"S-So this is the Boriamus village . . . I n-never expected it to be . . . like this," Mira said, a look of surprise painted on her face.

She looked around, trying to take in all of the village she could. She stared at the massive tree in the middle of the village which was kissed by the beams of sunlight coming into the hollow mountain from the large hole in the ceiling. Large, orange fruits grew on the tree that seemed like little dots in the green leaves from where the two stood.

The next thing that she locked her eyes on was the massive skull of a basilisk that rested in the water of the large lake the village had been partially built on. The skull had six empty eye sockets, just like the basilisk that was wrapped around the mountain in the Alva Valley.

Houses, stacked on top of one another were built all around it, standing on top of stone beams that stuck out of the water.

It all seemed like people just built and built without thinking up a structure for the village first. Even the main street was narrow compared to other, more structured villages and cities. And the alleyways were even narrower, barely having enough space for some people to squeeze themselves through.

Zane turned away from the village that looked more like a collection of houses that had been randomly thrown together than an actual village and walked towards the door of the building the walkway led them to, signalling Mira to follow him with a quick wave of his hand.

He pushed open the large door, which had the bones of a basilisk for a door frame just like the door of the other building, and stepped into the large hall. To his right were multiple doors leading to other rooms, in front was the dining hall, cut off from the hall with a curtain, and to his left were two more doors with a staircase in between them that led down.

"Ah, you're done taking a bath," a man, leaning against the wall between two of the doors on Zane's right, said.

He had shoulder-length, snow-white hair and light green eye, he was also nearly as tall as Zane. The man's clothing looked very strange. On his head, he wore the skull of a very small basilisk like a helmet, feathers sticking out of it. His clothes were filled with light green scales and feathers and on his hip, he wore a sword that looked like it was cut out of a large bone.

"Looks like you got bigger than me," he said.

"Uncle," Zane replied with a smile on his face.

The man approached him and pulled him in for a hug.

"You really had us worried," he said, pulling Zane a bit closer than before. "And who might that be?"

Zane noticed him staring at Mira and pulled back slightly.

"Mira Vermillion," Mira answered.

"A Vermillion huh? Well, we don't discriminate here so feel welcome," Zane's uncle said. "I am Goriam Larcadia, Zane's uncle and the chief of this village."

"N-Nice to . . . meet you," Mira said with an uncomfortable smile on her face.

"By the way, where are my weapons?" Zane asked his uncle with a serious look on his face.

"Right, we put them into storage for now," Goriam answered.

Zane nodded and walked over to one of the doors, opened it and stepped inside. There was nearly no space to walk in the room. Shelves were all around him. On a small table next to the door he saw his belt with all of his weapons on it. He took it, sat down on the table and put on the belt as quickly as he could with one arm. When he was done he stepped out of the room.

"Are you not staying for lunch?" Goriam asked.

Zane shook his head.

"I think it would be better if I . . . didn't involve myself too much . . . for now at least," he said.

"I won't stop you . . . but please don't make my sister, your mother sad again," Goriam said, his cheerful tone from before completely gone.

"I won't," Zane said before walking over to the stairs that led down.

"Goodbye," Mira said to Zane's uncle before she followed Zane down the stairs.

"Why don't you stay and eat with your family?" Mira asked as they walked down the stairs, their shadows dancing across the wooden walls.

"I . . . I just don't want to right now . . ." Zane said. "We can buy something to eat down in the village."

After a while, they reached the bottom of the spiralling stairs and stepped through the curtain that blocked the view to the outside. They found themselves on one of the wider streets. To one side was the mountain wall with houses stacked up and to the other were more houses stacked up. A few stands had been set up along the street and the smell of food and alcohol hit them with all its power.

"W-What is that?" Mira asked, holding her hand against her nose to block out the smell.

"The smell of cheap alcohol and even cheaper food, just follow me," Zane said.

All the people that they came across stared at Zane with looks of amazement.

"W-Why are they staring at you like that?" Mira asked.

"Because I'm a member of the current Larcadia main family," Zane said.

"Current main family?" Mira asked with a confused tone.

"I'm a member of the secondary family, a descendant of the second son of Vaylock according to the old stories. The old main family was wiped out in a family feud a few decades ago," Zane explained.

"I guess family feuds happen in all big families," Mira said.

Together the two walked through the streets of the Boriamus village, side by side, getting looks from almost every person they passed. Zane because of his snow-white hair, light green eyes and because he towered a good half a meter over some of the taller people they came across. Mira because of the nine white tails that came out through the gap between her top and the long skirt she was wearing.

They walked through some narrow alleyways, two massive buildings rising up to the sky on both sides, past trees that had somehow been planted inside the mountain that got their light from the large hole in the ceiling, more food stands with meat, mushrooms and fruits of all kinds, past shops selling all kinds of different things, past small lakes or flowing rivers, over bridges and walkways connecting different buildings, up and downstairs, through tunnels and at multiple points past cages filled with all kinds of animals.

After a while, they reached a point where the street began going upwards, around a large rock in the middle of the village on top of which was a small building made of wood with a stone foundation. Zane and Mira walked up to that building and Zane pushed open the large wooden door. The smell of food and alcohol immediately filled their nostrils, but it wasn't like the smell on the streets, it smelled far better. The room was filled with some chatter.

