...

Kerudark.

A city located right next to the Necromancer valley. It was also fairly close to Duchess Bytros' territory.

There was something special about the city, and that something would prevent us from actually entering it if it wasn't for Aryl's identity.

Reiner, who was oblivious to who Aryl actually was, asked in confusion.

"Master Aryl, I've been meaning to ask for a while now..."

Aryl lightly lifted her head up from the sunbed and stared at Reiner, who was fanning her by the side. "Speak"

"Isn't Kerudark a dark Elf city?"

"It is"

"So... how are we going to enter it?"

Reiner's concerns were valid. After all, unlike Elves, who only hated Orcs and Humans, dark Elves hated everyone... except Beastkins for some reasons; How they managed to keep a massive city to themselves and have several nobles living in it despite not paying any taxes to the Empire was beyond my comprehension.

"We just do. Those unsocial bastards can't refuse my entry", Aryl laid her head back down and enjoyed the cool breeze made by Reiner's makeshift fan.

Seeing that Aryl wasn't going to give him more information, he turned his gaze towards me, who was stacking wood to make fire.

"Araceli, how are we going to enter Kerudark?"

Placing another piece of wood down, I answered without even sparing a glance at him. "Like Aryl said... we just do"

Reiner frowned at me, clearly not satisfied with my explanation.

However, I merely shrugged my shoulders at him and continued making the campfire. After all, I shouldn't disclose Aryl's identity to Reiner unless she explicitly allowed me to.

...

After a while, I had finished stacking the firewood.

As soon as the short chant left my mouth, a flame akin to that of a lighter appeared on the tip of my finger.

I then placed my finger near the wood, waiting for it to catch fire.

1 minute had passed.

"..."

5 minutes.

"This is taking longer than usual"

30 minutes.

"Something's wrong...", I muttered as I had maintained the spell for so long that the skin of my fingertip was lightly burnt, but the wood still hadn't been lit aflame.

As I was trying to figure out what was wrong though, I suddenly heard Aryl's voice.

"Of course something's wrong. The wood's wet"

"Really?"

"Yes. You likely didn't notice it because of your constitution as a Phoenix. Well, that's no excuse for that stupid behavior of yours though. It literally rained yesterday"

Much as I didn't want to admit, I was fairly stupid for trying to do such a useless thing as this. However, I still frowned at her for not stopping me from doing so when she clearly could.

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"

In response, Aryl merely gave me a smirk. "I wanted to see how long it would take for you to realize that something's wrong"

She then closed her eyes in reminiscent. "30 minutes, was it? At least you're smarter than Ria. That Phoenix took nearly 2 hours to even realize how stupid she was"

"Ria?", I narrowed my eyes at her. "You mean lady Ria Pyrian?"

Realizing her slip-up, Aryl's face stiffened for a split second. Before long, she returned to her normal self and tried to change the topic.

"A- Anyways, since we can't make a fire, there's only one option left"

'One option...!'

I widened my eyes in horror as I realized what she was talking about; We did indeed have more way to cook our meal, but doing it meant trampling on my dignity.

As if confirming my thoughts, Aryl spoke with a grin. "Celi, how about we use your hair to c—"

"No.", I immediately replied, not wanting to be reduced to a mere fireplace.

"But—"

"No."

"Tch, fine!"

Scowling, Aryl walked towards the pile of wet wood and reached her hand into thin air.

She then pulled out a red-bladed sword.

The sword looked almost rusty. However, judging by the atmospheric Mana it was sucking in every second, I knew better than to underestimate it.

"Hmmm... what was the activation word again?", Aryl tapped her chins as she fell into thoughts.

Eventually, her eyes lit up as she presumably recalled the activation word. However, her body soon shuddered in horror as her previously lit-up eyes turned into soulless ones.

Sighing, she let out a small mutter. "[I love Theodris Grey]"

Fwooooosh—!

Instantly after those words left her mouth, the blade of the sword was set on fire.

I hung my mouth open in bewilderment at this sight. "A- A sword with an Elemental Skill...?"

After all, only ranked Artifacts and above could have an Elemental Skill engraved in it.

And what was Aryl planning to do with such a rare and powerful Artifact you might ask? Well...

"Here it is! Now show off your cooking skills, Reiner!"

...She used it as a mere stove.

Hearing this, Reiner carefully approached the 'stove', which was placed perpendicular to 2 pieces of wet wood. No doubt he hadn't interacted with anything as valuable as the sword before.

