“Why did you kill him!?’ Elrith shouted as another nearby woman started to scream. He stomped on the ground and summoned his trusty spider underneath the group.

Palan snorted as the spider started to run towards the northwest. “He was trying to ambush us,” he said, ignoring the screams that came from the city. “If he wasn’t, he would’ve made his presence known.” People shouted for the spider to stop, but it continued running until the shouts faded into the distance.

“You can’t be serious,” Elrith said. “He’s a sentry assigned to guard the gate. Where else would he have been?”

“I didn’t realize he was there,” Palan said and shrugged.

“So your first reaction was to kill him?” Elrith asked. “Couldn’t you at least just subdue him? Maybe knock him out instead of splattering his brain matter all over the citizens?”

“Kill first, ask questions later,” Palan said as his shoulders relaxed. Danger Noodle yawned and nuzzled Cleo, wiping the blood on its face onto the little lizardman. She let out a sigh and pulled out a wet cloth to clean herself and Danger Noodle.

“If you kill them first,” Elrith said with his brows furrowed, “how are you going to ask them questions later?” He turned to look at Raea. “My god, Ray, I don’t understand how you haven’t dissolved your contract with him yet. I’m an archangel of patience, but even I’m starting to get exasperated.”

“You ask yourself the questions, not them,” Palan said and sat down. “That’s how I knew he was trying to ambush us.” He cracked his neck and shook out his legs before exhaling. “This is much better,” he said while looking around. The city could still be seen to their right, but they were far enough away to avoid the sounds of the people inside. To their left, houses could be seen with roads connecting them to the city.

“So this place doesn’t bother you?” Raea asked Palan, ignoring Elrith’s previous comment. She muttered to herself, “Suburbs are fine then.” She nodded. “What is it about the city that made you so jumpy?”

“Everything,” Palan said and narrowed his eyes at the buildings in the distance. “The sheer number of people, there were too many things to process at once. I couldn’t make out individual noises—it was a constant drone that never stopped. Everything was red when I tried to see through my heat vision; nothing was discernable. There were so many movements and heartbeats that my electromagnetic sense was fried. The whole place smelled like a goblin and nothing else.” He shook his head. “It still smells pretty bad.”

Raea pursed her lips. “We’re going to encounter a lot more places like this one,” she said and held his hand. “Thankfully, it’s not as bad in the capital. There aren’t too many people who have the qualifications to live there.” She hesitated. “But it’s going to be even worse in the first sector.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Elrith nodded. “The whole first sector is like a giant city,” he said. “There’s no suburbs there like there are here.” A sigh escaped from his lips. If his wellbeing didn’t depend on Palan being cooperative, he might have taken pleasure in Palan’s discomfort. “The problem is we’re wanted people now. Our group is pretty … unique if you haven’t noticed. It was fine for me to be a deserter because I could pretend to be someone else, but now we’re going to be recognized on sight.” He muttered, “I still can’t believe I lost my id.”

“You mean this one?” Cleo asked as she pulled out a golden badge with Elrith’s name on it. It shone red in the sunlight. Elrith turned his head to look at the object Cleo pulled out, and his mouth fell open.

“Where did you find that?” he asked as he attempted to snatch it out of her hands, but Cleo was too quick and managed to avoid the swipe.

“Uh.” Cleo inched backwards. “On the floor? Shouldn’t you give me something out of thanks for finding it?” She blinked twice and smiled at him while holding his badge to her chest.

Elrith’s face darkened, but he opened his bag to inspect his belongings. He didn’t have much to trade. “Watch the road!” Raea shouted.

Elrith raised his head and saw that the spider was on a collision course with a brick house. His eyes widened, and the spider stabbed its legs into the ground, halting its forward momentum while nearly sending its passengers flying off before skittering towards the right and around the house. A child stared with her mouth agape from one of the windows. She whipped her head around and shouted for her mommy to come see, but by the time her mother arrived, Elrith’s spider was long gone.

Elrith sighed and lowered his head. Why had things become like this? Life was going so well before he was poisoned by Raea. Before, he was on top of the world. Now, he was being bullied by a lizardman that was only half his height. A soft object touched his shoulder and covered his back. He raised his head and saw Sally resting her wing on him. She was holding Elrith’s badge in her talons while Cleo was protesting off to the side. “Here,” Sally said and bit her lower lip. Her face was pink.

Warmth spread from Elrith’s chest down to his toes. He smiled at Sally and took the badge, placing it back into his pouch. “Thank you,” he said. Life didn’t seem as bleak as it did a few seconds ago.

“The road!” Raea shouted. “What did I say about watching the road!?”

The spider jerked to the side as it swerved around another house, destroying a garden full of flowers in the process. Sally folded her wings against her body and sat next to Elrith, who scooted over to make room for her. “I need to take a break soon,” Elrith said. “Digging the tunnel used up a lot more mana than I expected.” He raised his head and looked at the statue of General Jones which had become larger. “I know someone who lives around here and we can”—he turned to look at Palan—“never mind. I think I’ll dig a hole in a park somewhere. We have to leave the residential area first.”

“Are they going to send people after us?” Raea asked as she grabbed Elrith’s face and pointed it towards the direction the spider was running.

“I doubt it,” Elrith said. “They would’ve given up by now if they did. Nothing can maneuver as well as my spider.”

“There’s some people who’ve been following us for a while now,” Palan said.

“What?” Elrith asked. He tried to turn his head around, but Raea didn’t let him.

Palan nodded. “I can hear them,” he said. “It feels so good to hear again.” He lay against the spider and stared up at the sky.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Elrith asked.

“I thought you knew,” Palan said. “Why else would you be driving so recklessly?”

“I am not,” Elrith said. He paused. “Am I?”

“You are,” Sally said and nodded. Elrith sighed.