Madam Dara's cheeks turned bright red following little Tolliah's accusation. She hurriedly turned her gaze away from them, not daring to look at either of them.

"[Reptilian] W-w-what are you saying, Tolliah? D-don't be so cheeky! I-I-I merely.." Madam Dara hurriedly tried to argue. However, just as she was about to get into the heat of it, her eyes spotted a strange, hooded figure standing at the corner of a nearby building. His face was shrouded in shadows, yet his presence felt strangely familiar. As if.. she has met this one before..

Her words froze in her, as she gazed at the mysterious figure.

"[Reptilian] Hmm.. Who could that be?" She pondered, muttering to herself.

While Tolliah ignored her actions as she was busy chewing on the small slice of dried meat, filling up her empty tummy, Aiden, on the other hand, was frowning as he focused his gaze back on the road ahead.

Though he looked to be focusing on the remainder of their journey deeper into the Western Suburban district, in search for a suitable inn, or hopefully a tavern.

Unbeknownst to the uninitiated onlooker, a semi-transparent image of the System's screen was floating in before his eyes, showing a top-down visual depiction of his surroundings.

Countless dots of varying colors filled the geometrical shapes that filled out the city from the system's interface. Their caravan was fully bright, neon green, demarking that sworn allegiance to him, whilst most of the local townsfolk, the common skinks were demarked with yellow demarking their mostly neutral, slightly wary stance towards all outsiders. A few were even going towards the orange, which considering the roughness and cruelty of their lives in these dredges, was quite understandable.

On the other hand, the few guards sporadically spread around a couple of streets were marked with bright red - the temple guards were their clear opposition, after all, the 'sword' of the oppressing High Priest's Church.

There was one additional figure that to Aiden's surprise was marked with yellow as well. At first, Aiden would have ignored it, as there were hundreds if not thousands of similar life signs surrounding them, but as they got closer, he - just like Madam Dara, though it was uncertain where she had met him-, have recognized the figure.

It was the captain, he swatted away like a fly right when he first entered the city just as he absorbed the archbishop! At that time, he still couldn't understand a word the creature tried to holler, just a series of clicks and clangs. Still, from the rage-rising anger that radiated from him at the time and his body language, Aiden knew that the two were far from being on friendly terms.

He remembered that at the time he was still battling with his recent surge of power and with the chaotic state of emotions, he flung the Guard Captain's body away like some broken kite. He ended up crashing into the side of some building, buried under the pile of rubble.

Being confused at the time about what was exactly going on, and why the two bodyguards he was with were acting so strangely, he failed to make sure about this man's fate.

Looking at the tooltip appearing next to its yellow dot, Aiden was frowning about the true meaning behind his presence. He was clearly scouting on them, but why wasn't he hostile? Why did the system show him as neutral?

Compared to the other patrolling Temple Guards, he was different.

'He shouldn't be aware of our identities, right? If that would be the case he would be marked as an enemy, right? Also, he wouldn't just be standing, but would already be working on trying to catch us..' Aiden pondered inwardly.

'[Not necessarily, Aiden.]' Enya's voice resounded in his mind suddenly in response. '[That skink may not be an enemy at all. For now, however.. I suggest do not act at all, and just mark him on the map. We should follow his actions and see what he actually wants.]' She advised, which after some brief thinking Aiden agreed to as well.

'I guess..' He sighed, no longer bothered by the presence of that figure, and returned his eyes to the dusty road ahead.

Ugburg had a rather unique design, at least in terms of the sole previous example Aiden had seen. The 'City Walls' that stretched through the borders of the Higrove wasn't present in Ugburg as it was seen before. Instead, the slums, the wretched, dirty district that the Higher Echelons and those of off any standing in the societal ladder despised formed a concentric circle of four sectors around the city premises, acting as free, meat shields in case of any danger would have risen and marched at them.

This didn't mean that there weren't any walls at all. There was, but it was found as one ventured deeper, beyond the expansive Outer Suburbs. Separating the Inner City from the outer sectors, concentric walls protected those that the leaders deemed worthy. Twice the height of an average human, meaning it was almost four times taller than the current residents, arranged to cover the city and provide a certain level of protection against any threats, be it the numerous monsters lurking in the shadows, or other neighboring tribes.

Some time later, the carriage pulled up to a taller-looking building, an inn later in the day. A somewhat middling one that was known for its price and reasonable accommodations.

"Welcome!"historical

The aging innkeeper greeted the group as soon as they halted their caravan with a big smile stretching his face. Flops of fat jiggled as he hurried outside to greet his first potential customers for quite a while.

"What can I do for you, young adventurers?" He greeted warmly, heartily. His eyes quickly scanned over the many figures wrapped in patched, worn-out, and dirty rags. A slight frown flashed across his face upon the sight, which he quickly hid.

Still, it couldn't escape Aiden's piercing gaze, nor from his system.

"We would like to rent rooms for the night. We do not need beds for all, just a place to rest our heads after the long journey." Aiden spoke up in a calm, collected tone. He wasn't overly friendly, nor was he too cold. The slight displease wasn't that big of a transgression, he could understand the reaction to be perfectly honest.

Who would want to serve a bunch of beggars?! Could they even pay or would they be just robbing the innkeeper of his potential money?

Just as he guessed, the chubby skink innkeeper's smile soured as he heard the request. He turned his gaze on the elderly-looking hooded skink that seemed to be the leader of this attaché of refugees. His previous candor was nowhere to be found as he coldly spoke.

"First, let's see if you can actually pay for it. Do you guys have any money at all?"

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>>>Check out my latest novel: The Strongest Demon Lord in the Modern World<<

It's an urban modern-day styled story, with a reverse transmigrated ('Banished') immortal entity from the fantastical world of Nova!

Planned Tags and Genre: # CULTIVATION # R18 # BETRAYAL # TRANSMIGRATION # URBAN # ACTION # ANTIHERO # OVERPOWERED (romance maybe at some later point)

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/shaele