57

The group of refugees continued their journey towards the capital with relative ease. The black skeleton took care of any problems that came up along the way. He took care of bandits and wild beasts. He hunted and secured the nights. He was not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He did this to secure passage into a larger city. A larger human population meant a better hunting ground for the skeleton. He understood that to avoid any suspicions, it would be better if he went to the new area with a group of actual humans.

He made sure to avoid all suspicions. Along the way, he learned how to interact with humans and he was soon very good at it. He even became a kind of leader for the group of refugees. They all pitied him after he told them about his made-up background. He claimed to have lost his wife in the burning of the town. He attributed his survival to his daughter, the young girl whose parents he had killed. He claimed that when the attack happened, he had taken his daughter out of the town to teach her how to hunt.

Everything went smoothly after getting the people's sympathy. Even when he did things that were very telling of hi luck of humanity, the humans explained it as the actions of a grieving man.

The Black Skeleton was happy with this development and used it to his advantage. The refugees took a whole month to reach the capital.

Outside the city gates, they were welcomed by the internal minister who put on a show about pitying the downtrodden commoners.

The refugees were recorded and given a little money to start over their lives in the capital. They numbered less than one hundred so it was not difficult for the large capital to absorb them. Many of them would become beggars and criminals in the city but this was a minor issue not worth mentioning. In the capital, tens of criminals were arrested and put to death every day. It was more than likely that the refugees would all be dead in a matter of weeks. The internal minister handed out food, clothes and a few other necessities before telling the guards to allow the people into the city. To make sure that the problem was properly covered up, the minister ordered the guards to split up the people into groups of three and drop them off at different parts of the city.

The guards tried to split up the black skeleton and the young girl but when he had a bit of power and it became clear that separating him from the girl would be almost impossible, the guards gave up on this and allowed them to enter the city together. Another woman was put in the same group as the Zian Yi.

It was the young woman who had asked for the black skeleton's name at the start of their journey. She was pretty enough to attract attention from the people.

Zian Yi, the young girl whom the black skeleton had named Zian Rou and the pretty woman whose name was Ting Huan were led by a tall guard into the city. He led them through many turns and alleys trying to confuse them. The three followed him without any complaint. After about thirty minutes of this, the guard stopped in an isolated alley and turned around to face the three.

"This is where I leave you." he said before walking away. Zian Yi and the pretty woman, Ting Huan were not surprised by this.

As for the young girl, Zian Rou, she had long ago lost her mind. She had not spoken at all along the journey. It seemed that the black skeleton's torment and all the suffering had finally gotten to her.

She did not care about anything and this had worried many people during the journey.

Zian Yi, the black skeleton bowed towards the lady and gave his goodbyes. It was time to go their separate ways.

"I am going with you," she said.

Zian Yi was confused. How was this woman his responsibility?

She looked at him and he looked back at her.

"How do you plan on taking care of your daughter as a man?" she asked.

Zian Yi still did not feel that this was a good enough reason for him to take her along.

She was not like the young girl, She would ask too many questions and if he was not careful, she could ruin this new hunting ground for him by exposing him as an undead.

Taking her along would create more problems than she was worth.

Zian Yi was about to turn around and leave when she said something that got his attention.

"I do not know what secret you are keeping but having me around would make people stop questioning you so much ." she said.

Zian Yi looked at her with a shocked expression. This was just the effect of the disguise skill.

He thought through her offer and found that her thinking was very correct. Along the journey, he had explained himself to other people so much that he was tired of it all. If he had a human to hide his flaws, things would appear to be much more normal.

He looked at her and wondered if she fit the bill.

He knew that she also had her own secrets but he did not care about them since he did not think that her secret could possibly be bigger than his own.

"Fine, you can come with me, but you will have to obey some simple rules. You must never investigate anything about me or question my actions. I will introduce you as my wife and you will take care of my daughter ." he said.

She was surprised by his words but she went along with them. He was indeed right. She had a secret of her own and was looking for a way to hide in human society without being found out.