Sen could've made himself also invisible and stroll right into the Zacharias house like he owns the place but he refrained from doing so. The reason is that he wanted to personally get to know the city, and interacting with the people here would bring him much more gain than being a silent, invisible observer.
The three approached the gate and witnessed a strange scene. The biggest carriage Leonas and Risa had ever seen stepped on the marbled road and sped towards the gate. It was led by six, midnight black horses that looked so big and powerful they could rival a bear in strength. The carriage was followed by four neat rows of armored men.
"The crimson corps" whispered Risa in Sen's ear. Although they were invisible, they still had to be careful not to make a sound or leave a footprint on the ground. "They are the guards of the royal family of the Grandor kingdom"
Sen found the sight peculiar. To be honest these guards weren't much to show for it. Even their armor was not dazzling and they looked more like normal soldiers form the historical movies he's seen before. 'I guess that's because it's a small kingdom'
What's more peculiar is that some soldiers at the back were dragging what looked like a covered cage. Sen was curious, he used his heightened sense and what he saw surprised him. It was a living being, certainly not a human as the thermal figure was as cold as ice, unlike the human thermal shape which is a variation of warm colors. And not even an elf or a draw as they – the same as humans – have a warm body.
He could feel the anger and hatred inside that cage. But he planned on doing nothing about it. Maybe after he fixed the Zacharias family. Before that, he had no intention of crossing path with the royal family.
Only after the carriage and the soldiers went inside were Sen and the rest of the people entering the city were allowed in.
"State your name and where you're from"
Sen was at a loss, he knows nothing of the villages and towns' names, so how should he answer?
Luckily, a quick-witted Leonas whispered in his ears.
"My name is Link, I'm from the south city, and I came here to see some of my relatives."
Before the guard could speak and ask his relatives' names, Sen stuffed two silver coins in his hands and spoke in a low voice, "brother, what were the royal guards doing in the city?"
The guard's eyes were glued to the silver coins. He had swallowed whatever words he had to say. Two silver coins were his monthly salary. This person must be rich and powerful so he shouldn't offend him. Immediately, his expression turned to fawn and respect. He looked left and right before whispering back.
"Apparently, Princess Jenna had gone missing, presumed dead three days ago"
'Jenna?' 'Three days ago?'
Sen pieced it together. 'So their probably here looking for me huh?'
"The king sent his son to investigate. Naturally, the prince would be escorted by the crimson corps" his eyes glittered at the mention.
"Thank you, brother. But as you see, I'm new to the city, could you please point for an inn?"
"Of course, the best one in town is the spring blossom inn, but I hear that it and the rest of the big inns are booked full all the time…there is one, it's in the west side of the city, called drunken dwarf"
"Dwarf? A dwarf is an owner?" Sen was surprised. A slave city where elves and the like are eaten would have dwarfs running businesses? That was a pure joke.
"No, no how could there be a creature like that doing business. It's just that the owner is short and always drunk so it's called the drunken dwarf. If you want to go there, just follow those carriages and ask about the inn, they're quite famous for their ale."
"Alright, brother thank you. I'll be on my way now"
The guards waved him away and he resumed staring at the silver coins, "eh? Why does this coin have a dragon on it instead of the kingdom's symbol?'
"Well, whatever….hey you, cover my shift, I'll make a quick trip to the bank and be back" he decided to deposit these coins immediately lest they get lost or stolen.
.
.
"Will it bring us trouble?" Risa asked. Both of them were not stupid and naturally heard that the girl with Cassil was called Jenna and that she was a princess.
"No" Sen shook his head, "after dealing with everything here in Lavin city, we are heading for that place at once."
What Sen said before about how human nobles treat their own race, if they did not believe it then, then they do now. The residential area at the gate entrance was nothing to speak of in front of the luxurious mansions they saw at the distance. As someone who came from the 21st century, the thing that irked him the most was how terrible the sanitation was at that place. Just the smell was enough to kill an army, he reckoned. 'I guess wherever there are nobles, there are slums'.
On the other hand, as they moved further into the inner city, the smell lessened considerably, the building became cleaner, and the road marbled with clean gray tiles.
But the thing that made Sen's blood boil is that before entering this place, they actually saw a slave market. This place sold gray-skinned people, some elves, and most importantly, humans. The humans were in great numbers as the vendors started an open bid on a fair looking girl. In the end, she was taken by a fat man wearing expensive and lavish looking for clothes.
The sight shocked Leonas and Risa, humans were despicable enough to even enslave their own. But although Sen was enraged inside, he wasn't planning on interfering…at least not yet.
After calming down, he took notice of the other races that were sold in this place, and surprisingly, there were very few drows or elves. However, there was one drow that drew Risa and Leonas' attention, he was beaten, scarred, and tied to a pole. He turned to Leonas, expecting to see him enraged at the torture his kin faced but who would've known that Leonas was instead staring daggers at the drow.
Noticing Sen's gaze, Leonas retracted his own and shook his head. "That's Eleanor, the one who gave up our location, the traitor of our village"
It is truly laughable. The humans promised this drow to live peacefully and happily, yet after he served his purpose, they beat him and threw him away to be sold as a slave.
The other race that caught Sen's attention was a peculiar one. These people were chained with much sturdier and bigger chains than humans, and Sen could see why. Even the shortest one of them reached a height of two meters while the tallest was standing a hulking two and a half meters. All of them including males were good-looking and could even rival the elves in terms of aesthetics.
While the human slaves were wearing rags, these certain people were all naked, even the woman. They were stripped out of their clothes and were on full display in all their glory, revealing their genital girt for the males and the huge weight the females carried on their chests. The males had defined bodies with chiseled muscles, while the females had absolutely not a single grain of fat, their bodies well curved and proportioned. It was certainly a very beautiful race.
Sen wondered whether these people were stripped to be sold as sexual slaves. But no matter how you look at it, anyone of them could crush a human with one hand, which also made him wonder how they were subdued and captured.
However, the thing that was most unique about this race, is the fact that both of their entire arms and shoulders were stone-gray and not just in color but also in texture. Looking like they were made of stone.
Sen suddenly felt curious about this race and was inclined to save them after seeing the humiliation and anger on their faces.
Sadly, both Leonas and Risa had no idea what this race called. This matter was put on hold and Sen decided to focus on the Zacharias family first.
After a few moments of walking, Sen and the duo arrived at the Drunken Dwarf, it was a tall building with a huge ale mug sculpture on its roof. They entered and were greeted by a plump woman with heavy makeup.
She didn't even look his way before speaking in a manner that suggested she did this a lot of time.
"30 coppers per night, breakfast included. Dinner is an extra 10 coppers while hot water is 5. If you want extra clean towels and bedding sheets then, that will be another 5 coppers"
Sen threw five silver coins at the counter, "three nights, make sure that no one disrupts me and get me the biggest room you have."
The woman was surprised by the money, before quickly pocketing it, "our biggest room is on the third floor"
"Is the money not enough?" Sen asked after seeing the woman wanting to say something but hesitating.
"It's just that there is a guest in the room next to yours. He's a bit on the offside, temperamental and quick to anger, so please take care not to offend him"
Sen, of course, would not purposely take initiative and antagonize a person who needs anger management lessons. But if the other party wanted to start something, he wouldn't mind teaching him a few lessons to vent the anger from what he saw today.