[Chapter 198] Chaos

My escort stares dumbfounded at his friend who is now laying face first on the ground, his body stiff. He hurriedly nods and turns away from the current situation his friend is in. The 4 brown clothed-guards behind him split apart making way for the guide as he begins to walk towards a group of bushes.

I silently follow as I glance at the guards, a slight feeling of laughter inside me. 'They left me with guards of the lowest rung, how weak do they think I am?'

But I say nothing as I walk behind the small guard in front of me. We enter the group of bushes and behind the group of greenery he suddenly stops walking. I stop moving as I stand behind him and a second later, I see him pull out a ring from his pocket. He slowly slides it on as a green light pulses from within the ring's gem. Formations glow around us as I suddenly feel the ground shift beneath me.

I pause for a second as I wait, only to watch the grass begin to rise...wait. I look down and see the patch of grass that we were standing on moments ago separated from the ground above us. I feel wind whip through my hair as we drop down deeper into the world. I see the guards with flat expressions painted on their faces, but I can see they are slightly nervous from some twitching hands and cold sweat.

I wave it off as I look at each rune, my yearning to learn how to create magic enchantments quickly growing. I patiently wait as we fall, the light from the top slowly fading out of sight. We stand in darkness for a few moments, the only sound echoing around us being our breathing and the wind whipping around us.

Suddenly, a bright light burns my eyes, causing me to hurriedly hold up my hands. But my eyes quickly adapt as my shock turns into awe. Before me stands an entire city, bustling with life. Crystals of all colors and shapes grow from the ceiling as they illuminate this hidden world.

I gaze in awe as I take in the sights, seeing hundreds of people bustling back and fourth, entering different buildings and modified stalactites as if it is their everyday routine. Kids run in the streets as they weave between stalls and stores. But the most eye attracting sight is the massive stalactite in the middle of the cavern. As I look at it even closer, it hits me.

'That must be the castle!'

As we reach the bottom, the guard looks at me, "You are to stick with me at all times, please follow me to your quarters at the tavern."

I nod just as we hit the ground with a thud, similar green glyphs pulsing with life around the dirt pad. The guard calmly steps off and waves for me to follow, which I promptly do. As we walk through the streets, people stare at me, as kids point, clearly amazed by my unique attire. The escort of guards doesn't help either.

After walking for about 30 minutes, we come across a tavern, a golden sign hanging outside of the establishment.

'Gream's Tipping Delight! Sounds interesting.' I admit as we enter. Inside are a massive variety of people, but all with similar clothing, simple clothing. As the guards enter, the tavern quiets down as people inside begin to stare at the guards with a stink eye.

But the guiding guard ignores each eye as he walks straight up to the counter, "I would like to rent a room under the name of the Queen's Royal Guard."

The tavern which was already quiet falls so silent a pin drop could be heard falling. Moments later, the tavern erupts in a frenzy at the realization of what has been said. To already be guarded by 5 guards was eye catching enough, if we aren't mentioning his odd attire, he must be a big shot.

I look around in shock at everyone's reaction, confused by what is going on, 'Is this chick really that popular? What is going on?!'

The people, a majority drunk, begin to throw things into the air as they begin to move tables around, as if children playing a massive game.

The tavern keep can tell if he doesn't handle the situation soon, his tavern won't be standing with the amount of excitement flowing in the air.

He nods and immediately fills out what looks like a piece of paper. Seconds later, he drops the pen and asks, "How many beds?"

"2 please." Asks the guard calmly as chaos reigns around him. A bottle of beer flies over my head as tables begin to be awkwardly stacked, as if thrown into a massive burn pile. The chairs look even more horrifying as they are stacked on top of one another, and are leaning!

The bar keeper hurriedly tosses us keys as he points at the stairs, "Please go upstairs for a moment, I gotta deal with thi-Hey! Get down from there!" He cuts himself off as he yells at a slim drunk man, a foot long beard hanging down from his head. The man is currently climbing on the leaning chairs while a group of drunks who can barely stand on their feet try to prepare themselves if he falls.

The guard calmly leaves the situation be as we walk up the set of steps to see a maid leaving the room that we now are supposedly residing in. The guard opens the door as I hear a loud crashing noise down the steps.

'What the hell are they doing down there?!" I ask myself as I follow behind the guard. He closes the door behind us and locks it, leaving the 4 guards outside to fend for themselves against the drunk mob of people. Immediately look around and see a bathroom, hurriedly running in and shutting the door behind me.

'I need a shower!'