Deliberately ignoring the stir they caused in the city, the trio made their way to a neighboring city.
On the way, Salem couldn't help but appreciate the lush green of the plant life beneath them. The trees were a vibrant and deep green, the vines and mosses that grew on and around them were a vibrant emerald green, and the shrubbery were so dark green that they looked almost black.
"Should we adopt suits agsin?'' Salem asked, landing among the dense and lush greenery.
"I would like that." Ruby said, changing her own clothing, while Alina looked at him expectantly.
Salem took the hint and transformed both of their clothes into his favorite piece of formal attire.
"What colour tie?" Salem asked Alina.
"Maroon." She responded, watching as the tie was blotched with maroon colouring that spread like a disease across the tie.
Ruby straightened her black tie and Salem gave himself a dark purple tie.
The three of them easily made their way into the queue that led to the city gates.
Entering the line to gain access to the city, Salem observed the city's defenses critically.
There was no cover on the top of the walls, only a pathway where there were very few people in guard uniforms walking leisurely.
The walls seemed to have been built with pure metal, its sheen dully visible in the afternoon sun.
The gate, however, seemed to be a laughably rickety object compared to the walls.
It was made out of dry, stripped wood that was no thicker than Salem's pinky finger. It seemed pathetic and didn't seem to match the rest of the walls.
When they reached the gate, Salem asked about it, not caring if he tipped them off to the fact he was a foreigner.
"You must be new, huh?" One lanky-looking guard asked, sizing them up. "Well, if you must know, the gate is made with thousand-year bonsai saplings, held together with the tears of dragons, and the city walls are made with thousandfold moonlight steel."
The guard puffed his chest proudly as he spoke, telling Salem volumes about his confidence in the gate and walls.
Salem glanced at the girls and walked in the gates before asking, "What does a plant's age have to do with its strength?" He asked, baffled. "I can understand a substance being imbued with an element being stronger, but folding is a technique used to purify metal, not make it stronger on its own."
"Beats me." Alina shrugged, while Ruby shook her head.
"We can always ask around about it." Salem said. "Though that might cause us problems."
"Why?" Ruby asked. "We're foreigners. It'd make sense if we didn't understand the 'civilized cultivator's' world."
"Fair enough." Salem shrugged.
Asking several people, they found that no one knew.
Not a single soul understood why an older object was stronger, but it was a widely accepted belief.
"Why don't you know that that's just how things work?" One of the people they questioned demanded.
"We're ignorant to anything regarding cultivation." Alina said.
The person's annoyed face morphed into a face of pity.
"I hope you can learn." He said, turning to leave. "You might be too old to start."
"So no one knows why." Salem said. "But they all believe it."
"Sounds about right." Ruby said. "But I think we may have painted a target on our backs with our inquiries."
She pointed.
Alina and Salem followed her pointing finger to see a small group of men watching their every move.
As soon as Ruby pointed her finger, all of them pretended to be doing something, acting as though they were unaware of the people they had just been watching.
"Everywhere we go, there's always SOMEONE who wants you two." Salem remarked, annoyed. "We'll have a fun night tonight."
"Fun?" Alina nudged him with her elbow. "How so?"
"I can think of several ways." Salem smiled, slipping his arms around their waists.
"I hope this riles them up enough to not use caution." Ruby said, leaning against him. "Then we won't have to worry much about them and can focus on other things."
"Like what?" Alina asked teasingly.
"You know." Ruby ignored her tone and glanced at the small group she had indicated previously.
"I think we need to learn how to be less eye-catching." Salem broke in. "Because this is an annoying trend."
"I agree." Alina said. "It's almost like the world is pushing the conflict at us. Like someone or something is pulling the strings, making them do stupid things."
"That sounds accurate, but I can't imagine why an entity capable of doing so would choose to." Alina said.
"Entertainment." Salem said. "We're someone or something's source of entertainment."
"How can you be so certain?" Ruby asked.
"Why else would I have so many obstacles shoved in my path?" Salem asked. "Why else would I have reincarnated in a broken body, freed you, abandoned you, saved you, killed a king, traversed worlds, saved entire worlds, and encountered incomplete worlds?"
"That's a scary hypothesis." Alina noted. "Should we just skip this world?"
"No." Salem refused her without hesitation. "I want to find a way for you to be immortal."