City Of Sin

81-90

Conspiracy

Luckily, Gaton didn’t choose a partner for Richard himself after the banquet. In fact, the father-son pair almost never met if not for special occasions and events.

Richard was assigned to a rather small room near the family library, a place where he spent most of his days undisturbed. He flipped through dozens of books that illustrated the history of the continents, or the doctrines of different faiths.

Of course this was no deterrence to Venica and Demi. The two had visited the very next day, but thankfully they hadn’t stayed for long because they had an important asceticism course to attend. He thanked lady luck, because they didn’t bother him for the next four or five days.

Their second visit was focused on a discussion about runes. The two girls were beyond excited to witness the crafting of such an amazing thing first hand. Before Richard could drive them away with an excuse of not having enough ingredients, the girls suggested that he first ‘familiarise’ himself with the locations where he would have to tattoo the runes. This was an important tacit understanding between them.

That was a rather dangerous thing to accept. Were Richard to familiarise himself with them, he would need to be joined to both by marriage. It was law for all Archeron girls to remain virgins before their first partners, to maintain the purity of their children’s lineage. Of course this wouldn’t be in effect if they were marrying out of the family.

Dismissing the overly enthusiastic girls, Richard finally got some well-deserved rest for a few days. Other than one time where Wennington brought him the ingredients for his rune, Richard didn’t meet anyone else. He couldn’t care for the rest of the girls present at the banquet anyway. It didn’t matter whether they were qualified for him, or had let go of any ill thoughts regardless of their status to make moves on him.

It was like he was back in his days at the Deepblue. He drew up another schedule, as precise as a magic clock, and went about filling his mind up with tons of informations. Planar wars, the history of Faust, the Church of the Eternal Dragon… once he was done reading for a day, he didn’t have much leisure time remaining— he still had to go about making Wennington’s rune, planning his future equipment, and meditating.

Nonetheless, the peace was only on the surface. Elsewhere in Faust, undercurrents were rumbling.

The sixth floating island on the sixth layer was the territory of Duke Joseph. His family was amongst the top ten of the Sacred Alliance, neither advancing nor declining for a long time. And yet, it remained like an ancient oak tree, its foundation stabilised over the many years such that it was almost impossible to shake them. They were rooted deeply into the soil of the Sacred Alliance.

Joseph’s family was vastly different from the Archerons on the third island of the seventh layer, who were brimming with war and conflict. His island, the sixth of the sixth, corresponded more to the aesthetics of human aristocrats and royalty. Centuries of efforts and hard work on this island that was a kilometer wider than the third of the seventh had made its architecture and greenery iconic.

Viewed from a vantage point, the whole island was shrouded in faint purple dome shield. It was rather hard to distinguish under Faust’s brilliant sky, but if a foreign object strayed too close the shield would trigger and ripple outwards like a blooming flower.

The ground was mostly covered in lush vegetation, the leaves and grass crisp and green. Flowers bloomed and trees flourished at the prime of their lives under the constant tropical climate. Stepping on this island was like stepping into the legendary garden of the gods, Clearwater. The buildings were evenly spread out and exuded an ancient elegance, surrounded by pergolas, pavilions and carefully trimmed thickets.