Rui burped, putting down his bowl and patting his inflated stomach.
“That’s bad manners, Rui.” Lashara gently reprimanded him.
“My bad, I’m just completely full.” He apologized, before getting up. He washed his used utensils and vessels and put it in the cupboard.
“Thanks for the delicious dinner, I love steak.”
“Hehe…” Myra smirked from across the kitchen. “I knew you would be absolutely famished after that ice balance training you always do in the winters, today we managed to get some good steak at a low price!” Myra was the head cook of the orphanage; she was in charge of all matter related to the kitchen.
“Sweet, do you need help with the rest of the utensils?” Rui sked.
“Nah, there isn’t much left. You must be tired, so why don’t you get some sleep?”
“Alright, thanks, good night.”
“Good night.”
He headed towards the study before picking up a book. The study had numerous books on various subjects that Lashara would refer to while teaching. From these books Rui had managed to learn about the world he was reborn in, thankfully he’d spent the last six year learning the script to read and write and he had become very proficient with language, far more so than a normal seven-year-old. He’d read up on history, geography and civics with some guidance from Lashara to answer some of the questions he had had for a long time.
p The country he was born in was known as the Kandria Empire, named after the Royal Kandrian Family whose ancestor founded the Empire. The country bordered the Namgung Ocean, it was long and narrow in shape, extending from north to south, with nearly half of the borders facing the ocean. The other half was partially bordered by the three closest countries; The Sekigahara Confederate to its south, Republic of Gorteau to its North, and Britannia Empire to its west and large forests that occupied the gaps between the countries.
Another important piece of information he had had gotten his hands on was that the Kandrian Empire paid annual tributes to all three of its neighboring nations, for some reason, unfortunately the exact details of the international deliberations was not exactly well known. All four nations were part of the Panama Continent, the one and only known continent on Planet Gaea.
The Panama Continent was gigantic, littered with nearly a hundred countries of all sorts, with various cultures, socio-economic structures and governments. Strangely enough, although each country had its own language, there was an international common language known as Sanskrit, created and propagated by the countries to facilitate greater international trade in accordance to the Panama Linguistic Treaty ratified eighty years ago. The treaty was highly effective, as the language barrier was the greatest barrier between connections and exchanges.
(‘I’ve only learnt the Kandrian dialect, though.’) Rui noted.
Another curious piece of information he learned about was that the fauna and flora of the Panama Continent was, frankly, ridiculous. There were plants with all kinds of exotic substances that served as raw materials and ingredients in various types of products, the most prominent application being potions. Potions granted incredible effects such as healing, stamina recovery, temporary mental and physical augmentation of various sorts.
These potions allowed ordinary humans to match the superhuman prowess of even Martial Artists, this was something Rui found absurd when he learnt, but that wasn’t even everything.
The fauna was even more bizarre. For one, there were intelligent species outside of humanity. This came as a shock to someone from Earth, where only one known intelligent species existed.
The fauna was much less restrained and resembled the pre-historic age of dinosaurs. Despite nearly a hundred nations established on the Panama Continent, roughly thirty-five percent of the continent’s land was uncolonized natural habitats that was occupied by incredible species with immense power. One of the reasons Humanity had not yet completely colonized the Panama, was because they simply could not, the animal species were no pushovers, they were able to easily match the human’s paltry applications of gunpowder, potions and large-scale siege weapons, it could be said that they would have long hunted Humanity to oblivion if not for the existence of Martial Artists.
A significant portion of the commissions that the Martial Unions of the Panama Continent was related to the beasts, one way or another. Rui was incredibly intrigued by these strange and fantastical species, but they weren’t immediately relevant to him at the moment. He was more concerned with things that affected him more immediately.
Within the Kandrian Empire, Rui lived in the northern most region with the harshest winters; Mantia.
(‘Sigh, to land into the region of the harshest weather of all the eleven states.’) Rui shook his head. He shouldn’t think this way, he was blessed with a loving family in the Quarrier Orphanage in this region.
Kandria had a capitalistic free market, and as expected there was a great economic divide between people.
its governmental system was a monarchy, as he would expect from nations in this age of development. The Kandrian Emperor had many wives, and even more children, each one of them was a potential heir to the throne. Apparently, it was Kandrian protocol for the emperor to test all the princes and princesses in a manner of his own discretion, before declaring one of them as the Emperor or Empress when his life was coming to an end.
Apparently, the current Emperor Rael Vi Kandria was already quite old, and the Royal Selection would most certainly occur sooner or later. Rui wasn’t well aware of the nuances of Kandrian politics and, frankly, he would rather not be involved at all if he could avoid it. The Royal Selections sounded like a chaotic mess of a phenomenon. Even on Earth he merely kept himself informed on the state of affairs in a superficial manner, and for the most part ignored politics. He would probably care even less once he became Martial Artist, not getting involved at all, directly or indirectly.
Or atleast, so he hoped.