Interlude 4
“Ahh, so this is Iárnviðr.” Rífa couldn’t help but vocalize her admiration at the cityscape.
This was the seat of power of the so-called “Black One,” and so she had always wanted to visit it at least once.
And she’d also always wanted to get a look at the face of the man himself. It didn’t have to be in person; she’d be content with just a peek from far away.
According to rumor, in these parts he was called Hróðvitnir, the Infamous Wolf, by some. He was supposed to be near the same age as she was, but he surely had a face like a man-eating ogre, to earn an alias like that.
But more than such matters, her first priority at the moment was to take in the sights scrolling by outside her carriage window, and enjoy them to the fullest.
“It certainly appears to be quite different from Glaðsheimr,” she commented.
As the Wolf Clan was going through a period of rapid progress and development, this city was also clearly lively and flourishing, but in terms of scale, it still bore no comparison to Glaðsheimr, one of the largest and greatest cities in Yggdrasil.
Most of the buildings in Glaðsheimr were built from bricks, while the majority of the ones here in Iárnviðr were made primarily of wood. The clothes of the people here were simple and without much ornamentation; they were, in a word, unsophisticated.
And perhaps because of its location in the mountain highlands, the air here was much colder than in Glaðsheimr, with a sort of tense hardness to its chill.
To think that a simple change in location could yield such a different environment! Rífa was intensely moved by this, and trembled with excitement.
However, one more thing also constantly drew her attention.
“The faces of the people here, they are filled with life and energy.”
That was what stood out to her most of all.
To her eyes, the people of Glaðsheimr all seemed to be overtaken in some way or another by a sort of shadow of cynicism.
Even as they all sang the praises of their own prosperity, there was no promise of anything greater in the future. The system resulting from their long history had merely calcified, with those who had already established wealth and power increasing their hold, while the young held no hopes or dreams.
Everyone surely felt the very slow, gradual collapse that was taking place, but unable to do anything, they merely resigned themselves to living day to day.
Perhaps that was why, wealthy as it was, the city of Glaðsheimr as a whole felt gloomy and stagnant to her.
Compared to that, Iárnviðr was so different. There was hope in the eyes of the citizens here. They believed, without a doubt, that things would only get better from here, that there were opportunities all around to improve their station in life, and to make their future even more splendid than their present.
The girl felt a sharp pain, an ache in her heart, and with a hollow, lonely chuckle, she whispered to herself, “Perhaps the empire really is fated to perish, after all...”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login