The humanoid monsters looked at Micky and licked their lips. It was going to be a good day, they thought.

“I am a centurion of the Kingdom of Aene. There are some bandits I lay claim to just a ways back.” Said Micky.

The guards raised an eyebrow at him. Micky stared them down. They stared back at him quizzically, then the right guard shrugged his shoulders and asked “Got any proof?”

This almost knocked Micky off his feet. No he did not need proof. Since when would a centurion of the kingdom need proof. They all had subordinates that carried around their flag as a giant symbols of proof. Of course Micky didn’t carry around his own flag with him. Hell, he should have, it was waving on the banner of the caravan. Micky guessed that the bandits hadn’t recognized his flag and thought he was some upstart noble or something. After all, they claimed their armies and caravans were part of the kings army and thus under their protection too…

Micky awkwardly coughed and replied “My subordinates should be around shortly and they will vouch for me.” Stated Micky.

The guards looked at each other again. The left one shrugged and the right one said “Alright, you’re going to need to stay in the guardhouse till your ‘entrance fee’ clears. Until then enjoy our hospitality.” Said the right guard. The left guard escorted Micky into the guardhouse with several others. Apparently it wasn’t unheard of for the ‘entrance fee’ to be late. After asking around one of the young fopish noblemen had been waiting on his ‘entrance fee’ for over a week and just wanted to leave. He had been sent here by his younger brother and never really wanted to enter. However, circumstances required that he maintained their protection at the time. What was more worrying for the fop, was that he was afraid that his family wasn’t going to ‘pay up’ and that the ‘bills’ he was wracking up by staying here would have to be paid for by himself…

Micky just hoped that the bandits would get here soon. He was probably a half day ahead of them. And he was probably two days ahead of his army. Micky was extremely frustrated with himself for not being able to make the rendezvous, but he just could not outpace them enough to escape the net.

Oh well, for now Micky simply waited in the relatively comfortable rooms. There were beds, however many of the other perspective entrants choose to sleep on the floor, and even the fopish noble was drinking only water as he didn’t want to wrack up anymore debt. After some conversation, it became apparent that he owed the equivalent of two lives… Should he spend any more time here… it would not end well for him. Of course, there were some other noblemen that demanded that Micky as the new entrant take on their debts for them. Micky outright ignored these fops. He could see why there were so many young noblemen in here now.

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It didn’t take long for the bandits to arrive. Or well, much longer then Micky had thought it would at least. He had enjoyed the tea that had been brought for him, as well as the ‘sugar’ that was so much like honey and yet not.

“There he is! That man is our prize, he will pay our entrance price for us!” Said one of the bandits as they brought them in in cuffs. The guards just put them all into a holding cell and then had Micky come and identify them. He identified the ones he saw and thought were bandits. A while later a large portion were removed and they told him that people used this trick all the time. So they were forced to use other ‘monetary goods’ to test if they were lying. However, while they had an agreement with the Kingdom of Aene, as well as pretty much every other nation, and most bandit gangs, that did not mean they liked being lied too. Should to become known that he had lied and his subordinates did not arrive then he would have to pay the price of all of it in full. He would not enjoy that, and definitely not survive it. With that the guard gave Micky a pile of chips with strange carvings on them as well as several red ‘life chips’ that represented the lives of the prisoners.

Micky accepted them with a slightly heavy hand and went off into the monster city to enjoy himself. Or at least survive till his subordinates arrived.

The city didn’t seem that different from a town except the buildings were all made out of some magical stone that could turn liquid. He had heard rumors of this technique but from what he had heard it was not as refined as this. There was also one exceedingly tall and straight mountain that gleamed off in the distance as it towered over the rest of the city. Micky figured that it was the feature that the city was built around as it was very distinctive. That was also where the governor probably was, though Micky wasn’t sure how you were supposed to climb to the top. Probably a flying mount, though it did make things easily defensible. So long as it was strong enough to resist siege tier magic that is.

Micky quickly found both mags and his horse. They had broken the taming of Mags because the lesser monsters were ‘allowed’ to choose their masters while the humanoids had complete freedom. Apparently she had gotten many offers of subordination as a light type monster. But she refused them, she enjoyed being Micky’s and he made her feel more powerful than she was. For monsters power was everything, then came everything else.

As for the horse? It was more than happy to stay here without him. It apparently didn’t enjoy being castrated very much and was more than happy to be released of it’s enslavers. It even went on to ask that they help it with the horse revolution. The monsters apparently had a special pen for these particular mounts, and allowed them to plan out their world domination off to the side. Something about stealing all the carrots for the cause and only allowing their comrades to have a ration of carrots so that no horse will listen if their masters only have sticks… Micky pretty much stopped paying attention after the mention of carrots, but laughed it off all the same. He just wrote it off with the rest of the caravan and said he was [Dead] and gone, it was the least he could do for his trusty mount that had taken him this far..

Mags left the pen and followed Micky. The translator had apparently told him that she verified what he had stated, mostly, and that was the reason he was released so fast. He also explained the different currencies. They could basically be divided up into parts or things that could be done with his captives. From the small bit like parts that was simply some small pain or getting a punch or bruise in, all the way up to the life tokens that represented the life of the captives. You could always sell those to the arena for some quick currency and that held the most currency but the best bet was to sell them to other powerful monsters.

Apparently that tower was not the mountain of the leader or lord, not a mountain at all, and not in the city center. Micky was shocked, what it was is a trade center and residence of some of the richer monsters who would be more willing to take the red chips off his hands. Micky had asked if he was safe, and the man had laughed and waved him off. Micky wasn’t sure if that was a no, but that is the way he took it.

Micky placed his bag inside his leather armor and left with a bit of trepidation. Everywhere were the worst of the worst, and monsters! He was sure to be killed soon. So he kept to the main streets. Twice he saw people taken to back allies, and twice he didn’t stick around to watch what happened.

Unfortunately it was his turn to be taken to a back alley as he was surrounded by a gang of monsters circling him. Micky looked around and asked for help however the guards just stared at him with arms folded. He was taken to the back alley and who knew what awaited him!