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Chapter 384: Inkoran-Tazul, Capital of the Ankor-Nazta. [Third Draft]
🕑 Added 2023-01-10 02:07:08 +0000 UTCEdit: Added some more flavor to the city. Not like it needed more, but I had forgotten to add them.
Edit: Syntax and mistakes fixes
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“Please, mind your feet!” The sound of the station announcer woke me up from my sleep.
Just like me, Neill just woke up, too. With still drowsy eyes, she darted her head around, slightly confused by the sudden loud announcement. “Wh-wha? We’re here?”
Next, the sound of clanking metal and fire bursting out echoed all around, making it impossible for us to keep sleeping so we had to force ourselves up. Rajah, who was standing on watch for some reason, nudged our bodies from our cabin beds onto the ground. Once we sisters stretched to get rid of the sleeping stiffness, we then looked out of the window, confirming we were indeed at the next station—or, in this case, our last.
Inkoran-Tazul, the Capital of the Ankor-Nazta, seat of the dwarf’s Ankoran King. Naturally, this was also the capital of the Church of Crustacia and many more subordinate gods from the Pantheon of Earth. Not to mention, this was also the primary hub of everything dwarven; from runecraft down to simple noodle masters.
Neill then suddenly pointed at a clock, informing us we just arrived here in the middle of the night. Two bells, or hours, after midnight. Meaning, two days had passed since we first got on the train. It should’ve taken only a day to travel from Gazahan-Orn to the Capital, but we had to wait a bit at two stops.
Two hold kings and their retinue had boarded the train, so it took longer than usual to get everything ready. Personally, I didn’t care to socialize with them, so I had avoided them entirely. It helped that I spent most of my time in the back cars to stay with our RV more, in addition to being measured by Grimnir. My armor still needed some time.
A knock on the door stirred us away from the window. “My Ladies?”
“Come in!” I called out, allowing Hestia, Shay, and Beth to enter. Once they bowed, they began to clean up our cabin, since Neill and I had a slumber party moment where we snacked and talked a bit too much. Meaning, our cabin was filthy.
“…” Naturally, Tasianna wasn’t too happy about it when she noticed bits of cake and even pizza stuck on the ground. Tamae recently returned to cooking and managing our bistro and restaurant, and in the process, I had suggested we introduce something interesting to attract our loyal customers.
More Italian specialities like pizza and ice cream, of course! Easy and satisfying to eat, not to mention, very different from what was normal. Pizza was very cheap to make since the ingredients we needed were in abundance in the Greenveil duchy, while ice cream had to be marked as a “luxury item” since the need for refrigeration made it more expensive. Well, more things to sell to the nobles wasn’t a problem; we needed money, anyways.
“It’s fine inside our home, but please be aware we are in public …” Tasianna squinted her eyes a bit as she lectured us, forcing us to apologize to her.
We stayed in our cabin for a while longer, only so the other royals could get off the train. Although we still haven’t had our deep talk yet, the Ankoran King had invited me to a meeting tomorrow morning. He told our party we could either crash at his place, or rent an inn room. It was our choice where to enjoy our time, but he did tell me I had to stay at his palace during the weeks approaching the summit for courtesy’s sake.
In other words, I had to appear like a princess once the time came, since representatives of the summit would arrive. In other words, it confirmed Artorias and the dwarves wouldn’t be the only guests. Loatryx would definitely join since I was named in the invitation letters, but hopefully Saelariel and Caedhul would come, too. I was also planning on having Estralia participate, and maybe Yeos, depending on how they wished to approach the future.
So, until then, I had free reign!
After some time had passed, our entire party exited the train into a slightly crowded train station. It wasn’t just filled with only engineers and workers, but I could see a few simple passengers waiting for “Draco Skull” to be boarded, not to mention, human, beastman, and elven adventurers!
“O-oi, Kyouya, Kyouya! Look!” Tatsuya furiously tapped on his best friend’s shoulder while mumbling. He then pointed at a group of female adventures consisting of two katzunes and an elf, ignoring the two beastman men behind them. “We’re so close! Finally, this is a fantasy world!”
“U-uh, yeah, dude.” On the other hand, Kyouya was taking glances at Haruka, who was just speaking casually with Tamae, totally ignorant of what was happening. “Y-yup, just as you said. Yup.”
“Ooooooh!” Neill turned her body around, walking backwards as she grinned wolfishly at the two boys. “We aren’t enough for you, hmm? Aren’t ‘fantasy,’ as you like to call our little party, here?”
