Chapter 519: Willow Scale City
*Bing-Bong*
Please note that the entirety of these next few scenes, all the dialogue will be in Tidal tongue.
No indicators will be used to differentiate between languages…for now.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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Once the issue with the front gate was resolved via the establishment of a second queue, the joint caravan of the Zhen branch clan and the Skyscales Company was quickly switched over to it and was processed by the guardsmen in an expedient manner…mostly.
One would think that performing all of this bureaucratic nonsense while floating on a giant river raft would be novel at least, but that sentiment quickly faded as the inspection began to take longer than anticipated, but it was at least understandable as to why this occurred.
The people at the gate had to make sure the aether beasts the caravan had brought with them were either properly stabled, like in the case of the hippo aether beasts, and/or placed in strong enough cages, like the Thunderscale Dragon Otter and her brood.
After that, they also had to make sure all of the cargo was legitimate without any contraband mixed in. This then led to an attempt by the guards to extort the group for some bribes, with subtle implications that something was mixed in, probably being planted by the guards themselves, but that was shut down almost immediately once they learned that Patriarch Zhen Shi was an Aether Lord.
Greed may be a powerful motivator, but the survival instinct is the ultimate deterrent to reckless actions.
After that though, the group was quickly processed by a group of significantly more helpful attendants and finally allowed into the city itself.
Of course they had to make quick declaration that the reason for their trip was a matter of business with a possible addition of pleasure given the festival circumstances. Granted, they never specified what kind of business.
“Welcome to Willow Scale City! We hope you enjoy your stay and that your blades remain ever sharp! Enjoy the Sapling Festival!,” one of the attendants told the group as they left the checkpoint behind.
The caravan leaders agreed that they would disband after the festival had ended, understanding that it was significantly easier to acquire lodging and such as a group than it was as individuals.
But now, after a “chance” encounter with one of the main clan’s hitmen, after at least a month of travel, after dealing with a horde of coral zombies being led by a demented fish-man and after being almost eaten by giant murderous otters that had questionably edible meat, the Zhen branch clan finally made it to the so-called homeland of their ancestors.
Or in other words, Zhen Shi finally came back to bury the hatchet he had made, with his family in tow…and one other thing.
‘Just a little bit longer Bai Hua…just a little bit longer…’
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‘And we are finally in the city proper…lords above that took a really long time…’
[Ah! Director, good timing,] Razorstella interjected, [we have just finished scouting up the Artisan Quarters and were just about to check out the guard barracks. Do you want us to give you the rundown on everything we got so far or do you want us to finish scouting out everything before we tell you what we found?]
‘I can wait until-wait…actually, did you guys by any chance take the opportunity to check out any places that have an inn or a hotel we can crash at?’
[An inn or a hotel…hmmm,] Razorstella mentally hummed in thought.
[I think…I saw that most of the places that are closest to the festival grounds were completely packed with people, at least that’s what the no vacancy signs implied.]
‘As to be expected…’
[I also remember seeing some places with signs indicating that they only had single rooms available…]
‘Not applicable given my family’s size.’
[Other than those, I’m not entirely-]
[Ringmaster,] Spring Brawler interrupted, [I think I found someplace that can accommodate your clan and those Skyscales people too.]
‘You did? Where at?’
‘Its over at the…’
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Before entering the city hub proper, the caravan group had to go through one last little tunnel that was connected to the gate they just entered.
As such, they weren’t able to see what the city actually looked like without having to exit this aforementioned tunnel.
But after they went through, the Zhen branch clan, especially the scions, realized it was well worth the build-up.
“Holy…,” Zhen Liu started.
“…fucking…,” Zhen Xing continued.
“…shit…,” Zhen Tai carried on.
“This place is huge!,” Zhen Hai finished.
“I think the words ‘massive’ is more accurate,” Zhen Yue corrected her cousins.
“What kind of formations are they using to get those streams to float like that?,” Zhen Tai asked.
“I’m more curious how they got the buildings to float like that myself…,” Zhen Guo added.
The cityscape that unfolded before their eyes was incredibly different to what the Zhen branch clan was used to seeing.
Having grown up in Stone Claw City and visiting the more prosperous cities near them, the Zhen Clan scions assumed that there was nothing special about this so-called ancestral homeland, cities were just cities after all.
Big, noisy, filled with a fuckton of people coming and going everywhere and home to at least several powerful families and factions vying for power and resources by making deals and backstabbing one another.
In essence, city life.
However, they forgot to include two little details in regards to making this comparison: geography and age.
Willow Scale City was built on a continent that was rich in Aquarii aether, as evident by all the rivers, lakes and swamps that the landscape, not to mention the flood plains, but as a result of this geographical quirk, a lot of the people and civilizations living here had to adapt their layouts to work with such limitations, in a sharp contrast to Stampeding Bison’s long stretches of flat, solid ground.
As such, most of the internal layout of Willow Scale City consisted of islands of buildings connected by bridges while massive canals separated them.
Making matters more absurd to them though was the sight of floating city blocks, supported by literal magic bubbles, connected to the ground and each other via thick streams of water that could best be described with the term, “floating canals”.
Whether these unusual floating architectural designs was due to a formation, strange materials or treasures was up for debate and probably be unknown to the Zhen branch clan members even after they left.
As for the second factor of age, there wasn’t much to debate on this topic.
Stone Claw City was old, sure with a history of about a hundred or so years give or take a couple of decades, but it was still considered a “frontier town”, due to the lack of built infrastructure in the area.
Perhaps this would change over time as more and more people came to the frontier, but that was a long ways away.
Willow Scale City on the other hand had a rich history spanning at least several centuries, with plenty of time to develop a robust infrastructure and go through generations of powerful clans, wealthy individuals and all manner of folks and creatures contributing to the growth and prosperity of the city as a whole.
There were times where things got tough and people either starved to death or died from a plague, including an incident involving a scuffle between two of the Pearl Scale Emperor’s children that ended a quadruple digit body count, but overall, the growth of Willow Scale City had always been positive.
Willow Scale was massive, foreign and familiar all at once to the Zhen branch clan members, but as they stared out and took in all of the sights and sounds it had to offer, a single, important thought came to their minds.
Where the fuck were they going to sleep tonight?
Through a combination of bad luck and and timing on their end, the branch clan had arrived to Willow Scale right at the start of a week long festival known as the Sapling Festival.
It was apparently one of those “anniversary festivals”, the kind that celebrated the birth of a location and took an inordinately long time to celebrate.
While this meant that they could wander the city no problem and blend in with all of the tourists that came to celebrate, but this also meant that they had to compete with all of these tourists for some temporary lodging.
“Wait, isn’t the main branch situated here? Can’t we just hit them up for a place to sleep given that we’re technically family?,” Zhen Hai suggested to his cousins.
“I mean, we also have that main branch enforcer with us, so…”
“I actually asked father about that idea earlier, grandfather and the other elders rejected that idea given the fact that while we are blood related there’s still some…questionable blood between us and them,” Zhen Yue informed the others, “so it’s being deemed a necessity that we find someplace we could sleep without the possibly of us being murdered in our sleep.”
“That seems a bit…paranoid,” Zhen Feng commented.
“Not really…grandfather regaled me with some stories about how on the way to Stampeding Bison, he and grandma got harassed by assassins a lot…at this point it’s instinct.”
“Dark.”
“Huh? Zhen Liu? Where you going?”
As the scions of the Zhen Clan discussed their situation, the Fourth Young Master had begun to wander off before being caught.
“Well…instead of waiting around here, I figured I’d be proactive and try to find someplace to sleep myself,” Zhen Liu answered.
“You guys wanna come?”
