Over the course of four days, they had circumvented a small forest and a few hills before finally reaching the end of their travels. It was a brisk pace Bernard set, only allowing for three rest stops a day. These rest stops were specifically for Lady Mary, the young noble. The others, the guards and Azul, had no need of them.
In these rest stops, the humans would stop to eat. Food was taken out from what seemed to be an unnaturally spacious bag. It was dried jerky made from the meat of animals they called cows, Bernard had said when Azul asked him.
To his surprise, the humans shared their food with him for which Azul promptly thanked them. The dried jerky was bland to the taste and lacked the warmth of fresh blood.
But to Azul, it did not matter much to him. Blood was not the only sustenance he could survive on. Prior to meeting the humans, he had found in his exploration that he did not need blood to quell his hunger. The flesh of animals alone would suffice.
Pure blood, however, was the most efficient method of quelling his hunger. In addition, Azul recognized the matter of blood not being part of the natural diet of humans over the course of the four days. Thus, to not frighten the humans, Azul decided to adapt to their ways.
Unfamiliarity was a herald for discomfort and opposition, more so, a being such as Azul, who even he himself was unfamiliar with.
As to the physical prowess of the guards, Azul found himself quite impressed. They seemed to be much more formidable than the two adventurers who had awakened him. Then again, the two adventurers were but young humans who had newly started out in their profession. It wasn't a just comparison.
Bernard, especially, was remarkable. His keen senses told Azul that the human could no be underestimated. He had the air of a predator. His footfalls were light and silent. His posture was always in a ready stance, implying that he could readily explode outward into a flurry of actions at any given moment.
This was the human man that was filling the temporary role of a teacher to Azul. From Bernard, his vocabulary and fluency of Trade Tongue improved considerably. It was easy for Azul, for his memory was incredible, he had found, much to the others' surprise and to a lesser extent, himself. One would think one had a faulty memory if one had forgotten all memories of one's past life, but that wasn't the case for Azul. It was an interesting point he would need to take into consideration.
The teaching process was simple. Bernard would simply point to an object and name that object. And in that same turn, Azul would remember it solely from hearing it once. To a great extent, this quick learning was due to Azul having a foundation in Trade Tongue from the stolen memories.
It was not just Trade Tongue he learned in the past days though. He also roughly grasped an idea of where exactly he was.
Azul was in Haventhorn Kingdom, one of the many dominions that shared boundaries with the Outlands. Its closest neighbor was to the east, Svern Kingdom, with the Deepfall River nestled in between the two kingdoms and extending past all the way south of the continent, effectively cutting the continent into half. To the west, past the great Barrier Mountains, was the Ashari Empire. And to the south laid Meifolon Kingdom along with the rest of the southern kingdoms.
"Up ahead is Frontier, the largest bastion of the Wild Front." Bernard voice cut across the silence that had built up. "It is also the only major city near the Outlands in the kingdom."
It was obvious to Azul that Bernard had said this out loud for his benefit. He looked toward the subject matter.
Even from a distance, Frontier looked impressive. Though somewhat hard to tell from this distance, the city walls appeared to be enormous and the outline of the walls made the city's shape into some sort of slanted pentagon that had been squished sideways.
With his impressive eyesight, he could see a few flying animals that circled around the city in a routine arc. On the backs of these animals, he could vaguely see mounted armored humans.
A question entered his mind, but just as Azul was about to ask--
"The city wall on every side is each a hundred and twenty feet tall, built and fortified by the finest craftsman with talents in esotheric Earth," Bernard said. He had anticipated the question Azul was about to ask.
Azul pointed toward the distant clear skies, their clarity broken only by the occasional wisps of gray white clouds tinged with shades of orange.
"Griffons, rare and few in numbers," Bernard answered the implied question. "They are flying mounts we use to scout the borders of the Outlands. Danger always inevitably come into the kingdom from the Outlands. This is why this whole stretch of northern land that borders the Outlands is known as the Wild Front, in addition to the fact that most of the land here is uncultivated and filled with monsters and wild beasts."
With a barely suppressed curiosity, Azul gazed at the distant skies full of griffons. A strange sort of hunger stirred in him as if awakened by his interest, calling for the lifeblood of those flying beasts. What would it taste like? Would there be a taste of fresh air in their blood? Of the wistful wind and wispy clouds?
Azul wanted a sample of the species' blood and wondered for a moment if he should request Bernard for it. Just a small sample would suffice. It was not as if he would be asking for its entire lifeblood.
