Chapter 12: 12. A Tour of the City of knowledge
Nytri and her daughter approaches the city gates, they see the security guards dressed in dark blue uniforms at the gates checking all those entering. Nytri and Aia walk to the city gates as cars pass besides them leaving dust behind them, Nytri waves the dust from her face as they continue towards the city. The duo arrives before the gates to see a short line of people as most of them are in cars. Nytri and Aia wait in line until it was their turn to enter the city.
Nytri walks into a security check as they scan her body the first time, she walks to the next detect which is similar to a lie detector or something of the sort. One of the guards approaches her for standard questioning and answers, the detectors light up as Nytri's able to read the runes use to make them.
Guard looks at Nytri then down to a form in his hand, "Name?" and his thoughts, "Where're their parents?"
Nytri is surprised that he's writing it down when there's a computer in the guard room. "Nytri," guard raised an eyebrow.
Guard's thoughts as he stares at Nytri, "It's pretty dangerous to have such a name, judging by her clothes she seems to be a noble. But why is she barefooted? "And he asked, "And your family name? if any?"
Nytri smiles, "Yes, Alcore. But I also go by the name Elnora." Nytri's gaze wonder to the other line as she observes the cars passing.
Guard's thoughts, "Nytri Alcore Elnora, sounds like the name from the history books, her parents must be nutty for giving a kid such a name. Hmm, weren't demons assassinating anyone with the name Nytri?" he shrugs and writes her name down.
The guard asks, "Age?" as he still writes something down.
Nytri hesitates, her thoughts. "Do I tell him how long I've been awake or does the 4 century sleep also count? Ummm, I'll stick with the former." Then Nytri answers, "I think 24 years old."
The guard froze then looks at Nytri, "No way." he muttered under his breath, "You look like a teenager." Several people in the crowd around them murmured in agreement. "There's no way she's 24," one person said. "She must be lying."
However, when the guard scanned Nytri with the rune detector, it didn't make an alert. The guard looked at Nytri skeptically, but then nodded to his colleagues. "You may pass," he announced.
The people in the crowd looked at each other in surprise. "No way!" they said together. "She must be some kind of witch or something." Aia followed,
Another guard is before Aia, a female guard, "Name?" her thoughts, "This better be a normal kid or am asking a pay raise."
Aia looks at Nytri as she enters the city, "Aia Alcore."
"I presume she's your elder sister?" the guard points the pen at Nytri.
Aia looks over and sees Nytri waving at her, "Ye~ah, you could say that." She smiles.
"Age?" the female guard stares at Aia.
Aia rubs her chin, "14."
Guard stares at her and her thoughts, "Was she just thinking before answering? At least she looks her age." The she announces, "Aira may pass."
Aia's thoughts, "I guess her tongue can't pronounce Aia too." And she walks to Nytri. The crowd of people waiting behind still murmured in disbelief over Nytri's age as Nytri and her daughter made their way through the gates and into the city.
Nytri and Aria make their way through the city, they marvel at the technology that surrounds them. From ordinary cars to runic cars, carriages driven by horses and magical beasts, to whatever the heck the toad is riding.
Nytri looks over and is baffled, "Wait, is that toad riding a unicycle?" the toad takes a turn out of her sight, Nytri shakes her head. "400 years is a lot to take in."
Aia exclaims as Nytri looks at her, Aia starts to point at stuff. "Look at all these cars and trucks, and what are those things?" pointing to a line of horse-drawn carriages since she spent most of her time in Nytri's Castle or realm of monsters.
Nytri smiles, "Those are carriages, they used to be the main mode of transportation before cars and trucks were invented. They seem to be a luxury these days though I wonder why people still uses the horse and not exotic cars"
Aria looks at her mother in awe, "How can you know that before me? It's like you know so much about everything,"
Nytri chuckled, "I've had a lot of time to learn," and her thoughts, "My INFORMATION MAGIC is on the level of an Absolute skill, obviously I can see a lot." Nytri's vision is covered with multiple screens on each thing before her giving her its history and other details.
Aia pouts, "No fair, we just arrived. When did you get time to learn? I'm yet to touch a computer or a phone."
Nytri chuckles, "With information magic, we can learn anything without needing a phone or a computer,"
Aia squints her eyes at a shop filled with TVs, "I tried but it's complicated, how do you learn about the city? I can only see the history of the shop."
Nytri chuckles and ruffles Aia's hair, "Just hijack someone's device. You can link to the servers in the city then you get access to the world."
Aia takes it into thought and somehow understands, then she smiles. "I didn't think of that, hehehe I want to check out the mall." She pulls Nytri along since she now has an itinerary from her little snooping around on the server.
Nytri's surprised, "The mall? Why there?"
Aia smiles brightly, "To try out the clothes." In her thoughts, "And get you to dress up" She turns and pulls Nytri along, "And follow the latest trends."
