The day went by as usual, and as Apolo had recently learned: time was about to snatch away a day from his life without him being able to protest. However, time had also granted the young man what he was looking for: as the grand imperial capital's gates were finally visible on the horizon.

The imperial capital was the most important and large city in the entire empire, yet it wasn't the most populous. The real most populous city in the empire was none other than the capital's surroundings. The city's gigantic walls had a more symbolic than practical meaning; they were there to separate two worlds.

On one side was the interior of the capital, where power and wealth abounded as far as the eye could see, while on the other side was the city surrounding the capital, full of misery, pain, and suffering.

This incredibly densely populated area was known as the ring city, since its interior was naturally hollow and the city developed along the city's wall. The farther one got from the city gates, the more misery increased, and the lower the degree of investment and control by the authorities. Except for the exception of the six roads leading to each of the six gates in the city wall to the capital. The surroundings of those roads Apolo was advancing through were quite opulent, as a great number of nobles and merchants had invested in that area.

In a way, this natural design ended up causing the misery of the ring city to be even more hidden from the eyes of the nobles. Consequently, what Apolo was seeing right now was a city full of life and prosperity, completely removed from what it truly was. The houses in this area were incredibly large and were attached to each other, practically every house had a commercial shop open on the bottom floor, and due to the high foot traffic, it seemed like there wasn't a single unsuccessful shop on this street.

However, the misery could still be seen by keen eyes, as beggars and thieves were not lacking. Although the vast majority of the poor didn't dare to stay on the path for too long, mainly out of fear of facing the retaliation of a merchant who felt they were affecting their business.

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As mentioned before, the ring city wasn't Apolo's destination. However, the majority of the caravan members were aiming for this city, so the caravan had started to disintegrate until only a few well-decorated carriages were still heading towards the gigantic gates of the capital.

With curiosity, Apolo looked out of the carriage's two windows, trying to appreciate as much as he could of this incredibly exotic and eye-catching area. Judging by the number of colors in the people's clothing on these streets, it would seem that everyone was rich. However, the reality was that due to the large number of merchants in this city, goods that were worth a fortune in other cities cost only a few crystals here.

Apolo stared in amazement at the great number of curious objects the merchants were selling, and it was no wonder: the exotic goods on the shelves of these stores would dazzle anyone's eyes, even more so someone like Apolo who was visiting these lands for the first time.

While the young man was exploring, the grand gates of the wall gradually grew larger as the carriage approached, until the walls were so close that they seemed to cover the sky. Being so close, Apolo could see that the imposing walls were decorated with statues all over: some statues dressed as soldiers, others as wizards, and the majority wore noble clothing. Another notable aspect of the statues was that not all had a human appearance, and for example, a few seemed abnormally large, as if they were giants. Apolo knew the statues weren't created randomly; each represented some illustrious hero in the empire, so the giant statues were likely a dedication from the empire to one of its ancestors.

From the carriage's window, Apolo could see a long line of carriages waiting to enter the capital. When a carriage parked in line, guards quickly appeared to inspect the carriage and ask for documentation to enter. Initially, as Orrin had mentioned, Apolo wasn't supposed to do anything during the inspection, and his drivers would handle all the paperwork, so the young man decided to close the carriage's curtains, hoping that the guards' inspection wouldn't bother him too much.