3. Ellennoire City (part 1)

Character : Nathan Fiore, Ellennoire City.

-----

Ellennoire City. 

It has many names, starting from 'The City of Unity', 'The Proof of Peace', 'The Capital of Trading', and many more. One key specialty that truly made this city special was the fact that this city is the first human settlement to be made that does not side with any tribes or clans or kingdoms. 

In the world of Avenor, most city, towns, or basically any human settlements usually is a part of a certain ruling monarchy, like a kingdom or an empire which fully depended on their origin. 

For example, the water empire rules over multiple cities as well as villages or towns. These places are completely under the influence of the main ruling monarchy, in this case, the water empire. They answer directly to that monarchy and their populace is also mainly fixed with the people related to the kingdom. 

But, not Ellennoire city. 

'The Republic City of Ellennoire' or simply 'Ellen City' for short, stands alone with no influence from any monarchy from any origins. Many groups of people from various origins has agreed that it is said to be the capital of Avenor. 

Their population is mixed. There are no tribes or clans, just the people of the city. The population is completely diverse in races and origins. Not a single tribe, clan, or race are hated or loved more than the other. Thanks to this, Ellen is well known and appreciated by everyone.

Endless row of merchants would come to the town to do business. Trading here simply means trading with multiple tribes and clans at the same spot. It wasn't just merchants, travelers also would come to visit Ellen city at some point in their lives. Due to the diversity of race and affinity, Ellen has been the perfect place to be a tourist spot. 

The buildings are most advanced in architecture and placed accordingly, proven by the amount of skyscrapers reaching the skies within the city's gigantic walls. There are way more rich people here than poor people, proven by the small amount of homeless and beggars that exist on the lower side of the city.

The currency used in Ellen is the same as any other places, using the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum; or BSGP system for short, for exchanging goods. A single platinum coin is worth 10 gold coins, a single gold coin is worth 10 silver coins, and a single silver coin is worth 10 bronze coin. A platinum coin as the highest currency is worth a thousand bronze coin. 

To put an example, 3 bronze coins can buy you a single good and tasty apple, while a single night at an inn is around 27 to 35 bronze coins, depending on the quality of the rooms.

As of right now there are over tens of thousands of people living in Ellen. Around 40 percent of them are merchants, with the other 60 percent consists of travelers, workers, nobles, and more. 

The nobles of this city have their own area to live, but there are also nobles from another country or kingdom that came to either visit Ellen or to stay for a period of time. Some came for business, others came for tours. The workers in Ellen mostly work for these nobles, and most of them often work as a shop keepers. The fighters and warriors who came to Ellen mostly works as a guard, a hired mercenary, or a knight. Some also has a darker line of job away from the light, but it wasn't very common.

One thing to take note about the jobs within this city, is that the pay will always be much-much higher than the pays on other places. Which is why I am very curious as to how much a normal monthly pay for a job here compares with a normal job pay at the place I came from.

Another very special job that can only be found in this city… is to be a academy teacher for one of the most famous schools in Avenor. It is the place I am going to right now.

"Should I drop you at the academy?" Uncle Darren asked me as he drove through the city, but I stopped him.

"No, it's fine. You can drop me anywhere. I wanted to explore the city first before going to the academy." I explained my wishes to Uncle Darren, and he laughed hearing my yearn for adventure.

"All right, then! Suit yourself!"

Uncle Darren then proceeds to keep driving the carriage, and I don't quite know where he is going to drop me off. From the looks of it, he might as well just keep on taking me to wherever place he wanted to be at.

But, not even a minute since I gave him that answer, the carriage began to move closer to the pavement beside the road, and I knew immediately that this is where I'm getting off. It's in the middle of one of the main roads here, so it looks like a good spot to start my exploration.

"This looks like a good place, right? Uncle Darren asked after parking the carriage, and I nodded at him.

"Yeah, it's okay." I stood up and started heading for the back door of the carriage, and I carefully jumped down to finally step into the city.

Woah… I'm finally here.

"See you later, big bro! Come visit us or something whenever we come back to Ellen!" From the seat next to the driver, Airen waved his hand as he shouted loudly at me.

"I promise to try visiting you, but you should tell me when you're going to visit Ellen in the future!" I waved back as I gave him an answer, and the mother on the back laughed hearing that idea.

"We'll send you a letter to the academy if we are in town, Nathan." Aunt Priscilla said as she waved her hand as well, and I nodded firmly to that wonderful idea.

"See you around, Nathan! Promise that you'll teach me some cool fire techniques!" The young girl, Arlene, mentioned the things we were talking about previously during the drive here.

"I promise to teach you in the future if we have the chance, Arlene!" I made my promise to the little girl and turned my gaze to the old man at the driver's seat.

"Then, we'll be heading to the market now. Don't bother looking for us later because we'll be leaving for Valkaria after dark." Uncle Darren said aloud, and I was quite surprised that they will be leaving Ellen that early. It's currently afternoon, so they will be leaving Ellen in about two to three hours.

"Noted. I'll take care of myself just nicely here, no need to concern yourselves!" I said to Uncle Darren, and he just laughed.

"In that case, be good to yourself! We'll be off, then."

Uncle Darren stepped on the pedal again, and the carriage started moving away from my position. I made sure to wave my hand at them as the carriage gets further, and I can see everyone is also missing my presence with them. And after a while, the carriage finally left the view.

Valkaria… huh? That's the capital of the water empire, wasn't it? I've heard stories about it.

Man, it must be so fun to just travel around. I'm so jealous of Airen for being the son of a merchant!

Anyways… I have my own goals here. It's time I fulfill them.

I turned my eyes around, studying the new environment that I found myself in. The buildings surrounding me are all over twenty meters tall, and I had to look upwards reaaall~ hard to find the roof of the buildings. The architecture here is just so different and insane compared to the fire kingdom.

Now… to go to the academy.

One of the main reason people would come to Ellen is to visit the academy. The Elemental Academy of Ellenmoir is one of the most acknowledged institutes in Avenor. Some might say that it is the best institute all over the land, rivalled only by a very select few. 

A lot of nobles and warriors came to Ellen to study at the academy. Most of them came from the nobles family because the fee to enter is far from cheap. Normally only nobles can afford the registration payment, but there are also some wealthy merchants and high positioned combatants who managed to get their sons or daughters to study at the academy. 

The graduates of the academy tend to be acknowledged and grow huge in their lives. Some graduates became powerful origin fighters and knights, and some even secured a high position at their chosen military force. This is the reason why many people are wishing to enter the academy, because they wanted the greatness that will come after they graduated as well as the knowledge they will obtain within the classes.

But, it's a different reason for me.

When I was younger, Mom would often tell me the stories about her life at the academy. About her education and her experience while she was studying there.