Jace smiled as the younger adventurers just stared up at him. His smile withered slightly as he looked from one to the next. "What?"
Floris coughed into his fist and scratched the back of his head, "You just fought an ogre one on one for like a minute. I've never seen anyone without traits doing something like that."
Jace shrugged, "Mastery over your weapons goes a long way, don't neglect on sparring on training and you can do the same soon enough. I mean me and Weira can dismantle and ogre in seconds. The things are stupid and slow, this one had a decent amount of combat experience but he remains one of the slower creatures."
The group glanced at Weira, who nodded in confirmation. The youths remained in awe for sometime as the group rejoined the caravan and checked in on the other guards. The guards had only been attacked by a smaller group of grufflings and had no problem in dispatching them. The guards nodded to them approvingly when they heard they had taken down an ogre. It seemed they had earned some respect from the more experienced warriors.
Yusufri came over and ladled a thick amount of praise on them. They politely thanked the over-enthusiastic merchant and got back to their duties. Along the trip to the capital they were attacked a few more times but all of them smaller and less dangerous than the first. Even the younger adventurers hadn't managed to get enough experience for another level out of the fights. As they hobbled along over the road, Jace was sitting on one of the carriages talking to one of the merchants when he saw a shape appear over the hill in the distance. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to make it out, he glanced over at the woman next to him, "What's that over the hill, that… pillar."
The woman grinned at him, "That right there is the famous Stairway to Heaven."
Jace paused as he heard her, "Come again?"
"The Stairway to Heaven. One of three unconquered and possibly endless dungeons. It has so many layers and floors that people don't even know how far up it goes. It's smack dab in the middle of the capital. The entire city was built around it, all of the three big dungeons have massive cities built around them. You have the Labyrinth of the Lost and the Abyssal Trench. Both of them are far from here however." The woman explained as she gazed at the grey-ish pillar in the distance.
Jace tapped his chin as he stared at the thing, "Does that mean we're getting close to the city?"
The woman laughed richly, she shook her head. Her dark locks catching the light as she smiled at him. "Not even a little, it'll take another day or two of travel before we can even see the city. Once we see it add in another two days of travel. The walls of Yllassa are humongous and can be seen from quite the distance. All of it is dwarfed by the tower however."
Jace stroked his beard, "The capital must have a large part of the economy built around such a dungeon. What kind of business are you and the other merchants planning on doing there?"
The conversation once more lapsed into more common topics, Jace made sure to pay attention and learn of the situation in the city. He knew little of the kingdom he was in or the politics surrounding it. He was now in the Kringva kingdom, a mostly human society that was acceptive of most other races. The society was mostly matriarchal, they had a queen and have had one for the past thousand years or so. It was honestly impressive that a single family had remained in control so long. It was less impressive once he figured out they were only on their fourth generation within those thousand years. The queens each tended to live well over three hundred years. They took their time grooming their children for the throne and unlike what he expected of nobles the concept of honor was of key import.
He had frowned in disbelief when the woman had told him the nobles were solidly united behind their royal family. She had explained that the royals and the noble families were all descendant from a single adventuring party a millenium ago that had saved and helped thousands of people migrate from a beast wave that had thrown a kingdom that no longer existed into utter chaos. These adventurers had helped the people settle in and had become their leaders and rulers. The party leader, Jiliana the Ever Wise was appointed as the queen and none had objected. Over the various generations honour and loyalty had been bred into the nobles, each generation more fiercely loyal to the crown than the one before it.
Nobles were considered the guardians of the people and all of them were well trained in both the subjects of government and combat. New noble families were very rarely added to the line-up, only when a person of skill and honour had performed truly well would the queen instate them as a noble and their family would join the ranks of the blue-blooded. Such a thing was a celebration even among the other nobles she claimed, new strong blood added to the defense of the royal family and their kingdom.
Jace shook his head and leaned back into the wooden carriage. "Aren't there any outliers, people with such ambition that they grow corrupt and try to take more power than is due to them, perhaps a coup?"
The woman shrugged, "So there has been none, not that I am aware of at least. Trying to run a coup on the kingdom would be difficult the nobles are almost devoutly loyal and the people are treated well. There aren't many people who would be willing to consider the idea of a coup. There isn't much to be gained from one. The people are prosperous and despite various attempts by other countries to invade, they have been beaten back each time. Kringva has never started a war on its own, the kingdom is not lacking in resources because of the Stairway. Any need to expand can be sated by pushing the frontier and conquering back some land from the monsters."
Jace continued to have trouble wrapping his head around the idea of competent and loyal nobles. The history back home had told him that nobles were a fickle bunch. While a few were truly honourable and noteworthy there were even more that were corrupt.
