NOVEL NEXT Chapter 332 – Noble Houses
The trio were just about to head out when Peter finally made it back with the passes. While it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if they missed him. Peter did have one other thing that proved well worth the wait. Unlike Gregor, Peter hadn’t grown up in the city and was gone often enough not to be jaded. This meant he actually knew the good places to check out and what path to take.
Sure, Gregor knew all of that. But like any other local, even the good attractions ended up being more of a hassle than something to see. So, with quickly scribbled out directions, Peter was able to give them a decent route to take for the day.
After a parting thanks, Courtney grabs the passes and directions, then leads the party out into the streets. And, of course, the first stop is one of the bamboo viewing platforms that Gregor had previously mentioned in passing. Though just because it was the first stop didn’t mean it was the first attraction. Peter had woven the path back and forth through the center of the city so they would pass as many noble homes and their yard displays as possible.
Throughout the day, the strange and marvelous displays of obscene wealth would dazzle them. Yards with living treants paid to take on the form of topiaries. Strange environments made to keep even stranger beasts alive, from the deep sea to floating rocks over an illusionary void.
While most of the houses tended to be of the same style, others had clearly decided to make the house itself a part of the display. Houses built on top of trees, houses made of trees, and even a house made of water for some reason. Then there were the historical houses. Monstrous affairs that the only theme appeared to be that whenever a new housing style came around, they would add a new wing in that style.
Though speaking of history, there were a few families that focused on that specifically. Whether it was illusionary scenes of some past triumph or miniature landscapes shifting over time through magic so as to show how the lands had changed. There were even some honest to goodness fossils. A true rarity when any half decent necromancer, alchemist, or bone carver would commit crimes just to hold, let alone own.
Then spaced out here and there were the truly strange houses. The party only saw three of them and for all they knew, that might be it but it was well worth the time spent to see them. The first that they saw was a marvel of dimensional magic. Center stage was a small ornate door standing on its own. But the group could only see it from the entrance.
Even then, they needed to look directly at it. Not because they could look at it from the side, but rather because doing so caused actual damage. There was just a single path, no longer than expected going directly from the edge of the road to that door. All around it though was a vast grass covered field. Try to view the door from some other direction and you would need some serious magnification.
The problem came from when you tried to view the short path to the door and the vast field at the same time. Space itself seemed to rub against itself and fracture. Jason managed to look at it the longest before taking a point of damage while the other two had to look away almost instantly. Even if it was just a giant field of grass, the sheer amount of magic that must be needed to keep the space stretched like that might bankrupt most of the other nobles.
The other two houses, of course used some spatial expansion magic but only doubling the available space, which while still expensive and a waste, was still within reason. They, however, made up for it with their own oddities.
Green, before anything else, that is how the second house would be described. And not just a specific green, but every green. Think of all the shades of green you know and they had more. Despite the shades being similar to one another, they managed to make each one pop. No shade of green ran into another even when whoever designed this place mixed them.
Beyond that, there were shades of green that should not, could not exist. There were true greens and not just yellow blues or blue yellows. There were anti-greens that, despite seemingly the opposite of green still managed to be green. Greens that seemed to shift between every other color and yet never not be green. And when you consider the whole place was covered in plants with every single leaf and branch a unique shade, you begin to get the picture. What was most impressive though was how whoever owned the house was able to make it so you couldn’t mistake it for an illusion. This was real with not a single speck of illusion based magic.
And of course the third house wasn’t going to let itself be outdone. This noble’s house worshiped the idea of going fast. The concept of speed itself, with even the land under everything moving. Like a giant treadmill set to go way too fast a grassy yard zooms by underneath.
On top of it, various vehicles, animals, and other assorted strangeness moved as fast as they could to stay in place. The house was on tank tracks. A herd of blue and yellow cattle stampede alongside it, never slowing. In the air, strange birds seem to levitate if not for how hard they are flapping their wings.
There is a horse drawn carriage being pulled by an eight-legged pitch black horse. And of course among it all there is a horde of quicklings maintaining it all, zooming around as if everything else was standing still. Though Rosha does catch a glimpse of what were probably dwarves on the house itself to take care of the mechanical bits. While the fae might be alright for dealing with animals, gears tend to be a bit beyond them.
