4 - Blade beam, the Capital, and the Continent

Waking up the next morning, I hurried over to the blacksmith.

He was already waiting for me, kama in hand. Indeed, it had been properly restored, but it still looked like a relatively normal kama.

Nonetheless, since I had already paid the day before, I simply said my thanks and took the kama before leaving. The blacksmith also seemed to appreciate that I didn't waste his time.

As I walked back home, I glanced at the kama. Looking at it now, I noticed some things I hadn't notice previously.

Firstly, the kama was clearly not meant to be used for field work. It had slots where jewels were clearly meant to be studded, and presumably had been, but weren't now. It was all metal, no wood for the handle, and looked like a ceremonial item more than a field tool.

As I came back home, I got an idea.

It was a ridiculous, absurd idea that made no sense, and I wasn't even sure where i had got it from.

Still, I had to try it.

First, I went into the treasury, placing the kama in as well first.

Once I was in, and I was sure I wouldn't get into any trouble...

I swung it.

With as much force as I could muster, I swung the ceremonial kama.

An incredulous action with no further meaning that, under normal circumstances, would've resulted in nothing happening. Not worth getting excited over at all.

Yet, as I swung, the kama suddenly lit up, and shot out a beam of light shaped like a crescent moon out in front of me.

When the light settled, the treasury wall was undamaged, but it was clear what would happen if this was used outside in the physical world. I doubted the blade shaped light beam was just for show.

Excited, I now understood why the kama was deemed a treasure. I didn't know how it functioned to achieve that effect, but ghe effect was clear.

I messed around a little more, and found that after a bit of practice, I could control the strength of the blade beam better.

With this, I decided to come out of the treasury. I just had to make sure it (the kama) worked how I thought it did.

Coming to my backyard, a barren place, just some flat ground made up of dusty brown rocks, a tall fence, and nothing much else.

I tested out the kama again here, lightly. I made sure to control the strength.

Shwui

There was a sound of something slicing through the air, and bam! A mark appeared on the hard, rock ground. Who knows how much damage could be done by this thing when swung at full strength. At the very least, even just this light slash could cleave a person in two, and a heavy slash should be able to cleave through an armored soldier.

With how wide the blade beam was, maybe I could even take out multiple armored soldiers with one heavy slash.

Thinking about thus, I felt a sense of relief and safety, but more importantly, confusion.

How could the old man who sold it to me not know of its effects?

Maybe it had something to do with the treasury. Or maybe it was just that it couldn't display its abilities while covered in rust.

Regardless, it was mine now.

Still, I couldn't use this ability casually. This was no longer something in the realm of man, this was something magical. I might even be hunted down as a devil worshipper if I casually used its ability. I needed to lay low, still.

I kind of foresaw that I would have to make a choice, now, and delaying it would do me no good. I would have to choose whether to become a cautious person or a person who showed off his treasures, especially as I got more and more. And once I chose one path, it would feel too awful to switch. I'd become a certain type of person based on what I chose, and the essence of that type would feed into me, such that I couldn't escape it.

After that, I wouldn't be able to become the other type anymore. So, I had to choose, now.

To give an analogy, it's like how a child who grew up in the slums and developed pickpocketing skills would, even if he did well later in life, would never forget the days of struggle of his youth. He would never lose his skills, although they might dull, and he would never lose the worldview gained during that time.

Later, he would be the sort to doubt people first before trusting them, to have no bottom line, and to be more prone to resorting to tricks than directly facing an enemy. This would be who he was, as this was who he had grown up to be, and changing himself would become exceedingly difficult the older he got.

Similarly, I had to make a choice, now, as to who I would become, and this choice would stick with me, perhaps for the rest of my life.

I decided to be a cautious person. Even if it meant a little less adventure and intrigue in my life, at least I would be safe. Perhaps, as a young man, I ought to be more hot-tempered, more warm blooded, but I just wasn't that sort of person.

I didn't have any siblings, and my parents had sold me off when I was young. I managed to run away and eventually be taken in as a servant of a barony, and you know what happens after that.

You could say that I'm quite resourceful. A worse way of putting it is that I have no morals and will do what it takes to survive.

Well, I have some morals. Not many, but some.

With that thought, I decided to grab what little I had, which wasn't much, some clothes, money, and a portrait I had painted of me, placing it all in the treasury except one pouch of gold, and headed towards a nearby caravan that I knew would be leaving town soon for the imperial capital.

I thought, surely I could find many more treasures in and near the capital.

I also decided to carry the kama with me. It might cause some to mistake me for a farmer, but I felt more assured having it on my person.

