Chapter 7: Arrival at Astana
The line to Astana was not as diverse as I originally had imagined. The people there were relatively nicely dressed as if they were from an affluent background. The wall of Astana that we could see was at least 20 feet tall and extended for miles in both directions. It was made from some type of gray stone and had small groves that seemed to be artistically etched into the side.
They made some type of pattern, but not one that I could recognize off the top of my head. There was also a large metal gate about 12 feet high that was currently open to allow the line of people to enter. With my Kitsune sight, I had no issue vividly seeing the squad of guards tasked with the entry process. From what I could tell, they were wearing a similar attire as Vanya and her subordinates. One would assume that they belong to the same branch of the guard.
"Take a look around.", I instructed my two comrades.
They followed suit and they caught onto what I was talking about. A huge majority of the entrants were elves with a pale skin complexion much like Awyen and Vanya. The hair colors of the group were more varied in comparison as some had black, red, blonde, and the occasional green or blue hair. They were mostly petite in frame, but their heights were thankfully varied. While their varying heights somewhat kept us hidden for the moment.
To be honest, we stuck out in that line, and it was quite obvious from perspective. Not only were we the last people in it, but we were basically the only black guys there.
That fact alone nearly caught the eyes of most of the people in front of us or at least those in front of us. Case study, there was a rather older elven woman with long, flowing blonde hair standing in front of us. It was evident to me that we had drawn her attention as her gaze would turn to us.
In that instant, I could see her gray irises flow from the three of us like a breeze through a window. I could tell that she was on the older side, but I wouldn't call her an old woman just yet. I guess a middle-aged elf woman would be the best way to describe her.
She was wearing a plain, brown dress. Frankly, she looked quite poor and stood out from the crowd just as much as we did. Considering my past experiences with foreign elves I had half expected this woman to start harassing me as well. Aywen did so on sight, but surprisingly she instead just looked at us. Her eyes bounced first to our attire, then our skin tone, and then to our more recognizable features. I was beginning to think that she was suspecting us of the incident from earlier, but I was surprised when she merely uttered,
"A human, a demi-human, and an elf enter the gates of Astana."
Being tossed a softball such as that I could not contain myself from saying,
"Sounds like the start of a bad joke."
It had appeared that only the woman and I had good taste in jokes as we were the only ones to laugh at the cliché line. Seeing that she had thrust conversation in our direction, I saw this as an opportunity to learn information about the city of Astana. Just as I was about to speak once more, the seemingly friendly elf woman spoke,
"Your attire. You three must be members of the Conscripted Forces. I heard that they were forming a section nearby."
"Ah yes, ma'am. You see we neglected much information about it. You see we were forced into serving, so if you do not mind me asking… Could you tell us all that you know?"
My words must have made the woman suspicious as she would then look over to us once more. I would once more push up my glasses and eagerly awaited a response from her. It would only be a few seconds later when she offered us one. Her grayish eyes latched onto my own before shifting towards the line, and ultimately moving up a few inches to accommodate.
"How odd, but I suppose you are a fox demi-human."
"Is there any relevance to that?", Q asks.
The more muscular male of the three of us instantly caught her eye once more. Her expression seemed to soften a bit at his question. Based on my first interaction with residents in this world it appeared that Aywen had some type of stigma against Fox demi-humans.
Even though I merely resembled one in appearance, I supposed that any that looked close to them was subject to their prejudice. Even Kitsunes like myself seem to fall under that category. Now that she brought it to our attention, I could tell that we were getting some unsavory looks every once in a while from the people further in the line ahead of us.
"There is. You must not be from here. Considering groups like you three are rather rare in this domain, I guess it won't be too much effort to enlighten you."
She would go on to explain to the three of us that people with pigmentation are an extreme minority in this specific domain. According to this lady, Fox demi-humans are usually a subservient class of people and most elves would not appreciate that I would address them in such a casual manner as I am with her currently.
This specific territory was under the lordship of an elf lord named, Feno Angea, and Astana was a major city within it. As we could already tell this is a majority elven and human-populated territory with demi-humans being an incredibly insignificant portion of the population. There was such a massive population gap.
It would explain that there are many well-dressed elves in this line now. Astana was the largest trade town on the western front of the Angea domain, and so it was quite wealthy in comparison to the surrounding areas. Much like any big city that I knew of, I assume towns like Struburg like earlier were a part of Astana's metropolitan area and benefited from its localized wealth and power. It was all interesting information, but not what we desired to know at the moment, but before I could direct the conversation there, Q beat me to the punch.
