Our trip through the Labyrinth was a lot less dangerous than I had been expecting. Some of that was due to the fact that the two people I was traveling with already knew the area, and another was because Jaharv the crazy old man was also crazy powerful.

I found this out when a platypus bigger than a hippo and made out of stone charged us. The old man yelled something that Gero had later informed me was equivalent to “bad doggie,” then every plant from leaves of grass to entire trees had wrapped around the platypus and crushed it.

It had cried out in a sound similar to the rumbling of stone from far away, then it did crumble into a thousand pieces making that same sound.

I decided that once I learned their language I would call the old man sir, in fact I was now convinced he was the kindest person in the world and was in no way at all crazy for eating rocks and plants. The lie was easier to believe when I repeated it to myself over and over.

Gero had also taken the not properly skinned pelt of a wolf that I had been using as a blanket for a few weeks now, and had instead given me his sleeping roll. I had tried to refuse, it was not fair that I would get his comfortable roll while he would use my pelt and his spare clothes to keep him warm just because I was a few years younger. So in the end he had compromised and said we would switch out every night.

After around a week we made it to the Safe Zone without my life ever being in danger. It was very similar to the large ring that made up the Seventh Prince’s city, however instead of a circle it was a square.

The path leading to the gate of the Safe Zone slowly became more and more civilized. Trees from forests had been cut down, and there were buildings, real buildings, that seemed to be outposts or storage sheds for the lumber. There were buildings that were taller than they were wide, which was very confusing to me, it seemed wildly inconvenient. Gero then explained that they were guard towers that were no longer in use because the Duchess, or whatever their equivalent was, had a strong Card that let her see danger before it was coming.

Sounded a bit arrogant, there was always ways around something like that.

The gate into the Safe Zone was guarded by more than a dozen men and women in armor. I could even see a few standing at the very top of the wall to the Safe Zone.

A woman that looked a few years older than the rest of the guards waved to them. I noticed that her tone was respectful to Jaharv, thought I didn’t know if that was because he was more powerful and influential or if it was because he was old. He was some sort of herbalist and those were well respected in the tribe so that seemed reasonable enough.

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Like Gero and Jaharv the guards, and probably most of the citizens, were dark skinned with curly hair. This womans hair was close cropped and was a bright pink with grey in some areas.

She looked to me after speaking a few words with the old man. Her gaze wasn’t hostile exactly, but it was laced with a healthy amount of suspicion.

The guard lady said a few words to me, but Gero cut in and she grimaced. I had thought that Gero would translate with Toke between us, but the woman raised her hands and began to converse with me instead.

Show your Hand, no deepness information included.

I got the gist.

Thankfully the Meta Card was not included when I showed my Hand. Like my Lotto Box it was separate but still worked with one another.

I pulled back the sleeve of the too big shirt Gero had given to me and summoned my Hand. Five black boxes appeared, two hollowed out, one with a gray light and two with a green light coming out of them.

She nodded and another guard wrote something down on a piece of paper, then raised his head to ask a question to which Gero responded with my name.

Were they keeping track of my Cards? That would be annoying if I needed to go out to kill monsters and Evolve more Cards.

We were allowed in and the lead guard lady even gave me a kind smile as I passed and signing Welcome to Lakar. I knew these people had nothing to do with the Prince and his Kingdom of Safe Zones, but people with armor seemed to be instinctively untrustworthy now.

The gate itself seemed to be man made, with metal wood and even stone making it up. It didn’t go all the way up the gap that separated the walls, but was tall enough that I couldn’t see anything on the other side. The guard lady waved her hand and the door opened on its own. I had been expecting something like that, but I wondered what made her able to move it. Could she move one of the particular materials or was it like an invisible version of my own Ethereal Hands.

Those thoughts were blown away as soon as I saw the other side of the gateway.

The first thing I noticed wasn’t the way that the city seemed to rise a section at a time like gigantic steps, or the huge palace off in the distance, or even the buildings that covered both sides of the streets in a way that was similar to the walls of the Labyrinth. It was the people. I had never seen so many people in one place at the same time. I don’t think I had ever seen that many people ever.

“It’s like an anthill for people,” I muttered.

Gero said something and looked at me with a bit of confusion and worry, but surprisingly Jaharv stopped him with a few words of his own.

My breath started to come in quicker as the sight overwhelmed me. It was both so open compared to the close together Labyrinth walls, and at the same time so stuffed with so many buildings and people.

It was something that never seemed possible back when I was living in the tribe. I swallowed a lump of spit that had gathered in my throat and followed Gero and Jaharv into the city.