The Journey to Hitutsa: Chapters 8-10

The second fish didn’t seem to be enough, however.

“One more please?”

“Do I look like your personal chef?”

“Hey - you can’t keep your prisoners starving, you know, that’s cruelty of the utmost kind,” he said. “And - this is not me buttering you up or anything, but this is some of the best fish I’ve ever had! Granted - I’ve been hungry for quite a while, so that probably enhances the taste quite a bit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been told that before,” I said. I handed him another fish. “Do you think that mana grows on trees?”

“Hmm? Don’t you regain it with time anyway?” he asked between bites.

“No - that’s just a saying I heard somewhere,” I said sighing. It meant that you couldn’t waste it on frivolous things, especially during a time like the dryad siege.

Once he was done eating, I tied his hands behind his back with some of the leftover silk that was intact.

“The way to the capital is that way,” he said, gesturing with his chin.

“And why would I believe you?”

“Hey, I want to get out of the wilderness as fast as possible, same as you,” he said. “And plus, I figure, if I help you out like this- you’ll owe me one, right?”

“Not really,” I said, as the bear hauled him on its back as we set off.

I confirmed with a village along the way, but he was right - and by afternoon, I could just barely make out the outline of the city in the distance.

By then of course, my bear had vanished, but after a few hours, I was able to bring out the Tyrant Arachnea again.

“Please not again…” the man moaned, as we took off, moving throughout the night.

I ignored his protests and dozed off as by next morning, we were there.

I had heard over and over again that the capital was the most important place in the entire country from a militaristic point of view. It was along the easiest route to travel along if one wanted to go through the country, and most of the major roads passed somewhere near it. The city crowned the crest of a large and steep hill, surrounded by a pair of sturdy walls. The most dangerous place to be was in the spot between the two walls, where you would be under fire from both sides. And with Liberomancers, it just might be actual fire.

Without a doubt, it was far easier to defend than Arconia. It was also smaller than Arconia.

No branch of the Ragini flowed near it, so it did not have easy access to water, though this had been why the dryads had completely bypassed it while marching to Arconia. Instead, a large aqueduct was visible in the distance which was used to water the nearby fields, though with the city’s elevation, it was not really feasible to construct something that might bring in fresh water directly into the city.

There was a long line to get in through the main gates of the city, and unlike Arconia which had two gates, the capital had three.

One, the main one, was for the common folk. There was a second for Rank Three Liberomancers and other minor officials like in Arconia, and there was also a third that was reserved for foreign dignitaries and the like as well as the royal family.

I had to ask someone where the gate was for Rank Three Liberomancers, and though some ordinary people flinched at the sight of the bear, one of them was kind enough to point me in the direction I needed to head in.

I couldn’t walk into the city on the Tyrant Arachnea, but bears were common enough summons that the guards wouldn’t bat an eyelid if I approached riding one.

While the sight of a bear might’ve been common enough, the guards were clearly put off by the fact that I was carrying a person with me, who had taken the chance to yell out as much as possible that I was trying to kidnap him or alternatively sell him into slavery based on whatever he thought might get him out of this situation. Both of which made no sense if I was heading right into the capital.

‘I knew I shouldn’t have felt sorry for you…’ I thought.

“Halt - ah, Master Liberomancer, what is going on?” a guard asked me, seeing my purple sash.

I handed him two documents, one was the invitation from the king, and the other the letter from the Liberomancer’s Guild explaining how I had a demonic spell. I still couldn’t read, but I did recognize the seals used to sign both of those documents which is how I told them apart.

“In case you’re wondering, this man is a thief who tried to rob me on my way here,” I said, pointing to the guy. “Disregard whatever he’s saying. I brought him in.”

“Ah, another one?” he muttered, exasperated. “Well, I am going to need a statement from you, and signed as well… you have to understand basic procedure and whatnot. I’m sorry to bother you.” The letter from the king and my purple sash were enough to earn the guard’s deference, and my prisoner quieted down upon realizing that no one was going to listen to him.

I nodded.

It was still a bit of a ‘he-said-she-said’ thing with our testimonies, but it was my good luck that they found that the guy had been convicted for several crimes before this had happened. Given that, they didn’t doubt what I had said whatsoever and let me through after taking him into custody.

“One question,” one of the guards asked. “Are you by any chance… the Spider King of Arconia?”

I sighed. That name still felt very strange to hear. “I didn’t pick that title for myself, but yes…”

The other guards, most of whom up till now were playing some kind of card game in the background, shifted their attention to me upon hearing that.

