After stopping at the Mountain Circle springs, the trio took to the skies again, observing the cities that stretched for a long way, built among stumps cut near the base, with almost no vegetation.
The Isle of Setting was divided between two kingdoms, Gran Pearl, of the mermaids, and the Kingdom of Rockland, whose cities were of rustic and low architecture, almost always burrowing into the earth, the home of goblins, kobolds, and porcoids.
It took another three days for them to reach the porcoid city of Dark Orange Earth. They were the only non-smallfolk among the local population.
MILK
The goblin bazaar had tents spanning entire districts, with fabrics draped above the avenues, and exotic animals pulling the carts.
The nurt birds were only two meters tall but seemed larger when ridden by goblins, or when pulling carts laden with fruit.
Bison, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and anteaters were also an inherent part of the scene, each animal being used for work-related tasks.
A crowd thronged the streets, and the brown scales of the kobolds, the greenish skin of the goblins, or the pink of the rotund porcoids were common hues in every district.
From time to time, music sounded from high towers, which were stacks of whitish rocks, from the top, mermaids chanted prayers to the gods of the smallfolk.
Astarne, the God of the Rock, and his three divine daughter-wives, Dumatriz, Ux, and Volcissana. Respectively, the Goddess of Sand, the Goddess of the Skies, and the Goddess of White Hair, each representing one of the three dominant peoples.
Among the other smallfolk, one could see reptilians, who were more lizard than men, dwarves, extremely rare, some with entirely golden skin and red beards, and gnolls, hyena-like humanoids, usually wielding long scythes.
— I was thinking about the mermaids. — Æthelflæd brought up the subject while drinking bison milk.
— What about them?
— Shouldn't this part of the island be theirs alone? — Æthelflæd was being stared at by families of goblins and porcoids at the neighboring tables. One of the kobolds drew a dagger and began sharpening it. — The smallfolk have that entire gigantic landmass on the continent. They don't need this island. — Cwenburg and Leofwynn observed the negativity around them. The altered alchemist spoke with that big smile on her face, exuding the aromas of herbs forbidden in twenty out of twenty kingdoms. Her friends tried blinking, using their hands, making signs, everything to get Æthelflæd to stop talking, but it wasn't enough. — That's why there are wars, people don't take care of their own homes. You know, if I were the Queen of the Mermaids, I'd kill all the goblins and throw their corpses into the sea.
Having finished drinking his bison milk, the goblin maître approached and delivered the milk for the two beside her:
— Cow bison milk for you two.
— Cow bison? — Æthelflæd was puzzled. — Isn't it bison?
— Cow bison is the female. — the maître explained, moving away from the three, who continued eating bison thigh pastries.
Æthelflæd, ashamed of herself, considered:
— For a virgin, this is the first time I've tasted this. — she drank a little more and offered it to her friends, who refused:
— No. And I'm not a virgin.
— How disgusting. — Cwenburg pushed away the milky cup, imitating Leofwynn, but with some curiosity.
— Wait, Leofwynn? What do you mean? How come? — Æthelflæd got irritated, raising her voice.
— I am an honored Level 19 warrior, and I have a fiancé.
— Wait! Fiancé! Level 19? What do you mean, Leofwynn? And, most importantly, doesn't the boy melt going in there?
— Æthelflæd… — Leofwynn sighed at the alchemist's lack of class and explained. — It's obvious my fiancé is a volcano-being too, you'd love him. He's also fanatical about alchemy, but, in his case, the focus is on bodily enlargement effects.
— No way, and you, Cwenburg?
— I'm married. — the unicorn-girl admitted as if it were nothing, and removed, with some pride, a gold ring from the base of the horn on her forehead.
— No! Wait, wasn't there a romance between you two? I thought there was! What happened? How am I the only virgin in this damn trio?
— No romance…
— Yeah, unfortunately… — Leofwynn admitted quietly.
— And who marries a unicorn-girl?
— One of my own kind too. — Cwenburg took a drawing from her bag and showed it to Æthelflæd, in the drawing, it was her and a unicorn, literally a quadrupedal unicorn.
Æthelflæd imagined many things but said nothing, returning to her bison milk under the disgusted stares of the others.