Chapter 7

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***

Holidays don't happen very often in the expanse of Neverland. Mostly they happened on dates associated with magical phenomena, which made them more important than in Eren's past world.

On this day, one of these festivals, Belletain, was taking place. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Kmetans in the Northern Kingdoms.

Belletain, also called Blossom, was first borrowed from the elves, and later it was adopted by the common people. It marks the beginning of Blight, the fifth month in the Elven calendar.

Eren had been told about this holiday on the day of its occurrence, just mentioned in passing, but witches were not the sort of people who would be happy to be welcomed at a general celebration in a village or a whole town. So he didn't pay any particular attention to the date..... But there is a person to whom this date means much more than a mere holiday.

A young girl with beautiful violet eyes and luxurious black hair, was sadly watching through the window from a high tower. Her birthday was happening on this day, but the joy of it did not hover in her room. She sat in a strange posture, as if hunched over, except it wasn't on purpose. She was hampered by a birth defect, and the main reason she had come to Arethusa in the first place.

Another sixteen years ago, on this same day, when there was a celebration in the city of Vengerberg. At the same time when everyone was partying, choosing the May King and May Queen, whose heads were crowned with wreaths of flowers. In one of the unremarkable houses, almost no different from other Kmeta dwellings, a birth was taking place.

She was born that day - Jennyfer - an unfortunate child who had received such an unpleasant defect at birth, which put an end to a normal life. The hump prevented her from marrying, starting a family and living like the rest of the people she knew in their town. Her parents realised the same.

After weighing the pros and cons, her father still decided the future of the young girl, giving her to Arethusa for training. There she is to this day, learning magic under the guidance of skilful leaders.

But could she accept her parents' decision? If only... One day she attempted suicide, determined to put an end to her sad life. Rector Arethuzu had a different opinion on that.

Tissaya de Vrieux stopped the girl from saying goodbye to her life, and, determined to correct her state of mind, she took Jennyfer as her personal apprentice on her own initiative, devoting more time to her than to the other students.

Her complex personality and unsociable nature made it difficult for her to make close acquaintances, so she had only one friend, Sabrina Glevissig. They didn't socialise often, though it was enough to be considered girlfriends to a certain extent.... Or rivals, if you looked at their interactions more broadly.

It just so happened that Jennyfer had an inordinate talent, mastering all aspects of magic with ease, something Sabrina tried to compete with. It didn't come out well, but she kept trying. That was the basis for their infrequent interactions.

- Just as I thought you'd be melancholy alone,' the door to her bedroom opened. A beautiful woman in a dark blue dress walked in, an expensive necklace around her neck. - Get up, at least you'll get to socialise with everyone for the holiday.

- I don't want to...

- I don't care whether you want to or not. Get up. Yeah, clean yourself up first,' Tyssaya frowned, seeing the unkempt appearance of her student and the mascara streaks on her face from her tears.

- What am I supposed to do there!? Stand stupidly on the sidelines? - The young girl became heated. She walked away from the window to a table with a mirror, starting to wipe the light make-up off her face in a hurry. - When will it be time for surgery?

- Learn patience, Yennifer, how long have you been...? - the woman paid no attention to the hysterics of her interlocutor. - Your problem will be dealt with next week.

- И... I'll be beautiful. Aren't I? - A heavy sigh was heard behind her. Tissaya sat down in a comfortable chair, smoothing her long dress with a slight movement.

- Your looks are better than most women I know, only your hump needs fixing, and that's the end of it. Clean yourself up, I'll wait. You should be used to crowded gatherings, you'll be at them many times when you're a counsellor to a king.

- I will. Give me a few minutes,' she didn't want to contradict her mentor again.

***

- It's so crowded, I'm used to crowds like this,' I said to Vesemir.

- We haven't even reached the capital yet. Were there big cities in your world? - His question made me laugh a little, which did not hide from the witch. - What's so funny?

- Believe me, in my world, a settlement like this would not be called a city. I can't say anything about the capital, we'll see, - I remembered big cities, especially China. - In my world, some cities had several million people living in them... There were even some with tens of millions.

- That's-- Yeah, that's impressive. It's hard for me to imagine how long it takes to walk through a city like that.

- It's not that long, really. Cities like that grow upwards, and they're travelled in fast... How shall I put it? Iron carriages that can move on their own,' I was amused again by the witch's reaction, and he thought I was joking with him. We hadn't discussed such topics before. - Okay, I'll sketch them on a sheet of paper so you can understand what they looked like. Maybe I can even explain how these 'carriages' work. There's not gonna be much to do in the tavern anyway.

So I did, drawing a rough view of multi-storey buildings and vehicles, it came out as it came out, but at least he understood. I spent the third evening of our wandering.

