“Fuck!” Ryzen muttered as he went into his shadow form and quickly searched the area. Thankfully, he found her sitting in a dark corner, glaring at the floor.

“What are you doing?” Ryzen asked as he left his shadow.

“Nothing,” Enancia responded silently.

“Okay then let’s go. I want to look around the city.” Ryzen immediately started to walk back towards the double doors and Enancia reluctantly followed.

Ryzen knew that she was angry with him but he didn’t care. Well, at least that’s what he told himself. Truthfully, he felt a bit upset seeing her like that. He tried to push the feeling down but it wouldn’t budge. Eventually, he decided to just leave it be and ignore it for now.

As they approached the double doors, Ryzen moved to grab Enancia and take them into his shadow realm to avoid any unnecessary problems. However, he stopped himself right as he was about to touch her.

“Um… We need to go into my shadow,” Ryzen grumbled awkwardly.

Enancia took a dead stop and looked at Ryzen with incredulous eyes. “Huh?”

“What?” Ryzen asked, although he knew why she was doing so.

“Did you just…” Enancia had a huge smirk on her face, displaying her improven mood.

“We need to go before we get caught. Can we do so?” Ryzen asked, against his better judgment.

Enancia gave him a mischievous grin, “Hmm, maybe but apologize first.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Ryzen said with a glare.

“Fine, fine. Thank you for asking this time. Let’s go then.” Enancia held out her hand and Ryzen reluctantly grabbed it.

Right as he was about to enter his shadow, he hesitated. “Enancia?”

“Yes?”

“Can vampires recognize humans by scent?” Ryzen’s dreams of entering the city seemed to be crushed before they even began.

“Hmm, usually that would be the case.” Enancia frowned.

Ryzen’s face went pale as he realized Enancia may be able to detect he is actually a human.

“Each creature has a unique scent but honestly, you’re a little different. You smell of nothing almost as if you don’t exist. Anyways, why do you ask?” Enancia looked to be pondering something.

Ryzen nearly let out a sigh of relief as he inwardly jumped for joy. He figured it was his shadow guard skill since his scent could technically be tracked. Ultimately, it could have been anything about his class though.

“Let’s go then.” Ryzen eagerly grabbed Enancia’s hand but she stopped him.

“Alex, wait… these abilities you have. They aren’t normal. I am well versed in many of the different classes for all the races and have studied immensely yet I have never seen a vampire stealth class this strong. Just what are you?” Enancia asked but she really didn’t expect an answer.

Ryzen was immediately about to shut down her question but he paused. Enancia answered many of his questions and likely held a trove of knowledge that would be immensely helpful to him. Ryzen was still only recently summoned to this world and he knew basically nothing. Sure, he didn’t trust Enancia but so far she seemed like his best option. She owed him for saving her life and that wasn’t something that could be let go so easily. Still, Ryzen just didn’t feel ready to tell her anything. She could easily betray him at any moment or even feed him lies that ruined him. Ryzen began to feel upset as for the first time in his life, he felt conflicted about his feelings.

“I don’t trust you… but perhaps that could change one day.” Ryzen finally said after all his contemplation.

Still, Enancia looked like she had some hope in her eyes and smiled. “That’s good enough for me. Now, do we have a city to go to or not?”

Ryzen nodded and together, they took off towards the city and reappeared in an alley way. They silently walked out of it as if nothing happened and entered the bustling city. There were hundreds of vampires walking down the street they were on and a multitude of side vendors. Some were selling trinkets and some were selling various blood concoctions.

Ryzen certainly wasn’t fond of the sight but it made sense why they were doing so. It was a vampire city. However, Ryzen was curious as to where they were getting all this blood.

As if reading his mind, Enancia said, “Much of the blood here is heavily diluted. These days, native humans are a rare resource. Fortunately, for many of the races, they simply like the taste of them. For vampires, they cannot live without them. It is no doubt that the vampires are in dire straits because of this.”

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Ryzen gave Enancia a disgusted look and inwardly cursed at himself. “You eat humans too?”

Enancia eyes went wide which contradicted her shaking head. “My race does but I do not. I think it to be rather… vulgar. Anyways, why do you seem upset? You also feed on humans do you not?”

Ryzen quickly remembered that Enancia thought he was a vampire and came up with some excuse, “Uh, yes of course. I was annoyed at the crippling disability of my race.”

Enancia gave him a sad smile. “I’m afraid that the demon’s don’t make it much easier for you guys. We definitely monopolize many humans and breed them specifically for food. We also refuse to trade with anyone.”

Ryzen could help but ask, “Do you support that?”

