Rise Of Myth: Heir To Valor 31 A Trip Planned For The North

"I'm curious as to where you stand. If you're really from the Barren World, you must be confused, if not angered by the sudden merging of our worlds. Your kind is already at war with itself, the Aurulian Empire spans much of the northern half of this continent and has been claiming territory and lives at a staggering pace." Asha explained flatly, though the news confused Val enough to forget his bare discomfort.

"The what empire? Are those the people who have been fighting the survivors further to the East?"

"The Aurulian Empire, a very old power from our version of this continent, named so after the gold they found here that funded their rise. They should be the dominant human power in this land, so yes, they are probably the ones your country is at war with."

"Hmph. Dominant power, I heard they still travel by horses, they're going to be scared s.h.i.+tless when they see the tanks rolling over the hills."

"What good would a tank do? Troop transport at best, a very slow one at that, and far too expensive."

"Hold up, you have tanks too?" Val looked alarmed, he a.s.sumed by what the sergeant said that they were dealing with people stuck in the medieval era.

"Not us, only the dwarves craft such c.u.mbersome things, and they're prohibitively expensive. Enormous metal beasts powered by aetherite engines, your kind has something similar?" Asha raised a questioning eyebrow to him.

*Oh thank G.o.d, they haven't invented the combustion engine.* Val settled down, relieved, mages and knights were one thing, a magically fortified modern military would be too unfair.

"Uh, enormous maybe, but not powered with magic, no. They can maneuver over even the roughest of terrain and have powerful cannons that can strike targets a mile away, sometimes more, a well placed shot will level a small house." The elf narrowed her eyes at his explanation.

"Without magic? You are serious?"

"Very, our country had at least five thousand of them before the Merging. I don't know how many survived but if they manage to regroup, I doubt they'll lose a war. We kind of have a history of winning a lot of them to be frank, and that's just us, most modern military powers had tanks."

"If that's so, what are you doing here? I see none of your people around, why are you not with them?"

Val shrugged. "Kind of got stranded out here, Karl taught me some things and I've been figuring out what to do next. My family and friends may be out there somewhere, but my father would be on the other side of the continent. My mother and siblings were in Hawaii out in the middle of the Pacific— That's the large ocean to the West, by the way. So either way I'm not going to get there any time soon. As for friend, if they're alive, they should be further up north, maybe escaped through Canada."

"You seem rather relaxed considering the situation." Val heard some level of contempt in her voice.

"Hey, easy, what am I supposed to really do about it? It's a war zone between me and the East Coast, and how do you expect me to reach a rock three thousand miles of ocean away?" The elf did not seem entirely convinced.

"You seem capable enough to be able to maneuver around the battles."

"That's if I knew where exactly to go. My main priority is survive, figure out what's going on. Eventually the telecoms will be back up and roads will be fixed— I'll be able to get a lot of information much faster by then. What's it to you anyway? Why are you so interested in what I'm doing?"

"Because I could use someone like yourself." The elf replied simply, not offering much of an explanation.

"Why would I work with you?"

"You've nothing else to do it would seem." Asha smirked, showing the first remotely pleasant expression so far.

"I'm sure I could figure something out."

"I could use someone from the Barren World on my mission. Unlike your people, much of our people, including our cities, survived the transition. However your world is different in a lot of ways, the continents are roughly the same, though we have a couple more than you did, which are now a part of your world too. The smaller details, such as the mountains and valleys are the largest difference. You seem to have a decent grasp of the geography of this world, and you have a lot of information about your people that I am tasked to gather. We know about the other races, it's your particular variant of human that is the unknown." The elf explained after a moment of consideration.

"That's useful information, but hardly payment for my services." Val was gaining confidence and perhaps a bit of arrogance knowing he had something she wanted, it showed in his att.i.tude, but he did not want to spark her ire.

"How about this, from what I've heard, I'm guessing your home is far to the North, I'm planning on heading up that way regardless. I am also interested in checking out what has changed up there, and I wouldn't mind visiting a city of elves. Muninn's told me great things about elven construction, these tank-building dwarves are also interesting if they're around. However what I'm most interested in, is this Aurulian Empire you mentioned, I'd like to know what's going on and why they're at war with us. I would think in this event, they would seek to form some sort of coalition with our own kind, the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense to me." Val added his suggestion, noticing the sour look the elf was again adopting.

"If Odin will really a.s.sist me with sending messages to the Queen, then I'm not expected to return for some time, and that's before the possibility of getting approval for your visit, you do realize this point?" The elf at least seemed to be considering the suggestion.

Val waived a dismissive hand, splas.h.i.+ng some water in the process. "That's fine, your home is a bonus, more importantly, if I'm really going to be helping you on your mission, I still expect to be paid."

