NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1461: The Black Fog
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Patricia had decided to come along as well, as Erdrich insisted that we had to bring her with us, saying that her demonic powers were good and that she could prove herself useful.
I wasn't going to reject her coming along and then make my friend upset, or worse, probably make him hate me, so I agreed at the end, deciding to simply bring her along and see what she can bring to the table that we can't do.
"Good luck! Please take care!"
"I know you can do this!"
"Byeee!"
"Please return soon, we need to resume our training later!"
Clarice and the rest of the students waved their hands as we departed into the skies, the trip to the Dwarven Continent was a long one, it almost took six hours to get there, but we did at the end.
The sun was already setting in the horizon here as our airship arrived at the Rusty Coasts City, a port city of the Dwarven Continent ruled by a group of merchants.
They had close ties with Fierysmith, and this is where the nobles had come for refugee, escaping the Black Fog, as they called it.
Once we reached this place, Alberta and her uncle smiled, as they told us about this place.
"You see, Dwarven Cities are a bit different than your usual human city," the old uncle said.
"Get ready," Alberta said.
As we stepped out of the airship, we were greeted by a massive city full of steam everywhere, there were giant steam machines moving from one place to another, flying steam vehicles, and more.
Even though the houses were strange, releasing steam constantly while producing large amounts of heat for some reason, probably they possessed some sort of engine inside?
There were also flying golem devices, and walking ones with many legs, but also cars moving using wheels.
There were also trains and more, but everything looked completely different from any other city.
Even Stronghold, which was already highly technological, didn't even compare to this city, and that's saying something when the technology from there came from this place, most likely.
"Welcome!" Alberta said.
"This is Rusty Coasts! It's called like that because there's a lot of rusted ruins at the coast," the old Hellburn said. "But I guess we don't get the time to talk about that right now, huh?"
"The city semes as lively as ever, however!" Alberta smiled. "I guess the Black Fog hasn't reached this far yet… I'm relieved."
"Yeah, but for how much longer?" Elfriedden wondered.
"We should go mee the nobles that sent the letter," I said, as I noticed Erika, Elizabeth, Alberta, and even Patricia's glances.
Their eyes were glowing, they clearly wanted to explore the city…
"And while we are on our way there, I suppose we can explore the city, but don't get too distracted, okay?" I sighed.
"Yaaay!" Erika celebrated.
"Thank you dear, I'm very excited!" Elizabeth said. "Everyone, you're free to also explore the city, but please make sure to do it in groups, regroup in the church that's located in this city, and I'll see you tonight for a last report."
She talked to a large group of thirty people she brought along, ten of them were Priests and the other twenty were all Paladins in Training or Paladins, strong warriors that served the Holy Spirits.
They were part of our new army, and they came along to help the people and give us a hand if possible, their healing abilities are the best for this kind of thing too.
"Very well, Saintess!"
"Understood."
"Thank you!"
"We will report any abnormalities, young lady."
They were mostly all males too… and they treated her like their literal princess. It was fair to say that she was their idol, and many of them were her fans.
Elizabeth was indeed very popular not just back home but worldwide; the reason she gained such a large number of followers and authority in the church is due to her feats and popularity.
Such authority was mostly denied to her by the figures of authority of the church before, however, but it seems that has finally changed, which I'm very glad for.
I assume they didn't want her to rule over their church before because of her young age, but I believe they were looking down on her as well due to her origins as an orphan.
With that said and done, we started moving through the city, exploring its parts and seeing new things with every single step we took, from food stalls, commercial centers full of shops, restaurants, smithies and other areas where weapons and armor were produced, and even a large area where they sold Familiar Eggs, eggs from monsters that one could tame and raise as their own Familiars or even turn into a Spirit, interestingly enough.
It was a wonderful place to visit and explore, quite honestly, but we had to focus on what we came here for, so after an hour of going around and tasting this country's food, we moved towards the Noble District of the city, there, we found the refuged nobles inside a house that they had managed to rent, they looked exhausted and sleepy, and were being quarantined by the soldiers under the decree of the King of Rusty Coast's City.
And I couldn't really blame them for that, the Curse of Slumber is indeed a very dangerous one, they did well in doing just that.
"Aahh, Princess Alberta!"
"So you've returned…!"
"Hellburn too!"
"To think we would desperately ask for their help from all people…"
"We are truly pathetic…"
The nobles were a group of dwarves of all shapes and sizes… well, not sizes, they had mostly the same size, but had different hair colors, and some looked similar to Alberta or her uncle.
As she saw them talking about such things, Alberta, however, grew angered at them.
"So you're the ones that ran away and abandoned my father? Where's your loyalty?! He's your King!"
That was definitely not the reaction we expected from her…
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