Chapter 33: Chapter 33 – The Capital

"Gods, that's a lot of people." Kat's words filled the small carriage cabin they were in.

"Indeed it is," Scarlett agreed, looking out the carriage window at the masses of people, wagons, and carriages that filled the enormous circular plaza they found themselves in. Like them, many of the people here were moving away from the center of the plaza, where there was a large half-open structure surrounded by lines of people. The structure bore some resemblance to the building in Freybrook that housed the city's Kilnstone, but this one was much more extensive and elaborate in its design. If Scarlett were to just describe its appearance, she'd call it something like a neoclassical mausoleum. It also just happened to be called the Mausoleum, so she wasn't the only one who thought so.

It also happened to be home to the Imperial Capital's four Kilnstones—Elystead was the only city that had more than one of the old Zuverian artifacts—making it a very busy spot now during midday, just two days before the Light Fest begins. They'd traveled through one of those just a few minutes earlier.

Scarlett's eyes carried across the whole plaza and its surroundings, taking in the views. It was one thing seeing it in the game, but seeing Elystead in real life was a completely different experience. Although Freybrook and Ambercrest had their own charm, they couldn't match up to the capital's grandeur. She knew it wasn't the same over the whole city, but all of the buildings encircling this area had a very old, but pristine, look to them. Much like the Mausoleum, they were all very Roman-esque, with a lot of open spaces, neatly filed trees between buildings and in the middle of the streets, with small ponds here and there. It was very clear where the original designers for 'Chronicle of Realms'—if they actually existed—had gotten their inspiration from for this part of the city. She was pretty sure the whole of Ascendant Court, which was what this district of the city was called, was filled with buildings like this.

The sight actually filled her with a sense of...reverence? Pride? She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but she had a suspicion it wasn't actually from her. Nonetheless, it still left her wordless for a moment.

As their carriage started nearing the edge of the plaza and began moving along the street that encircled it, Scarlett's eyes shifted towards the other side of the Mausoleum from where they'd exited. A long rectangular pond with still, blue water stretched almost a hundred meters from the Mausoleum, surrounded on both sides by circular collonades that were placed in lines. At the far end of the pool of water stood an incredibly large structure that curved slightly, like a half-moon, towards the pond and the plaza, its white marble walls and pillars resplendently reflecting the rays of the midday sun.

That had to be the Ustrum Assembly. The foremost authority of magic in the Empire—if you discounted the Rising Isle, which didn't technically exist in the Empire—and a major faction in the game. She'd also been part of it in her first playthrough.

It almost looked like some kind of ancient dam, now that she saw it like this, towering over the plaza and all the nearby buildings here, reaching about the same height as the Mausoleum. Her view of the grandiose building was eventually cut off, however, when the carriage moved further away from it and turned off onto another much bigger road. It pointed away from the plaza and towards the south, where it went on through the rest of the city all the way to where it cut off into a large body of gleaming water. That would be Rellaria Lake, 'The Jewel of the Empire'. And off into the distance, a short stretch into the bay, Scarlett could see the remote facade of an extensive and faintly red castle that stood like a mountain unto itself in the lake. And that'd be Dawnlight Palace. Home to the imperial family, and the heart of the Graenal Empire's power.

Their carriage started traveling down the bustling street, which Scarlett remembered was called 'Sunset Walk'—there were too many places to remember around here—on the in-game maps of the city, surrounded on both sides by large buildings of all kinds. This was the main thoroughfare of the central parts of the city, and seeing it like this really lent to how large Elystead actually was. Freybrook was a decently large city—she'd read in a book somewhere that it was the third-largest imperial city area-wise—but the city she had seen in this world had been mostly similar to what she'd known from the game, with only some parts having changed, or increased in size, or opened up where they had been locked in the game. Elystead, however, was much larger here than in the game. It really couldn't compare. Just from what she was seeing right now it looked like it could compare with some of the smaller capital cities in the modern world when it came to size, which was impressive considering the world they were in.

"It's good to be back," Kat said. Scarlett turned to see the woman looking out at the passing buildings.

"You have been here before, then?"

The Shielder nodded her head. "I grew up here."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, in the Foreign Quarter." Kat smiled. "My mom was originally from the Luicean Isles before she traveled here and met my old man. They always said I rubbed more off of her than him, though." She went quiet for a second. "Coming back here always reminds me of her."

Scarlett studied the woman's face. "I imagine she must have been a headstrong woman."

Kat let out a short laugh. "The opposite, actually. She was shy as a bird, really. More often than not I had to go with her when she bought anything just to make sure she didn't get hoodwinked into paying more than she needed to."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "That is surprising."

