The next morning, Kaze woke up the earliest of the bunch and was already at the common room before anyone was even ready yet.
It was an understatement to say that Kaze barely slept a wink the night before, since he did sleep but was unable to get a peaceful rest. Being unable to get a good sleep was worse than being unable to sleep at all, shown by his slightly dishevelled look and darker eye circles.
"Good morning," Sera, being one of the early risers, noticed Kaze sitting by himself and walked over to his side. "You're early today."
"Yeah… couldn't sleep," Kaze mumbled.
"Bad dream? Or out of excitement?" Sera grinned, giving him a light nudge. "Come on, let's have breakfast first."
When Kaze got to the dining room with Sera, he was surprised to see that no one was there yet. Perhaps the royalties took their time every day since there was no real rush. Unlike humans, who only had limited time, the dragonkin race were a species that did not hurry about that much. While it was not the sole contributing factor, it was still something to consider.
Today, that factor did not apply. It was simply Kaze and Sera going to breakfast earlier than the rest, although some of them were already awake. The Emperor and Empress, for example, took their time getting ready as rulers of the nation.
"Sera-sama, Kaze-sama," Ilesta came over to them and gave a light bow. "You're up early. Please take a seat first, we will serve breakfast shortly."
Soon, the rest of the royal family and their friends came together to have breakfast by the table. It was another exciting day for the group, for they were going to be brought on a short tour around Aravel. It would be a chance to get to see what life in Aravel was like and interact with the locals. Even though it was called a dragonkin nation, they also had other natives living here that weren't humans, such as wolfkins and foxkins.
During breakfast, Kaze glanced towards Lucentia, who sat rather far away from where he was. With the event of the night before still on his mind, he wondered how Lucentia would react. When she noticed him staring at her, she just gave him a quick cold glance before turning back to breakfast. This, rather than sent shivers down Kaze's spine, caused him to sigh in relief instead as that meant Lucentia was truly treating what happened a secret.
Unfortunately for him, when looking at Lunaria, she merely looked away or ignored him. This proved she was still pretty steamed about what her mother did, even though it was proven to not be Kaze's fault. After all, would he dare to lie to an Empress of all people? If Lunaria was there when they were talking, perhaps the results would have been rather different.
As of now, Kaze could not do anything until he waited for a chance to talk with her again.
- - - - - -
"Everyone~ good morning! Hopefully you had a good sleep last night!" Luniel enthusiastically spoke to the group. "Today, Lunaea and I will be your tour guide around the town of Aravel!"
"I-I will simply be here to lead the way and do some interaction," Lunaea shyly pointed out. "P-Please excuse me, I'm bad at interacting…"
With the pair of petite dragonkin princess twins leading the way, the group left the palace and headed into town. Along with them were the three elder princesses, allowing their younger siblings to take the lead. It seemed like each of them were in charge of different things, so for the time being Luniel and Lunaea were acting as the tour guide for them.
"Luniel, sometimes it feels like you act like the elder of the two," Shoko casually commented while they departed. "Lunaea, don't you think it's time to step up?"
"Mou~ you know it's not in me to stand out, Shoko," Lunaea pouted at the foxkin.
With Sera, Rena and Shoko being close friends with Lunaria, it was no surprise that they spoke casually with the other princesses too. It was something achievable only by becoming long-time friends, especially with a race like the dragonkins.
As the group left the region of the palace, they got a glimpse of the mountain that they resided in the day before. None of them managed to get a good view yet since the carriages bringing them here had tinted out the outside view for safety purposes. Now that they were at the foot of the mountain, they were able to grasp only a fraction of the true size of the mountain. To think that the dragonkins were able to turn this into a palace, it was a feat in a league of its own.
"We still have a lot of space to use, if needed," Lunaria enlightened her friends. "There's no way we will empty out the mountain though, for that will weaken the support structure and collapse on itself. At most we would only excavate 50% before stopping. Right now, our palace only covers 20% of the interior."
"Maybe we should bring you guys to look at the exterior on the wyverns," Lunatea told the group, contemplating their next few days. "Who knows? While the outside isn't as fancy as the inside because we try to incorporate the natural look of the mountain to the design, it is probably worth going to the very top just so you can see what we have above."
"Man, Aravel's seriously impressive," Chris shuddered while saying so. "Look at the border! I can barely see it from here compared to when we are above."
