Welcome To Amera!

"Please let me join your party!"

Those were the words that graced my ears as Damaris and I sat next to the stream. At first, I was taken back by her statement but I began to think it over.

If I was to build an efficient army, I would need individuals who have the ability to lead. I knew enough strategy to be a decent general but if I really wanted to achieve my goal of peace and quiet, I would need someone to do most of the army maintenance. I'll most likely need an appropriate management structure to minimize my surveillance over the army. I was happy to accept her into the party but I still had an important question.

"Why do you want to join us? Isn't your duty to protect Amera? I can tell by your decorated armor that you are a highly favored General. I don't see what you would gain from joining-"

"Foolish!", Damaris said. "I would gain everything from joining with you! Fame, Money, Power, and the ability to finally relax instead of worrying about godforsaken paperwork! I don't even want to be a Gifted Knight General! I'm just too good at what I do! The pay doesn't even cover the lost opportunities of being someone's wife, and..."

As I slowly began to tune out, Damaris went on about her dreams of being a regular housewife as well as her hatred of the Ameran paper management system. She also explained that her role as General took away her opportunities of having a boyfriend or husband, even though she was already 28. After hearing her talk about herself for 5 minutes, it was clear that this woman was an opportunist.

"Are you really going to abandon the most advanced nation in Yggdrasil just to benefit yourself?"

"Absolutely! What's the problem with that?!"

I thought the response was a little too quick but I would be lying if I said I wasn't an opportunist myself. I'm not as...uh...aggressive as Damaris but I was similar in a sense. Thus, I decided to make her an offer since she was proposing the idea.

"If I like how you perform in battle, I think we can consider letting you join the party. Although, you would most likely be in charge of managing whatever army that we put together. If you are ok with that, I don't see why-"

"Do I have to do any paperwork? Do I have to get a stamp made in materials that come from Kani infrequently to the point that I have to go out of my way to get the paper accepted? Do I have to fill out an absurd amount of paperwork just to leave the city for more than 5 days?!"

"Uh...No?"

Damaris' face beamed with excitement, as she hugged me tightly. Tears of joy were running down her face as her breasts were pushed against my chest. She wasn't as big as Arcana or Daera but her size was more refined in a sense. Before I could enjoy the embrace some more, someone tapped me on the shoulder. As I looked back, I saw that Daera was grinning at me. She began to whisper in my ear.

"If she joins us, it'll mean more time alone with your favorite goddess...", Daera whispered.

As Daera, Damaris, and I talked about our future travel plans, we walked back over to the tents. Similar to how we were before, Daera, Arcana, and I were sleeping in the same tent. This time, Daera was holding me tighter than before.

--------------------------------------------------------------

When we woke up from our slumber, we decided to bathe in the stream, eat breakfast, and prepare our traveling items. Daera, Arcana, and Shobe were searching through the woods for the respective components that they were looking for. Damaris, Titan, and I were preparing the carriage for the trip.

"You should know that Amera is really advanced. You'll most likely be surprised what is possible once you arrive in the capital. Although being a Gifted Knight General is a pain, I always liked living in Amera. There's something beautiful about contributing towards the advancement of an entire continent.", Damaris said.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing what the hype was about. Once we had the carriage ready, the rest of the party returned from the forest. I teleported back to the fortress to check up on the slime, who was relaxing on the patio. I envied the slime but I also liked the money so I teleported back and got on the carriage. As we resumed our travel, Arcana took a nap on my shoulder while Daera took a nap on my lap. I didn't expect Titan to let someone take his prized sleeping spot but he was fine sleeping on the seat next to me.

"This is quite the relaxed party that you have here Paladin", Damaris said.

"They are always relaxed. Meanwhile, I'm practicing my elven magic!", Shobe pouted.

We chuckled at the statement as the carriage sped through the lush landscape towards Amera.

---------------------------------

After around 4 hours, the carriage driver announced that we had finally left the Ameran Great Forest and was in the rural part of Amera. Arcana, Daera, and Titan woke up as we looked outside the carriage window. We could see a variety of small villages, farmlands, roaming monsters, vegetation, and dirt roads in the area. We could also see a giant wall that spanned the northern horizon.

"So that's the legendary Ameran Enclosure huh? I heard the Gods talk about it from time to time", Daera said.

"I've flown over it a few times. You would be surprised by how much wall there actually is! Gifted Humans are a strange occurrence", Arcana said.

"We are not 'Strange', we are innovative! It took the best and brightest minds to set up this defensive installation! This has to be one of Yggdrasil's greatest wonders!", Damaris said proudly.

It took around two hours before we finally made it one of the wall entrances. It had a similar military checkpoint set up to MapleHorn but contained more "Reinforced" units. The gate itself looked more like a biometric scanner?

"Good morning outpost #6! We are transporting the Paladin God! General Damaris reporting!", Damaris said as she waved.

The troops began to run towards the sides of the gate and salute the carriage as we passed. I guess she really was a bigshot after all. As we passed through the scanner, I noticed that it was some sort of magical technology that glowed green when we passed through.

"That's one of the ways that we protect the inhabitants of Amera. Unregistered, dangerous, evil or otherwise unwanted persons who go through that gate are either killed, stunned, or blocked from entering. Unsavory as it is to say, that includes the rural inhabitants who are unregistered with the Ameran Government. Luckily, the process to register itself isn't hard. It's the fact that it's so selective in who it grants citizenship. It's an impartial process that gauges if a citizen has the ability to contribute to the city. Passing visitors can get up to a 10-day permit to stay before they have to renew it with a nearby guard office", Damaris said.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that something like Meritocracy exists in this world, especially in the most advanced country in Yggdrasil. It was disappointing to see but it wasn't a democracy after all. Amera was run on a Monarchy system of government. Most likely, the influential nobles and royal families are the ones who supported this policy. As for the layout of the cities, it was similar to what you would find in countries on earth. Surrounding the capital city were numerous big and small cities that were important to Amera's innovation. They each served an important industry, purpose, and goal for the Amerans. Expanding upon her previous points, Damaris explained Ameran society as we continued to ride through.

As we rode through the first city, we saw the various races from throughout Yggdrasil whose merit contributed to the city in some way. With 20 miles left before we arrived in the capital city, I decided to admire the architecture that the Amerans had adopted.

Strangely, it looked to be more modern than I initially expected.