Well, nevermind the fact Tatsuya got horny about cat and elven girls, Sis was right, our party was pretty diverse when it came to races. Four dragonkins, one elf, a dwarf, a giant wolf—if we included Saori. The rest were humans.
Master and the saurians weren’t around anymore since they still planned on helping Elyonda get back on their feet, meaning hunting some pirates and scavengers. Rita and Cernust didn’t join since they had other things preoccupying their interests, which I hadn’t asked, since I didn’t need to know every single bit on their schedule. However, I did invite Renee to come with me, since she was part of my plan to integrate Yeos into the summit.
However, she declined, as she was currently using her right as a Champion of Yeostar to train with Yeostar! Sadly, she told me Yeostar hadn’t appeared, but instead an “angel” or aide, as they liked to call themselves. A follower of Yeostar during his days as a mortal, who ascended with him during his apotheosis. It was similar to how Kramps took the older dragons with him to the Divine realm after he became a god, leaving people like Mom and her brother parentless, and literally prompting a civil war.
Well, I didn’t want to talk too much about history. In any case, Renee was training with the goal to become as strong as her mother, so some ancient warrior becoming her mentor sounded like straight from a story book. I would leave her to that.
So, our party was the usual with the main Aurora members plus Rajah, the wyvern twins, and the two groups of students. Well, Neill didn’t really count as an Aurora member since she hadn’t joined us officially, but she practically was our replacement for Saori, until the latter returned with Asaka. Yorshka and Farron could’ve come, too, but they were currently busy with something else.
Jadhund and Rosserto wanted to join us, but it seemed they had to go. Business called, they mentioned. So, we had to wait until tomorrow to meet again.
As we were leaving the train station, Nishio pointed at one of the signs. It read “Minecart Transportation -> 5 meters,” meaning we had to turn to our left. Just like the party finder function on our party bracelet, the metric system was on full display here. Then again, it was introduced to this world by the dwarves, or to be specific, Chihiro did.
It was pretty confusing when we first learned Peolyncian used an Earthen unit system, but it made sense after we learned about the Revolution Queen. Just like the clocks around us, Chihiro's influence was clear to everybody.
Our first stop in this Dwarven-Japanese city was to find the minecart station so we could travel through the town faster. A bit of a waste, since this city was actually beautiful. Just like in Gazahan-Orn, this place was colorful, filled with bright lights illuminating this whole cave. However, unlike the previous hold, this place wasn’t underground, but it was still under a mountain.
Just looking at the right, you could see the sheer size of this place. The cavern’s ceiling was so high, it towered over Mother’s nest in my subspace, giving her plenty of room to wander around in her dragon form. Humongous, and the dwarves utilized it all. No space left unoccupied, as even the walls had buildings attached to them. In fact, the whole train station was built into the wall, meaning you could lean along a railing and look down and get dizzy from how far up we were.
“Woah! Guys!” I cheered, smiling as I saw buildings below us with people coming and going on the streets. It was like looking down the balcony on the third floor of a building.
“There is even a building on the ceiling itself!” Daichi exclaimed, pointing at an edged pillbox-like structure. Grimnir confirmed it was a watch tower, pointing at several other ones along the walls and on the ground.
“The minecart system isn’t just used for transportation, it’s also there for our defence. Mount some crossbows and mana cannons on them, and you have a fast-moving defence system,” Grimnir described, before pointing at the cart tracks connecting the individual towers to each other. “A lot of tazongn holds have been modernized after Goddess Chihiro’s death, but none is more impressive than ‘Inko-Taz,’ as the locals like to call the capital. Here is where she got full reign to experiment and implement.”
Honestly, it made Gazahan-Orn look like some prototype. Even down to the decoration and architecture. Whoever thought it was smart to build the train station so high up was a blood genius. You could see so much of the city from here! It was a sightseer’s dream, and I couldn’t help but bring out the video recorder to film all of this.
I darted the lens from the industrial complexes, to something similar to Little Japan with their entirely traditional houses, to a still-active marketplace. It was in the middle of the night, but this place was still active! It was so bright and full of people like any metropolitan city despite it being past midnight, you could only wonder how crowded it would be in the morning.
Similar to how we saw some elves before, the place was full with a variety of races, compared to Yeos or Artorias. You had your elves, but I also saw some scaly, winged dragonewts and scaly, scary-looking levianewts and merfolk around. They were drinking through the night, or puking out what they had intaken. Curiously, it was here that I also witnessed my first manatech golems; the dwarves were using them like heavy maintenance carriers and guards.
