The Martial Unity

“Are you sure that you would like to leave so soon?”

Mother Alicia’s voice contained a slight tinge of regret as her elven vessel gazed at Rui and Amare standing with all their goods packed. Amare had donned a Martial attire fashioned from some of the organic fibers that the elves used for their clothing on a frequent basis, containing a tinge of green.

Rui, on the other hand, had worn his regular Martial attire with the crest of the Water Sect and the Kandrian Empire embroidered on it.

“I’m afraid we have to,” Rui replied with a resigned tone. “It has been a greatly enriching and nourishing experience, but we can’t stay here forever. I have other objectives in other continents that need to be fulfilled. But I will return to say hello, especially since, you know…”

A wry smile emerged on his face.

“You’re my step-mother-to-be.”

Mother Alicia smiled at him before coming forth and patting his head.

“Indeed, I am.”

Rui still hadn’t gotten used to the idea of having an elven Mother of Nature for a step-mother, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world by any shot.

“By everybody!” Amare cheerily waved all the dark elves who had gathered in the distance to say goodbye to them.

Or mostly to Amare.

While the dark elves didn’t despise him the way the light elves did, they weren’t particularly fond of him, either. Amare, on the other hand, had formed a firm rapport with them in the past eight months.

“We will truly miss your presence in our continent, dear friends.”

The wise, elder voice of Mother Vyia drew attention as she stepped forth, gazing at Rui and Amare.

PAT

She placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“May your voyage bring to you what you desire.”

“Thank you, Mother Vyia.” Rui gave her a knowing nod. “Your generosity has been moving. We appreciate everything that you have done for us.”

“And we appreciate everything that you have done for us,” Mother Vyia replied with a gentle smile. “May elven and human civilization thrive together. Good luck and goodbye, my friends.”

Rui smiled at her.

“I look forward to our next meeting.”

“As do I.” She nodded gently. “Until then, our paths diverge.”

Rui and Amare bid goodbye to the elves and to Genora before departing from the continent and taking off on water.

No sooner than they were a hundred meters away, Amare’s expression grew sullen.

“I already miss them.”

“I do too,” Rui remarked, holding her hand. “But look on the bright side…”

His smile lit up.

“We get to explore the rest of the true world. We can always come back and meet them again. Now that we are allies, we already have a treaty for travel and trade, and it exempts special-status individuals like us,” he reminded her. “You can go there any time you want as long as you give an advance notification.”

“I know, I can’t wait to meet all the dark elves again!” The very thought excited her. “For now, I can appreciate an adventure across the true world. Not to mention…”

She closed her eyes, basking in the bright light of the morning Sun as they walked across the water. The humid, yet refreshing ocean breeze brushed past her, making her long, amber hair flutter and dance.

“This is good in and of itself. Evergreen forests are great, but I have grown used to them in the past eight months, so I can use a good change of pace.”

“That’s true.” Rui nodded thoughtfully. “Elven civilization is very unique and novel, but it has been a saturated sight in the past few months. I am looking forward to seeing what the other civilizations and polities in the true world are like.”

She turned towards him with excitement. “So, when are we reaching Kiriket?”

“Did you forget?” Rui raised an eyebrow. “We aren’t going to Kiriket directly. We have a checkpoint midway through…”

His expression grew eager.

“The Hlakaschken Trade Empire.”

The distance between West Genora and Kiriket was extremely large, much larger than the distance between Genora and the Panama Continent. Making the trip in one go was impractical and tiring, considering that they were walking across the ocean to Kiriket.

On the other hand, Rui knew that there was trouble in Kiriket, so he didn’t want to arrive at the continent drained of stamina. There was no point in having both of them considerably drained by the time they reached the continent.

Thus, they had chosen to stop by an island country several dozen thousand kilometers away from West Genora, close to Moridia, known as Grigolia. Based on his research, it was regarded as neutral territory insofar as the domain of influence of the six powerhouse pureblood civilizations was concerned.

Prior to the Unfolding, Grigolia used to be the closest thing to a center of trade, thanks to being closest to the center of the continent. After the Unfolding, the Panama Continent had dethroned it to position itself at the very epicenter of civilization.

Based on all the research he had done, it was a fitting place to take a stop by and get some rest.

The Island of Grigolia was largely ruled by the Hlakaschken Trade Empire, one of the most successful pan-racial and pluralistic countries in the world.

Because of eons of positioning at the very epicenter of civilization prior, it had accrued an enormous amount of immigration from the other six continents, causing all diaspora from all six continents to converge upon the continent over a span of millennia.

Eventually, they learned to co-exist, mingle, and even cross-breed, causing the continent to gain a large population of hybrids, although there were pureblood communities as well.

Once communication and transport technology made the world feel smaller and smaller, the migration only grew more intense, causing the original natives who had migrated eons prior to band together to both capitalize on the surge of migration and protect their land, forming the Hlakaschken Trade Empire on the continent, creating a hub for trade and commerce.