Meanwhile, Ryu was happily chasing the bunny while being careful not to stray too far from the carriage.

It happened one time when he lost himself in his hunt that he didn’t realize that he was far from the carriage. His body grew weak while his soul felt like it was living his body. If it wasn’t for Ferris, who was rash towards him and brought him near Cecily again, he was dead for sure.

Only did he learn from Ferris that he had to stay at a certain distance from Cecily or else he would die. Once he felt the burning sensation from the servant symbol glowing silver on top of his head, he should return with haste. That was Ferris said.

Ryu jumped and ran as fast as his limbs could carry him. When he did so, he was flying in the air. He enjoyed the air splashing against his face and the feeling that his body was floating mid-air.

Ryu chaste the wild hare with a smile on his face. He jumped into a dense bush when the rabbit disappeared behind its thick laves. His lips quirked in a grin and pounced the hare on the other side.

But when he landed in all fours, it wasn’t a harry, fluffy, delicious rabbit on his arms, but a beautiful woman with long wavy blonde hair and alluring pair of mesmerizing blue eyes.

Ryu blinked while the woman was shocked, speechless at the sudden arrival of a stranger, pinning her beneath him.

“. . .”

“. . .”

Neither one spoke as Ryu sniffed the woman while the latter was paralyzed in place at the sudden appearance of a man.

Ryu brought his nose near her neck and took a whiff. Ever since he discovered how a woman’s skin could be pleasantly smooth and soft beneath his rough hands, he felt petty to disembowel them. But no mistake, the moment he deemed the woman a threat, he would cut her head and clawed her heart.

But she was docile and remained unmoved as of the moment like she knew what he was thinking.

Ryu sniffed, and a new scent tickled his nose while the woman giggled at the ticklish feeling. For some reason, she remained calm, not minding what he was doing. If nothing else, she was also sniffing him.

Was that normal? Ryu thought.

After a while, Ryu was lost at the new scent. He didn’t know what it was. It was salty, fresh, and free with a mixture of flowers. What’s more, he was reminded of the birds in the sky.

“Uhm . . .” she hummed when she felt Ryu wasn’t going to release her anytime soon.

After sniffing to his heart’s content and felt the woman was no threat, he jumped off and chased the hare when it appeared in his line of sight, leaving the woman in wonder of what happened.

----

Eventually, as the group walked in the dense forest, Ryu felt that the air was changing as the breeze blew a different sensation. When they finally made out from the forest’s shades, a new world stumbled before his eyes, and his body trembled.

Blue.

Everything was blue.

The sky, the land, everything!

Ryu’s eyes shook, and his lips curved upwards in excitement.

Ferris enjoyed watching his display of innocence and said, “It’s called ocean or sea. Its salty, so don’t even think of drinking it –– h-hoi!”

Before Ferris finfish explaining, Ryu ran towards the blue waters without a care in the world. A resounding splash echoed when he jumped in, and the waves swallowed him whole.

Ferris watched dumbstruck before she glanced at the carriage, which continued, not caring if they were left behind.

Ferris shot a final look at the wagon before she went to Ryu’s side, floating in the water with closed eyes.

“Don’t just jump in the water. Look at you. You’re drenching from head to toe. Your clothes are wet. Do you want to walk with just your loincloth on . . . blah . . . blah . . . ,” Ferris nagged.

Ryu let Ferris’s voice came into his ear and out the next. He drifted along with the waves, peace, and contentment on his face.

After his life in the colosseum, slow but surely, he was smiling more often, learned more things, and spoke more words.

Ryu breathed the salty air and was hit with the image of the woman a while ago.

Her smell is like this . . . ocean. Ocean with flowers.

Ryu shaded his gaze with the back of his palm. The clouds were moving slow, and all sorts of creatures flew in the distant sky.

He remained like that until Ferris grabbed him on his clothe and dragged him on the shore.

“Come on. The carriage is getting farther. You don’t want Cecily to be angry at you again, don’t you? Geez! Look, you made me wet! Now I have to . . . blah . . . blah . . .”

Ferris nagged while dragging Ryu by his shirt while the latter looked at the sky with his droopy eyes and dopey face.

----

“Sticky . . . ,” Ryu grumbled as he pulled his clothes from his body. He was irritated by the sticky feeling that he wanted to rip his shirt in half.

“Heh, that’s what you get for swimming in the ocean,” Ferris snorted as they walked towards Southshore Port.

