Vol 2 Chapter 2: The Forecast part 2

The kingdom of Balsum was located in the Northern part of the continent. Its Northern border was indicated by a massive ocean. To the West, there was Brinia. Compared to Balsum, the kingdom of Brinia had a much smaller size; it was almost one-fourth of its size, and a large portion of Brinia was a peninsula.

The southern border of Balsum was its most extensive border; it was more significant than the West and East altogether. On its border, there were two other nations located. The western part of the south border had a mountain range which acted as a fortress; the nation bordering that portion of Balsum's border was the Principality of Eldoria. As for the rest of the South and East border, The kingdom of Felemb.

On the continent, there were three other notable nations. The Dutchy of Elín-Nier was situated between two countries; the Principality of Eldoria and the Kingdom of Brinia. The second was located in quite a strange land, almost in the centre of the Kingdom of Felemb. This uniquely positioned nation was the Dutchy of Dún-Vazír. And the last one was called Empire of Lionír.

In terms of area, the Empire was number one; it held almost a third of the entire continent. However, despite its massive size, it was seriously lacking in some types of materials, such as food. It had an enormous population, but they were struggling to produce enough food. As a result, they came to an agreement; The Empire would support Eldoria, Brinia and Elín-Nier; and in return, the Empire was provided with food. Such an agreement was possible due to the aggressive nature of the Kingdom of Balsum.

The second largest nation was Balsum; it had one of the greatest lands, and as a result, it had no problem developing. Thus, Balsum has the second-greatest army on the continent. The third largest one was the kingdom of Femb, and the fourth was Brinia.

The fifth largest one was the Principality of Eldoria. Despite its tiny land mass, it was the most powerful nation as well. It was the nation of cultivators, and in their tradition, every person needed to train to be able to protect their country.

Since every nation hated Baisum in dire situations, they were ignored, just like now; Zion Shin was not the only one who had witnessed the tragic event that would transpire in the future. Every nation had at least one person who possessed similar abilities. Since the event would occur in the area of the forest of Fricted, forces were sent to Brinia to aid them in the battle should the disaster reach their borders.

Zoin Shin and her pupil, Zoel, in the course of a few days, made their way to the royal capital, located in the northern part of the kingdom. It was the largest city in the entire kingdom and the second largest in the whole continent. It was a prosperous city as it not only had a port, which allowed a fluid way of transportation between other cities. It was also a major trading city, as ships from other continents came for trading.

However, its real value was not only its ports; it was surrounded by massive fertile land which was used for farming. The land around it was relatively flat, so working on it was not difficult. Mostly wheat was being down, but there were small potato, carrot and corn plantations as well, but they were not of significant value and size.

The capital had four major parts, which were well divided. It had a massive protective wall; outside of that wall lived the people who were just barely above the level of the poor people. Each of them had their own small house and tiny land which they could cultivate to feed themselves. However, since they were given land, they were forced to work in the fields.

Those who were able to live beyond the walls were considered to be well-off. These people were not mere farmers; although some of them still needed to work in the fields, many of them had more rewarding jobs. Only those people were allowed to live in there who had reached at least level fifteen; they had the duty of protecting the walls should an enemy attack. Or they could be recruited to the army whenever the king wanted to.

This area was the largest in the town. At the same time, the houses outside were made of mud, wood and many other cheap materials and were barely large enough to fit a family comfortably. On top of that, it did not provide any basic utilities, such as magic stones for lightning, fire, or water. Meanwhile, the houses inside were larger, made of more durable materials and were better insulated; they mostly used stones and enchants on the houses.

The third layer of people were the nobles. The town consisted of two walls, an inner and an outer wall. The outer wall was mostly used for division and protection. The inner wall had more functions. The inner part of that inner wall, which the nobles looked at, was designed to look artistic; it was well maintained and was under constant supervision. That inner wall, despite being thinner, was the tougher wall. It was enchanted to be durable and resilient against outer attacks.

In the centre of the inner layer was the majestic tall castle of the king, surrounded by many larger houses used by nobles. Only the highest-ranked nobles were permitted to live around the castle. They had to not only be of the highest but must be powerful in order to protect the royal family should a crisis arise.

The last layer was an underground structure where those lived who were the poorest. Most of the population in the capital lived in that state. They lived dozens of meters below surface level. If they were lucky, they were hired by lords to work in their fields; those who were unlucky were forced to mine underground. Deep underneath the capital was a mine in which these people were forced to mine. These people lived as slaves; they were deemed unnecessary. They could be killed or tortured without consequences.