February 21, 1976.
The Northeast Axis, Kingdom of Soreh.
(One Week Before Present Day)
(???'s POV)
The Capital City of Acrya was built into the side faces of mountains each reaching to a rough estimate of ten thousand feet, and the deeper a person travels inside the city, the greater the security becomes.
In the innermost region of the city, certain hills and mountains began to make a slight increase in elevation. Because of that, the main government decided to separate the city into three "floors".
The Lower Floor was the main industrial area and the Middle Floor was the main residential and commercial area for the common folk.
Thanks to important establishments like the Merchant's Association, the middle floor housed the most population compared to the others.
This floor was where the only two main gates into the city itself were located.
The Top Floor was the place where the nobility and the main government resided.
Alongside with other royal families and noble houses, the Holy Church of Libra main building resides at the very peak. Both publicly and in the shadows, they handled affairs regarding matters concerning the city and the world as a whole.
To maximize security, each floor was separated by two giant and thick walls that connected to the main outside border.
Those walls were named Micheal and Raphael by inspiration from the great religious influence that ruled over the city.
They even had golden wings, angelic symbols and patterns engraved on its exterior just for significant decoration.
The walls that separated the floors served as the boundary between each. Each armed with heavy machinery, intimidating soldiers, advanced magicians along with other like minded mechanisms designed to successfully defend a siege from any enemy.
In short, The Capital City of Acrya continued to maintain its great reputation of wealth, prosperity, security and overall abundance that a city could ever ask for.
Today was just the same as any other, but here it was always as exquisite as the last.
Everything was practically picture perfect in any aspect that needed to be covered.
At least that's what the very well polished exterior would like to have you believe....
But many forget the reason as to why the term, "too good to be true", existed in the first place
As a member of The Holy Knights, I was given the privilege to live in my own personal estate located directly on top of Wall Raphael, the same wall in which separated The Middle and The Top floors.
Course the first picture that comes to mind when thinking of a "holy knight" is usually a knight ironclad in heavy shining armor.
But right now though, I'm wearing nothing but a simple long and white bath robe.
It was woven out of expensive, yet fluffy wool to maintain body heat while keeping out the cold.
Besides the fact that it felt a tad bit itchy, there wasn't anything more to really add.
Now why as to why that detail is so important more so lies with the fact of what happened last night.
I don't intend on going into detail about it, but all that matters is that right now, I don't really care too much about my appearance.
Why?
Well, believe it or not, it was because I was able to fuck a girl last night.
And it wasn't just no ordinary sex. No, no, no. It was by far the best I had in a very long time.
I guess sex really does feel alot better after a long week of exhausting work.
But you know what feels better after that?
That heavenly sleep you get after your done impregnating the girl you love.
And that's exactly what I was enjoying right now.
As I laid in my bed knocked out, I was unaware as to what time it was, nor did I care enough to know.
But as beautiful morning light began to peer through the silver curtains of my bedroom, I unfortunately found myself slowly rousing from the comfortable clutches of my bed.
Once I properly awoke, I realized our blankets were still in a disorderly mess as the smell of passionate sex hung heavy in the bedroom air.
"Umu….uuu~~"
Suddenly, I heard the soft sounds of a female mumbling nearby.
From what I could tell, my girlfriend was asleep, but despite that, she was still feeling some of the effects from last night.
Hmm, for some reason, I felt like I probably took it too far that time.
Regardless, feeling a little playful, I ran my finger down her neck.
"MmH!?~" The girl's body quivered softly as she was being lightly tickled.
Aw, how cute.
Okay, that's enough.
After that, it took me a moment to my proper balance, but before long I finally got off my bed and walked towards the bathroom to freshen up.
After making sure I was properly hygienic, I walked down a small series of stairs before finally entering the kitchen.
Feeling a little parched, I opened the fridge.
Various bottled beers and other mature drinks lined some of the mini shelves. Each one brandishing different yet apparently special brands with expensive looking labels.
