Another half a month and Kaoru and Akira finally arrived at the gates of Hesperian Kingdom.Compared to Aurora Kingdom, this place uses more bricks on their buildings, which gave it a different air from Aurora that uses concrete more. Even the sidewalks were made up of bricks.
"What brought you here?" a guard asked Kaoru and Akira after they approached the city gates. And seeing as they have no merchandise with them.
"We are travellers, ever since the war have ended we"ve been travelling all over the four kingdoms. We want to understand of what had been happening. Ever since the kingdoms became more open to each other, we became inspired to learn more. Is it possible for us to stay here for a month or two?" Kaoru replied with his ready made answer.
He had researched about this already, the merchants have hear that Hesperian is also open with people who wants to change their home. And saying that they were travellers and would leave anyway, it won"t be that suspicious for them to move around the kingdom.
"Wait here I"ll call for our chief. People who wants to stay are to be checked properly," the guard looked at the two of them before saying.
Kaoru smiled and stood to the side, followed by Akira. She didn"t speak but only gave him a look, as if saying, "You liar."
Kaoru grinned at her before shrugging.
Not long after a 50 or so year old man approached them. It is to be known that this old man was the current chief of the whole Hesperian Kingdom. Since their kingdom only have half left of what was their original number in the past.
They couldn"t decide for a king and so have given it to the other kingdoms to decide. For if this three kingdoms were to attack them then surely they will only lose. They are willing to surrender instead of fighting.
While waiting their 4th squad general became the current chief. The temporary leader, he was old but still have the strength of a mid 30 year old man.
Kaoru and Akira smiled as they greet this man, they have given their names and once again explained their condition.
"I am Tazuna, the temporary leader of Hesperian Kingdom. We can accomodate you, you don"t have to worry and since their are lesser number of people in our kingdom, your addition would be a good one."
They were then tasked to sign a few papers, specially regarding their board and lodging and about the current rules of the kingdom, before they were finally able to enter the city gates.
The chief was able to welcome them for only a few people were willing to live in the current Hesperian Kingdom.
The excitement within Kaoru and Akira"s heart soon became dread. For upon entering they were welcomed with the real condition of the kingdom.
The things they use are all man made and is far below than what was soon created in Aurora. They were in the poorest condition one kingdom could ever be.
Akira couldn"t help but to place her hands on her mouth, she never expected this condition. But the people were still smiling, happy that they were alive.
"I apologize for our current condition, it was at its early phase. We are still trying to get use to it. The things we could only do with abilities could no longer be done. So we have to find a way to have a subst.i.tute," Tazuna explained upon seeing their look.
Kaoru and Akira have no words, they could only smile and say that they didn"t mind and that this helps them learn as well.
Soon they arived to where they will be staying, it was a two story house made up of brick. It was beside the road, the whole street have almost the same style of houses. And it seems that this is the residential area, they were then told that just down the road was the main city, they really didn"t need to ride a carriage or so to be able to go there.
After entering the house, they were welcomed by the living room, in the middle was the stairs, on another side was the kitchen and the dining area. There were two doors, one for comfort room and another for shower room.
Up the stairs were a hallway with two doors, both were bedrooms. It was a simple styled one but still beautiful.
And since Hesperian was almost the same as Aurora, there was no need of a chimney.
The two of them entered but their minds were in disarray. They never expected this much of a change. They never came here but they understood just how grave the condition of these people are.
"I was naive," Kaoru couldn"t help but to smile bitterly.
"Who was I kidding? Hesperian Kingdom didn"t get the chance to be helped by Eureka. They were the first to fall down, why would I think that their condition is the same as ours? I was so naive."
*BANG*
Akira was startled when he suddenly punched the wall.
She instantly stood up and stopped him before he continued punching the wall.
"It"s not only your fault. All of us thought the same way. We forgot the most crucial part of the time. We forgot that Hesperian was different from ours."
She could only placate him but at the same time she"s also trying to calm herself down.
Hesperian was also rebuilt because of Reset, but since the people have to study from ground up the place could no longer maintained the way the normally do.
There were dirt everywhere. The people planting uses who knows what to try their best in planting. When abilities were still present, those with plant abilities would only need a plowed plot and they can already plant and grow crops. Right now they are having difficulties on planting that is why they needed those merchants.
The merchants were just happy that they got the chance to sell their goods without wondering how was the condition of the people inside.
"Get your mind back on the game Kaoru. The people needs someone to help them understand how things should work. You can start from there, if we really want to help them get back up on their feet we can only help little by little," Akira once again said as she held Kaoru"s fist, waiting for him to loosen up.
Kaoru took a deep breath, before looking back at Akira, "You"re right, looking for someone to blame won"t help the people at all. Let"s settle first, get some rest and start doing something tomorrow."
Without much thought he went up and took the right side room. Both rooms have the same design, a simple bed, a cabinet, a book shelf and a table and chair. Each room also has its own bathroom.
He went ahead and took a bath, trying to calm himself at the same time to remove the remnants of dirt in his body from their journey.
After that he took out a few parchments and a quill. He spread all of it in the table, these parchments were about the necessities needed in a daily living. Without abilities they came up with different tools to make it easier for them.
He was just glad that these were part of the things he took with him upon leaving.
He took another batch of blank parchments as he sat down and started scribbling.
"The first thing that must be considered is what type of crops are being grown here, Aurora is still a bit different from them, I have to know the rotation of their weather..."
"Then what types of medicines do they have. In what condition does these plants grow..."
"There are also the things about normal daily needs. Just how far behing is this kingdom from ours..."
"There"s also the job, since most are relying on their abilities for their jobs, there has to be a way to help them even without the help of..."
Akira who had finished her bath as well and was able to arrange her things went down to cook for their dinner. She was done with all of these but Kaoru still didn"t come out.
Wondering what he had been up to and being worried that he might do something drastic again, she went up to check on him.
She knock a few times but received no reply, she tried twisting the k.n.o.b and found that it was unlock.
Upon peaking inside, she was welcomed by the view of Kaoru mumbling to himself as he scribble down on the parchments. A few crumpled ones were on the floor.
He flipped through the things in his side, they were different files.
A few of what he seemed needed the most were pinned on the wall in front of him.
She opened the door wider and saw that he haven"t even fixed his stuffs yet.
"He went straight to work right after bath?"
She couldn"t help but to shake her head as she silently closed the door and went down once again. She was just happy that they still have a few of the ingredients in making simple pastries.
Kaoru have prepared their travel food after all, she then started preparing some snack for him. She could only put aside the dinner and reheat it once the night becomes deeper.