Bevelona City

"That's Bevelona City? Holy..."

Jay was shocked when he saw the city that was still a few kilometers away. Almost every building he saw was so tall, just like the skyscrapers back on Earth.

When the lady merchant saw Jay's reaction, she chuckled softly and spoke up.

"Those tall buildings you see are the homes of those who live in the inner and central ring of the city."

"Rings?" Jay immediately asked but had a pretty clear idea what the city looks like just from that description of the lady merchant.

"Wait, this is your first time to go to Bevelona?" The lady merchant said with a surprised tone.

"Yup. By the way, my name's Jay."

"Lysa." The lady merchant introduced herself before talking about Bevelona City.

...

Bevelona City, just like the rest of the cities in the Utopia Region, has a circular shape and has 3 different rings.

From the central ring going outwards until the outer ring, there is a very distinct change which cannot go unnoticed. To put in simpler terms, the central ring is where the royalty or the talented live. The inner ring is where the common folk live. As for the outer ring, it is kind of... chaotic. Let's just say that it is where the hoodlums and poor live.

As for the building structures, the taller and grander it looks, it means that the one who owns the building is a rich person.

"What's the Utopia Region you talked about?" Jay asked after Lysa told him all of that.

"You're a funny one. Don't tell me you've been living under a rock all this time?" Lysa said as she chuckled softly.

"This is my first time out of my cave." Jay said jokingly.

"Fine. We still have a few minutes before we reach the city anyways." Lysa said and grabbed a piece of fruit from her trading carriage before continuing.

"Ashnakara is divided into four regions. In each of the four regions, one of the goddesses reign supreme over it.

The Utopian Region which is located at the northern areas of the world is reigned over by the Goddess of Peace.

The Doomsday Region which is located at the southern areas of the world is reigned over by the Goddess of Evil.

The Holy Region at the western areas of the world is reigned over by the Goddess of Order.

The Wastelands at the eastern areas of the world is reigned over by the Goddess of Chaos.

In just the same way, there are bound to be more followers of the Goddess of Peace within the Utopian Region rather than anywhere else. The same goes with the rest of the regions."

After that info dump, the two finally arrived at Bevelona City. The first thing that happened was that they had to line up in front of the gates since there were a lot of people entering the city and it was mandatory that everyone who enters needed to pay 10 Rubies.

...

--- Outer Ring, Bevelona City

There weren't any tall buildings seen around the vicinity and most of the establishments here were old houses that were either made out of wood or stone. Women wearing simple clothes that are usually tattered or stained with dirt filled the streets.

...

"Jay, I am afraid we have to walk by foot after this short detour." Lysa said as her donkey pulled the carriage towards a marketplace.

After a few moments later, the two of them arrived at a wooden establishment that looks like a barn. This establishment was actually some kind of storage or parking area for wagons and carriages.

"Won't anyone be tempted and steal your stuff?" Jay asked since there wasn't any kind of security system in the establishment. The doors are even wide open and the carriages are just tied up within a fenced area. If there was some kind of security system, it was just probably the horses or donkeys beside the parked carriages.

"Nope. No one would dare except if they want to face the wrath of the Golden Dragon Organization." Lysa said while she tied up her carriage and Jay got off from it.

"Alright. That should do it. Let's go."

Just as the two of them were about to leave, they suddenly heard a lot of flapping sounds coming from above. So they immediately left the establishment and looked at the skies and saw thousands of golden horses with wings entering the city, going towards the inner ring. It was obviously the Radiant Army.

"Just what is going on? I thought the Radiant Army just left a few minutes ago." Lysa mumbled to herself.

"Are those the same people who I saw in the forest earlier?" Jay thought to himself but decided to not let it bother him.

"Let's go." Lysa said as she led Jay towards the inner ring of the city.

As they walked along, Jay saw a lot of things that normally happened in the outer ring.

Thievery, murder, prostitution, there were just a lot of crimes occurring at the place but no one even cares about it. There was even a small girl who threw a stone at Jay and glared at him hatefully.

"Just what is up with this place? It is worse than a slums area." Jay thought to himself and asked Lysa about her thoughts about this.

