The Broken Halo

The carriage continued moving slowly.

Around them, demons spoke in low voices. Some complained about the long queue. Some discussed prices. Some argued with their companions. Some tried to sell food, water, beast feed, and cheap and fake artifacts to those waiting outside the gate.

One old demon walked past the carriages while carrying a tray of dried meat.

"Fresh dread lizard meat! Good for the body! Good for the blood! Only three hell stones!"

Sonya opened one eye.

"That smells terrible."

Akaza did not even look at her.

"You eat worse things."

Sonya glared at him.

"I do not."

"You do."

Simon ignored them as usual.

The queue moved again.

A carriage ahead of them was stopped for a longer time than usual. Two guards climbed into it, and a few seconds later, shouting followed.

A demon was dragged out of the carriage with his hands chained behind his back.

The moment the demon tried to resist, one of the guards struck the back of his knees with a spear shaft, forcing him to fall.

Another guard placed a hand on the demon’s head, and a dark red symbol appeared above his palm.

The demon’s body trembled.

Then he stopped struggling.

Mira’s expression became slightly stiff.

"A rebel of the Darkness Kingdom."

Simon glanced at her.

"Rebels?"

Mira shook her head.

"I don’t know much about that. I only that there are rebels in the Darkness Kingdom, and cities like Velmora possess defensive measures to fish out these rebels."

Mira paused for a moment, then her expression became a little bit strange.

"Or I might be wrong and he might not be a rebel. He might be a criminal who’s trying to escape the Darkness Kingdom... But it would be foolish of him to try and sneak into Velmora City."

Mira mumbled her last sentence underneath her breath.

Simon looked at the demon for a few seconds, then looked away.

He was obviously not going to interfere, but he was curious about these rebels of the Darkness Kingdom.

’Oh. I think one of our instructors was planning on teaching us about the politics of the Darkness Kingdom. But I left the clan before that could happen.’

’Hmm.’

As Simon had this thought, the demon was quickly dragged away, and the queue continued moving as if nothing had happened.

That was another difference between Vashar and Velmora.

In Vashar, something like that would have created noise, gossip, and a crowd.

Here, most demons only glanced once before looking away.

As if they were used to it.

As if it was normal.

The carriage moved forward again, and Velmora’s gate became larger in Simon’s vision.

The gate was massive, large enough for several beast carriages to pass through at the same time. Above it was a black stone platform where several guards stood with crossbows and long spears.

A flying beast landed on one of the towers, and the demon riding it looked down at the queue with sharp eyes.

Simon calmly observed everything.

Velmora was not just larger than Vashar.

It was stronger, and that was good.

A stronger city meant it’ll be more difficult for the Shadowgrave Clan to break the city’s laws and kill him, Akaza, and Sonya.

A stronger city also meant stronger demons.

Stronger demons meant better resources, better information, and better opportunities.

It also meant more danger.

But Simon had never expected his path to be safe.

The carriage stopped again.

They were still some distance away from the gate, but close enough that Simon could see the guards checking the groups ahead of them.

The driver turned his head slightly and spoke through the opening.

"Get your entry fees ready. Don’t cause trouble. Velmora guards don’t like trouble."

Sonya smiled faintly.

"Then we should definitely cause some."

Mira’s face changed.

"Please don’t."

Sonya looked at her and chuckled.

"I’m joking."

Mira did not know whether to believe her or not.

Simon closed his eyes slightly and continued to absorb the thin demonic energy in the atmosphere.

His recovery had improved a little during the past few days, but not enough for him to be careless.

He could feel the difference now.

The pain in his pathways had reduced, and the cracks were not as terrible as before. But he still had not tried absorbing hell stones again after the last time.

Not yet.

Maybe after entering Velmora.

Maybe after finding a safe place.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice from outside.

"Did you hear? The recruitment is going to start very soon."

Simon’s ears twitched. For some reason, these words drew his attention.

The voice came from a group of demons standing in the queue not too far from their carriage.

Because of his high affinity for the wind and his Sky Tiger lineage which gave him sharp ears, he was able to hear their conversation.

Another demon replied,

"For the city guards?"

"No. Bigger than that."

"Bigger?"

"An invasion force."

This time around, Simon slowly opened his eyes.

’An invasion? To where? Another city? A tribe? Or is the Darkness Kingdom planning on expanding and destroying a kingdom?’

The carriage moved closer.

Unlike Akaza, Sonya, Devia, Brukk, and Orven, Mira was paying attention to her surroundings because she could see that Simon was paying attention to their surroundings, so she also heard the words of the demons.

But she did not seem to understand why Simon’s gaze had changed.

The first demon lowered his voice, but Simon still heard him clearly.

"They’re recruiting Fiends and Archfiends, and the pay is very good. Hell stones, rare herbs, rare ores, and I heard that there are Sovereign Artifacts among the rewards. Calamity Artifacts are part of the rewards too, but that’s for Greater Demons who want to be able to battle Demon Lords. And that is just the tip of the iceberg from what I heard."

"Seriously? Sovereign Artifacts are for Greater Demons. Why are the rewards so good?"

The demon who knew about the invasion chuckled mischievously.

"It’s because of the place we’re invading."

"Where are we invading?"

The demon grinned.

"Earth."

Inside the carriage, Simon’s sky-blue eyes became utterly still.

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