“Greetings. I am Lord Phareon Kulan.”
“Good day, Milord. I am Cariman of the Guarran-Tia.”
“I am Sian.”
The young man who was working on some papers inside the office came out to greet them. Cariman felt a strong impression from the man; he was full of confidence and very charismatic. Sian was also staring at the man in amazement.
‘Wow, he has a lot of fascinating stuff.’
After he inspected the Fifth Elder’s weapon, Karmata, Sian remembered the unique flow that it contained. It was very complicated, but he recognized the feeling it gave off. The man in front of him had the same feeling emitting from the various items he carried.
“I have much work to be done, so I am sorry, but I can’t personally escort you. I have informed my people to cooperate with whatever you need. Roina will escort you,” Phareon smiled and explained. Cariman and Sian exited the room to start on their duties. With Roina escorting them, they began their work by first observing all parts of the province.
After looking through the finance department and then the city planning department, Cariman was astounded. He was surprised by how quickly they had grown. In just four years, they had achieved incredible growth according to the financial reports. The city planning and operations were also amazing. They had found many talented individuals in their jobs or placements. (Interestingly, most of them were beautiful women.)
“These are the training grounds. Sir Rianna is in charge here.”
“Good day, I am Rianna. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
It was very interesting as the lord didn’t seem to place beautiful women in the leading positions just because he loved women. Rianna, for one, seemed to be the strongest among the people training on the training grounds and the other women seemed to be very talented also.
Cariman watched as the soldiers trained using small amounts of Bander.
‘Wait… Bander?’
It was a very common thing in the capital, but he never saw such a sight out in the countryside. The nobles in the countryside never taught Bander-Roa to their soldiers; they usually were afraid that it would cause revolts.
“The soldiers are training with Bander-Roa? That’s amazing.”
“Yes, the lord modified the Bander-Roa three years ago and then taught us. Our lands have grown stronger ever since,”Rianna explained proudly.
‘What happened four years ago? It’s so different from the last time I was here.’
Cariman decided to look into it later and moved to next destination with Roina.
They were now at the armory. The armory was usually located in the inner castle, close to the training grounds. This was to help ease the process of withdrawing arms for the soldiers. Cariman was surprised yet again when he entered the armory.
‘A Dekon?’
He was genuinely surprised to see a Dekon here; it was very rare to see a Dekon. All of the non-human races had special abilities that humans did not. It was because all the other races without any special abilities had gone extinct after a thousand years under the Empire’s domination of the world.
All the races who had special abilities were deemed worthy to live with humans and were respected highly.
The Dekons were one of them. These people had great skill in creating magic-related items. The ultimate weapon, Artagon, which was used at the Great North Wall, was created by Dekons.
There were only a few Dekons deep within the capital or in magical councils. It was unbelievable to see them in a noble’s land out in the countryside.
“Everyone who sees me is surprised. I am Ra-Kadum, son of the 13th tribe. I am in charge of the armory.”
“It’s surprising to see a Dekon out here. Greetings.”
“Yeah, I have an issue with the lord here.”
Sian looked at the Dekon with fascination.
“So the kid next to you won’t introduce himself? …oh, I am busy. Ask him if you have any questions. I only make weapons. Roina, come with me.”
“Hmm? What is he up to? Sir Cariman, this here is Kron. He takes care of the paperwork in the armory. Kron, can you assist him? I will be back soon.”
“Hello, I am Kron. Come this way please.”
Ra-Kadum, who was about to scold Sian, looked at him for a second, then suddenly moved back into the armory. Roina followed with a weird look on her face.
Ra-Kadum quickly asked Roina, “Hey, hey! What are you guys up to? Why did you bring that evil thing here?”
Roina asked in reply, “Huh? What do you mean? Are you talking about Sir Cariman?”
“No, not that squid. The younger one behind him.”
“Oh, you mean Sir Sian. I only heard that he’s from the Guarran-Tia. What about him?”
She did not hear any details other than they were from the Guarran-Tia, so she could not understand what the problem was.
“Ugh, nevermind. Humans are blind. So, they are not here to cause trouble?”
“No, not at all. They just came for inspection and will return shortly.”
“Okay. Just be careful. Don’t touch that Sian kid. Give him everything he wants and get him out of here as soon as possible.”
Roina became concerned as Ra-Kadum warned her solemnly. Dekons were non-humans, which meant they were able to sense things that humans could not.
“…is anything up with him?”
“Nevermind. I can’t explain it well, and you won’t believe me anyway. Warn that boy-lord to be careful too.”
Ra-Kadum left immediately after, and Roina returned to the inspectors, thinking to finish the escort first.
“Cariman, this place is fascinating.”
“Right, I have never seen such growth…”
“There are so many talented and beautiful women! It’s like heaven here.”
“…”
Cariman and Sian were discussing their work in the room they were provided with to rest. Cariman was more concerned about Sian because Sian had proved to be useless throughout the day. If he looked extraordinary, he would’ve understood Talin’s orders, but with Sian’s foolishness, Cariman couldn’t shrug the feeling that there he was hiding something.
‘Is he doing this on purpose? So he can try to do something after relaxing my guard?’
He replayed the day’s events word for word in his mind, but it seemed like Sian was genuine in everything he said.
As Cariman was mulling over Sian, Sian was thinking about what he had seen today.
‘This place is like a treasure island.’
Roina acted as if she had shown everything, but she only displayed safe or necessary places. Cariman was busy inspecting what was shown, but Sian was busy focusing on all the hidden stuff. He was interested in the beautiful women, but he was more interested in all the secret rooms under the basement, in the forest, under the lake, and everywhere else. It was impossible to see with one’s eyesight, but Sian had been using other senses to feel the world for a long time that made him realize the existence of hidden rooms.
He felt the Exar moving in and out of those hidden rooms, but he couldn’t make out exactly what they were doing inside. He thought of the two choices he had:
1. Tell Cariman about the hidden rooms and start inspecting them.
2. Since Cariman didn’t seem to notice them, let it slide.
If he were to fulfill his duty, option one was the correct choice. There must be a reason why they hid the rooms. But, if revealing this secret would make them turn against him and try to kill them, it would be troublesome. The ones hidden under the lake or in the forest didn’t seem to be a problem. However, the one hidden under a cliff far away from the city was.