"What's more, the air is so refreshing," Noel took a deep breath and exhaled aloud. "I guess that is one of the benefits of having your nation on an elevated land."
True to what they said, Aravel wasn't built on plains or smoother, lower areas of the earth. All around them were mountain ranges acting as the natural cover for the border, with only a small portion covered by border walls to mark the start of their nation. None of their enemies had the capability to scale the extreme peaks unless they grew wings like dragonkins themselves, hence why there was not much security compared to the tightly packed, strictly controlled border entrance.
"Yes. While it might not look like it, we have ancient magic acting in place of physical coverage all around," Luniel nodded at Noel's exclamation. "If we have time, maybe we can get close enough for you all to see what I mean. For now, we should head into town."
Walking about was easier than expected, especially when the land around had been constructed for the ease of transportation. Most of them expected dragonkins to utilize their wings more, but it turned out the majority of the crowd walked around too. This was a surprising revelation, for it must be due to habit over the convenient usage of their wings. Then again, their nation in general was so small, there was no real need to fly from one town to the other since there was only one town, despite it being bigger than Czech's city.
"Luniel, how come this is called a town instead of a city, when it's obviously bigger than a city?" Yuuji asked the younger twin. "For instance, isn't this already twofold bigger than Tristania?"
"Well, this goes back to history. The houses are so widely spread apart with a lot of land that we don't really consider it a city," Luniel stated.
"According to historic records, when our forefathers started the nation, there was no real name for how we classify our nation. It wasn't until after Czech had begun classifying their plots of land that it was decided a 'town' suited the description of our nation," Lunaea continued. "Furthermore, the extent of our nation is not limited to what you see before you. We still have other plots of land outside of the area of the borders. The town is only limited to where we stay."
Passing a stone bridge across a river, the group were now away from the area of the palace and more towards the town area.
Unlike with Tristania, where the palace was located central of the city so that they were not exposed from any sides, Aravel's was directly towards the very end of the nation. It only made sense it was that way, as the palace was a whole mountain on its own. With the town resting before it, it was quite surreal for the group to imagine the change in structure that they were familiar with.
The houses were also not conveniently constructed out of wood and stone, instead with some being made with superb craftsmanship. It proved that the dragonkins cared a lot about their cultural difference too, emphasizing on design and artwork. A lot of buildings here had a very old look to it but polished with a few modern touches and refining.
"Other to the very right there, that big building close to the mountain there?" Luniel pointed out for the group. "That's the cathedral. Think of it as like a temple or something; it's where Mother works."
"Laevia-sama is a Saint. As part of her job, she prays for the prospect of the nation and communicates with the gods," Rena elaborated for the group. "It's not that dragonkins are religious, but they still do believe in the gods. They don't have fancy festivals or leave offerings, instead take religion as a part of their life in a liberal sense."
"Kaze, I remember Lunaria-nee saying the countryside you came from worships the Goddess of Love?" Lucentia asked him. "She is one of the gods that we pray to."
"Wow… that is some amazing architecture," Kaze widened his eyes after hearing this. "You're telling me that is a church?"
"A cathedral, which serves the same function as a church I suppose," Luniel shrugged. "We'll visit in the evening, don't worry. You will be able to see something pretty amazing there."
The group moved on to a slightly crowded area from the quieter zone they came from. Where they appeared to be right now had quite a lot of stalls in place along with the scent of food emitting within.
"This is Aravel's only marketplace," Luniel declared. "Whatever you want to find, be it food, books, materials, items, spell books, swords, it can all be found here! The market entrance right now leads to the food section, with it dividing to its own specific area so they don't clash. Can you imagine eating next to a blacksmith? No thanks."
"W-We have an activity planned for everyone," Lunaea handed them each a pouch. "Inside contains a specific amount of money that we have allocated for you. Within the next 2 hours, you may buy whatever you see fit around the market area. At the end, we will meet up at the entrance where we are right now to share our experience over lunch, so p-please be careful not to overeat."
"For reference, this is a crash course to Aravel currency," Lunaria took out a card from the pouch for everyone to see. "In Aravel, we don't use coins or cash as a form of payment. Instead, we have developed money to be used through this card here. When you want to make a payment on a specific price, just tap your card on whatever display the shopkeeper has and your purchase is complete."