In his curiosity, he had sampled the blood of many of the plain animals. It was why the group of humans had been so alarmed at the sight of him and his bloodstained clothes when they first met.
Bernard felt a cold chill run down his spine, the cause of which he supposed came from Azul. A quick glance toward Azul, however, told him nothing. He did not notice a change in the man's demeanor. He could only see the curiosity of Azul as he gazed at the skies. Was that longing he saw in those unsettling black pupils whose crimson irises were, on closer look, tinged with shades of violet?
Bernard suppressed the shiver and steeled himself, his hands itching in readiness to draw his weapon. The last few days had made Bernard acutely aware that Azul was a naturally inquisitive man, or being, or whatever he was. A being who ate and drank in the same way as them. A being who looked entirely like them, save for his unnatural symmetry.
And despite the few days' company, Bernard was still not sure exactly what to make of Azul. At most times, he seemed simply like a curious child, but at rare moments like this, his true nature, which Bernard felt to be that of an apex predator, shone through. Moments like these came when he explained and mentioned the names of rare and valuable creatures. It was a moment akin to that of an apex predator taking delight in a rare prey could be felt.
But for some strange reason Bernard could not figure out, despite these moments, Bernard trusted Azul's words that he would not harm them. Though whether his trust in Azul's words would turn out to be true remained to be seen.
Sensing a reluctance from Bernard who had abruptly cut short his explanation, Azul decided to withhold his questions. Bernard's explanation had further questions inside his mind, but he could only repress them for now.
He also wanted to ask more of what exactly was the Esotherial and the esotheric talents, but Bernard had only given him vague explanations, excusing himself with the fact that he wasn't an expert in it.
Azul let his obvious avoidance of the subject matter pass by as he understood the human's reluctance. He viewed it simply from the perspective of prey and predator. What prey would divulge its weaknesses to its predator. Not that Azul thought of himself as a predator of humans. He had no need for their blood. And Bernard had been a gracious host and Azul would not want to be an impolite guest.
"Let us get moving. We still have a few hours worth of distance to travel, and I want to get there before midday." What Bernard had left unsaid was that midday was the time when the city guards were busiest due to the change in shifts. It was also when most of the skilled combatants such as the top adventurers usually came in or left the city. It was also when most of the aerial units would report back in. Hopefully, there would be no troubles. But if there was, the city would be at its apex of readiness.
Lady Mary started walking ahead, muttering under her breath, her irritation still not abating despite the passage of time. "Stupid stranger… trip a waste…no oddities…no wyverns…no horned bunnies…no nothing."
With a loud snort, Leona quickly followed and formed up behind her ward. The other three female guards also followed along naturally.
The three female guards were strangely withdrawn. Even over the course of four days, they barely said anything and what little words they spoke were only exchanged among themselves. The only outspoken one was Leona who attempted to find fault with Azul at almost every turn.
At her, Azul did not know what to think of it. Deep down inside, the barely suppressed bestial part of him wanted her blood for her disrespect, her impertinence, but the logical and civilized part of him only found her loudness amusing.
"You will have to forgive Leona. She does not take kindly to strangers, more so male strangers," Bernard softly said, shaking his head. "A thing of the past."
It was an interesting bit of vague information that told Azul more about Leona. Still, Azul mused to himself. 'Wyverns? Horned bunnies? And what are oddities?'
----
It was midday when they arrived in Frontier. There were only two entrances, which also acted as exits, to the city. One lay to the middle of the most western wall and the other to the most eastern wall. Every set interval on the wall, there was a column tower that protruded upward a few feet with a rounded platform. Azul could see some of the platforms being occupied by armored guards while other platforms were busy with guards changing shifts, one climbing up and one climbing down.
This scenery was made busier once one viewed what was going on at the city entrances. At each entrance, there was a long line of people waiting to be inspected to enter the city and a flow of people exiting at the same time.
What caught his eyes were the caravans of merchants whose wagons were pulled by beasts of burden. On these wagons, rows of cages of various sizes could be seen. And in these cages were strange species that looked humanoid, but not exactly. The color of their skins were far too dissimilar to the brown hues of the humans for them to be called human.
That is to say, some of them had green skin and a muscular and skeletal structure distinctive enough to be different from that of a human. Others were half the size of humans and had purplish skins. A few even had distinct faces with animalistic features.
Leona spat on the ground and growled. "Slavers. It is one thing to deprive them of their lives and another thing to bind their free will. Even to my greatest of foes, I would not wish upon them a lifetime of servitude, except…perhaps…" She went silent then.
