A Dragon's Curiosity

Of course, Sera Carmen still treated Nisha very well and accompanied her personally on this trip.

The Seat had countless matters to deal with and still made time to entertain her, hinting that the woman appreciated her on a personal level.

Nevertheless, it dispelled some of the illusions the dragon had about humans as a whole.

Based on her observations and understanding, humanity as whole cared for each other deeply and grieved for the loss of a close one.

Their empathy and kindness exceeded anything monsters and even some beasts managed to show for their kind and offspring.

Compared to the animalistic and harsh traditions ruling in the Wilderness, the dragon had spun a beautiful ideal about humanity as a whole in her head, adoring the feelings and bonds between them.

She relished in exploring the city and getting to know different social circles, freely mingling with the [Thieves Guild] as well as the highest noble families, and everything in between.

Perhaps her perspective coloured her judgement and shaped the resulting impressions.

Just perhaps, Nisha realized, humanity was not special or different from monsters.

In front of benefits, they did not hesitate to turn on each other and sacrifice lives for their own gain.

Below a thin surface veneer of civility, they tore at each other and competed for resources, much like monsters fought over territory and obeyed the rule of the strongest.

With her illusion shattered and a completely new perspective, the dragon suddenly had a profound sensation of the door to the next rank appearing in her imagination.

Her body constantly subsumed strands of the [Dragon Force] that constantly circulated throughout her body and strengthened her physique.

Nisha had noticed that these strands strengthened her body and mind, increasing the upper limit of her aura and mana without breaking through to the next rank.

But now, the metaphysical door blocking her from proceeding to the fourth rank emerged in a mental space.

Countless shattered chains littered the ground around the way forward, with only a scant few still stubbornly binding the doors shut.

But now, with the revelation of her illusion being shattered, another chain snapped in half and fell away into the darkness.

Powerful energy pulsed from the cracks between the door wings, eating at the few remaining chains holding the gate shut.

Standing on the spot and closing her eyes, the elf must have looked silly to the Golden Heel, but the lady was content to give her a moment to digest the news.

In her impression, the girl was young, but not too young to know some of the ways how the guild worked.

They still wanted to cooperate on the procurement of food, after all.

Preventing any misunderstandings from happening would pay dividends down the line.

Taking several breaths to adjust her perception on the [Thieves Guild] and their interest, as well as the details of their cooperation and the recent visit of the Alchemist’s base, Nisha found a question she wanted to ask.

“Are there at least some cases where they survive the sentence that the council of Seats offers them? If they are guaranteed to die either way, why bother with the alternative?”

The dragon had ruled the [Dragon’s Den] before she came to human territory, albeit the governance methods between humans and monsters had discrepancies, she still had the perspective of a monarch.

If no hope existed at all, no one would entertain the alternative path offered to them.

“Naturally, there are exceptions.

Some people discover their talent for combat in the arena and manage to preserve through the rounds, or are lucky enough to find a relatively safe spot in the Wilderness to survive the duration of their stay.

Another example would be the experiment subjects of the Alchemist. I mentioned earlier how half of the supply for potions is managed by him alone, the other half is produced by the lucky ones that survive his research.

Often, they need to learn enough about alchemy to remedy the side effects on their body and mind to become qualified alchemists in the process and continue to work for the guild to treat themselves.

The success chance is just really low, but it’s better than nothing.”

Sera Carmen met the eyes of a nobleman out on a walk, who apparently recognized her for who she was and quickly looked towards the ground, involuntarily blushing.

Instead of greeting her, he turned away and rushed away the way he came.

Perhaps this happened quite frequently, as the Seat only smirked a bit and continued her conversation with the elf.

Few personages of high social standing were confident enough to admit any association with the Queen of the [Red Night Palace], not to mention visiting the place itself.

Nisha also noticed the reaction, but failed to understand why the man hurried away.

Now that the girl realized the existence of the darker facets of the [Thieves Guild], the Golden Heel no longer bothered to hide them in their talk.

At first, Nisha could not think of any conditions that forced someone to continually treat themselves in order to contain the damage, but after watching the Alchemist at work and kill a man casually in an experiment while another incurred enough damage to fall unconscious, she no longer doubted that the survivors of such endeavors had some long lasting health complications.

No matter how fast the elf’s thoughts ran, they had reached the opposite side of the Dharnas estate’s gate and their trip came to an end.

“Thank you for making time and accompanying me today. I will speak to my friends and accelerate the first cart of grain reaching the capital.

I will visit you once I have news.”

Bowing towards Sera Carmen, Nisha entered the estate and started to look for Annabelle and Lydia.

-------------------------------------

As a country, Leandar occupied the west coast of the continent.

Bent around the Thurg, Thurgau was both the first city founded in the kingdom as well as the capital.

