Winged city

Sentro, a region located to the north of Darknar, was ruled by one of the Great Five Families and directly neighbored Darknar. Parts of this incredibly large region included Vazel, a small region formerly under the Darknar Region but now conquered and serving as the bridge between the Darknar Region and the other regions belonging to the Zorak Family.

The borders of the expanded Sentro Region and Darknar Region housed one of the largest cities in the demon continent: Winged City. The city had almost fallen into ruins a few years after the death of the Demon King but rapidly became more popular the moment it came under the protection of one of the Five Great Families. The city had a population of over 7.5 million permanent residents.

Although the other four families' regions also bordered the Darknar Region, they did not have easy access to it like the Zorak Family did. Their routes were either obstructed by mountains, large rivers, or the very dangerous Darknar Forest, which had no safe routes. This sparked a thread of jealousy within the other four families.

They had all fought hard to obtain the region, and due to the home-ground advantage and range of deployment, the Zorak Family had secured the region, absorbing it into the Sentro Region. Still, the others had pressured the Zorak Family into opening the city for all their families' use. It was a way to keep an eye on them, preventing the Zorak Family from making any use of their advantage. This was also why the population of the city was so large.

With the help of the Zorak Family and the acknowledgment of the other four families, the city had secure trade routes to every other major trade hub in the demon continent. Even so, entrance to the Darknar Region was strictly forbidden. Anyone found guilty of this would be immediately stripped of their titles or may even lose their lives.

••••••••••

Two figures could be seen running toward the gates of the city, where there was a long line of people of various races waiting to enter for various reasons, including trading, joining the Hunter Guilds (where one could get jobs hunting monsters), and even odd jobs like mining—though sometimes they could be asked to clear out monsters in a newly discovered mine.

This was basically the same as being an adventurer in the human continent. The concept had been adopted from the humans a thousand years ago when the fighting force of the demons was reduced because of the war.

The guards inspecting the identifications of everyone seeking entrance to the city spotted these figures in the distance and immediately yelled for backup. His team came out and held their weapons, prepared for a fight. A few moments later, they saw the faces of these figures and instantly recognized them. They had dark orange skin tones and one or two small horns on their foreheads, respectively.

They ran frantically toward the gate. Because of this, the guards were now on high alert. Even though they recognized who it was, they still had no idea who or what was chasing them. Seeing the two brothers draw closer and closer to the gate, the guards were now visibly confused. As far as they could see, there was nothing behind them chasing after them. The sentries in the watchtowers hadn't sounded the alarm yet, which meant they also hadn't noticed anything.

They decided to wait for the duo to explain themselves. It didn't take too long for them to arrive in front of the gate. The people in line couldn't help but stare at them with different expressions. One of the guards walked over to them as he looked at their exhausted faces. They were panting like crazy, unable to speak.

"Calm down, you two. What's the rush?" Their faces were pale, and they were panting heavily, struggling to speak. They opened and closed their mouths several times as they gasped for air. After catching their breaths for a minute, they both stood up straight. "We need to see Lord Aur," they both said in unison.

"Huh… why? Did something happen out there?"

"Boss said to report to him directly."

"Boss? Oh, Lord Zomatsu. Alright, follow me."

He led them through the gates, and everyone in line voiced their strong opinions about that. The guards just ignored them and led the brothers into the city.

"So, how's that fool Hatch?"

"Oh, he's, well, you know Hatch."

"Fufufu… yeah, same old Hatch. By the way, why were you both running like you were being chased by a wild beast?"

They both looked at each other and scratched their heads. "Well, B-boss said to hurry." They avoided the guard's question, almost like they were embarrassed about something.

The guard noticed they were hiding something, but it wasn't his problem, so he just ignored it and led them through the city.

The city was large, and the air was oddly clean. Even with the large population, there was enough space on the streets for them to easily move through. They boarded a private carriage and made their way to the center of the city, where a small castle was located.

The city streets were bustling with traffic. There were other private carriages going up and down the streets, demons and other races strolled on the sidewalks as they went about their business, and stores and stalls sold their wares.

The streets were paved, as were the sidewalks. There were magic lamps on every street to light up the night. Most of the people they saw wore casual clothing, with only a few in armor. The city was divided into five sections or boroughs: Royal Borough, located in the center of the city; North Borough to the north; South, East, and West Boroughs to their respective locations. The city gate was located in the West Borough, so this was a relatively high-class borough.

There were rich merchants and high-ranking hunters living here. Looking out the windows, one could see several high-class restaurants and hotels with buildings over 10 levels high. They could also see guards clad in full plate armor patrolling the streets.

