Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – Point Zero

 

My eyes flail around. My whole body is all irritated, confused.

I can't see it, but I know what my face looks like. Way too pale.

I eject something rather unseemly. I feel ill, so ill.  

A wooden room, just the essentials within. A rough looking bed, a tiny little shelf and a half-broken wardrobe. So many cracks.

A worn-down door. I look to the ground for a bit. My head spins. No food or water, much less medication.

Everything’s dirty. Holes everywhere. Flies.

A sad excuse for a window that barely lets any light in, right on top of the bed. Bars surround the open hole, rusted.

A step on the bed, a look outside. Nothing. There is no outside, really, but a wall instead, and only a small crevice in between. Beneath, too dark to really see. 

I was somewhere, somehow. And if this really was an alleyway, that would be the thinnest one in the world.

I didn’t remember getting kidnapped. The odds of that were too low. But the facts were there. This was a nightmare.

“I need to get out of here.”

I was on the second floor of some building. The only way outside was through the door. To proceed, I would have to check the hallway and get down some stairs to make my exit. I checked if there was anything useful in the room. Anything in the shelf, the drawers, under the bed? But the only thing I found was a simple, inconspicuous looking brown robe, almost like a bathrobe.

Still, just to be extra careful, I put on the robe on top of my clothes. It was pretty hot already, even without it, but if it helped me somewhere along the way, why not? Who knew what was normal around here? I hadn't seen a single soul yet, but I didn’t think I got taken to an empty establishment.

After all, I could hear them clearly. Loud rambling, clinking of glass. About one floor down from here, there was something going on, kind of like a party.

With parties, you’d obviously think of drinks. My throat was as dry as could be, and the last drops of sweat running down my face were already about to vaporize. I needed water.

I got a grip on the rusty handle of the door and sloooowly...loooooudly opened the door. The immense creaking would have alerted any guy a hundred miles away. It didn’t stop the partying downstairs, though.

In front of me, a long, thin hallway unfolded itself, with a staircase leading down on my left.

The noise from below had gotten so loud, it made my head ache. Yelling, singing, drinking, eating and all...And according to the voices I heard, a total sausage fest. Taking the route through the main exit sounded difficult, but with my robe and the festivities going on, I was confident I could make it without raising any eyebrows.

One thing was certain. This was an inn. And if it was an inn, there could be the possibility of me getting caught by the staff. The people downstairs didn’t seem to speak my language. Also…

I couldn’t really clean up my bodily mess on that floor without anyone finding out about it. Some person was eventually going to show up. The assumption I took was that I was probably unwelcome here. Who knew if the room was paid for, anyway? Who knew what other dangers lurked around?

In others words…time to go.

I mustered up the courage and took a step forward, into the hallway. No movement on the whole floor, except for me. No reaction. Every little step made the old wood yowl to a painful degree. As I made my attempt at challenging the run-down staircase I just found, I saw them.

The party-doers. No staff in sight, too. The 1^st floor was filled to the brim. Perfect.

Burly, drunk men made it hard to pass through, but at least they served as a good cover for me. Without any issues, I managed to get out, the white light inviting me in. And once outside, the questions just kept popping up.

It was hot and dusty. That was the first thought that came to mind.

The houses and other infrastructure had a certain something. At first glance, they looked like normal wood and stone buildings, but they had this peculiar glimmer around them. It was blinding.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, the sun was the same as always. It reflected that glimmer on those structures right back on me, filling up my eyes. I turned into a blinking mess.

What to do, what to do…observing couldn't hurt. Yeah, that would help. Observation is priority number one.

I made my checklist. Number 1, find out the local language. These drunk guys would spit about something, but that could've been anything, so that didn't help me at all. Number 2, observe fashion trends. Weirdly put, but I just wanted to find out what people wear around these parts.

Number 3 would be clues as to how people live here. All of these three things would have to be accomplished to blend in.  As quickly as I formulated my list, the first candidate showed up. I leaned against a nearby wall.

Arms crossed, laid back, looking down. No effort to hide a tired visage. I was still all wobbly, but nothing too serious.

A middle-aged man came, with black hair and a beard on top of some steel-looking armor, looking like some kind of Guard, Knight, Warrior... something of that sort.

He in turn was waiting for someone else to arrive, making himself cozy just opposite of me, only a meter or two away. Did I look suspicious? Only time would tell.

