Chapter 242: [Bonus Chapter]End of the path (1/2)
A small pillar in the middle of a town's center was all that was left from the original camp. Surrounded by the waters of the fountain sourced from the nearby lake, it served as the reminder of the humble origins of those who founded the city.
The Town's population has been steadily growing for the past two years.
Ever since the decisive battle at the ridge brought an end to the conflict, the arid lands quickly turned into farmlands that were soon overtaken by the urban sprawl.
The city itself was split into districts, each separated from the other by massive water canals, using the waters of the central lake to supply both the population and the rich farmlands at the Town's outskirts.
The streets were filled with all kinds of people.
Just by taking a look around at the main plaza of the city, one could spot some Generians who often visited the city to trade their prey and artifacts. Besides them, former cultivators would walk calmly, enjoying their retirement.
Out of every possible group, Slavian migrants turned out to be the biggest. With their new nation settled just outside the city's protectorate area, they made full use of the benefits of trading and overall cooperating with the city.
The only group that would often catch the attention of the new migrants from outside of the interspace were the beings formerly known as monsters.
While they rarely possessed any humanoid traits, they were perfectly aware of communicating with others.
It was largely thanks to the beastshifters, as they turned out to be called, that the insane rate of the city's development became possible.
Between the massive psychique of some of the beastshifters, immense strength of the former cultivators, and magical support of Irea Works Incorporated, projects that would normally take years if not decades to finish were done in the span of months and even weeks.
”Hey, hurry up!” a middle-aged man shouted towards a cat-girl heavily breathing behind him. ”You don't want to be late for the class!” the man's excited voice was free of prejudice, the one thing that the beastshifters had to face during the founding year of the city.
The lack of this interracial hate was something that only Yelna's Medicinal Study could be thanked for. As it turned out, this hero of the Battle at the Ridge wasn't a hunter by choice but by fate. What she was really interested in was magical medicine.
An art that allowed some of the more powerful beastshifters to attain human-like forms.
From the moment the first cat and dog-girls appeared in the city, it took entire... three days for a massive movement to force the government to adopt new taxes, all for the sake of supporting the development of the magi-medicine responsible for that transformation.
And right now, humanoid beastshifters could enjoy widespread popularity and love of the city's population!
”You know that I can't run any faster, you meanie!” the girl replied, barely able to squeeze any words out of her supple chest. Even though her family managed to secure a great job at the Irea Works, their combined earnings were still far from sufficient to secure a house anywhere near the academy.
The academy was the only building that stood in the very middle of the Town. In fact, it wasn't even a building but a compound five times greater than the initial outline of the entire camp.
The academy compound was surrounded by a massive garden, filled with all sorts of mementos of the heroes that laid down their lives to set the foundation for the future everyone could enjoy right now.
”Hurry up!” someone else called out. ”The Celestial delegation is about to move out of the Al's Casino!” a man in a fancy robe rushed outside, fixed his attire on the go, and pulled out a recording stone from his pocket.
Only a few moments later, a one-meter tall owl flew out of the building, chasing after the man with a memory-storage stone in its beak.
The city was more lively than ever. With the delegation from the Celestial world coming to discuss the terms of the new, extended trade agreement, the local population awaited the news with anticipation.
If the deal went through, they would usher in an era of prosperity that no one could even imagine in the past!
Layn sat in his favorite seat, watching over the city from the balcony located at the highest floor of the academy's central tower.
He took a sip of his tea before looking over at the documents one of his attendants brought.
”Second phase of reconquista, huh?” he muttered, looking down at the proposal drafted in the document. ”Well, not my problem,” he ended up shaking his shoulders before gently kicking a massive cat sleeping below his desk.
”The fuck is wrong with you?” the cat instantly jumped on all fours, hissing at Layn and protesting.
”Get this paper to Markus' office,” he ordered. ”I believe Faglar will be quite interested in it,” he said, watching over as the massive cat begrudgingly took the document and walked out of the room on all fours.
Even though this attendant of Layn's could easily afford the humanization procedure, he opted to stick to the roots instead. According to its usual hissing, it was a way to honor his own ancestors and spit at the silly, modern trends.
”So you really aren't interested in the war anymore,” Consal commented lightly, taking a sip of his bear.
While the Celestial delegation would only meet with the government by the afternoon, those two former enemies were already past the fourth glass of tea and bear, respectively.