Supreme Monarch

"Well, that was weird."

"Indeed it was sir... Do you want me to find out what they're up to?"

"Huh, sure why not... Just make sure you're careful about it, girls are quite frightening when they want to be."

"I'm well aware my Lord."

"Spoken like a man with a lot of experience on that..."

"Unfortunately so my Lord."

"Uh, now that's interesting, so what happened."

"I'd rather not speak of it, forgive me, my Lord."

"Oh, no qualms."

"Thank you, sir."

"Alright then, we'll be off now."

"Do be careful my Lord."

"Sure will."

Nadine then boarded the driver seat of the carriage and Tyler joined her. The carriage was parked in front of the gate so she had to wait for the large metal gate that had only recently been fixed, to be opened. However, Tyler halted her for a moment. 

Even with all the scouts in the area gone, he still planned to be extra careful. This was still a part of the world he was unfamiliar with and couldn't make any careless mistakes. 

He reached into space and brought out five parchments with a slightly golden tint to them. This was a sign that the scrolls were of relatively high quality and they were. These were all anti-divination scrolls of the fourth tier and above.

Tyler handed the parchments over to Nadine who immediately began activating them a few of them were counter detection spells as well. While she was doing that, Tyler had his eyes closed as he visualized the area of the Greyad plains he had fought the trolls in his mind.

Once he sensed Nadine was done activating the spells he immediately activated his °Spatial Teleportation° skill which was just the Spatial Movement and Spatial Distortion skill combined.

Nadine's expression went blank the moment she saw the space around her warp for a bit before her view of the large metal gate was replaced by an almost endless snowy plain. She held the reins of the Six-eyed bull but didn't make another action as surprise or shock was still all over her face.

Tyler saw her expression and chuckled softly. She probably hadn't expected him to be able to move such a large carriage with Teleportation as such a spell could normally only be achieved by incredibly rare artifacts.

Tyler didn't ask her to move, instead, he took the opportunity to summon two of his shadow rogues that were still hidden in his shadow and the shadow of the carriage.

"Flare, Kali."

The two female undead rogues rose from the shadows and knelt before Tyler atop the carriage. 

"Find out where the remainder of the Four Kings are located in the forest and especially that moron of Lich in the north. Be extra careful around them and report to me immediately something happens."

"As you command." Their voice echoed each other and they soon disappeared from the plains. 

Tyler then turned his head to Nadine as he smiled and said. "Alright, let's head out if we want to make it there before it gets too late."

"Err... O-kay." Her voice was still shaky but she soon got herself together and tugged on the reins of the Six-eyed bulls as they galloped down the field in the direction of the border city.

••••••••••

Time flew by and soon even the ashen clouds began to get darker. Their carriage galloped through the plains with an impressive pace, the magic item absorbing most of the shock from the uneven roads. 

They were finally getting closer to the city after crossing through the Darknar region by taking the route suggested by his coachman Nadine. They no longer saw as many monsters on the way as before and It was now smooth sailing to Winged City.

It hadn't snowed all day but the roads in the Darknar region were fully covered in ice and a thick layer of snow due to zero maintenance. However, this hadn't been a problem for their carriage as it turned out the six-eyed bulls had a passive ability called Fiery Aura that activated in extremely cold weather and could melt the ice and snow within a 15-meter radius. 

This was the reason Albert had given the bulls to the settlement in the first place as they could survive and were freely able to move in almost any terrain. As the sky got darker, their visibility became even more limited.

However, as they crossed into the main road of the extended Sentro region, Tyler could finally see the lights of a large city structure in the distance. They would make it there in less than 30 minutes or so.

••••••••••

••••••••••

Winged City stood at the border of the Sentro region and Darknar region. It was also not that far from the Mounta Region which was also a region controlled by the Mourningstars', one of the Great Five.

The city was surrounded by tall walls on all four sides. Being a major trade center in the continent the city's protection was top notch. There were highly skilled knights stationed on the walls and throughout the city whose job was to maintain the peace and enforce the laws.

The city had five boroughs that were distinctly different from each other. They were each located in the four cardinal directions of the city with the central or royal borough being the place where the nobles reside.

The south district or borough was sometimes used to billet the troops directly under the Zorak family, and so it was fully furnished with barracks and other military facilities.

The innermost district of the North borough was also the administrative area of the city. In addition, the district also contained storehouses for combat rations. Thus, it was almost as heavily guarded as the Royal Borough.

The other two boroughs was mostly a residential district, where the people of Winged city made their homes. This place best fits the image that came to mind when one thought of a city. Although there were also some residential areas in the north borough, it was mostly for military personnel.

There were several plazas in these two boroughs, and the largest of them was called the Central Winged Plaza. It was filled with high-rise stalls selling quality vegetables, spices, and other such commercial products.

