The Rise of Queen Lilith vol.1

Chapter 21: Ulria (Journey VII)

The soldiers rode faster as soon as they saw the aftermath of the battle that took place. After a moment they arrived. The 5 soldiers dismounted their horses and walked up to Helen, Nila and Anja. 2 of them examined the bandits while the others talked to the family. As soon as Helen saw her dead daughter she let out an agonizing cry and, despite her pain, threw herself on Kara's lifeless body. The soldiers tried everything to plug her away from her daughters body, seeing as it didn't work they started to console her. Nila just stood there again. I guessed that she was in shock, not really realizing what happened. Anja just cried on and on and, after some time, her mother let go of Kara's body to comfort Anja.

*She's really strong despite Kara's death...the question remains...can I just join them? If these soldiers try to unmask me I am dead...I could maybe kill one of them with my remaining Mana, but then it would be me against the 4 others. One of them looks a little bit stronger and he orders the others around, so he could be the captain...*

Pondering around like this wouldn't help, so I decided to rush back to the carriage, get my belongings and then leave this place.

While getting my stuff and continuing my journey, I thought about the near future.

*My provisions are dangerously low, so it would be good to buy some new...but without money? This is the one thing I forgot to take with me...shit...getting into Ulria shouldn't be a problem, I could just sneak in with my 'Shadowcloak'...but money....every city should have a district for the poor, crime there could be really high...stealing from criminals sounds good to me, but if I have to, I will just steal from someone that is near me...I hope Helen and her family get safely to Ulria, but please God of Luck, don't let me meet them again...*

1 day later...

I stood on a small hill a little away from the small city of Ulria. While standing there I examined it closer.

The walls weren't particularly high and I would be able to scale them in a short amount of time. All around the city lay huge fields with various crops and even a mill. The city seemed to be split in 3 parts, one was filled with beautiful houses and shops. The part right before the main gate was denser populated and the houses there weren't as beautiful, but it still looked like the inhabitants were far better of than the people in the third district. This district was made up of small shacks one near the other, the streets looked rather thin and I would bet living in there would mean you would never really see the sun. Only two buildings in there were larger and a little nicer looking. The first one was looking like the churches I saw in some history books. The second one was a little higher, maybe having multiple floors, I couldn't guess what it was, but I decided that I would investigate it because maybe it was the house of a locale crime boss and these always had useful information.

*Living in this place must be like hell...*

I waited for the night to set in and commenced my plan of sneaking over the walls. There were guards patrolling up on the walls, their torches could be seen with a few meters in between. Sometimes the torches moved meaning the time I had wasn't unlimited.

I cloaked myself in the shadows and moved towards one segment of the wall that lay near the district of the main gate. Cloaking Fenrir was harder than myself, but I wouldn't go anywhere without him. When we reached the wall I gathered Mana in my feet and bent down and snapping upwards like a spring. This time I controlled the force I used, so I wouldn't be to high. Fenrir clawed his way up, making some sounds of the stone cracking from his force, but none of the guards heard it.

*Could it be that the shadows even numb noises?*

Sadly the effects of the Shadowcloak weren't accurately described in my Grimoire, so I would need to explore them on my own.

The guard that previously stood there turned around, returning to his post.

*Well...lets hurry up...*

Fenrir and I jumped onto a roof next to the wall, then jumping to the next and continuing our way until we were low enough to jump onto the street, then dissolving mine and Fenrir's cloak.

*Now I need money and a place to sleep...*

I decided to force someone into giving me the money. It wouldn't be nice but right now I needed to do it.

I found a rather wealthy citizen and forced him into a small alley while not letting him see my face. As soon as we reached a place that couldn't be seen easily, I knocked him out, took all money he had and ran away.

*2 Silver and 45 bronze coins...I hope that this is enough for food and a place to sleep...*

The currency in this world was equilized. It was made up of bronze, silver, gold and malachite coins. 1 silver coin was worth 100 bronze, 1 gold 100 silver and 1 malachite coin 10 gold. So with this money, I could buy a room and something to eat.

I went to search for some sort of tavern or inn. After around half an hour we found a rather plain looking tavern. There weren't many patrons on the outside, so there was a chance that I wouldn't be in too much trouble, because not many people would see me and Fenrir.

*I could cloak him, but I don't know how bright lights react to the Shadowcloak...*

I took a deep breath and entered the tavern. As expected, not many guests were in there, and behind the counter stood an older looking man around his 40s. The room was illuminated by 'Magic Torches', these were some sort of lamps, that, if refilled every month, could give of light with configurable brightness. It was a commodity invented 42 years ago by some high priest of the Claudius church. At least that is what the merchant told me once. There were tables all around the room, and stairs leading upwards to, what I thought, the guest's rooms.

As I neared the counter, the tavern keeper eyed me and Fenrir suspiciously, but he remembered the saying "The client is king" and put up a friendly face.

"Welcome to the 'Three Daughters', how can I help you?"