From the vicinity of the Elefas mountain range, Esperanza led the group towards the south and a bit westwards as they followed one of the rivers that flowed down from the mountain range. The river had crystal clear water that was so clean they could look straight to the bottom of it since it was primarily pure water from the molten glaciers at the mountaintops mixed with some springs found on the mountain.

The lack of human habitation along the main body of the river likely helped keep it clean as well, and when she considered that there was a major city downstream of the river, it made sense why things were kept that way. People in the city likely forbid others from settling down upstream of them because they did not wish for their water source to be polluted.

From where the river flowed at the foot of one of the mountains in the range, it took the group three days of travel – a distance that would have taken a carriage at least a week and a half to two weeks to cover – before they saw the city of Clearridge in the distance. Since it was already late at night by then, the group chose to camp in the wilderness some distance away from the city, at least far enough away to be unnoticed, since most of the group would hide there and wait for the others who would go into the city proper.

This time, everyone who could pass as a human would do so. Esperanza herself would go along as well, combining her shapeshifting with an effect from her newly evolved [Veil of Entropy]. When she used the skill lightly, she realized that it had an effect that was less hiding the people under its effects, but made them less noticeable regardless. If she kept the effect just to herself, it should help her avoid attracting unwanted attention.

Esperanza would go into the city with Murad, Mora, Tiara, as well as Iryl. The group kept to the same cover story as what they used in the previous towns and villages, just in case they ran into someone that recognized them. Kurt, Leo, and Resitia would join them in the city after several hours, entering from a different direction.

They would pretend to be acquaintances when they met in the city itself, as the more experienced spies had also established that bit to their cover story in the past. Esperanza liked how they covered all their bases, and did not neglect even the minor things that might have poked holes in their cover story. It showed a good sense of professionalism to their actions.

Clearridge itself was built behind a ridge that split the large river into two smaller ones, both of which flowed through the city. The city itself was definitely a larger one than any of the towns they had visited so far. That was both a good thing and a bad thing for them, but they would take it as things come, as they deemed the risks acceptable with Esperanza’s new skill to help them out.

The good part was that such a large city would have a large population. It was far easier to hide in the crowd with so many people, and even if they ran into trouble, it would be difficult for anyone trying to act against them to do so when they were in the middle of a crowd… unless their foes did not care about collateral damage at all, which they doubted.

On the bad side, a larger city would mean a stronger presence from the temple and the human military, and there would probably even be fourth tier combatants present. Esperanza herself had nothing to fear, for rather obvious reasons, while Resitia and Iryl could likely hold their ground against one without trouble either. It would be more difficult to protect the others who had much lower combat strength in such a fight against a strong opponent, however.

Then again, this would probably also be the best chance they got to test out the modified skill against some truly strong priests from the temple. It was something that would be crucial for future plans, so it was to their interest to at least give it an attempt.

From where the group camped to the city was only a short distance, one they could have covered within an hour. To do so would expose their high stats, however, so instead they set out early in the morning and walked at a more normal, sedate pace towards the city. A pace that would not look out of line for some middle-aged third tier merchants and some late second tier to early third tier youngsters.

The three of them covered the distance to the city in around four hours and reached the gates around a couple hours before noon. The guards stationed at the gate only did a cursory check on them. Iryl showed them her scars while Murad discreetly slipped a bribe to the guards, so they did not trouble Esperanza and gave understanding nods as they let them pass through the inspection and go into the city proper.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Clearridge was indeed a large city, with the north-eastern section of town dominated by tall buildings that often had a tower or two jut out from their upper side. It was the location of the vaunted academy, one of the oldest in all of the human kingdom, at least as far as their history went. The rest of the city itself was practically built around the academy in question, with many parts of the city catering to it.

Compared to the smaller towns, a very noticeable difference was the presence of multiple bookstores in the city, most of them situated near the academy itself. Esperanza guessed that even in a different world, students are likely expected to procure their own textbooks to study with. There were libraries of course, but there would only be so many copies of any one book there.

