Chương 1289: 1288. A whole new world(2)

---Perrerian--- Looking into the distance, she found a sprawling city, filled with houses built from a mix of wood and stone. It was clear with one look that the city had organically grown, seeing the winding network of cobbled streets and muddy paths. The biggest indicator, however, was probably the lack of another city wall. An almost 15m tall wall, clearly visible from their location, divided the city from the slums that had grown uncontrolled at the foot of the walls.

Over the past days, Monique had found out more and more about the world beyond the cave system. This was the capital of the Clow County, where they would meet Count Clutcher, the local lord of this territory. As the garrison commander had promised, the day after the demonstration of the Titans, the delegation from Minas Mar was escorted out of the castle by a group of soldiers who brought them here for their audience with the lord.

The night before they left, Monique had sat down with Jonah and Jane to share their information so far, or rather hear what Jane had managed to get out of the garrison commander. According to her, this County was actually part of a genuine empire, the Perrican Empire, that controlled the whole continent called Perrerian.

Like Monique, Jane also found the overly welcoming reception slightly suspicious, but she also only managed to conclude something from the vague remarks and gaps in the conversation with the commanders. The merchant suspected that the current state of the empire was not the rosiest. As they had proven the strength of their "kingdom" by conquering a demon beast cave from within, it was likely that they were seen as potential allies, or tools in whatever was going on in this place.

Either way, if it helped them quicken their mission, it was all for the better. Monique was glad that it was Jane's and the noncombatant's job to do diplomacy and negotiate trade deals. Since she just had to make sure they were safe in the meantime, she was able to focus on experiencing this new world. The group had another chance to impress the garrison commander and soldiers when morning came, and they intended to set off.

When they came down to the court in the center of the castle, the group of escorts was already seated on horseback, waiting for them.

"Are you sure that you won't need any carts, Lady Jane?" the garrison commander asked, still unconvinced. Apparently, he had spoken with Jane about the transport to the capital. The journey would have taken several days using carriages and carts prepared by the locals. Weighing times against convenience, the merchant had decided to reveal that they had their own mounts and that they would not need carts. Jane had briefed them on what to do, when they assembled at the court.

So, after the garrison commander stated his worries, everyone in the group summoned their mounts. Most members of the expedition owned Alpekas, bred by Evan. they looked like a mix of horse and Alpeka, just as big and enduring as a horse, but more suited for mountainous environments. Soldiers and horses were surprised at the sudden appearance of beasts, but they knew magic, so it was not that overwhelming. What had them reeling was when Monique and Jonah brought out their mounts.

The two had spent several weeks traveling through system worlds to increase their level of existence. Of course, they also picked up some good things during their travels. One of these things was their mounts. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Monique's mount was a lv. 94 Freezing Lioness, an almost 4 meters tall, lion-shaped monster with ice powers.

It was a rare mount that could also fight alongside her and had been playing a great role in her journey, as the caster of her solo party. However, it paled in comparison to Jonah's mounts, who brought out a sleek, ink-black mustang with glowing red eyes and a dark demonic aura. The mysterious being of darkness, beauty and elegance perfectly fit the Chosen of Munara, Goddess of Gruesome Beauty in battle.

It was also her first time, to see his mount, so Monique instinctively used <Athena's Scry> to judge the power of the other party, revealing the beast to be a named monster. <Shadowmane lv. 99>. Was it really his mount? A beast like this would have been fit to be his pet, too. The soldiers had to put some effort into calming their horses and themselves at the sight of two such powerful beasts.

With their level, they estimated their mounts were at the upper levels of power in this world, although the soldiers probably couldn't see it. They were more impressed by size and appearance than anything else. The commander's worries were also gone at this point, but maybe he had a few new ones. However, Jane only smiled at him with a cheeky smile and asked: "Didn't I say we had our way?" That had been two days ago. Now they were on the road for a little over two days and the soldier's initial shock was gone.

They were actually a little proud to escort such a retinue, as they caused lots of awe and glamouring on their way. The cave they came from was actually situated in a small mountain range at the western edge of the continent. This place was only sparsely populated. As they descended they passed mostly empty land, but also came across a handful of small villages and farms, where they would stay for breaks or the night. Monique's initial perception was further confirmed on the way.

Perrerian really was like the typical fantasy world introduced in most high-fantasy novels, with a mix of sword and magic. She found that although magic was not everywhere, its existence was common knowledge even in these rural villages, they crossed between the fort and the capital. What came as a little culture shock, even after experiencing a few system worlds, was that every village had at least a small chapel. Bigger ones had a church. Religion was not really a thing on Urth, at least not until the Apocalypse.

Although she had heard about religion at the fort, and Jane had also mentioned the Radiant Church was the state religion of the empire, but she had not expected it to be this serious until she saw it with her own eyes. With this great of a presence, religion was expected to have a huge influence on the people in this place. Looking at the city beyond the walls reminded her of this gain. In the city were two tall buildings, reaching above the rest of the buildings.

One was the lord's castle in the center, around which the whole settlement had developed. The other further to the left of the center was a cathedral built from creamy white stone. Unlike any other building in the surrounding area, it looked ornate and artistic. The polished copper roof shone in the light of the midday sun and Monique even thought to see the many faceted stained glass windows.

"Beautiful, right?" the captain of the escort soldiers commented, when he saw her staring off in the distance. Monique looked over at the man who looked like a textbook foot soldier. Although the world had magic and even something like mechs, these normal guys wore simple padded jackets, the captain wore a mail on top.

"Errm, sure?" she answered awkwardly. Was this beautiful? She had just been trying to get a proper overview of the place. Monique looked back at the capital of the county... The city was filled with medieval houses made of a mix of stone walls and wood... the only thing she could call impressive were the cathedral and the lord's castle. It was okay, if not for the ramshackle slums made up of clumsy wooden shacks and muddy paths. The man smiled wryly, seeing her second look.

"Yeah, it can't be helped. Many have fled their villages and homesteads because of the news of monsters roaming the land. They would rather live in the dirty slums at the walls that offer safety, than staying in their own homes..." he said with a sad look. The chosen of Athena was a little surprised. So this was not the status quo and there were still people with enough sympathy to feel sad when seeing this kind of sight. Maybe she had been a little prejudiced to these folks for their... rural lifestyle.

She couldn't call them primitive, because she felt it was mean and a little wrong, since they did have magic technology. Something like the Titans definitely wasn't primitive.

"... We all experience hard times sometimes," she simply stated