"Wow."

Iris didn't know what to expect from the city, talked often in the high halls of Havenfall, the hive of apostates, mages and hedonists but the scene before her didn't even cross her mind.

The sun slowly sank under the distant horizon casting a vibrant tapestry of crimson and gold light glimmering on the surface of the calm Demiurge Bay embracing the city from the south. The City of Magic was huddled east of a long spike-shaped peninsula shielding its port from the occasional fits of rage Vitas tended to have, at the rocky edge of the peninsula a tall slender lighthouse guided the merchant vessels into the port's welcoming arms. Even from afar, Iris saw the three sets of walls surrounding the city proper with another perimeter stone wall, which was shorter and thinner without any battlements than the city walls. This fourth wall surrounded the city's outskirts trapping a roughly three-and-a-half kilometer pass of land populated by nothing but large farming estates between this perimeter wall and Oriripol proper. The first two lower levels of the city seemed as ordinary as the people who lived there. Yet towering over them the sandstone houses the populace lived in, various spires and turrets stretched skyward overseeing the city's labyrinthine streets. Even with that no whitewashed spire nor magnificent walls wrested attention more than what what the heart of the city had to offer. At the center, nestled amid the mundane bustling city below, lay a place that the elf could only describe as a sublime haven made out of the finest of materials, a world unto itself and where opulence and grandeur of untold amounts were openly shown off.

"Anything to say?" Iris couldn't help but ask the ancient her opinion about the city.

"No." The girl tinkering with a bronze sphere from a dungeon gave the city a short glance, taking in each detail she could see from the distance before looking back at her hands, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

With this the two continued, the taller undead unable to resist smiling to herself at the necromancer's bluntness while they slowly got closer to the perimeter wall. Eventually, they walked up to a short queue in front of a gatehouse primarily comprised of merchants.

The countryside behind them might have looked serene and peaceful but the large contingent of mercenaries bustling around the wagons proved otherwise. Seeing that the line didn't appear to be moving any time soon the elf walked to the side of the road and sat on a tree stump, the smell of olives lingering above it. She could see the envy of a couple of the mercenaries who had to stay vigilant even when so close to a city. Kia swiftly followed the elf and took a seat between her creation's legs, resting her head on Iris's stomach, causing her to take a particularly unladylike seating position, with her legs spread wide to the side to facilitate the little kitten between them.

The girl had hidden her toy back inside her inventory, content with observing the ever-shifting world around her while having her hair lovingly stroked. After a short while staring at the V-shaped flocks of birds crossing the skies above her, pampering her kitten as much as she could, Iris looked back down turning her head toward the gate trying to understand why the merchant hadn't moved already.

She could see people who looked like merchants primarily because they were the only ones not wearing armour, assembled in a rough semi-circle around a well-armoured city guard, something she hadn't seen in villages she passed. The guard stood in front of a frail and sickly-looking woman holding a pen scribbling down something on a thick tome on the desk. The words they spoke barely reached the elf but she didn't have to hear what they were arguing about, the events unfolding themselves in front of her spoke for themselves.

A mix of armoured soldiers and militia wearing light armour surrounded a wagon, they shouted toward the merchants causing one of them, an old gentleman and a younger man to raise their hands simultaneously. The soldiers proceeded to slowly unload the wagon and began to lay its contents in front of the sickly scribe for inspection. The scribe began to guide the tip of the goose feather across the paper, motioning to the soldiers every so often to lift the trade goods onto a large scale.

After everything had been done and the scribe nodded her head the soldiers uncaringly pushed everything back into whatever container was the closest. The father and son then were waved past the gates but instead, only the son mounted their wagon leading it past the gate while the father stayed with the other merchants.

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It was not uncommon for merchants to join together into larger groups when meeting each other on the road. It was done primarily for protection as larger caravans posed more difficult and dangerous targets for any would-be attacker. In addition, merchants were creatures of rumours and gossip and meeting another merchant out in the wild offered an opportunity to interrogate each other about the towns they visited previously or people they met.