A minute passed. Nothing. Two minutes. I was already dying, wanting to punch myself for not snatching a drink or two from the party.

Five minutes, was it? I was beginning to fall asleep, but now, someone was coming after all. Another guy, hiding under a black robe. Overall, he was pretty thin, even thinner than me.

Their conversation was done very privately, making it hard to hear anything. Maybe some shady business? No, maybe it was just common sense. Why share the conversation with total strangers? It wasn’t like whispering would be particularly bothersome for them, either.

It was pretty dumb of me to try and gather info like this. I had to think of something else.

"...is out..." came out of my mouth. I wasn’t properly concentrating. The blazing heat outside and the lack of water was killing me. I was basically muttering to myself at this point. Hearing this, the men stopped talking, and turned towards me.

Shit. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on, after which I quickly averted my gaze. Come on, guys, please…was the one thing running through my mind. I just stood there, fixed in the same position, like a statue. After what seemed like years passing by, I glanced over.

Robe Guy was leaving to the left, Steel guy to the right. What a relief.

That was one step away from lethal injury, I figured. I took a deep breath. A shiny coin piece was left at the spot. It must’ve had come from Steel Guy. Did he just leave it there? Why? But on the other hand, in a lucky stroke, I managed to obtain some money, filling my otherwise empty pockets.

Since my original approach didn’t work too well, I instead decided on gathering info another way. For example, by reading books. That way, I could learn more about the local language, too. So, my next objective was finding a library.

I made my way down the alley, unsure of where I was going. However, even without a map, reaching some big plaza or street would be unavoidable. It didn’t take me long to find what seemed to be the main street.

What I saw there was a marketplace of sorts, like there was a festival or something going on. With no protection from the sun and a glimmer coming off every stone, my eyes were about to faint. There were a good number of people around, probably a few hundred.

The average face I saw was tanned and a bit rigid, but not too different from mine. Most of them were wearing brownish clothes too, only a few stood out with some red dresses, others with...golden. I flinched yet again. That giant golden dress, protected by a layer of red, reflected all of that sunlight onto my eyelids. Those rays pierced right through me.

Surely, I will end up blind today, is what I thought.  

Most of the stands were food stands, selling weird fruits and meat I had never seen before. Purplish peaches with weird little spikes, hairy bananas, blue, almost inky pork…The sight didn’t exactly entice me. But if it was being sold at this place, then the taste would speak for itself. Needless to say, fruits and meat weren’t on the table…for now.

The lines forming from the crowd were relentless.  And I was out here in this blazing inferno with winter-ready equipment, completely dried up. Of course, I couldn’t read anything on those different signs, either.

I was in quite the bind. Where would I go about asking directions?

My eyes started wandering, until I saw two certain people plopping out of the mass. A man and a woman, foreigners, like me. Both had dark brown hair and were relatively tall. Whatever place they were from, that could have been my home, too.

The man had deep blue eyes, a thin stature and wore some blue uniform. His long hair was combed straight, partially reaching his shoulders. He had a somewhat nervous smile on his face, constantly touching his sweats cheeks with a handkerchief.

On the other hand, the woman’s attire felt less like a uniform, and more like full-cover clothes, even hiding her hair to some extent. Despite this, the blue-colored dress perfectly matched what the man next to her was wearing.

Other than that, her orangey glowing eyes stood out a lot. They would just draw me in. In the end, I wounded up looking at them a little too much, catching her attention as the two were already walking towards me.

"Move."

That was the one word I heard from her as she nonchalantly passed me. She definitely didn’t make a great impression, character-wise. But what was so perplexing about it all was that I could understand what she said. In other words, she spoke the same language I did.

Eager to converse, I couldn’t just let her go. This was possibly the only chance to get a hold of some important information.

“Excuse me…”

She turned around, startled. But then, without saying a word, she went on ahead to her friend anyway. What a shame.

Though she didn’t want to talk to me, she immediately started talking to her buddy instead, it probably being about me.  Whatever…I needed to get some water first, anyway. Otherwise, I feared I would lose my better judgment.

I spy, with my little dry eye, a little fly on that stand guy. Located on a corner of the long line of stands, that shop in particular didn’t have tons of customers. Seeing that, I immediately took action. Water.

“Hello.”

I thought starting it with a simple greeting would be for the best, just to see the shopkeeper’s response. Luckily, compared to the woman from before, he wasn’t all that surprised at me.

