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8. Free City

We have entered the house. Insides of it were furnished with antique wooden furniture and a fireplace. Walls were half a meter thick to help with heat insulation. There were doors into two more rooms and stairs leading upstairs.

For the first, I tried to [Analyze] one of my saviours.

Ding!

Analyze Result

Failure: Target is protected against [Analyze]

The masked person looked at me with an understanding gaze as he took off one of his rings. โ€œOhh, sorry about that. I will let you [Analyze] as a showcase of goodwill.โ€

I analyzed him again. This time it worked, and I could see all of his stats.

Ding!

Analyze Results

General Data:

Name: Gregory Gregorovic

Race: Tainted Human

Class: [Dark Pyromancer]

HP: 1311/1520

MS: 526/1115 (Darkness, Fire)

MP: 1870/2230

Level: 28โ€ƒโ€ƒ

Titles data: [Heretic], [Goblin Slayer]

He was definitely a user of magic with an evil-sounding name.

โ€œWhat is that ring?โ€ I wanted to know.

โ€œStandard [Analyze] obfuscating and blocking ring. It is re...โ€ he was interrupted by one of his colleagues with feminine sounding voice โ€œI think introduction should be done first. I will do it. I am Rosemaryโ€ then she took off her mask, she was a young woman in her mid-twenties with long brown hairs and blue eyes and pointed at a man I spoke before โ€œThis is Gregory and that man over there is Hanzโ€.

Both of them still kept their mask on, and I noticed that there were more of us before.

โ€œWhere is everyone else? And can you take of these shackles? Please.โ€ I tried to sound as innocently as I look like.

A man called Gregory approached me and removed my shackles with a rusty key. Meanwhile, Rosemary answered my question, โ€œOthers already left. It is safer if we are not grouping.โ€

Meantime I peeked out of the window expecting a dirty medieval street, but to my surprise there was a clean street paved with cobblestone. โ€˜I guess magic can make many things much easier. Working as a subsidiary for modern technology.โ€™ People were walking and talking. There was no sign that they knew that someone escaped from prison so close to their homes.

Next, I asked about something I realized โ€œWhat is going on with your names? They sound like from different cultures and countries?โ€

Rosemary widened her eyes in surprise. โ€œDo you even know where you are?... โ€œ she looked at me and continued โ€œ, I guess not. This is the region between three massive empires. Cultures are mixing here. And leaders are often changing. Everyone is claiming this city, so for the sake of peace, they made this city a free neutral city-state. And that is the reason why is there so many forbidden arts users. There is no government to hunt us, only a church. How donโ€™t you know this?โ€

I came with a plausible explanation quickly โ€œI lived most of my life in the forest. I donโ€™t really know about human politics.โ€

It looked like she accepted my explanation as she changed the subject. โ€œYou should get a little bit of sleep. There is a bed upstairs. Tomorrow we will continue with the explanation.โ€

I wasnโ€™t very tired but the promise of a real bed for the first time in a long time convinced me to go sleep anyway.

โ€˜I still donโ€™t trust them fully, but tomorrow I will have my powers back so I will teach them an their last lesson in life if they try somethingโ€™

I climbed narrow stairs and entered the room on the second floor. It was small but a cozy room. There was a bed waiting for me. It wasnโ€™t a luxurious bed but it was clean and looked comfy.

On top of a bed was laying a clean white nightgown.โ€˜In my timeโ€™s people would go mad for this nightgown. They would call it bio, eco or something like thatโ€™ I laughed for myself as

I changed myself and jumped straight into bed. It was warm and soft. These feelings only reminded me of my wolves, causing my muscles to tighten and my teeth to grind.

โ€˜Fuckers, I will murder this stupid churchโ€ฆ But I will gain at least fifteen more levels and then I will pay them a visit.โ€™

Soon I fall asleep still filled with anger.

I woke the next morning. Sun was shining through the small windows facing the backyard. I got up and changed into some clothes they prepared for me. They were travelling clothes from thick cloth and nice black leather boots. I also decided to check the status if my debuff after evolution expired.

Status

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Basic informations:

Name: Tiariel ???