Kat just shrugged her shoulders. "There were a lot of other things I got from her though." The woman leaned closer to the window as she peeked out at a pair of statues that Scarlett assumed were depictions of some old hero or other. Past those statues, the design of most buildings changed to look much more like those in Freybrook and Ambercrest, which likely meant that they were now out of the Ascendant Court. Scarlett spent a few seconds trying to remember which district of the city came next. Was it the Wise Quarter? No, that had been in the opposite direction, hadn't it? Then The Coins, perhaps? She looked out at the buildings, seeing several smaller, but still decently wide, streets move off from the Sunset Walk and, in between the houses, masses of people moving about them and looking into different storefronts. The Coins it was then.

This was essentially the commercial district of the capital, where the majority of the shops and trades made their place. She also had some business she needed to get done here, though that would have to wait for a bit.

"Shame I'll probably have to leave again soon," Kat said, leaning back in her seat as she moved her braided hair over her shoulder.

"Have they told you where you will be going?" Scarlett asked.

Kat shook her head. "No. They'll probably wait until I get to the branch here before telling me that. But I doubt it'll be anywhere close to the capital."

Scarlett didn't say anything. From what she knew Kat wasn't wrong.

"Oh, right." Suddenly Kat sat up and looked at her. "I've found two replacements for me as escorts. They're from the branch here in Elystead, and they're both C-ranked so I think they'll do a decent enough job of protecting you. They are a bit young, and only recently became senior Shielders, but I'm familiar with them and can promise you that they're reliable."

Scarlett eyed Kat, slowly beginning to tap her finger against the windowsill. Two reliable Shielders definitely sounded good right now. That they were senior Shielders was also important, but she hadn't expected Kat to recommend her junior Shielders anyway. In the Shields Guild, you could only become a senior Shielder after having completed a good amount of requests and showcasing to the Guild that you were both reliable and upheld their principles. It was less a measure of your strength and more a certificate that you were trustworthy.

"Although if you need more than that, I can probably see if I can't find someone more to take on the job," Kat added.

Scarlett considered it for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I believe two escorts will be enough for now." While more was usually better, hiring more than two Shielders might not be the best idea for her right now. For one thing, she had to think about her expenses—although that would hopefully not be a factor for too long—and for another, she didn't want to move around with too large of a group. She was already planning on recruiting one companion soon which should give her a decent amount of force for the moment. And having too many people working for her that didn't actually work under her felt like it could get troublesome later on.

"Alright, if you say so." Kat leaned back in her seat.

"I should probably warn you, though," she added after a while. "Even if I said they're trustworthy, one of their fathers is a bigshot in the Guild. So you might want to be a bit careful with what you do when they're around."

Scarlett looked at Kat. "And what might you mean with that?"

Kat gave her a knowing smile. "Not to offend, but some of the stuff you do seem a little...shady, at first glance. I haven't really had an issue with it too much—frankly because I trust you—and have only reported what was necessary for my job." She met Scarlett's eyes. "But I can't promise that they'll always be the same."

Then Kat shrugged her shoulders again and looked out the window. "Well, not that I think it'll be any real problem. They're good kids. You can make use of them as you like." She grinned. "You can even tell them I said that."

"I will keep that in mind," Scarlett said. "Although, I believe I had already expressed my distaste of being described in such questionable terms as 'shady'... But seeing as you will soon be leaving on what is almost assured to be a dangerous undertaking, I will endeavor to forgive it without further rebuke this time."

Kat looked at her with an amused expression, then performed a mock bow. "How magnimous of you, my Lady."

"I believe you mean magnanimous."

Kat just waved her hand in the air. "Close enough. Besides, we don't know if it'll be that dangerous yet. Unless you happened to learn anything about it in that research of yours too."

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Scarlett's finger paused in its rhythm and she didn't immediately respond. Kat seemed to read enough from just that because she froze, her smile disappearing as she looked at her.

"Seriously?"

Scarlett hesitated over whether to say anything or not. This was a matter she hadn't decided how to resolve yet. She'd largely given up most pretenses around the Shielder as Kat had shown herself trustworthy enough, but Scarlett wasn't sure how much she wanted to share. With the amount of information she had, she could most definitely use it to help a lot of people if she shared it with the right people. She could for example go right up to the Guild and tell them everything she knew. It might be hard to convince them at the start, but there was no doubt in her mind that she could do it, and with that give them a huge advantage in the future. But was that what she wanted? Was she obligated to do that just because she could? Her goal wasn't world peace or to become an empire-wide hero.

In fact, she wasn't even sure what her goal was. Surviving had been the main one, which was why she was preparing for when things would start to get worse in this world. But that only went so far. So outside of that, what did she want? To return to her world, most likely. To know that she could meet her sister and friends again in the future. But she had no idea if that would ever be possible. She'd been in this for almost a month now without any clues on that front yet, nor any clues on how to get any clues. And the system that was tied to her had been painfully unhelpful on the matter whenever she'd tried to use it to get information.