To the north of the river, plains and fields with a smattering of concentrated forests painted an idyllic picture all the way to the northern reaches, where the grass and wood gave way to sandy dunes and rocky deserts.

In stark contrast, the southern land of the capital started with meadows, brooks and creeks throughout generous forests of various sizes.

The further south one went, the more wetlands and forests covered the land, although hills and mountains became more abundant in the south.

Furthermore, the temperature dropped on average until eventually the frozen tundra of the tribal lands took over, turning the landscape into an eternally frozen field of snow.

Since the environment varied greatly, the cities situated in the northern and southern portion of the kingdom similarly developed in different directions.

The north took advantage of the fertile land next to the sea, the long summers and intense sunshine to establish sprawling fields, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens all the way until the ground became too sandy and inhospitable to grow anything.

Under the planning of the Whitehall Dukes for generations, the major cities allowed easy transport for the yield of the land all the way back to the capital, whereas the smaller families under them expanded into the Wilderness and grew the area of influence the Duke household ruled over.

Compared to the expertise in agriculture to the north, the southern branch of the kingdom lacked the open land to implement similar industries.

Aside from smaller villages that found favorable conditions to grow food in the forest, most of the Blackburn Dukedom focused on mining and forestry.

Plenty of ore deposits were hidden beneath the blanket of trees covering the regions, filling the mountains and hills with treasure.

In addition to clearing forests to expand human livingspace, the expertise in handling wood and crafts related to that also turned out to be a lucrative industry.

Although the terrain made it impossible to have cities covered in an orderly network throughout the entire area, the big ones under direct governance from a Blackburn family member or the Counts related to them formed a channel through the Wilderness that made it possible to transport cargo towards the Thurg river and then export them to other countries.

Furthermore, the complicated landscape offered many hiding places for monsters in the Wilderness.

More than half of the monster population in the kingdom was concentrated in the forests of the Blackburn Dukedom.

Compared to the east and north, the southern villages and cities clashed quite often with monster incursions, albeit it was rare to encounter groups the size of a horde.

Nevertheless, the region teemed with hunters that learned to deal with different monsters ever since their childhood, resulting in a steady flow of high quality monster ingredients such as furs, scales and bones.

Compared to foodstuff, materials and crafting ingredients had a much higher profit margin, making the Blackburn Dukedom the richest domain right after the royal family.

Much of the wealth created in the region flowed back into the cities and villages in the form of reinforced walls, sizable city defense squads and patrol missions generously paid by the local lords for adventurer teams to thin out the monsters in the Wilderness.

Among the Dukes of the Leandar kingdom, the Blackburns were the most martial oriented faction as a result.

Between the northern and southern domain, the Thurg ran along the continental road eastwards.

As the longest river on the continent, the stream accompanied the road beyond the Terus Empire, where it split into two main branches.

One arm snaked near the road and continued until both entered the Dragon Mountains, at which point the known maps ended, although it was not known if the continent still carried on on the other side of the mountain range.

The second branch broke off towards the south and eventually broke into smaller streams that originated from underground caves near the border of the frozen tundra.

Scholars had argued for ages where the true source of the river was located, but none of them had yet arrived at a conclusive answer.

The Silverwood household had long since acknowledged that their domain lacked the same advantages to compete with their neighbours.

As a result, the cities and villages along the river neither focused on agriculture nor natural resources more than necessary.

The settlements did not extend towards the north and south either to connect the Blackburn and Whitehall territories either.

Forgoing established industries, the Silverwood cities stretched outward along the continental road and the river, building the necessary infrastructure to facilitate trade with other countries.

Nearly the entirety of carriages, river barges and trade vessels used in Leandar came from the wharfs and workshops in the Silverwood territory.

Each and every Merchanthouse that dealt with other nations would have a branch in the capital and another one in the Silverwood capital to ensure a smooth flow of goods inside and outside the kingdom.

The two least developed regions left were the Dharnas settlements, which fell between the north, south and east territories, effectively tying the remaining area of the kingdom together.

Since the villagers only started reclaiming the land after Ser Eldrin obtained his title and invested money and manpower, the territory under the Dharnas Dukedom mostly consisted of smaller villages and one proper city in each branch north and south.

Moving goods and taking advantage of the price difference in all three regions bordering them, the Dukedom earned enough money to maintain the roads and support the settlements with investments, but not much wealth for the lord.

Perhaps the most mysterious Dukedom would be the Sheridan household.

Aside from the Duke himself who attended major affairs at the royal palace, most citizens of the kingdom would never see members of the elven faction in Leandar.

Rather than competing with the established Dukedoms when they joined the kingdom, the elves asked for several islands west of the capital in the middle of the sea.

Since then, no one knew how they transformed the islands, as common vessels were not allowed to land at the elven lands.

As such, only rumors of growing islands and underwater cities spread from drunken sailors, who were not the best source of information.

Such was the Leandar kingdom.