Nytri thinks about it, "I guess I could see what it looks like."
A man approaches them and introduces himself, he wore blue shirt and pants with a silver wristwatch and had sunglasses on. "Hello, my name is Pat and I've been sent as a guide for newcomers to the city, that's you. And I'm with the Sage's tower so I'm a Sage." He said with his nose high,
Nytri waves at him, "No thanks, I already have a map and an itinerary.
The man shrugged and followed them saying, "Of course you do, but you don't have a guide." Nytri nods in understanding as he guides them though they pick the places they want to go. Pat occasionally points out interesting landmarks and buildings.
Meanwhile, Pat, the sage who has escorted them to the city couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder at Nytri's presence.
Pat's thoughts as he has starry eyes, "I can't believe I'm actually seeing her! And to think, I had to argue with the other guys just to get the chance to welcome her. She has this ethereal presence about her, and her eyes seems to be different and strange just like her daughter's."
Their next stop on their tour is a food stall, where they are served pasta and fries with a fizzy drink. Nytri and her daughter eat heartily, and the guide watches them with interest. Pat's thoughts, "Miss Nytri is unexpectedly frugal, I will have to note this down later."
After they finished eating, they moved on to a clothes store. Aia grins, "Now's my chance to get her to try different dresses."
Nytri and Aira try on different outfits, and Pat hands Nytri a camera to take pictures of her daughter. He wanted to explain how a camera works,
Pat brings the camera before Nytri as he gives a bow though it's a shoulder bow, not low. "Miss Nytri, to take a pictu- " Nytri takes pictures of Aia, Nytri used information magic to quickly learn how to use the camera. This leaves the guide feeling disappointed that he couldn't show off his own expertise with the camera.
As Nytri and Aira poses for pictures in their new clothes, a crowd of people begin to gather around them marveling at their beauty. A passerby marvels , "Are they celebrities?" Passerby3 stops and stares, "A celebrity and her daughter, I wonder if I can make friends with them." Passerby5 with his girlfriend, "Don't, see how that guy is glaring at everyone, he must be their bodyguard. I think his level must be high to protect them, he must be a hunter." His girlfriend glares at him.
Passerby3 shakes, "Really, I don't want any trouble with a hunter, I'll pass." Some people took pictures of the two women, while others whispered amongst themselves, wondering if they were celebrities.
Nytri's hair surprising covers her eyes though she doesn't notice, that her covered her eyes only adds to the mysterious vibe surrounding her. However, those who could see her eyes were struck by their unusual color and depth and some people assume she was wearing strange contact lenses.
Passerby9 stares at Nytri's eyes, "Those eye lenses must be very high grade to make her eyes to so real." Passerby11 shakes his head, "Rich people tend to do strange things with money because they have too much."
To the 2 'celebrities' making poses, Nytri notices it getting dark. "Aia, we should find a place to sleep soon." The Pat's ear perked as he stands at attention, he cleared his throat about to speak but Aia beat him to it. "There's an inn down the street on the left."
Pat shakes his head, "Now wait a minute. That place is also good but we already have a place for you prepared and I think you'll love it."
Aia makes a tired face at him, "The suite in the next district?"
Pat's nose is still high, "Yes, the suit- how did you know!" He's shocked.
Nytri folds her arms as she tilts her head staring at the sky, "I don't know, isn't that place a bit too expensive, I doubt I can pay you back."
Pat waves his hands erratically, "Nonsense, we'll handle the cost of everything, you just have to pick what you want." Aia's eyes glow ominously,
Nytri notices Aia change, her thoughts. "I guess their bankruptcy is around the corner, they have a lot of money so they can recover. There aren't super expensive things in this city anyway, except if she wants to buy a company." Aia bought a company later. The pained grunts of someone's bank account could be heard in the night.
The duo go to the suite as they relax, Nytri and Aira used information magic to bring themselves up to speed with modern technology. They didn't need phones to access the internet or communicate with each other, and they quickly adapted to the fast-paced world around them. Something like video call is possible for them without a phone since they just revert their gaze, it's hard to grasp it but Aia is taking selfies into a cloud storage without a phone.
Throughout their tour, Pat watched Nytri and her daughter with fascination. He couldn't believe he had been chosen to welcome such an important figure to the city, and he felt honored to have played a small part in their visit. The Sages are among the few groups of people to know the truth about Nytri because of the records in the Tower, they kept that information confidential because people weren't ready for the truth.
As they said their goodbyes and parted ways, the guide printed out a picture of Nytri and Aira in their new clothes and placed it in his room. Every morning, he would bow to the picture and thank the sages for giving him the opportunity to meet the two ethereal beauties who had captured his heart. Anyway, Nytri and Aia went to the suite prepped for them and spent the night, with Nytri using a series of sleep spells.
[AU: INFO
- Aia likes taking selfies with her mother… a lot.
END]