"Stop right there, criminals!"
The voice came from a group of five people, among whom was a cultivator at the elementary stage. They were city guards who had been alerted by the noise from Adam's fight.
Adam frowned. Who were the real criminals here?
"I think you're mistaken; they were the ones who attacked us," he replied.
"We can't know that for sure. For now, we must arrest you and take you to the dungeon until we conduct the necessary investigations," said the cultivator, leaving no room for negotiation.
Selene didn't want to attract more attention, as people were beginning to gather around after hearing the commotion. She thought of a way to take advantage of the situation to obtain information without standing out too much.
Thus, she sent a voice transmission along with a bit of her pressure to the cultivator leading the group.
"Take me to the lord of the city, or I will reduce this city to ashes."
Feeling the overwhelming pressure fall upon him, the cultivator nearly wet his pants. Fortunately, he only felt it for an instant… What kind of monster had he offended?
"W-well, it seems you understand, so let's head to the d-dungeons..."
"I told you n—"
Just as Adam was about to refuse, he received another transmission from Selene explaining the situation.
"Argh, fine, but you'll see we're not the guilty ones," Adam pretended.
The guards placed ordinary handcuffs on them, believing they were normal people, as the cultivator leading them had ordered.
As they were escorted, they reached an intersection where the cultivator took a different path than usual.
"Commander, this isn't the—"
"Shut up! I know exactly what I'm doing," the commander responded, releasing his cultivation pressure, quickly silencing his subordinates and ordering them to remove the handcuffs.
They soon arrived at the city lord's mansion. Although it was a border city with fewer resources, the residence couldn't compare to the Blackthorne family's mansion near the royal capital.
The commander climbed the stairs leading to the main door, being recognized by the guards stationed there.
"We have some guests who wish to see the lord."
The guards nodded, trusting his word, and one of them went to inform the city lord.
Minutes passed, feeling like an eternity for the commander, until the guard returned.
"The city lord is expecting you."
The commander quickly took his leave and ran off to prepare in case he needed to flee the city. If anything happened to the lord, all the blame would fall on him—but that was better than being killed by that monster.
Adam and Selene were escorted to a kind of meeting room, where a short man in his forties was waiting. His most striking feature was a well-groomed beard that, along with his formal attire, gave him the appearance of a merchant.
"Are you the lord of the city?" Selene asked bluntly.
"That is what I'm known as. Do I have any pending business with you?" he asked seriously. He wasn't a fool. Two strangers had entered his city in the midst of a gang crisis. They could be assassins sent to eliminate him and take control, so he remained on guard and prepared to defend himself.
"We want to make a deal."
"Speak, I'm listening," he said, frowning.
"We've seen the problem you have with gangs in this city, so I will solve it in exchange for information."
"What kind of information do you need?" he asked curiously. Nothing in this world was free.
"General information about the empire," Selene replied without giving further details.
"Do you have any idea what you're up against? The city has been raided for months by the Blood Tiger Gang. Even their leader is a cultivator at the peak of the profound stage."
"Don't worry, we have our methods. Now, answer some of my questions."
"First of all, why hasn't the emperor sent help yet?"
"The emperor has been practically missing for six years... since that happened to the second princess," he said bitterly.
Adam frowned upon hearing that something had happened to Althea. Although he had wanted to forget everything from those years, he still remembered Althea and how she had helped him despite his crippled state. One could say she had saved his life, and without her help, he would never have met Selene.
Selene knew what had happened between them, so she was also curious.
"What happened to the second princess?"
"She was cursed by her own physique," he revealed, shocking them.
"How is that possible? What kind of physique did the princess have?" Selene asked. Adam had never mentioned that she had a special physique, and she had never been interested in mortal matters.
"The Physique of Ten Thousand Curses. It is said that all bearers of this physique die before the age of 18 due to incurable diseases. The emperor has been searching for a way to prevent this since Althea was born, and once she fell ill at ten years old, he disappeared from the public eye to focus on saving her life."
Adam couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had probably known from a young age that she would die young. She had the talent to be practically invincible in this plane, but that opportunity had been taken from her since birth. It was a cruel joke of fate.
As he was lost in thought, an idea occurred to him. Couldn't Selene help her escape her fate, just as she was doing with him? At the very least, they could try.
Selene, for her part, was deep in thought. The name of that physique sounded familiar, but she didn't know from where.
The city lord noticed they were no longer speaking and took the initiative.
"That's all the information I'll give you for now. Once you get rid of the gang members, I'll tell you everything you need," he said, not trusting that they could complete the task.
"Alright, we'll be back in a few minutes," Selene said without wasting time.
"Don't underestimate them. They have several cultivators at the elemental stage, besides their leader. I don't know how strong you are, but don't be overconfident."
Selene nodded and left with Adam without another word.