"M- Master Aryl, wh- what if the sword breaks?"

"What damage can a mere rank like you do to this sword? Now hurry up and cook something! I'm starving!"

Hearing this, Reiner hurriedly took the deer meat out of my backpack and began his cooking.

He skewered it with a branch, before affixing it right above the burning sword. He then sprinkled some salt and peppers on top of it.

His cooking techniques were subpar at best; However, the fact that neither I nor Aryl could cook an edible meal made his cooking skills invaluable.

Thus, after a few minutes of waiting, both Aryl and I ate the skewers of meat with delighted expressions on our faces and tears of happiness running down our cheeks.

...

6 days had passed since then. And now, we could see the dim shape of Kerudark city.

"Huh? It looks much different than I thought it would be...", I muttered as soon as I saw the city.

After all, normal cities or towns would have high and sturdy walls protecting them from monsters. However, Kerudark's walls took the shape of... a dome covering the entirety of the city.

"Really?", Aryl suddenly spoke up, waking me up from my thoughts. "What did you expect the city of those bastards that like darkness to be then?"

"I don't know, maybe... underground?"

"Well, you'd be correct if it was 200 years ago", Aryl said as she continued walking towards the city. "They've moved above ground ever since the Great Storm flooded their previous city"

"..."

"Now Kerudark is just like any other cities but with circular walls instead of straight ones separating the commoners and nobles areas... oh yeah, and there's that big ass dome too I guess"

And with those words, she once again resumed her march towards Kerudark, not interesting in the conversation any further.

...

Since the city had several entrances, and traffics going in and out of it was basically non-existent, we didn't have to suffer through waiting in a long line like we would if we had travelled to the Capital.

As we were approaching a gate that had several dozens of dark Elf guards stationed around it though, we noticed a commotion.

"Kurrghhh... let me in"

Staring at the hulking mass of green in front of him, a guard answered with an almost disgusted face. "No."

The hulking mass of green, or rather, the Orc brought his hands together and begged. "Please"

"No."

The Orc clenched his thick, green fingers at the guard's instant refusal. "Kurrghhh... racist bastard!"

The guard's professional demeanor broke at this. He removed his spear from his back and pointed it at the Orc's neck. "You'd better pray to God that you'll get reborn as a dark Elf or a Beastkin in your next life then!"

As the Elf said this, the Orc had already positioned his right hand on the handle of the big axe that he kept strapped on his back.

The dark Elf and the Orc glared hatefully at each other's eyes, and the other guards was also readying their weapons.

Tension rose uncontrollably. There was no doubt that a battle was going to break out at the slightest movement from either sides.

That was, until Aryl, Reiner, and I approached the gate.

Although Reiner and I watched the Orc's confrontation with nervousness and a tiny bit of intrigue, Aryl seemed like she didn't care at all and nonchalantly walked right past them.

As she was about to enter through the gate though, another guard pointed his spear at her neck and shouted. "HALT! ONLY DARK ELVES AND BEASTKINS CAN GO THROUGH"

Clicking her tongue, Aryl pulled out her brooch from her pocket and showed it to the guard.

As soon as the guard laid eyes on her brooch, his face paled in fear. He then retracted his spear and gave her a salute. "F- Forgive me for my earlier insolence! My lady, what title would you like me to call you by?"

Aryl grinned at the sudden change in attitude. "Inquisitor"

"Very well. Inquisitor Aryl Myrsky and her companions are allowed to enter Kerudark city"

As Aryl was about to go through the gate though, the Orc suddenly shouted. "Kurrrghh... wait! Let me come with you!"

Aryl jolted up in surprise as she heard the loud shout. She then turned towards the Orc with a shocked expression, as if she didn't even register that the Orc was there when she walked past him and the guard.

"An Orc?", her shock soon turned into intrigue. "What business does an Orc have in a dark Elf city?"

"Will you let me go with you if I answer your question?"

"Depends", Aryl grinned as she slowly walked towards the Orc.

She then placed her hand on the shaft of the Elf guard's spear and pushed it away from the Orc's neck.

Now standing in front of the towering mass of green, Aryl craned her neck up and stared into his eyes. "Now tell me, what are you going to do inside Kerudark?"

The Orc closed his eyes in thought for a few seconds before sighing. "To find my lover..."

There was a slight tremble in his voice. However, both Aryl and I knew that it wasn't because he was lying. Rather, his voice was trembling because he was... embarrassed.