"One reason for this change in the recent few decades is due to the inconvenience of carrying around stuff to barter or make payment," Lunatea explained further. "With this card, the concept of money might seem non-existent, but believe me, we still do use the common currency you have in Czech."
"For that, you can exchange your points left in your card to redeem the common currency at our exchange centre," Luniel gestured to a slightly bigger house that stood out from the rest. "Here, shopkeepers and anyone with the card can exchange specific number of points in return for currency. It will be valued according to our nation's discretion, but we won't cheat you, fret not."
"Question! What if someone's card goes missing?" Mitsui raised her hand.
"No worries, because your card doubles as your identity too," Luniel grinned, tapping the surface of the card to reveal a string of letters and numbers. "See? My name reveals along with my points and other extra information."
"In the case it does go missing, we will know. We have already set a tracker to locate all of you in case you go missing," Lunaea gestured to a small device akin to their pamphlet cloth. "So feel free to move around. You may explore individually, in groups, or even with some of us."
"Lunaria, no escaping," Shoko and Rena quickly secured their best friend. "You're coming with us."
"We need to talk, after what had happened," Sera giggled, taking their nervous dragonkin friend away with them. "We will leave first."
"Irene, a date?" Chris extended his hand to his girlfriend.
"Gladly," Irene took it and kissed his cheek. "This is going to be the most unique date ever."
With Albert heading off on his own and Yuuji along with Noel and Mitsui, it left Kaze with the four dragonkin sisters. Needless to say, there was not much option for him.
"Um… would anyone like to come with me?" Kaze sweatdropped while asking the question.
Looking at each other, Lucentia shook her head while Lunatea simply blushed lightly at this, not liking the idea of going along with a male alone. This left Kaze with the twins, who seemed more than happy to accompany him as they didn't get the chance to talk much with him either. Truthfully, Kaze felt relieved that Lucentia didn't play devil's advocate and went along with him.
"Alright! I never expected you to end up with us Kaze," Luniel said so while grinning from ear to ear. "How do you feel about the tour so far?"
"We just started, but it's already superb," Kaze admitted honestly. "I can't believe we missed out on this amazing nation when you brought us."
"Hehe. We specifically tried to keep it a secret as much as possible. So even if you were able to get a glimpse when we were in the palace, our introduction along with your first-hand experience is always the best," Luniel nodded at his words.
Entering the market after Lucentia and Lunatea, the trio quickly stopped at one of the stalls where they sold hotdogs dipped in hot sauce, making it a hot hotdog. It was a quirky way of naming things, but it somehow worked as Lunaea and Luniel didn't hesitate to get one.
"I see now why we had less breakfast than usual," Kaze chuckled. "To prevent overeating."
"And also to prepare for lunch," Luniel reminded him. "Today's lunch is going to be super special."
"Mind hinting me what we're having?"
"Nope. It's a surprise."
Moving along the food stall, Kaze was able to see the diverse cuisine they had there. Since most were quick snacks that were easy to handle and eat while walking, there was quite a lot of choice to make between them. The special ones he had never seen before were obviously something he was going to try. Based on what Lunaea and Luniel were telling him from time to time as they walked around, Kaze picked up a few food items here and there. It didn't help that the twins were eating faster than they could head to the next stall, so they ended up buying a lot of food.
Even that wasn't a problem. Kaze barely had to spend a dime of his money since the twins kept sharing their food with him. Most of the items were shareable as they came in packs or bundles, so it made it easier to budget together. What's more, Lunaea and Luniel themselves didn't have a budget so it unintentionally made Kaze rely on them when he was supposed to be paying.
"Oh, Lunaea-sama! Luniel-sama!"
"Pleasant day there. How's business going?"
"Ah, same as usual."
"Luniel-sama, here with some guests?"
"We saw a few of them walking together."
"Lunaria-sama was with her friends, huh?"
With each stall they passed, the stall owners familiarly greeted the princesses. Obviously, Luniel and her sisters were all famous in their nation as everyone knew the royal family. It was a close knitted community, to put it into words. Unlike Tristania, where the royalty was mostly safely guarded from the public and rarely exposed unless to commemorate a certain event, the royalties in Aravel behaved like normal citizens on normal days. It was a luxury only found in Aravel due to safety not being much of a problem.
