1 Arrival in the Empire (1)

"We should be almost there…."

I looked out of the window, trying to see any sign of our arrival, as I could feel the train's speed slowly deteriorating.

And as if to confirm my guess, the train station could slowly be seen in the far distance.

It was large and filled with thousands of people, ranging from Humans and Dwarfs to even Devils and Elves. Its architecture was constructed in a beautifully simple but modern look, which slightly reminded me of the inner workings of a clockwork.

However, other than that, there really was nothing special or surprising about the train station. It might be big, but besides that, it was just a train station, no different from every other one.

As the train finally stopped, I grabbed my suitcase and stood up, ready to leave the train.

Yet, that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be as I realized that the noise inside the train seemed to get louder.

I turned my head to the exit, confirming my suspicions.

It didn't take a genius to guess why that's the case.

The train stopped, and all the passengers wanted to leave the train as early as possible.

-Hey! Get out of my way!

-Shut up, dude! I was here first!

-Who the hell keeps pulling my hair?!

As a result, a large crowd of people built up at the exit, pushing each other away and pulling their hair. If I were to make a comparison, I would probably compare them with starving wild animals who argue about their share of the prey.

They looked like wild animals fighting with each other, which was kind of entertaining to me.

Similar to an accident. I didn't particularly like looking at it, but I just couldn't take my eyes off.

I chuckled lightly as I continued watching the crowd.

Well, they probably have their own circumstances, so I shouldn't be making fun of them.

Maybe working just was that stressful?

I wouldn't know as I have never worked before. The only thing I ever did were some jobs here and there.

Besides that, I couldn't judge them too much anyway, even if I were to know their circumstances. As I too had to leave the train quickly.

I don't want to be late for the first date with my employer, do I?

I seriously didn't want to arrive late, thus also forcing myself through the crowd.

-Hey, what the hell?

-Stop pushing me away!

I pushed the people that were all crowded next to the exit away and made my way through. Even though the people complained about me, I couldn't feel sorry for them as I just frankly did not care.

'People.'

That was the first thought that occurred in my mind when I stepped off the train.

There really were a ton of people everywhere.

I expected that the Empire would be very populated...but this was just something else, entirely.

There were every kind of people, no matter where I looked. The large variety of the different races living in harmony with each other is the thing that really astounded me.

It seemed like it was true that the Empire was an interracial place where everyone could live.

I looked around and calmly analyzed the Empire.

It was a new experience, after all. And I was really curious about what the Empire had to offer. Maybe I could find some new ingredients at the potion shop or a new and interesting book that could further broaden my knowledge.

I had to admit. I was actually really excited to explore the Empire.

I generally didn't have the time to really experience any other cities before, as I never really resided in a place for more than a few weeks, so this was my first experience.

And the fact that I could start my experience with living in the Empire somehow made me feel like a kid who just got a new toy.

I put my hand into my coat pocket and searched for the map that I had stored inside of it.

It didn't take long for me to find it. I grabbed it and opened the previously folded map.

"Alright...I think I got this." I whispered to myself, repeating the information in my head.

With confidence, I put the map back into my coat pocket, as I was sure that I had already memorized the path to the Academy.

Even though I originally intended to head to the Academy instantly, I realized that there was still plenty of time left. And as I didn't want to arrive too early, I decided to head out to the downtown area and explore it for a bit.

I still had around 2 hours left, so I thought that looking around for an hour should have been fine.

As I left the train station and set off on the way to the downtown area, I passed many streets and residential areas.

Even though I had to admit that the architectural work of the Empire was quite beautiful, the conditions in which the people lived there left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The Empire was really constructed beautifully as it is a place that implemented the work and ideas of almost all races, creating large diversity in the different areas and the overall design of the houses.

While one residential area could have a nature-themed design, according to the wishes of the elves, other regions could look similar to the workplace of a blacksmith, which would then make dwarves feel more comfortable.

All in all, I would describe the Empire as a beautiful mix of everything.

However, not everything can be as beautiful as the exterior of the buildings.

No matter where I went, I could see a bunch of people that lived in poverty.

It wasn't really that surprising to me, but seeing it in person left quite a distaste in my mouth.

I'd already heard about it while traveling through other towns and cities, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

I've heard that the living expenses inside of the Empire were really high, and so were the taxes. Contrary to that, the employment rates of the Empire were pretty low as the poor weren't able to afford an education, thus not being able to meet the minimum requirements to get hired at certain jobs.

However, the problems weren't really that hard to solve. If the Empire had just decided to invest in the education of the poor people, their quality of life would have been greatly increased.

Not only that, but the rising employment rates would also mean that the economic prowess would rise as more people would be able to work, meaning that they would earn more by collecting taxes.

It would essentially be a win-win situation.

However, the reason for not implementing such an idea is quite plausible. It is because the aristocrats don't want the commoners to catch up to them financially.

If the commoners could catch up to them or maybe even surpass them, the aristocrats wouldn't be able to abuse their powers anymore.

Thus, fighting strictly against the education of commoners with reasons such as "It would distract the studies of the aristocrats" or "commoners are dangerous and shouldn't be allowed to study. What if all of them suddenly decide to turn their backs on us?".

I really didn't expect anything else from a system that humans created. Even though the Empire was an interracial place, the Royal family and all the nobles were still human.

The reason for that was that the Empire was essentially a human kingdom. It expanded in the Great war between all the races and somehow established itself as an Empire.

After the peace treaty and the discovery of 'the Depths', it became an interracial place where everybody could more or less live in peace.

However, that doesn't mean that discrimination didn't exist. The sole reason for the survival of humanity in the Great war was their cunningness and cruelty, after all.

Humans were the only race who sacrificed their own kind or prisoners to find a way to attain different artifacts or magical weapons. Their cruelty even exceeded that of the devils.

That was also the reason why humans are still respected even now. Until this day, the other races fear humanity despite being the weakest of them all.

In their eyes, humans were a power-hungry species that would do everything to survive. Well, they aren't necessarily wrong.

I think there was a saying that described it pretty neatly. What was it again?

Ah, right.

'A cornered rat will bite a cat.'