I was asked a few other questions - not part of the official questionnaire for new visitors coming into the city, but about the recent siege of Arconia. I tried to keep it succinct, but it still lasted over fifteen minutes as they kept interrupting me and piling on questions while I was narrating it.

“Is it true that you slew twenty thousand dryads with a single spell?”

“It was at most six thousand, and I used multiple spells,” I said. The number, based off rumors, had apparently jumped up from ten thousand to twenty thousand. Next they were going to say that I had wiped out the entire dryad army by myself and that too with a single wave of my hand. It did feel nice to hear some of these stories initially and I found them somewhat amusing back then; but the more they became exaggerated the more I was beginning to dislike them. But there was little I could do about that- fanciful tales like that traveled far faster than someone like me could correct them. At last I had had enough and said, “Apologies- but I have some things I need to do within the city. Will this take much longer?”

They seemed to get the hint and then waved me through inside, and they did tell me where the Liberomancer’s Guild was - which would be my first stop.

The city, at first glance, did not seem that much different from Arconia. There were a few more guards scattered around, and the humans made up a slightly larger proportion of the population than in Arconia, but were still a minority. There were familiar sites all around - shops selling fish, bookstores, people walking their axolotls.

One thing that was significantly different however was that the city felt far more crowded than Arconia - because it had been built primarily from a militaristic point of view, and had to be restricted to this hill, space was of course quite limited. I saw far more multi-story stacks of buildings than I had in Arconia, and some of the alleyways were so narrow that people living on the higher floors could reach out their windows and shake hands with their neighbors.

From my own rough estimate, I guessed that the city was about a third the size of Arconia when it came to land area, though I had been told its population was under half of Arconia’s. The air also felt more… stale, for lack of a better term, maybe just because we were far from the river and the sea. I had been to cities like Chicago and New York back on Earth, and the air sort of reminded me of the air there - and not in a good way; but in that it also smelled of that strange mixture of pollution, waste, and garbage.

I still somehow managed to nearly get lost despite being given clear directions by the guards - I was used to knowing where I was going after having been in Arconia for so long that I hadn’t been paying too much attention where I was headed until finding myself somewhere completely different from where I was supposed to be. In a way the somewhat familiar surroundings made things more awkward- as if I should’ve known where I was going but didn’t.

The attention also didn’t help with matters - for one, I hadn’t run out the timer on my bear summon yet, so I was still riding it into the city. This was not an entirely unheard of thing even back in Arconia, but it would naturally still draw quite a number of eyeballs. Secondly, people noticed the purple sash - I had half a mind to remove it, given that I was now outside of Arconia and so people wouldn’t recognize who I was if I took it off. On the other hand though, removing it would mean I was just another foreigner, and I had already experienced how that felt for a while and had no desire to repeat that.

At least people respected me when they saw the sash- and that respect meant that I could usually get help if I wanted to.

The Liberomancer’s Guild was a bit harder to find than it was in Arconia, because surprisingly enough the building wasn’t as lavish or large as its sister back in Arconia. It still radiated an air of stately elegance and history - the kind that very old buildings, those that had stood for several centuries did, but it seemed to be designed more for practicality than elegance just like everything else in the capital.

I ‘parked’ my bear outside. There was an area for summons that the Guild had, which is where I left it. There was a giant lizard in the pen as well, but neither animals so much as flinched as I put the bear there. Of course they wouldn’t - they were summons after all.

With that done, I headed inside.

I made a beeline for the nearest receptionist- a lizardman, but that didn’t bother me. I knew that upon knowing I was Rank Three, even if he had missed the sash I was wearing, I could be assured I would be treated well.

“Yes?” he asked. “How may I help you.”

“I’ve traveled recently from Arconia,” I said. “I am a Master Liberomancer - Rank Three, my name is Stefan Dawson. There were several business matters I had to take care of - but first, I think there is a grimoire that is waiting for me? And secondly, I would like to rent out one of the houses reserved for Rank Three Liberomancers.”

The lizardman was nothing if not professional. “Certainly - just give me a moment. Do you have an identification plate?”

I pulled out a plate that was engraved in iron coated with a thin coat of palladium so that it would not rust easily. It had my name on it, and was written in both the lizardman and human language, meaning I couldn’t read what was on it other than my name; but it supposedly also had my rank on it, my achievement of becoming a Master Liberomancer, and also a unique ID number.

The guild retained this kind of record for all of its members, though for Rank Two and lower members it was usually just paper records. I hadn’t needed this kind of plate before, which is why I had never even withdrawn it from the guild, but I had asked for a replica to take along with me as I traveled. The original was still there in Arconia, for reference.

