OMG I MADE IT!

It's still 2 minutes for 0:00 on the 25th of April here,  my whole goal was to update before tomorrow xD

It's been one year since I started writing this story today. Thank you for supporting me this far!

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Chapter twenty-nine: Behind the oak wooden door

They basked in the rare sunlight that late autumn offered them and stared at the city that lay ahead.

“It’s truly beautiful.” Soonyoung could barely believe his eyes. Yes he had walked through Grenhil, seen the white houses up close with their red stone roofs. And still his mind had trouble processing the view. From where he stood the houses looked even grander than from up close. The white walls reflected the light, letting the entire city bathe in the warm hues of orange and yellow.

Soonyoung knew what he would find in the streets. They would be clean, no dirt in sight. The roads plastered and planned instead of the muddy cart tracks that marked every town he every visited before. Jeonghan had tried to explain to him why it was clean. How people regularly swept the streets to keep them clean.  How the sewer system worked. Not that Soonyoung could comprehend what that sewer thing was. Jeonghan had promised to take him to the underground city made of sewers, drains, waterways and tunnels, but time wasn’t in their favour and it just never happened.

Now from a distance Soonyoung saw the waterways that ran above the ground. The water still flowing down the same aqueducts it had for centuries. Running water was a luxury that Soonyoung also never got to experience.

“Who even build all these structures?” Unknowingly he voiced out his thoughts and next to him Jihoon chuckled knowingly.

“Everyone that wanted a better live for themselves. I told you before that Grenhil was bigger than your imagination. Besides it took almost a hundred years to plan and build the city as we know it today.”

“Wait… You planned the entire city?”

“Our ancestors found this location after inhibiting the shores near Grenhil castle for a long, long time. Please don’t pin me on actual years, it’s lost in the history of my pack. At first they just wanted to build a second little hide out, just in case. But the location was just too perfect. In the end after consoling with the entire pack it was decided to build our capital right here.”

“Did old Grenhil already have the sewages?”

Jihoon grinned, “You’ve seen the old town Soonyoung. It hasn’t changed much since the old times. We used to build tree houses and only had wooden buildings. Everything in between covered with flowers and plants. The roads muddy just like everywhere around this world. No it didn’t and still doesn’t have sewages.” Seeing the next question emerge on Soonyoungs face he continued, “One of the first counsellors thought of it. The first test was actually built in a town called Whitsten, the town still exists and most of our stone masons and architects live there. It’s situated right next to a huge quarry with beautiful white stone and it’s actually our first stone settlement in this forest.”

His eyes were glistening in excitement as he told Soonyoung more about his packs history. “Sometimes I wish I could meet the masterminds of our past. The sewers are actually a happy coincidence that occurred after the first waterways were constructed.”

“Did someone decide to dump their garbage in it or something and see what it would do?”

Jihoon clapped in his hands happily, “Exactly!” He proudly exclaimed and chuckled, “And it was genius! Afterwards the elders decided to make use of it. They actually build the first sewers underneath Whitsten, it was quite a challenge to create a good system. Making sure the tunnels couldn’t collapse on itself. It thought them a great lot about construction of tunnels. Sadly they lost quite a few lives during the whole process. For a long time the sewers weren’t stable enough to build houses on top of it. In the end they succeeded in creating a foundation that even survives the regular earthquakes of the mountains.”

“If Whitsten is that great, why build Grenhil here?” Soonyoung spoke his thoughts out loud.

“Because the old city became too small for it’s population and this location is better than Whitsten. It’s safer. You’ll understand why if you visit the town one day.”

“So in the end you planned the entire city and started building it?”

“Well not everything at once, but the basics. Aqueducts, sewers and roads were mostly constructed in advance. It’s difficult if you have to break down entire neighbourhoods in other to get running water into the houses.”

Jihoon figured they had rested long enough and waved at Soonyoung. Bellowing the other to follow him once again as they started their long decent towards Grenhil.

“Grenhil isn’t finished yet. You can see on those hills,” Jihoon pointed towards the northern most end of the city, “That they’ve started laying foundations again.”

Soonyoung had heard Jeonghan talk about the project, a huge public bathhouse was going to be constructed on the northern hills. He didn’t really see the benefit of the bathhouses if there was a lake right in front of your house but he didn’t address it. Somehow he had felt at the time that Jeonghan hadn’t told him everything though and he stared at Jihoon, waiting for him to continue and he did.

“Next to the bathhouse will be a new training camp, barracks and some regular housing.” Jihoon dismissed quickly.

“What kind of training?” He dared to ask. At this point Soonyoung wasn’t sure how much more Jihoon would tell