Entering the City
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“–That demon has returned once more?”
“–Yes. Hide your family’s valuables well! Carry away even your molted skin! That fellow steals anything!”
“–It’s already been a year since he was last here. . . I didn’t think. . . “
“–Take away the children, make sure not to frighten them!”
In the grasslands south of Mentamar City, two female blood-crowned rattlesnakes were conversing.
Their greatest fear, the demon who had once swept through entire grassland, had returned!
All the magic beasts and humanoids of the grassland recalled the horror of being under that human’s control, and the disgrace of being forced from their ancestral homes and made to wander!
They still remembered how that demon had appeared in the autumn two years ago. He appeared to be a young, ordinary, human male, and a pushover at that. The grassland wolf tribe acted with reckless abandon, and attacked the young man. . . and where were the grassland wolves now? They were all beaten down by that human and no longer dared to attack humans.
However, the magic beasts of the grassland were honest; although they disliked the cruel and crafty grassland wolves, they did not mock them — after all, that human was way too scary! He wasn’t human! Wherever he went, he would leave the land barren and lifeless. Not only that, rumors state that he carried a large, black bag with a demon’s mouth drawn upon it. From the top of the ferocious bag grew two, long pairs of horns. Whenever this human-like demon obtained an item, he would put it inside his bag, and that object would disappear.
As for the item’s original owner, the pitiful magic beast, they would never again see the wealth they had accumulated after much time, whether that be a gleaming gold coin, or a pair of pretty, blue pebbles.
The female blood-crowned rattlesnakes had even seen that human snatch away a small, blue flower that a male blue bowerbird was planning to use for courtship! Afterwards, that blue bowerbird was unable to court even a single girl. . . the human’s methods were so vicious that even her, a natural enemy of the blue bowerbird, was left shaking! To perform such acts, could he even be considered human?!
The grasslands, forests, and hills came alive. All of the magic beasts—particularly the middle to high-level magic beasts, who possessed great intelligence and were more adept at communicating with each other—said one thing: there is a human, within whose heart dwells the most horrifying demon; there is no crime he will not commit, no thing he will not steal, and from his mouth arises incessant chants of “burn, kill, and plunder”; only the Demon King of Darkness could subdue someone like him.
From their tribes’ historical records, high-level magic beast’s knew that long ago, there existed a Demon King in this world. Furthermore, in the past decades, the Demon King had appeared once more. The Demon King was the darkest, and most vile existence.
Thus, the magic beasts of the grasslands, forests, and valleys gave this human a title: Demon King’s Confidante.
_(:зゝ∠)_From a certain point of view, this title was accurate.
***
Early mornings in Mentamar City were always busy. The city gates opened at the crack of dawn, and although caravans, knights, and commoners all traveled on different roads, they would inevitable crowd together when passing through the city gates. The braying of livestock and chatter of crowds permeated the air, broken only by the occasional cursing or crack of a whip.
Similar to Wilderness City, this city was also a free and independent city. Likewise, both cities relied on the support of a powerful nation; the Snowblade Kingdom supported Wilderness City while the Golden Flag Empire supported Mentamar City. Still, the two cities appeared vastly different. The city walls of Wilderness City were simple and unadorned; the city’s interior had a desolate and primitive feel. On the other hand, the city walls of Mentamar City were built of glossy, smooth, white bricks, and massive flags of Mentamar City hung from the walls; the city’s interior was busy, but orderly. This was especially true of the main street which connected the city’s southern and northern gates; the road bustled with human traffic, and was shaded by a lines of luscious trees that ran along either side.
Comparing the two cities was like comparing a desolate, barbaric land to a civilized city.
The selling of human slaves was a common sight within Wilderness City. Furthermore, as such trade alongside the selling of magic beasts, in the same markets, they gave the impression that humans were no different from magic beasts. Mentamar City, however, had no market for the selling and buying of human. The people here seemed much more civilized.
“But even then, nobles have servants, and the right to kill said servants. The army also has battle slaves, and the red-light district. . . in short, places where children can’t go still deal in human trafficking. Lance, you need to be more careful around here.” Xu Jun let Lance dismount, supporting the child in case he might fall. In the past few days, he had gotten way too immersed in his role; he had forgotten that this child was a frost dragon and had been babying him.
Lance pressed his lips together with delight. “Thank you dad, but I can get down on my own.”
What an obedient child! Xu Jun could not resist tousling the youth’s white hair; his fluffy hair was nice to the touch ~\(≧▽≦)/~.