He came back five minutes later. “Everything seems to be in order, Master Dawson. We do, as a matter of fact have the grimoire you were looking for - though, I was told that you knew a demonic spell and had a letter explaining such? May I see that before we go onto other matters?”

I pulled the letter out, the guards at the gates hadn’t made much of a fuss about it and let me through with little issue. So I found it weird that he wanted to place such importance on it that he wanted to see it first.

After a glance at it, he handed it back to me. “Thank you; right this way Master Stefan.”

The grimoires that the guild held were kept secure deep within the building. The Rank One and Rank Two grimoires were kept behind a locked door in the back with a few normal guards and perhaps a Liberomancer to watch over it.

In truth, it was rare for grimoires to be stolen - particularly at that level. Stealing a grimoire would no doubt stain one’s reputation, and it was not worth the trouble of cheating the system at the risk of potentially stunting your future growth. Not to mention it wasn’t just your own reputation you hurt - if you had a family, or children who would be aspiring to be Liberomancers in the future, their prospects would also be cut short.

Was that fair? I mean, I didn’t think guilt by association was something that could be justified - but it was another way of keeping people in line. Most of such things were not official punishments anyway but more of social rules. If people simply refused to buy or sell things with you, there was little you could do about it in this world.

Rank Three grimoires and templates on the other hand, had to be even more carefully guarded.

The surest way to keep a grimoire safe was to never make a copy - the only copy that would exist would be in the mind of the Liberomancer, which could not be stolen. Many countries and universities had powerful grimoires they wanted to maintain within their borders, or in the case of families, within their blood lines. This was a method that had a hundred percent success rate - the issue was what would happen if the one person who knew it died unexpectedly before they could hand it over to another? Also, practically speaking, if a grimoire was that good, you would want at least a few people whom you trusted to also have it.

Even Rank Three grimoires which were not all that exceptional, had to be guarded carefully - take something like [Grand Fireball]. Many Rank Three Liberomancers in Arconia knew it - to the point it would be easier to find someone at that rank who didn’t rather than someone who did. Despite being very common, it still needed to be heavily regulated as its destructive power was immense - no one would want for something like that to fall into the wrong hands.

Even if you could successfully pilfer a Rank Three grimoire without being caught, it would still raise issues if others thought that you had an ability you weren’t supposed to - which is why the guild kept such a close track on the sales and purchases of Rank Three grimoires. If you were Rank Three, underhanded measures were not worth the hassle and it was better to just wait for another copy to appear on the market or until you had the required funds.

If you wanted to steal it to sell to someone else - most people would not buy Rank Three grimoires on the black market either, given how much they would be risking their own reputation. At least, that was what I had been told.

Deep down I was sure that there had to be some kind of ‘black market’ for the same, even if it was infinitesimally small. Drake and Zeke had both told me there was nothing of the sort in Arconia, though how much could people like them be relied upon for that kind of information?

In this way, the theft of grimoires was extremely rare, and would probably remain that way even if they were left completely unguarded.

The incident where one of Zeke’s grimoires had been stolen had made such a ruckus precisely because it was something that so rarely happened. And who had been the culprits? Demonic Liberomancers, not people integrated into normal Liberomancer society.

Still, some amount of nominal security had to be kept for the lower-ranking grimoires, and serious ones for the Rank Three grimoires.

To get to that area, we had to pass by a guard, and led through a door, which opened up to a staircase from which we went two floors underground.

This next area was a bit of a maze - likely designed this way deliberately, though the lizardman seemed to know it by heart.

There was another door, with another guard, which led to a narrow hallway. I couldn’t help but notice the murder holes that littered the sides with my [Unobstructed Sight] even in the dim lighting. No doubt there were either a few Liberomancers who could easily attack us if it came to blows, or just regular soldiers. At this close of a range, even Liberomancers could do little against a spear thrust.

Before I could feel too claustrophobic, the hallway opened up into a room that was filled with drawers that were labelled numerically.

The lizardman opened up one of them. “Here.”

I was handed a grimoire, and indeed, it gave [Ansoon’s Blessing] like I had asked for. There was also a small note attached to it, which was not magical, so I couldn’t read it as it was in the lizardman script. “Ah, what does this say?”

He took a glance at it. “Oh… well, this is a note from the writer, he asks that you be careful with this grimoire as he was greatly saddened by what happened to the last one. He also says he will refuse to make you another if this one is destroyed in anyway, as he expects his work to be respected.”

I tried hard not to let my embarrassment show - it clearly referred to how I had ended up ruining my earlier copy in the middle of battle.

