The Tales of Draconic Warlock

I wonder how my journey to Valtis City would be. Since it was a hidden city, there should have been a lot of unknown things there. If I was allowed to see those things, I could understand a bit more about this world.

Moreover, I believe if I want to understand more about this world, I need to visit the empires. With their huge resources, they are very well developed when compared to the kingdom I am in or the kingdoms that surround Glessaria.

Going to those empires at this stage is not advised. I am only at Tier-6. It may appear strong in the eyes of the people of a kingdom but I heard that Tier-6 are considered as guards in the empire.

With high populations, there are many awakeners compared to the small kingdoms which have a low number of awakeners. The resources would be high too. So the chances of becoming Tier-6 are very high as long as one works diligently.

So a Tier-6 awakener is nothing in the empires.

Moreover, the journey to the empires is costly and dangerous. There are no known teleportation nodes between nations. This is to stop other nations from infiltrating their nations. Even the empires would be wary of small nations or else they would become history.

Only through physical travel, can one cross the borders. Even then, entering other nations is not so easy.

Nations wouldn't just allow others to enter their nation easily. They are afraid that the travellers might be spies. So any entrants have to go through a lot of screening.

It may hinder the economy as merchants are usually the ones that travel through various nations but nations that they belong to usually try to recruit them as spies.

This was because, even though they could be spies, nations would allow merchants to enter their nations. After all, without merchants, the flow of goods between nations would be stalled.

Not even an empire would have everything in the world. They may have the required goods to run an empire smoothly, but that doesn't mean that they have everything that the world has to offer.

So they would allow the merchants in but they would usually be under surveillance. Even with the surveillance, messages would be passed easily.

Merchants would meet a lot of people and the country may not easily identify who the spies are among the people that they met. There is no stopping but for the sake of faster investigations in the future, everything would be recorded and saved.

Since they couldn't stop the merchant spies, they too would also use their own merchants for the same purpose.

Truth to be said, being a merchant gives easy access to almost all places but at the same time, it doesn't.

Maybe if I become a merchant in the future, I can travel easily through the border, when compared to others.

---

"So, how are we travelling there and when?" I asked my father.

Though I was surprised at first, I pulled myself back into the moment. Other things can wait. First I need to find out how to get there and how long would the journey would be. After all, I have only a month of holidays and then my fourth year at the academy would begin.

As the top ranker, it's not a good thing to be absent on the first day of the year. It's not a good role model behaviour.

"Tomorrow, you'll leave but don't know how you leave. There is a military officer currently present in the guest building. She would take the both of you there. Don't worry about the academy. You will return by the time the academy starts", my father responded to my questions.

Oh, there is a chauffeur it seems. The military arranged an officer probably because the destination is a hidden one and we have no idea how to reach it.

Hmm, the officer is a she. I wonder what she looks like?

I can see her tomorrow.

Wait, if the journey starts tomorrow, that means I have to pack up for the next month.

Also, the place we are going is a hidden city. It means there are formations and devices that would be probing everyone and everything all the time. I can't summon Asya nor I could enter the Nexus.

If I do so, I believe that the guards would be on me within minutes. No need to make such stupid decisions.

I should inform Asya that I would be unavailable for a few days and she shouldn't be worried about me. Also, I should find her some gifts because I am kind of abandoning her for a while.

What should I get her?

The most she likes is to eat, especially high-quality meat. I should find some high-quality meat for her as an apology. In addition to food, maybe some toys so that she won't get bored being alone for almost thirty days.

"Oh, are there any restrictions on what to take there and what not to?" I asked my father before leaving.

"Hmm", he thought for a minute, "Not much but you can't take pictures or say about the place to anyone else. Those are the only two restrictions. Don't fret much. They would make you sign an NDA, and it would automatically stop you from revealing information about the place unless you were given permission", he replied.

"Cool", I muttered and left the office.

Much like on Earth, here on Ragos, there is an NDA, Non-Disclosure Agreement. Once signed by someone, the signed party can't reveal anything regarding what he signed about. If he does, the other party can sue the signed party in court.

Of course, the NDA only gives the other party after the signed party breaks the pact but here it is not.

Magic.

There is magic in this world and once a party signs a magic contract, the contract would make it impossible for the signed party to reveal anything. Of course, such contracts cost a lot.

I wonder why they are allowing me, which should be costing them a lot.

I can ask my mother later about it. Now, I need to find some gifts for Asya and spend the day with her. From tomorrow, she has to spend her time in the secret realm for a very long time.

---

"Magnus, this is Colonel Blackfire", my mother introduced me to the young woman who appeared before us.

"Hello Colonel', I greeted the woman.

Hmm, she doesn't look that old and also she is very beautiful.

Being beautiful is like a default setting for the awakeners unless they are injured severely, where their skin is damaged and can't be recovered.

With so many improvements to the body during levelling up, being beautiful is something that comes naturally to the awakeners.

"Hello Magnus, you can call me Sister Rose", Rose Blackfire replied.

I was surprised by that. From what I heard, the military is usually strict. So there was no reason for her to be nice and act free with me unless there was a reason to be. Though I wanted to know the reason why she was easygoing, I restrained myself. Maybe it was due to her personality.

I smiled and said, "Yes, sister Rose".

"Good, now if you are ready, let's start our journey", she said.

The curious me asked her, "Sister Rose, how would we get there? I don't think that there is a direct route to that place, is there?"

"First we would go to the Summerset City using the teleportation", she replied not getting angry that I asked about the route, but she stopped there.

"Okay, after that", I asked.

She smiled and replied, "Wait and see".

Wait and see what?

I hope there is something amazing.

We were dropped off at the city's teleportation hub by our driver. After that, we took three tickets to the Summeret City. Using the teleportation circle, we reached our destination within minutes.

As we reached the city, it smelled of sea. Summerset City is a coastal city and that means, it smells of sea and fish, a lot of fish.

The main food here consists of mostly sea-based, due to a large number of monsters present in the seas when compared to the land. Luckily, the powerful sea monsters would sally settle in the depths, rather than near the surface or else, there would be no coastal cities and no sea travel.

There are monster tides from the sea from time to time but similiar to other cities and towns, people here survive by fending them off or die trying.

---

"Follow me", sister Rose said as she led us through the city.

I wanted to see what the surprise was. So I followed her enthusiastically.

After a few minutes, she took us to the port area and led us to a ship to board.

Wait, is this the surprise?

We are getting onto a ship to reach another port city. What is there surprise in that?

I gave sister Rose a glare, to which she chuckled.

"As I said before, Wait and See", she said again in a mysterious way.