallowing her piece of pancake before giving her daughter an annoyed side-glance. "Later this afternoon," she gave a simple answer.

Having cut her muffin earlier, it didn't take long for Valora to finish her breakfast. After drinking a glass of orange juice, she slowly stood up. "Mother dearest, I'm going downtown. Is there perhaps anything you'd like me to get for you? I know despite your fake hatred of those outcasts, you still like their jewelries," she offered with a smirk.

The older woman sent her an annoyed glare, probably for saying that in front of the maids. She probably thought it would lower her 'scary' reputation, but everyone already knew she was such a kind woman she couldn't handle hating anyone, even though she always looked so agitated and annoyed all the time.

It was another true fact that the outcasts sold such beautiful and unique jewelries that you couldn't get anywhere in Hamtalin. However, they were considered liars because they sold said jewelries with such low pricea--the nobles thought they were fake at first, and spread the rumours. From then on, they were specifically called 'outcasts'.

When they came to realize that everything those outcasts sold was legit, they already affected many people and made them hate the outcasts. It was obvious the nobles were too prideful to admit their mistake, and simply continued to spread hatred to the outcasts while sending their maids, servants and slaves to buy their jewelries.

Unlike most nobles, Valora didn't care about having to buy straight from the outcasts herself. By now, it was way too obvious that the nobles were buying from the outcasts and there was no need for her to hide that known fact any longer. Besides, going downtown was always a fun experience.

"You should stop going downtown, you know? It's dangerous," Bethany responded, obviously changing the subject. It was not the first time she tried it, and definitely not the last time she'd fail it.

"I bring a guard like you and dad told me to. I've been telling you that I don't like staying cooped up in one place all the time. Leville gets boring quickly, mother dearest," Valora said with an unimpressed face before returning to the matter at hand. "So, do you not want anything from the outcasts?"

Leville was a city that was populated by rich people, which meant nobles and some of the commoners who had money. Of course, where money went, evil followed--thieves, kidnappers and all criminals alike were frequently found in Leville.

For Valora, it was a very boring place. She had lived there for almost her whole life, but it was more of the fact that she just couldn't survive staying in one place for too long. The girl actually dreamt of being a traveler, but that was too dangerous at this time. Being alive was more important than an impossible wish.

Anyhow, her mother replied, "No, I do not." The word stubborn represented her perfectly.

Lady Valora Antoinette, accompanied with her private bodyguard, Rudolph, walked through the bustling Janice Town. It was as busy as ever, with shops and the outcasts' small stands, and busy people roaming around. The town itself was named after a commoner heroine that spoke against slavery and opened the eyes of the people. Even though she obviously did not succeed, her name was immortalized as a town.

In short, the people of Hamtalin originally never cared about the slaves. They didn't mind them existing, until Janice figured out how these slaves appeared and where they originated from. The noble families--except the Antoinette family--got slaves from the commoners who were too poor to pay taxes. That was why the royal family agreed on the existence of slaves.

The nobles didn't even enslave people like thieves--not that they should be enslaved--but the people might've understood their actions more than enslaving innocent but poor people. From then on, the people started making sure that not one of their members disappeared mysteriously. It didn't stop the nobles, though, considering the only ones who knew of that information was the people who lived on the town Janice lived in--until word got around, that was.

Janice's family was one of the few that was about to be enslaved, but she managed to run away. That was how she figured it out. She easily opened the eyes of the townsfolk because she had good reputation there. Back then, she would lead demonstrations for the slaves to be freed, but she failed. She didn't manage to free anyone and finally died during one of her demonstrations, assassinated.

Janice was a normal town. It was near the King's Bay Harbor, so there were many outcasts--travelers, traders, merchants--and it was always busy. It was very near to Leville, too, so Valora frequently came there. Unlike Leville, it wasn't a boring place. Janice was always full of new things and new people.

"So, William, how's your wife back home?" Valora started a conversation with her guard.

"Still not convinced that your family isn't making people slaves in form of guards and maids, but Nina's doing good," William replied with a smile. The guy was a sweetheart, truly. It was obvious he loved his wife to the bottom of his heart from how he always had this glint in his eyes every time he talked about her. There was this warm smile that always appeared on his face, too, you'd think he wasn't a guard.

Too bad Valora didn't really know how love felt like. Must be nice.

The noble chuckled at his answer. Nina was a sweetheart, too, working in a bakery owned by her mother. She was good at cooking and, of course, baking. Valora had figured out those were the key reasons why William fell in love with her. "I thought I finally managed to convince her the last time we visited your homeland. It seems I'm mistaken," she stated with a smile. It had been a good day, despite the heat.

Just so you know, wearing a thick, long dress to a busy town in summer was not ideal unless you were planning to self-destruct by dehydration and let the heat slowly kill you. Enduring this kind of thing was normalcy for nobles. They were high enough in the social ladder that they needed to stay elegant and keep up good reputation in the public eye but not quite high enough that they had people around fanning them with those gigantic fans and holding umbrellas above their heads. At least they had guards.

"Nina just says that, but I'm certain she actually really likes you, Lady Valora," the guard said, a smile prominent on his face.

They continued walking, nearing the place which was always packed with outcasts. Valora very frequently came here that the people easily figured out it was her and she just stopped wearing a disguise whatsoever, despite her mother's protests.

Unlike what people often said, nobles didn't go around with their carriage often. They only used that to go to balls or somewhere very far. Therefore, no one could really claim nobles were as lazy or weak as some stories might have told. Besides, said stories were usually exaggerating or understimating some points because they were made to show the bad out of the nobles, whether true or false.

It was very often for Valora to come to Janice town, but the people still felt the need to make way for her. It was worryingly odd how they tried not to get close to her, resulting in Valora walking normally while the people around her practically crushing each other. Why couldn't she join the crushing? Because she was a noble? Because she had a bodyguard?

Sometimes she was a bit disappointed that the people still think nobles shouldn't associate with commoners and vice versa, because that was very untrue. Valora really liked mingling with the people and was familiar with the people who lived in Janice town. As she had said last night, she respected the nobles, but didn't enjoy how they usually faked themselves to fit in.

Well, hopefully this half-demon commoner had something good to show her.