Makiya

20. Not your average village

As the dawn of day had begun, if it were the Earth, the sun would be standing somewhere right above the ocean waters which were seen from the road. 

The road was going slightly downhill, therefore the village, the fields, and the ocean were all visible.

The village was huge. The amount of houses visible filled the horizon. The truth behind all this beauty was also laying in the fact that this world hardly had any pollution. Andrey was staring at the huge city-like village before him. It was very organized. The streets were visible, the houses all aligned nicely. The small amount of randomness to the buildings’ alignment to the road only added more beauty to the village.

All around the village large growing fields decorated with their different colors, attained by the different types of plants being raised.

Although there was no sun to go down the ocean still looked amazing under the dimmed blue light Philius shined. Their sunset wasn’t nearly as beautiful and varicolored, but it still had its own impact on the eyes.

As the road took a whole day with the fast cart, being driven by Dea’n’ha and pulled by her magical wind-beast spell, Andrey realized that this continent was a lot bigger than it appeared on the map.

There weren’t many villages on the map. The reason behind this was because these villages were actually equivalent to big cities on Earth. There were no villages even close to being as big as Ribas. Andrey wondered just what population does it have. It appeared so vast and huge. 

The cart didn’t enter through the village’s entrance. They waited on a hill near the village until dawn. All the go-by-ers who offered help to pull the cart or call for somebody to get a horse to assist were rejected with the lie that “help is on the way, thank you!”. The truth was that they would attract all the attention in the world if they went inside with people sitting on floating carpets on a cart that moves on its own.

It wouldn’t take long, though. Most people in the village had their own planetaries or worked on the fields. So the moment it was dark all work was over and everyone returned home, went for a drink, or did some other type of entertainment.

People in this world definitely enjoyed life. They were calm, stress-free, and didn’t necessarily have to worry about what they will work, do in life or try to find some existential issues to deal with. Andrey was almost ready to set the conclusion that people on Earth just had way too much time on their hands and would often fall into self-crippling doubt, delusions, and what else you might think of that lead to depression and lack of creativity. Working might appear to be the best type of way to exist. It would make you money, it would make you friends, it would make you social, in the end, it would make you tired and you’ll be able to just go and have a relaxing sleep. Work would also make you treasure its absence. That’s something many people on Earth can’t comprehend.

Now that the night had come the cart could be pulled into the village. Andrey would prefer to call it a city, as it had so many people and life in it, but he tried to follow Dea’n’ha’s advice and not make it obvious he isn’t from this world.

Luckily the great merchant Polkas Reven didn’t live somewhere in the middle of the village or at a place with many people around. He lived in his own mansion which was slightly away from the village near the river which was flowing all the way from Princepsius into the ocean. 

In order to get to the mansion, they still had to enter the village, as it had small walls built around it. Not fortress-like, but just wooden fences to symbolize the territory of the village. The entrance felt grand. It had a big signboard on top of the village entrance. 

“Welcome to Ribas”

The moment you see that signboard behind it you can see a road leading straight to the village center. On the left and right there are houses where people lived, but the closer you get to the center the more these houses were replaced with hotels and restaurants.

Small green gardens with beautiful flowers in front of most houses made this village feel like a paradise.

Andrey asked the others why these gardens weren’t full of vegetables, but everyone gave him a mean stare and explained that there was no point in using the land before their house as farm fields when there’s literally kilometers of land they work every day.

This sounded brilliant. Obviously this meant there’s land for everyone. Probably the only struggles there were regarding how far away the fields were. Still, this was prestigious. 

While walking in some dark streets Andrey thought about how is a country like this even possible to exist?

As they walked into the territory of the village there weren’t many people outside, but there were those few who stood right in front of entrances of hotels and restaurants. They would spot new faces or people who just arrived in the village and help them crash the night. They were basically supposed to invite you into their hotels and or restaurants.

Polkas knew about this, of course, which is why he warned the lot while they waited the night, also when they were about to enter the village, he warned yet again.

Rang was really easy to bait into such places, but he managed to stay serious on this one and didn’t charge into one of the restaurants and have an all-nighter.

Keeping Polkas’ warning and navigations in mind they quickly took a turn into the first possible street.

In this big village, it was really hard not to go unnoticed as people would sometimes be relaxing in their green gardens. The old merchant knew his way around, though. So he obviously had inside people. They went through some darker streets where more people joined them and walked next to them to add additional coverage, masking the cart and making it attract less attention.

It truly is amazing what power money can do. Even in a country which obviously isn’t as corrupted as any other on Earth. 

Polkas was obviously not just the richest person in the village, but his people truthfully respected him. There was no sign of envy or other negative emotion. Each person who joined the moving crowd had eyes of respect and greeted the old geezer like a close friend.

Ultimately, Rang and Galera attracted the attention of the younger females. Especially Galera. He was a rare specimen to see. Easy to say, they weren’t here for the first time.

Dea’n’ha on the other side, as if nobody noticed her, but she didn’t really mind this. Andrey only attracted a few weird stares. Maybe due to his unusual looks. 

The village probably had a lot more beautiful sights to offer, but none could be seen in those dark streets.

