Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 756: c. 9997 AD

Chapter 756: c. 9997 AD

It has been nine weeks, each week comprising nine days since Sayda’s pneuma rejoined the aether and the Beast made itself known to Alex and his cohorts.

The Month of Astra had long since ended, claiming an untold number of lives in the process with the entirety of Eventide ushering in the first month, Eos, of a new year, the year c. 9997 AD.

Of the four continents, most lives lost came from Henos and Ra’as, with the former taking an unfortunately larger chunk.

Unlike Ra’as, who at least had some experience dealing with the month of Astra and its deathly curse, Henos was not so lucky.

Due to Khanna, Henosians did not have to plan for Astra nor did they have to worry about it, the same way they never had to worry about Incursions.

Alas, now that she was still in subspace, recovering from the injuries inflicted on her by the deceased Jester while being chased by the God of Slaughter, Henos was left at the mercy of Astra and what it carried with it.

In any case, with the Month of Astra finally, at an end, King Lyssandros of Pellasus made an announcement on the first day of the first month of the new year, sending out letters to each of the ten surviving city-states with a proposal.

A chance to unify their states to create a united nation with a single leader, instead of what they currently had, to not only prevent another civil war from ever happening but to help the Solomon Alliance swiftly weather through the storm currently sweeping through their lands.

He brought up several valid points, including the unfortunate increase in the number of cults within the continent.

It was only a matter of time before an Incursion would happen and at that time, there would be no way for them to quickly mobilize their forces to deal with the situation.

Unfortunately, as reasonable and valid as his points were, very few were willing to give up their sovereignty, especially when it was clear who would be in charge should they accept his proposal.

With that in mind, of the ten city-states, two were willing to accept, five rejected it, and the last three remained silent on the matter, neither affirming nor rejecting it.

And so, tension across the continent of Henos once again began to rise as many wondered what Lyssandros would do.

The vast majority couldn’t help but reason that another war was on the horizon, a unifying war, just like the one that happened in Argent during the first era.

Others felt that Lyssandros would not be willing to carry out more bloodshed and would instead utilize other means to convince the others to bend the knee.

In any case, amidst the political drama and cult uprising with the people of Henos caught in between, Alex focused on a different matter.

Currently, he was in Sklaviunt, a city located to the far south of Henos that did not pay homage to any of the twelve city-states and was instead governed by a tribunal with a central figure known simply as the Bookkeeper who reported regularly back to Scholastica, otherwise commonly known among the populace as a scholars paradise or the Henosian headquarters of the TruthSeekers.

It couldn’t be considered particularly large compared to the city-states, possessing a population of a little over a hundred thousand with its residents being from all around Eventide.

It had no standing army, a rule that was set by the TruthSeekers to avoid anyone getting any funny ideas about expanding their borders.

There were four others just like Sklaviunt, placed in a circle with Scholastica at the center of them all.

In any case, Alex lived in the sixteenth district of Sklaviunt of which there were thirty.

The first ten districts were kept aside for the rich and wealthy while the next fifteen were for the middle class and traders.

As for the last five, they were regarded as the slums.

Many a time, people from the first ten districts had called for the last five to be destroyed, and though it had been destroyed six times, it always came back, like an annoying pest, and now, it was regarded as an inseparable part of Sklaviunt.

Currently, Alex was in one of the rooms of his five-bedroom story building he’d leased out for a few weeks at a rate of ten thousand skols per week.

For context, 1 gold coin is equivalent to a hundred skols.

He’d transformed the room into something of an art gallery with different paintings scattered about.

Some were of a woman and child, while others were of a blue planet, radiant skies, heavenly bodies, and much more.

Engrossed as he was, Alex only noticed Arwen’s presence after he was done putting the finishing touches to his painting of a field filled with green grass.

Letting out a sigh, he glanced back to find her staring at him quietly with keen eyes.

"It’s beautiful." She muttered softly.

"Thank you," Alex replied. "How long have you been standing there?"

"A few minutes ago."

"Have a bad dream?" Alex asked with Arwen shaking her head.

"Not since the last one."

"I see. Then..."

"Someone is here to see you." Arwen calmly reported. "A middle-aged man in his forties; from his dress, I assume he is from the lower districts, though I doubt the slums, maybe the early twenties. He says he wants to see you, he looked quite panicked so I gave him some grape juice to calm his nerves. I asked him to wait while I get you while also giving him some time to cool off."

Alex managed a smile. "Look at you analyzing like a detective, I’m impressed."

"Well, we’ve already solved several cases together," Arwen said smugly. "Can’t expect me to pick up a few tricks."

"True that," Alex admitted with a casual nod before then rising to his feet. "Fine then, let’s go and meet this old man who decided to pay us a visit this late and ascertain just how much of your analysis is correct."