Chapter 2: Welcome to Deravon

Once the distance between us and the gates of Deravon was only meters away, we jumped off from our wagon and walked towards the shack right beside the entrance, with knights wandering around it.

Their armor was made of steel and in every chest, the crest can be seen, the same as the symbol on the large gate. It was the crest of the kingdom itself.

I gulped as I saw their long sharp lances. We're always traveling back and forth from the town to the kingdom, but I'm still not used to the high level of security here. Whenever I looked at them, it's like they're always keeping an eye on me.

We made it to the shack. It was made of stone bricks and slate roofs on top. A man with a large built greeted us on its open window with his deadliest glances. Unlike any knights around, he wasn't wearing any armor, revealing his buffed body. I noticed that the shift has been changed since it's not the same guy as yesterday. They may be transferred to him to other gates.

"Work pass or any appointment form."

His deep chilling voice made my body hair stood. I took a peek on what's Dalary's reaction, but as expected, she doesn't seem to care. Somehow, I felt betrayed that I'm the only one who's scared.

I brushed it off and grabbed the work pass that I've always been keeping in my bag. I reached for the piece of copper, sculpted to form the Deravon's crest.

I also felt another piece in the corner of my bag and realized it was actually my brother's work pass. I'm just using it when I forgot mine since he's just working in the countryside. I lent mine to the guard, while my friend did the same thing.

He put the two passes on his wooden desk, facing us and grabbed a sparkling green orb of a perfect sphere. It was a ball of smooth glass, which can be compared to an eyeball.

"Apollus." He whispered.

The orb he was holding started to emit flashes of green light from different directions coming from the inside, making cracks as it continued. It exploded in front of us, releasing a small puff of green smoke. A spherical green laser emerged from the smoke, scanning everything that was inside his radius, including the two work passes on the desk.

The orb that he was using was called 'magic orb'.

In this world, not all creatures can use magic, a powerful ability an individual could have in their life, and not all have special abilities. The only creature that could freely use these powerful abilities, of different ages and different genders, are the creatures of loyalty, the encantors. They contained unlimited mana, which is an energy force inside the body to activate any kind of magic.

Humans, however, were never destined to be able to use magic but because of never-ending determination, they made the magic orbs, which is a container that can store magic from the encantors and released it once the orb can detect the word 'apollus'.

The scanning didn't last that long, and he lent it back.

"Welcome to Deravon."

We bowed and walked back to our wagon. The metallic gates finally opened while Dino marched through it on its own will.

The stone brick street that goes in any direction was as big as our path back in the town, but it wasn't obvious because of many people walking and riding in their vehicles, even this early. The beggars add to the mix, as they just sat down in the corners.

Just like the lord manor, the lower floors of the houses here are perfect bricks, polished and carved as they were supported by timber frames. The top floors were made of clay, and the slate roofs embraced the palette of light blue and indigo. Stone chimneys are coming out from every building.

At the edge of the capital on the right, near the walls, and extended outside, the houses had a different style. It was mostly similar to us, but they have more skilled builders than ours. The only difference is that the topmost floors are richer in clay.

Dino started marching through the busy crowds. If we came here without a wagon, then we would get pushed off.

After a few minutes of traveling, we made it to the city square, where a large fountain greeted us along with a lion statue that has the same position as the kingdom crests. As expected, the number of people is still no different, and even tendrins have joined in the mix. Their gigantic height made them be seen easily, and Dalary's is nothing compared to them.

The castle is far on the left, but everyone can see its marble walls shining under the rising sun. And as the builds are getting closer to it, the bigger and more majestic they can get.

We traveled closer to the bigger buildings and finally made it to our destination. I went off the wagon, and they both left in an instant. I couldn't blame them, every single person in the capital is very busy.

My eyes stared at the tall establishment in front. The stone pillars supported the polished marble walls and at the middle top greeted a large circular glass window that stood up from anything. Its roofs have a beautiful slate silky texture that has the same palette as the others.

One can expect that this was a cathedral but was not. This was a library owned by Count Moringalle, one of the richest people in the whole Deravon. He was our boss in this library but not in my life seeing him walking to this place. It feels like he was abandoning it.

I took my step and entered. I turned my head around the extensive place. Bookshelves are aligned and organized, as well as on the second floor, covering the marble walls.

The part of the wall near the ceiling was covered by blue banners with golden trim and the count crest: a sun that was wrapped in the rose thorns. A large white glass chandelier at the ceiling like hanging snowflakes, filled with lit candles can be seen, illuminating the room, as well as candleholders attached in every corner of the walls.