Arriving before a long caravan that was getting ready to leave, I went up to someone who looked like they were important and asked if I could come with them.

They said I'd have to pay, which I promptly did.

Something I was starting to get into the habit of doing was instantly refilling my gold pouch the moment I took out any coins from it.

It was also at this point that I realized that only carrying gold and no silver on me might not be the best choice, so while the caravan still had some time till it left town, I exchanged some gold for silver coins and placed them in a separate pouch.

Come to think of it, I couldn't refill the silver pouch, since I had only robbed the Valender house's vault of gold and precious items.

There had been no silver in there. So, I decided to get some more silver further in order to stock up.

After I was done, the caravan was almost ready to leave. I took some time browsing their wares before I plopped down somewhere and started reading a book.

Once again, I made it look like I had it hidden in my clothes, when in reality I took it out of the treasury.

Soon, the caravan started moving towards the capital city of the empire.

***

I'll take a moment now to explain the structure of the continent.

Where I am now is the territory of a small viscount who is a noble of the Suiris Empire.

Surrounding us to the west and south, respectively, are the Birian and Evadon Empires.

To the north is the ocean, and to the west is a long and dangerous mountain range that noone who's crossed has ever returned from. The mountain range ranges from the top to the bottom of the continent, as if splitting it into two separate parts.

Whether it is the Suiris, Birian, or Evadon Empires, none of them are anything but mortal. Things like magic artifacts and the like are matters of myth no matter where you go. It is a similar situation across the continent, spanning a total of 10 empires and 1 theocracy.

8 around the perimeter, 2 around the center and finally, there is the Eyne Theocracy at the center, occupying the most territory and surrounded on all sides.

The continent as a whole is shaped like a giant square, or perhaps a bit more like a rhombus.

Despite being surrounded on all sides, the Eyne Theocracy holds the most power and maintains a sturdy and strong rule over the entire continent.

This is because of their worship of the goddess Eyja. Noone really knows what she is the goddess of, but there are depictions of what she looks like, and most importantly, prayer to her brings benefits.

However, only in the center of the continent.

For this reason, she has been called by some as the goddess of centrism, but the church has not adopted that as an official title.

That is also the reason why the Eyne Theocracy hasn't spread to the rest of the continent. Simply put, it's said that there are 10 empires, but in reality, there is 1, the collective group that wishes to keep the theocracy at bay and stop them from invading the perimeter.

And because the goddess' powers seem to not work near the perimeter, the people of the theocracy also seem to be content with leaving the surrounding empires at peace.

Thus, the world has remained at peace for a long time now.

The powers bestowed by the goddess include blessings to certain individuals for strength, stamina, health, eyesight, and so on. Basic things. They also include blessings to the farmland, against droughts or famine, and curses to those that curse at her.

If a large faction's ruler, such as an emperor or the leader of the theocracy, curse at her, they get cursed back worse, and the entire faction under them so suffers.

The goddess is known to exist not only because of her blessings but because of her apostles. The Eyne Theocracy has at its head 5 apostles, who recieve direct communications from the goddess herself, or so it is said.

They are blessed with many powers beyond the common man, and share a status higher than the ministers of the theocracy even, albeit lower than the ruler.

The ruler of the theocracy is also the head apostle, and has the most potent blessings.

As the goddess' power is stronger near the center of the continent, the theocracy's capital is also there, although that would still be the natural place to put their capital even without that fact.

In contrast, the Suiris Empire's capital is to the northeast of its territory, as far back as it can go, as there are no threats to the north or the east.

Viscount Terry's territory was, despite being a mere viscount, still quite close to the capital. So, it took a matter of weeks to arrive and not months.

Indeed, the empires are huge, the theocracy even larger, and the continent made up of them even larger still. It was a broad and vast world. I would have to explore it in depth one day.

But for now, I had to muck about and make a mess in the capital- I mean. Be a kind-hearted gentlemen and "safekeep" some people's belongings for them.

Well, that is if it does end up being "people" that have them. Who knows, perhaps I'll find it more common to find fruits in the middle of the forest, like before.

Speaking of that, it's worth noting that it hasn't rotted still. I cut off a piece of it and fed it to a cat, and it wasn't poisonous, so I'm thinking of eating it myself soon.

I'll do that once I've managed to situate myself comfortably in the capital.

Speaking of the capital, it was about time the caravan began to approach. Indeed, one could see it in the distance.

Sorting out my thoughts one last time, I continued leisurely reading as we finally arrived at our destination.