Chapter CLXXIII – Lay not up for yourselves arrival upon a cave.

44th of Summer 5860
Libertycave, State of Casamonu

The sister remembered the way up the mountain very well. It had been where she had spent most of her adult life as a lady, after all. What she remembered as a treacherous path, filled with slimes and weaponnappers, only safely navigated by the goatherds who had mastered the path. Many a fugitive had frozen or starved to death making their escape here.

A sudden yawn, from the back. “I’m bored.” It was Ismail, the leader of the gang of adventurers who were supposed to escort the sister. “Nothing has happened on this path. It’s all just…” He quietly pointed a pair of National Guard members passing by on patrol duty, walking on the tarmac road built with dwarven engineering. A couple of passersby were on the road as well. Porters bringing copper to Casamonu, steel from Aroghlie, grain from all of the states, a steady trickle of people going up and down. “It’s been way too crowded recently. There used to be nobody on this road, slimes harassing you all the way, wild boars and whatever.”

“Is it not good that people are safer?” asked Leila naively.

“It’s not good for business,” replied Ismail. “We’re supposed to be the ones protecting them, not these no-good darkskins. I bet they couldn’t hold up in a fight.”

“You’d be surprised.” Leila had seen very well how they could hold up in a fight.

Ismail scowled “Of course, they’re brutes with muscles for brains.”

Leila had to take a pause. “…so, can they hold up in a fight or can they not? Either they’re strong or they’re not.”

“What do you even know about fighting, sister?”

“Our monastery was under siege before I came here, and me and my sisters managed to fight off the elite of the empire until they routed.”

Ismail could only shake his head, shrug, and give up his attempt at competing in the casual racism league. Leila didn’t really care about antagonizing him considering that the protection didn’t seem to be needed. They silently went up the road, the adventuring party looking comical compared to the civilians passing by them who were not equipped for combat on a peaceful road.

The road curved higher and higher, the air colder and vegetation sparser, until the first signs of civilization appeared. Farms, on terraces carved into the mountain, where the humble and resilient potato was planted. Brick huts for the farmers, supported by copper rooves, and the homes of the farmers didn’t look much different than the buildings of Libertycave that slowly came into view. The old palisades were still standing, though they were slowly being overshadowed by the brick walls being built to enclose the core of the city.

Leila couldn’t help but think out loud. “A year ago, I would have passed through here and there would have been nothing.” Now there were… the former lady had no clue about the numbers, but it certainly felt like there was a whole lot of people. More than the former of zero, at least. “Thank you for the protection, may the Divine bless thee.”

“Have a nice day, sister.” Ismail (and co.) and Leila parted ways, passing through the gates of Libertycave without a problem.

Now was the hard part for Leila. She, in all honesty, had no clear plan and certainly no idea what was where. She stood frozen in the middle of the street, looking all around her like a deer dazzled by a flash of light magic. Libertycave was much smaller in terms of population than Ancoire, sure, but what little there was of it was magnificent. Wide tarmacadam streets, about three horse carriages wide on the main street. Signage at every intersection, carved into copper plates, neatly informing the passerby of the names of streets and important locations. IRS HQ to the right, Copperworks to the left, Brown’s Cave right ahead, Liberty Street, Freeman Avenue, Orange Crossing, so on and so forth.

Unlike the haphazard placement of buildings in the rest of Gemeinplatz, the houses were all neatly lined up. The old mud huts of yore had long been demolished and their materials recycled for two-story apartments providing a modicum of housing for all. Leila checked the prices while passing by, which were hung up on the windows of the empty rooms. She quickly realized that she knew nothing about money and the numbers didn’t mean anything to her. Being a noble and then a monastic didn’t exactly teach one the value of money. Still, considering she saw no homeless or beggars on her walk, it seemed to be reasonable enough for the locals.

There were even houses for those unable to support themselves, the sort of charity that’d normally be handled by the Temple, which looked not too different in construction and quality to the apartments. Most of these houses were centered around a hospital, a facility staffed mostly by members of the temple, though a sign outside declared that fees for treatment would be “compensated by the council of Libertycave for those unable to pay.” It seemed to Leila that the Divine had been overthrown by a local council of the people in Libertycave. So were the nobility and gentry, considering the apartments were constructed and owned by the council; the farmland was either held in a small amount, homesteads granting an amount of land that could be reasonably cultivated by an individual (and family, if any) and not being able to be sold, inherited or transferred, by individuals or banded into communes of individuals holding homesteads in a particular area. The biggest and most profitable business, the Copperworks, was owned by not an individual but an elected representative of its workers. Leila had noticed a distinct lack of “sirs” and “ladies” being mentioned in her travel.

Normally she’d have to ask for directions, but the signage made it easy for her to find her way to her destination. Or at least what she hoped was her destination. It didn’t take her long, Libertycave was still a small settlement after all, to make her way in front of the cave that made Libertycave. It was remarkably unremarkable. A simple brick wall closed off the cave itself. It was overshadowed by the houses around it, which were unremarkable compared to the rest of Libertycave. There were a few other buildings around it, what seemed to be a workshop with tools and nails scattered around it, and a frantic pair who were up working.

“Monsieur, be careful with that thing.”

“Yes, doctor, I would rather not immolate myself either.”

A man who was definitely an otherworlder judging by looks, and a maybe-otherworlder woman who were out by the workshop. Watanabe and Doctor Rabanowicz for those who know their name. Watanabe carried an inflated bladder in his hand, covering the opening with his thumb, while Rabanowicz was holding a lit candle despite it still being light outside. The doctor stepped a few steps away from the otherworlder, then two steps to the side, holding the candle right in front of him. Leila watched, curious about the nature of their odd ritual.

“Ready, monsieur?”

“Ready, doctor!”

Watanabe suddenly let go of the bladder’s opening, and squeezed it. For a brief second it seemed that the bladder was full of air, only for the air to somehow catch fire around the candle the next. It looked like the bladder was spewing fire, and Leila hopped back in shock. The man shouted with the sheer excitement expected from any person witnessing a big stream of fire come out. “Woah!? That was cool as all hell! It’s like I’m casting magic or something!”

“Language, monsieur.” Still, it was clear from her grin that Rabanowicz was similarly excited by the spectacle. She grabbed hold of a large retort which was laying nearby. “There should be some more left in this. We should try it again, to… experiment and make sure. I’ll hold the bladder this time.”

“Yes, to experiment, definitely.” Watanabe was about to plug the bladder back in for another go before he noticed the sister watching them. “Oh, do you have business with us, miss?”

“No, no, sorry.” Leila bowed in apology. “I have business with the man known as Brown. Your leader.”

“Oh, the old man?” Watanabe nodded his head towards the unremarkable cave entrance. “He should be in there. Just knock on the door and he should answer.”

“The old man…?” That was certainly a casual way to refer to the Demon King. They must have been top-ranking generals, or perhaps even his offspring. The latter Leila concluded was more likely. “Thank you, have a nice day.”

“Have a nice day too, miss.” Watanabe waved Leila away, before immediately turning to whisper to Rabanowicz. “This woman seems suspicious, doctor.”

“Let’s let her enter and intervene if she causes trouble, monsieur. We can experiment later.” Rabanowicz and Watanabe proceeded to tail Leila from a distance, as she knocked on the door to the cave.