The architectural style of Kari's cult seems to remain consistent regardless of region. The site of Kari's cult I decided to go to in Rose Harbor was an open area that was surrounded by large limestone pillars. In the center of the area was a raised wooden stage with four white sand paths leading from it to outside of the area.
The floor also appeared to be made out of some sort of stone that was painted in all sorts of different colors. Under closer inspection the entire floor was actually a huge mural depicting various things that the Archons did during their lives, as well as the Court Mage at the time, the Earth Prince, and the Earth God.
The chairs and tables are all the same as they were back in Heafdes. They're all just organized in circles, facing the stage in the center. Everyone here is also dressed in the clothes that I've come to associate with the cult: various styles, all lighter colors.
I, not wanting to bother to have to change, just wore my bikini. It's an excuse to dress more revealingly, and it doesn't appear to be an issue since looking around there do seem to be some people also wearing swimwear. No one else is wearing black, but I try to ignore that.
I go to take one of the seats, but I think I recognize people that I know. I want to call out to them, but if it isn't them that would just be embarrassing. Um… I try my best to walk up to them without them noticing. I get up pretty close to them when I decide that it definitely has to be them. I'm a bit nervous to say their names, but…
"April? Sierra?" I say, just loud enough for them to hear me.
They both look back at me in surprise. Sierra's dressed in a light gray sundress and a straw hat. April's dressed in a one piece swimsuit with a flower decal all over it. April has a bit of her cleavage showing, which I have to wrestle my eyes away from. They both look extremely surprised to see me.
"Huh? Azariah?" April asks.
"What are you doing here?" Sierra asks.
"Um…" I do my best to explain that I'm looking for a place to settle down with Kiaran, and how I'm covering all of Uclait really quickly.
"Ahhh, that's so adorable! I really hope that you find a place you both really like!" April beams.
"Well, this is certainly a good place to look. It'll be a bit expensive, but a mage of your skill should be able to find work…" Sierra says
"Um… what are… you two here?" I really hope I didn't mess up that sentence at all.
"Oh, well it is summer so Sierra and I are on vacation. We left a bit less than two weeks ago and just got here last night. We're only staying for about a week." April says.
"Well…" I begin. "Is Aliya here too?"
"No, she couldn't afford to." Sierra starts, "Something about her sister getting hurt real bad and she had to pay for a healer. She told us not to worry though and to go on without her."
Oh… I'll have to make a note about getting Aliya to a beach some time. I really shouldn't forget that.
"Alright everyone! Please take your seats! We're about to begin!" Someone yells in a white dress, as she walks up to the center stage. Hey, that's the priest from last night. The really pretty one.
Everyone goes down to take their seats when she said that. I sit down next to April and Sierra.
"Alright, welcome everyone! If you have any tribute for Kari, please wait until after my performance. We'll have lunch and do a tribute at the same time, like Diana's cult usually does, since I ran a bit late."
Alright, so no tribute for right now. That's good because I didn't bring anything. You'll forgive me for that, won't you, Kari?
The beautiful woman then proceeds to start singing, and I'm absolutely blown away. I guess this is just how Kari's cult works everywhere then? I can't even think about that because I'm blown away by the song. For some reason her singing voice sounds so much better than the normal voice I just heard and from last night.
I still think Jody's singing is better, but that's probably because of the fact that I know him personally and the fact he plays an instrument while he sings. I can't believe I'm actually thinking this, but her singing voice may actually be prettier than Jody's. Still though, the fact that Jody legitimately sounds like a girl when he's actually a boy still makes me like his voice better.
The song ends relatively soon, and the food and art supplies come out shortly after that. For lunch this time is various different types of fish and tropical looking fruit. Sea food! Never had this either, ahhh, I can't wait to sample every last thing here.
"Are you getting one of everything Azariah? Are you really going to be able to eat that much?" Sierra asks me before taking a bite out of an apple.
I just nod in response.
