Finally, after a year of travelling around Trivis numerica, Ed and I had passed our ITA exams and gotten our passports. Our time there was definitely unforgettable, we had met countless friends, one of which was Arthur Gray.

He was the reason we had even made it this far, our benefactor that found us in the streets and raised us to heights we thought we’d never reach. He had given us a job with food and shelter in exchange for us taking his granddaughter Anna along with us while we were in Trivis Numerica.

She was the person that made our journey here fun. With her we travelled to Station Arfa, where we created a branch of Arthur’s restaurant. There we had met a young manager by the name of Carl, who helped us set up shop. Working with him was a delight.

Before we had made it to Leins, we stopped by Wheats to visit Ed’s uncle. He treated us not as coworkers, not as colleagues or travelers, but as kids. This moment of peace was short lived, as during our stay Anna and I got lost in a forest and were attacked by a stray wolf.

Barely making it out of this fight alive, we sneaked out of uncle’s care and went to Leins. There we had met up with Graal Thurs, a friend of Arthur’s who helped arrange for us to take the ITA exam and get our passports before we were legally allowed to. The tests were tricky and dubious, but making it felt like rebirth.

With passports in tow, Ed said our goodbyes to Anna and left for Ren, where we rested up and wrote a book about our travels. There we met up with Arthur and reacquainted.

The time in TN had it’s ups and downs, but I don’t regret it for a second. Now, in a wagon headed for Carmen City, we seek an audience with the king to request travel funds.

***

The ride to Carmen City was definitely a long one, taking about two weeks to get there. It was unlike anything we’d experienced before. This definitely didn’t sit well with my stomach though, and we had to make frequent stops.

After finally arriving at Carmen City, we were simply left awestruck. The entire city shone as if it was made out of gold. Large pillar-like structures and skyscrapers obstructed our view of the sky to the point where we didn’t even know if it was day or night. Walking through the busy streets we noticed a distinct difference between TN and Carmen, namely the people. Carmeners as a people are very posh by nature. They keep their heads up high, and they will absolutely refuse to move to the side when passing by you, leading to a lot of people bumping us around.

Ed and I were definitely disillusioned by the City of Song. We had expected everyone to be bubbly and chipper, while not to the point where they’d literally burst into song in the middle of the street, we definitely didn’t expect them to be this rude. If the king is even 1% like these people then that doesn’t spell good news for us.

We decided to visit the local ITA hub as we were getting a bit homesick already. Hoping to meet the normal, down to earth travelers we’d met back in Leins, we stood in front of the check in booth, but were extremely disappointed by the workers attitude that wasn’t at all unlike the other Carmeners.

“What do you want, tykes?” he hissed.

“We’re Lune Grimheart and Edward Saint, sir. We’re here to check in per protocol.”

As it happens, during our ITA exams we were told by the instructor that travelers are to check in first and foremost after arriving in a new country. The ITA agent working the booth will then write your name in and notify the other branches of your arrival. This is verification of your current activity and whereabouts, as well as a way to distinguish between slightly inactive travelers and full-blown deserters.

The snarky agent had suddenly clicked his tongue at us and simply said something along the lines of You’re too young to be ITA agents. Scram! Now I get were just barely 14, but I’m sure were not the only underage travelers.

“Sir, if you could just check our names in the registry-”

“I DON’T CARE! FUCK OFF AND PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE OR I’M CALLING AN OFFICER ON SIGHT!” he suddenly lashed out.

Fearing getting arrested in a foreign country, we decided to leave the matter for now and look for a place to stay while we figure things out. The inn we stayed at was also quite nasty with it’s reception of us.

“They really don’t like anything, do they?” Ed asked rhetorically.

To tell you the truth, we’re in quite a pinch right now. We still haven’t checked in for the ITA, and we’ve got just a month before we get our first strike. I’d rather we don’t strike out any time soon, so we should get that sorted ASAP.

Another thing is the travel funds, we’ve all but given up on requesting to meet with the king. If a ruler allows for their countrymen to act like this, then I can only imagine that he’ll hang us if we request such a thing of him. This is nothing like any of the places we’ve been to in TN. Sure we’ve met some bad and selfish people over there, but those were just a couple people probably having a bad day. These people in Carmen are rotten to the core, they radiate “I’m a piece of shit” energy 24/7.

It was at this moment that Ed suggested we skip the funding negotiations and head straight to Great Hiana. We knew for a fact from our parents’ honeymoon stories that Great Hiana was a very welcoming and polite country, so they’ll definitely hear us out. This way we could kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously checking in and asking for advice on how to acquire the travel funds.

At first I was sort of against the idea of leaving a country without properly documenting and exploring it, but Ed persuaded me with words like We’re not ready for Carmen yet and We can always come back at a later time. As such, we had decided to clock out for the night and ultimately decided to pull back for now.

We’ll come back for you, Carmen, just you wait!