Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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"My goals?..."

Hina was caught unprepared, not expecting this kind of "deep" question.

She remained silent for the following moments, thinking of a response. But as time went on, her expression changed a few times, eventually resting on helplessness as she said:

"Do I need one?" She asked, uncertainty in her tone

"When you see something interesting in the distance while playing an RPG, you go there out of curiosity or merely to see if you can get there, not because of any deeper goals or intent."

"The Capital was interesting, but it's not the fantasy I wanted to see. It's too saturated with boring plots I've seen everywhere and the usual competitiveness between people."

"I'm tired of seeing that... Of dealing with that. And I didn't want to just leave this game. Everything's been quite fun."

She turned to look at the passing forest, smiling lightly.

"Things seemed cooler here, so I came here. And so far, I've been having fun, that's all that matters."

"..."

Although her words implied she had none, Dale saw, from her expression, that she hid her true intentions.

He didn't break into a smile, but a hint of amusement played on his lips... And a touch of regret for probing her for such a personal answer.

'Maybe I went too far.' He thought as he closed his eyes

Knowing it would be for the best if he stopped things here, he chuckled, saying:

"I see, I didn't know I was so interesting. I'll work hard to make things engaging for you."

"What?" She asked with a baffled expression, her eyes widening slightly as she grew embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed, and she looked away, trying to hide her embarrassment

"Well, you said you came to Resko because you found it interesting, and you said you came to me because you saw me in the distance, so putting those two together, I imagine you came to me expecting something fun, no?"

"A-Ah! Those are two completely different things!" She exclaimed as she grew a little erratic

"Uhum..." He said dismissively as he saw her grow restless 'She's not used to being teased back... Right, she's a pampered child, she isn't used to hearing these kinds of things.'

"Hey! You... You're stretching things! Don't ignore me!"

She kept shaking Dale's shoulders as she spoke, but he ignored her completely, looking away, causing her even greater embarrassment.

"I want to go back! This isn't fun anymore!" She said with a 'humph' as she crossed her arms and looked away, trying to fake frustration

"... Do you even believe yourself?" Dale asked as he raised an eyebrow

"... Can we just... Move on... You win... Dunce." She said in a defeated tone as she dropped her head to look at the boat

/Smile.../

Dale smiled, resting his elbow on the canoe's sides as he listened to the sound of water passing by, the gentle lapping of the waves against the boat, and the soft rustling of leaves in the distance...

Fish swam underneath the canoe, and insects flew over it, some resting on its surface.

It was a peaceful sight, such a shame it was all... Virtual. Erile thought quietly as she placed her fingers on the water.

"Be carefull, else something may bite your fingers off." Dale said with concern as he looked at her, but in the end, he burst into a smile when she turned to him, terrified

"YOU!"

A 'terrific' fight began!

...

For the next few hours, Dale and Erile talked about a series of things, with Erile logging off not long after as she couldn't stay on the canoe for that long, returning towards the end as they approached the city.

Sightings of Karkavan became frequent, with watchtowers and fishing boats dotting the river's shores, together with a small 'port' in the distance.

The Karkavan settlement was within sight!

...

"!@@#&*("

"!@*#$!@#"

As soon as they arrived, they were welcomed by a small group of Karkavan warriors, their ranking and position dictated by their equipment and the colored bands on their arms.

But this wasn't something Hina knew... So she did what she knew best:

Ask.

"Hey."

"What is it?"

"I've been wondering... Why do all of them wear masks? Isn't that confusing, being unable to see each other's expressions?"

The Karkavan culture was sufficiently unique to the point it would raise confusion in ordinary Humans, and Hina, being a modern girl, would find it confusing to comprehend most of their customs without inserting some modern values into them. Even her grandfather might have some difficulty understanding them, that was how long Humans have lost touch with nature...

"Maybe? I don't know the details... All Karkavan receive a Mask from Birth by their parents."

"From what I know, they put a great emphasis on their face and intimacy, something along the lines of "Attraction comes from within" kind of thing."

"Their faces are usually reserved for direct Kin, as they call it, parents, children, and deeply respected friends and confidants."

As he said that, Dale pointed around, and essentially all Karkavan in their sigh were wearing masks, and aside from the rare sight of one falling off or a very old Karkavan having difficulty crouching down to grab their mask, everyone was wearing one.

This was a civilization of people with no faces, a culture emphasizing personality over physical appearance!

At least... That was what Hina believed...

"Really? That sounds so romantic! It means they find love and partnership through words and personality instead of appearance." She said with a light smile as she looked around

She seemed to draw some sense of understanding from them, although it was questionable if anyone related to her in response...

"Definitely true, but not completely right either." Dale said as he looked at the guards and their guides

He made a gesture asking for some time so he could finish his conversation with Hina and they nodded in kind, giving them some privacy.

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, you're stepping too far before looking down at where you walk."

"Different cultures have their standards; I'm sure men and women here have their preferences for beauty..."