Seeing as how she didn't really know what she wanted to do in this world yet—except simply continue as she had up till now—one of the more reasonable options was probably to reach out to any of the more honest and respectable organizations in this world. So why was she still so hesitant to do it?

...She didn't actually know. Did she just want to hog all of the potential benefits to herself? Was she just inherently that selfish? Honestly, it felt that way to her right now. Otherwise, she couldn't explain this reluctance she felt to the idea of sharing all her information. To giving away the main advantage she had in this world.

Oh, she could say it was because it was too risky. That even the Guild might have Cabal spies in its ranks. Or maybe that it was the remnants of the original Scarlett's personality that made her feel like this, that made her selfish. But that just felt like attempts at rationalizing it. Excuses for her not to feel bad about it. Which she already didn't. At least emotionally.

Well, that part she could probably mostly blame on the traits.

She turned her attention back to Kat, who was still staring at her silently. Scarlett closed her eyes for a moment.

Screw it. For now, she'd do what she wanted to. Nothing more, nothing less. Any complicated thoughts on the moral implications or whatever of her actions could just take a backseat till later for all she cared. She was a freaking editor. She never signed up to having to make choices that could seriously affect people's lives.

This meant helping those that she wanted to help, and ignoring those she didn't.

She finally spoke. "I have come to be aware of some movements made by the Tribe of Sin in recent times." She saw Kat's eyes widen at the words. "Although I do not know much, what I know happens to coincide quite well with the current response from the Shields Guild."

"...Do you know what they're up to?" Kat asked, her voice serious.

"No. My insight into the Hallowed Cabal's and the Tribe of Sin's activities is far from complete." That wasn't entirely true, but sharing the purpose behind the Tribe's current movements wouldn't serve to help Kat very much.

"I'll take anything you have, no matter how small," Kat said. "If it's something that can help with whatever's happening right now, I'll do anything to make up for it after too. I can't promise not to tell anyone it came from you—those above me in the Guild could probably figure it out anyway—but I can at least ask that it doesn't spread."

Scarlett observed Kat briefly. "I fear you may be overestimating what information I have." These events were far back enough in the game's timeline that what she could share about the details themselves was essentially just what had been reported in the Empyreal Chronicle after-the-fact. It was entirely possible the Guild already knew more than that.

Kat looked at her for several seconds, then suddenly leaned back with a sigh that seemed to relax the mood in the carriage. "If it's the Tribe I'll take whatever I can get, even if it's something small." She leaned her right arm against the rest of the seat behind her. "But I can't really force you, so..."

A small smile tugged at Scarlett's lips. Was that supposed to be an attempt at reverse psychology? "I did not say that I would not tell you."

Kat looked at her with attention. "Yeah?"

Scarlett waited for a second before she continued. "It is not much, but currently there would be good reason for the Guild to pay attention to several of the minor settlements spread across the Empire. I presume they are aware of as much. What I would suggest the Guild to do, is pay particular regard to the town of Brinewick."

Kat scratched her cheek with a thoughtful expression. "Brinewick? That's northeast from here, right?"

"It is."

She seemed to think about it for a moment longer before giving her a nod. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Ensure that you do," Scarlett said. She paused.

"...In addition," she continued after Kat's attention was turned back to her. "I have a warning. I do not know if it will have any relevance whatsoever, but I wish to say it nonetheless." She looked Kat in the eyes. "If at time during these coming events, you encounter an individual with either violet or silver hair, referring to herself as Vail, then do not, under any circumstances clash with her. Unless either Gratianus Graham or Rosanna Adlam are nearby, you should immediately flee with no regard to anything else."

Kat stared back at her. "Those are S-ranked Shielders."

"I am aware." The S-rank wasn't something the Shields Guild just gave out to anybody. At this point in time there should only be three of them here in the Empire, and if Scarlett remembered correctly the third one was busy this early in the game.

Kat's brows furrowed together. "Who is this Vail person?"

Scarlett sighed. "An incredibly dangerous individual, feared even amongst the Tribe. There is not much more I can tell you about her than that."

Kat grew a thoughtful expression once more, then gave a slow nod. "Alright, I'll make sure to remember that."

"Good," Scarlett said. She wasn't sure what people were involved in this on the Tribe's side, but Vail was definitely the most problematic of the possibilities. There were other dangerous individuals in the Tribe, but most of those weren't as ruthless.

Scarlett looked out the window again and saw that the coachman had steered their carriage off the main road and entered into the streets of The Coins district.

"I believe we will soon reach our destination," she said and turned to Kat.

Kat also glanced out the window and nodded her head. "Yeah, looks like it."

This was where they'd part ways for now.

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