[Julius]: "Please just, run it by me one more time. I don't quite think I'm understanding. This city is built-- on a tree?"
Lisa who sits next to him in the carriage giggles to herself, covering her mouth before lowering her hands into her lap and smiles at him.
[Lisa]: "That's right. It's a unique species of giant tree that extends high up into the sky. The city is built upon its branches, all the way at the top."
The rest of the group listens in amusingly as they chill around the carriage in several places. Lucille, sitting next to Julius on his left side.
Lawrence is seated next to Muriel at the small table in the corner, where they face Alcard and Nakada-- the blue haired man that stands up, leaning against the carriage wall next to Alcard.
[Julius]: "How does that even work? And you said that water falls off of it? This place doesn't seem possible."
[Lisa]: "Oh, its possible. In fact, despite the city's entire foundation being built within its branches, there's no usage of magic involved at all. It's a place I've always wanted to go to, I'm so happy we can finally visit, especially with you J!"
Julius tries his best to imagine how Rantari looked in his mind, but he just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of it.
The lively atmosphere of the carriage had certainly become more calm over the hours that passed, but many of them had become tired after riding around for the whole day and night.
[Nakada]: "Aaagh! How much longer will it be. I hate going to new places."
The blue haired man threw his head back, hitting the wooden wall that he leaned against repeatedly.
Nakada was not a fan of traveling, especially to far away cities. He had gotten very restless over the long trip, and progressively more irritated.
Funnily enough, the more time Julius spent in Nakada's proximity, the more he could see that he was just an overgrown child who hated most things and was very immature-- the man even had a tendency to challenge random people to fights if they so much as looked at him the wrong way.
[Alcard]: "Just sit down for a while, it's not too far now."
[Nakada]: "Nah. Sitting down doesn't suit me."
He shot his head to the side, looking away from Alcard due to his silly suggestion.
[Alcard]: "Tch, what do you mean it doesn't suit you? Could you be anymore stubborn?"
Nakada looked back at Alcard with crossed arms and stared at him with an open mouth and confused eyes.
Watching from his seat, Julius found himself a little freaked out that the man had naturally sharp teeth, "Is this guy really human?" he thought.
[Nakada]: "Ehhh? Don't go talkin' to me about being stubborn, I'm not the one who has a history of disobeying the king, especially after that stunt you pulled with Everard. How is the old bastard nowadays anyway, HAHAHAHA."
Nakada leaned down to Alcard, resting his elbows on the table and slamming his hand down onto the wood repeatedly as he laughed.
Despite the force at which he hit the table, it didn't seem to have much power behind it-- only enough to make a bang upon the impact of each slap.
[Alcard]: "I did what was right, that old man doesn't own me. As for Everard, you know him well enough, the dude doesn't shut up."
Alcard seems to side-eye the empty seat next to him for a moment, as if listening to an imaginary friend, or maybe even just taunting the air that inhabits the seat.
[Nakada]: "Yer' in the royal guard kid, he owns all of us. Although, I guess he doesn't have a say in the matter when it comes to you, I just wish he wasn't such a shut in after that incident, maybe then he would actually have the balls to order you around."
After a moment of thought, Julius chimes in with a question. He hadn't intended to eavesdrop on them, but Nakada was being rather loud after all-- it was hard not to.
[Julius]: "Everard? I feel like you've mentioned that name before. Sorry to butt in, I was just curious is all."
Julius rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled awkwardly-- the never changing habit. Both Nakada and Alcard turned their heads to face him, which only proved to increase the tension within him, taking the form of an audible gulp when their eyes meet.
[Nakada]: "Huuuh? You've never heard of Everard? Is this guy okay mentally? You didn't find him off the street did ya' Muriel, I know you have a habit of being too friendly to the homeless."
[Julius]: "A- wah..."
Julius's face turns to shock and everyone else in the carriage chuckles at his comment. Muriel shakes her head in amusement as Nakada looks back at her before returning his gaze to Julius.
While Nakada was just making a fair assumption, he wasn't totally wrong-- Julius was indeed found on the street, and by definition, he was certainly homeless in this world.
[Lisa]: "He isn't from here, we speculate that he's from a different continent but he seems to have lost his memory, so don't be surprised if J doesn't know a lot."
