Several weeks had already passed since Jennie, Snow, and Roxy left the Frostveil Mountains.

While the cold winter lands slowly gave their places to rolling green hills and fertile plains, the air had warmed up and smelled not like the snow but like wildflowers.

The ancient stone road stretched endlessly before them.

Unlike previous roads, lonely and deserted, this one was alive.

Wagons full of colorful fabrics headed towards the west.

Traders returned with monster materials in their carts.

Traveling musicians entertained happy children passing by.

Noblemen travelled in elegant carriages, protected by armored knights.

Even traveling scholars with stacks of books happily chattered among themselves and discussed various magical theories.

Jennie silently observed everyone.

All the travelers had somewhere to go.

Each of them had a story to tell.

She smiled for herself.

"...The world is indeed busy."

Snow walked nearby, leaving quiet prints with his large paws.

"It becomes busier as we travel closer."

Jennie turned at him.

"To Aurelis?"

Snow nodded.

"To the greatest crossroads of the continent."

Roxy, who had been walking in front of them, turned round and started going backward with a joyful grin.

"To Aurelis and beyond!"

She proudly raised one finger.

"Some merchants even come from lands beyond the sea!"

Jennie was slightly surprised.

"Beyond the sea?"

"Sure!"

Roxy burst out in laughter.

"There are kingdoms, which you have never heard about."

"Languages, which you never spoke."

"And magic, which you never saw."

Jennie’s interest increased with every word.

For some reason she always thought that the Kingdom of Seraiya was quite large.

Now...

It seemed to be a small piece of something bigger.

Until the middle day...

The road slowly climbed a hill.

The travelers around them became unexpectedly excited.

Some hurriedly pulled their wagons.

Others started pointing at the horizon.

And a group of children, running ahead of them, cheerfully shouted:

"We can see it now!"

"We’re almost there!"

Jennie slightly tilted her head.

"What are they talking about?"

Snow smiled.

"You’ll see."

After a moment...

Three of them arrived on the hill’s peak.

Jennie took a step and suddenly stopped.

In front of her lied a city, which she never expected to see.

"..."

Words were frozen inside her throat.

Even after a minute...

She was silently staring at the sight.

Below her stretched a huge field of white stone houses.

The city went on beyond the reach of her view.

One district was replacing another in the distant horizon.

This city was not only large.

It seemed to be endless.

Roxy burst out in giggling at seeing Jennie’s face.

"I had the same face when I saw it for the first time."

After several seconds of silence...

Jennie whispered with astonishment,

"...How..."

"...How can a city be so big?"

Snow walked next to her.

"This..."

"...is Aurelis."

Massive white walls surrounded the city.

They stood more than a hundred meters above the ground, almost looking like artificial mountains.

Large watchtowers were standing at equal distances.

And every watchtower had one huge glowing blue mana crystal on its top.

Even under the sunlight it glowed brightly.

Jennie instinctively compared these walls to the castle walls of Seraiya.

There could not be any comparison.

Just the walls could surround several kingdoms.

She quietly mumbled,

"...Who created something like this?"

Snow answered without hesitation.

"Many people."

"For over a thousand years."

"It was not created suddenly."

Jennie slowly nodded.

Somehow, this explanation made this city even more amazing.

Generation after generation had been building it.

Until it became something like what she could see right now.

She started looking at the six gates of the city.

Each of them was directed to a particular direction of the continent.

Thousands of travelers were passing through them.

Long queues of wagons were waiting calmly.

Skilled guards were inspecting them with practiced speed.

Above each gate hanged dozens of colorful banners.

Red.

Blue.

Gold.

Green.

Silver.

And each of these banners had a different symbol on it.

Jennie pointed at them.

"What are they?"

"Merchant guild banners," Snow replied.

"They represent trading companies."

"Some of them are hundreds of years old."

Roxy proudly said,

"The richest merchants in the world compete to hang their banners here."

Jennie quietly laughed.

"So, this is the reason why there are so many."

She tried to count them but gave up.

There were just too many banners there.

Suddenly...

A loud horn was sounded in the sky.

All of them automatically looked upwards.

There was something enormous, coming out of the clouds.

Jennie’s silver eyes widened.

It was a ship.

But it was not sailing in the water.

It was flying through the air.

Large wooden ship sailed calmly above the city.

Elegant white sails with magical runes shone brightly.

Six large mana crystals, located beneath the hull, glowed with a gentle blue light.

And several smaller ships accompanied it, as birds fly next to a giant eagle.

The ship slowly started to descend towards the towering platform, which was built high above the city.

Jennie forgot about breathing.

"...It’s flying..."

Snow smiled.

"These are airships."

"The pride of Aurelis."

Jennie could not take her eyes off the ship.

