From Londoner To Lord

Chapter 367 361. Earth - I

Gorsazo entered the manor hall with a calm, deliberate step, his face set in the same serious expression he'd worn when Kivamus had told him what this meeting would be about. Without a word, he shut the door behind him and dropped the wooden bar into place. The other doors had already been barred shut and the windows locked.

Kivamus waited as his former teacher walked towards them. The light from the small, high windows had dimmed into gold and dust, announcing the arrival of evening. Soon, all three of them were sitting near the small table, the only sound being the faint creak of the old wood.

Duvas raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Kivamus drew in a breath. He had no idea where to begin, but there was no gentle way to say it, so he decided to be blunt. "Well, Duvas," he said, forcing a small grin, "the truth is, I know all the things I do because I come from a different world. That world had unimaginably advanced machines and knowledge so far ahead of Reslinor that no one here could even dream of them. That's where the ideas I've been using come from."

Duvas stared at him for a moment. His lips twitched, before he broke into laughter. "Hah! That's a good one, Milord! I never knew you liked telling jokes like that."

Kivamus looked toward Gorsazo, but he just gave a simple shrug.

When Duvas finally caught his breath, he leaned forward, still smiling. "All right, you've had your fun. Now, come on, tell me the real reason. How do you actually know these things? I am so curious to know about it!"

Kivamus sighed and met his eyes. "That really was the truth, Duvas. I don't have another explanation to give you. I lived nearly thirty years on a world called Earth before I woke up here, just a few days before I reached Tiranat last autumn. I don't have any proof of it—other than the memories and knowledge I have in my head. And that is indeed where I get all these unique ideas from." He exhaled deeply. "What other explanation do you think can account for my knowledge? Gorsazo already knows the truth; I'd told him about it some time ago. You can ask him yourself if you don't believe me."

Duvas frowned, turning to the teacher. "Did Lord Kivamus drink that wine we bought for making the tablets? Because this sounds like the sort of thing you'd say after finishing a bottle. That has to be the reason why he's telling such ludicrous stories!"

Gorsazo's face was grave. "No, Sir Duvas. He didn't drink anything. And he's not joking. What he's telling you is the real truth." He paused, his voice quieter now. "I know it's not easy to believe. It took me a long time to be fully convinced too, and you haven't even heard the half of it. But he's told me enough by now that I can be fully sure that he isn't lying. He really is from another world called Earth."

Duvas blinked, speechless for a moment. "What are you two even talking about...? That's impossible." His tone was more bewildered than angry. "I'd seen the boy growing up in the Ulriga palace before he ever came here. Not up close, but enough to know that he's real, and that he lived there long before he supposedly appeared from another world." He scoffed. "I went to the palace several times over the years for some work. I remember seeing him as a child, running around the courtyard of the palace. That's how I recognized him immediately when he arrived here the first time. Now you're telling me he just appeared on this planet last year? I saw him grow up, for Goddess' sake!"

Kivamus shook his head. "You misunderstood me. The man known as Kivamus Ralokaar—the youngest son of the Duke, third in line to inherit the duchy of Ulriga—indeed lived here all his life, since the very moment he was born. He resided in that palace for his whole life of 21 years on this planet of Eranityn, but the person inside his body isn't him anymore. I used to be a man known as Steven, and I lived in a massive city called London, on a planet called Earth. From what I remember, its population was around 9 million, with a similar number living on the outskirts of the city, just like in Ulriga. That's how different that world was from this one."

Duvas gaped at him. "Nine million? That's nonsense! It's just impossible." He shook his head slowly. "Now you really sound drunk, milord. How's such a thing even possible? Our village may be small, but the town of Cinran holds about three thousand people. Ulriga's around eight times bigger, so there must be nearly twenty-five thousand people living there. If you assume nearly the same number of people live in the outskirts—it's still fifty thousand at most! And that city is bigger than any other I've seen, apart from the capital Dorastiz. That city does have more people within its walls—probably above thirty thousand—but hardly anyone lives outside its walls, since it's just too cold up there."

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The majordomo shrugged. "I've never been outside this kingdom, but from what I've heard in rumors, the largest city in Cilaria is Rutodan—the capital of Girnalica. It's said to hold maybe forty thousand within its walls. Including those living in the outskirts, it might be double that, as hard as it is to imagine such a humongous city. But now you expect me to believe there's a city with nine million people? Eighteen million including the outskirts? It's just absurd! Can it even be called a city if it's that big?"

Kivamus shrugged. "There were some other words used for huge cities like London—megacity, megalopolis and so on. Their definitions varied, but there were probably dozens of them on Earth."

"Dozens..." Duvas breathed. "Even so, how's that possible?"

Gorsazo leaned forward slightly. "You're not comparing this properly, Sir Duvas. From what he's told me, London was one of the biggest cities on Earth—not the biggest, but still amongst them—and that world was probably a lot more populous than ours. So you can't compare the population of cities in this small island of Cilaria to one of the biggest cities on the whole of planet Earth. A much better comparison would be if you also considered the biggest cities on Eranityn, don't you think? That empire has to have some really big cities, I'd say. So if there's any fair comparison even possible between these two worlds, it has to be with their largest cities. We've all heard stories about them—cities so vast you can walk for days without leaving their walls."

Duvas looked stunned for a moment before shaking his head slowly. "You're right… We never really have any reason to talk about places outside Cilaria, so I didn't even think of that. Still, his claims were so strange and unexpected that I suppose my mind forgot to think about them." He paused, his brows furrowing as he thought. "Even so, I can't imagine any city in this world being close to what you described—about this so-called city of London. That empire in the western continent—which rules something like half the world and never stops conquering new countries—certainly has to have much, much bigger cities than those in Cilaria. I've even heard about another vast realm on the eastern continent, with cities said to stretch as far as the eye can see."

The majordomo leaned back in his chair, looking dazed. "I've never been to those places, so I can't know if they are real or just stories. But even after including them, I'd be surprised if there were more than a few cities in the world with a population exceeding, say, five hundred thousand. Maybe—maybe—there might be a handful of cities whose populations exceed a million, as unbelievable as that number is for us simple people living in a village of barely 500 people. But nine million? Eighteen million including the outskirts? I have... I have no way to even visualize it... I don't know if this whole kingdom has that many people! Duvas shook his head slowly. "That city of London must be bigger than this whole duchy if there really are that many people living in it!"

Kivamus gave a short laugh. "No, it wasn't as spread out as you think. The reason is that people in big cities on Earth lived in structures called skyscrapers—buildings far, far taller than the one or two story houses common here. Most residential buildings were probably around 10 stories high, while even 20 to 30 floors was also common in most dense cities. But some buildings reached more than a hundred floors high, although that was rare." He added, "As for your question, most big cities on Earth grew upward instead of outward, which is why they occupied much less area on the ground than expected, leaving space for farming, industry and transportation." He paused. "But before I continue—what was that huge empire you mentioned earlier? Doesn't it have a name? This is the first time I'm hearing about it."

At once, Duvas looked upward and murmured a quick prayer to the goddess. Gorsazo's expression tightened.

Kivamus frowned. "What is it?"

Gorsazo took a slow breath. "It's an empire so mighty and dangerous that even speaking its name makes people uneasy... When I was still in Ulriga, I had an opportunity to see a simple map of the world from a sea merchant who was a friend of a friend. From what I saw, Cilaria is a pretty small island compared to the two great continents located in the west and the east of the world, which is probably the only reason we've been safe from them so far."