Vol.2 Ch.19 - Access denied

And so, after a whole year of travelling around Trivis Numerica, Ed and Ihad safely passed our ITA exams and gotten our passports. Our time therewas definitely unforgettable, and we had met countless friends who've madeit all possible. Escaping the deadly clutches of our parents and successfullybesting a Snair, we had taken its hide and... well, I'm not gonna mention whathappened to it... I-In any case, we had hopped aboard a transport wagon thatwas headed for the capital of Secundis, Stringwood.There, we witnessed the greatness of Schnell ('s statue) and got ourselvesinto a whole heap of trouble. Edward was tragically thrown off a viewpointledge, and I was falsely accused of harming him intentionally. There wasnowhere else to hide, so I ran into a random family restaurant, which is alsowhere I happened to meet the kind and giving Arthur Gray.He was the reason we had even made it this far, our benefactor that found usin the streets and raised us to heights we thought we’d never reach. He hadgiven us a job with food and shelter in exchange for us taking hisgranddaughter Anna along with us while we were in Trivis Numerica. Thedays we've spent in Stringwood with him and Anna were some of the mostmemorable moments Ed and I could ever hope to experience.Anna, she was the person that made our journey here fun. With her, wetravelled to Station Arfa, where we created the second ever branch ofArthur’s restaurant. With our rocky start that we had there, we worried thatwe wouldn't make it, but we were saved by a young manager by the name ofCarl, who helped us a lot by letting us take over his own restaurant andturning it into a properly-staffed establishment. Working with him was adelight and an honor.Before we had made it to Leins, though, we stopped by Wheats to visit Ed’suncle. He treated us not as coworkers, not as colleagues or travelers, but askids. With him teaching Anna and us the joys of living a laid-back life in thecountryside, we had spent the next period tilling the fields. This moment ofpeace was short lived, however, as during our stay, Anna and I got lost in aforest and were attacked by a Stray Wolf. The battle was fierce, and my armsgot badly wounded, though I somehow prevailed thanks to my father'straining and a mysterious fire sparking from within the Stray Wolf'sintestines. Oddly enough, I sustained no burning injuries.Barely making it out of this fight alive, we snuck out of mister Ridge’s careand went to Leins. There, we had met up with Graal Thurs, a friend ofArthur’s who helped arrange for us to take the ITA exam and get ourpassports before we were legally allowed to. The tests were tricky anddubious, but making it felt like rebirth. We had officially becomeAdventurers.With passports in tow, Ed said our goodbyes to Anna in my stead, as I wasconked out after the exams, and left for Ren, where we rested up and wrote abook about our travels. That was actually the first time the two of us got toact like tourists, in my opinion, as it was the first time we actually had somespending money on us.The time in Trivis Numerica had its ups and downs, but I don’t regret it for asecond. Now, in a wagon headed for Carmen City, we seek an audience withthe king to request travel funds.***The ride to Carmen City was definitely a long one, taking about two weeks toget there in total. It was unlike anything we’d experienced before, certainly,as the most we've ever spent traveling from one place to another is a day ortwo at best. This definitely didn’t sit well with my stomach though, and wehad to make frequent stops.After finally arriving at Carmen City, we were simply left awestruck. Theentire city shone as if it was made out of gold. Large pillar-like structuresand skyscrapers obstructed our view of the sky to the point where we didn’teven know if it was day or night anymore. Walking through the busy streets,we noticed a distinct difference between Trivis Numerica and Carmen,namely in the people. Carmenians as a people are very posh by nature. Theykeep their heads up high, and they will absolutely refuse to move to the sidewhen passing by you, leading to a lot of people bumping us around. I actuallygot pretty peeved by this, so I starting shouldering people back at some point,but Ed kept me calm and moved me to the side.Ed and I were definitely disillusioned by the City of Song. We had expectedeveryone to be bubbly and chipper, and while not to the point where they’dliterally burst into song in the middle of the street, we definitely didn’t expectthem to be this rude either. If the king is even 1% like these people, then thatdoesn’t spell good news for us. Let's hope the royalty here is better than thecommoners.We decided to visit the local ITA hub as we were getting a bit homesickalready. Hoping to meet the normal, down to earth travelers we’d met back inLeins, we stood in front of the check-in booth, but were extremelydisappointed by the worker's attitude that wasn’t at all unlike the otherCarmenians.“What do you want, tykes?” He hissed.