Amidst the crowds, the stall owners energetically shouted their sales pitches to the people walking by and even the carries that slowly drove by, while the older women haggled with the merchants as they looked for fresh food. Drawn by fragrant scents, young men purchased skewers of roasted meat that oozed with warm juices that watered their cold mouths.

The moon now ruled the sky as its light penetrated through the thick ashen clouds. Although the snow hadn't fallen the entire day, there were still some layers of snow on the streets that were slowly being cleared by workers. However, this did nothing to derail the rowdy atmosphere in this place. It seems to go on like this as if aiming to continue till dawn.

The magic lamps on the side of the streets lit up the plaza almost as well as the sun would and the crowd of people produced enough body heat to make this place feel warm. However, the plaza suddenly went silent as a majestic beast drew a carriage and entered the plaza, heading for a seven-story building nearby.

Everyone in the plaza froze where they stood, their eyes were drawn by the imposing six-eyed bull as it slowly came to a stop in front of the building. Their eyes were naturally drawn to the two figures that alighted from a carriage that had been pulled by such a rare beast.

Naturally, they would be curious about its owners as the majority of the carries used in this city were pulled by ordinary horses. Even the highest-level merchant and members of the Zorak family would only use tier 2 demonic horses. Anyone who could possess such a rare and valuable creature would not be so ordinary.

The two figures completely alighted from the carriage and the crowd could finally see them. One of these two people was a girl, who looked to be in her late teens. Her eyes gleamed in the moonlight, while her thick and lustrous black hair was lazily styled in a single large braid. Her tanned skin made her cheeks look a little flushed and slightly twitching dog ears rekindled a tickling sensation in the crowd that made them want to protect her.

What drew their attention the most though was the slight air of elegance which surrounded her, followed closely by her exotic beauty and the innocent look in her eyes that would make anyone do a double-take. Although the blackish-grey thick robe she wore was plain in make, it still looked like an opulent dress on her.

Her partner soon followed after her but no one could tell what the gender was. It was a tall figure who wore a long black coat that completely hid his figure, a hood also covered most, if not all of his/her face.

However, this did not matter to the men in the crowd who already fell for the young girl. Their hearts burned with rage at the sight of this figure who showed no respect to the adorable girl he rode with. Their minds had processed all sorts of scenarios about the nature of their relationship and had already painted that figure their life sworn enemy.

The pair then looked around a bit before the girl happily leads the cloaked individual into the building. This only seemed to anger the men in the crowd more.

The onlookers watched the pair vanish into the seven-story building, and then immediately began whispering about what they had seen. They no longer seemed afraid of the identities of this pair as nobles didn't tend to move around with beastkins or other subsidiary races.

The other reason they didn't care anymore was that the building they had entered was the Merchant Guild and judging by the type of carriage and the rare beast that pulled it, they were most likely foreign merchants that came from a faraway region.

••••••••••

The pair walked into the large lobby of the almost empty merchant guild building. Normally this place would be bursting with a crowd of merchants making deals and providing a commission for escorts including other activities provided by the guild.

The merchant guild provided a platform for all the different merchant groups that came from all over the continent to be acquainted with each other, providing more opportunities for those who were able to build multiple connections. 

The guild also helped the merchants send requests to the hunter's guild for merchants that require protection during a trip which was cheaper for unknown or rookie merchants that had no reputation, it prevents them from being cheated.

There was only a single receptionist on duty at this time, perhaps it was due to the late hour.

Tyler and Nadine strolled over to the young male receptionist and Tyler spoke first.

"Good day, we would like to trade some wares with the guild."

The male receptionist looked a little nervous by being spoken to by a fully cloaked man he couldn't see the face of, he looked to his partner and she smiled at him making his heart flutter. He found some courage and answered the man's question.

"D-do you have a merchant license from the guild "

"No."

"Are you by chance a hunter or part of the magic institute?"

"No."

"Well if you're are not part of any of those institutions, extra charges would be applied to any trade you make with us. Would you like to join the guild?"

"No "

The receptionist's face twitched, he composed himself and rephrased his question.

"Joining the guild would provide you with some additional benefits and we would be able to buy your ware at market price. Would you consider joining the guild?"

"..."

There was finally a pause from the series of short responses and the male receptionist sighed inwardly. This was his first week working here and being rejected like this was beginning to damage his confidence, but it looked like he had finally gotten through to this guy when...

"No."

Another devastating denial, he could no longer handle it so he had to give up on his recruitment. The guild didn't urgently need more members and although he was new, he was still just doing this newbie a favor, besides how much ware could these two provide the guild anyway. The girl may be a beauty but they were still just subraces like him and he didn't have to show them any more courtesy.

"Alright, please have a seat. I'll send someone to count and confirm the quality of your products."

Tyler and Nadine went over to the side and took a seat. It took the guild a while to confirm everything about the product they had in the carriage. After about 30 minutes the same male receptionist ran over to them in a panic and apologized profusely for the delay while inviting them to the third floor and inside a private meeting room or rather a V.I.P room.

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