As such, it was a lucrative business to scribe and copy books commonly used to teach the students of the academy, to the point that the bookstores which did so – with permits from the academy, as they proudly boasted on the signs of their shops – were fixtures of the local economy.

Similarly, a lot of the city’s economy was catered to the students of the academy. Since the academy itself only had dormitories for their staff members, students who came from elsewhere needed to find places to stay for the duration of their study. As such, many locals opened inns and boarding houses to accommodate such students and provide them with affordable places to stay.

Naturally, there were also many eateries that catered to such students, and other places that might interest them. Brothels and theaters were commonly found in the entertainment districts of the city, as were other places that catered to more “educated” tastes like poetry clubs and the like. Overall, the city itself was bustling with life and activity, and the academy was part of the reason for the prosperity it enjoyed.

Interestingly enough, Esperanza’s group quickly learned from the locals that the other half of the city – the southern half, specifically – catered to an entirely different crowd altogether. Due to the city’s proximity to Fort Ixlay, which served as one of the frontline bases of the war effort, Clearridge regularly received groups of soldiers on break.

Where there was demand, there was opportunity to earn money. As a result of the frequent visits from soldiers on break, a good part of the city had adjusted their businesses to cater to said soldiers. The southern half of the city generally focused on cheaper items and baser entertainments, as the soldiers tend to be less discerning or picky compared to academy students.

They also learned that there were around five thousand soldiers on break in the city at the moment, and supposedly other groups of soldiers would switch with them in the near future. There were also rumors that someone had seen famous warriors of the kingdom present, though the rumors were vague and questionable.

It was rare for a warrior to be famous in Ephemera… unless they were at least in the fourth tier. Since the rumors they heard mentioned two different names, The group concluded that there might be multiple fourth tiers from the human army inside the city, likely on a break much like the soldiers. They decided that they would lay low and do things carefully as they had no desire to provoke those warriors for the time being.

The rumors were confirmed by Resitia’s group when they met up later that evening, as the latter group had entered the city from the southern entrance and thus passed through the area that catered the soldiers. Resitia confirmed that she felt the presence of a strong individual in the area, who had not even bothered to rein in his aura. Fortunately the individual did not seem to notice them and they had walked through the city untroubled

For that matter, Esperanza’s group crossed paths with a group of clergymen from the temple during their walk around the city. They made no move to interact with the clergymen, but they passed each other on the road with no more than a couple feet’s distance between them. Two of the clergymen were fourth tiers, if in the lower levels of the tier.

Neither of them seemed to notice anything amiss about Esperanza’s group either, which confirmed that the modified skill worked perfectly so far.

Once they met, the two groups gathered in a crowded eatery, where Esperanza used her skill to make them less noticeable and Murad used one of his skills to keep what they were talking from being overheard as they hashed out what they would investigate while in the city.

An attempt to glean some information from the soldiers on break was a must. It was a golden chance to get some reliable intelligence on how the war went, and soldiers on break tended to boast of things especially after they were plied with a few drinks. Kurt’s group would gather what information they could that way, while pretending to celebrate with the soldiers in question.

Murad and Mora would take a closer look at the students of the academy, which was not hard to do as long as one hung out in the north of the city, where the students often roamed around when they were outside the academy itself. Iryl and Tiara would go with them, both to provide extra topics to talk about and to lead the students on.

Esperanza herself had hoped to be able to gain access to the academy’s library after she heard the boast that the place contained copies of many tomes that could not be found elsewhere in the kingdom. That plan ran into a snag, however, since the library was limited to staff and students of the academy itself, and the part where the precious copies of the positively ancient books were stored was even further off-limits to most.

Naturally, it was not an option to join the academy, and annoyingly enough the library was not just guarded closely, but also warded magically, which made infiltration difficult. She attempted to sneak into the academy on the first night in town, but found it to be well-protected so she chose not to risk it for the time being. She had no wish to alert all those soldiers in town, much less the fourth tiers around.

Not only were there several fourth tier combatants from the army present in town, but the temple had at least a few more, and the academy itself had some amongst their staff, though those likely had little actual combat experience. It was a risky situation for Esperanza’s group, so they chose to tread lightly in order to avoid stepping on toes.