“Mushke? Mina Angul?”

Despite the language barriers, he seemed to at least understand me. I asked for some water, he gave me water. I asked for a map, he gave me a map. It almost went too smoothly.

“Vieni.”

“Ah. Vieni.”

Goodbye. Maybe that shopkeeper was through and through with the festivities, though. He definitely looked like he could use a drink more than even me. Anyway, with some fresh water in the system, I got some of my grip back.

I was also shown on the map as to where the nearest library would be, so I decided to head there straight away. Maybe then I could escape the searing heat, too. The library wasn’t far from the main street, either.

As I walked through the streets, big and small, I noted down some characteristics. Quite brown, red, sometimes orange. The streets, houses, everything. All buildings were about two floors high. Small alleyways were plenty, and beggars could be found in them regularly. Even though the houses were glimmering in the sun, the city itself felt dirty.

I stopped midway at on old store selling fruits. Apples, green bananas, oranges. No difference to what I knew. It didn’t sell those weird things I saw before at the stands. My stomach was pretty empty overall. I only thought about water before, but now my hunger started acting up, too. One second my body doesn’t want anything in it, the other…

Feeling up my empty pockets, I let out a noticeable sigh. That shiny coin I picked up before was now in the possession of the helpful food stand guy. In other words, I once again had no money.  

Should’ve asked for change. 20, 140, 230 per piece of this or that. I skimmed through the options. Even an apple cost 80. 80 of what, though? Knowing about how currencies work around here would normally be crucial, but without having any money in the first place, did that really apply to me?

But as I moved on, disappointed, a yell came from inside the shop.

“Blieham!”

Again, no words that I would understand, but the next thing I knew, an apple was thrown towards me. Luckily, I managed to catch it without a hitch. But what was that all about? I waited for a few seconds, but no one came out.

Then, it hit me that maybe this was my cue to just express my gratitude and leave. So, I took a short bow, and then walked off. The apple was delicious.

And then soon, I reached my destination. A gigantic, brown, stadium-shaped building. Seemingly having been made almost exclusively out of wood. The windows looked sparkly clean like no others in the surrounding area. It gave off that special vibe.

It had this huge plate on it as well, with what I presumed was the place’s name. Hopefully, “library” was part of it. 

No one was around, but the front door was open. Going inside, I found what I was looking for. Stacks of books, kept all nice and tidy. Thousands of entries were stored here, but I needed something that was easy to pick up. Maybe something like a book for children. A book written in my language would be optimal. As I went through the different shelves, something caught my eye. 

“A tour around Oulayn, year 505”.

A book that I could read. The author's name was Harc Manem, and the book taught about a continent named “Oulayn”. Angal was the language the book was written in, and it didn’t sound too different from what I knew. No, it was precisely the language I spoke.

I flipped through the pages. All sorts of names of different places, cities, lakes and whatnot. It also included various comments from the author. Very useful, to say the least. This was what I was looking for.

I started trying to memorize as much as I can. There was no reception around, and without any identification, loaning the book seemed impossible. I ended up spending the rest of the day in the library, but during that time, no one else came, after all. Not even any staff.

As the sunlight began to fade, I decided to stop, and go search for accommodation. However, given the fact that truly no one was around, I pondered. What to do with the book?

In the end, I simply took it with me. I could return it anytime later, anyway. My conscience wasn’t as bothered with it as I originally thought it would. And if I got found out…Well, it was just a single, tiny book.

Then, there was the issue of finding a place to sleep. Helping some people with the festival that I saw seemed like a good idea, even though I wasn’t that proficient in physical labor. Or rather, I just wasn’t good at lifting heavy things.

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But who would give me, a mere stranger, such a chance? Regardless, I went to try it out.

Heading back to the main street was the obvious choice. There were way less people around compared to earlier. I could see many shops closing down, and anyone still left was also starting to pack their things.

Going through the leftovers of the crowd, I quickly found myself in front of a large, bulky bald guy. He was carrying a big crate of wood on his shoulders, just like the men in front of him, forming a line. They seemed to be in the middle of deconstructing some of the stands.

I didn’t have much hope, but I tried asking him.

“Excuse me. I- “

He put down his load, emptying his pockets and handing out a gold coin. I didn’t even get to say anything, yet I was handed money this easily. What did I do?

The other people around started looking at me as well.

“Name’s Agham.”

The bald guy began speaking to me.