The carriage ride lasted a full 45 minutes before it stopped at the gate of the castle. The castle was located at the top of a hill, and there weren't any other buildings within a few meters of it. There were two guards clad in full plate armor holding silver spears standing by at the gate. When they saw the brothers and the guard exit the carriage, one of them left to inform the master of the castle. The guard boarded the carriage back to his post after informing the remaining guard of what had happened.

Bam and Bor waited patiently for the first guard to return. They had been tasked with reporting the situation in the Darknar Forest to Lord Aur. He was a high-ranking noble of the Zorak Family and was in charge of supervising everything going on in both Winged City and Darknar, reporting directly to the elders in the family.

The guard returned after some time and led them into the castle and up the stairs to a large door. This was Lord Aur's office. The guard left as soon as they arrived. Bam then walked forward and knocked twice. A deep and crisp voice came from within. "Enter."

The brothers gulped their dry mouths and took a deep breath. They opened the door slightly and walked in. Behind a large and exquisite desk was an elderly man who seemed to be in his forties (human age). He had a chiseled face, and his back was as straight as the blade of a sword. His hair was completely gray, and his face was cleanly shaven. He had deep blue eyes and wore an elegant black suit with a similar coat.

The moment the brothers walked inside the room, Aur put his quill down and looked at them. His gaze was sharp and penetrating. The brothers started sweating buckets. "Why are you here?"

"We… Hmmm… Er… T-The boss…"

"Be fast. I don't have all day."

"Ah… Yes, sir. The boss wanted us to update you on what happened around the castle two days ago."

"Something happened? Well, go on then."

They proceeded to narrate the entire story of what had happened in the forest, the strange and terrifying aura they felt, and what their boss, Zomatsu, had told them about the situation.

"Zomatsu said that, huh? I see…" He stood up from his chair and walked to the open window behind him. He stood there silently for quite a while as he thought. It seems one of the other families is reaching their limits, but to make a basic mistake like running into a Lord-class monster makes me have some doubts about this theory. Could it be a trap? A way to lure the others into making an abrupt move? In the demon continent, most nobles didn't classify monsters with tiers; rather, they used their own class-based ranking system: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Lord Level.

With Basic being Tier 1 and 2, Intermediate being Tier 3, Advanced equaling Tier 4 and 5, and Lord Class being Tier 6. Monsters of higher tiers were almost non-existent, so it wasn't practical to provide an accurate class system for them. Aur turned around and looked at the two brothers. "Return and tell Zomatsu to head here immediately."

The brothers promptly retreated out of the room, their hearts pounding as the previous pressure slowly faded away. They left the castle and took the same path back down the hill. They wouldn't be able to get a private carriage until they got back to a public street.

They boarded another private carriage out of Royal Borough all the way back to the gate. They were more terrified of Lord Aur than they were of their boss, Zomatsu. This wasn't just because of the difference in ranks but because of the immense difference in strength. As they alighted their carriage in front of the city's gates, they were immediately stunned by what they saw.

"Boss!!"

They both yelled in perfect unison. Directly in front of them was the cloaked figure of their boss, Zomatsu. He had sent them here to report the situation in the Darknar Forest, mainly because he was in charge of the team's operations there. The Five Families didn't just occupy more than 50 percent of the Darknar Forest for no reason. Most people thought it was just for the secret treasure in the Demon King's Castle, but it was mostly for the resources located inside the forest. The amount of rare and unique resources inside the forest was just too valuable to the families, which was why they had fallen into such a stalemate.

"Boss, why are you here? Lord Aur actually asked us to inform you of something," Bam said hurriedly.

"Yeah, he wants you to visit him as soon as possible," Bor completed.

They couldn't see Zomatsu's full face, but they could notice that his skin was a lot paler than before. He was sweating a lot and looked a little jumpy. This was completely in contrast to his previous calm and calculating self.

Zomatsu looked at the pair and finally realized where he was. He had finally made it. After losing consciousness a few meters away from the forest, he had woken up in a panic. His emotions were out of control, and he had run here frantically all day without even bothering to check on the rest of his team—or maybe he was too out of it to remember them. He tried his best to compose himself but failed miserably.

It wasn't too difficult for him to understand what had happened to him. The only problem was the fact that he had no control of his emotions right now.

"Where is Lord Aur? I need to see him."

"Huh… we just told you. He also wants to see you. He's in the castle."

"Oh, um… you guys wait here. I'll be back soon." He then boarded the private carriage that they had just alighted from and headed for the castle. Bam and Bor were more than confused. They didn't understand why their boss had suddenly arrived here after sending them down or why he looked like he had just lived through his worst nightmare.