Lisa explains the situation to Nakada with a proud smile, showing him off as if he were some kind of trophy to her.
[Nakada]: "That's very strange. Are you strong? We should spar together some time. I love fighting new people!"
[Julius]: "Ah!- I, um... Maybe in the future, I'm still recovering from my recent battle, heheh..."
Julius laughed awkwardly, trying to be as polite as possible in declining Nakada's offer.
In terms of physical health, Julius was perfectly fine, Camilla made sure of that-- but it was clear that Julius had zero intention of fighting this man. Even if it were just a sparring match, Julius would most certainly stand no chance against The 'Blue Haired Demon'.
[Nakada]: "That's a shame. Come tell me if you change your mind, would love to see what you can do."
The blue haired man stared menacingly into Julius's eyes, sending an unnerving shock through his body.
[Julius]: "Ahh, will do. Now, about Everard?"
[Alcard]: "Great Dragon Everard, he's one of the six immortal plagues that roam the planet. He attacked the kingdom a few years back, so I killed him."
Muriel looked ahead at Alcard with an unimpressed facial expression, resting her chin on her palm as she leans onto the table.
[Muriel]: "You say that like its just some regular old dragon. Do you really have that little respect for the man, dear?"
[Alcard]: "After five years of nonstop verbal harassment from a corpse? No. I have very little respect for him."
The conversation only proves to confuse Julius more, a strong expression of curiosity and thought frozen on his face.
[Julius]: "Why do you speak like he's still alive if you killed him?"
Nakada stretches his arms above his head with an amused smile, clearly looking forward to how Alcard will explain this next part.
A loud thud is heard as Nakada falls backwards onto the wooden floor of the carriage, resting his head on his arms that lie underneath it as he relaxes on the floor.
[Lisa]: "Eee!"
[Nakada]: "Got bored of standing, now go on."
Lisa stares down at him with a concerned face, but seeing that he is clearly fine and unfazed from the intentional fall, she slowly turns her attention back to Alcard.
[Alcard]: "After I killed Everard, I drank his blood and inherited his commandment. Unfortunately, in doing so also meant that his soul came with it. Bastards been in my head ever since."
Julius audibly gasps and a look of pure shock washes over his face-- but he also finds it rather impressive and courageous that Alcard managed to perform such a feat in the first place.
[Julius]: "WHA!-... You can do that!? I thought commandments were kind of set in stone."
[Alcard]: "It's complicated. It's also very rare, but yes, it does happen."
The topic makes Julius's head spin, but he pushes through it to ask more questions.
[Julius]: "What commandment did you take from him? I'm sure you had your reasons, was it a really strong one?"
A brief moment of silence fills the carriage as Alcard stares at Julius with a blank face-- until reluctantly, he decided to tell him what power he had stolen from the dragon.
[Alcard]: "Immortality. All of the plagues have it, it's how they have existed for so long. Everard's commandment also has the power of lightning, but I haven't been able to use that part of it so far."
Julius takes a moment to think, the information is a big surprise to him. "Immortality? Well, it's in the name, I should have guessed that much." He thought.
After a brief moment, a realization washes over him, bringing a shocked look to his face.
[Julius]: "Wait, is that why you look young for your age? You haven't aged since you took the ability have you?"
[Alcard]: "your right. For the last five years, my body hasn't aged at all. Physically, I'm still fifteen."
another moment of silence fills the air. "Fifteen?" Julius thought. He looks at Alcard with a face of disbelief-- but also seems impressed at the same time.
[Julius]: "Eh? You killed a dragon when you were only fifteen?"
[Nakada]: "Not just any dragon kid. This was the biggest and baddest of them all."
The blue haired man spoke from the ground, looking up at Julius with one open eye. Just like how Lisa showed Julius off as some kind of trophy-- Nakada treated Alcard the same way, putting him on a pedestal like some kind of prized possession.
[Alcard]: "Again, I was just doing what's right. Don't make it out to be a big deal."
Nakada sat up with immense force and looked at Alcard with an expression of disbelief.
[Nakada]: "A big deal!? That was the first time in history that an immortal plague was killed! Can you imagine the look on their faces when they heard that they now call them 'the FIVE immortal plagues'? How embarrassing."
