"Alright, time is up. We shall return to moving." Calliope ordered.
In their disguises, the team emerged out of the hot room. Outside the guards were waiting just at the door, the people that came with the team also emerged, wearing cleaner clothes and no longer carrying an unbearable stench.
The guards looked at each one that came out, but not at the team, fooled by their disguises.
A small spike of fear crept on Colton's back as he passed by the pair of guards, staring towards the others who were emerging from their rooms.
Outside, they were greeted by the fresh cold wind, and a crowd of civilians donning cleaner and well decorated clothing, ignoring their presence and going about their daily lives.
"Stick to the plan and walk with me." Calliope ordered, soon joining the crowd of people walking by. Colton took in the fresh smell of the area, having spent a day or two in the putrid mountain earlier, doubting if the bath helped him try to calm him down.
They continued on, seeing more and more stores, frequented by the people with open doors and selling a variety of goods from medicine to sweets.
"This place is rather pleasant, I wouldn't mind living my days off somewhere so beautiful." Celestine remarked, looking around in wonder at every store in the street they walked on.
After a few minutes, they reached the supposed center of the city. A billboard stood with a small booth next to it, tended by a woman sitting in a chair, writing something down on a piece of paper.
A group of people were already standing in front of the billboard, finding jobs they can take on and plucking the commissions from it before running off to complete them.
"So that's the billboard they were talking about." Marcus spoke, walking closer to see if there were any jobs he could take on. But Calliope stopped him in his tracks.
"We may pursue any jobs if they prove to benefit our task of finding new books." She looked at Marcus.
Beyond the billboard and booth was a large assortment of stalls with buildings on the side holding large restaurants and taverns.
"Let's keep moving." By her order, they walked around the billboard, seeing the market. Large groups of civilians walked around, checking on the goods. Unlike the market of the other world, it was more organized, with sections dedicated to specific things.
"Well organized, beautiful…" Calliope was amused by the sight of it, always searching for organization in everything.
Colton noticed that one of the stores in a building was a casino, brightly lit.
"These goods seem to be well made. Well tempered and well kept." Celestine spoke, the team realized that she had left, looking at a market stall's assortment of jewelry.
"Thank you, I am a master of my trade."
"Is that so?" Before she could get an answer, Calliope patted her on the back, ordering her to return to the group.
They stood around, seeing all the stalls and stores around them, gaining information of their new environment.
"You all seem to be rather lost." A young voice spoke out to them. A man sat in his stall, but unlike the others selling jewelry and other items, the stall was filled with rolled up maps.
"Well, the mountains are always confusing, especially for newcomers. You can take a map, free of charge." Calliope stepped forward and grabbed one of the large maps from the vendor, thanking him.
Unraveling it, they were all shocked by what it contained.
Mountain cities, arranged in a circle with multiple layers, in the center was a single massive mountain, seemingly for the government of this place. The poor and prisoner mountains lie farthest from it, only connected to the common citizen mountains. In between though were common citizens, the rich, and the army. The common being the most numerous out of all of them.
"So this is where we are at this moment." Calliope placed her finger on one of the mountains with a 'HERE' text written on top of it.
"Interesting…" Myo looked at the map as well, intrigued by the world they just got themselves into.
"It says here that this place is only for commercial use and housing. So we may not find much useful here." She remarked. After staring at it for a few more seconds, she began to roll it up.
"We will fully search every part of this mountain and see if any books can be found. If there are none, then we will move to the others." Their walk continued on, this time leaving the market and passing by the many stores.
Leaving the center, they continued on, walking past more people, and seeing more stores and homes.
The atmosphere became more quiet as they continued on, with the sound of whistling wind and a conversation or two filling the silence.
"First a gambling house and a tavern, a step up from the other places we were in." Marcus commented, remembering the stores he passed by.
"And their jewelry seems rather beautiful compared to the old world we went on." Celestine joined in.
The rest of the team began conversing with one another, also fascinated by the difference between the poor city and this city.
Half an hour passed, and they reached the other side of the mountain. Ziplines connected it to the mountain beyond, but a larger stand and guards were posted around it.
"Do you have documents to enter the nobility mountain?" A man inside the stand questioned them. Calliope stepped forward, realizing that they have stumbled too close.
"No, apologies." The man scoffed at her response.
"You bloody commoners, going so close to the edge and not even heading to the nobility mountain." With a dismissive wave, he finished talking.
"What a prick." Marcus muttered.
"Documents…" Calliope spoke to herself.
"It seems the passage to further mountains is more secure than expected, we need documents. Question though is where." She continued wondering.
"What about the billboard? Back in Yolira the more jobs a mercenary pulls the higher their status becomes. More food and hotter baths." He suggested, chuckling at the happy memory he managed to think of.
"I suppose that is logical, we will start searching the rest of this city for books and other bits of information, before checking the billboard. And once it is all completed, we will access other regions that commoners may still enter." She unrolled the map, taking a look at it once more.
With the poor and nobility islands sealed off from them, they only had one option. The string of commoner cities for housing or for other services such as gambling, apothecary, farming, and much more.