"Huh… you know, if you enjoy all of this you might want to check out Diana's cult. They throw feasts all the time." April tells me.
Kari? Please forgive me if I go to Diana's cult for more delicious seafood. I swear you'll always be before all other archons to me!
"Huh, so it wasn't just the fact that you were hungry last night, Azariah." That was Erika's voice.
Sure enough, turning around I see Erika still wearing that bikini from last night. I have a mouth full of fish in my mouth so embarrassment pretty much floods my entire body.
"Huh? Azariah? Another friend of yours?"
I force myself to swallow all the food in my mouth, it actually kind of hurts to do that. "An acquaintance." I say. I'm pretty sure that's the word for that.
"Hello, Azariah's friends I'm assuming? We ran into each other during a little celebration for Kari on the beach last night. She's already become quite popular within Kari's cult here in Rose Harbor just in a night."
"Yeah, I can see that. Azariah does seem to have quite a lot of unique ideas." April says.
"After you finish eating you should really get back to drawing. Most people here haven't really seen you, so you'll be sure to impress a lot of people." Erika says.
I was planning on drawing when I was full anyway. Maybe I could take up painting as well? That sounds fun. There are probably a lot of people that would be willing to teach me, too. But that's after I eat a bit of every kind of fish that I can get my hands on.
><><><><
I fly over the ocean with my wind glider. I took one look at the house prices here in Rose Harbor and sure enough, they're all really expensive just like Sierra said. This place is a bit difficult to give up on too.
Not only because it's next to the beach but also because it's kind of a melting pot of different cultures. You have the local culture and the culture from further inland, but as a port city it's much more than that. There's Meccaria, the Aflian Empire, even Brooksano, an island nation near the easternmost edge of the continent. There's a lot of people from all sorts of different countries here.
I really think that getting to interact with a lot of different people all from wildly different backgrounds will be good for helping Kiaran find himself. There also aren't really many monsters here so the adventurer's guild doesn't pay all that well. So I just have to find another way to secure a source of income.
I thought about being a staff member for Kari's cult, but that doesn't pay well. Merchant seems to be a pretty successful profession in this city but the market's probably way too big for me to make anything off of it, even with otherworldly knowledge. City guard seems promising given my magical strength, but the hours were way too long for my liking given I would mostly be standing around all day.
So… I kind of decided to see if I could make money like this.
I intensify Mana Location so that I can see under the ocean water. I definitely pick up some sort of big fish. I drop a half eaten cooked fish I had gotten from Kari's cult into the water. It was starting to smell disgusting at that point, so I'm glad to get rid of it.
Sure enough, that huge fish starts to surface. I see a large blue fish come out of the water and eat the fish about the size of my forearm in one big bite. I launch a tiny beam of lightning right through where its skull should be, killing it instantly. It floats lifelessly over the water.
I slowly flow down to it, and slowly realize just how huge it is. It's probably a bit longer than I am tall, and I'm 5 foot 4. I brought a net with me, but just how am I supposed to carry this. I guess I could probably use wind magic so that it floats to the beach, but what do I do after that?
><><><><
I wrapped the stupidly large fish in that net I had bought and tried to carry it on my back as soon as I got it to the actual beach. I hauled it up onto one of the many ports, half hoping someone would offer to help me.
I realize very quickly that I do not have the strength to be able to carry this stupid thing. The best I can do is lift it up a bit, carry it a couple of feet and then collapse in exhaustion. Would it be OK if I just dragged it? I wouldn't want it to take so long that it rots…
Well… Diana's connection can increase your strength, right? I do have her connection, though I mainly use it in tandem with Ctothis' to um… keep me from being able to make babies, but I do have it.
So… how do I use it in that way? I would imagine just funneling the mana into my muscles would probably work, but I don't want to accidentally break anything like that. Well… I know Diana's cult is here in this city, and I have enough money right now to pay for a healer so it shouldn't be too bad if I do wind up pulling something in the process.
