Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Every Journey Starts With a Single Step

The path out of town went right past Roderick's smithy, so the group made a stop to introduce Olivia's father to her newest familiar and say their goodbyes. Alex swore he saw a single tear trail down the man's face, disappearing into the depths of his ebony beard, but he couldn't be sure, as Roderick was his usual boisterous self otherwise. After the group all assured him that they would be careful on the journey to Veradin, and that they would all get registered with the Adventurer's guild and be certain to join a strong party, he waved his final goodbye and saw them along their way.

Olivia's excitement was palpable and intoxicating as Sloaria allowed her and Alex to mount her back, assuring them that they could clutch her feathers without fear of pulling them out or causing her discomfort. Olivia promised to get her an exquisite saddle once they had some money from a few guild quests, the Griffon's excitement increasing at the prospect of having her own attire, even if it was to make her job as a mount easier.

Setting off, the griffon took a moderate pace, not wanting to thrust her inexperienced riders directly into the deep end with flight. Alex, sitting behind Olivia, had his arms wrapped around the woman's slight figure, his hands linked together and lightly placed on her stomach. Olivia, meanwhile, tried to remember to hold on to Solaria's plumage and not take advantage of their positions to lean back into Alex's embrace too much. She was still a bit flustered after her previous blunder, and a bit worried that Alex might still be irate with her handling of the situation.

Alex could sense her trepidation through their connection, and sent her reassuring feelings, trying to put her mind at ease about the prior situation without getting into an actual conversation about it. Talking wasn't impossible on their journey, but both he and Liv were still new to the mounted rider experience, and as such kept verbal communication to a minimum, only occasionally making remarks about the scenery or light chatter about Olivia's realm, catching Alex up on the world's history and culture as Olivia knew it.

Apparently, the country they were in was called Crenallia, named after the first hero to tame the wilds and bring civilization to the continent. The man, King Crenall, was a powerful warrior, and he had been accompanied by his wife Floria, a powerful earth mage, and their party, Which contained an Elf ranger, a Dwarf tinkerer (a job that captured Alex's interest, assuming he could cultivate his mana into actual magic), and a moon druid that was of the tigerkin tribes of the western grass plains. 

This group had beaten back the monster invasion from the northern lava wastes and had defeated a powerful Demon King named Viktor. Olivia was quick to point out that here was a difference between a demon lord and the demon races, neither of which were inherently evil.In fact, the current Demon King, a fairly young Incubus named Helston, had brokered both peace and trade with the various other countries and races of the world, using his forces to come to the aid of border towns that came under attack from rampaging monsters and helping to establish an inter-continental portal system that quickened travel (for those whose groups were needed in battle or for nobles, royalty, and others who were wealthy enough to afford the expenses necessary for such a system.

Alex found himself impressed by the ingenuity of one whose very race could have been used as a means of discrimination instead utilizing racial magic inherent to his breed and class to further not only demonkind but to bring the entire world together in peace, along with the rulers of the other major countries. Speaking of other countries, the five major countries besides Crenallia and Demontes, the demon continent, There was Gilvain, the country founded by elves; Barrowhaven, the dwarf kingdom; Shiningtower, the kingdom of the halflings; Silvain, the country of the combined beastkin races; and Dhampiralia, the kingdom of the vampiric races.

Of all the races, the vampires were probably the most discriminated against, because their very existence required the drinking of blood. Most did not kill, instead having slaves that served as sentient blood bags, and those slaves were strictly regulated to be sure they weren't being mistreated or overused in any way. Many debt slaves with no families or friends to speak for them gave themselves willingly to this task, as they were often held up in vampire society as something akin to celebrities in American culture in Alex's realm, almost being worshipped for their choice to help in the continuance of the vampiric races through the constant gift of their lifeblood. Apparently, the experience of being fed upon by a vampire was, beyond the initial puncturing, a pleasant experience, as the vampire bite contained not only a painkiller, but a mild aphrodisiac, making the act akin to, or even a part of, a highly sexual act. At the end of the feeding, vampire fangs delivered a clotting agent as they released their bite, allowing the victim (or willing feeder slave) to survive and recover without fear of bleeding out. Alex got the idea that Olivia might have a bit of a vampire fetish, but he didn't bring that up out of a sense of self-preservation.

The dwarf race, Olivia explained, were technological masters, with higher tinkerer aptitudes than most other races, though the tinkerer, and the advanced form of a tinkerer, artificer, were still obtainable by other races with enough focus and dedication to the art. Dwarves had been the first race to perfect the art of blacksmithing, magical blacksmithing, and clockwork and steam-powered marvels such as the clockwork golem and the steam-powered carriage. Currently, only the very wealthy could afford such extravagances, but the hope was that one day soon, these marvels would become more affordable and reliable for normal people.

