As time passed by, Benjamin realized that Layla wasn't kidding. Grass, and some more grass, and even more grass. Oh look, a tree in the distance! Benjamin thought of how... Impressive this was, but then he realized that he knew nothing of what the Empire actually looked like outside of its walls. Maybe he could find just as big grass plains back in the Empire, but even if there were any, it's not like he would see them. He had heard Trestia was surrounded by grass, but he wasn't sure if it stretched that far.

“Hey, do you think it would be possible for us to leave this car, walk the rest of the way to Daedalusgrad on foot and not be in immediate danger?” To his surprise Layla laughed at him. “What? I'm just curious...”

Layla made a gesture of apology, but kept a smirk on her face.

“You know, we just left the desert, almost got killed by Old Chad, and you've already forgotten that these are the Wildlands? Dragons aside, since those are pretty rare, there are still a bunch of non-rational Mutants about that could cut your throat open before you even realized anything was going on. Their number isn't too high, but sometimes you do encounter Infected too you know? And, you might not have any problems like that in the Empire, what with those trains of yours and stuff, but here in the Wildlands there are highway robbers.”

A lesson in how everything is dangerous and out to kill everyone. Benjamin kind of appreciated it, but to be quite honest, would have preferred have his false sense of security back. After all, if there were highway robbers...

“Does this mean that right at this moment the car could stop, and it's quite possible that the reason could be highway robber who would not only only relieve us of any valuables that they can, but also kill us?”

Just a hypothetical situation.

“Well, I think the probability is really low, since the escort of this caravan is pretty...”

As she was about to finish her phrase, the car came to an abrupt stop. For some reason, Benjamin started to get nervous. Not like he believe that his stupid hypothetical situation might have come true at all.

“Uh, you don't think?”

Layla was quick raise her hands and try to calm him down. Although he must say that she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

“No, look. It can't be something like this. I went looking for the safest caravan for this route. Apparently they have already repelled more than ten attacks in their history, coming out pretty much unscathed. There is no way someone would be stupid enough to keep trying! Just sit still, calm down, and I'm going to ask the driver what is going on, okay?”

She really didn't sound calm at all... was everything really going to be all right?

“Hey don't mind me, I'll just be here, looking at the ground again, acting like if I don't see the bandit, it's not there. Just, don't take too long, okay?”

Thinking back on it... Being called brave for what he had done back at Palma was... not really fitting. If he was going to be honest, he had done what he did on the premise that the Mayor of Palma wouldn't go as far as to kill him because of his connection with the Duke, and it seems like that paid off. But what about highway robbers? Considering they are criminals, would they really care about that? It would probably be quite unlikely. As he thought of those things, Layla came back with a complicated expression. Benjamin wondered if that meant thing were worse than he thought. Maybe a kind of rebel movement out to specifically kill people connected with the Duke? That would be bad.

“You know, I'm not really sure how to explain this... Hmm, first of all, you don't have to worry about us getting attacked by any highway robbers, because there are none. Now, I suppose that after a fashion I do have good news and bad news, which are both to connected to why we've stopped. So, which do you want to hear first?”

Good news and bad news? Benjamin wondered if there was some kind of stupid catch to it... Was she going to make fun of him? But well, she is looking serious.

“Okay... give the good news to me first.”

Good news first, that was the correct choice, since it probably canceled out the bad news.

“The good news is, that we are going to be doing things slightly out of order and instead of going to Daedalusgrad, we are going to Caingrad, to the south. A famous holy city of the Wildlands, the closest one to the Pool of Cain, one of two Pools of Reorigination in the Wildlands! It's quite pretty, with a lot of different arts based on the many different ways that the Pools are worshiped.”

So that was it. They're just changing their destination, certainly there was nothing to worry about... Then, Benjamin started to think more about it. Didn't she say that this caravan was very well protected? So what could make it change its destination? Something dangerous enough to threaten the whole caravan... There was still the bad news left.

“So, uh... Pardon me if I don't sound too thrilled as I ask, but what is the bad news?” Layla looked to the side, as if she was saying that perhaps he was better off not knowing. “Come on, tell me, please, don't leave me alone with my terrible imagination. What's the bad news?”

Layla still hesitated a few moments, almost as if she was unsure how could she say it without upsetting him too much.

“So, you see, apparently, it seems like the outskirts of Daedalusgrad haven't been safe since yesterday, because...A Dragon has been rampaging about.”

A Dragon. Well, at least Benjamin could calm himself down knowing that there is a Dragon around... Except that was probably the worst case scenario he had in his mind.

“What do you mean there is a Dragon rampaging in the outskirts of Daedalusgrad? A Dragon? Like, Old Chad's little brother or something like that?”

Layla shrugged, acting like it isn't a big problem.

“Dragons aren't each others' relatives, you know? Whatever this Dragon looks like, it most probably looks nothing like Old Chad, and hopefully is nowhere near as powerful or resistant. Well, it is a young Dragon, so that's a given, I suppose. If there was a young Dragon as powerful as Old Chad, then it would be an utter catastrophe.”

A big problem... Benjamin couldn't help but feel that calling something comparable to Old Chad a big problem was... a big understatement.

“So,what is this Dragon called then? Little Jimmy or something?”

Benjamin meant that as a small attempt at some humor to try and get rid of some of his nervousness. Surprisingly, Layla didn't react very well, even looking angry at him in a way that he hadn't seen since that second day after they met.

“Don't say that, even as a joke!”

She snapped at him with vehemence. Unsure of what he had done wrong, Benjamin asked, timid like a schoolboy that had just done something wrong, but wasn't exactly sure what.