The two's interaction gets a small giggle out of Lucille-- their squabbling proved to be an amusing way to pass the time for all that sat in the carriage.
[Julius]: "Are they all as bad as Everard? They can't all be evil, right?"
[Muriel]: "Unfortunately not dear. The immortal plagues are notoriously malicious beings. For some reason they all seem to bear a grudge against humanity, I guess since they have been here far longer than us they didn't like that we just took everything we saw."
[Julius]: "Shame. Are they all dragons?"
Nakada lowers himself back onto the ground, lying on the wooden floor as he looks up at Julius.
[Nakada]: "Nope. We actually don't know much about them, no one does. We've tried to get Alcard to ask his imaginary friend about them, but he's not very cooperative."
[Lucille]: "From what I know... There's Everard the dragon, Aiko the deer girl, and, uum..."
The maid pauses, looking up at the roof trying to remember the last known plague. She places her hand up to her chin in silence until Lisa chimes in.
[Lisa]: "The demon! A humanoid woman with pale skin and white horns that cover her eyes. I read a book once that mentioned her. I don't quite remember her name though-- I think it started with an 'a'?"
[Julius]: "That's only three of them."
[Lawrence]: "That's all anyone knows about. The other three haven't been seen enough for documentation, and most reports are just hoaxes or misunderstandings."
As Julius takes in all the information, there is a brief moment of silence, but after a while, the carriage driver yells out to its inhabitants.
"WE'RE HERE!"
The voice makes Lisa and Julius jump, but she quickly recovers herself and smiles brightly as she stands up and opens the window beside her.
[Lisa]: "Ooooooh. Woah! J! Come look!"
Julius stands up and walks over to her as she takes her head out of the window and steps aside for Julius.
Peeking his head out, his jaw drops and his eyes shudder open in awe. In the near distance in front of them was a sight that blew Julius's mind.
A tree that was far larger than any structure he had ever seen before presented itself before him, surrounded by water-- in fact, the trunk of the tree was sticking out of a giant lake that lied peacefully underneath its weight.
Up near the clouds, was the main city. A giant foundation made up of white bricks rested atop the branches of the giant tree. An endless stream of water flowed down from its edges into the lake below, and on several parts of the city's base, were wooden lifts that brought up supplies and people.
[Julius]: "Ha-... Aaaaaaaah."
Julius let out a sigh of pure amazement-- the city was everything they had hyped it up to be, and Lisa had every right to want to visit it. Julius couldn't quite figure out why this place wasn't packed with visitors, or even why Lisa hadn't traveled to it sooner.
[Julius]: "This place is amazing! You've really never been here before?"
Poking his head back inside the carriage, he looks at Lisa as he asks his question.
[Muriel]: "I never let her, dear. Until very recently, this city was rather... Chaotic. It was only last year that they had recovered from a large civil war."
[Julius]: "A civil war?"
Julius listens to Muriel's explanation intently-- a small pang of sympathy flickers through his heart when he hears the rough state that such a beautiful city has been in.
[Lawrence]: "Its previous ruler died of old age. He proved to be the only thing holding the city together, as shortly after his death, the whole place devolved into chaos very quickly."
[Julius]: "Ah, That's very sad to hear."
[Muriel]: "Mmh. Fortunately though, his daughter, Jericho, took his position and slowly brought everything back together, but enough damage had already been done. That's probably why she reached out to me now, forming a trade route with Cataphrania would speed up the city's regrowth by a whole lot."
Julius feels bad for the city, but is pleased to hear that its back on its feet after such a chaotic history. He looks back to see Lisa and Lucille practically fighting to stick their heads out of the window to see the city from below.
--This causes an outburst of laughter from the group as the carriage slowly comes to a halt. Nakada jumps up from the ground, eager to stretch his legs a bit and finally walk around after a long trip.
[Nakada]: "Fiiiiiinally! This place better have good food, I'm starvin'."
After the group gathers their bags, they exit the carriage door and take a look around. Julius is the last to leave, walking out behind Lucille.
He takes in the sight of the tree that they now stood at the trunk of. They had crossed a large bridge over the lake, and now stood at the base of the tree next to the lift that would bring them up to the city.