Diana, I want to know how I use your connection to make myself stronger. I'd like to run an experiment. Allow me to imbue my mana with your connection and funnel it throughout all my muscles, then-
"Hey you? You're the one trying to lift that big fish, right?"
I'm snapped out of my concentration. My attention turns to a rather muscular woman in a city guard uniform. The uniform isn't revealing enough to reveal anything about her body, but she still looks quite attractive. Her hair's cut short, so her helmet covers most of it but it looks like copper. Her eyes are an emerald green and her voice sounds like a stereotypical tomboy.
"Yeah, you are. I got a few complaints about you, just what are you doing." She doesn't sound particularly angry, just annoyed.
"Um… sell it…" I say.
She walks up to me and looks down at the fish. She notices the fine hole in its head and looks really surprised.
"Did… did you find it like this?"
"Um… I did that. A concentrated beam with Adad's connection." I say.
She just looks at me in a mix of shock and fear. She recollects herself quickly though. She then goes to- pick the fish up and hang it off her shoulder?! That thing was super heavy! How are you lifting it so easily?!
"Here, you know where you're taking this, right? Lead the way. It's something to do."
I readjust as quickly as possible and grab my wind glider before leading this city guard woman through the city.
><><><><
"What? This is a Navy Flesh-Tearer. Just how did you get a hold of this? They're usually so aggressive that they kill fishermen before they can get caught…" Harold says
What a dangerous fish! And such a dangerous sounding name to go along with it! I'll have to keep that in mind. As long as I keep my distance like I did this time though, there's no reason I should really be afraid.
"Were you actively hunting this one down? Or was it just luck?" The city guard woman asks me.
"I hit… the first big one I detected…" I say.
"So it was just luck, but you were only going after some of the bigger ones…" She mutters to herself.
"Azari, that was your name, right?" Harold asks me
"Azariah." I say.
"Azariah, this is considered a delicacy. I'll give you 7 silver coins for it." He says.
Let's see… that's around what I normally made in a day at the Figment Library. This was also just one trip, even if it was a particularly lucky one. Cost of living here is probably going to be a bit higher than it was in the capital though, and I don't want to saddle Kiaran with a job just yet so I'll have to figure out how to make all the money.
Is just a couple of fishing trips a day going to be worth enough to keep Kiaran and I living here together? Well, maybe, but if I just keep selling everything for what my buyer asks for, I'm definitely going to be losing out on a whole lot of money, no matter how I look at it.
"A gold coin. Just one more silver." I say.
"Hm… you two are probably hungry, right? How about I stick with the 7 silver price if I give you both a free cut of it?"
The city guard lady looks surprised and then looks at me, almost pleadingly. Well… he did say it was a delicacy, and if this woman's looking at me like this it must be good. It's a free meal anyway, so it shouldn't hurt.
><><><><
It's delicious! Absolutely delicious! The tastiest fish I've ever eaten! Ignore the fact I literally tried fish for the first time earlier today!
The city guard lady is fidgeting in her seat as she watches me eat. Does it smell that delicious? I couldn't blame you…
"Hey! You said we were both getting a free meal! Where's mine?! Hurry up!" She yells at Harold
"Calm down, calm down, it's coming. Don't get your panties in a twist." Harold says as he hands the city guard lady a bowl.
She looks down at it, drooling and a smile wide on her face. "Ahh, Diana, thank you for this lovely meal." She says, her hands clasped in prayer.
She takes her helmet off, and- she has cat ears. Cat ears. The same color of her hair, right there. It's just like in anime, except I'm actually seeing it in real life. She has cat ears.
She lifts the bowl up to her lips and starts chugging it, but I'm too busy staring at her cat ears. She has human ears too. Are they both functional? Does having four ears increase your hearing capabilities? Do you also have a tail stuffed into your pants? I have so many questions!
It doesn't take her long to finish the bowl. She slams it down onto the table, completely empty, and wipes her lips with her sleeves.
"Ahh, thank you Diana…" She says in bliss.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to your job now?" Harold asks.