"So this Lord…Fento Pangea.-"
"Feno Angea.", I corrected, my attention briefly shifting towards his mispronunciation.
"Feno Angea. Whatever the hell his name is-"
"You got it right this time."
"I said it right? Okay. Good. Now this Lord Feno Angea that you mentioned, he must be the one that formed these… Conscripted Forces, right? Or something in that nature."
His words seemed to be strange to the woman as she tilted her head out of confusion. It appeared that our ignorance of the matter that we brought up was slowly raising some type of red flag in her mind. Though unlike the previous three that we encountered, this woman appeared to take a different approach to the matter. She offered us a smile instead of taking a blatant aggressive stance against us.
"Hm. I believe that he is one of the many patrons of it. I do not know much about it in its entirety though. Unfortunately, I did hear the bulk of its forces are indeed demi-humans, dark elves, and humans. I have read that even some high-ranked Foxels are conscripted into their military forces hence the name."
"Foxels? Foxkins? If you do not mind. Tell us what is the difference?", Q asks.
Once more the woman would look over our group, but instead didn't offer us any response. She fidgeted in her stance and was clearly uncomfortable in responding. I could see the gears cranking in her head as she thought of a way to tiptoe around the subject.
It was a scene that all three of us have seen many times before in real life and on the internet. She was clearly looking for a way to explain it to us without offending me. Placing my hands behind my back while I stood, I became idle before speaking up to fill the now-growing awkward silence.
"So that makes sense. Seeing that you referred to me as a Foxel, I am not supposed to be offended by it. Then we should bitch smack anyone that refers to me as the other one."
"Alright bud. No need to get violent with a mere word. Foxel, Fokin, or Foxtrot. Matters not.", Bonner retorts.
"Shut up. You're not the one who just found out that he has his very own special N-word here as well. If skulls get cracked, then they get cracked."
"You know that he is passive when it comes to those types of things. He'd laugh along with a racist instead of standing up for himself. He's done that before.", Q says, gesturing towards Bonner.
His words brought me to laughter as I recall an event that Q told me about in our past. Seeing the banter between each other, the elven woman looked a bit surprised at our actions. It was merely a few minutes later when the four of us had reached our turn for entry. As I could tell, the guards that were stationed there seemed to have similar armor to Arch Captain Vanya's company, but one of them had a different color ribbon around their neck.
Standing to the side was a taller elf with a red ribbon around his neck. Much like Vanya, his dark brown hair was shoulder-length. Considering that the line was limited to only four people, it was obvious that our appearance and attire drew their attention. Based on our experience, males must have a similar rank and be in command of this post.
The rest of the guards, seven that I counted in total, were positioned around the gate's walls and inside its entrance. Assuming that they are from the same unit as Vanya, I would wager that they each had swords on their hilts as well. There were two male guards there when we met with them and they cautiously looked over us and our attire once more. Clearly, they recognized it as well.
"Hold it. You three. State your business here.", one of them says.
"They're with me.", the elf woman quickly says on our behalf.
"With you? Members of the Conscripted Forces?"
"Yes. Allow them passage. Neither of them have their proper identification."
Both clearly bewildered by the response of the woman, they would look towards one another. The same could be said for us as well. We had just met this woman a few minutes ago and here she was attempting to help us enter the city.
I turned to face my two comrades and I gathered that they were just as lost as I was. It would hit me suddenly that she knew that we didn't possess any identification on us either. Turning back, I would look at the smaller elf woman, but she didn't bother to return the favor.
Her atmosphere had changed from before. She was a bit more domineering in contrast with before. I had also noticed that one of the guards had disappeared from his post as well. My ears flickered around as I attempted to locate the guard with my enhanced hearing, and I did.
It took some effort as I could hear the bustling actions of the residents of Astana on the other side of the gate, but I managed to overhear their guard and his perceived commander. My eyes would instinctively trail to their position when I located them.
"A Human, an Elf, and a Foxel requesting admission into the gates of Astana? What is this? The beginning of a bad joke?"
"No sir. I tell the truth. The servant of the House of Angea says that they are with her."
