The next morning was beautifully sunny and warm.
Lloyd and Boyce had walked for about two hours, from Gothal, before reaching the northern gates of Pomperaque. Pomperaque was truly different than they remembered it to be when they left it, some eleven years ago. There were hardly any horses and carts in the city. Most of the transportation was made up of large cumbersome cars, with wheels, that ran along metal tracks.
The city was highly mechanized and all the machines were powered on electrical energy, and there were few things in the city that were old. Everything was newly built and only a few years old.
Some of the few older buildings in the city were the Halls Cathedral and the rundown, and abandoned Blue Mansion. Also, the town square was just a renovated version of the old square and the men walked through it remembering the way it used to be.
At the very spot where Brook and Dearborne were executed there was a marker made of precious metals and it was put there by the citizens of Pomperaque who never wanted to forget the two greatest people that had ever lived as Phoride's elite.
It wasn't a large marker. Manguino had forbidden that. He also forbad the writing of specific sentiment, or the placing of names. All the marker said: "May they be forgiven in the next life."
Zoro bobbed up and down while sitting on Boyce's shoulder and it cawed in a frantic manner. Due to its behaviour, then men moved away from the monument and off to one side of the town
square where there were many vendors busily selling items such as food and clothing, jewellery and home-stuffs.
The men slowly walked from kiosk to kiosk and they checked some of the goods being sold until they finally came upon the kiosk where Empal had his goods displayed.
The market brought back memories for Boyce; remembering the fun that he used to have when he was out with Dearborne.