“Ah. I’m Lenn. Sorry, I seem to look a bit out of place here.”

He took the gold coin that had been stretched out in front of me and placed it in my hands.

“Take this for now. We can talk after I finish this load. It’s the last one anyway.”

All I could feel was confusion. But I decided to wait for him, anyway. After around half an hour, he, Agham, took me to a nearby bar. There, I told him my situation. I lost my memories.

Oddly enough, without hesitation, he pulled out a map and began explaining stuff. Was it the fact that he was already quite drunk after chugging down that expensive-looking liquor? Even so, his readiness to go along with my antics was a bit creepy. Not that I minded it. It just wasn’t something anyone would expect of a stranger.

After a few minutes, I began to get the gist of it.

I was in a big, independent city called Casla, north to the kingdom of Arma. Between the two, there was a big desert. And to the north of the city was the federation of Pail, an alliance of mini-states that was at war with Arma.

“Lately, people are really on edge. The tensions are getting worse. Before long, this city might just fall.”

Basically, I was in the middle of a death zone, somewhat closed off from the rest of the world, with little means of getting out.

“As you can see, Casla is pretty close to Pail, pretty much right beneath it with some plains in between. I don’t recommend you ever go there, honestly. Unless you’re actually a bloodthirsty mercenary or assassin or something. That’s the only kind of people that gather there.”

“Okay…So, that’s a place I shouldn’t go to. Anything else?”

“No matter where you go outside Casla, your chances of randomly dying are pretty high, especially when you don’t know where you’re going. Luckily, there is one route anyone can take.”

So, if I were to leave the city, there would only be one option, huh…

“What about Angal? Why isn’t it spoken much around here? Anyone I came across seemed to be able to understand me, but not many actually used it themselves.”

Agham’s face became more stern.

“Many people know the language, but this is generally not the best place to practice it. A real law about it has yet to be written, but speaking the language might be about to be banned here, in its entirety.”

My confusion was hard to not notice, and Agham quick to reply.

“Cause a certain someone from the Association doesn’t like it. Don’t worry, even if you use it, there won’t be any trouble. At least, for now. We’ve got to see if people can finally get over Segal…”

He casually brought up so much stuff that I didn’t know, I was completely overwhelmed. But I did pick up on his last point. It sounded familiar.

“Segal?” I looked at the map again. Pretty far to the west, on the other side of this huge mountain located in the middle of the continent. Wait, the continent? I looked again. And truly, the continent I was on was called Oulayn. Bingo.

“If you exclude Mt. Duke, that bugger in the center, getting to Segal is fairly easy. Maybe around two weeks? Depending on how much you’re willing to spend. The Segalis are said to be very prosperous, with insanely advanced technology, endless soldiers and the like. A fairy tale. But believable enough for the people living here.”

It did just sound like a utopia. The people of Casla were pretty desperate.

“Then why not just go to Segal? If it’s the perfect place, why not? If it exists. It’s not like fairy tales come out of nowhere, right? And it is on the map, too.”

“It is said Segal is purely homogenous. Only Segalis can go in or out. There’s this huge barrier, you know. They’ve always isolated themselves from the rest of the world, long, long ago. But the people here don’t care. Seeing outsiders isn’t that common around here anymore. Anyone could be a savior.”

All the more reason to just leave as soon as possible…

“And this festival that I saw today…”

“Not a festival, really. I wouldn’t call that a festival anymore. The Association wants to put their people at ease whenever they can. Quite frankly, I’m tired of it. It’s been happening so often.”

“And what’s this association?”

“People you can’t trust. That’s all you have to know.”

“Hm…”

The more I listened to this guy, the more I just wanted to get out of this place. I could only hope he was lying, or at least exaggerating things. But just to be certain, I needed to ask him about the exit.

“Didn’t you say there was a route anyone could take? To get out.”

“Going to the north or south is for people who like death and starvation. The east is a land filled with void. So, the only option is to go west. Following the path to Mt. Duke, you can reach the Zenar Region. In fact, that’s where I plan on soon. Do you want to come along? Personally, I was working as a miner until a few months ago, but with all of this stuff going on nowadays…”

“Stuff?”

“After work was all complete, these idiot bandits kept coming after us on our way back to the city and looted whatever we had mined. In the end, there was no point continuing our work.”

“Wow, that sounds terrible. And you came out of that fine, every time?”