She jumps up in surprise. "Ahh, damn it, I was meant to be guarding the port. Well… nothing ever happens anyway. Hey, Azariah? That was your name, right? My name's Felicity __. If you ever catch anything exotic, check in the guard for me. I'll buy whatever you want to sell me."
"A- alright." I say, trying to get my eyes away from her cat ears.
"Well, see you around." She says before getting up and leaving.
I'll have to ask her some of my questions the next time I see her. Or would that be racist? Oh, I hope not… It would probably be better if I just forgot about that. Yeah, I have a delicious fish here I should be eating instead of thinking about cat ears.
I take another bite of the delicious meal that I caught and sold. So delicious… I'm going to have to buy more of this when I come by Harold's restaurant again. Wait. Ahhh, damn it! Why am I buying the fish meat that I caught myself?!
Was this intentional?! Did he offer 7 silver coins and a free meal instead of the gold coin because he knew I'd be back to eat more?! He does know just how much of a glutton I can be, so maybe… ahh, damn it! Even if it wasn't intentional, my negotiation tactics still have a long way to go.
Still though… training that does sound like a whole lot of fun. I can't wait to start racking up more experience with it.
><><><><
"Hey Azariah!" I hear April call out to me.
I'm on the beach enjoying myself again when I hear April's voice again. I look over at her and she still has that flower onesie on. I don't see Sierra.
"Hi April." I say as she walks up to me.
"Hey Azariah, I'm glad I ran into you. Sierra and I are going to a show that we heard of back in Heafdes tonight."
I don't really care and I'm honestly quite annoyed I'm being interrupted from playing in the waves like a child so I decide to rush the conversation.
"What about it?" I ask, trying my best to keep my annoyance hidden in my voice.
"Yeah, well, we had bought tickets back in Heafdes, but… well, we bought three because we thought that Aliya was coming, so… I was just wondering if you wanted to come?"
"A show? What kind?"
"Oh, like a circus. People swinging from bars and doing stunts and stuff."
Huh, so those exist in this world. Hmm… I wonder if magic would make any of that more impressive? Might be interesting, and it's free. I'm going to be staying up pretty late like usual anyway.
"Sure, I'll come." I say.
That looks like it made her happy.
><><><><
When April said circus, I wasn't really expecting this. Part of the beach was closed off after sundown, and several bleacher looking things were constructed very quickly with earth magic. It was honestly quite impressive.
April and I met up with Sierra to check our tickets into people who I assume were security and took our seats on the temporary bleachers. There's probably about 1000 or so people here, it's honestly quite crowded. And loud. There's no way everyone here actually bought a ticket, there'd be no way to keep everyone out.
There are two rows of bleachers arranged perpendicular to the actual coastline. They both leave quite a lot of distance between the two lines, leaving a lot of open sand. I assume this is where everything's going to be performed.
What mainly takes my attention though, is how much everyone is talking. It reminds me of school assemblies I sometimes had to attend. I've never really done well with crowds, and that doesn't seem to have changed much after I came here. It's extremely unpleasant to deal with the information overload, but as long as it isn't the heat, I should be able to endure it.
"Man, I wish Jeffrey could watch this."
"Mommy! Mommy! When are they gonna start!"
"I hear that Charity's joining this show."
"Hey, dude, where were you this weekend?"
"Are they staff? Are they supposed to be here?"
I'm reminded again and again why I don't like crowds. I can't help but listen in on every last conversation I hear, no matter how minor, and it overflows my brain like crazy. Seriously, it's like I'm casting thought power intensive spell after thought power intensive spell…
Why do I even still have this problem? No one here is speaking English, they're speaking Axinsiya. Why am I picking up every last detail of conversations being spoken when they're not even in English?
As I'm wondering that, I hear the repeated thundering sounds of heavy percussion. Two lines of drummers with drums half their height walk into the open area. It isn't actually that loud, but the vibration is enough to shake my insides. Awe starts to seep into my body.