Yusufri had chosen that moment to move in next to them on a horse that was visibly strained by his weight. "I see it is hard for you to imagine such loyal nobles my young foreign friend. Personally I think it has something to do with the skills that they gain."
Jace turned to the portly merchant with interest, "Skills?"
The man nodded, the rolls in his neck wobbling. "My ancestors, may the gods rest their souls. Were nomads from the desert kingdom of Eilmir. A tribal people, they had a skill they gained from a young age, perhaps birth. That caused them to go berserk in combat, another nomad family was none for their ruthlessness. An emotionless people that would do whatever they thought was needed for the sake of the tribe."
Jace's eyes widened.
"Yes, I see you are starting to understand. My parents told me the tribe had a skill called The Wrath of the Sandwalkers. That caused their rage, while this emotionless tribe had a skill called Empty Heart. If my guess is correct perhaps these nobles have something along the lines of Chivalrous Spirit or Honor of the Blue-blooded. Or something equally silly sounding. Skills can affect your personality, most people carry these skills with pride. Something that is given to them by their ancestors. Something created by circumstance and passed on." The merchant smiled with a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at Jace.
Jace nodded his head and leaned back, "A kingdom could do a great deal when the you can trust the management to be absolutely trustworthy."
Yusufri showed him a small smile, "They can indeed. It is why the kingdom is so prosperous and peaceful. It is also the reason why they expand relatively rapidly. It is but a manner of time, I think, till the surrounding kingdoms start feeling threatened and take action."
Jace smirked, " Twould be a shame for such a kingdom to fall to the greedy, something an aspiring adventurer might find issue with." Jace glanced over at the merchant who grinned with a gleam in his eyes.
"A simple merchant would agree, such a war would be bad for business."
The woman stared at the two as if they had gone insane, having no idea what the two were talking about. Eventually she shrugged and went back to driving her carriage. Yusufri urged his horse to carry him back to the front. The horse did, albeit with great effort. Jace hopped of the wagon and slowed down to fall in step with Weira. He told her about the conversation, omitting the last interaction between himself and the merchant.
She seemed mostly excited about tackling this endless dungeon. He had to agree that the capital seemed like a good place to both earn some funds and gain some more skills. Especially in a well explored and mapped dungeon such as the Stairway. It would reduce the risks of their dives. He called over the youths to confirm it they too had planned to climb the staircase. They nodded, it was a good way to gain strength and learn the ropes in relative safety. It made Jace wonder, with people coming from far and wide to test their skills against such a dungeon, who decided who was allowed to enter?
He supposed he would find out once they reached said dungeon. The last few days traveling towards Yllassa was uneventful. Upon reaching the truly towering grey walls, they had to be at least fourty meters high, they said their goodbyes to the caravan. Yusufri told Jace where to find him and if he needed to buy or sell any goods he should come by. Jace promised to do so, the youths had decided to follow Weira and Jace to an inn. They were not planning to start diving together, but having some people near who you could trust your back to was never a bad thing.
They walked through the city admiring the various people and races they saw in the busy mainstreet. Jace saw minotaurs, elves, dwarves, lizardpeople, some kind of dog people, gnolls perhaps. Beastmen of different types, different from the gnolls, somewhat more human like. Not with a simple tail and ears added on but more as if beasts had learned to walk on two legs and had a quarter of human dna mixed in for good measure.
There were also plenty of races that he had never even heard of. Four armed red giants, people that seemed see-through, a truly tiny people barely the size of a mouse. A dizzying variety. Then there was the smell, he expected the stench of waste but that was missing for some reason. He did smell the many conflicting scents of people, food, perfumes and anything else he could think of.
He shook his head and decided to start looking for a place to stay, it took them a while to find a place he liked. Someplace decent looking without being too extravagant. A homely place, he glanced at the sign, The Goofy Geese. He grinned, yup he liked the name. He entered the inn and was assaulted by a delicious smell of something reallllllyyyyy tasty. He walked over to the bar and smiled at slightly pudgy man who was cleaning a mug. "Hi me and my friends here would like some rooms. But first of I will have a plate of whatever is cooking! That smells heavenly!"
The man smiled and nodded to a table, "We can discuss the rooms after you have something your stomaches. You seem like travelers and I'm sure you're sick of traveling rations and could use a proper meal. "Milli! We have some people who want food!"
"What food? Any specific dish?"
"Any food! Bring me all the food!" A slap to the back of the head, "Seven people worth of food I mean!" Another slap.
"Leave me alone Weira I can eat for two!"