The moment they crossed through the gate, Teresa got a good look at Nouarosso for the first time. The large gate was built at the end of a long tunnel with plenty of space and a floor paved with bricks. Reaching the end of the tunnel, they came to an outcropping overlooking a massive underground cavern that spanned a few miles.
Everything was lit up by glowing crystals that contained some sort of bioluminescent moss. They were embedded within the walls and ceiling of the tunnel, but in the city of Nouarosso itself it was a different story.
The bioluminescent moss crystals were embedded within the ceiling of the cavern, creating patterns and images that covered the entire ‘sky.’ There were multiple colors of glowing crystal, and all along the roof of the cavern these crystals formed patterns.
Images. They were all drawing images. It was artwork made of glowing crystal embedded in the underground environment. Upon looking closer, there were thousands upon thousands of drawings and pieces of art built into the top of the cavern with the crystals. Some looked as if they had been designed by children, while others seemed to be extremely detailed as though a historical artist had come and placed those crystals personally.
The crystal art depicted plenty of various things, but a common theme of the art was the presence of a humanoid creature that looked like it had scales. The most detailed of artworks depicted these reptilian looking beings far more intricately, she even spotted a piece of art showing a small reptilian crawling on the ceiling while holding a crystal.
It reminded Teresa of the Sistine Chapel, but scaled up drastically to cover an entire underground city using glowing crystal rather than paint. The glowing crystal artwork provided enough lighting to illuminate the city itself. A palace was right in the center of Nouarosso, and surrounding it were homes built from rock along with several bazaars with varying architecture.
Stands with purple and green tarps decorating them were all over, it looked like a city out of the Renaissance with a lot more purple and green. It was easily the most beautiful city Teresa had ever seen, even pre-System.
“Here we have it, Nouarosso!” Brahim, the guard, said with some pride. “When we first found the place, there was already a city built here. Definitely not human, but it’s ours now. Had a bit of infighting at first, since we have a lot of nationalities here. People from Mauritania, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and even North Korea. Given enough time, we worked out our differences and even found some common ground in our cultures. In the end, nationality doesn’t actually matter, we even have a few Americans here that get along with the program just fine. Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, they all have a presence here too.
“Now, there’s a man-powered elevator or we can just take the stairs, what do you prefer?” Brahim asked.
“What do you mean man-powered?” Teresa replied.
“There’s a platform attached to a pulley system, came with the place. You need someone to pull the ropes, the mechanism that did it easier was broken in the early days. Don’t worry, even if they drop the ropes the platform won’t fall. There’s a failsafe.”
Teresa had to admit it, she was jealous. They started out with a fully built city leagues beyond what she would have ever expected. She had a lot of questions about the practicality of it, such as how they managed garbage, waste, and ventilation. Regardless, the place didn’t define the people.
“I can see why you would be hesitant to let anyone in.” Teresa admitted. If a bad actor with a modicum of power caught sight of the place, who knew what might happen. If not for the fact it was underground, Teresa would even like to live here. She personally preferred to have a standard day night cycle, which would be difficult here. “The stairs will be fine.”
They continued down a set of stairs built into the cavern wall that led down from the outcropping to the ground floor. There was also another gate built into the wall at the outcropping, and a matching gate on the ground floor. Both remained closed, and there were even guards at the bottom gate.
Brahim continued talking and seemed weirdly intent on emphasising that there were a few people from a bunch of different countries. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to reassure her that there were people in Nouarosso from her own country, though he wasn’t sure what country Teresa was from due to
Not that it mattered in the slightest what country everyone was from. As far as Teresa was concerned, every pre-System country was as good as gone now. Okay, she was a bit curious about the North Koreans comment, but the point still stood.
“Earlier you spoke of Nouarosso’s business, may you expand upon that subject?” Saylee asked.
“Minerals. As you have likely noticed, our world has natural features not native to Earth. That goes for the materials underground as well. There’s still iron and coal, but there are rock compositions and ores we have never seen before. It’s not my job, but many of the workers here sell what they find to the higher ups. Of course there are the natural jobs needed, we have many butchers and hunters, though primarily we’re interested in the ground.”
“I suppose that is something that would be interesting.” Randall said. “I’m sure NASA would have a heart attack at how many soil samples from different planets are so easily obtainable now. What exactly have you found?”
“That is information I do not know, the crystals in the roof can be found growing within the ground quite a lot though. The ones up there are packed tightly and don’t grow over each other, but within the tunnels they are extremely common.” Brahim answered.
As pretty as the place was, Teresa was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. She was fully prepared to get ambushed at any given moment, and she had left her Perception fully active since entering the mountain. There were a lot of smells she didn’t exactly enjoy, but she’d tough it out. She even kept her taste fully active, in case she inhaled a poisonous gas through her mouth.