“I can handle myself pretty well, and the confrontations were usually on the peaceful side. The city wouldn’t afford us protection, so at some point, we all just gave up. Currently, we are all doing side hustles, lodging things around. This place is getting poorer by the day. And that won’t be fixed, so I might as well ditch Casla as soon as I can.”

Man, he’s experienced a lot. My next destination would be the Zenar Region, then. Agham seemed like a good guy too, he even paid for my stay at an inn, just above the bar. We both shared a room. I honestly felt bad for receiving so much charity from him, but he didn’t mind. He simply said that he counted it towards an “upfront payment” of sorts.

When going to bed, I was relieved I could finally take all of these clothes off. I could actually breathe again. Agham had the polar opposite going on for him. He only wore a light shirt and dirt-stained pants, after all.

Here, I could also get my first opportunity to read from the book I snatched. It even had an entry on Casla. Then again, the book, or rather, guide, was from the year 505. What year even was it now? But I couldn’t bring myself to ask that question, even if Agham was an understanding guy. That would just be too embarrassing. Also, getting to know the current date wouldn’t be too difficult. I just had to be vigilant.

Before we went to sleep, Agham informed me that he would be getting me a job, so I could earn my keep. Really, it all went so smoothly for me. I couldn’t help but doubt it all.

“Hey, Agham. Why would you even go to such lengths for me? I’m not really useful in the slightest, you know. Nor do I know anything useful, either. I’ve only done the taking.”

“Hmm. Well, if what you say about losing your memories is true, then all the better. I won’t have to think about your past or whatever you might have in mind that I don’t know of. You’ll owe me one as well for the favors I’ve done, so there’s that. And I can tell you’re not a good liar.”

“Is that so…”

He sounded upbeat while saying that, but the underlying tone came out somewhat intimidating to me. Better be careful from now on, is what came to my mind.

“I’m going to take that with a grain of salt. But thanks. I hope I can at least become useful soon enough. I wouldn’t like owing you all the time.”

“You don’t have to think too much about it. At most, you’ll be extra baggage, and I don’t see any problem with it. I can always use some company, too.”

Being treated as baggage didn’t sit right with me.

“No, I insist. If you’re going to be helping me, then I’ll have to repay you. Otherwise, I can’t sleep.”

I didn’t know if I said anything wrong, but that made Agham smile.

“Suit yourself. But you better try and take a nap right now, since tomorrow will be hell for you.”

“Sure, whatever. Good night.”

Whatever he meant, I got my things sorted out. At least for the moment.

With that, the first day came to an end. I was completely drained at this point, so I couldn’t bother thinking about whether Agham was going to stab me in the back at night or something.

The bed was really comfortable, too. Usually, I would need some time to get to sleep, but this…this fluffiness I felt was irresistible, wherever it was coming from. After only a minute, I was drifting off to somewhere far, far away.

A small island. Yet another foreign land I had never seen before. At least, that’s what I thought. Thick magical lines spread throughout the scenery like rainbows. A lake inside a lake, and a bountiful forest with a flickering allure in front of a lush meadow.

Upon that meadow, I rest on a giant boulder surrounded by green, and looking up towards the pure blue sky. A slight, comforting breeze brushed against my cheeks. I slowly closed my eyes, and then, it faded away.

 

 

-End of Chapter 1-

 

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Harc Manem: A tour around Oulayn, year 505

 

Pages 37-39: The City of Casla

Casla is an independent City to the east, just north of the Great Desert. For the longest time, it was also called “The City of Rusted Gold”, alluding to its foundations as a highly copper-centric town.  Built around year 340 of the Segali Calendar, Casla’s origins rest on the first Great Desert Miners and their discovery of massive amounts of copper ore found within the depths of the northeastern Region, which at the time were covered beneath countless layers of sand. People from both north and south traversed the rough terrain to make their way to the mines, ultimately giving way to the establishment of a new town that soon rose to become a bustling metropolis.

However, the beginnings of the soon-to-be independent city Casla were, by all definition, shaky. The Northern States, having their own disputes among each other and everyone else, and the Kingdom of Arma to the south, had all deployed their forces to help build what was a dream come true for tradesmen and skilled laborers all around. But who was to rule it? The negotiations between the involved were, as recorded, far from peaceful. Assassinations, bribery, treachery. The city truly became rusted with blood. It was then, year 353, that the Tradesmen Association led by the supposed wealthiest merchant in Oulayn, Markus Santonius, paid their way into the role of ruler. By sending large sums of money to each party, the voices of violence grew silent, and the Tradesmen Association of Casla was to be the de facto leader figure of an independent mini-state. It was quite the unthinkable that happened, as something similar had never been. With this, Markus Santonius went down in history as one of the most influential people in the world, his face engraved into the city annals and his fortune distributed among the other members of the Association.

