262 State of the Imperial City

“We’ve arrived!” Vairon said to them as they approached the heavily guarded city gate in the distance.

He then turned to Randy and explained: “After passing through the city gate, and walking for some more, we would arrive at the Imperial City of the Royal Capital.”

Once they were within reach of the city gate entrance, one of the guards immediately stopped them vigilantly and demanded their identification. They all proceeded to show their Dungeon Hunter Cards, which served not only as an occupational identification but as an official identity when entering other cities in the nation.

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After confirming that their identities were genuine with shocked expressions, the guards respectfully stepped aside for them to go through the city gate. The reason for their actions was very simple. All of them were of higher ranks as Dungeon Hunters.

Aside from Randy who was B-Rank Dungeon Hunter, the others were all A-Rank Dungeon Hunters with considerable reputations within the Royal Capital’s Imperial City. As such, when the guards saw their names on the Dungeon Hunter Card, they immediately showed their due respect.

These guards were new recruits, so that was why they didn’t know the faces of Vairon and the others. If they were veteran guards, they would have instantly recognized them and immediately gestured for them to go through the gate without any word from them.

Although it could be considered dangerous to simply let them through without them showing their identifications, especially if there was a possibility of someone using their identities to infiltrate the Royal Capital, the fact still remains that Dungeon Hunters are highly respected individuals among humans, and sometimes the irrational and tacit gestures like this are given to them as a form of privilege, even if there are certain dangers to them.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t certain countermeasures put into place to ensure that this kind of privilege doesn’t bring misfortune. For some reason, the Royal Family wanted Dungeon Hunters to be treated with the utmost respect.

The most likely reason for this decision from the Royal Family was because any Dungeon Hunter could be recruited at any time to fill up the number of dead soldiers in the war. In other words, they would risk their lives for the sake of the survival of humanity.

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Furthermore, the Royal Family themselves were not afraid of intruders as they seem to have ways to discover these intruders before they even manage to do anything in the city. According to the explanation from Vairon, the Royal Family seemed to have set up a barrier to alert them of intruders or something of that nature that allowed them to immediately identify and trace a new arrival in the city.

A few minutes later, they finally entered the vicinity of the Imperial City. There are people walking around on the streets, booming with activity all around them, and from a few glances around, it looks like a prosperous city when compared to Alpheotus City. Not to mention the spacious building that facilitates easier business and maneuvering in the city.

Although these things were surprising, Randy only found them to be natural, as the bigger the city, the better the accommodations. On the other hand, he was once again shocked to see the structure of buildings that seemed completely out of place in the city, as they resembled something that modern civilization should have instead of this medieval civilization world.

This was mainly because this world did not have the technological knowledge to build such sophisticated buildings, as they relied on their magic and magic tools for most things. Even their baths were running on mana cores, essentially making them magical artifacts rather than technological products.

However, the buildings in the Royal Capital, instead of being made out of wood or clay, were built with refined bricks. Furthermore, the architectural designs of the buildings also seemed modern, especially the intricate roof tiles.

Randy could see story buildings everywhere he turned his gaze. In the distance, he could see a majestic mansion that was a couple of kilometers wide, with a height that eclipsed other buildings behind it.

‘Is that huge building perhaps the Royal Castle where the Royal Family lived?’ Randy took a quick guess as he continued to listen to Vairon’s explanation about some of the famous and prominent buildings in the city, such as the Artifact Shop, the Weapon Shop, the Potion Shop, and many other relevant shops that they passed by.

As he introduced these things, he also talked about the state of the city, and how it fares compared to other cities like Alpheotus City, the small city they came from. He practically boasted about how peaceful the Imperial City was compared to other human cities in the world due to how heavily guarded it was against demons and magical beasts.

However, he mostly attributed it to the work of the Royal Family who employed some means to erect not only the alert barrier but an anti-demon barrier around the city that couldn’t be seen with naked eyes, nor could it be seen even with magic-enhanced eyes.

Randy was curious so he decided to use Dimensional Sense Skill to check to look back at the front of the gate but he couldn’t discover anything out of the ordinary. From that alone, he was able to ascertain the truth in Vairon’s words.

Meanwhile, Vairon still carried on with his introduction of the Imperial City with Gutz and Tiana occasionally chiming in once in a while. As for Eliana, she didn’t say anything and silently walked with them as if none of what they were saying interested her.

On the other hand, Randy quietly followed them as Vairon introduced the city to him, occasionally nodding his head in understanding without saying much. Even though he wasn’t interested in the things in the Imperial City, he still listened to Vairon while occasionally looking at the surroundings.

At some point, Randy gradually started to discover something odd about the Imperial City’s citizens. More specifically, some of the citizens’ appearance looked different from the others even though they resided in the same city.

Although it was not noticeable at a glance as there are fewer of these types of people wandering the streets compared to the rest, it was still evident that the city was not as prosperous as it appeared to be. That was because there were some emaciated kids wandering the street in tattered clothes while holding half-broken bowls in their hands, seemingly begging for money.

When Randy paid attention to the surroundings some more, he discovered that in the alleys there were some women with their kids sleeping in the alley, their bodies were scrawny, and they were all malnourished. It was as if they hadn’t eaten for a few days.

Randy wanted to ask Vairon why there are such people in the Imperial City, but he quickly recollected that despite the peaceful atmosphere in the city, they were at war with the demons. He could surmise that most of these people were the ones that lost their family members as collateral during the wars or their family members simply died while fighting in the war.

Regardless of how things were in this world, it had nothing to do with him. He doesn’t belong here, after all.

Furthermore, although it was very tragic for these people who had to leave their lives on the street, the same thing was happening in his home world so this wasn’t something new to him. Compared to this world, there weren’t people living on the streets, as the government had provided shelters and sponsors for those who suffered from dimensional rifts.

With no change in his indifferent expression, Randy calmly averted his gaze and continued to follow the others.

As they made their way through the streets, some people who knew who Vairon’s team were, greeted them from time to time. The citizens greeted them with fervent respect, and as for the other Dungeon Hunters they met on the way, they only made funny snide jokes with them. Some curious ones even inquired about new face Randy who followed closely behind them.

When that happened, Vairon would introduce Randy to them, including his achievements, shocking them. When they heard that he was an up-and-rising rookie who climbed the ranks within a few days upon registering as a Dungeon Hunter, they were further left shocked and left speechless. Afterward, they would continue their journey towards the Imperial City. This scenario was repeated several times as they made their way through the city.

As Randy watched the back of Vairon and the others and recalled how the people treated them as if they were heroes, he could tell that Vairon’s group was very reputable in this city. Furthermore, they most likely grew up in this city, which was why they knew most people in the city.

Currently, they were making their way to the Dungeon Exploration Occupation Society— Imperial City Branch to report in for their mission. Randy was only tagging along without saying anything until they left the town area of the city and went to the business area where there were fewer clouded buildings. Instead, there were fewer buildings. However, these buildings had many floors and clearly indicated that they belong to many top organizations in the Royal Capital.

At this point, Randy couldn’t suppress his impatience. He wanted to ask something all this time but chose to maintain patience until Vairon stopped talking before he would ask him about it. And now that they had reached the business area, there were fewer things to introduce so he took this chance to approach Gutz who was near him.

“Where can I go to participate in the Gladiator match?” He asked in a hushed voice as he didn’t want the others to hear him.