Was that reasonable? Hell if she knew, there might be a colorless poisonous gas with no smell but a faint taste. Maybe. Teresa didn’t know much about poisons, but she was going to play it safe for now. She’d been ambushed enough times in the past to not let her guard down in a situation like this. She did threaten her way into the city, and it wouldn’t be that surprising if they were preparing to take her out.
That’s why she wanted to get it over with.
“Point the way.” Teresa said to her dad, interrupting their conversation about interesting rocks.
Randall nodded and did as instructed, leading the way while keeping a hand on Preston’s shoulder as soon as they were within the city. Now that she was walking within Nouarosso, something stood out to Teresa. It was empty.
“Where is everyone?” Teresa asked, concerned about how they rarely passed anyone.
“Working, there are tunnels all along the perimeter of the main cavern.” Brahim answered.
It was more than a bit eerie to walk through colorful bazaars and neighborhoods only to rarely see any movement. They crossed an insignificant building where she heard children inside, and someone actually peeked out of a window to look at them.
The moment Teresa locked eyes with the elderly woman watching them, the woman shut a cover over the opening and blocked her sight. She heard her shush the children inside, and the house went silent.
That was a red flag if she had ever seen one. There were a lot of red flags here, and she was taking note of each and every one.
As a matter of fact, anyone who saw her immediately seemed terrified. It was like they were worried upon seeing the guards, and then it was made ten times worse when they saw Teresa. They rushed to get out of the way, and Teresa was confused by the ordeal. It was specifically her, too. Nobody else in her party elicited such a response, what the hell?
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“Why is everyone avoiding us? It seems like it’s specifically me, too.” Teresa asked. Brahim glanced at her and chuckled.
“Because of what you’re wearing.”
“Excuse me?”
“Those robes, they’re healer robes.” Brahim clarified. “Working underground, it is very easy to get hurt. It’s not common in high level individuals, but the weak can still get an infection from cuts and injuries. Healers are considered very prestigious here because of that.”
Teresa waited for him to keep explaining, but after a moment of silence he didn’t continue. She pressed for more details, as someone being prestigious shouldn’t elicit a fearful response. Not to mention, how the hell were healers considered prestigious?
“Okay, I can totally see how healers are important and all, but this seems excessive. Not counting the elderly or children, 20% of the population should be a healer, or some sort of healer archetype. There were only the five starting classes to choose from, shouldn’t nearly everyone know someone capable of Restoration Magic?” Teresa questioned.
“Reality does not always match theory. Nouarosso does not have many healers, it is the class least capable of self defense you see.” Brahim responded. “Many have died. If you were actually a healer, we would likely be having a different conversation.”
“What do you mean if I was actually a healer?”
“Rebecca, don’t be silly. That weapon of yours was far heavier than what anyone could naturally lift, meaning you have a high Strength stat. The speed with which you maneuvered it also points to a high Agility. Lastly, the entrance to Nouarosso is in a particularly cold region. Despite that, you could wear robes that do little to protect against the elements without even seeming to notice the weather. Wearing healer robes to hide your true class is a clever move, but you can’t fool me.” Brahim said all of this with confidence, and Teresa wasn’t going to correct him. Technically, he was right. She did have high physical stats, and her current class didn’t revolve around healing.
That didn’t mean she hadn’t been a healer at one point.
“You gotta do what you gotta do.” Teresa said, shrugging.
“Exactly, I like that. You gotta do what you gotta do. Now, how can I put it in a way you’ll understand? You’re American, yes? Or at the very least the gentleman interested in the rocks is. Seeing a healer in Nouarosso is like seeing an ambulance coming to pick you up for a minor injury with no insurance. Very expensive, perhaps you can just walk the injury off.”
“Why is Restoration Magic expensive? I get that you have a shortage of healers, but healing people is mutually beneficial. Injuries get fixed, and the healer gets experience for their class and skill. With a shortage I can understand not having enough Mana to go around healing everyone all the time, but for it to be so extreme they react to just seeing me like that is concerning.”
“Healing someone within the city while safe yields less experience than healing in combat. Additionally, many healers are limited by their Mana, not their skill level. Improving skill level can make you more efficient, yes, but raising your Wisdom for more Mana is equally important. To do that, you need to fight monsters, not be stuck healing caving injuries.” Brahim explained.
“None of this explains their reactions.”
“It is likely they have debt to a healer, many do. I’m sure things will become much more clear here once we get to our destination.”
After a few more minutes of walking through a city of people scared of Teresa, they arrived at a house with someone sleeping inside from the sound of it. Teresa had a lot of negative things to say about how Nouarosso was being managed so far. They were assholes to outsiders, yet they had an alleged healer shortage.
