In his new guise, Greyson"s facial structure did not change much, however, without his most eye-catching features, he was practically invisible. Brown hair and brown eyes were too common that he would never catch anyone"s eyes unless they were looking closely. Sighing, Greyson felt relieved of an annoying burden. Slowly making his way through the city, he finally realized how amazing the city was in person and not so far away. The streets were clean and orderly without anyone causing chaos or shouting out. Even the marketplace was calm. Looking towards the man next to him, Greyson lightly tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around a little disgruntled to be stopped suddenly, but his features softened seeing how young the boy was."Sir, I"ve just arrived here and I can"t help but be curious. Why are none of the merchants advertising or bargaining? All the cities I have been to have all been loud and busy in the marketplace normally." Greyson quickly asked.
Hearing his question, the man let out a good-natured laugh.
"Well, it"s no wonder that you are so shocked. I was, too, the first time I came to the city. I"m from a fish town, so the bargaining in the market is no joke. You don"t know, however, these shop owners and even the cart owners have to pay an enormous rent fee to be able to set up shop on this street. Unless they were confident in what they were selling, they would never bother buying a shop here because they would just end up drowning in debt. Their confidence means that the others would look down on anyone who would start shouting advertis.e.m.e.nts to attract customers. It"s a sort of unspoken rule that they take pride in. With how much rent they are paying, they have to set the appropriate prices for their items as well. You either buy it at the set price or do not buy it at all. The men here hate hagglers, but at the same time you know that the prices you are buying it at is very fair. If they were trying to rip everyone off they would never sell anything." Despite his rather poor looking attire, the burly man was very knowledgeable of the system in the city.
Greyson was shocked by the unexpected answer. Who knew such a system could work? The compet.i.tion must be extremely fierce, though. How many shops along this enormous and long street could think of a novel idea? It stretched all the way from the front gate to the royal castle"s gates at the back of the city. This means there has to be some repeat. If they can"t advertise, they would have to continually think of ideas to make people come back to their store instead of their rival"s store.
"Aren"t there repeat stores? Wouldn"t they get into fights all the time and a bunch of stores close down?"
"Fighting in the capital is strictly forbidden unless you are in the arena and have signed some sort of battle contract. If they got into fights about being run out of business, the city would make sure that they could never step foot in the capital again."
Forbidden? Well that makes his life much easier. No city attacks this time. Pulling out a silver coin, Greyson thanked the man for his information before asking if there were any other important custom he should know.
"Well, this is not really a rule per se, but it is just as important. There are ten top n.o.ble families in Aurora City and they are the real head honchos of the kingdom. Although it would probably take two families to measure up to the power of the royal family, there is obviously only one royal family while there are ten n.o.ble families. The top three most powerful of the families are almost on par with the royal families just by themselves. If you ever see carriages or someone on a horse in the city then it means they are descended from the families. Everyone else is required to walk on foot. I suggest buying a book that introduces all the family crests to you just so can recognize them whenever not just in those circ.u.mstances. The other n.o.bles families are not easy to offend either, however, offending them will not usually get you killed. The ten families have the power to make the royal guard look the other way if they just decided one day to off you. That is my biggest advice for you. This is a small area full of powerful beings, it"s best to just travel with your head down until you can find yourself some background to back yourself up."
Greyson"s eyes lit up as he nodded seriously. He was right to have spent a little for the information, otherwise he might have accidentally run into trouble without even knowing how. Saying goodbye to man, Greyson went to the closest book store and picked up the information on the family crests. Maybe because it was a common thing for new people to want to buy, the price was slightly exaggerated. Knowing he could not do anything about it since he thought it was important, Greyson grit his teeth and spent the money. Once he was back in the inn, he quickly went up to his room and started studying the book.
Spending a good couple of hours memorizing the information, Greyson finally reached the last pages of the book which held the information for the top ten. Filled with curiosity, he looked through the first one. The family crest was a flaming bear and the family name was Arcadian. The family leader was a magister level stage five magician and the heir to the family was Ignis Arcadian. He was 15 years old and an advanced level stage 3 magician and his element was fire. As could be a.s.sumed from their crest, the Arcadian descendants all usually awakened the fire element and were shunned if they did not. Apparently he attended Idris Academy just like the rest of the n.o.ble children. Greyson was impressed by his level. Although it was "only" two stages of a difference while Ignis was 7 years older, once one reached the advanced level increasing in each stage became significantly slower. The youngest magister was still 18 years old when he reached the level and he was a legend. Most talented young people reached the magister level before 25 or their chances of advancing further than the magister level would halve.
Moving his eyes towards the next family, the family crest was black rose and the surname Seirina. The family head was surprisingly a woman and so was the heir. This family was inherited by the woman of the family instead of the men. Their element was earth and they specialized in raising magic herbs and alchemy. However, the book noted that the woman were notorious for their love for poison. Slightly disturbed by the words, Greyson continued reading about the heir. Her name was Ezra Seirina and she was the same age and same level as Ignis. He found that unsurprising because they families were supposedly equal so if one heir was better than the other that would cause lots of issues.
The next family crest was just a tall snowy mountain that was a good match for the Snow Country landscape. This family"s surname was Chionodis. Aidan Chionodis was the heir. He was younger than the first two at 12 years old but also a stage weaker. A water magician who specialized in ice magic. People are afraid of this young boy, though, as he is known for having a matching ice cold personality. Greyson just shrugged and pa.s.sed through the descriptions, what does it matter to him if the guy has a bad personality?