In the middle of the room was a long wooden table that sparkled under the light, surrounded by wooden chairs. On top of the table were piles of books in different shapes and sizes.

"Good, you're here." A familiar voice made me jumped. I turned around to see a man in his 40s, with a grown long white beard, and dark-toned skin. He covered his head with a sailor hat, but I knew that there are no single strands of hair staying in there.

"S-Sir Leonard! I've never expected you!" I exclaimed.

His name is Sir Leonard Gavin, one of the librarians and my co-worker of this book heaven. He was always doing that whenever I'll come in here very late or very early. His house was inside the capital, despite being a serf, so he is always making it.

"Of course, you have. This is where I work." He said with raised eyebrows as he leaned forward towards me. I took a step backward, cold sweats dropped from my forehead. "Well, enough of that, I've got some work for you, from the count."

He started walking away and towards the corner. I followed him. I hope I can work in the fiction section since I've never finished some of the books there yet. The short walk stopped and I could finally see what he was talking about.

Piles and piles of hardbound-covered papers are stacking up one over the other. Some even fell on the floor. I can see glances of titles over titles in the covers. I couldn't help but be enthusiastic as the paradise was standing before me.

"They're delivery from the Goltem Library." He said.

"Really?"

My eyes started to twinkle. I couldn't believe that new books are coming in this day, and that's not all, it's coming from the highest standard library in the entire world, the Goltem Library. They also write the history of the world around the stone walls there too, and there is an almost unlimited source of literature.

"So quit slacking and get some work." He said and walked back on his own job, leaving me with this task. I started doing my job and at the same time, reading every single word in the pages of my new entertainment.

After hours of work, the sun finally slept on the west while Dalary and I traveled back to our town, holding only one oil lamp to keep the monsters away for enough time. My friend might be able to talk to animals, but the monsters are the exception, since they weren't actually come from nature, so it's still a dangerous place and a dangerous time to be. And since we're traveling through the open fields, we're at a disadvantage.

When we made it to my house, I was greeted by Farin's scolds and saliva spits. It's never a big deal to me since he is always doing this every time I will come home late at night. I always accepted this kind of lecture, since I knew that he's worried about me. Every family is worried about you when you're in a dangerous situation, so I just let him.

That didn't end long and we started to eat our dinner. It wasn't that very classy; just one piece of bread for each of us and the leftover stew that I made earlier. This town is not very great with us, peasants, and they always give us a poor salary. And speaking of salary, I wonder if they cut off my brother's. As far as I know, he was working with Lord Brasquellon as a farmer, and that lord was the worst person I've ever met in this town so far.

"By the way…" I said, munching the bread on my plate. My brother looked at me. "Did they cut off your salary?"

This question made him speechless. He just looked at me without eating, and then lowered his head. He must be thinking about it so much.

"Yes, they did." He answered in a low voice. He clutched his hands together. "It was only ten coppers every day, and they cut it off into five. That old geezer."

I didn't say anything, as I was waiting for him to collect all of his frustration. You can't help it. Not all parts of the world are being lit; there is still darkness in every corner.

"I'll give you half of my salary… for now."

My words made his green eyes widened. Yes, we're always a family and staying together, but I'll never share my income with him since he told me so. His stubbornness said that he's the head of this household right now, so he must be the one to provide the needs.

"Seriously?" He asked, as I just nodded at it, smiling sincerely.

"Maybe, I'll even treat you for a drink."

He also smiled at my offer, wanted to accept it, but he frowned and lowered his head once again.

"No. Keep that money. That's yours. Use that for yourself." He said, drinking the water. I also expected that he won't accept my offer since he's the kind of person that won't rely on others at all. "You have a dream to reach, remember? Being a professor."

It is. It was always my dream to become a professor in popular schools, but the costly fee of the training was stopping me from achieving it. This world will always run with the money. If you don't have enough to pay for it, then you'll never get it. It's always been like that.

We already finished our dinner, and I continued to do the household chores before going back to sleep. Our home has only two rooms in it: one is for the kitchen and the other one is for our bedroom. We didn't have a comfy bed, so we are always sleeping on the floor. That's how the life of a peasant is supposed to be.

I was already laying on the floor mat, but my eyes and brain didn't want to rest, thinking about various things.

It's really hard to live like this. It's really hard, but I didn't want to change it either. I've always wanted to live normally, didn't want to be in a risky situation, didn't want to take any responsibility such as giving salaries to poor people or ruling over an entire city. Because… why would you go that far?

As I was about to fall asleep, suddenly, I felt pain crawling over my chest.