Diara had made room for Noah in the temple already, but he was like a blank slate, without much thought or common sense.
She wasn't sure how far his knowledge laid but she wasn't going to take any chances. The divine being gave her only one job and she wasn't about to take it lightly.
Bringing him into her personal office she started testing out Noah's knowledge and she discovered that apart from knowing about each race and their territory in general, Noah knew nothing more.
It felt like he was but a sheltered child who grew up listening to a simple story of the world and how it works. She wasn't sure how to correct that but she'd atleast make sure he knew the world enough to survive on his own.
Watching to make sure Noah was relaxed or atleast settled in she asked him
"How much do you know about the world"
"I know about the 5 races and their continents, their elemental traits and general personalities " Noah replied
"Yes go on"
Diara encouraged him, perhaps he wasn't as clueless as she assumed at first, she was starting to get excited wondering what he'd show her.
"That's it"
Noah said, an awkward moment of silence passed between them afterwards as Diara just stared at him. She set herself up for that she thought.
With a silent sigh she started
"We're currently in the territory of humans , a massive continent that named Atrios, after the first human ascendant who ensured the survival of humanity during the chaotic era. This continent has 8 kingdoms which form the Tarian Empire and the outlands which are other parts of the continent that doesn't fall under the empires rule.
You'd wonder why but the continent is such a big place that even after a millennium we haven't conquered every part of it. Civilisation exists in a parts of the outlands with their own rules and structures in place. But generally the empire and the outlands don't interfere with each other"
"The kingdoms in the empire are not equal in strength with Zion being the strongest and also the home of the emperor and Cilia being the weakest. It is also our current location.
While each kingdom has its own territories under it with it's own governing system, we are currently in gamora, a small village under count Gainnes, its location is very close to the outlands and was once used as an outpost to explore in the eastern direction but was halted some decades back when no resource worth the exploration was found."
"As a member of the order, I am not privy to more details on the territory or how it works as it could have adverse effects, but during your stay here, I will teach you all that can be taught and prepare you for your future endeavours"
Noah took the time to digest the information he had on hand. It wasn't much but it was enough to get a handle on the situation of things in terms of human race as a whole. But he wanted more, an instinctual feeling made him ask
"Then how about the relations of people in the area, I noticed I didn't see any other race in the temple, is there some sort of discrimination against them in the kingdom or is it a problem with the order?"
Diara chuckled as she heard the youth's question, she really had to say he was observant, it was just a short walk within a short period and he was already analysing the basic layout trying to get a handle on things.
It wasn't a bad thing but she'd have to make sure he doesn't overthink or make hasty conclusions without seeing the whole picture
"Well yes and no, Cilia being the weakest of the 8 human kingdoms that makes up the empire has frequent dealings with other races to stay afloat, the difference is that huge, it isn't strange to see other races in cities under cilia, however count Gaines doesn't like members of the other race.
As far as the rumours go, he's part of human supremacy chaste, coupled with the fact we are in a border town with no notable features so while there are few non-human, it's not something you should expect as frequent occurrence."
That misunderstanding was resolved, but was nice to see
"You mentioned Gamora being a border town, so is it directly bordering the outlands and if someone was to go further east, what would they find"
"Calm child, in due time.
To the south west of Gamora lies the capital of the county. You would encounter 5 cities and some villages in between though, a massive forest encloses gamora on the northern and western sides, taking up a bit of space on the south east too."
"In the deeper parts of the forest there are mountains that seem to be frozen all year long, if you stand in the right position in town you'll see their peaks on the horizon.
Further south are plains with some nomadic tribes that eventually leads to a river which flows inland towards the central parts of the kingdom."
"Gamora is the last stop when going east and somewhere inside the jungle is where outlands officially begins.
Initially this place served as an outpost to explore a set of ruin which this town was later named after, Gamora, but after decades of finding nothing in the ruins and nothing else in the area, the kingdom decides to call it off.
Just like I told you earlier, the residents here now are people who are tired of the hustle and bustle of the big cities or the remnants of the initial outpost who already made a family here and could leave"
Diara didn't say anymore than that but she was one of those remnants, she came here a little over 20 years ago, just before the exploration was called off and decided to stay here since the temple already had a branch here which would continue to operate as long as people existed here.
Noah finally understood where he was found, He didn't know exactly of his origin but when Diara mentioned forest and the outlands, especially the ruins, he knew he had to go there.
A short moment of silence from both parties as Noah was in his thoughts and Diara was planning out what to do to help him. When Noah finally had his thoughts organised he told her
"I'm pretty sure I'll have to visit the ruins someday, infact I'll have to travel the world and find out who I really am and what my purpose is. I have no idea what to do, or how to do it, so please, I ask you, help me, teach me"
Naoh said with all sincerity and his head bowed. He didn't look into Diara's eyes because he didn't know what to expect, she had already done a lot by taking care of the unconscious him and he didn't know how much further she was willing to do. He was so conflicted that he didn't even notice her leaving her position and coming to him until she put her hands on his hair, ruffling it gently.
"Even if you didn't ask, I was going to do that anyways. The temple rejects no one as it's my job as the high priestess to care for all in need"
'Not to mention that my life had been tied to yours since the moment I found you'
She chuckled to herself, still a little fazed by her meeting with the divine being, the silver wolf.
"So once again, Welcome to the order of faith"