"Members of the Conscripted Forces. Is that so? Then I will go meet with them myself. Contact Lady Ana and see if this revelation is true and then meet me at the gate. Go now!"
Upon hearing their conversation, I became a bit intrigued by the revelation. It appears that this woman that we had been casually conversing with was actually someone with some importance. The House of Angea or any of its members were people that I actually knew little about. In fact, none of their names rang any bells in my mind.
They all must've been new characters introduced within the new update. Well now we had one of their servants vouching for us to allow our entrance, but my curiosity grew even further. This woman whom we didn't even know the name of was going out of her way for us. I wonder if she was acting alone or perhaps there was something more at play.
Watching as the guard bowed and received his order, I turned once more to my comrades to relay what I had heard under my breath. In mere seconds, the Arch Captain that I had overhead appeared next to our position. He stood there knightly with a wide smile on his face. His left arm was presented on his hilt as he addressed us.
"Hm. It is true. You three wish to be granted entrance into Astana. Tell me… What brings you here?"
"I am sure that your subordinate has informed you that we are with her.", I saw.
The male practically ignored my words and eyes seemingly focused on Bonner as he seemed to await his response on the matter. I was dumbfounded at first, but I imagined that he perhaps didn't hear me, so I repeated my words. Again, I found myself ignored. Now I was becoming offended. This bastard was doing that annoying shit on purpose.
A level of awkwardness fell upon our trio for the moment, but I assume we came to the same conclusion about the type of person that we were coming across at this moment.
"We are here with the woman.", Bonner says, finally speaking up
"Ah! The servant of Ana Angea.", he says.
His face lit up when Bonner responded as if they were old friends conversing again after a long time.
Honestly, I felt offended and I believe that I was justified in doing so. The bastard was lucky that I could not afford to bash his face in at the moment as doing so would further bring unnecessary attention to us. For some reason, the elf servant of this Ana Angea woman has decided to help us out. Since the Captain viewed Bonner and himself as equals, I would hold my tongue for the time being.
"What brings you and your subordinates to Astana?", The Arch Captain asks.
Bonner's eyes would bounce from myself and Q as he seemed to look for assistance in crafting a plausible lie. Eventually, the male would speak before gesturing towards the elven servant.
"Oh. We are representatives of our units here to meet with Miss Angea. Miss-"
"Clarice.", she says, following the male's gesture in her direction.
"Miss Clarice here was sent to acquire our help. Though we were attacked by…. Bandits? Monsters. On our way over, we lost our passports on our travels."
Even though the Arch Captain didn't look for confirmation from Q or myself, I nodded along anyway. I could tell by the expression on his face that he was slowly piecing together his own logic based on the false information that Bonner fed to him. Before the Arch Captain managed to speak once more the sound of footsteps patterned behind him in the dirt. It only took a single glance for me to recognize him as the soldier who was sent ahead for confirmation.
"Reporting. Lady Ana has expressed that she is indeed waiting for these individuals. The Demi-human, the elf, and the human were requested to be granted entrance into Astana."
"Is that so? What is that woman planning? Utilizing the Poor Man's Forces.", Arch Captain comments immediately.
Having his eyes set upon me once more, I held his gaze. Apparently, in doing so it was the wrong move as his face frowned. His actions spoke a different tune though as he stepped out of our way and gestured with his arm towards the opening of the gate.
"Very well. You three are permitted to enter, so consider yourselves lucky."
"Thank you, good sir. We value your service here as guards.", Bonner says.
Though I did not share his sentiments, the Arch Captain did react positively to Bonner's praise. I would argue that it was undeserved, but I would not stick around to argue on such a trivial matter. While we made our way past the pairs of guards, I could feel the eyes of the Arch Captain burn onto my frame.
If he had actual laser vision, then he would have definitely seared my flesh if given the chance. At first this section of the area appeared quite mundane if I was being honest. There were several crowds of people walking around pertaining in their average day, but much like the woman that we now know as Claire, they were
adequately dressed in fine clothes.
The buildings in this area seemed to be one or two stories high at the minimum while deeper into the city they appeared to grow in size. They came in a plethora of solid colors, but most of the buildings were beige or white in color. I don't know if it was the material of the buildings or the paint itself, but it was designed to be pleasing to the eye. I could even tell you about that.