When Zane and Mira stepped inside they noticed heads turning their way.

"Welcome, welcome," the innkeeper, who stood behind her counter, said.

Zane nodded at her and led Mira to a large table in the corner of the inn which was surrounded by a couch that even went around the corner. The two sat down and the innkeeper came to them shortly after.

"What can I ge- . . . what the hell happened to you?" she asked, looking at Zane.

"I . . . just made the wrong decision a few months ago, don't worry about it," he said.

"If you say so," she said, glancing over at where Zane's left arm used to be with concern in her eyes every so often. "So, what can I get you two?"

Zane noticed Mira looking around hectically.

"We'll have the treasured special, large," Zane said.

"Ah, good choice, good choice," she said before leaving the two and disappearing behind a door in the back.

"T-Treasured special?" Mira asked with a confused look on her face.

"You'll see," Zane said, leaning back on the couch.

After a short while, the innkeeper came back, carrying a large plate with the help of an employee. They put the plate down on the table, bowed and then left. The innkeeper came back shortly after and put down two large mugs filled with alcohol and a jug with more. She bowed again and then left.

Mira was staring at the full plate. Two sets of cutlery were sticking out of the food. There was tons of meat, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and more, all mixed together.

"S-So this is the . . . treasured special," Mira said, not taking her eyes off of the food.

"Let's eat," Zane said.

The two of them began eating and drinking. It was some of the most delicious food Zane had tasted in the past few months, even better than the masterfully made food he had eaten at the Vermillion mansion.

"W-What is this meat?" Mira asked after a while, still chewing some of it.

"Basilisk, I told you that they eat it here in the village. The culture here massively revolves around them," Zane explained.

"I didn't expect it to be this good," Mira said.

Zane smiled at her before they continued eating and drinking. After what felt like an hour they were done eating and had emptied the jug. When the innkeeper saw that she came over to the table.

"Anything else?" she asked.

Zane shook his head, letting his hand rest on his full stomach. Mira did the same.

"Alright . . . that will be two gold pieces," the innkeeper said with a smile on her face.

"You raised your prices huh?" Zane said as he pulled a small pouch out of one of his satchels.

He put it down on the table and rummaged through it. With some minor difficulties, he fished out two gold pieces and gave them to the innkeeper.

"Always nice doing business with you," she said with a bright smile.

"He, haven't been here in years tho," Zane replied as he got up from the couch.

"That doesn't matter," the innkeeper replied with a cheeky smile on her face before she grabbed the large plate, cutlery, mugs and jug from the table and took it away.

"Well then, I guess it's time for us to leave as well," Zane said.

"Where do we go now?" Mira asked.

"Just follow me, I know a pretty good spot," Zane said, smiling down at Mira.

The two left the inn, waving at the innkeeper before pushing open the heavy wooden door and stepping outside. They began walking down the path and then went along the street.

"Is two gold pieces a lot for a meal?" Mira asked suddenly.

Of course, she would have no sense for how much things are actually worth.

"In some regions, you could probably buy a small house for that much money," Zane explained.

"Is it . . . really worth that much?" she asked, fidgeting around slightly.

"Yup, two gold pieces is quite a lot of money . . . especially for food . . ." Zane said. "I remember when they still used bronze pieces . . . those were easier days."

Mira looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"We used to have three different types of coins . . . but about fourteen years ago or so most of the mines collapsed, making it so scarce that they barely had enough of it," Zane explained. "So we stopped using them, of course, that changed the worth of everything . . . anyway, used to be that gold coins were rather rare . . . but after that incident, it became the best way to attract mercenaries to do the jobs so it became the main way of paying us."

"I-I never knew," Mira said.

"Holvin manages to push everything under the rug and play it off as unimportant," Zane said. "Causing the deaths of countless mercenaries by having them go into a tower they were grossly unprepared for, unimportant. Ambushing merchants because they didn't sell him their goods and causing their families to starve, unimportant. Losing an entire type of coin . . . unimportant," Zane said, his tone becoming increasingly mocking.

"Guess he really does have a lot of control over the family," Mira said.

"That's the family head of the Vermillion family for you," Zane said. "On the other hand is our family head that spends his days planning secret tunnels."

Mira began laughing which made the heads of even more people turn to them as they walked along the street. Zane smiled at her. By now he had fully gotten used to only having one arm and now that the poison was gone he could feel himself regaining the strength he had lost over the course of the past few days. But on the inside, he didn't quite know how he felt. No matter how many times he told himself that there was nothing he could do about it there was still sadness that he couldn't drown out.

"A-Are you alright?" Mira asked, pulling on his shirt.

"Ah, yeah," Zane replied, sounding a bit more tired than before.

For a while longer the two continued to walk along the streets, turning around corners every so often and crossing bridges at times until they reached a large platform that was sticking out of a large lake that was on one side of the village.

Grass and small flowers were growing all over it along with a single tree that cast its shadow over it. They stepped onto it and looked down at the water beneath them. In the mountain wall was a large opening that the sips used to get outside.

"Wow," Mira said with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked down at the blue water.

Zane just smiled and sat down, leaning against the tree and closing his eyes.