A couple of minutes later, Elda walked down the stairs to meet Tiagon leaning on one of the inn's pillars. She had taken quite a wash and the reek of alcohol had left her.
Tiagon told the owner that they were going to come back and that if the sleeping men woke, they should stay till they were back.
The two walked out of the inn, outside was breezy and a little cold, little stands of Mana stones illuminated the street in rows and some shops had just begun opening.
Tiagon walked to the City's square, where Hero Zan's statue was erected.
"How long has it been since the Demon Lord was defeated?" He asked.
"Ohh, what's with the specific question this morning? Well, nobody truly knows, no common man at least but it's thought to be over three thousand years."
"Three thousand years? That's quite a long time."
"Suddenly interested in History?" Elda teased.
"Oh no. It's just this statue…" Tiagon suddenly stopped as they got to their destination, the city square.
"What about it?"
"It's interesting, it says that the Demon Lord was defeated but from where I come from, people believe that he's resting and that he will come back one day."
"I have never heard such, the knowledge of the Demon Lord being dead is uniform all across the continent… The empire did well to glorify the victory of the Hero over the Demon Lord."
"Is that so?"
Tiagon continued, "The mage exams you spoke of, I have grown quite interested in it, how do I take them?"
"Ohhh, it happens every four years and you're lucky, the next occurs in the next two months. I have friends who will take the exams. To take them, you'll have to register in the magic guild of the empire's capital. I'm sure you'll know what to do after."
Tiagon stared at the face of Zan, the rhythmic flowing water and the silent open space created a relaxing environment.
After a few minutes of staring at the statue, the two left for the goblin restaurant for breakfast. When they were done, the sun had risen off the horizon and people began flooding the streets.
They both went back to the inn and they met Tom and Rink both awake and sitting expectant of their arrival.
They exchanged greetings and Tiagon announced, "Team Crimson Feathers, it was nice knowing you all but this is where we part ways. I'm off to the capital."
"It was nice knowing you too" Tom said and struck forward his hand for a handshake, Tiagon returned the gesture.
"Not like you could ever join our team." Rink chuckled.
"Be safe out there." Elda said
Tiagon then left and took for the skies.
After flying beyond Minastoma, he stood in the air and unrolled the map of the empire.
The capital was in the middle of the continent and as the drawing suggested, it ought to be many times larger than the city of Minastoma.
"Capital Ur'lurn, to the west."
And so, Tiagon continued his journey westward of the continent.
He flew for minutes then for hours at supersonic speed.
'I underestimated the distance.'
After a few more hours, he spotted the monolith of modern kind infrastructure.
"Very impressive."
Unlike Minastoma, which was surrounded by a wall, Ur'lurn had nothing but massive mountains behind it. The capital city gave an intimidating outlook over its sheer size
"So many people." He commented, still many kilometers away and above.
He zoomed overhead the city intending to land from above. As he did, he spotted multiple mages about four of them coming at him.
They surrounded him and he halted.
"You have committed the crime of flying over the capital city. Submit and we won't be forced to use deadly force. "
"Submit?! Submit?!"
The magic knights took attack stances upon sensing his defiance.
Tiagon sighed, this wasn't Fort Endsege with just a couple of mages. If he attacked, many more mages would only come after him and who knows what mages and powers resided in the capital, it was best he played it safe.
"I understand." He uttered.
"Sealing magic!" One of the magic knights yelled.
Thin lines of gold criss-crossed around his chest stopping him from moving and using magic.
They slowly transported him to their station where he was questioned.
In a little room in the knight's station, Tiagon sat on a chair, the binding spell still surrounding his body.
A female magic knight sat opposite him by a table.
"What's your name?" She asked.
"Clyde."
Immediately he answered, and she wrote down his name on a parchment.
"Clyde?"
"Just Clyde."
"And what are you here for Clyde?"
"To register for the first class magic exams and also to take it in the upcoming months."
"I see."
She cleared her throat and continued.
"There's a law against flying over the city, it's a stringent rule for protection but since you were unaware and you're not a native, you'll go with just paying a fine. Three silver coins."
She turned to a knight who stood by the side and said, "Undo the seal magic."
"Yes ma!" The knight cried and with a wave of his wand, the sealing spell came undone.
Tiagon then stretched forward his hand and handed over the silver coins, he was then let out to the city.
The door of the magic knight station opened and Tiagon stepped out.
Just like Minastoma, people of different races filled the streets, he opened his mouth in surprise and witnessed the massive infrastructure in front of him.
"Merchant guild, Healer's guild."
Those were the signs plastered on the buildings in front of him and not far from it, just a few meters away stood the magic guild.
He began walking towards it but he couldn't help but notice the constant drifting above, people were flying overhead him and they weren't magic knights, they were normal people transporting each other on flying carpets. This wasn't a thing that Tiagon had seen, even Minastoma had no one fly around but the magic knights.
All of this was a testament to how much magical progress the capital had undergone and it was to be expected.
Fortunately, no flying carpets crashed on Tiagon on his way to the guild and he made his way in.