↑Over the past few days, the scene above had been repeated countless times already. Now, the two spectators, Jesse and Mantou, had already gotten used to this strange scene.
Because Xu Jun and Lance were always acting out the part of a kind father and filial son, Jesse and Mantou, as spectators, had developed a sort of connection and tacit understanding between them. The two looked each other in the eyes: ah, they’re doing it again.
In horse speak, Mantou told Jesse, “having a child sure is joyful.”
He watched on as Lance obediently let Xu Jun rub his hair. “How nice, I also want such an obedient child =v=.”
Jesse: “–Then you need to first pick up a small, pitiful child with no mother or father.”
One human, two beastmen in human form (dragons technically counted as beastmen), and an actual magic beast all obediently waited in line to enter the city. Not many commoners and adventurers were present this morning; instead, teams and teams of knights waited to enter the city. Most likely, the knights were returning from patrol. Every year, in autumn, the knights would leave the city to patrol; however, the patrols were just for show. Seeing the procession of commoners, adventurers, and merchants advancing without stop, the knights and their horses were unable to squeeze their way through the city gates.
The commoners quietly laughed at the knights. Xu Jun overheard someone say words along the lines of “So what if they’re lord knights” and “The heavens won’t let them enter the city.”
Then, one of the soldiers, standing before the city gate ahead, requested a change to the paths; they widened the knight’s path while narrowing the commoner’s path. The small flags used to mark out each path before the gate were also moved, allowing for the knights to enter the city more quickly.
The commoners present: “. . .”
At this point, a more experienced, older adventurer, spoke to an older merchant, “Hai, as expected. What are you all gawking at? This is the norm, understand?
“Them,” he pointed upwards, “and the lords are all in cahoots. What do we count for?”
Xu Jun held Lance’s hands. The child’s hand was freezing cold, as he was a frost dragon and was born with frigid blood. Lance was clever, and did not speak whilst within the crowd. For Xu Jun, it was rather lucky that Lance had not spoken. Had Lance asked “why do the lord knights get to enter first” like any other children would have, Xu Jun would not have known how to reply.
Right, why was it that the lord knights got to enter first?
This was a question that adults would never ask. They would only laugh, but refuse to answer.
They knew not of how to explain the situation to children.
Therefore Xu Jun diverted the topic and redirected Lance’s, and the similarly aged Mantou’s, thoughts elsewhere. “In front of us is Mentamar City. Do you know what’s inside Mentamar City? They have the best candy exported from the Golden Flag Empire. Children like you absolutely love eating this stuff.”
As expected, Lance perked up and Mantou licked his lips. “Is there goldfruit candy?”
In Lance’s eyes, the best sweet he ever had was goldfruit candy.
After all, frost dragons were carnivorous magic beasts and were content with eating just meat. They lived in an extremely cold environment, and were generally lazy, so they most of their meals were sparse. Even amongst the prey they hunted, there were only ten or so different species. Furthermore, there were no plants for them to try, as the only greenery that existed there were the seaweeds along the seabed. There was no way to eat those things either, as they were sickeningly astringent.
The vegetable soup Xu Jun had given Lance last time was the second time Lance had eaten “plants” in his entire life. The first was when he had gotten sick, and the tribe elders had filled up his entire stomach with bitter, fishy, herbal medicines; Lance had nearly thrown up.
However, the vegetable soup Xu Jun fed him had been delicious! It was both fresh and fragrant! Lance had loved fishing out and eating the cabbages hidden in the soup! Xu Jun had even made him barbecue: sizzling cuts of meat, dripping with fat and spliced with green peppers and onions! Yet, the meat wasn’t greasy and he had been able to eat two entire stags by himself!
—Oh, of course, had the meat not been prepared utilizing Xu Jun’s culinary methods, Lance could have eaten twenty stags without a single hiccup.
—These past few days had been disastrous for the stags, mountain goats, and wild rabbits south of Mentamar City.
Lance’s thoughts traveled from goldfruit candies to all sorts of delicacies. Upon his face, which usually carried a somewhat foolish expression, a different expression now surfaced. “Are there things even tastier than goldfruit candies?”
Xu Jun looked at him and thought back to the little fellows from the orphanage. Back then, they had yelled and fought, each having a poor relationships with the others. Whenever he had a piece of candy, others would come to steal it. Only now did he realize that it was because candies, for them, were a rarity. No one had dared to ask the orphanage head to buy snacks, after all the orphanage head was not their “parent.”