“We’re Lune Grimheart and Edward Saint, sir. We’re here to check in perprotocol.” I announced.As it happens, during our ITA exams we were told by the instructor thattravelers are to check in first and foremost after arriving in a new country.The ITA agent working the booth will then write your name in and notify theother branches of your arrival. This is verification of your current activityand whereabouts, as well as a way to distinguish between slightly inactiveadventurers and full-blown deserters.The snarky agent had suddenly clicked his tongue at us and simply saidsomething along the lines of: "You’re too young to be ITA agents. Scram!"Now I get we're just barely 14, but I’m sure we're not the only underagedadventurers. It can't be that difficult to believe, right? Wait, are we actuallythe first ever adventurers in the ITA that got our passports before the age of17? Are we... prodigies?“Sir, if you could just check our names in the registry-” Ed muttered, only toget yelled at by the ITA agent.“I don't care! Fuck off and go play somewhere else, otherwise I'm calling anofficer of the law, y'hear!?” He suddenly lashed out.Fearing getting arrested in a foreign country, we decided to leave the matterfor now and look for a place to stay while we figured things out. Looks likethe life of a prodigy is quite a difficult one to live, after all. We'll need tothink of another way to check-in somehow. The inn we stayed at was alsoquite nasty with its reception of us, however, which turned the entire bookingprocess into a huge slog.“They really don’t like anything, do they?” Ed asked rhetorically, "Ugh, mylegs are killing me. We've been carrying our luggage around town ever sincewe got out of the wagon, damn..."Crap, now that you mention it, the fatigue of my legs is starting to catch up tome as well. To tell you the truth, we’re in quite a pinch right now. We stillhaven’t checked in at the ITA, and we’ve got just a month before we get ourfirst strike. I’d rather we don’t strike out anytime soon, so we should get thatsorted ASAP. Though at this point, I think we should focus more on how tolive life as a deserter than anything else. Let's see, your passports get voided,and no company will officially hire you as a worker... Yeah, I don't think thatoption is favorable at all, not one bit.Another issue we face are the travel funds, we’ve all but given up onrequesting to meet with the king for them. If a ruler allows for theircountrymen to act like this, then I can only imagine that he’ll have us hangedif we request such a thing of him. This is nothing like any of the places we’vebeen to in Trivis Numerica. No, in comparison, Carmen is a lot worse. Sure,we’ve met some bad and selfish people over there, but those were just acouple people probably having a bad day. These people in Carmen are rottento the core, they radiate “I’m a piece of shit” energy 24/7.It was at this moment that Ed suggested we skip the funding negotiations andhead straight to Great Hiana. We knew for a fact from our parents’honeymoon stories that Great Hiana was a very welcoming and politecountry, so they’ll definitely hear us out. This way we could kill two birdswith one stone by simultaneously checking in and asking for advice on howto acquire the travel funds. Nice one, Ed! An idea deserving of a gold star!At first I was sort of against the idea of leaving a country without properlydocumenting and exploring it, but Ed persuaded me with words like "We’renot ready for Carmen yet" and "We can always come back at a later time"."But when will that time come?" I asked, "If we skip out on Carmen rightnow while it's just under our noses, we'll be too preoccupied with exploringthe other countries to return here anytime soon!""So?" He said as he tucked himself into his bed."So," I replied, "we'll be old men by the time we return, if at all!""So?" He once again repeated his question, "They say "With age comeswisdom", right? Just think of this not as us running away, but making atactical retreat, okay? We're simply not ready for Carmen just yet, but oneday we will be. Simple as that.""Mn..." I then finally gave up against his seemingly flawless logic, "Sigh, Ihate it when your warnings make sense...! Fine, first thing we'll do tomorrowis hitch a ride to a Great Hiana!""Cool!" He smiled back at me, "Trust me, you won't regret this decision! I'myour guardian angel, after all!""I'd die an early death for sure if you were the one taking care of me." Ijabbed, "Alrighty, g'night!"Thus, as we laid in our beds, our eyelids slowly getting heavier by thesecond, we had decided to clock out for the night and ultimately decided topull back for now. Our next destination on this journey will be the countryknown for its bustling citizens and attractive tourist spots.The Kingdom of Carmen is not yet a place we're experienced enough toproperly spend our time in. The people are rude and I'm afraid we won't begetting any meaningful information on such a place. After all, in TrivisNumerica, the adults were the ones sharing most of their stories with us, buthere, the adults seem like the only thing they know how to do is scoff andlaugh at us. Well, if that's how you wanna play, Carmen, then be my guest!Don't you worry, we’ll come back for you! Just you wait!