"Why would you lover be in Kerudark?". Aryl, realizing that the Orc wasn't lying, asked in confusion. "Rather, how would she even enter this place"

"Kurrrrghh... that's because... she's a dark Elf"

"Sh- She's a WHAT!?"

She widened her eyes and shouted in disbelief; Similarly, the dark Elf guard who was standing beside them almost dropped his spear to the ground in shock.

Aryl soon recovered from her shock, and of course, she had to burst out laughing as soon as she did.

"PFFFFT! HAHAHAHAHA! THE LOVE BETWEEN AN ORC AND A DARK ELF! WHAT IS THIS, SOME KIND OF NASTY NOVEL THAT A DEGENERATE WROTE? HOW WOULD YOUR MEAT EVEN FIT HER HOLE!?"

The Orc looked pretty down by Aryl's loud laughter and the guards' jeers. He hung his head down low, embarrassed and sad.

Seeing this, I approached him and patted his thick arm with the barrier around my hand. "Don't worry, I think it's romantic that your love transcends races"

The Orc looked fairly surprised by my words. Before long, he recovered his surprise and softened his eyes at me. "Kurrrghhh.... thanks..."

After a while, Aryl stopped laughing and looked at the Orc with a grin. "Okay, Orc who fucked an Elf. I'll help you, but not for free"

The Orc frowned at what Aryl addressed him as. However, he still managed to keep his calm and spoke while crossing his arms. "Kurrghh... what do I have to do?"

"It's simple...", Aryl extended her hand out to the Orc with her palm up. "Your money"

"My money...?"

"25 Golds. It's cheap considering that you can't enter the city otherwise, isn't it?"

The Orc didn't even hesitate and threw Aryl 25 Golds, which she quickly caught and stared at them with shinning eyes.

Stuffing them into her pockets, Aryl extended her hand out to the Orc again. "Glad to do business with you"

The Orc shook her hand and smiled, revealing his sharp teeth and prolonged fangs that looked like tusks.

"Kulkulkul... I'm Zakadon, former warrior of the Great Clan. Money is useless to me, so I will remember this favor until I can pay it back with honor"

...

After getting through the gate, we parted ways with the Orc.

Now standing in the city, I was impressed by the unique vibe it gave off.

Dark Elves children roamed the streets with their families, holding skewers of meat on their hands. Unlike normal Elves, who abhorred meat, dark Elves had no reserve when it comes to what they would eat.

And it wasn't just dark Elves either. There were also Beastkins walking through the streets, albeit in fewer numbers than dark Elves.

The entire city was in perpetual darkness due to the huge dome covering it, with the warm and dim orange light of streetlights occasionally lighting up the dark road.

"It's lucky that Beastkins also lives here", Aryl muttered. "Otherwise those Elf bastards wouldn't have installed lights in the first place"

Lifting my gaze from the streets, I looked at the massive curved wall in the distance.

"Is that...", I widened my eyes in awe.

"Yes, it's the wall that separates the commoners and nobles", Aryl interjected. "And we're in the commoner ring right now. Our goal is beyond the wall"

"Then shouldn't we get moving, master Aryl?", Reiner said as he read a piece of paper glued to a streetlight pole. "It says that the noble ring's gate is going to close for today in an hour from now"

"Nah, we still have a few days until that happens"

"Until what happen?", I looked at her confusedly; Recently, Aryl really liked to be cryptic with her words.

"Oh, you don't need to worry, Celi", she waved her hand dismissively. "Our priority right now is to find a place to stay at"

"I'll will look for an inn then—"

"Don't even bother", Aryl sighed as she interrupted me. "The number of dark Elves or Beastkins going into Kerudark is basically non-existent, so there aren't any inns"

"Then where will we stay then?"

Thinking for a while, Aryl answered. "We'll just have to find an abandoned building, I guess. Now let's get going"

We walking through the streets looking for a place to stay at.

Everywhere we went, everyone had their eyes glued to us either in amusement, intrigue, disgust, or simple curiosity. No doubt a Human, a Phoenix, and a Halfling travelling together was a rare sight here.

We ignored their gazes and continued looking for an abandoned building.

After a while, we decided to look in the alleyways to try our luck.

And, on our first try, we finally found what we were looking for.

"What do you know!", Aryl grinned. "To think there is an abandoned church in this kind of place. And it's a Church of Light to boot! It's refreshing to see the lightbulb being disrespected like this!"