On the first day I was still interested in travelling on horseback, but I had only done it once before, when we visited a village for barter. Other than that time, I had only practised riding within Caer Morhen. As the second day drew to a close, boredom began to overwhelm me.

That evening, Vesemir told me that it would take some getting used to. Witches are always on the move when they're looking for work, which is always when they leave the walls of their fortress. Only some tradesmen would understand them, but those still move with a whole procession, while witches are mostly on their own.

Each time I am convinced that in their profession only the battle with monsters can interest me. But only, even if I decide to do such work, thereby still taking away part of this very work from the witches, I would not be able to live long without mutations or deep study of the magical arts.

- There's a thought on my mind,' I said, drawing Vesemir's attention to me.

We have already left the town called Daevon, heading for the capital of Kaedwen, Ard Carraig. It'll take us two days to get to the capital, maybe we can go faster, we're travelling light.

- Well, ask me, what's on your mind? - he slowed down the horse a little, so that it would be more convenient to have a dialogue.

- Well, you witches, because of mutations you become infertile. At the same time... I can't remember which of you I've heard from, there have been women who have managed to pass the mutation.

- There have been, rarely, I've only seen two myself,' his face took on a thoughtful look. - Why do you bring that up? I don't understand.

- So, maybe witches are not completely infertile, but just can only continue to breed with the same women?

- Ha-ha-ha-ha, you say that too. Believe me, Eren, if that were the case, the magicians would know about it. I mean, the same ones who created the witches. They had enough time to do enough experiments.

Well, it's true, if they were so obsessed with mutagens, they could have studied their subjects.

As we travelled along the motorway, various thoughts kept popping into my head, leading to questions I didn't know the answers to. So I amused myself on the long journey by asking Vesemir questions. I could see from him that he was not used to talking so much on the road. Sometimes it seemed to me as if he was meditating in the saddle while still keeping an eye on what was going on around him.

- We're almost there, we can see the towers in the distance, look,' he said, pointing towards a hill, behind which stood several tall towers, a couple of banners swaying in the breeze. - Watchtowers, of the kind that stand on either side of the road to the city.

The banner was a yellow cloth with a black unicorn on it, the horn was red like its hooves.

After another half an hour of travelling, the capital of Kaedwen was revealed to me in all its glory. The city itself did not surprise me in the least; it was roughly how I had imagined the capital in medieval times, given that I had been to a smaller city before. What did surprise me was the palace itself. Tall green spires, illuminated by the rays of the sun, not hidden behind the rare clouds. Wide staircases leading up to the top, straight up to the tall gate, the only entrance to the seemingly impregnable fortress.

Of course, I'm more than sure there are secret passages there, but that's what they are, so the fortress looked impregnable if you just positioned your troops properly for defence. This was also helped by the long bridge running along one side of the city.

- The palace is impressive. Somehow it seems to me to be the creation of elves, style perhaps.

- Kaedwen has been most influenced by the Elder races, the elves in particular. The same city names,' Vesemir enlightened me. I already knew the names of the cities.

- Yes, High Rock. Fitting, considering how the palace rises above the rest of the buildings.

We got inside the city without any problems, the guards glanced at the witch doctor a little, no more than that. We went straight to the inn, and put the horses there.

- I noticed a lot of merchants as we wandered through the streets. Is it always this many? - There were too many of them. The merchandise in particular caught my eye; food was not as common among them as I might have expected.

- A peculiarity of this kingdom. You see, there's not much arable land here,' Vesemir began to tell me while drinking Kaedwen stout, a famous dark beer with a low strength. It was a drink often found in the mugs of the local boozers. It tasted. Normal, nothing outstanding, or am I being picky, yet the others praised the drink. I think they praised it more because of the price, it was a small beer, only a couple of marks for a hefty mug. - Due to the small amount of plantation land, hunting and woodworking are more prevalent in this kingdom.

- Yes, that's understandable, the forests here are thick and quite extensive. As far as we've travelled, there are trees everywhere.

- True, but that's not all. Those mountains that Caer Morhen is hidden amongst run the length of the kingdom. That's where the metals are mined. There are rivers that run through the entire kingdom, connected to each other. So traders take advantage of them. They use them to launch ships and transport goods to and from these lands.

- It's convenient, and there's no need for all sorts of scum on the roads, if they're transported on ships.

- There is such a thing, but it's not without it,' I nodded understandingly at his statement. Not everyone can afford constant transport by ship, even in a place where it is very profitable.

We talked a little more about the city itself, what and where it is. Vesemir told me about some good shops that were not overpriced, and he discussed the prices with me. Soon I'll have to do it all myself, as soon as I get to Ban Ard.