CHAPTER 520: CHAPTER 520 - EXPLORING CERYNEIA (PART 2)

It only took barely an hour before I finished completing the community kitchen area next to our house. It is not the first time I made one so experience has made me more efficient in setting up this type of place.

After my work is done, I went inside the house that Marius and I will be sharing for the next couple of days. This is another work that I was proud of since I made it quite quickly and impressively too.

After entering the door, I looked around once again at the house that has greatly changed not only in size but also in terms of amenities. As my eyes panned out towards the now spacious living room, I saw Marius quietly sitting on one of the cushioned seats. I called his name a few times but I was ignored since he is still dumbly looking around the house that is no longer familiar to him.

I had to walk in front of him and wave my hand in front of his face before he noticed that I already came inside the house. He looked at me in surprise and the first things he told me was, "This house is beautiful. Too bad I can’t bring this with me when we leave. Why did you put so many rooms?"

To give you an idea of what the house I made looked like, I expanded it 5 times its usual floor size and I even added a second floor to it though not much changed on how it looked like on the outside. There is now a clear distinction for the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and the corridor towards the stairs that leads to the bedrooms. I filled the place with simple looking furniture made of good quality materials as well.

I smiled at him and responded, "This is designed based on what you drew on paper and things you described to me. Don’t worry, I can make another one for you in another place. As for the bedrooms, I expect more merfolk to live here temporarily before we leave this place in a few days."

He looked at me with furrowed brows and then asked, "Do they really have to live here?" I simply nodded and responded curtly, "They won’t stay that long. I will send them straight to Marahuyo for safety reasons."

His eyes widened with my simple answer but his eyes showed hope and also admiration. I don’t know why this guy trusts me so much though. Besides taking him out of that slave house and giving him a place to stay in Marahuyo, I don’t remember doing that much for him since I met him.

Since it was still early, we prepared a simple meal in the new kitchen inside the house and ate together. Dinner was spent talking about the people he is planning to take out of Ceryneia. It turns out that besides some people from Ash City, most of the people he wanted to take away are from the cities of Coal and Cobalt.

As he continually told me certain places in Ceryneia, I tried hard to remember where exactly are the places he was talking about since he only told me a few details before. The only thing I remembers was when he mentioned in passing that he was born in Cobalt City then they had to escape to a farther city which should be here in Ash City. As for how things are placed in the map, I honestly have no idea.

I guess the blank look on my face gave away my cluelessness as Marius suddenly chuckled. I looked at him with a cold face and then he coughed to swallow his laughter in.

He started explaining that Ceryneia is divided into five distinct areas or what they call layers. The innermost city is called Indigo City and it is where all the members of the royal family, their direct family members (high ranking nobles) and their close aides live in. The farther one lives from Indigo City, the more difficult and poorer the quality of life was. The fourth and fifth layer are practically almost lawless due to how desperate the inhabitants are just to get through one more day.

The next layer was Coral City where the other lower nobles and the rich merchants lived in. The third layer was Cobalt City, his birth place, was where the government workers, highly skilled workers and the learned ones lived in. It was also like their central business district and their school district.

The fourth layer named Coal City was filled with manual laborers (miners, farmers, hunters, etc.) and enslaved families, the poorest of the poor. He added that slavery is legal here because merfolks have accepted the fact that it was better to be a slave than to die of hunger or sickness.

The outermost circle, Ash City was where the orphaned children of dead manual laborers. It was also the homes for those that are not accepted in the third and fourth layers due to being poorly skilled in any type of job. Since these people do not contribute much to the territory, the territory refuse to support them. They were literally tagged as outcasts, thrown to the outermost and most dangerous layer.

The people in Ash City are therefore cannon fodders since this layer is the first to be hit by attacks from the fearsome creatures of the deep ocean. He also said in a very low voice that the illegitimate children of people from the first three circles are also thrown here since nobody wants to take responsibility for them and the reputation of the parents are more important that those children’s survival.

As he narrated the map and situation of Ceryneia with much more detail compared to when he shared it to me when we first met, I remembered the details gradually and the migraine that I felt before came back as well. Ahh... I really remembered the irritating facts about this territory.

I then shared my plans for the next days with Marius. I instructed him to stay within the fenced area I have created which includes the house and the community kitchen. This to ensure that he stays safe and doesn’t suddenly get kidnapped by whoever is keeping tabs on him in the dark.

As for me, I will use the list of names he has provided me to look into people that have potential in helping to rebuild the new Ceryneia. I need skilled and useful people but I also have a requirement when it comes to their character. This will be a challenge for me since I have to check on these people one by one on my own.

The list surprisingly included merfolk from all walks of life. There were people from Ash City that I entrusted to him to invite and talk to see if they agree to leave this place with us. I reminded him to invite them within the fenced area’s community kitchen for meetings.

This should do the trick since I also placed a barrier around the house similar to that of Marahuyo’s. It should filter the bad eggs out and will serve as the final test if they can go with us or not to the surface.

Some of the merfolks on the list are either from the working class or merchant families. Marius specifically said that these men were younger sons that were not in line to inherit titles or businesses but just like him, they were born exceptionally talented so they were seen as eyesores. Their own families and the heirs are eager to get rid of them to secure their positions.

The rest are from enslaved families either due to debts or they were born to parents that are tagged as slaves. For this one, I might need to find a way to earn money so I can buy them off of their current owners.

The more I look at the list, the more I believe that the next five days aren’t enough to complete what I needed to do. I am pertaining to the fact that besides these merfolks in this list, I may have other chance encounters to consider too.

Marius insisted on coming with me at first to the inner layers but I reminded him that he is kind of wanted by the royal family so he needs to stay put. He escaped them when they tried to marry him off to high ranking nobles. He is technically a royal descendant from a branch family even if one of his parents was not a royal or a noble so he is still useful in their eyes as a birthing tool.

When I did a fact check like that, it completely shut him up. I also told him that it is easier to move around if I was alone since I can freely say that I am a rich merchant from the dry lands looking for slave workers or unmarried men to take with me.

It may sound cruel but as per his stories that is the main reason why non-merfolk come to their place so might as well use the same reason. It is not entirely false anyways though I plan to free the ones with slave statuses once we are out of here.