Halflings were considered to be the most disarming, jovial, and easy-going of the races, usually standing somewhere between 3 feet 9 inches and 5 feet 3 inches in height. They excelled as farmers, druids, spies, and thieves. It seemed that one of their racial affinities was the ability to go unnoticed when they wanted. Initially developed as a survival mechanism when monsters were much more of a threat, it was quickly adapted for more profitable means once the monster threat was contained. Halflings also make for excellent dungeon guides, having been a w2andering, nomadic people for the first two eras of the world. Their pathfinding and trap detection was top notch, and their support spell affinity makes them great backline party members.

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Then there were the elves. Their reserved, regal natures, combined with their long lives, often make them come off as snobbish, and many of the other races rankle at their public personas, feeling looked down upon. However, Olivia mentioned that she had more than a little contact with the elves, and she said it was adorable how shy and easily teased they could be, and how much more relaxed they could become with those who got to know them. If you ever made it into the inner circle of an elf's friends, you were often treasured by the entire community, because they often felt discriminated against because of the public misconceptions of them. Elves made excellent druids, rangers, mages, sorcerers, and other magical positions, as they had the highest and broadest magical affinity of all the races. The closest to them were the kitsune, Olivia said, multi-tailed fox beastkin from the temperate island beast nation of Silvian.

Speaking of the various anthropomorphic beast races, All of whom originated from the various southern islands that made up Silvian, There were six distinct major races, with subraces and the occasional halfbreeds as well. The major races were the Lupine (wolf-and doglike breeds), The Felinekin (various cat races such as tigerkin, catgirls, Panthergirls, and Lionine), The foxkin (foxgirls and kitsune), The Orc (including ogre, Oni, and standard orc subraces), the goblinkin, and Bunnykin (including various rabbit breeds, and surprisingly, ferretkin, possum, hamsterkin, gerbilkin, and chinchillakin subraces who somehow all got lumped into the bunny breeds). This is the most diverse set of breeds, with a wide variety of skill sets, and all were in high demand if they had significant training in their areas of expertise.

Crenallia was, of course, a majority human country, though they welcomed all other races with open arms. They were the most restrictive with slave laws, allowing only debt and criminal slaves, with significant rules about the treatment, training, relationships, familial responsibilities, and length of the term of such slave positions. Crenallia was the only nation with no offense leading to a lifetime debt. A strict ten-year maximum sentence was the upper limit, and any slave contract had the strict stipulation that the slave would come out of it with a marketable skillset and references that would lead to them being healthy, happy and contributing members of society.

Crenallia was also the first country to join with the current demon king, helping establish his legitimacy and goodwill with the other countries. The current Crenallian king, Thomas the Second, was the fifth generation of the hero's bloodline to hold the throne. The line was well-loved and spoken of with reverence bordering on religiosity by the common populace. There were, as ever in a political system, whispers of discontent by certain elements in the high and median noble houses toward the king's lineage, though it was obvious that no house was treated in such a way that they could claim to have been slighted by the royal family. It seems five generations of rule led to high competency in the game of... uh, in the field of politics.

Alex was fascinated by the world's history, and even shared with Olivia a little of the history of his own realm. Olivia paled when Alex began talking about the various world wars and global conflicts. The concept of proxy wars frightened her outright because the idea of two major powers basically puppeteering factions of a smaller nation in what was essentially a resource and power grab version of a wargame, was far too close to some of the stories of eras past in their own world. 

Their pleasant conversation was interrupted by Solaria informing them that there was a procession of soldiers coming in the opposite direction, leading a carriage dressed in the colors of one of the High noble houses from the capital. Alex immediately released his grip on Olivia, reaching for the rifle on his back and cradling it in an easy carry across his stomach, in a non-threatening but ready position should there be ill intent from the approaching party.

As they began to pass the procession, Olivia guided Solaria as far toward the edge of the road as they could go, telling her to stop, and she and Alex dismounted, standing beside the griffon, and Alex was led to bow his head slightly and await the procession's passing. The soldiers gave them little mind, seeing their deference to the noble representatives, but a voice from inside bid them halt, with the carriage door even with the small party. The door was opened by one of the soldiers, and Alex saw the graceful figure of an auburn-haired maiden, who stepped out in front of them, followed quickly by a tall but timid bespectacled demoness, whose purple and black skin and dark, skin-tight dress contrasted greatly with the flowing white gown her mistress wore. The woman looked the trio over, and then addressed them.

"Greetings, travelers! My name is Victoria Von Helstraughm, daughter of Baron Victor Von Helstraughm. I have been sent on this path by royal decree after a powerful, unlicensed summoning spell was cast from a small village about..."

The demoness leaned into the Lady's ear and whispered something. Lady Victoria's eyebrows arched and her gaze flowed over all three of them, a small smirk forming at the corners of her mouth as she took the party in. "...ah, about a half day's journey from here. His majesty wants me to gather the unlicensed summoner and their familiar or familiars together for an audience in the royal capital at once. Would the three of you happen to know anything of these events?" 

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