Even if what they said was true, the fact people were so uncomfortable even being around a healer spoke volumes. Even with magic to heal people, it was expensive enough to put people in debt. If being low level was resulting in people getting hurt while working, shouldn’t there be more of an incentive to fight monsters? Maybe that was backwards logic, but there was a lot that didn’t add up.
The interest in minerals was also strange to Teresa. If several months had passed and everything was already settled down, then sure, underground materials would be extremely valuable. The issue was, what exactly was Nouarosso doing with those materials that they valued mining so highly?
Could they be sold to earn System money? At that point, once again, why not fight monsters instead? Maybe a lot of people simply didn’t want to, but then why pursue mining if there were so many injuries because of it? Unless it just so happened that a lot of the local population had been miners pre-System or something close to it, then it would be extremely risky to have a lot of people digging without knowing what they were doing.
Teresa had two guesses. According to guess number one, they were keeping Nouarosso closed off to monopolize valuable materials with the goal of making equipment or selling those materials to other cities that stood no chance of getting anything Nouarosso had to offer by themselves.
According to guess number two, there was some multiversal invader shit going on. They could be using Nouarosso to procure materials for study, seeing how their universe had a unique set of natural laws that made them both spectacular and shit at the same time. Matter in their universe could be completely drained of Mana, while still having complex laws that govern reality. This could be an operation to harvest various materials found underground, though a lot of the multiverse related stuff still wasn’t clear.
It could also be something Teresa just hasn’t thought of, like poor government management and incompetence, population issues, something related to monsters, whatever. Teresa couldn’t think of every possibility, but as beautiful as the city was she felt there was something else going on.
They approached the house, and Randall nodded to Preston.
“He’s in here.” Randall confirmed.
“He’s also asleep.” Sarah added, also able to hear inside. Preston nodded back at both of them, then knocked on the door loudly. Inside, someone awoke with a start, then quickly began making their way towards the door.
“I’ll get back to it once I’ve slept! It’s not like day and night matters anyway!” A man yelled from inside before opening the door. The man looked exhausted, with bags under his eyes and an expression that made him look dead inside.
He looked at Preston, and immediately all of that changed.
“Preston!?” He exclaimed, stepping forward and hugging his son. “How are you here? Why are you here?”
“Hey dad, I thought I’d just stop by for a cup of tea is all.” Preston joked, hugging his dad back.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, but what are you doing here?” Benjamin, Preston’s dad, asked again.
“I came here to get you, make sure you’re alright.” Preston answered.
“Right.” Benjamin said hesitantly, looking at the rest of the party. His eyes settled on Teresa, saw her healer robes, then widened. “I… I don’t want any trouble.”
“They’re here with me.” Preston told him, frowning. “Well, except for that guy, he was guarding the gate into the city.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know, over that way I guess?” Preston replied, pointing. Benjamin looked between his son and his party a few times. If his initial reaction to Teresa had been fear, now it was more like… worry? Teresa was familiar enough with people looking at her with a concerned look.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Benjamin said. Brahim shifted beside Teresa, his movements not subtle enough to go unnoticed. “You should go. Now. All of you.”
“What are you talking about dad?”
“Don’t worry, the less you know the better. You have to leave.”
“Alright, then let’s go.”
Preston began to walk away, but stopped when Benjamin didn’t follow.
“It was good to see you again son, I’m glad you’re well.” Benjamin began to close the door, but Preston was back at the entryway with his hand keeping the door open before Benjamin had a proper chance to close it.
“What are you doing?” Preston asked, giving his dad a funny look. “You want to go, let’s go. If you don’t want me to ask questions, I won’t,”
“I’m sorry but I can’t come with you.” Benjamin said, his voice sounding hollow.
“Bullshit you can’t. I know I just said I wouldn’t ask questions, but now I’m gonna do it anyway. Why not?”
“I… owe some money. It’s just a money thing, don’t worry about it.”
“Then I’ll help pay it off, it won’t be that big of a deal. How much?” Preston asked. Benjamin hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Ten thousand…” He said, making Teresa’s eyebrows reach her hairline.
“Okay, so that is more than I thought, I’ll admit.” Preston said. “How do you owe that much?”
“Medical expenses. My lungs started having problems being underground, needed to see someone to get it fixed.” Benjamin answered.
“So they charged you ten grand for it!?” Preston exclaimed. “Okay, maybe we can just threaten to kill a few people and call it good.”
“Preston!” Benjamin said, giving his son a weird look. “You should just go, don’t worry about me. Like I said, you shouldn’t be here, it’s not safe. Especially not for you.”
Benjamin looked right at Teresa as he said that last part, making her anxiety increase.
“Why not?” Teresa asked. Brahim shifted next to her again, though she was ready if he tried anything.
“Because of what happened to the healers.”