Grimnir told me I could think of them as a construct held together through manatech and runes, similar to how gargoyles were created with manatech and alchemy. They were different to the golems spells could create, like Tasianna’s [Winter’s Golem]. Apparently, the hottest trend amongst the golemancers, or golemtechnicians, was the automation of them.
Regardless, that last bit didn’t keep my attention for too long, as I was quickly mesmerized by all the sounds. You could feel the overwhelming talking, footsteps, and general noises from the buildings. Us city kids felt full nostalgia from watching everything, while those less used to this were just baffled and amazed. Ellaine couldn’t believe something like this could exist, while Tasianna even felt nervous just being here.
We all witnessed Griffonpeak, and to be honest, it was pretty large, as well. But there was a difference between seeing everything from the ground to watching over this place from up high. It was just like flying; you could appreciate the grandness of everything better.
“Ahem!” Sadly, this moment wouldn’t last, as we woke up from it and turned to Tamae. She was clapping her hands, drawing our attention to her. “We have a whole day to be tourists tomorrow! Let’s go find some accommodations before then, right? I bet everybody is tired!”
She was one of the class presidents for the Shirako High students, so it was obvious she would be able to take command better. I mean, outside of Grimnir, we didn’t really have an actual adult with us. The twins were still new to all of this, while Sis was … well, Sis. Without Saori, Yorshka, or Master, there really wasn’t anybody who could keep us together.
So, with Tamae leading us and Grimnir as our guide, we first walked to the minecart station, trying our best not to bump into anybody, like some random tourist in a metropolitan area. Once there, I pulled out a ticket King Fugnarus gave me. A “Premium Ticket” for a whole party, guaranteeing free rides throughout the city as long as everybody was in my party. Since my party bracelet allowed up to twenty people, instead of the standard five, it accommodated all 16 of us, minus Rajah since he was in my shadow.
Now, as you might expect, the transportation methods were minecart. Nothing really special, but still pretty avant-garde, if you thought about it. Here was the thing, though. The friendly dwarven staff member should’ve probably warned all of us with how fast this thing was about to travel.
“Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” I flailed my arms in the air, taking in the incredible speed of this minecart.
“Ahahaha!” Sitting right in front of me, Sis turned her head around with a wide grin as she crackled at my enjoyment., “Shiehahaha! What the hell are you so excited for? We fly faster than this!”
“What do you mean?!” I shouted back. “Roooollller coaster! Wooooooo!”
It was exactly that. The setting of the station, the way they kept you safe in your seats, and the manner they decorated the minecarts to look more than just minecarts, made it oh so similar to a roller coaster! I could see the others enjoy themselves, although some didn’t really share in the excitement.
Tatsuya, Kyouya, and Kohaku were naturally captivated, waving their arms up just like me. Meanwhile, Daichi, Kazumi, and Misaki were holding onto their restraints with slight timidity, still taking in the fun of the acceleration. On the other hand, Tasianna, and Ellaine didn’t take the speed too well, as they looked pretty scared.
As you might expect, those used to this weren’t in any way affected. The wyvern twins and Grimnir looked like this was just a daily activity, while Nishio and Tamae were instead more enthralled by the surroundings. What surprised me, though, was how Haruka was really enjoying this, laughing aloud despite her usual sheepishness. Who didn’t like roller coasters, come on!
It didn’t take too long, but the thrill of the ride remained in my body as we exited the station. I felt so jumpy and full of energy from that joy ride. Although, I did notice we did annoy a few passengers, as they glared at us as we exited the place. I guess we were a bit too loud.
Walking through the Dwarven-Japanese style streets, it did make me feel a bit overwhelmed by the styles. Nothing really conflicted with each other, per se; it was more how fantastical it was to see all of this again after Gazahan-Orn. You would think it was only a one time thing, but this dwarven hold brought it up another level. With all the stone walls, manatech decorating everything, and Japanese style giving it an oriental flavor, this city was definitely unique.
“T-thank you very much for staying, Princess Hestia!” An inko woman in a kimono bowed before me, stuttering a bit as she greeted me as a dragon princess of Kargryx.
“Hai, arigato gozaimasu. But, please, drop the ‘princess’ part. ‘Lady’ or not at all would be more comfortable for me,” I responded, stunning the woman with my Japanese “Yes, thank you very much.” This woman, one of the innkeeper, was absolutely speechless.