"If our society emphasizes how you look first before anything else, the Karkavan put it as a secondary value, but they definitely have a substitute for that..."

"Beauty is just a reflection of an evolution method of evaluation; the Karkavan are highly spiritually attuned, but unless they have some other method to perceive the world, isn't their appearance the first thing they would notice about one another?"

"Well, yes. But aren't you just saying the same thing I did?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to understand what Dale just said

"No?"

"You are! And you're trying to sound smart as you're doing it." She said with a scoff as she put a hand on her hips

Dale rolled his eyes, restructuring his sentence as he got annoyed.

"You believed them to be romantic for finding attraction on something outside of their appearance, assuming that thing to be personality or their actions." He said as he looked around

"I said they could still find attraction on their appearances, maybe just not on their face. Is it better put now? Or do you need more examples?"

"One more." She teased, clearly trying to push his patience "Fine... Never thought I would have a psychology session in this place..."

"Neither did I!"

"... Shut up..." Dale said as he pulled a small mask from his inventory, showing it to her

"Do you see their masks, most of them are made by themselves. And so are their clothes to some degree."

"The Karkavan live in a 'caste' organized society that values their individual accomplishments greatly."

"To live honorably, especially towards balancing their ecosystem as the greatest of actions."

"Just like most would find a handsome, rich guy driving a top-of-the-line Lamborghini in a suit to be to their tastes, the women in here may find a Six meter tall, totally jacked Karkavan wearing the fur of a white tiger he hunted to be that equivalent."

"So his face, regardless of how ugly it may be, is irrelevant. Maybe the Karkavan don't even have a properly formed beauty identity for that part of their body, given that, from birth to adulthood, they rarely see the faces of anyone aside from close family or in rare instances where their mask fall."

"How about that? Do I look 'intelligent', now?" He asked with a chuckle as he crossed his arms

"... You sure like to talk." She teased again as she covered her smile

"You little..."

Dale had a frustrated expression as he saw her chuckling on the side.

Hina seemed to love these pointless conversations with no start nor finish as she instigated them repeatedly... She found them more interesting than lectures or "deeper" talk, which she was used to hearing.

Dale could do little aside from replying, but he could not do much besides waiting.

After they talked, their guide and the elderly Karkavan bid their farewells, returning to their ordinary lives as the warriors escorted Dale and Hina through the city.

And, as they moved, Hina kept asking questions... Keeping their previous conversation going:

"... Now that we're here, what's the name of this place?"

"This is the Central City of the Karkavan, Parlamer. Rulled by the Parlamerita Council. Although that's not a perfect translation, it would be something around Parlameran instead."

"A council? Do they have a democracy of some sort here?"

"No... They have a group of elders chosen based on merit and achievements. Usually strength-based achievements."

"They are then ruled by a Clan house chosen amidst several of the ruling, long-lasting houses."

"This small group of people makes the decisions, albeit they rarely have to do anything substantial as the Karkavan are pretty self-sufficient; still, if worse comes to worst, they can easily solve the problem themselves, and if not, the higher authority can stir them in the right direction."

"Isn't that an easy system for corruption to settle?"

"That's not something I can comment on, but I think that corruption, even if existent here, is likely not something prevalent, nor it'll ever be."

"These are a group of individuals that live within a highly hostile environment. They don't have the time to be overly selfish... Otherwise, they'll all die."

"Any "evil" and "stupid" Karkavan that thinks otherwise or doesn't care has long since been shoved aside from their ruling houses, and those that remain are capable; were they not, the Karkavan would've vanished long ago."

"Even if not, it just means they were stronger than their predecessors."

"Then, how do they keep themselves in line? I mean..."

"You're putting too much thought into it... And me..." Dale said with a sigh as he looked around

"Take a look around you; if you're an old ruler, and suddenly you offend a monster twice your size with ten times more muscle mass than you, I wonder if you would try to oppress them again..."

"Karkavan can be as little as three meters tall and as high as seven, although I think the average is slightly beneath 5."

"Being around 6 meters tall is about the same as being 6 feet back on earth, and being 7 meters tall is an exaggerated height even for them."

"Anything below that, and you're as tall as the elderly... Or a teenager."

"How can an old Karkavan around three meters tall that can barely even hold their walking stick try to intimidate a seven-meter-tall young Karkavan holding a four-meter-long battle axe? You can guess what would happen..." "How can an old Karkavan around three meters tall that can barely even hold their walking stick try to intimidate a seven-meter-tall young Karkavan holding a four-meter-long battle axe? You can guess what would happen..." "Yeah... This is a society of few words, I imagine..." Hina said slowly as a bead of sweat fell from her forehead

"Don't be so gloomy, they're gentle giants... Just don't upset them. They punch really hard." Dale replied as he touched his chin, memories of a past encounter flashing before his eyes

"... How do you know that?"

"We're almost there." "Hey! If you ignore me again, I'll cause a scene!"

Although there were some mishaps, the duo finally stood before a large circular house.

The Manor of the Elder, Kuddan!

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Notes