Race: ??? [1]

Age: 19

Class: [Death Elementalist]

Important informations:

HP: 2130/2130

MP: 2750/2750

Level:11 (484/780XP)

SP: 25

CE: 122/10000โ€ƒ

Basic stats:

STR: 205 (S)

MAG: 275 (SSS)

AGI: 214 (S) VIT: 213 (S)

Skills:

[Primordial Magic I], [CE absorption and control], [Chantless casting], [Pyromancy VI], [Telekinesis III], [Omni Translator], [Basic Regeneration IV], [Magic Resistance I], [Sky Foothold I], [Primordial All Elements Affinity], [Hastened MP Regeneration V], [Astrapomancy V], [Item Box I], [Improved Mana Control III], [Pain Resistance I], [Fire Resistance I], [Monster Tamer II], [Enhanced Senses I], [Analize I], [Necromancy I], [Multielemntal], [??? Astral Eyes], [??? Astral Claws]

Titles: [Transmigrator], [Pack Leader], [Blessed by ???], [???], [???], [Spell Tinkerer]

โ€˜Nice, it looks like my powers are back. So I will be able to destroy these so-called dark art users if they try to betray me.โ€™

Then I went downstairs, where Rosemary was sitting behind a table.

She looked at me and said, โ€œGood morning. These clothes looked on you much better than these tattered weird clothes you had on before. Sit down and have breakfast with me.โ€

Seeing no reason to refuse, I sat on the free chair and looked at my breakfast. It was cooked egg, bread with butter and milk as a drink. Perfectly ordinary dish, but for me, who spent a long time on a run and then in the forest, it was a pleasant surprise. So I started to munch on it. I looked hungry, so Rosemary let me eat in quiet.

When I finished, I asked a crucial question โ€œRosemary, how will I gain levels when I am in the city?โ€

โ€œYes, you will need plenty of levels to overtake this city. Luckily there is a dungeon nearby. And by the way, you can call me Rose.โ€

โ€˜Ohh, dungeon. It should be faster to grind some levels there than it was in the forestโ€ฆ Wait. What does she mean by overtaking a city?โ€™ so I asked about it.

Her eyes widened, and her voice became excited. โ€œI would get there later, but I will tell it to you now. Our long-term goal is to overtake this whole city with your power and turn it into the centre of all dark arts on this continentโ€.

โ€˜Are they trying to lure me with promises and then trap me like in my past life?... Maybe, however, this time, I will be one making use of others. Yes, I will let them think that they tricked meโ€ฆ No, I am probably just paranoid.โ€™

Not showing my paranoid thoughts outside, I just smiled and said, โ€œI wish to go to that dungeon as soon as possible. But donโ€™t I need something like an adventurer card or something similar?โ€

โ€œNo, you can go without a card. They will just take a bigger fee from your earnings, and that is not something you care about. I guess.โ€ then she stood up and took the ring out of her pocket before continuing, โ€œWe can go right now, but take this status obfuscating ring at first.โ€

Just in case, I analyzed the plain-looking ring in her palm.

Ding!

Analyze Result

Item Name: [Concealment Ring]

Durability: 98/100

Item Type: Enhancing Ring

Enchant Affinity: Darkness/Shadow

Item effects:

Gives wearer passive skill [Fake Status III]

Gives wearer passive skill [Fake Face III]

It looked safe to me, so I put it on before walking towards the back door to leave. Only to be stopped by Rose, โ€œWhere are you going?โ€.

โ€˜So now is the time when she will reveal her treacheryโ€™, I assumed, my face already frowning.

โ€œWe will leave through the front door like normal people. Sneaking around would be only more suspiciousโ€ Rose broke my expectations.

So we walked through the front door directly to the street. The street was bustling with people in clothes like from the historical movies. Soon we left a side street and entered the main road. Air was filled with the smell of cooking meat from stands surrounding the street. My heart started to beat faster when three soldiers in chainmail and green capes walked close to me.

โ€œThese are not from a church. The local lord employs them. There is almost no chance of them recognising you with that ring, so donโ€™t panic.โ€ whispered Rose to my ear, tingling my cheek with her breath. We followed the main street and soon arrived at the city gate. Citys outer walls were ten meters tall. Rose told me that they were mostly to protect against a monster as a pact declaring this city a neutral ground forbid the creation of magically enhanced walls. And without such protection, these walls would quickly fall to siege wizards. We joined lines of people wanting to exit a city. It was a smaller side gate, so most of the people leaving were either farmers going to work on fields behind the walls or adventurers.

I started to get nervous as our turn to be checked came closer.

โ€œCalm down. They will not recognize you. There is plenty of people leaving. They have only a few seconds for each of them. And even if they do, I will quickly kill them and ran to side streets where I will lose them,โ€ I muttered to myself.

Soon our turn came. Guard looked at me for few moments and asked with a bored voice, โ€œDo you have any taxable goods with you?โ€

Rose answered for both of us, โ€œNo, we are just going to the dungeon.โ€

Guard didnโ€™t spare even a second to think about her answer before waving us to continue. We passed under the stone-arch of a gate and left a city premise. Outside of a city was surrounded by fields with golden wheat. And in the distance, was few buildings and a small wall marking the entrance into the dungeon.