The statement gave pause to Azul who wondered what exactly were the uses of slaves. As beasts of burden, perhaps. He could not see any other uses than that. As he was pondering more about the statement, Azul sensed a familiar feeling coming from among the crowd of people lined up at the entrance.
From the waves of people, a man dressed entirely in black slowly walked toward them. The crowd, including the seasoned adventurers or caravan guards, backed away from wherever the man walked.
And it was just so.
The man looked intimidating, well over six feet tall and bordering on seven feet. From his sleeveless black chainmail over which he wore a tabard with the Haventhorn crest--wings wrapped around the black outline of a thorny rose--one could see his bulging shoulders and arms. They were so thick and wide one might have thought them to have belonged to a wild beast.
He had a flat nose that looked so crooked there was no doubt that it had been broken multiple times over and over again. His face and arms were also full of scars from past battles. Top top it all off, as if to purposely enhance his intimidating look, his head was shaved close to the skin.
"Undying Blaze Bernard," the bulky man's voice boomed, grating to the ears due to the explosiveness of it. "When will we have our duel again?"
"General Godiva, I am surprised to see you here again." Bernard gave a short nod, then let loose a short chuckle. "As to the duel, not anytime soon, I hope. I can still feel the soreness from our duel just last month."
General Godiva let loose a loud, beastly laughter which made the crowd flinch at the sound. "Now, now, do not be like that. Fighting and killing is the greatest thrill one can have. To fight is to validate one's existence! To fight is to truly feel you are alive!"
His thick eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, his face turning serious as soon as he finished laughing. "The reason I am here is important. King Gavin's orders, I am afraid. There has been some unsettling news."
Godiva glanced at his surroundings. "But there are too many eyes and ears here. I will convene with you later, along with Duke Azalea." Fiery golden eyes inspected the group closer, noticing their dust-stained clothes. Inspecting along, the golden eyes finally landed upon Azul and stopped short, widening in surprise. "And if I may ask, just who is this man?"
Azul noticed the fire in those golden eyes which stared at him. It was a fire which hungered for battle. A beastly fire that begged for validation to its existence.
And the beast deep inside Azul desired to respond to such provocation. It wanted to break free of the paltry chains of civilization the human part of Azul had imposed upon it. Just like the opponent before it, the beast too desired to battle. But more than to battle, the beast desired to drain the entirety of the lifeblood of its foes. That! That was its validation.
Godiva lightly wet his lips, the desire in his eyes all too plain to see. "I can see you have just come back from a long journey. Surely you must be needing rest as I am quite certain Duke Azalea's only daughter is a handful, or rather, fistful," he said with a slight tremble in his voice. It was not a fearful trembling, but rather one of excitement.
Bernard timely interrupted, attempting to alleviate the tense situation. "I shall meet you later along with Duke Azalea then, General Godiva."
Turning toward the subject of his last statement, General Godiva gave a pointed glance at the young girl of fifteen. "Lady Mary Azalea."
"General Godiva," Mary acknowledged through gritted teeth, her brown eyes glaring at the hulking man in front of her.
"Indeed, it has been a long week," Bernard affirmed, cutting short their glaring contest. "I will see you after our rest then, general." He sighed to himself and thought once more again of retirement. He felt like a wet nurse who had to take care of three children, two of them more beasts than human, and the third a girl whose father he worked for.
"Take your time, for I will be busy at the brothels. To fuck is to also validate one's existence, though I must admit battling is much more to my liking. Ah, if only I could do both at the same time." With that, Godiva gave a barking laughter and turned his back to the group, entering the city gates once more as the crowd gave way and the guards saluted him with a fist to their chests.
Mary sniffed at the diminishing sight of the general. "Insufferable man."
Contrary to her words, Azul found the hulking man to be quite amusing. Utterly straightforward and bold, General Godiva was. His predatory nature also agreed with the sentiment.
Azul had to wonder at the beastly nature that was chained in the hidden depths of his heart of hearts, which had only deigned to show its head when he had first awakened with an unsettling hunger. What exactly was this predatory beast inside him that longed for the blood of the strong and the rare?
"Next in line!" one of the entrance guards called out after the commotion had dwindled away and the general could no longer be seen.
Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Frontier city, Azul contemplated to himself as he lightly followed behind Bernard as they skipped past the long line of merchants and adventurers.
Humans, Azul was beginning to find, were such intriguing creatures.