"I thought fairy tales about flying ships were only stories."

"They were."

Snow chuckled.

"Until someone proved them to be real."

Roxy proudly put her arms to her sides.

"They use ancient rune technology."

"The mana crystals produce lift."

"The runes make the ship stable."

"The sails absorb the wind mana."

Jennie silently stared at her.

"...You learned it from memory?"

"I read a book."

"Of course you did."

Snow quietly smiled.

While they were coming down to the city, Jennie noticed five majestic rivers, surrounding the Aurelis.

Instead of avoiding them...

The city embraced them.

Stone bridges connected the districts.

Some of them were fixed.

But others rotated to let the passing huge merchant ships go through.

Jennie watched one of them rotating by itself without any help from the people.

Without horses.

Without ropes.

Only glowing runes were lying beneath the stone.

"It rotates by itself..."

Snow nodded.

"Rune engineering."

"The engineers of Aurelis transformed the ancient magic into everyday life."

Jennie saw how another bridge was turning back in place after the passing merchant ship.

The people walked over it calmly.

For them...

It was a normal thing.

But for Jennie...

It felt like watching the future.

The closer they went...

The more alive the city became.

The canals stretched between entire neighborhoods.

The merchant ships carried different goods along with the monster materials and magical herbs through the waterways.

Rune lamps were quietly floating above every street despite the day.

And the music of cheerful melodies filled busy plazas.

And street performers entertained crowds with harmless illusion magic.

The children were chasing tiny birds, consisting only of the light.

The laughter resounded in the streets.

Wherever Jennie looked...

There was life.

There were humans.

Elves with long silver hair.

Dwarves carrying heavy tools over their shoulders.

The Beastfolk were laughing outside of cafes.

And travelers from unknown kingdoms were entering Aurelis.

No one seemed to be strange.

All of them fitted perfectly into the city.

Jennie slowly understood one thing.

The Kingdom of Seraiya...

Which seemed to be so vast before...

Was only one small nation in the incomprehensively bigger world.

She gently smiled.

"I thought I had seen so much."

She looked at the endless city stretching before her.

"But..."

"I have only just begun."

Snow calmly looked at Aurelis.

"No kingdom rules this city."

Jennie looked at him.

"It does not?"

Snow shook his head.

"The Merchant Council rules Aurelis."

"They consider commerce above the politics."

"If two kingdoms are waging war..."

"They still trade in Aurelis."

Roxy happily grinned.

"My old teacher used to say..."

"’Kings build borders.’"

"’Merchants build bridges.’"

Jennie looked at the thousands of people, coming into the city.

Enemies.

Strangers.

Travelers.

Everybody was on the same road.

She smiled.

"...I think I comprehend."

With a deep breath, Jennie tightened her travel bag strap.

Beyond those high white walls were adventures that she could not even dream of.

With Snow on her side and Roxy doing her humming in the front, the three of them were heading towards the largest city on the continent for a new expedition.

The nearer they approached to Aurelis, the noisier the city became.

The natural sounds faded as the civilized noises grew louder and louder.

Shouts of merchants were heard advertising their wares.

The sound of a blacksmith working with the heated metal was heard.

Children played, laughing as they ran in pursuit of one another through the streets beyond the walls.

The smell of fresh bread was carried through the air along with the smells of roasted meat and spices that Jennie had never smelled before.

She looked all around in silent amazement.

"Many people..."

Snow simply nodded.

"This is only outside the walls."

"...Outside?" - asked Jennie.

Roxy giggled.

"Just wait until we will go inside."

"You won’t know where to look first."

Jennie smiled nervously.

"I think this is already happening."

They soon arrived at the east gate.

It loomed above all those people who wanted to enter the city.

Huge lines of merchants waited patiently there with overloaded wagons carrying goods.

Among the other things there were some monsters’ materials, magical crystals, enchanted weapons, rare plants, silk, jewelry and many other products which Jennie had never seen before.

Armored guards wearing polished silver armor thoroughly examined every wagon.

They didn’t seem frightening; rather, they did their job efficiently.

One greeted travelers.

Another looked through their permits.

Third used a rune crystal to examine the cargo without opening every box.

Jennie looked with interest at this scene.

"They use magic to examine the cargo."

Snow replied to this.

"It’s faster and more efficient."

"They examine thousand of visitors every day."

Roxy whispered.

"My hometown even hadn’t a gate like this."

They surprisingly moved rapidly.

They reached the end of the queue in a few minutes...

Three travelers came to the first guard.

The middle-aged guard smiled politely.

"Welcome to Aurelis."

"What are your names?"

Jennie bowed slightly.

"My name is Raven."

"This is Roxy."

The guard wrote their names on a glowing crystal plate.