There was a small forest garden ahead. Andrey raised his head in surprise that there was so much green land in this village. Just how big is it?

As they rode the gold cart with the floating carpets inside the people who followed them stopped at the entrance of the forest. The crowd waved in happy farewell and the lot waved back. The old geezer scratched his mole quickly and put a wide smile on his face.

“Welcome to my home, you lot!” he said in his rusty old voice.

“What? This is your home?” Andrey asked, looking around the darkness and recognizing only trees.

“I knew you were good-for-nothing-black-night-dressed-super-hero-wanna-be. Look ahead, dumpy!” Galera leaned his huge tall body over the cart patting Andrey on the head.

Andrey focusing what ahead seemed to be a huge house. So he really was the richest person in this village if he had something like this.

“This is huge!” the boy said in amaze. 

The house revealed itself and its original design. The front entrance had big white columns holding on to the terrace above. The doors were big as if you were entering a king’s hall. All around the house were small ellipse-shaped windows. It’s as if the architect behind this house was in partnership with the engineers and builders of the king’s hall. It was not less beautiful, indeed.

A woman in her 40s came out of the door. She was obviously wealthy. Her red dress and golden ornaments on it yelled “money”. 

Her beautiful face shaped a smile and a polite “Welcome home!” came out her mouth with a soft voice.

“Hehe!” the merchant rejoiced. Everyone greeted her back, as they obviously already knew each other.

“I don’t see Nyadzel this time?” she asked worriedly.

“This time his student came in his stead. Nyadzel’s at Frosthornis.” Dea’n’ha replied.

“Oh, I didn’t see you there, I’m really sorry!” she apologized as she made a small bow.

Actually she didn’t have much to apologize for, because he was standing in the dark and he was wearing only black clothing, making it completely logical to miss him. Andrey was also short, so standing behind all these tall figures in front of him, he was like a ghost there.

“It’s really fine, don’t worry!” he laughed, making a joke out of the fact he is coming from behind these big men in front. 

“I guess I should just always stand in front so that people would notice me some time.” they both laughed, as he reached out his right hand for a handshake.

“I am Anita Reven. Pleased to meet you!”

“Andrey Makiya, a pleasure! Oh wait, you’re-” they sealed the handshake and he turned around to look at Polkas’ huge smile. It was so big that it managed to pull Andrey’s attention from his giant mole.

“That beautiful lady is my daughter, young man, that’s right, beware for her beauty strikes down men!” he laughed.

“Papa, please don’t cause the boy to feel unwelcome.” she counseled.

“Welcome in!” 

“But where do we leave the cart this time?” Dea’n’ha asked still thinking of her duty.

The other three - Garo, Rang, and Galera already walked inside the house, forgetting entirely about the cart.

“Guys, won’t you help with the cart?!” Andrey yelled at them surprised that they abandoned their duty at the first sight of a beautiful woman. “Garo, even you?!” 

“I… “ The stone-faced-man stumbled.

“blablabla….” Rang replied.

“Hey, let's do it together, Rang!” Galera begged

“bla bla BLABLABLA” they both started yelling in unison.

Laughter echoing as their images disappeared somewhere inside the house.

“It’s okay, we don’t need them. We’re mages, remember?” Dea’n’ha pointed out.

Polkas and Anita just looking at this debate.

“Okay, where do you want us to leave it?” Andrey asked the woman politely.

“Young man, I can see why you ask her, but remember you were escorting me, right?” Polkas joked again with his high pitched voice.

“Don’t pay attention to him. He’s really nice, he just likes to joke around a lot!” Anita tried to comfort Andrey’s stress. Which he hadn’t. He felt embarrassed only the first time.

So Polkas pointed out a warehouse on the back of the house. Dea’n’ha hadn’t released her wind beast spell yet so they just navigated there.

“Okay, want me to teach you how to do this?” Dea’n’ha asked Andrey now that they were left alone.

“Do what?”

“Make a cart move.”

“Not by a longshot! I saw the beast you created and all those strings which pulled the cart. It is an insanely complicated spell and there I am hardly able to twist a single mana stream into your direction.”

“Ah! How did you know?!” Dea’n’ha asked in surprise.

“I used Earsight and could see it clearly. So much mana all over the place. Just how could you keep all that up?” 

“It’s not actually all that hard. You just have to focus on it and keep that feeling after you create the chain of mana. Then it’s pretty much the same as navigating an extension of yourself.”

“Well, thanks, but that doesn’t sound really simple even in words!” Andrey raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“Well… it might be a bit advanced, but hey, you gotta start trying these things.” Dea’n’ha sounded a bit pushy. She realized this and suddenly put a hand in front of her mouth. “I didn’t mean to.”

“About what?” He asked surprised

“I didn’t mean to be so pushy with you. I got surprised myself.”

“This you call pushy? Wait till you see what Nyadzel has done to me when we trained…” he comforted her as they both laughed it out.

“Okay, then you want to have a try at some more advanced magic?” she asked in her sweet calm voice.

“Of course, I want to!” he said with a sigh.

“Okay, come now and listen…”