To my credit, it had not been intentional - on the other hand, I could see how many people would see this as being unforgivably careless with an item so valuable. It could even be seen as being highly disrespectful to the author. After all, each Rank Three grimoire was handmade by a Rank Three Liberomancer, someone who had dedicated a great deal of time and effort to their craft. No doubt anyone who had worked hard on such a grimoire would be quite upset to learn that their efforts had essentially been wasted - still, did he have to write something like that on a note?

“Ah, I see,” I said. The lizardman didn’t know what the note was referring to, most likely, and I saw no reason to explain it to him, my embarrassment notwithstanding.

Before we could go back to the reception, he had to call another receptionist to verify the whole transaction, I had to sign on a piece of paper and leave my thumbprint, and I had to cough up a small fee for this whole security feature.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked.

“Yes - there were a few other grimoires I wanted to see if I could find,” I said. I made the requests for things like [Twin Summons], [Shared Souls], and [Recall Summon] of course - though I was also interested in any mana-raising grimoires just like everyone else. I put in a request to search for a grimoire that would help me fly, but I knew that I would likely come up empty-handed on that front.

Was it worth it to find another Rank Three creature to summon? I did not have [Second Summon- Rank Three] as of yet, and I doubted I would find a copy before going to Hitutsa, but it might’ve been worth a shot to get something other than the Tyrant Arachnea. Perhaps something like a Giant Earthworm Queen that could dig very well - that could be useful in some situations, not just for getting away, but also for making temporary underground shelters.

I just didn’t know if I would find one during my short stay in the city.

For now though, I kept that idea on the back burner, because there were only a set number of Rank Three grimoires that I could read in a given time period, and it made little sense to buy too many, even if I still had some of the reward that Lance had given me - because I ran the risk of them being lost or destroyed. The note from the author of the grimoire about Lady Ansoon’s tale felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket as I thought about how that might feel.

Someone other than the receptionist led me to the apartments here in Arconia which were reserved for Rank Three Liberomancers. Instead of actual small houses available for rent like back in Arconia, due to the limited space on the hill, these were more like traditional apartments back home. They were rows of blocks neatly piled atop one another, up till five stories tall.

Back on Earth, the higher or greater your reputation was, the higher the floor you worked or lived on usually would be as well. The CEO’s office was often located on top of the building, and hotels had their VIP suites at the very top. This was only possible because of the invention of modern elevators - in earlier times, it was the opposite. The floors on the bottom were more expensive, because it was far more cumbersome to take anything to the upper floors.

Thankfully, there were still some buildings whose ground floors were empty even with them being more coveted than their higher counterparts. You’d probably be hard-pressed to find empty housing in this city, but this was all reserved for Rank Three Liberomancers; who usually preferred to live in fancier places than this as they had the means to do so. But it was perfect for someone like me, who was traveling as it was far cheaper than a similar hotel room would be like.

The inside was minimally furnished with just the bare essentials when it came to furniture, but that was fine with me. It was rather spacious though - I estimated it was between two to three times the size of an ordinary apartment would’ve been, and it had a good number of windows.

That might seem like an odd thing to compliment, but I knew from talking to a few people in Arconia that a large number of apartments only had a single small window with very poor ventilation. I remembered someone telling me that at minimum you would want two, ideally opposite to each other, so that air could easily move in through one end and out the other, ensuring a good amount of circulation throughout the day. However, many people could not even afford that kind of luxury.

“How do you find the accommodations?” my guide asked. He was a short man wearing glasses, and had worn an unchanging poker face throughout our entire interaction.

“Wonderful, I can’t complain.”

“Right, regarding this-” my guide continued. “-I do wish to inform you of one thing. We received a complaint, to put it mildly, from the Liberomancer’s Guild back in Arconia. I’m afraid you will be limited to at maximum two servants while staying here, Master Liberomancer, and that we might occasionally send someone to check up on such at some times. We request you comply and cooperate with us in this regard, otherwise we might have to strip you of your privileges of renting out a place like this in the future.”

I realized what he had been getting at - did news of that stunt I had done with some of Granny Qi’s villagers really spread this far? Well, I guess it was only natural that the two Guild branches would talk to each other. I was expecting that. I just hadn’t expected for them to take such offense to what I had done. At the time, I was only trying to help out some people who would otherwise be homeless - but I think what really had burned them was the fact that they had invited even more people in on top of it.

They had even charged me a higher cleaning fee than usual when I had moved out and back in with Granny Qi once the siege had ended, but I had thought that meant that it was all just water under the bridge and the matter had been settled. After all, I was not only a Master Liberomancer, but a war hero to boot. Surely they wouldn’t hold a grudge over something that small - such had been my line of thinking.

