“One of the many ways you can make an educated guess on the strength of a country’s military force is to simply observe the relationship between the common populace and members of the military, active or otherwise. Signs of fear or hatred signals a poor relation, probably with a military that often abused its privileges at the expense of the common people, and a nation that would likely unravel in disunity when under threat.

On the contrary, however, should signs of genuine respect and adoration be found, it would likely mean said nation had a great unity within itself, the sort where the common people might take up arms en masse to defend their homeland, entirely unprompted, when an outside threat showed itself. These are the sort of nations you would be better off skipping.” – Abu-Bakar Nazrudeen, famed Warlord of Northern Ur-Teros, circa 249 VA.

Two weeks after they departed from Tohrmutgent, Aideen and Celia reached a city called Allevens, one of the larger cities in Western Ptolodecca. It was also a city that had grown prodigiously in the past century, as when Aideen left for Alcidea Allevens was still a medium-sized town, rather than a city. At the present day, however, there were at least ten thousand or more people living in the city.

Much like most cities and towns in Ptolodecca other than Tohrmutgent, Allevens was unwalled, the only signs of the perimeter of the city being the line of skeletal sentries posted on the outskirts in neat lines. Given that those undead were designed to keep all sorts of vermin out of the city and can actively act, they probably were better than a wall anyway.

The lack of a defensive wall was no surprise to Aideen. Ptolodecca never truly worried about military conflict these days, and rather than walls, it was the promise to submerge any offender in a very literal flood of undead that acted as a deterrent to any of their neighbors and kept them from acting up against the Lichdom’s interests.

At the moment, the Jarldoms that shared a border with the Lichdom were either neutral or on good terms with them. The Elmaiya Empire to their west were practically allies at this point, and while relations with Antemeia and Vitalica – Aideen hated calling that nation with that “stolen” name – to the north never really warmed up, neither does the two dare to provoke the Lichdom.

In Allevens, other than the typical sights, one thing Aideen and Celia noticed was how there were many children who were playing as soldiers. Normally that would have been a regular sight in most countries, but it was relatively rarely seen in Ptolodecca due to the long peace that the nation had enjoyed over the past centuries.

Stolen novel; please report.

As such, the sight became noteworthy, as groups of children as large as dozens to a side would play together and stage mock “battles” between themselves. At times Aideen even saw some older children playing along as the steeds for their younger siblings who fashioned themselves after the Wings of Night, makeshift back-mounted wings and all.

At first they were quite surprised to see such sights, though when they walked towards the city center and happened to meet the city’s former mayor, all their questions were answered on the spot.

Said former mayor of Allevens was Ansel, the half-elven woman who had served as the overall commander of the Wings of Night around two centuries ago. Apparently she had retired around four decades ago due to her advanced age – she was in her last century of life by now – and returned to her hometown of Allevens, where she was somewhat famous and made to serve as mayor for a couple decades.

Even at the present day, many of the locals of Allevens still viewed her long service as the commander of the elite cavalry of the Ptolodeccan army as a point of pride, which explained why so many of the children played at being soldiers like they had seen. The elderly half-elven woman naturally recognized Aideen – who barely changed over the centuries – and chatted amicably with her and Celia.

As Ansel had served for so long as a high ranked officer in the military, she naturally retired with a healthy sum of savings. Her plans were somewhat derailed when the locals of her hometown insisted she serve as mayor for a couple decades, but in the last decade or so, she finally managed to start the business she had in mind to occupy her twilight years.

To Aideen and Celia’s surprise, said business was a bakery of sorts that not only provided all sorts of bread, but also various cakes and other sweets at rather low prices, as unlike in many countries, sugar and honey were relatively common in Ptolodecca. Needless to say, the children of the city loved to visit “Granny Ansel’s” place for various reasons, the biggest of which being the sweets.

Which definitely explained the popularity of the military with the kids, given how Ansel was not above displaying the suit of armor she used to wear prominently in her shop, as well as how all the workers employed at the place were retired soldiers, whose powerful physiques were still evident even in their old age. Ansel had offered employment for any retired soldiers who needed some work at her place.

Even the shop’s sign hanging in front of the door depicted the unmistakable silhouette of a WIngs of Night cavalryman atop a skeletal steed, lovingly etched into a wooden placard and colored in black, albeit one holding a delicate-looking cake in their hand rather than the lance one would have expected of them instead.

Aideen and Celia chatted amicably with Ansel at her place and sampled some of her wares. Ansel’s mother was a runaway elf from the Forest of Shadows long before Aideen had been born, and had already been in her third century when she escaped back then. As such, Ansel inherited some elven recipes that she incorporated into her cooking at the shop.

The recipes included things like edible flowers – many of which were only found in the forest or its vicinity – which lent a floral sweetness to many of her cakes, as well as the mixing of sweets with meat, which sounded odd to Celia but was nothing unusual for the locals like Aideen. In fact, some of Ansel’s more popular products included items such as a bread filled with chopped up sweetmeats that was then encased with a crisp cookie-like crust on the outside.