“Well, well, well. It is certainly nice to be given the luxury of gazing at the open oceans once more…” Pultris commented happily.
“Ha… That old man has lost his mind.” Aurelius replied grimly, clutching his face in his hands as he took off his wet socks.
Aurelius was not a competent mage, nor a martial artist. He wasn’t even particularly intelligent or knowledgeable, given that the past 3 years had been spent with the polishing of basics, and the pursuit of niche, unnecessary fields such as portal magic.
Mr. Tona had clearly decided that it would be prudent to put him in an ‘unexpected’ situation in an attempt to fuck with him, and enough so to exhaust what was likely the limit of his teleportation contract for the next few days on a single jump.
His philosophy of independence and smashing one’s head against the wall was absolutely counter to Aurelius’s personal preferences.
“Do you know where I am? How far away am I from the nearest city?” Aurelius asked Pultris, cursing inwardly at his situation.
He despised, and had no intention of trusting this creepy asshole in his mind, but Aurelius had no choice but to admit that the Djinn was an unforfeitable edge he had in keeping himself safe during this… unplanned island trip.
“You ask much of me despite your arrogance and continued attitude towards me.” Pultris replied insidiously, with opportunism slipping out of every breath that he exhaled into Aurelius’s brain.
What a cunt! Aurelius thought inwardly.
“We both know that Sage Yeltz or the geezer will be here in a matter of weeks to pick me up. It’s not necessary for me to tolerate you to survive.”
“You can choose to serve me, your contractor, faithfully as our contract stipulates, or I can get Sage Yeltz to give you some extra discomfort in your seal.” Aurelius replied coldly, shutting off any ounce of maneuvering that Pultris was attempting.
However, Pultris was less bothered by this comment than he had expected.
“Oh really, contractor?” Pultris replied boldly, with every disgusting grease possible hidden between his words.
And his next words brought Aurelius a chill down his spine.
“How long will you last against me without the protection of your charm?”
Aurelius’s eyes widened, as he scoured his pockets furiously to find his EXPENSIVE charm before finally discovering the most horrifying fact.
Mr. Tona had not teleported Aurelius’s charm with him.
“...I’m going to fucking KILL him!” Aurelius wailed, Pultris’s sniggering echoing in his poor, poor head…
???
Teotlcan had numerous cities, harbouring millions of residents each. However, it had almost no towns, nor villages in which people carried out their livelihoods.
This was, of course, the result of the Greenwich War.
In the rigidly feudal and warring societies of the past eras, there were many villages and territories, which different kingdoms fought over.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
And the system of land ownership among the nobility meant that smaller population centers were desirable for the purposes of political control.
Furthermore, one of the most vital chess pieces of war that kingdoms of the past held in their hands was the ability to poison the ground.
Without an abundance of sages, reverting the damage done to agriculture as a result of manufactured potions, and the staining of the ground with the blood of sacrificial magic was difficult.
And famine was unavoidable after any and all war.
This landscape further gave rise to Churches, who oversaw the spread of their religion through the spirit contracts that they had at their disposal in healing the land after conflict.
This system was desirable for all in power.
At the cost of the powerless citizenry, those with magic held a monopoly on food production, and politics of the world.
Nobility and aristocrats had nothing to fear from the peasantry who were starved, and lacked the means to protest.
One swing of the staff from a high mage was enough to wipe out any signs of protest, and colour the streets in the blood of their citizens, after all.
In this, farms and mines were smaller operations, divided and rewarded to nobility as a means of commercial rewards, and the citizenry, the cattle that extracted the wealth of the land.
Agriculture could not centralise, nor thrive in the presence of magic and industrialisation would have been impossible with the reliance on magic and might.
Of course, the shifting tides of power into one of centralisation became popular with the rise of massive coalitions of kingdoms and powers, and commoners became commodities, rather than cattle with the rising power of agricultural technology and peace.
The Greenwich War, however, sent an upheaval throughout the lands.
The Greenwichs were no stranger to human tactics, and the Fae rejoiced in the strategic value of misery and famine.
They razed the grounds they walked with their earthen magic, destroyed agriculture, mines, and all sources of food.
Villages were wiped out and their blood harvested to sate the hunger of their spirits, and souls were reaped with endless sieges of hellish proportions.
The armies of the Greenwichs walked, and burned humanity off the lands of Teotlcan.
Humanity could not resist as a village, as a feudal society, and as scattered cattle, not after the Central Continent fell to the Fae.
Under the banner of the remaining aristocrats and nobility, existing cities became fortresses, one that became self-sufficient, and one that could resist the harsh sieges of the Greenwichs.
These cities also had a choice in the handling of commoners.
The lives of commoners became more valuable due to the war. Not because they produced anything of value in the eyes of those in power.
Far from it.
They were viewed as ammunition for the Fae, and sacrifices for the magic that they wanted to create as part of their resistance.
The Fae and their sacrificial magic could be weakened if their supply of souls were lessened, after all. And their souls had equal value in the creation of magic circles within the walls of these cities.
Countless men and women, and their blood stained the walls of these fortress cities, to become their magical shields. And became the fuel to create the self-sufficiency of the resisting nations as what was essentially fertiliser.
But the tides of war were too strong to resist.
Titles slowly lost meaning in the face of overwhelming might that the Fae and the Greenwichs displayed.
And all humans felt the fear of blood as the march of their deathly armies ran the sea red.
Commoners, who could never have dreamed of being taught magic, and those who could never have dreamt of becoming knights proficient in martial arts, became elevated as cannon fodder.
This slowly evolved, as war and sieges captured and razed cities with fire, into meritocracy.
And further into equality as a symbol of unity, as the commoner named Rodric became the Hero of Humanity.
After the war, as the horrors of stained walls, and soggy, rusted feet remained in the minds of citizens, the barriers of the caste system became undone.
Titles had no meaning in the new age of reconstruction. At least, unless you were stupid enough to pick a fight against the absolute might and authority of Rodric.
Under his watchful gaze, cities that were once fortresses, became metropolises, with agriculture and industry becoming strength to nations, rather than vulnerability of war.
Villages and towns lost their meaning under the face of cities that produced economies that would rival the entirety of Teotlcan before the war.
And the ruins of what were once castles, towns and villages, were left in the wilds, becoming overgrown and hidden from civilization in time…
And unfortunately, the result of these actions, Aurelius had now been completely stranded in the wilderness.
Pultris’s smile merged with his words as he informed Aurelius, finally of the absolutely irritating state that Mr. Tona had left him in.
“You are 1000km from the nearest city… Do you wish to make a deal?”
