Page 80

[Okay, now Article 5: Security, Protection, Defence.] (Luna)

[The important one…] (Eva)

[I still think this was a waste of money.] (Syrus)

[Be quiet, Syrus, you’ll get your sword eventually.] (Luna)

Today was a day of studying, specifically the laws of Arisea Station.

This topic was long overdue, but it was something Eva always wanted to get to when they had the opportunity. The reason for the delay settled on two main points. One, they were busy. From training, eating, studying, and most importantly, making money, everything held greater importance. And simply following the signs and what people said was nearly guaranteed to make sure one didn’t get in trouble.

The second reason was a bit more impactful. They couldn’t access the book that contained the laws. The book with them was a little expensive, now if they could enter the public library, that wouldn’t be a problem, as it was said there were multiple copies there for people to read. However, the public library had been closed for four months and the empty building had sat at the beginning of the east side of 5th Street. It was supposed to undergo an expansion upwards and sideways and be made more accessible, but there was an issue when the owner of one the buildings that were going to be bought died and the successor didn’t go through with the deal, and to make it worse, sold the property to a very enthusiastic merchant who didn’t want to sell it again.

The situation was the biggest drama around the town at the time, so everyone had a story to tell when Anlesa asked about it. Eva was quite saddened by the news, initially they just found the library closed, and she assumed it would be reopened soon, but after a bit, she asked around and learned the hard truth.

[This is somehow more, and smaller than I thought it would be.] (Eva)

[This segment, thankfully, only has one new addition since I last saw it.] (Luna)

In the end, they did buy the book. They asked around town about the laws, but nowhere had any clear knowledge of them. Everyone had a general correct idea, but Luna wanted to be exactly sure.

The book, Arisea Station Book Of Laws, had six articles.

Article 1: Business Trade

Article 2: Agriculture Supply

Article 3: Transport Roads

Article 4: Property Real Estate

Article 5: Security Defence

Article 6: Culture City

Eva read through each article, and Luna added details based on the history she knew. Each only contained a few dot points, totalling twenty-nine distinct points. This was a light read compared to the dictionary of laws in the Nevald Kingdom.

The current version of the book was, Arisea Station Book Of Laws A9–amended for the ninth time. Luna had only read the seventh version, so her knowledge was a little outdated, but not by much. The only changes since then were a new point in Article 5: Security Defence, two in Culture and City, and a rewording in Article 1: Business Trade, which was the oldest one and had some redundant sentences used.

[Hmm…] Eva finished reading over the article. [What is written does make sense, but there is a lot of vagueness and interpretation.]

|Article 5: Security Defence

The following points are subject to certain levels of interpretation. When needed assistance outside these scopes, or within, the city’s services will be set out to dispute the problem.

|

[Huh, it really is purely focused on the commercial side.] (Syrus)

[5.1 was a part of the original version of the Arisea Station Book Of Laws. 5.2 was added in the second version, and 5.3 was added in either amendment eight or nine.] (Luna)

[Hmm… wouldn’t there be more conflict if there is nothing preventing or dissuading conflict in the streets?] (Eva)

[The preamble is the main reason why there isn’t much issue. Enough precedent has been set that the city guards will intervene, and so, while there are no set punishments, a person can still be punished.] (Luna)

[There are plenty of issues with a system like this, but at the same time it does have its positives.] Syrus pondered. [I do think I would prefer a set of laws with a bit more meat on the bone; though keeping the excess fat off is appreciated.]

Eva and Luna spent a few minutes talking about the history of the laws.

[What do you think the reason was for adding the third point?] (Eva)

Syrus quickly answered, [Something could’ve happened to the city, or maybe a nearby one, and they wanted to update the book to ensure they could at least control and direct everyone in a panic.]

[Hmhmm!] Eva nodded, [Makes sense. You figure out the answer fast.]

[Quite common, for after a disaster, methods for future occurrences are implanted.] (Syrus)

[I don’t know of any situations in recent memory. We can’t enter the library to access that information anyway.] (Luna)

[We could ask people around town again?] (Eva)

[Correct, but the margin for error is much wider. To the point where simply waiting for the official record to open might be for best.] (Luna)

[But… Haven’t we read about public records being messed with before?] (Eva)

[....] (Luna)

[That situation involved adding incidents, but I can’t comment on the possibility of records being modified here.] (Syrus)

They had no real answer to that problem, and thinking for too long at the moment would just be a time waster. Soon they did finish reading through the whole and Syrus was ready to resell for at least half the purchase cost to make some of their money back.

A little while later, they went down to the post office to send another parcel to Elly. Eva packaged up everything and paid the cost to send the money.

“Hey, Miss.” The man manning the office asked before they left, “Are you expecting any mail from Cancole?”

Syrus paused, “No, I am not.”

[What is this about?] (Eva)

“Okay, we’ve got mail sent from there sitting in waiting stock, so I’m just checking with those who sent mail into the country.”

Syrus replied, “I understand.”

Replying to letters could be hard. When the destination and sometimes the individual were uncertain, people had to implement methods to ensure the correct people received their mail. Of course, there was a high chance of these mails being lost or stolen anyway, but people still did try.

“Can we just confirm to ensure delivery?”

“That’s fine.”

One of those methods was the use of a passcode, that only the post office employees were allowed to check.

“Age of the Jennifer flowers seed on the new year's dawn.”

“...” Anlesa waited a moment. “Ten…”

The man passed the letter. “Here you go, please have a look and return back if you think it doesn’t belong to you.”

Syrus looked at the letter in her, knowing who it was sent from.

[How did she send the mail back?] Eva question. From her knowledge, there was no indication of where the mail was sent in the letters and money they had sent.

[The cart mostly likely has some sort of sorting for where the mail was sent from, though it would be more appropriate to sort them from where they were being sent to.] (Syrus)

[Or it could be either the postman simply knowing where it came from. However… Another likely scenario is Elly working out where we were, it’s far from impossible.] (Luna)

There was one mail for her, labelled, To Ann.

Hello, everything is okay on our end.

Thank you for the money, but make sure to keep some for yourself.

Wishing you the best.

Love, all.

The password method had plenty of issues itself, which was why these letters tended to be light on content.

[Why did you do that… Such a waste of money.] Luna mumbled her thoughts. At the same time, she was happy to know that everything was at least okay and they were receiving the money.

Anlesa placed the letter in her pocket and prepared to burn it when she got home.