"Halt!" The city's guards blocked their path as soon as they reached the gate. "What brings you here?" Asked a guard who looked like a cheetah as he rested a hand on his sword.
"We're guests of the Duke of Fire," Bao said, tiredness seeping from his voice. "We have been ambushed by Skywalkers on the way here, explaining our inappropriate clothing."
'Inappropriate is an understatement.' Arthur looked at their guards, servants, and at Bao himself. All of them were covered in either blood or dust. Their carriage was met with an unusual whirlwind that worked to cover its beautiful wood with mud.
"Do you have any documents?" The cheetah-man asked with suspicion and a bit of fear. It seems he didn't dare offend the duke's guests, but he was still diligent enough to check for identification.
Arthur knew that Bao had it since he saw Larza give him a pin with her house's heraldry, a plan intertwined in thorns. However, he knew that something was wrong the moment that Bao's face went pale.
"I've lost it in the ambush." Bao's face looked deathly white, his lips moving in an inaudible voice. "Seek the duke and he'll prove our identity."
"If I seek the duke over every person who claims to be his guests, then might as well get the duke over here to work as a guard." The cheetah-man waved his hand in dismissal. "Please leave."
"We're here for the duke's daughter." Bao hurried to explain, but the cheetah-man summoned the guards over to shoo them away.
"Every man in this nation comes here for the duke's daughter. Without any form of identification or a person to vouch for you, I can't let you in."
As the guards began to surround them to bring them away, Bao seemed defeated and began to shake his head.
'Don't dare give up now, old man. I need to do my part of the plan to meet Solomon.' Arthur gritted his teeth as he stepped forward. He raised his right arm in surrender as he appealed.
"Have you heard of the One-Armed Seika?" Arthur's tone was unhurried and the name brought a pause to the guard's actions. The cheetah-man looked at him and his missing arm in doubt. "You must have heard of why he is coming to Freya."
As he said that, Arthur took out the white leaf from his subspace. The moment the leather bag was gone, the white light of the city's gate and brought a sense of peace to them. Fearing this might not be enough to convince them, Arthur raised Greatest Harmony and a white pillar of light tore through the sky.
"It is truly the One-Armed Seika!"
"Heavens, the bards were right. The duke's daughter shan't live in pain anymore!"
"This power... I feel all my traits merging..."
Whispers spread around them as both travelers and citizens looked on with both awe and fear. Arthur lowered his hand as the light began to retreat toward the leaf. He looked at it with awe as well.
'Such might from a single herb, no wonder it can no longer exist. The amount of Creation Powers it absorbed was nothing to scoff at.' Arthur returned the herb into his bag as Bao hurried and grabbed his wrist.
"What are you doing?" He hissed through clenched teeth. "I told you to not overstep your line. What you just did has confirmed that a human is saving this kingdom." His words made no sense to Arthur but he didn't have the time to answer him.
From behind Bao's aged face, Arthur saw a person walk up to them with an entourage of his own. It was a young man with a handsome face and a horn on each side of his forehead. The horns were white and so was the man's hair.
With scales on his cheeks and fangs that protruded a little from his lips, this man was a demi-human. He exuded an air of authority but also of nobility as he walked toward them.
"Hans, why are you being impolite to our guests from Herav." The man spoke with a thin smile. Arthur wanted to find out which trait of a monster he had, but he looked normal other than the horns and scales on his face, which didn't give out a lot.
"Young Master Neray." Hans knelt on the ground as soon as he saw the young man. "They couldn't produce the necessary identifications to enter the city, thus...."
"That great light wasn't enough for you, Hans?" Young Master Neray smiled in amusement as he looked at Arthur. "There's only known Seika that is known to be loved by living beings."
"You mean the one who is rumored to be..."
"Coming to the rescue of our princess." Neray nodded. His eyes held greed as he looked at Arthur.
Something that he said caught Arthur's attention: Seika that is loved by living beings. Did that mean the other Seika's were different? Did they not empower life, but other things like air and fire?
"I'm sorry for my impudence!" Hans shouted as he turned to Bao. Even now, Arthur wasn't treated as an equal, but as a treasure that was owned.
"I'll take them toward the duke's mansion. Make sure to allow no exit from the city or entrance until the end of the day. We don't want our little Seika to be stabbed in the back." Neray said with a smile.
Arthur felt the chills as Bao went ahead to thank 'Young Master Neray' that was revered by everyone else. The title caught his attention because it meant this guy came from a prominent family in the kingdom. They were allowed entry afterward and Neray allowed them to board his carriage and head toward the duke's mansion.
"Show me the herb," Neray said with a stoic expression, any signs of gentleness washed by a new arriving persona. Arthur furrowed his brows and looked at Bao and saw him sweating. "If you weren't the only one capable of maintaining this herb, I would have killed you."
Arthur heard Neray and turned back to see that the Demi had his long sharp nails on Arthur's neck. Arthur looked at him in the eyes and saw that there was nothing but cruelty in them.
He took out the leaf inside the carriage and Neray looked at it with amazement. His fingers reached out to touch the herb, but the barrier blocked his touch as well.
"Too much Harmony," Neray said with fascination. "If any halfling used this, besides the princess, they would lose their sanity."
"What do you mean?" Arthur felt Bao's body stiffen as he heard Arthur's question. Neray turned to him with a frown but answered nonetheless.
"Your ignorance knows no bounds. The herb you carry is the greatest traits merging agent in the world. Too much of a medicine is poison."
It seems Neray thought that explanation was enough. He turned to the herb again before closing his eyes and ignoring the two. The carriage carried them through the city and Arthur got to know what they meant by the city of love and night.
There were couples of Demis all over the place walking around as the bards sang to their heart content. It was still the early morning but it seemed everyone was returning home. The smell of alcohol and flowery incest filled the streets while lyres were played by wandering musicians.
They reached the Duke's mansion in almost half an hour. Arthur was able to see it from the carriage's window. It wasn't like Larza, isolated from the city, but at its center. The mansion was on the upper of the city, high in the clouds, giant towers surrounding it as gardens ran down the hill.
The stream flew upward in an otherworldly manner as if everything flowed toward the mansion high in the sky. Their carriage didn't stop at the gate and kept going toward the mansion. It stopped in front of the entrance and Neray opened his eyes and left the carriage.
A butler that was a lizardman received them. He made sure to bow toward Neray in respect as the servants hurried to take his luggage.
"Yes, young master. He is waiting for your arrival."
"Very well, tell him I brought a gift along. The One-Armed Seika is with me."
"Do you mean?" The butler's body shook. "That herb truly exists?"
"Go and inform the duke," Neray said curtly. "I'll meet him after I visit the young miss."
This was an unusual behavior even in Arthur's eyes. However, the butler seemed used to it and hurried to inform the duke. As for Neray, he commanded Arthur to follow him. Bao nodded toward Arthur in approval and the latter was soon following Neray.
As he looked at his white hair, Arthur felt a weird sense of familiarity. This man's hair was identical to Rae and Fey and even the Union's Awakeners President. Were they related somehow? Was there something more to this appearance?
Soon, the two reached a garden that had a coldness that pierced the bones. In the middle of it sat the person Arthur had come here to kidnap.