Chapter 9 (1/2)

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From when Kebrilio and Myron left the latter's lab till now, Elric and his friends had yet to find the courage to return to their housing.

The three would rather face a furious dragon rather than go back and face Flania's wrath. Each one of them experienced her explosive anger before and didn't want a repeat. If anything, Kite and Jerry were both terrified. What would they do if they got the same treatment as Elric? None of them wanted to go through the same bridal training he did. A fate like that was simply far too tragic for them to even think about. Elric was already tainted by such a training, but that didn't mean the two of them wanted to share that same fate. For someone who espoused honor and kept careful attention to their fame like Kite, undergoing that kind of fate was far too terrifying for him.

At an impa.s.se for what to do, the three friends roamed the streets of Waldsk.

The city had good reason for being known as the 'world center'. It was a thriving city that no other city in any other nation could compare. Not even the capital of Sovereign.

The median of Waldsk was arranged so that seven palaces could fit around a single plaza. This kind of arrangement was one of many 'blocks' of how Waldsk was built around. Every palace grouping had an empty plaza or clearing either in the front or back, allowing for a central place of gathering for anyone living in those buildings. Some of the wealthier residential areas had this plaza in the center of them instead of the front. Areas of business would have these plazas connected to one another through linear streets while even the slums or lower-end residential areas had a small plaza of some kind.

Statues were a common sight in each of these plazas. The largest ones had the most amount of statues and were of the highest quality and beauty. Medium-sized plazas didn't have as many plazas as their larger counterparts, but they were still mightily impressive and numerous in their own right. Not even the smallest of plazas were forgotten by these statue makers. These plazas had statues of personified concepts such as the earth, though these statues were often of the lowest grade of material or quality.

They walked through the plazas, enjoying the statues as they went. Each one of them differed in art standards and enjoyed different types of statues. Kite, for example, fervently loved statues depicting the heroes. Of these statues, each one of them were constructed from bronze without fail.

But those statues were dark and murky in color, time having dimmed the coloration of those statues. Jerry had no interest in such statues. He rather enjoyed the statues depicting those of angels, forest G.o.ddesses, shepherdesses and sheeps since these ones were sculpted from white marble.

Elric didn't care for the heroes like Kite did nor the whimsical and carefree depictions of angels and nature like Jerry. What he cared for were sculptures more serious in nature, like the one labeled 'Ponderer' or of the statue of an archer with his bow aimed upward.

That being said, they all agreed that the twelve triumphal arches were without a doubt a masterpiece.

Now that they had the time, Elric and his friends managed to make their way back to where the twelve arches were to better appreciate their beauty. Each arch could now be seen in their full glory along with the multiple supporting reliefs and statues. Each arch was sculpted beautifully, the circle-focused design attracted everyone's eyes, and even the marbled ground was wonderfully without blemish. Not even Jerry, usually the most fussy of them all, could not find fault with the arches.

The next destination was south of the arches now, the wealthy residential district of Waldsk where the upper-crust of society lived. The streets, wider and cleaner than the other streets in Waldsk, had plenty of trees planted in equal increments on the sidewalk for a scenic view. Carriages wheeled across the s.p.a.cious roads in numerous amounts even at this time, each one of them looking fancier than the last. Clearly, these carriages were designed with beauty in mind.