*Purr*

Iris noticed as her little kitten pawed at the sky toward a formation of birds flying southward. She felt a pang of jealousy hit her non-existent heart as she felt people other than her witness her dearest creator. Trying to preserve the clueless kitten for herself, the jealous elf stopped her hands. Her fingertips beginning to caress the contours of Kia's face as they descended alongside the back of her head before tracing the edge on the base of the girl's skull where her luxurious black dress ended. The elf slid her fingers alongside the silver collar, her hands arriving under Kia's chin.

The kitten's eyes narrowed to thin slits before they shut close as she began to giggle, bringing more attention to herself as the risen scratched her under the chin.

"You...!" A distant shout brought everyone's attention away from the pair of undead and toward the gatehouse.

Iris too turned her head toward the gate bringing stop to the ticklish sensation the mage was feeling causing the number of frowning undead to two.

Near the scribe, there appeared to be an intense argument while piles of what looked like grain were scattered on the floor deck. The merchants were outraged as a few of the soldiers continued to pour grain out of their sacks, ruining it. The merchants albeit physically weak rallied together loudly voicing their complaints, their communal outrage overpowering the combat aura released by some of the soldiers.

The mercenaries perplexed by the soldier's actions watched on before joining their employers as the argument grew noisier.

The scribe watched on from behind as the merchant whose grain was now beaten into the mud by the armoured boots of the guards spewed insults at the her. Iris noticed that the scribe was chanting a spell under her breath.

"Summon a familiar." Kia commented as a small purple bird everyone except the two women missed as it materialised on the wooden roof shielding the tax booth from elements.

The merchants supported by their mercenaries shouted at the Oriri troops as they tried to continue their jobs blocking their way. This shouting match continued for some time before the gates of the perimeter wall were thrown wide open.

Cavalryman covered head to toe in gilded scale armour riding on horse similarly armoured with large dyed feathers forming a fan at the top of its head followed by a dozen or so cavalrymen of depreciating splendor. At the very back of the formation a man riding a white steed with nothing but light robes trotted toward the merchants.

[Inspect]

[Human Battle Mage Level 102]

The merchants rallied hearts still burned with anger as some remained defiant but most either returned to their wagons or walked passed the gates having already passed the control.

The few merchants who remained, mostly young and soft-skinned-looking ones were escorted past the gates after a short talk with the unarmed man who by the way he carried himself was a noble.

The cavalrymen stayed at some distance from the mercenaries who returned to their wagons, ensuring no further trouble would arise causing the inspection to speed up significantly. By the time it took previously for a single cart to be unloaded and its owner questioned, the remaining half of the wagons had been processed and taxed.

"Our time to enter." Iris said to the mage who seemed to be having a stare-off with a horse some fifty meters away from them.

"How do they know?" Kia whispered, probably referencing that animals had some strange power of knowing their true nature regardless of Kia's attempts.

"I don't know," The risen replied jokingly. "When we get a chance you should ask them."

The two undead walked toward the tax booth. The soldiers manning it took one glance at the two. The elf knew that the soldiers standing nicely and orderly around the scribe only did so because of the cavalrymen who slowly returned behind the walls.

An archer broke formation and looked into the space between the two gate doors and signaled to the rest that the coast was clear.

"Those katafrakts are scary." A man commented as he sat down and pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket.

"But they do look great." A female voice commented.

"Is that why you visit their barracks at night?" Someone added.

"Nah, look at her, she is out of their league." A different female voice added causing an eruption of laughter. The elf noticed that one of the militia archers, her shoulders begin to tremble anger bubbling just beneath her skin.

"Alright, you sacks of magic-less meat, shut up. Lord Najar is out the back dealing with those idiots." A bearded man smacked the door in the gate wide open before putting on his helmet and fixing the cloth parts of his armour.

"Hello," Iris walked right in front of the scribe ignoring the soldiers who had turned toward their commander. "Can we pass through?"

"Occupation and purpose?" The sickly scribe croaked out, in the corner of her eye a tattooed harpy seemed to flap its wings as she blinked.

"Adventurer and..."

"Good enough," The scribe said. "No entry fee for non mercantile occupation."

"Adventurers?" The commander said. "Finally someone to deal with the sewage tunnels." He seemed to mean it as a joke but the elf noted that they should rest at the adventure's guild for today as she waited for the gate to open.