"Are you all ready to go?"
"Do we really have to do this Dina? What if we get lost?" A cute frown marred her delicate face.
"Yes, we do. And no. We won't get lost." I chuckled. I was outside the house waiting for her to leave so we could start the journey. She was standing by the doorstep, putting up the last vestiges of resistance.
This wasn't her only complaint, she'd already sounded out multiple other worries such as not having enough money, the weather suddenly getting worse, and some others. Some were completely mundane worries, while others were much more sensible. I didn't believe any of them though since I knew the truth. She just didn't want to travel. She, understandably, loved living in comfort too much.
"Come on. If we waste too much time, we'll end up having to camp outside in the woods. Are you fine with that?"
Her eyes went wide and she hurriedly came out. She was wearing a thick wool coat over her black turtleneck with long sleeves. Gray leggings paired with boots finished her ensemble. On her back was a complete set of things in her hiking rucksack on the off-chance we couldn't get to a town by nightfall. I had more or less the same. We didn't pack that much things since we figured we would be able to just buy more stuff when we're actually in the academy.
She went right past me and quickly left me behind. I smiled a bit and calmly walked after her.
"Hurry up Dina! We need to find a nearby town as soon as possible!"
"No need to rush that much. You burn twenty to sixty percent more energy by not setting a normal pace. You'll tire yourself out too quickly."
She turned around and started walking backwards. "It's fine." A cheeky smile graced her lips. "You'll carry me if that ever happens, won't you Dina?"
I resisted the urge to stare at her and just looked away. "I cannot confirm nor deny."
A sweet laugh filled my ears.
It was currently nearing the end of winter and it had been five months since my birthday. We decided to set out for the City of Vier a few weeks before spring comes so we could have some down time before applying for the Academy Exam.
Traveling there by foot would take around 19 days of daily walking give-or-take. It was no wonder she didn't want to travel all of that distance given her love for coziness and comfort. It was cute to see her acting like that so I deliberately didn't tell her we would be boarding the train in the City of Lumisade to get to the capital.
The empire of Vier was quite large. It wouldn't be a stretch to say it consisted around half of the entire Northern World. It was shaped much like a four-pronged star with its points extending north-west, north-east, south-east, and south-west, with the capital located right dab in the middle. Lumisade was the north-west province.
Vier was an empire formed long ago by the collaboration and concession of four warring kingdoms. These four kingdoms warred for the control over the central plains which had plenty of arable land and multitudes of fresh water sources. The emperor of such an empire was rotated between each of the four heads of the individual states of each kingdom keeping the others in check.
Lumisade was ruled by snow elves. Feind, the north-east, was ruled by beastmen. Verge, the south-east, was ruled by humans. Edelasse, the south-west, was ruled by forest elves. This diverse group coming together to form an empire was unthinkable for its time and its founding times were filled with troubles. However, that time has long since passed and now — due to certain steps taken during the formation of the empire — the economies of every part of the empire was now dependent on each other. By distributing varying important roles between each of the four kingdoms and specializing their economies in different fields, they made all of them lockstep with each other.
Say if a kingdom got too greedy and wanted to take over a field that another one already had, they wouldn't be able to compete in terms of quality. They could headhunt leading figures in that field, but they wouldn't be able to replicate it using the same methods due to a lack of expertise on their production staff. They also wouldn't be able to use their own products as hostages by withholding supply due to the threat of the other states doing the same to them. It made much more sense economically to keep the comparative advantages they each have by maintaining the status quo.
Our home was near the north-western point of Lumisade, right near where the taiga met the high mountain peaks that walled off this part of the Northern World. Few ventured this far out partly because of the sheer cold and partly because climbing any of the peaks of the mountain range that surrounded the entire Northern World was a complete death sentence. Numerous people, over countless centuries, have tried and none have ever made it out alive.
"Hey, Dina... Are you sure we're in the right direction?" Her eyes were filled with worry as she looked over to me.
"Yeah. Don't worry. We're taking a route where it's unlikely we'd come across any people that might know you."
She had a small sad smile on her face. I hated it. She shouldn't ever have to make that face.
I bit my lips and breathed out. I suddenly stopped, bent my knees, and — while she was still unaware — quickly swept her off her feet.
"Hey!" Taken by surprise, she nearly screamed. "Don't scare me like that!"
"I thought you said I should carry you if you ever get tired?"
"I haven't gotten tired yet Dina! We've still only walked twenty kilometers so far."
"You looked plenty tired to me."
It seemed like she figured out why I suddenly lifted her up as she smiled and settled her head into my neck. It was a bit awkward, carrying her, her travel pack, and mine all at the same time.
"We're walking east, while they should be around south. So don't worry too much, alright?"
"Alright. You can put me down now, Dina."
"Oh? I thought for sure you'd try to take advantage of the situation and press your luck."
"Then, I guess that means you just don't know me that well — now do you?" She stuck her tongue out as she leaped out of my arms.
Her usual smile was back. Yeah. She really did look much better with a smile.
The city of Lumisade was roughly 146 kilometers away from our home in a straight line. This would've been a four-day trek, but since we went on a little detour instead, it would take us an extra day. Our first day passed by uneventfully. No sudden monster attack, no sudden bandit attack. It was quite different from the norm if what we read in stories were true where there was action and adventure every time they went out. It was peaceful and relaxing. It was, admittedly, contrary to my expectations.
Truth be told, I had been kind of interested in getting to fight a wild monster or something. Monsters in the wild were extremely rare. Monsters in the wild were either one of two things. They either managed to escape the dungeon, which is basically impossible with how heavily monitored those things are. Or they were natural monsters in the wild. They formed when an animal accumulates enough mana in their body that their body adjusts and evolves. It was actually much like people becoming able to use mana. In that sense, monsters are basically animals that are able to use mana. The only difference is that people are anyone who can actively communicate with others and isn't inherently hostile to other living beings.
This distinction can be a bit blurred and doesn't necessarily hold true for every mana-capable animal. For example, horses with mana can be classified as monsters, because they're animals capable of using mana and can't actively communicate with people through language. But, they're not inherently hostile so they're not classified as monsters.
We could see a multi-cultural village in the distance which was exactly what we were looking for in the first place. I wanted to avoid a pure snow elf village simply for her sake. It was a standard Lumisade taiga village as described in books. Tree-houses by the canopies of the thick trees. Branches connecting trees to each other, through means of magic and or tree shaping, served as public roads. Everything about the village was in tree tops. What made us sure it had other races was the houses by the tree roots, formed just like the ones above. The village was multi-tiered and was honestly pretty cool.
This was the first village I've ever seen and it looked beautiful. It was much better than anything I could have imagined. I sneaked a look to my side to glance at her reaction. As beautiful as it looked to me, it could have represented something much much uglier in her eyes. Wordlessly, I clasped her hand in mine and squeezed tight.