He then glanced towards Lance, whose face always contained traces of compassion. “En, there are many snacks that are so, so much tastier than goldfruit candies. Once we enter the city, I’ll buy them for you.”
Mantou lightly kicked him, so Xu Jun quickly added, “And buy them for Mantou as well.”
As such, the pitiful Jesse was once again forgotten →_→
A middle-aged merchant, standing by the side, cut in, “Brothers, don’t even think about it. No one is selling candies in the city; old Johan, the man who ran the business, caught the Black Sickness and died. Everything’s a complete mess.”
Xu Jun frowned. “. . . What’s the Black Sickness?”
The plump merchant standing in front of Xu Jun twisted around at the sound of gossip. This merchant asked, while wiping off their sweat with a tiny handkerchief, “Is that information true? Old Johan died? Wasn’t he only fifty?”
The merchant who had first spoke was a thin person with a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks; standing next to the plump merchant who was wiping off their sweat, the two contrasted beautifully with each other. “Of course not, he was still young as can be. For any disease that he caught, he just had to tell it to scram, and it would disappear. About this Black Disease, have any of you heard of it?”
“What to do? Now that he’s dead, who will buy my sugarcane?”
The two wanted to continue talking, but they had already reached the city gates. The guards eyed them in turn, frightening the two merchants. Like quails, the merchants shrunk in their shoulders and hugged onto their arms, not daring to speak. Xu Jun could not recognize any of the young guards protecting the gate; every one of them was emaciated, and not one appeared over twenty.
These young guards appeared dispirited, lacking the slickness of the old, wily soldiers who had previously guarded these gates.
All of this, in addition to the “Black Sickness” that the merchants had been discussing, raised many questions for Xu Jun. Finally, though, he entered the city.
Originally, Mentamar City was a flourishing, orderly city. Although there were slums, they were managed quite well. The people here wore fine linen clothes, and the garments worn by youths were especially beautiful as they were dyed in a variety of colors. Standing upon the street, the colorful clothing was a beautiful sight to behold. Children ran through the city’s wide roads and narrow alleys, wearing brightly colored clothes, rippling with laughter.
But now, as far as the eye could see, the vivid colors of half the city had turned to gray. None spoke loudly, and the children who occasionally passed by all had lowered heads; their vibrant clothing had been traded for whites and blacks. Baskets of white flowers hung from the rooves of many households. This was how the people here mourned.
Earlier, when they had just passed through the packed city gates, Xu Jun had been unable to see any of this because of the crowd. In this world, his height of 1.7 to 1.8 meters was not considered tall. Now that he had entered the city, although his face was still smiling, any trace of humor had disappeared from his eyes.
How could this be?!
Half the families in Mentamar City were holding funerals?!
Is this because of that “Black Sickness?” Or is it because of something else? What exactly caused the “Black Sickness?” Don’t say it’s because of the seasons’ changing, the people of this world all had robust bodies!
Jesse gazed up at the sky. He lightly inhaled and frowned. “There’s something in the clouds.”
Rather strangely, although the sun had been uncomfortably hot this morning, the sky now appeared overcast and heavy with rain.
Xu Jun was a Brave, not a wizard; although he was sensitive to killing intent, his sensitivity to the elements was somewhat lacking. However, he took notice of Jesse’s expression, and knew the situation was severe. “What can you see?”
Jesse shook his head. “It’s hidden in the clouds, and all I can feel is darkness. . . Xu Jun, how did it feel when you fought against the Demon King of Darkness?”
Xu Jun’s heart skipped a beat. But why would Mentamar City have such large amounts of elemental darkness? This was an ordinary, human city!
He pondered for a while, and decided the first order of business was to determine what exactly was hiding in the clouds, that Jesse had mentioned. “Let’s first take a look at the herbs shop.”
Ever since he had “killed” the Demon King, the elemental darkness particles were acting strangely. Not only had both the Moonlight Elves and Holy Light Elves’ Trees of Life been infected by elemental darkness, its concentration in the air seems to have increased as well. However, had it just been the elemental darkness concentration increasing, Xu Jun would not have cared that much, but ever since the Demon King’s death, large numbers of demons have been crawling out of the Abyss. The elemental particles of darkness, and the energy of darkness, have been behaving strangely since then.
—What was hiding in the clouds?
—And why was it hiding there?
. . . Had the Demon King still be around, Xu Jun would have at least had someone he could ask _(:зゝ∠)_
Miyorf Tries Translating 
Aww, poor magic beasts. Xu Jun is really a terror.
Thanks for the chapter ♥️
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