After he finished, he turned to Snow.

"...There are no wolves inside the city."

Snow sigh.

"...This happens often."

Jennie looked up.

"But he isn’t a usual wolf."

Guard folded his hands.

"I’ve heard such excuse many times."

Another guard joined them.

"According to our regulations."

"There shouldn’t be any wild beasts beyond the gate."

Roxy instantly stepped forward.

She pointed to Snow dramatically.

"He’s not a wolf!"

Both guards looked at her.

"...He certainly looks like one."

"He only looks like one!"

Roxy asserted.

"He’s actually a Divine Wolf!"

Silence.

One guard scratched his forehead.

"The last one who told me this story claimed that his goat was a dragon."

Roxy pouted.

"But Snow really is a Divine Wolf!"

Snow whispered to Jennie silently.

"I appreciate her confidence."

Jennie smiled to him.

"I know."

Guard wasn’t convinced.

"I’m sorry."

"But rules are rules."

Snow turned around and said calmly.

"I suppose, I shall stay outside."

Jennie instantly waved her hand.

"No."

She reached inside her traveling bag.

"I registered Snow after we left mountains."

(Once again, she forged the certificate with help of Goddess Miasa)

Guard exchanged puzzled looks.

She gave them a small silver badge and official certificate.

The first line on the certificate said:

Hunter Companion Registration

Name: Snow

Species: Divine Wolf

Registered Companion to Hunter: Raven

Authorized by the Continental Hunter Association.

The first guard blinked.

He read it twice.

Then his eyes widened.

"...Wait."

He quickly handed it to his partner.

The second guard almost dropped it.

"This..."

"This is real."

Glowing rune seal confirmed the authenticity.

Both guards instantly straightened.

The first guard bowed.

"Our most sincere apologies."

"We weren’t aware that Lord Snow was officially registered Hunter Companion."

Snow smiled kindly.

"No offense taken."

"It happens frequently."

Second guard looked at Jennie with respect now.

"You must be Hunter Raven. The White Hunter."

Jennie nodded once.

"Yes."

The guard smiled to her.

"We already have received information about you."

"The White Hunter."

Roxy’s eyes grew as big as saucers.

She slowly turned to Jennie.

"...You’re famous?"

Jennie awkwardly scratched her cheek.

"Not really."

"I just complete quests."

Snow whispered to her.

"And disappear, before someone thanks her."

The guards laughed.

"That part is true."

"We’ve heard the stories."

Jennie felt slight embarrassment.

"...Rumors travel fast."

The gates slowly opened.

The moment when they entered...

Jennie forgot about this discussion entirely.

Her silver eyes widened once again.

The streets were huge.

So huge that they could pass ten wagons side by side on them.

Above them hovered hundreds of glowing rune lamps.

Even though sun shone brightly, lamps were illuminating colored banners hung between the buildings.

Stone roads of elegance stretched in all directions.

Massive fountains filled plazas.

Water flowed through crystal pipes built into the streets.

Magic-powered trams glided quietly on the silver rails.

People got on and off trams without disturbing the traffic.

Jennie looked up.

Even more airships flew in the sky.

Some of them arrived here.

Other ones departed.

One large vessel carried cargo container which was larger than a castle.

Roxy excitedly grabbed Jennie’s sleeve.

"Look!"

"There!"

Jennie turned.

A whole street dedicated to magic booksellers.

Opposite to this street...

Magical weapon market.

Further away...

Line of cafés overlooked one of the city’s picturesque canals.

Musicians were performing while customers relaxing near the moving water.

Children laughed as small magic fishes jumped from the canal and dived back under the surface.

Everywhere she looked...

She found something interesting.

Snow looked at her reaction in silence.

"Overwhelming?"

Jennie nodded.

"A little."

"Aurelis is a city, where you can spend a lifetime exploring..."

"...And still discover something new."

Jennie smiled gently.

"I believe that."

She slowly made a circle turn, trying to see everything.

Kingdom, in which she was born suddenly seemed so distant to her.

Not because of the distance.

But because this city taught her how wide the world really was.

She took a deep breath.

She smiled.

"This world..."

"...Is much larger than I imagined."

Snow nodded.

"And your journey has only started."

Roxy lifted both of her hands into the air.

"First stop!"

"The food district!"

Jennie laughed.

"I thought that you would say the library."

"I was going to..."

Roxy admitted.

"But I’m hungry."

Snow said quietly.

"For once..."

"...I completely agree with you."

Three continued their way inside the city.

One calm.

One dignified.

One full of energy.

Unnoticed among the multitude of travelers who came to this city this day...

The White Hunter Raven came.

And before long...

The City That Never Sleeps would learn the name of the legend that was quietly spoken now.