Dawn- An age of Darkness

We walked out of the castle. No one stopped us. I had a feeling there'd be more of a reception but after what we'd pulled this wasn't that much of a surprise. 

I'd actually hoped the king would stop us when I said I wanted to buy some weapons, but he never did. Well, at least he didn't secretly try to kill us and stuff. 

There went that.

Sigh. 

"So, we're buying a sword for you first?" Ve asked. There was green around us. We were barely outside the castle yet ve still kept on talking. The smell of the air was nice though: I was sick of all the perfume inside the castle walls.  "And then we're flying back before noon?"

Something told me she was a bit excited. Did she want to kill me that badly?

"You're flying back. I'll do my best and take the train." But I sure had no intention of dying by falling down from a dragon. 

She gave me the rudest glare ever. "You'd rather take the train than me?" the way she implied that was kind of weird. It was almost as though she was offended for something. 

What? Did she seriously expect me to thank her or something? 

"You do realize you were trying to nearly kill me back there right?" I regretted it a bit after saying it. After all, she probably wasn't trying to kill me and just get us here quickly. But it was probably my own weakness to blame too but seriously! The way she flew was definitely not something to be desired. 

"Hmph!" She tilted her head and pouted. 

Why was she getting mad? I wanted to groan. All of these things were kind of rubbing me the wrong way. And not to mention we had barely a few hours before the battle just this afternoon. 

Arghh…

I still groaned anyway. 

Alisa came near and brought her mouth near my ears. I had to slouch down a little. "She was just trying to impress you," She whispered. 

Yeah, I didn't need to be impressed like that. No thanks. But yeah, it did make more sense than she trying to kill me. I still thought it was the latter though. 

"Fine, we'll use yo-" I stopped. Weren't we just using her as transport rather than treating her as a person? I guess I never thought of it that way. Yeah, she could fly and it was convenient but somewhere along the way I kind of stopped treating her as a living breathing person who had feelings. "Sorry. We'll appreciate your help."  I was genuinely glad she was actually willing to still take us back in the first place. 

I guess I was having loads and loads of mood swings. But after what I'd just gone through half an hour ago, this wasn't really that astonishing. At least not for me. 

Not to mention last night I barely had any sleep. 

She looked at me, frowned a bit, and finally smiled. "Alright."

That was actually out of character for her. But then again she was changing fast. When I first met her, I thought I had a Servesta Version 2.0 but that wasn't the case. She was probably just evaluating me and now that she knew I could probably be trusted she started to open up more. At least that was my best guess. 

Then again, my attitude was kind of weird today too. I'd blame the lack of sleep. Well, I did have something similar to coffee but it didn't quite work that well. On that note, I needed to buy some coffee-like thingies!

So, without further ado, we finally left the castle area entirely and went out into the streets. 

***

Dwarven architecture really was ahead of its time. They had brick buildings and even something like cement. This was probably the closest thing to civilization on earth I saw in this world: a bit behind but definitely similar. There were mostly carriages out here, but there were also some steam-powered vehicles, though only a few. 

And the road was made of bricks rather than cobblestone. People had actual clothes rather than just cloths sewed up here and there.

I guess this was the beginning of the steam age for this world. I was actually kind of excited since I really liked the steampunk stuff. 

"You look like a five-year-old who's seeing a fairy for the first time," Alisa mumbled. 

"Wait, there are fairies in this world?" I actually kind of forgot about just how weird this world was for a second. 

She groaned. "Even a five-year-old knows there are a lot of things in this world.  And you're supposed to be an apostle!" I guess she was frustrated with me. I didn't care though. I really liked this stuff and nothing was going to change that. And what did me being an apostle had anything to do with fairies? And more importantly, didn't she know, I was not from this world?

Technically, we never had that conversation though. I'd just assumed she knew. Oh well.

Come to think of it, I actually hadn't seen any of this stuff in Saram. Saram was just a sad place and I didn't even see carriages there let alone actual steam-powered vehicles. I guess that place didn't get good treatment like this place. This was the capital after all. 

"I know a good place for weapons." The earl led the way. His attendants followed us around and I could see the guy in dark armor following us through my peripherals but I kind of ignored him. He probably had his reasons.

"Yeah, sure." 

We didn't have any issues among us. I kind of almost screwed the Earl's life but also fixed it. And I guess the results mattered more to him than anything else. He was quite the gambler though. Never thought he'd actually go through with this, but he did. 

***

The city was bustling. There were people everywhere and for people who were about to go to war, they didn't seem that worried. After seeing what this world could do to its residents, I guess people were right to enjoy their lives as best they could as long as it lasted. After all, they knew anything could go wrong at any moment. So live life while it lasts- probably was their motto. 

But I thought things would have been at least a bit different. 

"They probably think their walls are unbreachable." The earl snorted and walked faster. "As if!"

"Well, that's naïve." It really was. 

The smell of dirt and machinery in the air was kind of a weird combination. And since I never personally knew what the steam age looked like, in real life, this really was a new thing for me. And the primitive horns were a bit of nostalgia for me. I guess sound pollution wasn't that far off in this world either. 

I didn't like this overly positive attitude of the people though. 

"Tell me about it." the earl didn't say another word and just kept on walking.

Obviously, we followed him but just how far were we going?

We just kept walking and walking and walking and this went on and on. After roughly half an hour, I felt so irritated that I was about to lash out. "Hey, just how far-"

"We're here." the earl grinned and stopped walking. I kind of wanted to beat him up a little but oh well. 

We were in the not-so-polished part of the town. Buildings were shabby and there were beggars here and there. I guess this was the slums. The building we were about to in?

Well, it was underground and definitely didn't inspire confidence or excitement for that matter. 

***

It was a shabby store and the products were also not that great. "Why did you bring us here?"

When I say shabby, I didn't mean dirty. The place was clean and there was an old smell in the air. Reminded me of my dead grandma's place. And the weapons on display were either blunt or on the verge of being corroded: the lighting was terrible. They did have a lamp of some sort powered by electricity: probably DC but it wasn't doing that great of a job. Definitely not the stuff you want to see when you want to buy some good quality weapons. Because, frankly, you couldn't see with this amount of light.

And not to mention there wasn't anyone in here. The counter was totally unoccupied. 

"You'll see," The earl said. Sadly, even for my eyes, this light was a bit low. 

I gave my companions a glance and they were totally jolly and they didn't have a care in the world. Even the attendants of the earl were just going around having fun. 

What was so fun about poking worthless weapons and armors? I had no idea. 

A chuckle came from behind the counter. "Look who's finally shown up." The voice was sharp and very high-pitched. Almost like a child. The English was a bit off, but it didn't bother me that much. 

But just when I thought I was being pranked, a man stood up, at least three times my size and probably ten times my weight. This was no child. He was wearing a big helmet and there wasn't any way I could see his face. 

This just had to be a prank, right?

The earl's grin begged to differ. 

"He-Hello." I tried my best, but it wasn't working. 

"Hmm?" The guy squeaked. He didn't, but it sure sounded like one. "I see. You've brought friend!" he literally sounded like a kid on steroids. 

I didn't know what to believe anymore.