Erst duchy

Three days later, the carriage arrived at the gates of Erst duchy's capital city. As one of the Three Great Duchies of the Sovereignty, it was equipped with a Teleportation Circle. Together with the Circle at the Sovereign's City, anyone could travel between the four points as quickly as possible.

Usually, it was reserved for only the nobility, but after the civil war, it was decided that anyone could use it, provided they had the money. 

Savine wanted to take the trip to the Capital slowly, but the others refused vehemently. What they were doing was not something they could delay, they said. 

She eventually gave in. And besides, it wasn't like she had nothing to do. She became the new Administrator for the Architect's Quadrant, formerly known as the slums, so it was best for her to hurry back. 

She left Wilfred there in her stead and have him as much authority as she could, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before the bishop tried something.

However, an unexpected sight met them at the Teleportation Circle. Countless people watching over goods and cargo of all sizes were sitting around the Teleportation Circle, waiting. Dozens of strong men were carrying items into and out of the Circle, the queue never ending.

In the Circle itself, people and their cargo disappeared into nothingness, while occasionally, random people materialized out of nothingness.

In fact, a closer look showed that the Circle itself was divided into four quadrants. One took up half the space, and it was always filled to the brim with people teleporting away. 1/4 of the circle was empty, but that was the place where people from other parts of the city teleported in. As for the remaining quadrant, it was divided into two, each possessing 1/8 of the circle. Only occasionally people would travel on those two smaller quadrants.

The big one was reserved for people coming and going towards the Sovereign's City, while the other three were reserved for the three other Teleportation Circles strewn across the country in the Three Great Duchies.

Judging by its different size, Savine understood that the Erst duchy had an advantage over the two other Great Duchies.

'It must be the mana stone mines…' she thought leisurely, before observing the teleportation process.

People would stand on where they want to go and the Teleportation Circle would send them to the appropriate places. The timing of it all wasn't random as well, people were teleported only every 20 minutes, no sooner no later. During those 20 minutes, men would pile as much cargo onto the Circle and when they were finished, the cargo was teleported.

Savine quickly understood that the Teleportation cycles were optimized to perfection. However, the Circle was small, its diameter only 5 steps. Moreover, the frequency of teleportations was long as well, so when the many merchants wanted to move their wares, a long queue such as this one piled up.

The duke and Eliseline were briefly surprised by the people, and they approached a building titled Dispatch Office.

Curious, Savine followed along.

A fat man sat high on a chair, speaking to all the customers that wanted to use the Circle. He was slow, taking his time to make small talk with some familiar people, laughing loudly occasionally. He seemed to be a noble from somewhere and he acted as if he owned the whole place.

When the group's turn came, Eliseline spoke up.

"Five persons, four mid-sized crates and one two by one by two sized crate. Headed towards the Sovereign's City. Must handle with caution."

The man in charge looked at the group and lazily licked his fingers. He rustled through a few pages and nodded.

"Seven gold coins. And your turn'll come a week later."

"A week?"

"Yes."

"A single jump costs so much gold and you're saying the queue's till next week?"

"Listen, darling, I'm not the one asking Marquis Luckner to send his whole damn warehouse across the country right at this moment. Usually we ain't so busy, but since you came when we're the busiest, you can only blame your luck."

"Since the people are only sending wares, any way we can jump forward on the list?" Savine asked. "Money's not a problem."

The man looked down at Savine and then stole a glance at Lucius and Eliseline. He must've thought that the girl was speaking out of place, but seeing that the two adults were silent, he nodded with a smile.

"20 gold and I can send you all by tomorrow evening. Come here at 12 at night, on the dot."

"Guess there's another line for people who pay triple," Savine smiled.

"And for people who pay tenfold, there's no line at all," the man winked.

Savine shrugged. "We'll wait till tomorrow. Thanks for the offer."

"And the money?"

"We'll bring it tomorrow."

With that, the three walked out. Savine noticed that the man, too, was switching out with a different person on the reception.

A couple of moments later, his voice resounded in Savine's head.

<How'd such a pretty pair have an average kid… Ugh, shame. Whit! Come 'ere. Go follow those three. I smell something in them.>

<Aight, boss.>

Savine could almost feel the grunt's stare on her back.

<…Hey, boss. Want me to treat them a little… nicer?>

<Find someone else to wet your dick inside,> the boss snarled. <They're nobles first of all, and they're something much more than that, second all.>

<Huh? Don't look anything special? The kid's got white hair. Guess that's special. And the couple's pretty as fuck. That's always But other than that? What's there?>

<I don't know. But ain't that why I'm asking you to tail them? If I knew what their deal was, would be wasting my brain talking like this? Shut your shithole and go!>

<Fine, fine. I's was just joking, sheesh.>

Savine closed her eyes and focused. In her head, she saw a tall, slit-eyed man with no other notable features about him.

"Keep an eye on that tall man," she whispered to Eliseline. "If you catch him staring at us, you can go confront him."

Eliseline discreetly looked behind her and nodded.

She thought of also mentioning it to Zuri, but she wanted to know if her valet could notice someone following them on her own.

"Since we're stuck here for another two days almost, is there anything we can do?" Savine asked.

"The Erst duchy's foods are considered the best," Zuri replied. "I've heard of a few eateries in the Entertainment District."

"I'll go have some fun there," Savine said. "What will you two do?"

Eliseline and the duke shared a glance and spoke up.

"I've sent my valet to hire an inn. I'll follow him there with the inventions," the duke said.

"The same inn we stayed in?" Eliseline asked.

"Probably."

"I'll tag along with Savine and bring her to you afterwards," Eliseline said.

"Alright."