The Night Rose

Chapter 6

Some of the prisoners left. They thought that they could survive without hearing any advice and guidance while some were trying to find local contacts that could benefit them in their survival in the continent.

"I see. The five of you are the only lucky ones who decided to stay and listen to the poor old me. Congratulations! You will be keeping your life for a little longer!" he said with fake happiness while clapping his hands. He then continued, "As I said, I'm Sam, and now when those who wanted to leave are gone, we can start our exploration from the bottom of this city.", Sam said and started to explain the city's history from the beginning to the current day.

He explained how the first people came to the continent and how there was a history of numerous massive fights for the ownership of the continent.

Then he started from the natives and local fauna around them and how the kingdoms were stuck in the dilemma of choosing between the people and royalties for not having enough resources to serve the public and prioritizing the safety of the main continent. This came into a point where the remaining kingdoms have finally come to the realization that they have to form a strong alliance between each other in order for them to survive. This is how the Westport was built. 

"After the Westport was done and finished, every major kingdoms, including their allies, sealed a deal that even if another war would spark and divide the relationship between kingdoms, their priority would always be to defend the city at all cost. Of course, fighting is still allowed outside the boundary of the city. It is a dog eat dog world out there with the law of the jungle. But in Westport, it is not allowed. Every kingdom has its branches here, and kingdoms that are allied together have chosen a part of the city as their territory.”, Sam explained.

Sam then continued, "Tthe mainland is divided by four: the Crowood, Graymoor, Northguards and Ashenburg as they are the most powerful kingdoms here, as you might know. Each of them governs most of the vast amount of lands allowing the smaller kingdoms to be part of their lands if they pay taxes. Because of this, the city has also been divided into four.  North is Northguard's, East is Graymoor's, South is Ashenburgh's, and East is Crowood's area. So everyone in the kingdom has it's own forces here for the number of people they have sent from the mainland, but they also hire people like you to do the dirty work outside or explore and bring resources back." 

"Unquestionably, the four major kingdoms have the most elite people, while the smaller branches have the weakest. However, every one of them is interested in buying anything you bring and can give their benefits to you.", Sam explained before stopping at the plaza that was in the middle of the city.

"The tour ends at this point. I wish you all good luck, and since you listened to me here, go buy food or something." He tossed the remaining people a silver coin and left towards his branch.

Everyone quickly caught up their silver coin and started to disappear in their ways.

Arwin's first destination was the city vendor who sold meat skewers. After buying a few meat skewers, she only had fifty copper coins left, and she was thinking about what she should do next.

She didn't know if anyone she knew was in the city, and she didn't have that much money left nor a place to spend the night.

She was wondering if she should join under someone's banner for now.

After pondering her options for a while eating her meat skewers, she decided to test her luck on the Northguards branch. She was confident enough that her skills, especially as a pilot and mechanic, would be top-notch, and thought that she was good enough as a fighter as well.

So, she started to head towards the meat skewer stand again.

"Hey, I would like another meat skewer, and then I would like to know where the Northgate's branch is?" Arwin asked from the vendor.

"Coming right up. It is ten copper coins for the meat skewer, and Northguards branch follows the main road, which is that one," the vendor pointed towards a road.

"You should arrive in less than ten minutes there, and you cannot miss the branch house as it's the largest on the North with a massive sign." The vendor said and gave the meat skewer to Arwin.

"Thank you for the help," Arwin said and gave fifteen copper coins to the vendor that smiled from receiving extra money.

"It's nothing at all, and if you want more to eat or need additional help, you will always find me here." The vendor added while waving at Arwin, who smiled at the vendor.

"I will keep that in my mind.", Arwin stated before starting to head towards the north.

While walking, she saw a massive and luxurious building and thought. 'The vendor was right; you cannot miss the building at all when you come here.'

It was three floors high, and it had two massive oak doors, mostly as decorations, as many people were using smaller doors that were built on the two oak doors as their main entrance to the building.

'Here it goes, I hope for the best.' Arwin gave herself a small prep talk inside her head before heading towards the building.