The city of Obelisk 

Author note:

The support this novel used to get when I started has decreased considerably.

I know it's my fault for taking a long break from this novel but still frustrates me a bit.

A thought of dropping this novel but I remembered that it was my first work and leaving it incomplete with not sit right with me.

I will complete the story with my own ending but it will take time.

I never had an updated schedule and most probably will never have one as I am mostly busy with my university but I will try my best to update as frequently as possible.

When I started this story back in high school, I just kept writing without really thinking about the future plot but the story has reached a point where I can't just randomly put anything.

I need to think of a proper plot and make a path for the future arcs to take place so it takes a lot of time for me to think, unlike the Pokemon fanfic.

I thank the people who have the patience to read through the entire story.

It makes me happy to know that there are people out there who appreciate my work.

**********

Third Person Pov:

"Aye Julian! " Kirin said poking the cheeks of a mage.

"What happened ?" Julian asked turning to Kirin.

"This guy is just pretending to faint"

As soon as Kirin said that the mage attacked Kirin with his hands turning into blades but a lightning bolt struck him this time actually making him faint.

The vest he was wearing caught on fire and burst with a small explosion releasing a very weak wave of mana pressure.

"The Diamond Kingdom are getting creative with their technologies," Finral said looking at the remains of the vest.

"Technologies to absorb and emit mana pressure sounds terrifying on a battlefield, " Secre said.

Julian held the man by his head and began reading his memories by dragging his consciousness to his mind space.

"This guy turned out to be more useful than expected..."

Kirin left the camp to explore the area around which Julian allowed as they were not leaving immediately.

Julian spend some time going through each person's memory in the camp and learning the dialect of Diamond Kingdom.

Finral had some prior training regarding different accents due to his upbringing so he didn't have any difficulty learning the accent of Diamond Kingdom.

Julian searched through the rooms and took some clothes that would make them look like the normal residents of the Diamond Kingdom.

He had some stickers that he applied on everyone's grimoires that would make them look like Grimoires of the Diamond Kingdom.

Julian took out three full masks and handed them to Secre and Finral.

"Touch this mask with any of the mages and the mask will copy their faces.

Although the mana fluctuations from the maks will make it obvious that we are wearing masks but with Sealing Magic we can counter that. "

Finral and Secre tried out what Julian asked of them and just as he said the masks copied the faces of the mages.

Julian copied the face of a lightning mage as he was thinking about only using Lightning Magic and fire magic when he was sure that it would not expose his movements.

It was nearly around 3 am when they decided to have dinner before leaving.

"Where did you get these masks? I have never heard about them before" Finral asked while eating.

"I had bought them from Dominante a few weeks prior as I found them interesting but never thought that I will be using them so soon.

Take care of the maks properly as one scratch will make them unusable" Julian said.

"I will be careful"

"Did you find any useful information from the mages? " Secre asked.

"The highest ranking member in the camp almost knew nothing but the guy Kirin zapped knew a lot of things that were going on.

One of our suspicions is correct that the Diamond Kingdom had indeed captured our spies and kept them somewhere.

The security around the borders and towns has been increased as they have predicted that mages from the Clover Kingdom will come.

But it's a shame that the status of our spies is unknown.

If I had to speculate, Diamond Kingdom may use our spies to exchange prisoners as we have a lot of their people with us "

"So, what shall we do next ?" Finral asked.

"One of the army captains is stationed at the nearest city named Obelisk so if we want more information we need to get that guy"

"If it's a city it will be very difficult to find him," Secret said.

"There is a black market in the city so I might find information regarding him"

Kirin came back from his exploration while they were still eating.

"Did you find anything interesting Kirin ?" Julian asked.

"This area has changed a lot since a last came here. During my time there was no trace of natural mana in the air but it has started to change now….

Ah~ I found a cave a few kilometers from here where you all can rest for a while."

"Is it okay for us to rest? " Secre asked.

"Few hours of rest is mandatory as we are going to have a long day tomorrow. " Julian said making Finral relieved.

**********

After a short rest, all of them set out toward the City of Obelisk.

On the way, they decided to avoid all the camps and only stop by small villages. On their journey, Julian got to see the Diamond Kingdom properly.

First, the number of forests was very less and a lot of the areas were just pure wasteland. No wonder they try to invade other nations for natural resources.

He stopped by a few villages and small towns to interact with the people there.

One thing that surprised me was that the common people were happier here than in the Clover Kingdom.

There were no Royals or Nobles in the nation as the King was chosen by elections for a certain period of time.

As there were no nobles, discrimination was far less as compared to the Clover Kingdom.

The King of Diamond Kingdom didn't have complete authority over the Army.

The one with complete control over the Army was called the Field Marshal, a post similar to the Wizard King of Clover Kingdom.

Some things were the same in both countries which as the Army and Magic Knight members being corrupt.

After almost a day of travel, all of them reached the gates of the Obelisk City. They were supposed to reach earlier but it took longer than expected as Julian wanted to learn more from the locals.

The walls of the city of Obelisk were made of different colored stones which absorbed light from the Sun during the day and emitted back during the night never letting the City envelop in darkness.

"Show me your Grimoires, " the person at the city gate asked.

Julian, Secre, and Finral all showed their Grimoires with Julian taking the person under his control to make sure that he didn't ask anything more or looked closely at their grimoires.

There were people behind them in line and it would be suspicious if they got a free pass without anything.

There was no option of trespassing as there were people stationed around the walls of the city.

"Let's explore the city for a while and then find an inn that will act as our base of operation for the moment," Julian said which the others agreed with.

The vibe was the city was not so different from the Clover Kingdom.

As it was night, some people can be seen returning back home from work, some drinking in pubs, enjoying gatherings, etc.

There were some things different too like the houses were built on different designs than that of the Clover Kingdom. Moreover, they looked to be quite sturdy.

The Roads were wider and better than the ones in Clover kingdom.

Instead of mana lamps, people used stones that absorbed and emitted lights to communicate their houses and streets.

All these things were expected due to them having abundant minerals in comparison to the Clover Kingdom.

If the distribution of natural resources is taken into consideration, Heart Kingdom has the highest concentration of vegetation, fauna, and natural mana in the air.

The Diamond Kingdom has the highest concentration of minerals with the least vegetation. They rank at the lowest in terms of natural mana in the air.

The Spade Kingdom is mostly covered in snow but they have plenty of vegetation, minerals, and natural mana too.

Julian wanted to visit the Spade Kingdom too but they are the most secluded nation out of the four.

Finally, the Clover Kingdom could be said to have the perfect balance with everything.

It's a shame that corruption and social hierarchy are holding the nation back too much.

While exploring, Julian could see the dark side of the city too with people getting robbed, getting into physical fights, beggars in the streets, etc.

Some things never change no matter the area.

Julian had taken the coins from the Diamond Soldiers so he decided to give some of them to the beggars keeping the rest for the inn and other things.

If he is short on money, he could just beat up some thieves and get it so it didn't worry him.

During his walk in the dark side of the city, he got information regarding the location of the black market and the infamous red light district which made Finral's eyes shine.

After exploring the city for a while, they found an inn to rest for the night in an area with a lower population.