Chapter 1164: The Twilight City |
’Woah. I guess Relia wasn’t exaggerating about the splendor of her home.’
After passing through the checkpoint, Marcus and his companions followed Relia for a few hundred meters to the end of the tunnel.
There, they were met with a sprawling open cavern that was filled with an enormous city.
Their current position had them a few hundred meters above the chamber’s floor, so they were able to see most of the sprawling metropolis below them.
It went on for several dozen kilometers and was packed with buildings and roads. Honestly, finding a settlement this large below the world’s surface was an impressive sight.
’It’s not the same one I saw before. The architecture has some similarities, but the layout is different. No way I would forget that giant castle in the middle made out of gleaming black stone.’ Marcus thought, his gaze locked onto the largest structure in the city.
While it was not as massive as Borealia’s royal castle, it was not lacking grandeur.
"Yes, the city is breathtaking. Still, we don’t have all of the time in the world to keep gawking at it. Let’s be on our way. I’m sure that my master already knows that we’re here, and she’ll be upset if we dally for too long."
Relia had a smug look on her face as she jumped down the cliff they were on and floated down.
Despite being on the outskirts of the city, there were already buildings and roads waiting just around thirty meters away from where they all touched down.
"This place is more normal than I was expecting. They’re actually doing ranching and farming." Lyra said, glancing at the open areas filled with all manner of strange animals and fields that had giant mushrooms growing in them.
Marcus nodded his head in agreement with this statement.
Being from earth, there was a certain image that he had in his mind when he heard about a city of vampires.
Yet, while certain things were unusual compared to the cities on the surface, that had more to do with the underground location than the fact that this was a place ruled by vampires.
’I figured that place would be darker, and while the light level isn’t bright by any means, even a regular person without the night vision skill wouldn’t have any trouble seeing.’
There was also something else that it took Marcus a few minutes to notice since he was so distracted looking around at the city.
The people here were not all vampires.
In fact, there were multiple different races working on the farms and ranches on the outskirts of the city, and not a single one of them was a vampire.
’Relia is the only one nearby that I can distinctly tell is a vampire. There are several strong presences I can sense deeper into the city, but we’re too far away for me to tell exactly what they are.’ Marcus thought, finding this strange.
Before he could even ask about it though, their guide noticed what he was thinking by the look on his face.
"Only around eight percent of the city’s population are vampires. The rest are all manner of different people. Most originally gathered under my master’s banner because of persecution in one form or another. Although, as the number of people has increased, that’s not as common a reason anymore."
"You’ll find humans, orcs, fairy races, intelligent monsters and beasts, and even a few demons living here. My master is willing to accept anyone here so long as they’re willing to follow the city’s rules."
Relia was obviously very proud of her home as she spoke about it animatedly.
Of course, what Marcus latched onto was hearing that there were demons here.
He had never had any positive experiences with any of their types, and from what he knew they lived only to spread chaos and destruction.
When he brought this up, Relia just smiled and said, "Yes, most of them are like that. Even down here, we’ve had some problems with hostile demons before. Still, there are always going to be some outliers that don’t conform to the norms of their society and nature. Those are the types that live here."
Marcus still found it difficult to believe that there were good demons, but it was hardly his place to argue.
He was a guest int his city and here to pay back a debt. It would not do for him to stir up trouble without a good reason.
For a little longer, the four of them casually walked along the streets and headed deeper into the city.
Obviously, if Relia wanted them to go faster, she could have started running or flying at any moment, but she seemed to want to let Marcus, Lyra, and Quillon experience the sights of her home.
Eventually, they began getting closer to the more urban areas of the settlement and were met by a gate and a checkpoint.
"What’s this about?" Lyra asked.
She had her own domain that she was in charge of and was wondering why the security here was so strict when they were still far from the center of the city’s center.
"Ah, that’s to keep out potential spies. I won’t bore you with all the details. Just know that it’s not for stratifying the citizens. With the standard identifications, people are free to go wherever they want that’s not restricted." Relia replied.
As she had said, no one in the line at the checkpoint was turned away or had to pay any sort of entrance fee.
’But if they’re this worried about spies, I wonder what’s going on?’
Marcus wanted to know more. However, it was clear that Relia did not want to elaborate on the topic.
Waving at them to keep going, she brought them to a side entrance of the main checkpoint, and they were all let in without even a onceover by the guards.
She had enough authority to bypass any security check in the city. Even the castle guards would not look at her twice if she strolled inside.
"This is where our trip on foot ends. It would be rude to you all as guests and the empress if we showed up like this." Relia said, motioning towards an ornate carriage parked on the side of the road.
