Factions

"Yes, magicians do exist, and so the magic."

Exia's memory instantly brought back to the two days ago where Luke mentioned a magician elder picked up Lilith. He also said the real Exia was supposed to be picked up, but the reality showed that he still here.

'So did that elder forget to fetch me? It couldn't be, right?' Exia thought to himself. Not wanting to let himself being drowned in that wishful thinking, Exia shook his thought off and asked another question, "If that's so, then why do I haven't met a single magician to this day?"

Although the duration he stayed in this world wasn't long, only two days. Exia sure if the world was filled by magic as he saw in the movies, he ought to be at least watch a real magic performance with his own eyes once. However, until now he never had those bizarre encounters, excluding the invisible orb.

"It's because our town is located far far away from the magician's capital."

"How far?"

"Wait for a second," Ardelt immediately stood up and rummaged through a basket.

"Found you," Ardelt exclaimed as he pulled out a long rolled paper.

Cleaning some of his things on the desk to create a space, Ardelt placed the rolled paper on the desk's centre and unfolded it, making the initial narrow paper stretch and expand into a wide map.

Pointing onto one of the tiny dots on the map, Ardelt voiced, "This is where we currently are, Lite Town, a mere little city not worth of attention."

'You shouldn't belittle your own city, teacher,' Exia subconsciously wanted to say those words but swallowed it completely as he didn't want to disturb Ardelt's explanation.

Ardelt then moved his finger for quite a time before stopped at the huge red-dot, which had something engraved above it, "That's the location of many magicians gathered. From young to old. A safe haven for some people, or a concealed abyss for some people. The capital for Sorcerer's Faction, Claudia."

"Claudia..." Exia mumbled in goosebumps. Arrived in the unknown world, Exia's only dream was to witness a magic people always imagined on Earth. Sometimes, when he's in a daydreaming state, his mind starts to drift into his memories on Earth, where he could enjoy the internet, computer, electric fan, and many practical things that decorated his life like a flower. Now, transmigrated into a world without electricity, Exia suspects his life would turn into a boring life by working tirelessly and spending night by night getting bitten by mosquitoes. However, the orb's appearance really does give him a sliver of hope that probably this world wasn't boring at its look.

And after hearing Ardelt's confirmation directly, Exia couldn't help but felt his heartbeat began to beat rapidly in excitement. Magic really does exist!! This was the biggest clue ever since his transmigration. If he could learn magic, he could find the reason behind his transmigration and probably return to his hometown on Earth.

Not noticing Exia's odd action, Ardelt continued, "See the distance between our city and Claudia? That's the main reason magicians never venture to our place. Even so, our city is still considered as part of Sorcerer's Faction. Though, it probably would change in the near future if sorcerer neglected us."

Snapped out from his thought, Exia saw Lite City and Claudia's location painted far from each other. It's too long that if it is measured in real, Exia suspects the distance between the two cities is 5000+ Kilometers away. He then registered the last sentence Ardelt spoken. With a bewildered face, Exia asked, "What would change?"

"The faction we submit onto." Ardelt spoke with a grave expression before resuming, "Ignorant kids like you probably didn't know this fact, but humans had four different factions with each owning vast land on a certain part of the continent."

"The first faction to be recorded was Royal's Faction, lead by the Vellhave Kingdom. The second faction is Tribes, the most neutral faction. However, some people say Tribes was the first faction. The third is Sorcerer's Faction that was once a part of Royal's faction, but because of things I couldn't explain to you now, they choose to separate, making the two factions fell into a deep hatred. The last one is Assasin's Faction. This faction is the most obscure and dangerous as they rarely appeared, and once they choose to reveal themselves, bloodshed would occur."

As Exia absorbed the information Ardelt convey, Exia remembers Sir Bernard's notes also stolen by an assassin. Was it not because of the assassin's careless trait and him who picked the notes up. Sir Bernard must be grieving over his lost's notes now.

"Well, that's all I could tell you at the moment. If you digest too much information, I'm afraid your brain would be burned." Ardelt stood up and folded the map back to its original state, "Since your first-day lesson only starts tomorrow, you can go back or watch me doing forging."

Exia contemplated for a moment hearing Ardelt's offer. Watching a blacksmith doing forging wouldn't be bad, but he was in dire need of money. While exploring Lite City the day before, he visited several places that renting some rooms as well. The price was variant, from the cheapest 5 silver/week until the most expensive 1 gold/week.

From then on, Exia had thought of renting a room for his personal use. That way, he wouldn't be bothered by the fact he needed to see his roommate's annoying faces every morning anymore.

With that thought, Exia replied while scratching his back head, "I think I'm going back, teacher." Before Ardelt able to respond, Exia hastily added, "Umm...Can you suggest a place where I could look out for a job, teacher?"

"A job?" Ardelt scrutinized Exia's appearance and said thoughtfully, "Now I examined your clothes in detail. You look like a kid from the slum. Am I right?"

"Yes," Exia replied without the intention of hiding his identity.

"You should be more careful, though. I heard gangs fight often happened in the slum."

"Thanks for your concern, teacher. Then, regarding my question?"

"Oh, right! A tavern is probably the best idea since most people converge over there." Ardelt answered while stroking his chin.

"Tavern, huh?" The Internet was undoubtedly the best place for looking for a job as it consists of people worldwide interact with each other. In a world with no internet, what's the best place for people to meet each other? Of course, it's a Tavern!