"Pitiful right? But no matter how much help you offer, nothing will happen. People who live in the outer ring increases each day, causing a lot of problems. Three times in a week, an official working at the inner ring will distribute food to them. Together with the food are some hunting bounties."

"Hunting bounties? Like a prisoner hunt? What is it for anyways?" Jay asked.

"Whatever you are thinking, it isn't what you think it is. A hunting bounty is..." Lysa suddenly became a bit gloomy and bit her lips before she continued speaking.

"... a contract that allows someone to get a prize for killing a random amount of people. The prize could be a thousand Rubies, a large bag of food, or even a chance to live in the inner ring. If I remember correctly, someone must at least kill a hundred people to receive a hunting bounty."

"What?! Don't tell me even the little girls are..." Before Jay could even continue speaking, he and Lysa reached the walls of the inner ring. In front of them was another gate. But unlike the entrance to the city, this gate was more heavily guarded and there were even cannons and trebuchets on the top of the walls aiming down at them.

"50 Rubies." The guardswoman who was near the gate immediately said as Jay and Lysa approached.

"Here."

Before Jay could even take out half of the Rubies he had on him, Lysa already paid the guardswoman and allowed them entry.

...

--- Inner Ring, Bevelona City

Unlike the terrible living conditions at the outer ring, the inner ring was more habitable and nicer to live in. There were a lot of tall stone buildings around and a few normal sized buildings. The streets were very lively due to the random chatter of the people around or merchants trying to sell their goods.

"Umm... Lysa?" Jay did not know what to say and was feeling a bit ashamed of himself for letting Lysa pay up.

"It's fine. 50 Rubies might seem a lot to you, but it is just a small amount for a lot of people. You will understand soon enough if you try to stay in the inner ring for a while." Lysa said as she continued leading Jay until they reached a fancy looking tavern.

The tavern was a bit small and normal looking. The reason why it looked fancy was because of the lime green paint on the walls and a terrible drawing of a bear on the door.

"Wait... I thought you were..." Jay immediately had to ask since Lysa was supposed to bring him to a doctor or something, but instead, she led him towards a tavern.

"Don't worry. One of the members of this guild is a good friend of mine. She will patch you up in no time." Lysa said as she pulled Jay inside the tavern.

--- Bear Paw Tavern

The moment the two of them entered the place, a chubby woman with long brown hair behind the bar counter immediately spoke up.

"We already paid our debts, so why are you here?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here for Lyndis." Lysa said as she gestured Jay to sit somewhere first.

"Your sister is..." Before the chubby woman could even continue, Lysa suddenly shouted.

"She is not my sister!"

The women enjoying their drink suddenly looked at her. Just as Jay wondered what was going to happen, everyone started laughing and slamming their beer mugs on the table.

"This again? Just because you accidentally made out with her during that time doesn't change the fact that you are sisters."

"SHUT UP!" Lysa shouted again and her face reddened up as she remembered a very disturbing and embarrassing moment of her past.

"Lyndis is at the guild hall." One of the women who had the usual leather armor and long curvy hair spoke up before chugging down a mug of beer.

"Frallia! Open up!" The chubby woman shouted and suddenly, a hidden cellar door appeared beside one of the tables near the window.

Lysa did not even speak as she dragged Jay along with her towards the cellar door and gestured him to jump down.

...

--- Bear Paw Guild Hall

"Woah. It has been ages since I've been in a guild hall?" Jay thought to himself as he looked around the place which looked like the Hub Center of the Golden Phoenix Guild Hall.

"It has just been a couple of days since you left the Fatelord Plane and the unexpected events leading you here happened." Hellson said to Jay.

Jay looked at the few women who were idling at the place. There was a blond haired woman sleeping on a bench, wrapped in a pink blanket.

On the nearby table, there were two ladies drinking beer while they played a game that looks like chess.

"Don't stare at them too much."

Lysa suddenly appeared beside Jay and dragged him behind the bar counter, leading him to the rooms at the back area.

...

"Lyndis! You have a customer!"

Lysa suddenly knocked on one of the doors and shouted. After a few seconds, a muffled voice came from the room.

"Let her in."

"Good luck Jay. I hope you get healed with whatever injury you have." Lysa said as she fist bumped Jay and left.

"Well, I guess that's that."

Jay thought to himself and went inside the room.