Asha raised an eyebrow to him. "Paid how, exactly? I'm not sure what you are used to, but I do not carry out my mission for sake of coin."

He shrugged. "Coin might be nice, honestly haven't decided yet."

Suddenly the elf seemed taken by fits of laughter. Val's eyes widened in mild alarm at the sight, it was a pleasant, musical laugh, but the abrupt change in behavior gave him crazy person vibes.

"Uh, what's so funny."

She calmed herself enough to explain. "I'm not entirely sure why, but this situation is deeply amusing. A naked child sits in a pond and barters with an elf for rewards, with no sense of what's valuable and what isn't. I have met many humans in my time but you must be the greatest fool among them." She returned to small fits of contained laughter.

Val rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know I'm a full grown man, and the reason I have no sense of value is because our world was all but destroyed, our money means nothing right now."

"A man? Full grown? Really?" He noticed her eyes s.h.i.+ft slightly, causing him to flush with embarra.s.sment.

"It's the f.u.c.king ice water in this pond, dirty elf, if you're just going to stand there and stare, I'll bill you for that too!" Val turned his body away from her and it seemed she finally relented, sauntering off through the trees toward the camp. He could still hear small fits of musical giggles in the distance as his ears burned.

"d.a.m.n elves." He grumbled to himself, stepping out of the pond to dry off and get dressed.

Returning to the camp, Val noticed two things that annoyed him a bit. First, the elf seemed to be in much higher spirits than before, even partaking in the offered wine. Second, Karl was grinning, and winked at him upon his return, clearly either misunderstanding or more likely choosing his own explanation to be more amusing.

*Are all immortals this bored?!* Peeved about virtually everyone enjoying themselves at his expense, Val poured himself a mug of mead, the warming sensation of the drink worked well to brighten his mood.

"So, I understand you agreed to help our elven guest with her task." Karl remarked, he seemed to be very satisfied with the idea.

"I haven't agreed to anything yet. But I do intend to head north in a couple days."

"Hmm, this might interest you, but apparently there is a dwarven stronghold little over a hundred miles to the North."

"Oh? I have some interest, but I'm guessing there's something specific you had in mind?"

"You ought to go visit, they're very open to outsiders, so long as you follow their rules, more importantly, your sword, it is of dwarven make. If you wish to have it properly maintained, you'll need their skills." Karl had a delighted expression as he explained, the sheer confidence that this bait would tempt him irked Val, but it was indeed something of great interest.

"What would it cost for them to forge a new weapon?" Karl looked surprised at the question.

"You don't like the sword?"

"Not the sword, these knives I have, I can tell after having used it a fair bit, that this sword is very well made. I picked up these knives at a store near the survivors, it's ma.s.s produced, machine made, good quality but nothing like the sword you gave me."

"Ah, hmm. It would depend, to be honest. Skilled dwarven smiths tend to have a backlog of orders sometimes years in advance, finding one that is available is the first issue, the second would be the price. The high demand for their services can make things very expensive. Still, they might have something already made that might interest you, they produce and sell many goods. Their general neutrality to outside politics and their openness to other races has given them a place as mercantile giants and even hosts to diplomatic arrangements."

"Judging by what Asha already told me, I take it gold is their main currency?"

"Not necessarily, they have printed bank notes much like you do, however all the civilized races that partic.i.p.ate in international trade accept gold as payment as well. Not too different from your world, but they rarely if ever do direct currency exchange with anything other than gold. There's just not enough accountability in the exchange rates for it to work, so if you wish to trade with them, you will need to acquire gold coins." Karl pulled out a gold coin roughly the size of a standard poker chip, it had a design depicting a pair of scales on one side, and an anvil and hammer on the other.
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"All the coins used have some sort of design on them, but it is arbitrary for the most part, they simply denote who issued them. Everyone accepts the value of a single coin is the same regardless, this one is dwarven gold." He added, handing the coin to Val.

"Huh, thanks. I guess it's worth a trip."

Karl clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Excellent! You and the young miss here can set out together, the dwarves are also related to her mission, their continued existence is important to many groups and people after all. Huginn and Muninn can accompany you, I have a message to be delivered to them as well. Since you are going there anyway, you may consider the coin as postage."

*d.a.m.n old man set me up…* Peeking at the elf, he realized another point that contributed to his exasperation at being so liberally taken advantage of. It seemed the elf had a degree of motility about her ears, one was definitely perked up ever so slightly, towards their conversation, reminding him of rabbits, though she acted as if she were ignoring them, enjoying her wine.

"Fine, I will accompany Asha and visit the dwarves. What's the message? You have a letter for me to deliver?" Val relented, telling himself he was still sticking to his plan of heading north, just with a few extra stops along the way.

Karl beamed, he seemed excited for Val's trip to the dwarves. "No letter, find a smith and show him your sword, Huginn will be able to handle the rest."