In Tristania, crime rates were high due to the massive number of people staying there. It didn't help that wealth diversity there was not as balanced as the citizens in Aravel, despite efforts to try and minimize the gap between the rich and the poor. There wasn't much of an issue of poor people overrunning the capital, but it was more about balancing the two. It was hard, knowing that some jobs yielded more in return but that was life. There is no true way from keeping the rich getting richer, but they could help the poor improve their cost of living.
In Aravel, where the concept of money did not matter to one's status, it helped that the dragonkins were a race that did not bother about living the most lavish lifestyles out there. They simply wanted comfort, and that was what helped their nation to prosper. Aravel might be quiet to the outside world, but they were a thriving community of hard-working people.
Kaze was initially worried about the sort of reception he was going to get, being a human. Surprisingly, the dragonkins around seemed to be unbothered by it. They already knew that they were expecting visitors from outside after the announcement from Reginsleif, making it even more prominent when it was stated that Lunaria was the one who had invited them.
Regardless of how controversial it sounded, the dragonkin nation understood that it was important to put the past aside and trust Lunaria, their crown princess. Whatever happened, regardless of who started the civil war, was something they accepted as a mistake on their part contributing to the war happening. After so much trouble, for Lunaria to automatically invite her friends over was something they should be celebrating instead of worrying about the past.
Trusting that this was something positive, the dragonkin town in general treated Kaze and the group like how they usually would to anyone else. Furthermore, most of them were people who had outlived a century at this point, so they had no reason to fear a few human kids way younger than them being invited as the nation's guest. If anything, it was better than having any executives march their way here with soldiers.
"Alright, I think we have explored most of the food section already," Luniel nodded and looked at Kaze. "Where do you want to go next? To our left we have the miscellaneous items and to our right is the alley with the blacksmiths or anything weapons related."
"I'm going to choose the blacksmith and weapons for now," Kaze said after looking left and right. "I can already tell the street on the left is going to take a lot of time."
Moving on to the right, Kaze was instantly greeted with the familiar faint echoes of metal striking hot metal. There were only a few blacksmiths in town since the population in Aravel wasn't high to begin with. It did make Kaze question how weapons were getting delivered and made on a daily basis, but then he remembered the monstrosity that Lunaria had done to Tristania. Why was there a need for excessive weapons when the dragonkins already had their true strength embedded within their physical self?
"Luniel, are there shops that sold armour and stuff?"
"Certainly. We have other races who help make weapons to suit the needs of the niche."
"Some are custom-made and pre-order only, so don't be surprised to see some shops empty and only having a woodcarver or a magician in it."
Lunaea and Luniel explained the circumstance to him. Indeed, it was as they had described. The smithing scene in Aravel was considerably different from Tristania. The shops were a lot humbler and had fewer customers, possibly due to that Tristania had a constant influx for the need of weapons by students and adults alike. It once again made Kaze question how the blacksmithing business was thriving and earning enough for survival.
His answer was found upon entering a shop that piqued his interest. At first it seemed like a shop that sold musical instruments, but it had an isolated section with bows and arrows on display. The shopkeeper or the craftsmen would have to be someone familiar with both, since it took someone with knowledge to be able to understand what made a good bow along with how to craft a musical instrument.
"You found your answer?" Lunaea asked Kaze, who examined one of the bows by the shelf. "Those are… made for commercial use, not the pre-ordered type."
"… Do all shops have a combination of different items for sale?" Kaze questioned the twins, who both nodded at the same time.
"Most of them do. If not, it would be that they specialize on something so direct and narrow that other people would have no choice but to order from only them," Luniel clicked her tongue, happy to hear that Kaze answered correctly.
"It does lead to the argument if this is killing off creativity here, but I don't think that problem would arise," Lunaea tilted her head slightly. "We at Aravel encourage venturing into different fields after all. If it seems promising or there is the willingness to put in hard work, we have places specialized to nurture those talent or even allow them to work part-time at a certain place."
"… You surprisingly get chatty when it comes to this sort of topics, Lunaea-sama," Kaze raised an eyebrow at this, feeling taken aback by her change in attitude.
"A-Ah, that's…" Immediately, Lunaea began stammering again and proceeded to look at her younger twin for help.
"Us twins are inventors and researchers, you know that. When it comes to research topics or analysis, Lunaea becomes a whole different person," Luniel giggled. "Also, Lunaea and Luniel is fine. You don't have to get formal with us."
After the slightly amusing discovery, the trio continued their small exploration down the street.