Everybody's silent now. Ahh, this is amazing already. I'm so glad that I accepted April's invitation. Ahah! Bring out more instruments!
The drummers start marching in patterns like a marching band. They wind up forming two rows with a lot of space in between them, parallel to the bleachers. Several people holding onto things that look like hoola hoops. How are they keeping up their momentum in the sand like that?
They jump out of their holds on the hoola hoops and start to jump onto each other's shoulders. Then they- they start throwing each other into the air?! They grab a hold of each other mid air, and as they fall they form a human pyramid.
Count how many people are there… The base is 10 people so that's… 55 people total! I think! How strong would you have to be to hold all that weight up? Are they using magic or is that normally doable? I don't know, I've never really been all that into acrobatics. Wait, I have Mana Detection. Just check for any manipulation from the performers…
Alright, let's see- The drumming starts again. It slowly builds up, and gets faster and faster until it's like the air remains constantly vibrating. Haha! So exciting! A woman with what looks to be a very long metal pole starts walking up to the human pyramid.
I can't get a very good look at her given the fact that it's night, but she appears to be very pretty. She has pure red hair all tied up in a bun, and looks like she's wearing some fancy fantasy suit with pants a merchant would normally wear. I can't get a very good view of her proportions from here though.
No, Azariah, you shouldn't-
"Charity! Charity! Charity!"
When the rest of the crowd sees her, they slowly start shouting the word, until enough people are screaming it loud enough to rival the sound of the drums. I look over to April and Sierra, but judging from their reactions, it doesn't appear that they know why the crowd's yelling that. April joins in the chanting though, for some reason…
The woman kneels down, in a position of getting ready to run. Then she starts sprinting towards the human pyramid faster than what you'd expect from a woman in that kind of getup. She thrusts her pole into the sand, and launches herself up into the air via pole vaulting.
In just a few seconds her body turns in just about every way imaginable. Flips, turns, somersaults, you name it. It's like she's some sort of contortionist. The person on top of the human pyramid holds out their hand into the air, and the woman lands on it flawlessly with just one foot.
The crowd erupts into cheers, and I can't help but get strung along in all the excitement.
The woman, clearly having no problem balancing, starts messing with her hair with both hands. Several people from the human pyramid use magic to shoot blue, green, and purple flames into the air. As they do this, the woman lets her hair down and sways it around in the wind like this was a movie.
The crowd once again erupts into cheers, but I can't help but shutter at the sight of fire, even if it is colorful. I can't help but let it remind me of- wait! Her suit isn't buttoned up at all! I couldn't see it because of the lack of light, but she has so much of her cleavage showing! Aha… aha…
"Wow, Azariah. You seem to be really infatuated with this. I'm glad I invited you!" April says to me.
I just nod. Damn it, I can't have her knowing I was ogling an actress when I already have a boyfriend. I'll be sure to thank her for snapping me out of it earlier, although I can't really explain why…
"Hello Rose Harbor! And tourists, too! I wouldn't ever forget about any of you!" The woman yells.
I can tell just by the tone of her voice that she had a huge smile on her face, and was legitimately happy to be here. I'm normally terrible at that kind of thing too.
"For any of you newcomers, my name's Charity Riley! I'm going to be the star of this little show you spent your good money on!"
Oh, that's why everyone was yelling that word, that's her name. That makes sense.
"Now, I know how difficult money can be to get in these trying times, so to spend it on a performance that I myself am an intrinsic part of, I can't help but feel truly blessed! I sure do hope I can live up to your high expectations."
The crowd starts roaring in praises to Charity, and how she could never disappoint them. Her voice honestly makes those words sound genuine, but I can't help but wonder how much of it is an act to get specific reactions from the audience.
She's stretching- Huh?! I thought you were stretching, but now you're going to do a full standing split?! In that position?!
"Alright! Now that I'm all limbered up… let's start the show for real now, shall we? I wouldn't want to keep all of you good folks waiting!"