Reaching Soltown, Nier was quite disappointed- at the town but also himself for expecting some new experience.
Soltown was located northwest of Monlands and in terms of architecture, from the stone houses to the streets filled with stalls- it was similar to Montown. As a neophiliac, it was disappointing for Nier who liked to experience new places.
But heck- even the name Soltown seemed like copied homework, or vice-versa- so expecting a novelty in the first place seemed stupid now.
One thing however, was different- the liveliness, as crowd of people present in the town seemed much higher than that of Montown- although not much in average, it still seemed much livelier than Montown, which on some thought, wasn't surprising since this town was a little closer to the capital than Montown.
But his recent experience Meloran eclipsed all of this, so it seemed rather tame. Nier thought all this as he took out a iron earth coin and gave it to the guard at the city door.
The money for Maya- short for Mayaricorn kingdom was divided in two places, the coasts outside the mountains and the mainland inside the south-east mountain range.
Shellies being the common currency used on the coastal side which was surprisingly 'divided' from the mainland.
Inside the mainland, Metal coins were the main currency. Divided in black, earth, sky, king coins, with each being valued 100x the former. These were "mortal currency"- with different monetary systems in different places.
Above that- mana stones, which were considered as "magic currency" and worldwide monetary system, because of their rarity and value- and were usually accepted almost everywhere with similar value except some places.
The reason Maya adopted Iron coins as opposed to previously used paper money is considered quite recent-
The rise of the current royal family which produced excellent metal mages.
The more people walking around with metal, the more useful it was for the royals.
Nier entered the town and immediately thought if he was somehow marked with some magic aproval but was unable to find one.
'They saw me come from the opposite side, but didn't ask for any token of approval. And I don't seemed to be marked, so how did they confirm that I was approved to enter inside the mountain ranges? I thought if you come from outside the ranges, they ask for tokens throughout the ranges till one gets inside the mountain ranges. But it seems that the whole mountain range isn't like a border"
Nier thought about a problem he already asked the Montown guards. Maya kingdom was peculiar in that it was completely surrounded with mountain ranges yet in south to east, it had coastal are that came under it's governance. The mountains divided the mainlands- "Inner Maya" and coasts - "Outer Maya".
The 'proper' citizens lived in the mainland seemingly protected by mountains and the poor lived in the coasts, not to say- there aren't some people who were rather lively but the ratio of powerty in coasts eclipsed the mountain-bordered inner kingdom.
One of the reasons why no one came up to throw hands with Nier the moment he acted arrogant, they were- rudely speaking...pushovers and why so much bargaining was tolerated by even top quality material sellers of the region.
Why such divide?
It had something to do with the history of the place, but that's not to ponder for now.
Anyone from outside the inner-kingdom was properly checked and treated like outsiders from there own countrymen. It was quite simply...a shame.
So as someone who came seemingly from outer direction, he should have been checked with more precaution. Nier concluded that there was some secret border- some place which if you passed through, you are considered safe.
'Since Montown guard asked for a token, the "secret border" came likely after- maybe the forest? What are the chances that the forest is border good enough to stop intruders and a Royal beast was injured there? Maybe I'm just being too curious for something idiotic, maybe they communicated somehow...doesn't matter, not my problem'
Closing his unwanted intrusive thoughts, Nier reached the Shinyshark beast house and submitted Dark Knight along with it's token and left the building.
He soon reached the Soltown guild link and submitted his mission paper, he was guided to a carriage- standing at the northern edge of the town.
The carriage seemed plain in every aspect, made from wood. The carriage was tied to two....Stone-leg Horses and a had doors with a window.
'What's with so many stone-legs?'
Knock Knock
Nier knocked two times and before someone could even answer, pulled the door handle by force.
He was met with the Indifferent-irritated face of a woman, who was dressed like she was some street punk- full sleeved green crop-top filled with yellow diamond designs, a strange red letter-necklace, a pink jacket tied to her hips, a designed brown bell bottom pant.
