Passing under the large gateway, we enter into a large street. There are several areas that seem to be related to the military in the vicinity around the gateway. As we continue down the road we eventually come into more residential districts and following that we arrive in the commercial districts. With a bit of Exploring around, we find another set of walls near the centre of the city that surrounds what I can only assume to be the central authority for the city. Corresponding to the four cardinal directions are four entrances to the inner part of the city beyond the wall and there are four large roads that stretch out from each of the city's entrances the run all the way down, forming a cross-like shape.
One of the most notable things from our little exploration is not any of the sights but rather the people, specifically the sheer amount of people looking at us from a distance, whispering all sorts of gossip. Both Liu Mu and the guard from our inspection had warned us about this, but I had severely underestimated this. It's clear from our interactions with the people here so far that the imperial family is respected heavily.
There were a few cases of stall owners in the commercial districts trying to hand us some of there goods for free. At first, they seemed to take our clothes as something new the imperial family had, but after some explanation, the misunderstanding was eventually resolved by Aurelia. Lia and I didn't actually mind but Aurelia had been getting treated as a servant so she worked hard to resolve the misunderstanding before she got everyone we spoke to convinced that we were all outsiders.
But even after the misunderstanding, while the common folk were curious, the merchants and traders had a newfound resolve, to scam us. They tried to sell us various goods of a great range of usefulness, from stunningly useless to amazingly useless. A charm that one claimed could protect against malice, Aurelia saw through it and noted that it was nothing more than a slip of paper with fancy drawing and no imbued power. As Aurelia tore through the merchants, they all eventually gave up saying that they should have expected as much from someone from the outside.
As the merchants left, we began to chat with some of the locals who aren't interested in scamming us, mostly the working class that are enjoying their day off or some housewives taking a trip around the city with their children or friends. Although I personally wanted to look around for more interesting things, Lia and Aurelia wanted to hear about the stories that have been passed down regarding the previous outsiders.
As the last outsider before us, the first tales we heard we those about Speur the Sky Knight. I noticed that no one seems to know about the name he had before taking on the name Speur. After asking about it, it's not that no one ones but rather it just never got passed down, but one of the housewives we spoke with mentioned that that current Mountain Lord would probably know his original name.
As we sat around one of the plazas, listening to the tales from the locals, Aurelia and Lia had similar reactions to when the first heard about Speur after listening to some of the names we were told. While not Gods like Speur, many of the people we were told about are seen as important mythical figures of ancient history. One of them, like Speur, is rather renowned in Lausiel, Gaius the Brave, a warlord from the times of the continent of Lausiel's tribal history and before Lia's patrilineal ancestors subjugated the continent.
As the outsider who came right before Speur, he too has his fair share of stories, they were mostly about the troubles he would find himself in while trying to help others. He was apparently known as the Heroic Gaius here in Shengdi for his unusual attitude for going far out of his way to help others, strange in my eyes since he is known as a warlord in Lausiel. But before any more tales could be told, the children wanted to hear about the things Gaius did after leaving Shengdi as they were very interested in hearing about their hero Gaius. Perhaps out of consideration for the children's respect for him, Aurelia omitted some of the more gruesome stories Lia was sharing through telepathy.
At first, I wasn't too interested in some dude playing hero, especially since Aurelia had left out the bloodier details, but something quickly stood out. Although she didn't name it specifically to the children, she brought up a story about how a monster that resembled a feathered serpent who could create and manipulate lightning was terrorizing the lands. She had mentioned something similar to me before about how an Elemental Spirit Dragon had been making a mess of things and that one of her Eithgar ancestors was the one who dealt it the killing blow. But apparently, that ancestor wasn't alone, Gaius had also participated in that battle and it was that battle that would mark the end of this hero's life. Her ancestor and Gauis had apparently been good friends and after working together to defeat the feathered serpent and told the children the on his death bed he gave her ancestor his inheritance under the promise he assists his people after leaving this world and allow for the world to remember the name of Gaius.
The children seemed a little sad to hear about how their hero met his end, but they quickly cheered up and asked about the inheritance he left behind which also interest me as well.
"Our friend left not some treasure behind, but instead a power. It is this power that myself and my ancestors have favoured heavily since receiving it," Aurelia says as she creates the golden barriers she is so well known for, "this is the inheritance left behind by Gaius, the power he cultivated in his lifetime. We have always used this power as much as we could in remembrance of him."
"Is this truly the power that the Heroic Gaius once used?" one of the housewives asked.
"For what it's worth, I can vouch for it," says another housewife, "one of the ancestors in my family was saved once a long time by the hero. He had fallen from a cliff while searching for herbs and was saved by this golden light. This is a story my family's elders always share during our new years gathering."
"If you don't mind me asking, why is it there seem to be only a handful of people who venture away from the continent?" Lia asks.
"I would imagine it to be their being little reason to visit places that are less developed than our land. Even those lesser lands of Samhan and Yamato are more developed than those of the outside world, everyone knows this, that's why there are so few visitors from beyond, only the most talented can arrive here from the outside. And oftentimes the people who come from outside settle down here in Shengdi, people like Speur or Gaius who leave after a while are rare. This is also one of the reasons that outsiders who visit are generally well-received, it must be difficult to achieve greatness in such a land that is scarce of Divine Energy," says one of the housewives.
In my eyes, it's this place that is falling behind, industrialisation has started in Lausiel, firearms and metal ships have begun to appear, meanwhile, this place shows no signs at all of making technological progress. Although I will admit the architecture and martial abilities are impressive, and the sheer number of people we have passed and seen in this border city alone surpasses the total population of Lausiel Capital. Perhaps in times past the rest of the world was playing catchup, this is certainly how it was on earth, China was far ahead of the pack in ancient times, but at industrialisation took hold, the eastern nations who had once been far ahead in progress had been overtaken by those they had looked down on. The Empires and Kingdoms of Shengdi seem to be in a similar situation and it likely won't be too long until industrialisation becomes commonplace in the rest of Grauntia leaving this place to be the one playing catchup.
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today, even if you all had the wrong idea at first," Aurelia says, "but the sun is starting to set, I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your free time today. But I would like to ask one more thing, might you know the way to the inn run by the Liu family?"
"Do not worry over such small things, outsiders who visit are destined for greatness, it was our pleasure to be able to speak to a future great and thank you for spending some time with the children. Anyways the place you looking for is in the commercial district out from the west road, it's hard to miss, the place has a large sign over the entrance naming it the Liu Inn."
Sending our goodbyes to the housewives and their children, we follow their directions and very quickly find that it is indeed difficult to miss. Lia and Aurelia can't read the sign, but the place stands out so much that they could very easily figure out that this is the place even before I could point it out. It's very apparent after we enter, seeing both the inside and outer decorations, this is not some small family run inn, this is a damn 5-star hotel.
As we are standing around the entrance looking around, a familiar face walks over, "So you girls decided to come to our place after all," Liu Wanjing says, approaching us, "Since you probably don't have any of the currency used here, I can get you three set up with a room free of charge and I can even loan you some money, but I want to speak with you later."
This had come to our attention earlier, but the currency used here is different from the various coinage used in the rest of Grauntia. Seeing the opportunity we decided to take her up on the deal and are soon guided to a room near the top floor. This truly feels what I would imagine a 5-star hotel to feel like, the room we received is well furnished with three beds and plenty of space to eat and relax in. Not long after we even had dinner brought up to us, and with our food came both Liu Wanjing and her father Liu Mu.
"Feel free to eat first, we can talk afterwards."