Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 690

Chapter 690: Chapter 690 - Taming the Fifth Year - Following - 2

Crossing the bridge took less time than Klein expected.

The structure was solid and wide, open and less strict now that Yano only had to worry about keeping trade routes open rather than defending against invasion. But there was still something unsettling about looking down, toward the crack that extended so deep the darkness seemed absolute even under midday sun. Like staring into an abyss that seemed to have no bottom, that fell forever into earth’s heart.

"Don’t look down," Zhao advised from behind, his tone casual but carrying an edge of experience as someone who could fly and understood the feeling too well. "Nothing good comes from thinking too much about falling."

Klein nodded and looked away, focusing instead on Ren’s back ahead of him. The boy walked with confidence that didn’t match someone entering new territory.

But then, for Ren, it probably wasn’t new at all.

Finally they crossed to the other side.

Yino spread before them, and Klein immediately noticed the differences from Yano’s familiar architecture.

The building structures were similar in function, serving the same basic purposes of shelter and commerce. But different in aesthetic, philosophy written in stone and wood. More curves, more ornamentation outside.

Ren hadn’t come to this side much before. The city he’d only visited during the battle, and those weren’t good memories for almost anyone who’d been there. Blood and corruption and crystallization created trauma that still haunted survivors.

Yet Ren appreciated certain materials from here, resources unique to Yino’s ecosystem. There were many things that could only be found on this side, things Ren had been buying rather than gathering personally because time and circumstance hadn’t allowed direct harvesting.

He hadn’t had time or occasion before now.

Today that would change.

They crossed through the outer streets, and Ren observed everything with silent attention, eyes tracking details others would miss.

Yino hadn’t done badly after integration, all things considered.

The adaptation had been abrupt at first, of course, transition never easy when accomplished through conquest rather than negotiation.

Many families had lost members who belonged to the army, soldiers who’d fought defending their homeland. And many had been crystallized during the conflict, frozen mid-battle in poses of attack or defense. Grief had been complicated in those cases by the fact they could see their loved ones still, bodies preserved but unreachable.

Frozen...

Trapped, possibly forever, perfect statues that reminded everyone of what had been lost.

But Julius and Arturo at the head had stabilized the situation surprisingly quickly through a combination of firm authority and compassion.

They’d adapted laws for Yino’s people, which had certain initial problems as legal systems collided. Yino’s people were accustomed to more flexible systems, more negotiable frameworks where rules bent to circumstances. Yano’s customs were different, straighter, more stoic in formal and governmental cases.

There had been friction from cultural collision.

There had been resentment from conquered people forced into foreign systems.

But finally it had been resolved thanks to the surplus of crystals that opening the chamber had brought, with the third part for the Dravenholms providing resources for rebuilding. And because they’d controlled and given work and social aid to those affected quickly, systems put in place to prevent desperation.

They hadn’t been left adrift... Hadn’t been abandoned to their fate like other conquered populations in history.

The people gradually adapted.

And despite being technically "second-category citizens" in terms of bridge crossing controls and certain administrative permits, restrictions that marked them as different... Apart from that they were basically free. Rights didn’t change too much from what they’d had before. They could work, trade, live their lives without constant oversight or oppression.

Ren noticed something while they walked, detail that spoke to deeper changes than administrative integration.

The houses.

Normally all were black outside and white inside, the traditional Yino style born from desire to oppose Yano in every visible way. But now, in some cases, they were beginning to change to the opposite structure. Black ornaments inside, white outside, colors inverting in quiet declaration.

Yano’s style.

A sign of acceptance, of real integration beyond just government mandates and forced compliance. Choice rather than coercion showing in painted walls.

’Coincidentally’ this had happened shortly after many of Ren’s methods were released for them too, though slightly more limited than what Yano received. Economic opportunity fostering cultural acceptance in ways a military victory never could.

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