We booked two rooms at an inn close to the opening of the cavern, recommended by Jadhund before he left. It was a Japanese styled inn right in the middle of the Little Japan section I witnessed before, to the point it honestly felt 100% authentic. The dwarven staff members were all wearing yukatas and we were even given spares to wear during our stay!
When we noted our surprise at how there were enough rooms left, despite how late it was, the innkeeper told us they made most of their money through the public bathhouse and the hot springs they had. The inn was more on the expensive side, though.
Separated by gender, we girls were led to a large room with tatami mats and so on. I mean, was this Peolynca, or did we teleport back to Japan for a moment? Goodness gracious, Chihiro was amazing! She really brought small Japan to this world.
“Arigato gozaimasu!” We Japanese girls thanked the innkeeper by bowing deeply, before we started to change into the yukata they gave us. With the fact they saw my full name when I gave them my ID to register our stay, I wondered how long it would take them to think of me as more than just a dragon princess.
Sadly, since it was so late in the night, we didn’t do much afterwards and just went to sleep. Once morning came, our group decided to split up for the day, since walking around together made it feel too much like a school trip.
As such, the “Magical Biscuit” members went off to the market to check out the local products and such. Aside from Tatsuya, everybody from the “Misfits” decided on inspecting the tech and the local guilds, particularly the adventurer guilds, since we need permission to enter the local dungeons and what we could do to earn some big money. The borrowed money we had on hand wouldn’t last us forever.
Since the students had been here before with Grimnir and Ellaine, they knew how to navigate through the city and which parts to avoid. Crime was still a normal thing here, so we shouldn’t let our guard down. Most of the time, we could identify the dwarven thieves if they had no rock hair. In other words, zuekluk. Grimnir really had it hard.
“Okay,” Grimnir said after putting his helmet on, using a wide face mask to hide the fact he was an exiled. While he wasn’t legally allowed in Gazahan-Orn, he could wander around the capital with no legal problems, albeit socially, he would be treated pretty badly just like anywhere with dwarves.
Even the innkeeper gave him the eye and would have probably kicked him out if I hadn’t shown my ID. It was a constant reminder to us that while we managed to protect his honor as a blacksmith and allowed him to get back his stuff, he was still considered a criminal within dwarven society. In a way, only getting ostracized here was probably good for him; better than something worse.
In any case, my groups’ first goal of the day was to sightsee. We could always roam around in the hold, but what I was curious about was outside this cavern. Bright sunlight was shining into the city, really showing off the huge wall protecting the inside of the cavern. All the bright neon lights were off, instead, white light coming from the many watch towers above illuminated everything.
To travel around, we took the minecarts, again. It was just like taking the sub, or metro. This time, though, I didn’t cheer too much as I instead, took in the sight the moment we exited the cave.
“W-woah.” I was speechless as my eyes witnessed the two gigantic dwarven statues standing in front of a valley. The right one had two giant ram horns, similar to a taz dwarf, while the left was slightly smaller in stature, probably an inko.
Grimnir explained the two statues represented the kinship between the inko and taz dwarves, while also showing respect to the two mountains which created the Ankoran mountain range. To the left was the Inkong mountain—a small and singular mountain with bountiful soil for mushrooms but also where you could find most of the mana-rich minerals. To the right was the Tazlok mountain ranges, which pretty much was about 95% of the entire thing.
While the Tazlock mountains was where tazlock wheat was grown and where the vast majority of people were living, the Inkong mountain was a special place as it was where the first dwarves were created by the Earth Elemental. That was why the palace of the Ankoran King was situated right there.
“Urgh!” After a couple of moments, my skin finally realized something far more important than this amazing sight; the fact it was literally snowing! “Waarh! It’s cold!”
“Brrr! Use your core already.”
Reminded by Sis, I activated my core and increased my body temperature slightly, warming Neill and me up in the process. It was still growing, but it could do simple things like this.
In addition, Neill also pressed a rune attached to the inside of the minecart, activating a mana barrier around us which slightly regulated the temperature. Seeing as how I could now feel the freezing air of Ankor-Nazta, it was clear the inside of the cavern city had a temperature regulator like most nobles and rich merchants. It was a manatech, so it was obvious.