After that was the Drakon family with a golden dragon family crest. Their family element was light, however, they were not healers. Instead they used the offensive side of light and were all extreme fighters. Whoever the author was seemed to have experienced their extreme side as he cautioned the readers to run away should they ever meet someone from this family. They were obsessed with picking fights with everyone and "self-improvement." The only positive side was that they all were known for their straightforward personalities and good att.i.tudes towards losing. The heir was Tristian Drakon 14 years old and advanced level stage three magician.
Next was the Absinthe Family with a red dagger family crest. Suiting that they would be placed right after the Drakon family as the two have a long history of bad blood. Their element was dark and they specialized in a.s.sa.s.sination. They ran a guild that took missions for the family that made them a lot of money. Almost reflecting their elements, the Drakon family and Absinthe family were complete opposites in teaching and personality. Their heirs were twins, Caedis and Bella Absinthe. The twins were 13 years old and advanced level stage two magicians. Rumor says that they are inseparable and can take down magicians at higher stages than them when they work in coordination, even their partner beasts were the same.
The sixth was the Ventus family. Their element was wind and the crest was one pair of green wings. Most people could not quite understand this family and their was not a lot of information on them either. People claim that this family is very laid-back and peaceful. They tend to be the easiest to get along with. The heir was Quinn Ventus, 12 years old and believed to be advanced level stage two. Their was no confirmation due to the fact that Quinn barely ever fights and reveals his power.
Seventh was special. They were not actually a "family" by blood relation. It was a merchant group which made its way up in power and declared themselves a family. Their crest was merchant carriage that was normally seen on trade routes. The "family" name was Argentum but they had no particular element a.s.sociated with the family. The heir was Luca Argentum but there was some weird gossip about the boy. Greyson saw the introduction and just skipped over it. He wasn"t interested in the rumors.
Finally he had reached the end. The final three. Turning the page, he saw a surprisingly familiar last name. Ivywood. Their family crest was a blooming tree. Reading further, he saw their element was earth, as well, however, the family leader and the heir were both born as multiple attribute magicians which made their place in the n.o.ble families rise. The heir was a girl, the daughter of the head, named Natalia Ivywood. She was a little older than him at 9 years old and was also at the advanced level stage one. Her three elements were wind, earth, and fire. Natalia?
"Natalia?... Why does it sounds so familiar?... Hey, Lu, do you remember a Natalia?"
"Natalia... Natalia what?"
"Ivywood."
"Hmmmm... it does sound familiar. Who could it be?"
Both boy and cat sat in silence trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar. A couple moments later, Lucius suddenly had an epiphany.
"It"s her!"
"Who?"
"That girl from the forest. The one we helped fight off a mother bear. Spoiled, annoying, but not completely bad. She had a spatial necklace. Red hair, I think." Hearing his words, Greyson"s eyes lit up in remembrance. Her! It had been too long, he almost forgot that this encounter ever happened. To think she was the heir to such a powerful family. Explains her att.i.tude that day, though. However, that was pretty much it. He did not know her well, and he felt that she would not recognize him at all if they were to meet again.
Moving on to the next two families, the Fulmen family was after. Their element was lightning and their crest was purple lightning bolt. Feeling surprised, Greyson thought that a more rare element like lightning would be hard for a family to inherit. Then he read the next part of the description and understood. Although there were more members of the family that awoke the lightning element, compared to the percentage of people in other major families who use their specific element, the Fulmen family has a much smaller percentage of people who actually use the lightning element. With the destructive power of the element, however, the head of the family is stronger than a normal magister level stage five magician thus putting the family near the top. The heir was Bromwood Fulmen. He was 11 years old and an advanced level stage two magician.
Lastly, there was the Basileus family. Their family crest was a half flaming, half icy lion. Greyson"s eyes lit up when he saw their elements. It was a multi-element family! Most of the members are either water or fire element magicians, however, a good amount awaken dual elements of both fire and water. The heir was one of these people and his name was Leopold Basileus. He was 10 years old and an advanced level stage one.
Looking over all the basic information, Greyson realized the small balance that was occurring between the families. Every head of the family was a magister level stage five magician and all the heirs were advancing at pretty much the same pace. The only reason for difference in magic level was the difference in age level. He had heard the king of Idris was a great magister level magician. Most people claimed he was only a stage one great magister, however, as the only one to break through to that level, the royal family held the most power.
"Wow, there are definitely much higher level in this kingdom. So many other kids who are just like me. Back at the academy everyone thought I was a monster for being able to break through to the advanced level so quickly, but looks like it"s a common phenomena."
"Well, don"t put yourself down. Although not as talented as me, you are definitely extremely talented as well. All these other children had so much more resources poured into them and powerful teachers ever since they were born. They have advantages along with talent, but that does not mean its common. You do realize you were reading the information for the top families in this kingdom. You are still a very rare occurrence. But it"s good that you came, I can see that these kids will be good rivals for you."
"You"re right! I can"t wait to try fighting with them." A excited glow of fighting intent lit up Greyson"s eyes. He was excited for new challenges.
Looking outside, Greyson realized he had read the book well into the night, so he shut off the light stone and decided to go to bed. The auction that included his painting would be tomorrow, so he wanted to go check in with them early to make sure everything was in order.
"I wonder how much the painting will sell for tomorrow..."