NOVEL NEXT Chapter 371: The Nine Wardens
Ren smiled to himself as he walked through the streets of Carthage.
It's been a month since they'd passed the exam and been granted entry into the mountain city, and the surroundings still looked new to him.
Somehow, they'd managed to fit several cities inside this single mountain.
From what Ren could understand, Carthage has been in existence for at least three centuries.
In over three centuries, Carthage had become the world's densest hub for powerful people. The powerful people in Carthage, and the Arondale mountains, were more numerous than anywhere else in the world.
But it also meant those powerful people had descendants and those descendants also had descendants.
He looked up at the street again. This layer of Carthage was simply one giant, hollowed out, cast cavern, big enough to house the small city.
Up above them, in place of the sky, was the roof of the cavern, made of solid stone.
The only thing that illuminated the city were white orbs affixed to the streetlights, glowing brightly to indicate day, and dimming to indicate night.
Right now, it was glowing bright enough to indicate mid morning.
Stone houses, made from the same rock that the mountain was made of, lined the street on either side of him.
This was one of the uppermost layers of the city, and one of the places his basic badge allowed him access to.
Carthage was a city built upon layers. The lower down the layer goes, the more prestigious it was.
That meant the elders and the most powerful lived in the deepest layer and the ordinary citizens lived on the top most layer.
In Carthage, each lower level was warmer, richer, and more dangerous. If you wanted power, you didn't climb. You descend. For in this city, the wealth flows downward.
But Ren could understand why the city had been set up like this.
While the original elders that had created Carthage were long dead, their descendants, the elders that had inherited their seats, knew of the Primordial Flame. And that meant that they had to occupy the layer closest to where they thought the Flame was.
Another thing that had fascinated Ren was the descendants themselves.
From what he could understand, most people that lived in Carthage had been born there. They didn't know how the world outside looked like for they had never left the walls of their warm city.
This is for one single reason only.
The Law.
The elders of Carthage knew that the Arondale mountain range would be dangerous to their descendants, most of whom do not have access to a Tree of Power to activate their Bloodbinding.
So, that meant most of the people in Carthage were normal citizens.
In order to protect them from going outside, they enacted a rule. If the people born in the city leave Carthage, they would also have to take the exams like everyone else to enter again.
This prevents them from even thinking of straying outside.
But the thing that infuriated Ren the most was all the fees. It was as if he was back on Earth and had to pay so many bills even when he didn't want to.
To understand the fees, one first has to understand the council of elders and what they're in charge of.
Carthage is ruled by a council of nine elders called wardens. Each warden is responsible for something in the city, giving them something to control.
The first warden is the Warden of Light.
They're the elder responsible for making sure there's enough light to see in Carthage. Those orbs that supply lights to the streets? They're responsible for them.
But if you want lights in your own house, you have to pay for it. That is one of the fees in Carthage.
It was just like back on Earth. You need to see at night? Pay the light bill.
Things like firewood or oil lamps were not really common in Carthage. And they're just too expensive to be used as fuel for just lighting.
The next warden is the Warden of Law.
They're responsible for the soldiers and law enforcement. They control the military and security of Carthage.
Thankfully, they're paid by the city itself through the normal taxes. Just like Earth.
The next warden is the Warden of Statistics. They're responsible for the badges that each citizen holds.
This means they know how many citizens are in Carthage.
But what the ordinary citizen didn't know was that the badges also act as a surveillance tool for the elders to know where every single citizen is at all given times.
If too many badges clustered in one place, alarms were triggered.
Resistance, rebellion, or even a rowdy celebration, it didn't matter. They'd erase it all the same. Quietly.
Ren had no idea how they're paid or made money though.
Next is the Warden of Money. They're in charge of banks, and producing the money used in the city. Basically, they have the power to pay themselves.
After that is the Warden of Water. They control the hot springs and are responsible for the water that flows through the city.
Just like light, one has to pay in order to have access to water. Classic.
Next is the Warden of Knowledge.
Responsible for the education and archives in the city. And just like back on Earth, they fail more often than they succeed.
He also had no idea how they generate or receive money.
Then, there is the Warden of Agriculture. This elder is responsible for the growing of food in Carthage. They own the farms and forests, including the one Ren and his companions had taken their exams in.
They generate money by selling their produce.
Last but not least, is the Warden of Power. They're one of the most important elders, because they're in charge of controlling access and guarding the single Blood Tree present in Carthage.
The whole city has only one Tree of Power. A Blood Tree.
The Tree has to be guarded, because losing it means losing the only thing that allowed each elders to make sure they're descendants also grew to be powerful Rank 9 Knights.
And so, the Tree's security was handed to one elder.
That meant the elders and their families could keep producing Knights, while everybody else's descendants just hoped to be one of the exceptional soldiers chosen to become a Knight.
The ninth and final warden was the Warden of Trade. They're responsible for the flow of goods in and around Carthage.
Not just that, they're also responsible for taxing it, and collecting those taxes. Just like on Earth.
Basically, they've created a monopoly, where the elders hold all the power.
When the object at stake was the Primordial Flame, they wouldn't accept anything else.
He focused back on his walk. All this was none of his business for now, as he had more important things to focus on.
Like the fact that they were still broke. They were not much better than the ordinary citizens when it came to money.
Or the fact that not everyone in this layer of Carthage was happy about three newcomers walking around with citizenship badges.