"Oh, greetings Raj, I didn't see you there," Vyaghra said. "How are you doing?"
"Can you even see anything when you're in the presence of your queen," I sighed inwardly before replying, "Hey buddy! Mind explaining what's going on?"
He looked toward Ume, his eyes asking for her permission to speak.
"There is no need to hide it from him," Ume replied.
As soon as Vyaghra got the permission, he countered with a question of his own, "Have you noticed anything peculiar about this city?"
It took me a couple of seconds to gather what I had observed about the city over the past few days.
"Apart from the overly peaceful environment, I've noticed there aren't that many citizens here despite how large the city actually is. Most of the people seem to be either travelers or the rich ones flaunting their wealth. And now that you brought it up, I also observed that there isn't a single beggar on the streets."
"Your observations are on the spot, Raj," Vyaghra replied. "When one reaches divinity and enters the realm of gods, their ability to sense life and death energy is significantly enhanced. Although we've grown weaker, we can still somewhat feel it—and the moment we entered the city, the death energy I, Jambavan, and Her Majesty sensed here was staggering beyond reason."
"The reason you went separate ways at the gate was because of this?" I asked.
"Precisely. We didn't want the guards to get suspicious of us, so we played the act of leaving the group."
"So have you found why the death energy is so high here?"
"Shouldn't you already guess it? There's a reason why I asked you that question."
"Don't tell me..." I gasped.
"We cannot jump to conclusions since I haven't entered the location yet."
"Now that I've answered your question, I shall be on my way," he stated.
"Wait... wait... wait," I exclaimed, throwing my arm over his shoulder. "There must be very strong enemies at a place like that, right?"
"There should be."
"That's it! Ume, I can't let my friend enter a dangerous place alone. I must go with him to eradicate these evils," I announced.
"Can you be any more obvious?" Ume nagged, pulling my ear softly. "You just want to go there to fight, right?"
"Hehe, you got me."
"You may go, but keep this in mind," she ordered, tightening her grip on my ear, "you shouldn't do anything reckless there."
"I know, I know. I'm not a kid," I insisted. "Why are ladies so obsessed with pulling my ears?"
She let go of my ear and murmured, "Be careful."
"Don't worry, I will," I replied, patting her head.
Vyaghra, who was silently watching the two of us, finally spoke up as we bid our farewell,
"Your Majesty, it will be difficult to leave that place once entered, so I won't be able to provide you regular updates."
Ume replied, touching the shoulders of both of us, "Very well. I shall take care of everything here in the meantime."
Vyaghra grabbed my wrist, and the two of us vanished into the shadow of the table.
My vision blackened, and all of my senses turned dull, as if I had been sent into the void of nothingness. After a moment, a hand suddenly pulled me out, and I found myself lying on the ground in some back alley of the city.
"Wh-what the hell was that!" I gasped as my senses returned.
"It's called the Senseless Dimension," Vyaghra replied, dyeing his golden hair black.
"Senseless Dimension?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet.
"Yes. It's the place where I trained myself to improve my hunting skills."
"What kind of freak would train in a place like that!?" I murmured before realizing, "Oh, I forgot. He is a freak!"
"What are you mumbling? Change your clothes and put some dirt on your face," he ordered, changing into the ragged clothes of a beggar.
"Why do we need to do that?"
"Because they only target the poor and beggars."
"But won't they get suspicious if two beggars suddenly appear out of nowhere in the city?"
"You need not worry. Her Majesty has cast a hallucination spell on our bodies. Whenever someone sees us, they'll think of us as two drunkards who just lost all their wealth in gambling."
She must have done it when she tapped our shoulders just before we were about to leave.
"It's scary—I didn't even notice her doing it!" I shivered, rubbing my biceps.
I took out the mask that Nymeria had given me and murmured as I put it on my face, "I never thought I'd be needing it so soon."
Ding...
"Face Changing Mask detected!
What appearance would you like the Face Changing Mask to take?"
"Keep my face as is. I need my hair and eyes to be crimson, and erase the secondary pupil and the mark on my forehead."
"Changes on the mask have been applied!
Would you like to confirm it?
[Yes] [No]
Note: Once decided, the appearance cannot be changed again!
The moment I pressed the confirm button, my eyes and hair turned crimson, and the mark on my forehead vanished.
"Raj, I told you to look like a beggar," Vyaghra sighed. "You look even more noble than the nobles now."
"Hehe, don't worry, Vyaghra—just wait a moment!"
I put the ribbon Nymeria used to tie my hair, along with the clothes I was wearing, into the inventory and changed into the night clothes provided by the inn.
Then I grabbed some mud from the corner of the alley and smeared it onto my hair and body, making myself look even worse than Vyaghra.
"Aren't you going a bit overboard?" Vyaghra murmured, looking at me with disgust.
"I, Raj, when I decide to do something, I do it with nothing less than absolute mastery," I announced before splashing another handful of mud onto my back.
Vyaghra sighed, giving up, and threw a bottle of wine toward me.
"Have you ever acted as a drunkard before?" he asked.
"I haven't, but I've seen my fair share of drunkards where I come from," I declared with a proud smug.
"I don't think that's something you need to be proud of," he huffed.
As we were preparing, a loud, firm voice came from the front, "What are you two doing here?"
Three guards emerged from the corner of the alley and came toward us with creepy smiles on their faces, as if they had hit a jackpot.
But there was one person whose smile had outcrept theirs in the contest of creepiness. And yeah, that someone was yours truly.
"Vyaghra, let's begin the show!" I drawled, radiating at them with an uncontrolled grin.
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