It is therefore wildly believed that Santonius succumbed to foul play by the other merchants instead of old age, as he had died in 381 at the age of 58. Considering his ever-modest lifestyle and noble lineage, dying that early was rather unbelievable to anyone who had even heard of him. For a brief time, protests against the Association were held, demanding answers. The Association, however, had no comment to spare on his cause of death and instead introduced the Sunset Festival, which is regularly held every last Sunday of the month, even to today. Once believed to simply exist to calm down the unnerved masses, it became a rudimentary part of this place. What makes this festival special is that at the beginning of each month, a bronze statue of the person with the most positive contribution to the city is made and kept at a public place, changing with time. Towards the end of the month, the statue is picked up and ground into dust. That bronze dust is then sprinkled onto the top of the houses on the day of the festival, around sunset. This particular tradition has only furthered Casla’s popularity among the Oulayn people, and is wildly enjoyed by both tradesmen and tourists from around the world.  As someone who has witnessed it myself, I think it would be helpful to address the fact that at sunset, the whole city covered in bronze dust sparkles brightly. Very. Brightly. The particles easily reflect sunlight, blinding the unprepared. I therefore advise caution on this matter.

There is also the widespread belief that Bandits still roam the land to the northeast, waiting to ambush the miners coming back with their goods, however as there are no written official records pertaining to this, it is also said that this rumor was spread to slow down new competition in the lands of copper mining. As of this writing, the copper mines are still filled to the brim and well-guarded by the city-funded mercenary group “Hazel Claw” that oversees mining operations. And it’s because of this fact, I cannot recommend going to the mines yourself before applying for a tourist visit at the Association. This involves a thorough body and equipment check, as well as a fat entrance fee to the mine itself. Is it worth it? Well, I was denied, so I couldn’t say! Apparently, you might be denied entry simply because of how you look or whatever group you’re associated with. The airtight security around the place is admirable, but it only furthers suspicion on the dealings of the Association. By the way, I didn’t even get all my money back! The nerve of these people…Dear readers, I sincerely hope you will not get into that same situation I did.

Other than that, let me briefly discuss the matter of traveling back and forth between the city. There are active trade routes leading to the Zenar Region, which makes traversing them very safe. The routes leading to the Northern Region are also a fair way of traveling to the city. However, as they are one of the few routes concerning the Northern States period, there isn’t much to tell other than this: If you’re living in the Northern Region near the Northern States, you’re in luck. Unfortunately, that is where the safe, well-traveled routes end already. Casla is located in a remote Region, after all, and there are only so many ways to get to it. For the more adventurous readers out there, there is a way to simply skip the Zenar Region and instead come to Casla directly from Marin, if you decided to come to Oulayn via ferry. However, this involves going through parts of the Land of Shivering Winds. Without the proper guide and the proper equipment, taking this route can easily become life-threatening. Rumors are that if you take this route, the corpses of unprepared travelers will dance around you, being flung all over the place by powerful gusts of wind and…Whatever else could be flying around there. It is because of this that I have never taken this route myself, though I was certainly interested. But there is another potential route to the city that citizens from the Kingdom of Arma have openly discussed for centuries. And that is a route following along the Great Desert. Mind you, going through the Great Desert is strictly inadvisable. If you wish to know why and read more about the Desert itself, I’ll be discussing it in more detail on page 43. Either way, the Desert should be left alone as much as possible, if one values their well-being. I do not want anyone to take this lightly.

Ending on a positive note, Casla really is a beautiful, dazzling city with a very active and ever-increasing population. It is not afraid to show its riches, either, and you can certainly find more than just copper and bronze-related products in their trade arsenal. My critiquing the Trade Association and the rumors surrounding it aside, they have gone through grueling efforts to make life in Casla as comfortable and also as profitable for any aspiring man living here as possible. And that truly shows in everything that makes this city what it is. I highly recommend visiting it at least once while you’re in Oulayn.

 

With that being said:

Dear readers, good luck in your travels! 

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