The week-long carriage ride was excruciating to say the least. It was probably the most painful thing Zagan's perfect butt had to experience.
After the long journey and stopping at towns and cities on the way, Leon had realized a few more things --
- The world he currently lived in is very much real, with real people with real emotions. In the game, there were only 5 main cities the player could travel to and explore, and the open world was purely just for finding hidden dungeons, killing field bosses, and just having fun in the game. The open world played no part in the storyline of the game, so none of the small towns, villages and miniature cities even existed in the game.
- The world's map wasn't exactly the same as the game's world map. There was way more detail, like trade routes, towns and villages, etc.
Leon had already kind of expected this though, from how the Crimson Palace was like in the world. In the game, the player could only explore 20 something rooms. But in reality, the Crimson palace had more than a thousand rooms in it.
Same with the Crimson Library. In the game, all the bookshelves were there just to burn in a cutscene where the Palace gets destroyed by demons. But in reality, each and every book in the library had real, meaningful content in them.
Apart from this realization, the only other thing Leon managed to learn was the limits of boredom and patience. Nothing too serious.
...
"Your- I mean, Sir Leon, we have arrived at the location you had specified. Exactly 50 Km northwest from the city of Stahl, near the Forgotten Lands, 10 Km directly south of the Wailing Wall, right under a withered Grave Tree.", said Theodore as he got ready to get off the carriage.
They had parked their carriage in a strange place. It had no paths leading to it, and was in the middle of a malnourished forest, which was called the 'Wailing Forest', because it was so close to the Wailing Walls, which were a structure like the 'Great Wall Of China', only much bigger and taller, built to keep the demons from entering the human territories.
The time looked like it was evening. The Sun had already set, but the sky was still luminous.
Beyond the Wailing Wall lied the Forgotten Lands, where the Demonic Energy was so thick that a normal person would immediately die from necrosis.
Anyways, this specific Grave Tree's roots had dug out a hole through which one could enter a tunnel, which lead to one of the most beautiful things in the entire game, the Umbral City.
"Theodore, I'm going to dig this tree out. Help me.", Zagan commanded Theodore as he pulled up his sleeves and got ready to cast some magic.
"Right away, your highness.", Theodore obliged as he also got ready to use his aura when signalled.
"Caster's blessing. Dark Lift. Wind Cannon.", Zagan made quick work of the old, withered tree, and Theodore caught the tree with his hands, like it was nothing and tossed it aside.
The tree's roots were uprooted and revealed a hollow tube through which one could descend onto the earth.
"Our destination is underground. I'll go in first, you follow.", Zagan commanded without looking at Theodore and got ready to jump in.
"B-But, your Highness! What if there's some danger?!". Theodore protested but to no avail.
"Shut up and follow my lead.", "Luminous Lasso.", Zagan chanted. A white magic sigil appeared on Zagan's right palm and a bright, white lasso shot out of the sigil, tying itself around the helpless Theodore.
"We're going in."
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!", Theodore's voice box went through tremendous trauma that day...
...
"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
*DHRUG* *GRUCHG*
Zagan managed to land on his two feet, but Theodore, who was about to puke, couldn't manage it and fell on his already sore butt.
"OUH! ..... ARGH!...."
"WHAAARRRHH", then he proceeded to throw up his evening snacks.
Zagan however ignored Theodore's misery and stared at what was now in front of him. It was something majestic and mind-bogglingly beautiful. A city in the shadows. A City which sees no Sun.
The Umbral City.
'Mesmerizing...', was the only thought Leon managed to think.
He was currently standing on a ledge, quite high up from the 'Ground Level' of the city.
He could see a palace, quite a lot smaller than the Crimson palace, but definitely more beautiful. The palace's roofs were purplish-azure domes, and they had some light-purple, glowing crystals growing out of them. The crystals were everywhere, illuminating the entire city, and only leaving a few dark spots.
The city itself was quite small too. It was no bigger than a small town on the ground. From just looking at it, one could tell that the buildings were high-quality, as even though they have been eroded and not maintained for centuries, they still look presentable and repairable.
There was a city square in the middle of the city with a broken fountain, which had a lot of those glowing crystals in it.
Most of the buildings were white, with some in red and some even in green, grey and blue.
The castle walls were heavily damaged, both from the inside and the outside. It seemed like whatever happened to this beautiful and cozy little city, wasn't pretty.
'Wow... I had already seen all this so many times in-game before, but computer graphics can't even compare to this... This is insanely beautiful...', Leon finally managed to break out of his trance of observation and aesthetic appreciation.
'But I can't let the beauty of this city fool me... I know that this city is absolutely infested with demons and even worse, the Undead.', Leon gritted his new body's teeth and got ready to fight.
"y-your majesty... pardon me, please... but I need a little help here...", well, that wasn't possible with this stupid Theodore slowing him down...
"Tsk! You're supposed to be my guard knight! Fucking useless.", Zagan's harsh personality took control for a second, which Leon immediately regretted after seeing the disappointed face Theodore was making.
"*Sigh... I guess it's partially my fault too... For not telling you in advance that this was going to be a little rough...", Zagan apologized, which is a very rare occurrence.
Theodore's expression immediately changed from dissatisfaction to worry and faithfulness.
"Y-your highness! Whatever are you saying! Surely you jest! There is no way any of this is your-", Zagan interrupted again.
"If you want me to acknowledge you, I highly recommend accepting my apology. Its not an everyday occurrence I apologize to anyone, you know."
Theodore's expression once again changed, and turned into a tearfully thankful one.
"*sniff!... Thank you your highness! *sniff!", He started weeping.
'He is such a good guy...', Leon thought.
'But good men like you won't last long in this harsh world, unfortunately. But don't worry, little Theodore... I'll make you a Big, Strong man! HAHA!', Leon chuckled inwardly and thought of ways he could manipulate Theodore into becoming more cunning, and self-dependent. He could in-tern use that opportunity to make Theodore into another pawn in his side of the battlefield!
'Yeah, it wouldn't be a complete waste of time to do that...', Leon contemplated, before shoving that thought aside and focusing on the current situation at hand.
"Lets go.", Zagan commanded the weeping Theodore.
Theodore immediately wiped his eyes and stood up straight, like nothing had ever happened.
"Yes, your highness."