Hal felt an ease grip his heart as he finally laid eyes on the girl, and why did she act like she knew him?, Had Tai told her about him, or did she already know?
"Tai told me a lot about you before you woke up, and I feel happy to finally get to meet you, the boy who was able to sense the presence of a dominant being and get a contract from a higher being, truly impressive"
The girl smiled at Hal, but he was getting used to such things backfiring as he found himself thinking, 'So, how long before this one shows her true colours?'
Tai interrupted his thoughts as his excited voice entered Hal's ears, "Come on, guys, no time to waste, let's get going"
The city of Ortario was indeed great; it had four clock towers in the centre, whose clock faces were made from the same crystal as the cave he woke up in
These towers illuminated the city, splitting it into four areas that they visited one by one.
From the south, going clockwise, was the tower that glowed with a fiery red glow and towered over the hunter residential area, which would be the equivalent of a place where this version's adventurer's guilds would be located.
Next was the tower that shone with a golden lustre and towered over the noble residential area, which was where all administration of the city takes place
Next was a tower that shone with the green elegance of emerald, and was the place where the common people resided. It was also the least busy and peaceful place in the city.
And lastly was the next tower in the west, which gave off a calming blue glow and was next to a giant river that flowed past the city to the north.
This tower loomed over the merchant residential area, which was a great trade hub and port that handled imports and exports that we coming or going to the great port city, Elafist, further up the river.
Hal could not help but have his eyes glued to the different structures in the city, from the different bars and restaurants that populated the downtown area.
To the busy streets of the merchant area, where he had seen wares that he could never come across in his old world
He loved the calm nature of the common folk of the city, but felt nervous of the rich nobles of the noble residential area who walked with the dignity he could never have
And the most interesting part was how everything was organised to ensure the proper working of the city.
The common folk provided labour, the hunters were the security, the nobles were the administrators, and the merchants were the traders who kept the economy in check. It was all so organised that it left Hal totally stunned.
The three finally rested on a bench facing the river that flowed north to the port city of Elafist, where it poured its water into the Satlavian Sea.
The three of them enjoyed the sandwiches they had acquired from a merchant a little while back.
"I can never get enough of these Satlavian sandwiches, no wonder they are so expensive" Tai took another big bite of his sandwich as Hal turned to ask him a question.
"How does the money work in this place anyway?" Hal had come from a well-off family, but that did not mean he did not know the value of money
In fact he it was one of the things he treasured the most. Tai turned to him with a face stuffed full of a sandwich.
He raised his finger as if signalling Hal to wait a minute before reaching into his pocket and extracting three coins.
The first coin was silver, the second was smaller and made of gold, and the last one was made of some type of blue crystal.
Tai placed the three coins down on the bench before finally swallowing the food in his mouth.
Tai pointed at the larger silver coin, which had a picture of a dragon curved into the front with a small green crystal embedded in its middle.
"This is a great dragon silver coin, and it is the coin with the least amount of worth in this place, only enough to buy you a simple sweet"
His finger moved and landed on the smaller golden coin. This one had a large scale with a tree at its centre and had a sparkling red gem embedded in it.
"This is the divine tree golden coin, and 50 great dragon silver coins can buy this one" Tai finally moved his finger to the last coin.
The coin was made of blue opaque crystal, which appeared to have a castle with a tree in the background, and a dragon above, floating within it and was by far the most impressive coin.
"Before this coin, there is the great castle platinum coin, and it contains 35 divine tree golden coins, but this one, ooohh, this is the real money, a blue jade, and it contains 15 platinum coins"
Tai stared at the coin with a lot of greed in his light purple eyes, and at this point, Hal couldn't help but laugh at the swordsman's current behaviour.
Tai turned to him with a confused frown as Tai spoke, "What's so funny?"
Hal calmed himself before answering, "It's just really hard to keep a solid impression of you with the way you're acting"
Tai simply shrugged as he smiled down at Hal, "Well, what can I say, I'm special that way"
The three of them soon finished their meal as Tai finally brought them to their last location, which was a statue found in the merchant residential area.
The statue was of a bearded man who looked beaten up and bleeding. The man had raised his blade to strike down the massive dragon held down by his hand.
"Did this guy kill a dragon?" Hal looked up at the statue, simply stunned by the feat. He turned to Tai, who stared up with a hint of respect in his gaze.
"That is the ancestor of our great king, the mighty Damian van Haverfield, our benevolent ruler"
Hal felt dazed by Tai's words, as if he were obsessed with this leader of theirs. He turned to face Lyrrah, who was standing on the other side of him.
She looked up at the statue in silence, and now that Hal thought about it, she hadn't said all that much since they started this grand tour of the city.
Lyrrah let out a quiet sigh before turning and speaking to the two boys in a delicate voice, "Is that all we can get to see on this tour?"
Tai finally took his eyes off the statue and turned to face Lyrrah "Yeah, I mean, there is nothing else to show you"
Lyrrah shook her head and pointed to the centre of the city, the four towers at the centre of the city had high walls that connected each of them to form a barricade that hid whatever was on the other side from view.
Tai turned to Lyrrah with a shocked expression even Hal could not fully describe "That place is off limits, and even if we wanted to go there, that huge wall wouldn't let us"
Lyrrah turned away from the two and began to run towards the tower. Tai raced forward, shouting after the escaping girl, "Hey, are you crazy?"
Hal stayed back for a bit and proceeded to palm his face, saying, "For some reason, I'm not surprised, but what choice do I have?"
Hal ran after the two as they raced between the houses and merchant shops scattered around the city, and as they did, they got closer and closer to the tower.
Hal saw the two pause for a bit as he used that chance to catch up, only to notice the group of hunters that were patrolling the area.
The looks on the men's faces soon turned sour as they shouted, "Hey, you kids, what the hell are you doing here?"
The men gave chase, and Lyrrah used that chance to take off again "Hey, would you stop for a bit?"
Lyrrah didn't stop, and Hal was getting exhausted. She ran through the entire area, giving sharp turns as she did, and at this point, they were extremely close to the tower.
The voices of the approaching men resounded in the background as Lyrrah finally paused, but as soon as she did, she held her hands forward and motioned them upwards.
And as she did, different stone tiles that were laid down as the floor of the city rose and formed steps that the girl quickly climbed.
Tai followed without thinking, but Hal first paused as he stared up and saw where the steps led "The tower, of course, not as grand as the other two, but at this point, no use fighting it"
Hal bolted forward, but at some point came to regret his decision. Crossing his mind, 'What if she lets the steps fall while I'm still climbing?'
The fear was always a good motivator, and this one drove him well as he bolted faster than he ever had he finally reaching the tower as his momentum flung him forward to slam into the wall.
He got up with a groan and saw Tai standing frozen. He moved close to him and saw Lyrrah, who had now taken off her hood.
She had reddish pink hair and light pink eyes. She had a petite build and, like all the women who came before, was beautiful, only that in her case, she fell more to the cuter side.
She took in a deep breath and finally spoke in a determined voice worthy of a ruler, "My name is Lyrrah Van Haverfield, and I am the ruler's heir to Haverfield's throne"
The two of them stared up blankly as one thought entered his head, 'I knew this would happen'