Though not really caring what to drink, I grabbed something random and reached for a nearby glass cup.
Handing it carefully, I finally popped open the corkscrew and began pouring.
Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't be drinking this early in the morning.
"Eh, well I'm an adult, so it's fine."
Convincing myself with a half assed excuse like that, I watched the bubbly seltzer fell upon the glass with the refreshing sounds of sizzling bubbles.
"Mm? Not bad."
It wasn't amazing as the bottle's label overhyped it to be, but it wasn't terrible either.
Since I wasn't in the taste for anything specific, (nor have the will to pop open another bottle), I simply accepted what I had and walked towards the balcony.
Greeting the glorious outside from my luxurious patio with through light arm stretches, I embraced the sunlight and the crisp air with a warm welcome and a friendly smile.
With my cup held in my right hand, I approached the fence.
From my current distance and elevation, the crowd of the people below was almost the size of the average bees.
After taking a quick sip, I channeled magic into my eyes, enhancing my vision to, believe it or not, exceed that of a well trained falcon.
Even on a weekend, the residential areas were still crowded with hundreds, if not, thousands, of people with supply transports traveling to and fro.
From what I could tell, the atmosphere was upbeat and lively. Well, not like it had changed.
Everyone was constantly shuffling about and few were stopping in between.
Productivity was at a high, and business both big and small was reaching yet another step of success.
Even the ones who were trading and selling slaves like they was nothing less then lifestock....
Looking at nothing in particular, a certain armored bandwagon caught my eye.
Before I dive further in the things I saw, allow me to provide a little bit of context.
The Kingdom of Soreh is undoubtedly the religious hotspot the entire world. Unlike their brotherly country Wüder, they believed that "owning another person's life" is a sin that heaven would not tolerate.
As such directly owning slaves on their soil is considered as disrespectful to the country's beliefs and was, and I quote, "strictly outlawed".
Despite those beliefs however, plenty of armored transports would pass by with metal cages perfectly ready to import, or export their precious "cargo".
Now back to what I noticed, that same transport that I was looking at earlier was quite the wealthy customer. A "returning" one at that.
One man in particular stood out the most as he exited the co-pilot seat of the carriage.
Topped with a nice looking black cap, a forty something year old professional looking man came out to greet one of the patrolling knights.
There was a special golden feathered emblem located on the side of the man's cap that helped me identify the man as a merchant from a well known "import and export" type of traveling business.
"Merchant Association…."
There was no doubt about it.
Even from way up here, I could tell that those emblems were legitimate. And even if you were drawing from that context alone, it was easy to understand that this man probably wasn't the only one who did shady things under their banner.
I would know because I have seen them myself.
Plenty of other "businessmen" scurried around the world like rats as they collected profit for themselves and their respective Guildmasters.
As I was thinking to myself, one of the patrolling knights peered through the covers to check the inside of the back carriage.
As a knight on the job, it's your duty to investigate and report any suspicious material entering the vincinity, so it was clear he was just doing his job.
Or was he....
A few moments later, he emerged from the back and reported the details to his friends.
The nearby knights were informed and began talking about something to the merchant who seemed to be in charge of the transport.
After conversing for a second, they reached a surprising, but not unexpected, conclusion.
Instead of arresting the man and interrogating the man as they should have, they merely accepted a suitable "donation to their cause".
Ah, bribery. Why waste time and effort to sneak past them when you can simply pay them to look the other way? When your rich, money sure is very convenient.
While I wasn't exactly able to see the precise amount, most likely the man bribed the officer(s) on duty with a couple hundred bills. In broad daylight, no less.
I have seen these occasions way more often then not, but they are just as sickening as the first.
"Knights of justice my ass."
Despite their words and acts of heroism, there was no such thing as justice in this world…
Well, it's not like I myself have much right to look down on them.
After all, I'm no different then the rest of them.
No, in fact. I'm far, far worse.