The entire platform that they stood on was shrouded in shade, and several lamps lined the circumference of it, illuminating the base of the tree-- albeit only slightly.
[Julius]: "Woah... It's hard to believe that there is a whole city just above us."
[Lisa]: "Mmh! I can't wait to get up!"
The group stands on the wooden platform that lies next to them, and Lawrence pulls the lever that was attached to it.
Sounds of rope tightening is heard as the platform begins to slowly rise, nearly knocking several of them down with the initial snap of movement.
[Lisa]: "WOAH!"
[Lucille]: "Hng!"
Muriel is the most caught off guard by the sudden jerk of the platform, but Lawrence catches her, bringing her back upright.
[Muriel]: "Ah. Thank you, Lawrence dear."
[Lawrence]: "Of course, lady Astoria. Please be careful."
As the platform rises further and further into the air, the group is given an amazing view of the fields that surround the area, perfectly bathed in a golden sky of the sunrise.
This world was incredibly beautiful to Julius, and he had seen sunsets like this before during his time here-- but this one, had a certain specialty to it. A perfect golden hue that filled him with joy.
[Nakada]: "Nearly there. Can this lift go any faster!?"
Nakada tapped his feet on the lift several times out of boredom, the man was clearly not the patient type. Alcard stood with his arms crossed on the opposite side of the group from Nakada, seemingly irritated at his impatience.
As the lift entered the bottom of the foundation, the area went black-- but soon opened up to a brighter light as the city slowly came into view.
A gasp can be heard throughout the whole group, even from Nakada as they take in the sight of the city. It was lively, and its inhabitants were mostly demi-humans.
[Julius]: "Woah..."
They all admired its unique architecture as they stepped off the lift. They appeared to be on top of a large pillar that overlooked a portion of the city. Its buildings were mostly made up of white bricks, and the entire city was broken up into four sections, with a large castle in the middle.
There were several man-made canals that transported water all around the city, and its streets were littered with shops and cafe's.
[Nakada]: "Hahahah! This is definitely a change of scenery to the bland walls of the capital. Don't ya' think, Alcard!?"
[Alcard]: "Mmh."
Alcard's face remained its usual blank expression, but Julius could tell that he was secretly enjoying the new sight that lied before him.
Lisa ran in front of the group, leaning over the edge of the tower with a wide, open smile and sparkling eyes-- she had only ever seen pictures of the city, and finally seeing it in person was truly a dream come true for her.
[Muriel]: "Be careful darling. Don't fall off!"
Muriel walks up to Lisa and stands next to her, followed by Lawrence, who remained by her side as much as he could.
Julius's attention is taken away from the city bathed in the sky's golden light when he hears metallic footsteps approaching them-- the type of sound produced when one wears a suit of armor.
[Nakada]: "Hmm?"
As everyone turns their attention to the man, they finally see him stop in front of them. This man had a medium-weight suit of armor on, made of a silver looking metal. He wore a black cape that covered his whole back and around his neck was a purple scarf that flowed gently in the wind.
He had blonde hair that was tied up in a bun, and deep blue eyes. Everyone watched as the man formed a wide smile on his face, and bowed deeply to them with his arms to his side.
This deep bow lasted an uncomfortable amount of time, showing an excessive amount of respect to them. It was almost awkward until he jolted back upright with the same wide smile.
"HELLO! You must be Muriel!"
[Lisa]: "Ah!"
Lisa jumps when he suddenly shouts, despite being right in front of them. Julius watched the overly flashy knight as Lisa subtly hid behind him.
[Muriel]: "Yes, that's me dear. Judging by your armor, I assume you are apart of the knight faction in this city?"
"My name is Hikerix Asura! Current head of the royal guard! Please call me Hikerix!"
The man was very joyous, somewhat too much-- but he had a strange effect on them all, his attitude had grown on them very quickly, and Julius found him, actually kind of cool.
[Muriel]: "Very pleased to meet you, Hikerix dear."
The man places his arm in front of him and bows again, this time a lot more shallow.
[Hikerix]: "On behalf of queen Jericho..."
..."Welcome to Rantari!"
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