Ryu glanced at Ferris and poked her bandaged head.

“Make it go away.”

Ferris glared at him, complaining, “What do you think of me? Your personal spell caster. Honestly, you’re such a pain.”

She scolded, but her arm was moving as her mind chanted a spell. A crystal clear, spring water splashed on Ryu’s face. It’s cold enough to shatter his teeth.

Ryu was caught off guard and choked. His mind froze before he felt refresh. When it was over, he was drench yet again, and water ran from his nose.

Ferris laughed and pointed at Ryu. But she choked on her laughter when Ryu squinted water on her face. He smirked and raised a brow at her in the form of a challenge.

“Y-you . . . you dare!” Ferris growled and lounged at the Ryu, but he was quicker and faster as he jumped to the side and landed on all fours. If he had a tail, it’d be wagging left and right by now.

Ferris was ready to pounce, but Ryu was quick on his feet and stormed away.

“Come back here!” Ferris yelled and chaste after him.

They only stopped fooling around when they reached the port town’s gate.

Ryu watched as the people lined towards the gate at the entrance. It had two columns supporting an arch with letters carving all over its rock surface. Whenever someone entered, the letters glowed white.

Ryu tagged Ferris’s shirt as his hand jabbed at the funny-looking gate.

Ferris squeezed her clothes dry before she answered with a pouting face. “That’s called a dispelling gate. Like its name, once you entered, any spell cast on yourself will atomically cancel. It’s usually used to combat those camouflage spells. They’re expensive, and only towns like this and big cities have those.”

Ryu cast Ferris a worried look as his hold on her shirt tightened.

Ferris waved her hand in a dismissing manner. “Don’t worry about me. This is no ordinary spell that a lousy dispelling gate could dispel.”

True that she only transformed in a single appearance of a burnt girl, but as long as she had mana, the seal of Sarcuphagius was not something like a dispelling gate could break.

Maybe it would work against other races and low-rank demons and angels.

Rather, Ferris glanced at Ryu. Her eyes reflected the interwoven runes inside his body. I am curious if this gate could break that.

When Cecily’s carriage entered without problems, Ferris pulled Ryu by the arm and entered the gate. Ryu’s spine twinge straight, and his stride went stiff as the gate glowed white.

“Cleared. Next!”

Ryu breathed the air he held.

Ferris clicked her tongue. Failed, huh. Well, I guess I expected that much.

The interwoven runes didn’t even flinch. They continued to revolve inside Ryu’s body. Neither internal or external influence could change its course.

Ferris snapped out from his thoughts when Ryu pulled her clothes.

Ryu wondered in amazement. It was a first time that he saw buildings in grey bricks and tiled roofs. Though the houses were packed with each other creating narrow alleyways, it was organized and clean. There was even a small plaza in the center circled with wooden stalls with all sorts of food, fabrics, and things.

Ryu pointed at the men and women who have collars on their necks. And all of them were from a different race. There were dwarves, elves, and a beast with a head of a lion and the body of a reptile. There were even servants, walking freely to and fro.

“It’s not that unusual,” said Ferris. “Slaves and servants could freely roam the street inside towns and cities to do errands for their master. As long as your collar or servant seal is visible, you can walk around here.”

Ryu nodded with a blank face as he watched the slaves with their sunken faces, lowering their heads as they sauntered. As if by raising their heads, they would be killed.

When he was still in the colosseum, he thought it was normal to have collars while others have not. But now that he was freed from that life and learned of the world, his views about many things changed.

He thought being chained and forced to fight was the way of the world until he was brought out and saw with his own eyes, if not much, then certainly enough for him to realized that the world had more to offer. That no one deserves to be restricted of their freedom. That no one deserved to be a slave of any realm. Everyone should freely discover this world with no one to limit them. He thought that by being a resident of Septverden, it was everyone’s right.

No one owned this world, everyone was just barrowing its soil.

His chest rumbled, and his teeth itched in his gums. That collar and those people that kept him in the dark, kept him from discovering that the world had many more to offer beside killing and bloodshed . . . he wanted to rip them apart.

Ferris held Ryu’s arm. “Don’t overthink about it. Some are lucky, while others are not. In this world . . . in this realm, if you are of a different race or if you are a little different from others, a slave or a servant will be your fate.” Ferris’s eyes burned scarlet.

“Such things as fairness and equality . . . doesn’t exist.”