All of them appeared to be maintained and orderly. Considering that the closest gate was guarded by an important figure, then I could imagine that this was the affluent part of Astana. Seeing that Clarice assisted us in entering the city, it only made sense that we all simply followed her around as she clearly knew where she was going. I would imagine that we would do so until we found a suitable place to break off from her.
That opportunity didn't present itself as quickly as I anticipated. The further we went into the city, the denser the population appeared to be. As one may expect the chatter of the civilians and passerbys filled my ears, but what filled my eyes confirmed Clarice's words from earlier. From what I could tell there were mostly pointy ears and colorful hair around here. The road had changed as well, from a brownish marble to a more defined and literal yellow brick road.
That actually made me chuckle a bit as I mentioned it rhetorically to my comrades earlier, but here we were actually doing so. Along this specific yellow brick road it began to twist and seemingly peaked behind one of the taller white buildings in this area. There were plenty of signs that were plastered all over the place, but the language had not swapped over just yet. The order that we were traveling in had Bonner at the front, lingering behind Clarice and myself and Q remained behind them.
"You think that they are up to something?", I questioned Q.
I could tell that the male was soaking in the aura of the fantasy sights and feels before my words dragged him back to reality. His chocolate eyes met my own before shrugging his shoulders. We both began speaking in a hushed manner to avoid our conversation from being overheard by Claire.
"Don't have a clue. I do know that this town is gonna be hell for you, Mark."
"I would say that we must be in the sixties, but there doesn't seem to be any outright segregation. Some of these elves seem to be prejudice against Kitsunes, but they won't lynch my ass. If those guards are any indication, then I could very well handle those that decide to raise a hand against me."
"Hm- I suggest being careful. Although you already know that. I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of the prejudiced son of a bitch at the gate. Bonner is a shit liar after all. We were lucky, but it won't last long when those others return to that gate and figure things out."
He was right. Although we did manage to get into the city, our complexions stuck out of a crowd. We're like three chocolate chips sitting in a tub of vanilla ice cream. If the ice cream had pointy ears and colored hair that is. I could sense that a lot of eyes were on us as we passed by. Given our attire it brought even more attention that either of us desired.
Our options are quite limited at the moment, so I decided to address Bonner ahead of us in my same hushed tone. That caused the male to slow down a bit before moving alongside us. I kept an eye on Clarice as we spoke, but she appeared to be focused on other things at the moment.
"Bonner. You will have to be our mouthpiece for a bit. Elves seem to garner more respect here. Especially to those in some type of authority. Keep your story consistent. "
"Calm down now Mark. I can handle this. You see that I got us in the gate."
I merely looked at the male when he took all the credit for the action for himself.
"Actually that was my doing…Bonnner, was it?", Clarice says, speaking to the three of us.
Before we had known it we had arrived in a less populated street away from what I had assumed was the main road. Since the sun was high in the air, the buildings that were nearby casted a particularly deep shadow in this particular alley. The woman before us had stopped and looked over her shoulder towards us. Hearing her call Bonner by his name was rather unsettling at first, but I was unable to dispute her contribution to getting us inside.
Knowing that made it clear to me that she was indeed eavesdropping on our conversation despite how hushed we spoke to one another. She would soon enter a nearby building that was opened up inside of this alley. Instinctively, my guard raised as I prepared myself for a possible ambush. Things appeared too good to be true. I could only assume that my comrades did the same. I looked at them before pushing the door open and followed behind her once more.
Inside of the building was rather small and cramped, but it appeared to be a bar of sorts. It had merely three empty tables, and one human male stood behind the bar counter. He eyed us cautiously when we entered, and the door closed behind us to give us privacy. The male appeared rather gentlemanly. In fact, he appeared to be quite experienced. His bushy mustache and sleek, short hair showcased the many years of his ears.
"You mentioned that your name was Clarice, correct? You brought us here for a reason. What is it?", I asked.
The woman now stood at the center of the room and chucked warmly before turning to face us once more. Her gray eyes locked with my own as she nodded to confirm my words. In that moment, a wide, devious grin stretched across the face of the elven woman. A green light soon radiated from her skin and it rippled throughout her figure. My eyes widened as I could not contain my surprise. It was magic. Real deal magic. The kind that was lost to us at the moment.
"That I did, Mark, but that was not the truth. Actually, my name is Claire. Claire Von Angea. Daughter of my mother, Lady Ana Von Angea, and you three aren't really Conscripted Forces, are you?"
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