Clearly things were more complicated than that. Or, maybe there was another way of looking at things - it was because I was respected so much that they were even giving me this second chance and not just revoking my privileges immediately after that incident.

“Don’t worry,” I said, reassuring the man. “I had only been trying to help out some of the relatives of someone who I knew by offering them some kind of employment during the siege - I hadn’t been aware they were going to try to bring in more people behind my back. I don’t know anyone like that here, and the siege is over - regardless, there’s nothing for you or the Guild to be concerned about. I can promise you that.” I relied on the guild for a lot, and I didn’t want to risk offending them in a way that would lead to an irreconcilable difference between us.

“I see,” he said. “Would you like for a woman to be arranged for you then?”

“Eh - what? Excuse me?” I sputtered out incredulously.

“If you don’t know anyone in the city, we can find someone to help clean and cook for you,” he said. “The guild doesn’t keep such people on its payroll, but we could find you someone reliable on your behalf, and quickly at that. Of course, you’d still be expected to pay their salary.”

“Oh, like a housekeeper or maid?” I realized, fighting to keep my face from flushing. When he had ‘offered a woman’ I had thought he had been referring to something else. But of course, the Guild might’ve done quite a lot for me if I asked, but they obviously weren’t going to indulge in arranging that kind of service. “No thank you, I can handle things on my own.”

While I had gotten used to many of the privileges of being a Master Liberomancer, I still couldn’t really get with the whole servant thing. Coming from modern time, it just felt weird. And I honestly didn’t want anyone else where I was living, touching my things. I did remember something else though that might’ve been helpful. “Back in Arconia, I was given some ink and paper every month to help me with making grimoires and the like. Would the same service be extended to me here?”

“I will have to check up on that, but I will get back to you,” he said. When I didn’t add on anything for another minute, he added, “Will that be all?”

“Er, yes, thank you very much,” I said.

He left and I walked into the apartment. I had very little to unpack, and just tossed my stuff in a corner. I then washed myself before almost collapsing in the bed.

Back on Earth I read about people in old times traveling for weeks or months on end to get to where they wanted to go - though it never really hit me how exhausting it would’ve felt! I had taken a long flight with my parents for vacation once - it lasted fourteen hours, and even that had felt like it had drained a lot from me. And yet, that was nothing compared to the time I had spent coming here.

That was why I really wanted to find a way to fly - it would’ve made the journey so much shorter and far more convenient, and I wouldn’t have gotten into that odd situation with that Liberomancer who had tried to rob me.

The bed was comfortable - almost too comfortable after time spent sleeping either on the floor or on rough and doughy mattresses in villages. It was like I was sinking into a giant spoon of mashed potatoes.

And yet, sleep came anyway.

I woke up a few hours later, feeling a bit refreshed.

Now, it was onto business.

First off, I was too tired to cook so I got something off the street. A lot of houses in the capital, I’d heard, didn’t have working stoves. Some of them back in Arconia didn’t either - but it wasn’t because of a lack of cheap fuel - no, it was because in many buildings it would be a massive fire hazard.

I hadn’t exactly been forbidden from cooking in the apartment, though I had been warned to be careful. With [Create Water] I couldn’t see it becoming an issue, but I was already on shaky ground when it came to this whole apartment thing and the guild, so I was definitely going to be very cautious about that.

Much like back in Arconia, most of the street food was seafood. I bought a fish skewer from a local vendor, noting the fact that it had been overcooked slightly but not bothering to really care in the moment. I just wanted something to fill my stomach.

Next, it was time to seek an audience with the king. I hadn’t received any specific date or time, just an invitation to meet with him, as it had been unclear when I’d finally be able to leave Arconia, but it would take time to settle this out, so it was the next thing on my to-do list.

While Lance, the governor of Arconia, had lived in a palace, the king lived in a proper castle. It was designed, much like the rest of the city, entirely for defense. Many of the guards wore proper plate armor, which you didn’t see often back in Arconia - they mainly used wooden lacquer pieces combined with leather jerkins there. It did not look like a comfortable place to live in and even had something of an oppressive aura to it. With that being said, there was an air to the place that spoke of several centuries of history and culture behind each and every brick or stone used to build it, even if it didn’t look nearly as comfy as Lance’s palace.

As could be expected, there was a long line of people who were seeking an audience with the king - humans and lizardmen alike. The line led to a building right outside the castle walls. People were not allowed to enter the castle grounds proper unless deemed to have good reason for such.