Chapter 16: Magnus Ironstar

Nier arrived at the teleport station after walking whole 30 minutes with full on sprints in-between. Dainsport despite being a tele-port city was smaller in size as compared to the others.

The teleport station was a giant dome shaped building made of marbles and had many gateways to enter. Lot of people went in as much as they came out. Nier looked around in for a while before taking all that he had left.

Originally, he had brought enough money for a complete trip to Melan, adding to that- Nier did some minor d-rank missions which while not much in themselve was still an improvement. Nier had echanged majority of the coins to shellies and spent most of it in the outer kingdom and exchanged back to iron coins as he left. Most of his iron coins which were in his bag were buried in the snow now.

Determining that it was enough and he would be completely broke after this, Nier silently mourned and came inside. Coming inside the dome, Nier saw another dome and lines of people passing through a door to that dome. He joined the line which wasn't really much crowded and never really static. Nier entered through the gate. There was a circular stage of 2 meter radius on which many symbols he could not understand were layed out.

"Where do you want to go?"

"The capital"

"That would cost you 10 earth coins"

'Goddammit, I don't have enough. 1 earth coin is equal to 1000 black coins. And the teleportation cost in maya is said to be one of the lowest compared others. The capital isn't much far from here so the cost is probably minimal'

"I have 7000 black coins and this chain, and this knuckle and...katana. Would that be enough?"

"Hmm..please wait for some time"

Soon after that, the chain, knuckle and katana were evaluated.

"Yes that's enough..."

"What if its more than enough? Won't I get the remaining amount?"

"You must have already known it since you offered us- in case items are payed in place of money, no extra money will be returned even in case their total value surpasses cost of travel"

"Tch" Nier was annoyed but he felt it wasn't the concern now. He had calculated the all the total cost to be only a little bit higher than 10000 black coins.

Standing on the stage. Nier felt a soothing sensation as if he was massaged by water.

He blinked and found himself in a completely different environment. The place wasn't really much different but the people were. Exiting the teleport station, Nier looked around.

He was in the capital. The heart of Maya. Mayheart city.

The place was more in the central area and was huge. It was like a mini Mayaricorn surrounded by mountains from which the very small rivers flowed down and all of them converged at single giant point, on which- the city was built. (A/N: It's kinda like Venice)

Since it was built upon a water body. Places were connected by canals and bridges. Boats were the most common transport vehicle.

The teleport station was built on a round lake- like a miniature island. with many bridges connecting the island with outside the lake structures.

Nier passed through the wooden bridge and his eyes turned towards the giant beautiful castle stood that reflected the light of the dawn. It was larger than every other building by a gigantic margin. The only thing that reached its heights was a large stone tower that stood not too far away.

He looked around for a bit. People were wearing clothes that seemed to have been from good material, sticking close to the body and just from good brand in general. The clothes seemed formal yet comfortable with most having some sort of gold motifs in them or any gold accessories.

'Hmm, I heard that to live in the capital was not a task for the poor but these people are just flaunting their wealth at this point' Nier thought looking around while he himself was seen by people around as...different? After all seeing white hair, an eyemask and a black cloak covering the whole body wasn't exactly usual.

After asking a stranger, Nier acquired the location of Iron mountain's headquarters and reached there.

'Luckily the teleport station is quite close, other wise from the main gates, this is too far and I'm already too exhausted. My mana hasn't completely recovered as of now and I feel sleepy as well. One day, I'll reach a point where I can run kilometres in seconds'

The Iron mountain squad was the best squad of the kingdom lead by the prince and was the most popular as well. However, their headquarters wasn't really too flashy which showed humbleness and control. It was quite big since many people came and went by but the building was light bronze in color just like the palace.

Nier went to the entry gate where he was stopped by the guards

"Your business?"

"I have something to tell to the prince"

"You cannot meet him now"

"Here me out you little shi... Sigh*... What I want to say is very important and it must only be told to him and I can assure you that you will lose your job if you don't let me tell him that!"

The guard was shaken a little by the confidence with which Nier spoke. He checked Nier's appearance who seemed battered and beat which was probably a sign of a recent battle. He thought about it for a second and-

"Do you have any authorizati-"

"No...Somethings are best kept between trustworthy individuals" Nier calmly whispered.

The guard's eyes widened and understanding the message, he told Nier to wait as he went inside.

He came back a little bit later.

"Be thankful to the leader. He has approved"

Nier didn't say anything and just entered

The interior was a lot like a guild's but mostly bronze and gold colors were present.

He looke around a bit before he asked a worker about the leader's office. Getting the directions, he reached the office and knocked on the door.

"Enter" A calm voice reached Nier's ears who pushed the door to enter.

The interior of the room was filled with books and other things, trophies and medals were kept there as well. In the middle was a table on which 2 cups of tea stood and behind the table sat a young looking handsome man with ash grey hair and golden eyes. His skin was white and he wore a regal black coat with golden strips at all the edges of the coat. The hair were split in the middle and his aura was overpowering yet calm.

"I am Magnus Ironstar, Leader of the Iron Mountain Squad and I heard you had something to tell me"

Magnus asked in a calm voice as he looked towards Nier.

Nier however didn't respond as his gaze turned to the person sitting across Magnus

The young man had light blue hair and his eyes were the same. He was good looking but not as much as Magnus or Nier himself. The was a scar on his cheek and he wore a white coat with blue edges.

The vice leader of Iron Mountain Squad- Skar Ironstar

"Oh...well, send him outside first" Nier answered nonchalantly

"Why would that be needed? He is the vice leader, he will help in your problem as much as I will"

"I'll tell you after he goes out, you'll understand" Nier stood his ground.

Magnus remained silent before he looked at Skar and smiled

"Do you have any problem with that brother?"

"No, not at all. I'll guard the door" Skar smiled as he stood up and left the room.

"So, can you speak now" Magnus asked calmly as looke at Nier in silence.