“Sorry... But what did I say wrong?”

Then, fast as it came, Layla's anger went away, as she remembered that Benjamin wasn't from the Wildlands, thus wasn't really all that knowledgeable about the culture. She explained his mistake to him.

“You don't give a Dragon a name until it has lived at least a year, giving a name before that is considered very bad luck, as if it is destined to live at least that long. And once a Dragon has hit at least one year after ascension...”

She made a very bitter expression, as if that was a very bad thing.

“They get really hard to kill?” Layla nodded. “Has a more than one year old Dragon ever been successfully hunted down?”

Layla nodded as she answered.

“Yes. Once, by a Grand Hunt called by one of the Lion Kings who ruled this country before the Duke Prelestia took over. It was long before I ascended, but legend has it that it was quite the impressive adventure.”

Quite the Impressive adventure, eh? Personally, Benjamin wasn't all that excited about an adventure of this kind, leaving legends behind and stuff like that. Too much danger was too much. He very much hoped that this Dragon would end up dead, having been hunted very far away from him. Besides, he realized he had something else to ask.

“So, are there other live named Dragons besides Old Chad?”

Having asked, he realized that he didn't really want the answer. Yeah, was it too soon to take the question back? Unfortunately, Layla was quite prompt with her answer.

“Yeah, quite a few actually, but none of them have a territory so near a city like Old Chad. And certainly none of them are anywhere as big or old as Old Chad. So, don't worry, there are no two Old Chads in this world.”

Benjamin had to admit that at least, it wasn't as bad an answer as he feared it might be, so for now he decided it would probably be better if he let the topic die. While they had been talking, the car had started to move again. Interestingly enough, he saw something besides grass and trees outside the car. He wondered what it was and pointed at it.

“Oh, wow, what the heck is that?”

Benjamin pointed at a building jutting out of the ground. Or at least it was something that looked vaguely like a building, or perhaps something that used to be a building. He was reminded of the things that surrounded Palma, well, they were all things left by the ancient people after all. But that was back in the desert, it couldn't be same kind of structure. It looked battered, broken and old.

“That? It's just some ruins. There are quite a few of those around these parts, even inside cities, you know? Some say at least part of it is the remains of what used to be the facility that eventually caused the Pool of Cain to exist, although no one knows the actual answer.”

Benjamin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How could she say “just some ruins”? Those are the remains of the great ancient civilization of mankind that tamed and ruled this world for millennia! How could anything related to them be just some ruins? Although their ultimate demise is undeniable, the leftovers of their extremely advanced civilization alone should be testament to the heights they had reached. He did not think so much about it back in Palma, since he was distracted by other things. But seeing the ruins of the past like that ignited in him a passion that he did know he had. Yes, maybe he had left the Empire to experience freedom, but maybe that was not all.

“Just some ruins? No, no, they are a crystallization of the past! Look at that thing! How can a building survive for so long, in the wild, without care? What lies inside? What knowledge could be waiting inside? You said there are ruins like these inside cities even? Can we go inside? Visit them? Are there people studying them?”

Layla was somewhat taken aback by his sudden interest. She looked not quite sure how to respond, ultimately settling on a slightly confused question.

“Huh, you want to go inside them? Aren't you afraid?”

Which ended up also confusing Benjamin.

“Afraid? What do you mean? Is there anything to be afraid of?”

He wasn't sure what she meant by that. Should people be afraid of the past? Well, to be honest, they probably should, because the past is always full of terrible things, but that was beside the point. It seemed like she was talking about being afraid of a more physical threat. Could it be that those ruins were actually dangerous?

“Right... Silly me, I keep kind of forgetting that you're not from the Wildlands, so you don't really know how things are. These ruins... They could be anything. They could be the house of some rich guy who lived thousands of years ago, they could be a research facility full of abominations, they could be a bank full of money that has no value anymore. But, to be quite honest, whatever they are, the value they have is usually directly proportionate to how dangerous it probably is. And usually when it's just some guys home, there just isn't too much interesting stuff to see, but if it's more... Well, it rarely gets known, since its not uncommon for people to enter ruins and just not come back out at all. Besides, don't you guys have any ruins in your cities back in the Empire?”

Benjamin wasn't going to discuss the importance of knowing about the day to day lives of people who lived thousands of years ago. That was probably best left for another time. But she did raise a good point. There were no ruins of the Ancient Civilization inside any of the cities of the Empire.

“Actually... We don't. Now that you mentioned it. There is a part in the founding myth of the Empire where the first Emperor talks about his disgust for the Ancient People. How they were arrogant, degenerate, immoral. He talked about how they encroached too much into the realm of Gods and paid for it in plague, fire, brimstone and ruin. He allowed the preservation of knowledge that was useful, but otherwise advocated for the complete erasure of their culture, history and many other things, all so that the Empire might remain pure and free of the taint that brought them so low in the first place. It's likely that any ruins inside cities of the Empire have either been destroyed, or sealed.”

Or at least that's what he had been taught. At the very least, that passage, even if it doesn't reflect the truth, certainly speaks about a rejection within the Empire of humanity's past. This intensified his feeling of distance between him and his homeland.

“Huh, he sounds like a dramatic, but smart fellow I suppose. Seriously, nothing good comes out of dealing with any of those ruins. You never know what might come out of it. Just leave the dead be, especially those that have been dead for thousands of years.”

Now, perhaps this might be a good time to talk about the importance of knowing the past. Sure, when he had these discussions back in university, it was always within the Empire's time frame, but surely these same arguments could be put forward in the service of knowing how people lived even before that.