In addition, seeing as how it was just HarvestMoon—October—maybe I should have guessed it would be cold since we were north of Artorias, now. The others in our party didn’t feel the cold too much, either ‘cause they were an ice elementally-aligned person, like Tasianna and the twins, or were already wearing thick clothing and armor—Ellaine, Tatsuya, and Grimnir in this case. Since Neill and I had Kargryxmor blood, we were naturally weaker to ice and the cold.
Regardless of that, once us sisters stopped shivering, we continued our sightseeing. Specifically, we stared at the city built right outside of the cavern! We were currently driving over a bridge overlooking the place, stopping by the minecart station there. Similar to a metro, this place had multiple platforms, each leading to a different location.
“Jeez, Saori would fangirl about this so much. Hey, Grimnir, do you think I can take out the recorder?” I asked a bit cautiously, since I could already guess his answer.
“Not if you want to attract the attention of those artificers,” he sighed deeply, reminding me how the recorder was taboo outside of subspace. “You should know how we tazongs act, lass.”
Eccentric, right.
While I was waiting in my seat, I kept darting my head around like some school kid on a trip. Meanwhile, Tasianna asked Grimnir why there was another city outside, to which he answered this was where most immigrants and “surface-dwellers” lived.
“You have humans, beastman, elves, sometimes even Caedhulens and Loatryxians. Not everybody can adapt to living inside a cave where you can’t always see the sun and the nights are always loud and bright. This is the place for them, but made with dwarven architecture. This is as much of a ‘surface’ hold as you find in the entire Ankor-Nazta.” Grimnir then pointed at the staff members. “Also why most tazics like me would rather avoid this place. Our place is under the ground or at work. This hamlet was built for inkos to farm ‘normal’ crops, before it became a hub for travelers, merchants, and such.”
“There are two adventurer HQ in this place; one outside, one inside. Both share their Quests boards, since they use the crystals to monitor everything,” Tatsuya explained. He was coming with us as the representative of the students. “You should see the different racial districts. They got a whole elven bro—”
“Tasianna, air bubble around us. Now.” Neill cut him short, ordering Tasianna to cast [Air Shield] for some reason. However, my fairy friend didn’t question her and erected one.
As I wanted to ask Neill what was wrong, Neill turned my head around and pointed at the entrance as five dragonewts suddenly charged right up the stairs, knocking people out of the way. Unlike the train station, this place was crowded, to the point it felt like rush hour, so they were knocking down more than just three commuters.
Neill then pressed my head down the minecart, hiding me inside it. She did the same and began to sigh, shaking her head in annoyance.
“Dragonkins can smell true dragonkins; you forgot?”
My eyes widened when Sis told me that, remembering how Cernust and Yorshka met up with me. Both of them were guided here by my dragon pheromones. Not to mention, Mom found me in that fashion, too.
Neill then turned on her [Telepathy], sending her voice to everybody in our party. [“We got some annoying reverers. Beth. Shay. Just act normal and let them think they smelled you two, alright?”]
[“Draw their attention away with dummies? Understood, Princess Fargryneill.”] Dutiful Shay nodded after summarizing the plan.
On the other hand, Beth questioned her, [“Would it be that bad, My Lady? Lesser dragonkins should show you the necessary respect, though! To My Lady, especially!”]
[“We can deal with that when the damn Loatryxian reps arrive, but until then, I don’t want a repeat of everything. I already caused that damn dwarf king trouble once already!”]
Now that I thought about it, High King Fugnarus did mention how certain dragonkins weren’t polite. It was clear he was mentioning Neill, but I didn’t think the trouble was due to dragonewts. Here I thought she punched somebody she shouldn’t have, according to the description she gave me of her past self.
When I peeked, I noticed how both human-like and full beast-like dragonewts were shouting something. According to Tasianna, they were shouting how they were looking for dragonkins and they smelled like royals. The people around them didn’t take them too seriously, although a few station workers did notice how Neill and I were ducking. I heard from Grimnir one of them even told us we shouldn’t be using magic inside the city, but they would overlook it for helping them avoid chaos.
Goodness gracious, what the hell is wrong with them!
“You look like somebody who can’t believe this is possible …” Neill stated with a disappointed expression. “Oi, just ‘cause Yorshka and Priscilla are both normal people, doesn’t mean every dragonewt is the same. They are fanatics when it comes to dragons, you remember? Didn’t you hear about this or how they hate dragonslayers with a passion from Melloxtressa, or Yorshka? Or, even Cernust?”
