Chapter 27 – Not What I Ordered

Ivory Haven.

In his room, Mark let the weight of his body sink into the chair, the leather creaking lightly under his weight.

‘Were the orders clear enough?’

He sighed, shifting his gaze to the open window.

Outside, the sky of Luminaris was tinted with a deep orange, with traces of purple beginning to appear along the edges of the horizon, the three moons showing their faces.

The setting sun now bathed the city in a warm light, typical of late afternoon. Down below, the flow of people remained dense. Hurried merchants, the sound of animals mixed with human voices, conversations and laughter.

Mark watched a carriage slowly pass through the stone street, the sound of the metal wheels hitting the pavement rising up to his room.

‘Twenty-four hours…’ He thought, stopping the movement of his finger on the table.

Mark knew Hermos would only be able to establish contact tomorrow.

Until then, he was essentially in the dark.

Anxiety tried to creep in, but he pushed it back.

There was no point biting his nails over something that was hundreds of kilometers away and outside his direct control.

Thoughts drifted through his mind while he tapped his index finger against the cover of one of the books.

On the dark wooden table, the volumes Celina had selected were spread out in an organized disorder; maps, topographic records and the map of the Luminaris region occupied almost all the available space.

His brain was aching after having read for a few hours.

Much of the information was not useful.

He had to filter entire paragraphs about the proper etiquette for merchant banquets, an exhaustive list of types of moss that grew on the city’s low walls and a ten-page thesis discussing whether the name “Luminaris” was derived from an archaic solar dialect or merely a translation mistake from an old map.

However, in his readings he managed to obtain some information, mainly about the desert.

According to the books, north of the Ash Desert stretched the Vast Northern Void, an unexplored region of the desert.

He did not know exactly where this Northern Void was when looking at the image. Perhaps he had flown over the region with Pippin when he was on his way to the city.

Besides that, there was the immense Sea of Sand, where the Ash Desert was inhospitable with arid terrain where almost nothing survived.

On the border between the desert and the habitable lands stood a line of observation posts, watchtowers connected by protected trade routes that Mark had seen when he arrived at the gates of Luminaris.

These posts constantly monitored the desert and had guaranteed the safe passage of caravans for years.

Well, now that there was conflict in the north, besides caravans there was also the arrival of refugees who followed the same path.

Moving south, the landscape began to change. The sand gave way to fields with low vegetation and small fertile areas, signaling the transition to more habitable lands.

Luminaris stood on the edge.

Protected by walls and defensive posts at its northern entrance, it served as a meeting point between merchants, refugees and travelers who crossed the desert.

This information was mixed with information Mark already knew from hearing others speak, but finding it in a book was completely different.

And one of the reasons was that now he could know what lay beyond. To the east began the Domains of the Solis Empire, while beyond them were the Neighboring Principalities, traditional enemies of the empire.

Mark read the names of the smaller states, the coalitions of minor nobles trying to hold back imperial expansion, and the realization struck him.

Solis was an expanding power, colliding directly with the militarized resistance of the principalities, and Luminaris was close to all of it.

Now he knew who the empire was in conflict with to the east.

Luminaris existed in the delicate balance between the inhospitable desert, imperial power and hostile territories, which explained its current situation and the recent events he had encountered.

In the books, the desert was categorized only as “No Man’s Land” — a sterile region infested with monsters.

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That gave the guild absolute power over the flow of goods and adventurers.

The battlefront in the east was a meat grinder, and the Ash Desert was the only flank that had not been explored due to the dangerous monsters.

If the Empire managed to cross the desert, they could bypass the principalities’ defenses and attack them from the rear.

‘Interesting…’ Mark closed the book with a dull thud, the sound echoing in the room now immersed in the dim light.

He stood up, walking toward the window.

The street below was quieter.

The lantern lights were beginning to shine, painting the pavement in blue and amber.

Mark crossed his arms, observing the final movement of merchants.

Tomorrow, when Hermos gave the signal, Mark would know exactly how much attention he had drawn.

“Principalities, empires and a desert.” He murmured to himself. “It seems I chose the noisiest place in the world to be reborn.”

Mark stepped away from the window and began organizing the books into a corner of the table. He needed a night of rest before Hermos’s report arrived.

His day had been full of events and he was already exhausted.

Even with a high-level body and attributes that prevented him from feeling physical fatigue, mental exhaustion was another story.

His mind was still processing the world like someone receiving new information every second; so much had happened since he left the Ziggurat that the weight of the information was beginning to take its toll.

It was not a matter of lack of breath, but saturation.

Now he just wanted to close his eyes and forget everything for a few hours.

‘Even a vampire needs sleep…’