The city

On a road barley visible within the mist, the cart was progressing in steady pace towards City (B). Off the two sides of the road seemed there was a large fields hidden beyond the thick fog, leaving one's speculating, how far it goes behind all that fog? In addition to that dead silence fills the area, brings someone's worrisome.

Of course it wasn't the high class kind of journey, and the bumpy road made it even more uncomfortable. Therewith, the cart seemed sort of lively, whereas the grumpy boy who was sitting in the interior corner, was nagging soon after the cart started moving and all the way about how his personal space got taken by the girl sitting beside him.

"For your information Luka, I don't want to stick to you either."

The boy looked irritated and sighed.

" Then at least stop moving around! "

The girl rolled her eyes ignoring him. Subsequently, her attention was forwarded into Natalie and Sky. She looked at them with a fake smile popped over her face that made both of them shivered uncomfortably.

" Hi, I'm Sara, I came from a village beside yours, and this brat here is Luka. What about you guys?"

Sky plainly answered pointing her forefinger.

" Sky , Natalie".

Awkwardly, she nodded.

The waggoner who overheard their conversation chuckled at their stolidity.

" You should get along kids, because inside the capital, you will meet up with people who are very different than you ". He noted.

Hearing that, Sky was interested to know more, with sparkled eyes she asked:

" Say mister waggoner, the capital... what does it look like?"

The waggoner sighed then answered in a lazy manner.

" First, it's Mr Roan for you, as for your question... it's so so ".

Noticing the confusion in her face he laughed then continued.

"What you should ask is what's lurks inwards? In short, Camo is a big kingdom a very big one, therefore, most of it still undiscovered since the curse exists an..."

"How so? "

Roan frowned on how Sky interrupting him, yet he continued explaining.

"Have you ever wondered why your village isn't so far away from the capital?"

Luke showed interest on the subject, and readily replied.

" I remember asking my father once, he only said that it was the king's orders".

"True, you may not know this, but the more farther you get from the capital, the more poisonous becomes the fog".

They were more shocked than being surprised, Roan sighted them and giggle.

"Well of course at first no one Knew how to deal with the fog, not untill the Green family stepped in. As a start showing of a new invented device, they called it 'Storm sigil '. Like it's name it was a bombshell for everyone. It absorbs the posion particles of the fog then converting it into some sort of mana type thing. I'm neither knowledgeable nor understanding how this complicated stuff works, since I'm not a scientist ".

"How odd. Isn't this something they should tell those who lives at borders? Warn them or somthing? Doesn't they have the right to know? And what more they are hiding?" All these questions which surfaced on Sky's mind, were left unanswered. But she was determined to uncover all secrets and learn the truth, all at the right time. The important thing now, is to know more about the place they are heading to.

" Mr. Roan, who is this Green family? "

The question came out of the blue, but Roan's reaction was nothing but surprised, he raised one eyebrow staring at her, yet pardoned her since she not from there, but at least she should have known the name, it's a common knowledge as he thought.

"The Greens are one of the famous ancient families. Their work focus on technological wizardry and advancement things that's why they are neutral when it comes to politics and so on".

Like reading her mind and what question she will ask next, he added:

"The ancient families are people who hold positions and power inside the capital; Slivermoon family, Lionheart family, the Greens and lastly the Morgens. Each one of the families have their own specialization. And just to let you know, do not go and try to mess with them, especially the Morgens, or else before you know it, your head will be..."

He turned back pointing out his hand to his neck like a knife doing the chopping. He was calm but dead serious, clearly it was a warning.

They gulped, whilst the mood turned into gloominess.

Sara then plainly added: "He is right, it's best to stay away from the Morgens, they mostly work in shadows to the dirty work, they are killers. No body can face them even the king, he stick to being silent and turn a blind eye when it comes to them ".

Sky thought it's no wander her brother was wary even warned her about them earlier. Keeping that in mind, she prayed not to bump into any of them, at least until she safely graduates from the academy.

"And... the other two families?" Sky asked.

Roan gased up as he was thinking then replied : "Sliver moon.. let's just say they are sword manic, most of them are melee type. and Lionhart are more into defense, unlike Slivermoon. The entire family are big and muscular "

He then laughed. Natalie chafed her hands nervously, all this and that chopping warnings get the warmth out of her, hence she asked:

"Mister..Roan.. is it true that everything is very expensive in city (B)?"

A sudden dimness loomed on everyone faces, Natalie had her own concerns, which reminded others what really matters. It's true that the academy provides them a place to sleep while training but food, clothes and weapons in addition to health care is their responsibility, and from their own pocket. To put it simply, the living in the capital is expensive and off their limits, which put them in continuous distress.That is one of the reasons why Sky was crazy about working and saving money as much as she could. Even Roan couldn't but to be sarcastic about that.

"Yea ... compared to your village... the costs and the taxes... "

"...H...ha...how much exactly?"

Luke was stuttering when he asked. They saw the grumpy kid became a shakily weakling. Roan smirked.

" Students like you guys ...um.. about five hundred (500) ul is fine of course excluding the additional expenses ".

"Huh!!!!!"

A high tone screams echoed through the air, both Luke and Sky stood up, they were enraged.

"Five hundred ul!!! A five hundred!!! that can feed up our entire families for the next six months. This is just a daylight robbery!" They thought in sync.

" Clam down now so you can swallow the following; five hundred ul is the minimal costs of living in the city (B)..."

Like a gaint rock hitting hard over their heads, they were shocked. Natalie turned white like a sheet, no warmth left to keep her alive after what she heard. Sky couldn't but smiled and sneered in pain.

" Curse the capital and curse those richs!" She said clenching her fist. Here Roan said:

"But I wouldn't worry too much about this because, unlike us the old bones, you can just take commissions from meracary hall inside the academy, thus you won't starve to death ".

" So it's a robbery and a child laboring slavery system... great!"

Sky sarcastically complained. Despite of that, they all just sighed in both relieve and disappointment. They already expected it would be expensive that why they saved some spare money to keep a living from for awhile, but five hundred ul is just unreal. Roan only rubbed the salt on their wounds with his heartless laughters.