I nodded, now remembering that very fact. Something about dragonewts even declaring a public war against any dragonslayers, to the point they would even execute them on the streets if there was one. They revered true dragonkins like literal gods, or ascended beings, to the point dragon blood was sacred.
Yorshka did say how she wasn’t like them ever since she got married, but was something similar to what Neill described in the past. It was such a long time, I had almost forgotten about it. Knowing this again made me feel even more disturbed by this—as an idol, I mean. They sounded like unreasonable stans, honestly.
In any case, before they could find us, the minecart started again and we departed. Us sisters breathed a short sigh of relief before we took in the rest of the sight.
The “surface” city looked pretty much like a normal human city, returning to your usual medieval setting. It wasn’t overly spectacular like the cavern, but it also wasn’t boring. There were multiple pretty landmarks like farms, giant trees, and even what … looked like floating, wooden houses? Okay, I should take that back, this place was also pretty wild!
“That’s your first taste of Loatryxian architecture, Sis. Floating, stationary houses, created through manatech and dragonkin scales,” Neill explained. “Also, you got the tree huggers in the elves, and the mini aquapolis of the Caedhulens. Inkoran-Tazul’s surface hold is truly a melting hub of cultures. Each district was made to accommodate every race who comes here … well, except demonkins.”
“… Because they don’t get any as guests. Right. Their capital is literally on the other side of the continent.”
Aside from that, this city was really something you could walk around for weeks for and you would still find something interesting about it. Sadly, our stay here didn’t last too long as we finally reached the Inkoran mountain; this was where the royal palace was.
We entered through a tunnel and stopped at the station. After exiting the place, we noticed a slight round woman in a butler suit approach us. Behind her were multiple samurais and Earthshakers, including one giant mana golem. Clearly guards.
The female butler bowed deeply before us. “May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay. We people of the earth greet our illustrious visitors. My name is Ikkun Jodlaham, a servant of the Ankoran Queen. May we presume you are Princess Fargryneill and Princess Hestia of Kargryx?”
The both of us nodded, although Sis did it reluctantly.
“Brilliant. Thank you, and I hope you have had a chance for a good rest after your travels with His and Her Majesty. Ankor-Nazta will always appreciate our alliance with the Dragon Emperor Eltharion. Please, allow us to lead you to the palace.”
Instead of minecarts, we got on normal-looking carriages. For safety’s sake, no minecarts were installed inside the royal palace, so if you wanted to move around, it had to be with your traditional carriage or on your feet.
After we got on, our slow trip to the palace, where I noted how this place seemed more like another city, than an actual palace. Aside from the bright, white-golden fortress with two dwarven statues flanking it, the buildings surrounding this one point of interest were reserved for the different guilds. Since guilds were an important part of dwarven society, while there wasn’t a traditional nobility system, the many guilds were essentially like a senate for the Ankoran King.
At least, that was what Grimnir explained.
In any case, once we passed through some gates, we approached the giant white-gold fortress and entered it with Ikkun as our guide. After some walking around in this illustrious and opulent palace, we reached a room. Once she opened it for us, the voices of two men greeted us into the room.
“Ahh, our guests of honor! Welcome, to the seat of the Ankor-Nazta!” One was the Ankoran King himself, spreading his arms out to welcome us. His queen stood up, too, bowing before us.
“We’ve been awaiting you, Aurora. Please, have a seat.” The second was King Drangleic, extending one of his arms forward to invite us, while his wife curtsied.
I curtsied, while Neill bowed. Looking at her, I knew I had to greet them for us. “Thank you very much, Ankoran King Fugnarus Kongun and King Drangleic var Artorias. Let us begin.”
Comments
Diego Rossi
but what I was curious about was the outside. - missing a word here.
No, no, you got it wrong. The train station is inside the "undermountain" part of the whole city. The first part of the city, described in the first half of the chapter, is underneath a mountain side with an wide open entrance. Think of it like a giant mountain cavern with the entire part of the city inside. It is similar to Mesa Verde, but at a far larger scale but also deeper into the cavern.
Diego Rossi
"this place wasn’t underground. .... The cavern’s ceiling was" It isn't underground and has a cavern ceiling? It is something like Mesa Verde, a city into the side of a mountain? Or it is only the station that isn't underground? I realized only after re-reading the piece that probably that is what you are saying. A pity, as the image of a dwarven city into the side of a mountain had struck a cord in my heart. If not the capital, find a way to put one into the story someday. ;-)
