A few moments later, the Gryfal initiated a steep descent, and Ikaris once again experienced the unpleasant discomfort in his ears that he had always felt whenever a plane landed. He never expected to experience that sensation again in a world like this one.
He wasn't the only one who felt unsettled. Ellie, Toby and Asselin were also plugging their noses and blowing hard at regular intervals to depressurize their eardrums. Malia rubbed her ears quite often and the bison was restless, snorting incessantly.
The only one who seemed unaffected was Radagad. The ranger stood with a sullen look on his face, staring at the sumptuous city that was growing rapidly below them.
Ikaris and the others couldn't help but gawk at it either. He, Ellie and Toby were all Earthlings, but they had to admit that few capitals on Earth could compete with this far-reaching, sprawling megalopolis.
Chalkyrm wasn't even the capital of the Styr Empire, just a thriving city within its vast borders. Before landing on a vast flat field covered with colored markings strongly reminiscent of an airport, they were able to admire the splendor of the city' s architecture.
What little Ikaris was able to observe taught him that this world was not as backward as he thought. Yes, the technology was archaic. Chalkyrm was no exception.
But even the ancient Egyptians had managed to build pyramids. The Babylonian palaces, the Parthenon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria... Even with limited means and knowledge, mankind had still been able to create great things.
In a world of magic where everything was possible, this was all the more true.
Chalkyrm did not have ingenious water pump systems to provide water to its inhabitants, but the pipes did their job nonetheless. There was no electricity, but the city was perfectly lit. The city was filled with carefully tended exotic gardens, with a corinthian flair of colonnades and marble walls that harked back to the ancient Greek cities.
Disembarking from the Gryfal, trained personnel guided the beast with light signals to its temporary, hangar-sized covered enclosure. Fresh meat and a water-filled trough had already been prepared to let the weary animal recharge its batteries.
Ikaris froze when he saw that the employees were not using torches or lanterns to produce their light signals, but their own hands.
"In the Styr Empire, roughly 1 out of 10 people is a Novice Sorcerer." Radagad explained as he saw their awestruck faces. "In a major trading city like Chalkyrm, the ratio increases to one in three.
"These people are obviously not good enough to become Sorcerers, but with the proper education they can easily find their place in society. For comparison, the ratio of Novice Sorcerers in the Kingdom of Hadrakin is 1 to 100, and 1 to 5 in the capital city of Anor." The veteran sighed tiredly.
"That's the difference between a Rank 2 Empire and a Rank 3 Kingdom."
Ikaris and the others were eager to ask him more questions, but the ranger grew silent again and began to stride off at a brisk pace regardless of them. They had no choice but to swallow back their questions and follow him.
'Don't worry, I'll explain everything you need to know once we get to the Warring Lands.' Magnus promised mentally.
Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far. A spacious terminal four or five stories high and more than 400 meters long stood near the "airport" and they soon found themselves aboard what Ikaris could only describe as a high-speed train. Radagad had paid a generous sum for this service.
The metal cars floated a few inches off the ground, each with a driver sitting comfortably in his cockpit. No gasoline or steam engines propelled the vehicle.
Once seated inside, a rather elderly and somewhat bored Lord Sorcerer muttered an incantation as he waved the scepter in his hand and the wagon shot off like a shooting star along imaginary tracks.
The passengers felt no acceleration, let alone braking. So they were greatly surprised when a few seconds later the doors opened automatically to let them off.
"This... Phew, I feel like I'm back in London when I ride the subway." Toby whistled with emotion.
Maybe this world wasn't such a horrible place to be in. It was just a matter of picking the right place. Ellie seemed to agree with him, but Ikaris was not nearly as sure.
He had seen Radagad's face when he had paid for the train and the Gryfal. He had paid with gold coins each time and his purse was much lighter than when they left.
What the teenager knew was that even in another world there was little chance of gold losing its value. Based only on the size and number of coins spent, it was several hundred grams of pure gold. Based on the market price of gold on Earth, put into perspective, that would be 15 or 20 thousand dollars.
Even though the price could vary by up to three times depending on the time period, gold would always be a scarce resource. A Lord Sorcerer, a potentially even scarcer human resource hired to exclusively enchant trains was further evidence of this.
"Are we there yet?" Malia marveled as she spotted a gigantic black metal ring standing vertically in front of them.
The structure was still several minutes away, but the Earthlings in the group could already tell that its diameter was large enough to fit an ocean liner of their former world without difficulty. A crowd of citizens from various races, most of them lavishly attired, lined up in good order in front of a kiosk stationed near the black ring.
"Here we are." Radagad nodded. "The Chalkyrm Transportation Portal."
Following his instructions, the group of youths joined the queue with the ranger and it gave them a chance to witness how this portal worked.
When someone wanted to use it, the kiosk receptionist would ask them for their destination and a Magus would enter it on a strange panel that looked like a control console. The traveler would then be led to the Transportation Portal by a squad of heavily armed guards until they vanished inside.
The process was strict but well-practiced and soon it was their turn to arrive in front of the kiosk. The clerk, a woman in her thirties with protruding lower canines and brown skin, grunted in a dull voice,
"Destination?"
"Are you an orc?" Toby blurted out with zero respect.
The jaded woman threw a contemptuous glance at him and repeated,
"Destination?"
"Tartarus Shade, Warring Lands." Radagad grimly replied before the military jerk could offend her further.
"Oh? Been a long time since I sent someone there." The female orc muttered as she checked her logs for the past few months. "I usually never see them again. Right, Gumdi?"
The Magus behind her, a young man with an angular face, long black hair cascading down his back and pointed ears, confirmed with a disinterested nod. He was a High Elf and from what Magnus whispered to the boy, he was probably much older than his appearance suggested.
"That'll be 120 gold coins. Per person." The orc then declared with a greedy smile as she extended her empty hand.
The ranger stiffened, but reluctantly took out the money. By the time he had finished paying, his sizable starting purse was totally empty. Orym had calculated the cost of the trip perfectly...
'Your clan is the richest of all Hadrakin, but that doesn't stop you from being a stingy bastard...' Radagad criticized inwardly with a miserable look, kissing goodbye to the little bonus he had hoped to pocket.
Once the money was paid, the group was escorted in turn to the Transportation Portal. The High Elf Magus entered the coordinates into his machine and a smooth, dark vortex that they had seen dozens of times in the past few minutes filled the inside of the ring.
The vortex was like a still sea reflecting the moonlight at night. Silver shimmered on its surface, fine ripples rolling out from the center to the edges of the ring.
"Anytime." One of the guards said politely. Anyone who could afford a Transportation Portal deserved their respect.
Leading by example, Radagad entered the portal listlessly, his lanky figure disappearing leisurely into the wormhole. Malia and Asselin hesitated briefly, but entered almost immediately after.
Now only the three Otherworlders and a wary Demonic Bison remained.
