Just as Yol said, two days later, a city was visible on the horizon.
This really made me wonder…
Could Sil talk to others as well?
In the past two days, Appa had managed to extort every last one of the apples I packed, and now we arrived at a city. Maybe Sil told her about how long the trip would actually take, allowing her to plan out all of her extortions.
It was like everything was planned out perfectly! First, Sil told me the incorrect travel time, causing me to pack more apples than I would for a short trip; then Appa got every last one of them before we arrived!
I threw the thoughts of my treacherous allies to the back of my mind. Now wasn't the time to think about these negative things!
I was finally here! The capital, land of glory and fun!
It wasn't hard to enter the city walls, no one even stopped me as I rode in on Appa.
It was my first look at the amazing city that Vosnan called capital! Once I was done with this country, not just Vosnan, but the whole world would surely call it the capital!
Run down buildings, starving citizens, and poorly made roads filled my vision!
This was the bes- wait… what?
The people of Vos'ai didn't seem to be happy to live in the grand capital. Well, grand if you call streams of feces running down the edges of the streets 'grand.'
It seemed there was no sewage system in the city, leaving the residents to dump their chamber pots onto the streets!
A few beggars took notice of me, and gathered around, pleading for help.
"Uhh… why is the capital like this? I thought it was the land of opportunity…"
One of the beggars, a skinny older woman covered with filth, answered my question.
"The war is taking all of our young men away from us. There's no one to continue the future of our city… and we're going to lose the war anyways. We can't win against any of the nearby countries. We're all doomed!"
For the people of this world, war wasn't some great adventure. It was a looming beast, tearing away everything they cared about and leaving only despair.
Thanking the lady for the information, I rode off. I needed to get a scope of the city, and see if it was like this everywhere in the city. Morale was important for war, and a country believing its own defeat is inevitable would come to see their predictions come true.
The skinny beggar watched me ride off, sadness in her eyes. She had given me information, but didn't get anything as payment.
It seemed like it would be another cold, hungry night for her.
Meanwhile I had already forgotten about the beggar as I rode through the streets. Depression flowed from every building in the city.
No one smiled.
No one laughed.
The lack of young men was also plainly visible. No man between the ages of thirteen and forty showed their faces in the city.
This world wasn't like earth. It lacked proper health care, and diseases ran rampant. Reaching the age of forty was already a bit of an accomplishment.
In other words, I saw next to no men at all.
"Hmm.. looks like there is a lot of gender inequality in this country. Stupid. This is a waste of resources, why not let the women fight too?"
I shook my head at the poor resource management. It seemed that this Vosnan country might not be the best option if I wanted to become a legend, but it was still worth a try.
A country in dire straights would be quicker to grab the hand of someone who could help them out.
There was an upside to the one sided selection of males. I hadn't yet turned fifteen, but given the state of the city, I doubt that the army will care. I should be able to join without issue.
My next destination was the army camp, located at the northern side of the city.
As I approached, the conditions of the buildings seemed to get better. Lively food stalls filled the streets, furiously preparing more food.
At this time, almost all of the remaining men of the city had been gathered to train for the war. A number of businesses followed them to the northern side of the city, providing food for the hungry soldier-in-training.
I finally reached the training grounds, but the view wasn't quite what I expected.
The army was less of a bunch of tough, burly men… and more of a child army. Kids, mostly ranging from the ages of ten to sixteen were gathered in the training ground, all of them having mock fights with each other. The poor kids looked malnourished too, a few of them as thin as poles. As I looked down at the training field, one of the more sickly looking children collapsed. He just couldn't go on further, not while he was half starved like this.
His opponent looked at him for a moment, then walked away. No one helped the kid up.
No one tried to comfort the boy, instead ignoring him.
'It looks like no one wants to help that kid. Well, I guess they get more food the fewer people are here. This isn't such a bad thing, just natural selection.'
I wanted to disagree, to say that Sil was wrong… but I couldn't.
In war, the enemies would target your weakest link. An army needed to be solid and strong; there was no place for someone too weak to stand.
"Yea… I guess."
And just like that, the kid was forgotten about. Maybe someone ended up helping him, maybe not.
In either case, it wouldn't be my problem. I would help this country by leading them to victory, not by fawning over every person in need. That just wouldn't be practical.
It was time to start my time in the army, my time making my own legend. I urged Appa forward, heading for one of the only adults in view- the army official in charge of training the kids.