Enancia nodded her head. “You may be kind and just; however, much of your race is not. I would allow individuals such as yourself to feast on the demon’s humans as much as you needed but I would never trade with your kind as a whole.”

Ryzen felt a hint of disgust at the treatment of humans in this world. He already knew how it was but talking with someone from another race truly solidified that there was no hope for them. After speaking with Enancia, he once again tightened his grip around his feelings and solidified his resolve in not trusting her. She was too different and was perfectly fine with humans being eaten. Sure, she may not have done it herself but she clearly supported it.

Enancia narrowed her eyes after seeing his reaction and assumed his was upset about the vampires. “If you care so much why did you betray your kind?”

Ryzen was caught offguard by this question and visibly showed it. He had never thought this far into his story and decided to not answer her question. “You do not need to know such things.”

Enancia rolled her eyes and stopped walking. “C’mon, I thought we were getting somewhere! Are you bipolar or something?”

Ryzen looked at her with his sharp eyes and said nothing while continuing to walk. Enancia looked as if she were starting to become angry again and Ryzen once again felt a semblance of guilt resurging. This time he crushed it without mercy.

Ultimately, Ryzen had no pressing reason to be here and he had simply wanted to check it out. However, he realized that this might be a golden opportunity to figure out how to get out of this place.

“Do you know the way out?” he asked his first source of reliable information, Enancia.

“No,” she said bluntly.

Ryzen clicked his tongue and decided to look for the nearest vendor. He walked up to one selling something other than some blood machination. Instead, they were selling cheap looking shirts that were clearly ragged.

“Hi, there. I was wondering where the nearest exit to the city would be?” Ryzen asked cluelessly.

The vendor looked at him as if he were crazy. “Mate, I don’t know what sort of hole you came out of but you must know that nobody leaves the city.”

Ryzen frowned and asked, “Are we not allowed? Or is there some other reason I am not aware of?”

“Mate, the doors to the outside are constantly locked by Venis himself. Nobody leaves because doing so means death from the demons. This is common knowledge.” The vendor looked at Ryzen susipiciously and sighed.

Ryzen thanked the man and groaned. The circumstances were much worse than he thought. He had felt the strength of Venis in the summoning room and knew he was still no match for him. Venis was on a completely different level.

“I could have told you that!” Enancia pouted.

He ignored her and asked another question in response, “We need money. What currency is in use here?”

Enancia looked at Ryzen strangely. “Alex. It’s the same everywhere. Menex Coins? The universal currency that the entire world uses? The currency that the system uses?”

Ryzen inwardly cursed at himself as he realize how much he just messed up. Sure, Enancia was great for questions but he was asking too many obvious ones.

“Uh, I was raised in an uncivilized area. I lack much common knowledge.” Ryzen nodded his head at his excuse but Enancia looked like she didn’t buy it.

“Um, okay sure but whatever I won’t pry. It’s not like you’ll tell me anyways,” Enancia sighed.

Ryzen slowly nodded his head and agreed. “We need money to gather information. We’ll stay here in the city for now and gather it. There is no need to return to the human shithole now that the vampire that was keeping watch over us is gone.”

Enancia smirked, “Thankfully, Menex coins can’t be taken or stolen which means I have my full wealth.”

Ryzen turned towards her curiously. “Wealth? You act as if you have a lot.”

“That’s because I do. More than enough to pay for whatever we will ever need here in this dump.”

Ryzen realized that while Enancia didn’t know much about him, he didn’t know much about her. All she had revealed was the she was a demon. He knew nothing of her class, powers, or anything else. In fact, he had just assumed she was weak because she was captured and never fought.

“How much?” Ryzen asked.

“Enough” Enancia said in an exaggerated monotone voice.

“Very funny. Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. If you’re confident it's enough so let’s find a place to stay.” Ryzen motioned for them to walk.

Eventually, Ryzen came across an district of inns and entered into the first one he saw. He walked up to the counter and the vampire at the desk smiled. “Welcome to the Grand Fang Inn and Bar! Would you like to reserve a room or dine in today?”

“Both. Oh, and could you give us two rooms?” Ryzen asked.

The woman nodded and brought up a status screen showing the amount they owed. Enancia touched the screen a few times before the attendant nodded and pointed to the bar.

“We’ll have your meal out soon. Thank you for choosing the Grand Fang Inn and Bar.” the attendant soon went back to her desk and Ryzen was stuck face to face with Enancia.

“Was it expensive?”

Enancia let out a snort and laughed, “No, of course not. At least for me. Although, this may be some sort of high baller place for someone that actually lives here.”

Ryzen was about to respond but found two male vampires taking a seat at their table. One of them took no time to grab Enancia’s arm while the other smirked at Ryzen.