Her eyes were crimson in color-looking ready to spill blood and her hair-long and smooth light green.
The moment he saw her. Nier's own face turned indifferent as if he saw a bad joke, and before she could say something-
He sat down inside the carriage - which surprisingly- was quite spacious- opposite to her, right besides the window.
Just as she opened her mouth, he threw a paper at her.
Reading the paper, she realized that this guy was supposed to be the escort. This was unpleasant to her- Reya Mistey. Nier's first impression left a bad taste in her mouth, for him to travel with her hours, now seemed like a challenge... a mental challenge, not to throw hands at this guy.
If not for the fact that they were going to get late, she would have immediately rejected his acceptance of the mission and waited for someone else.
"You've got guts for a pathetic D rank" based on her first impression- Reya decided to go for the no mercy route, alas...her enemy was the uncrowned king of edgelords-who immediately spat venom.
"Hmm? You've got guts to leave your house in public, clown. You look like a random generated character that I threw in the game dustbin...you have no rights calling someone else pathetic" Answering in a cold, indifferent tone- Nier leaned back at the soft couches and closed his eyes, which off course Ria couldn't see due the shades.
"I don't get it...Did I kill your family? Or is my outfit so offensive to you that you started to go insane?"
"Looking at you, I wouldn't be surprised if they commit suicide...and sorry to break your illusion but you called me a pathetic D grade first" Nier said.
This almost shut Ria for a second who went into an identity crisis wondering if she did that and why but realizing her reason-
"Hmm? You rudely entered my ride and act like it belongs to you. I acted based on that, is it so hard for you to understand something so simple?"
"This is an escort mission, so I can enter the carriage. Is it so hard for you to understand something so simple?"
This exchange of poison took a lot of will power from Reya, who fought against the will to just throw hands at this point, but thinking of this as an anger management lesson that her family encouraged her about for so many times.
Her face twitched as she looked down with gritted teeths, imaginary smoke came out of her head as she clenched her fists so tightly, that blood nearly came out.
She eventually calmed down 'what's wrong with this guy, should I really cancel his acceptance? Heck- is there even a need for an ecort? Even if he is useful, the inclusion of an low rank escort was meant as camouflage'
Reya Mistey was a rising star in the ranks of the Silversky squad. She was praised about her fighting spirit and beauty everywhere and from other members of her squad as well.
She was sent on an important mission to get informing recent deaths near the mountains and was now on her jouney back to the capital to report. There were chances of the enemies causing these deaths to target her, it was already quite tense and then this guy comes along and acts rude for absolutely no reason.
And it wasn't as if she expected to be praised by everyone for everything she did, but she didn't expect ever to disrespected for actions she wasn't in wrong for-something she hated.
Getting ridiculed on how she dresses- that was one of her biggest reverse scale, insulting her beauty and fashion- which was the root of her nickname - funky hothead.
Just as she was thinking of kicking Nier out, a middle-aged man wearing a cow-boy hat came and took the reins of the horses.
Turning his head, the middle-aged man peeked through the small rear window which allowed him to look at the interior and asked-
"So.....do we start now?"
Sigh
"Yes, let's go" making her choice in a hurry, Ria decided not to drag her journey back home anymore.
Nier silently listened- as he marveled at his own carelessness.
'I should have brought some books, this is boring' contemplated the white-haired boy as he began repeatedly tapping the wooden armrest with he fingers- in the melodies of his favorite music.
This made Reya annoyed as she mis-thought the action was meant to...do exactly that- annoy her.
And much to her dismay, the driver began humming the tones- caught up in the mood, probably- ignorant of the tension behind his back.
Ignorance is truly a bliss.
The carriage began moving as the 3 "passengers" sat in silence, one who was bored, one who was pissed and one who simply hummed with cautious eyes.
There was no doubt, disaster waiting on this journey of several hours- external or internal, or both.