Arriving in the city, Shirou cut the log into tiny pieces and let the float while they got out from the water. They moved away from the water side and into the crowded streets before appearing in an empty alley.
They had traveled for hours now and Shirou was at the end of the line with his reserve. It was good that he was used to training to the limit or such an abuse might have knocked him out.
Kurono had luckily shared his burden so he could still hold back some of it for emergency usage. It showed Shirou that this experiment really was something as Kurono went from having none to a large amount of Mana within six months.
It was a miracle unless Kurono was someone blessed with magical talent, which could have been true but the other two proved that might not be it.
From what he had seen till now, he could only conclude that they were troublesome for him but not strong enough to mess with his world in a real fight so he didn't worry about some invasion.
"Should we find some shelter?" Kurono asked as he leaned against the wall while looking towards the streets.
"Yes, let's find an inn to stay in." Shirou nodded as he showed a bag filled with money that he had swiped along the way.
Invisibility was one of the best spells for a thief.
Kurono didn't say a thing as he had made the mindset to do anything to survive and get back home. Stealing was nothing as he had already made his mind to kill some scum.
But before going to the inn both of them needed to change their clothes as they were dressed as priests and their clothes had bloodstains on them.
Using Illusion magic, Shirou made their dress look like any of the normal clothes he had seen on the way and they walked out of the alleyway towards a clothing store.
Assyria was really something as it was clean and gave off a beautiful image. The people were disciplined and you couldn't see any dirtiness around the place, not even the alleyway.
There were signs to warn people about the rules and for directions.
The duo didn't have to look around much as they had landed near the market street of Assyria, one of the famous places of the city and gathering of merchants.
It was crowded place with good scents and wide streets filled with shops. There were small to large shops in the place along with the street sellers but everything was in an order as the Duchess didn't like ugly things.
The Duchess had shown herself as a wise and powerful leader, and she didn't care about the background of the person when she punished them. She had nobles killed when they dared to ride the carriage in an area where it was not allowed.
She had people punished when they went over the speed limits or caused violence.
She was a person that liked it when people followed her rules, and going against them meant challenging her authority. She took it on a personal level as such people learned their lesson and were very disciplined especially since Semiramis made education compulsory for everyone as she didn't want people under her to look ugly.
Shirou let Kurono lead them as he would have to waste mana to translate things. Kurono felt better that he was of some use and led Shirou towards the shop.
The duo chose two pairs as they lacked any clothing. The store sold only normal clothing not armor or anything as such they would have to buy those later.
Shirou bought tunics, trousers, cloaks and leather shoes along with a dagger. The same went for Kurono but he chose dark colors unlike Shirou's brown.
They changed into one of the pairs while getting rest packed. Kurono managed the talking and payment while also asking for the directions to the weapon and armor shops or any magic shops before asking for the directions for the inn.
Finished with the clothing store, the duo walked towards the armor shop as Shirou didn't want to take the risk. He had swiped more than one person and gathered good amount of money, though this had gotten to the city guards and they were on the lookout for a thief.
The City guards of the City were very professional and trained by an excellent program and teachers. They were all knowledgeable in basic weapon mastery and specialized in at least one weapon. They were trained in horse riding, tracking and other basic knowledge.
There were ranks among them and the higher ones could use magic as well, they were magic swordsmen.
They could be found in many places especially in crowded places to keep watch over things but Shirou had been using magic so they didn't see the crime taking place.
It was fortunate for Shirou that Semiramis had yet to come up with a proper system to counter theft or he would have been wanted for another reason.
The duo went about their things while keeping an eye out for trouble.
The bought chain mails and light armor along with a long sword, small shield and a bow in Shirou's case. They checked the magic item shop to find that they were too expensive and the duo was low on money.
The currency being used was made from copper, iron, silver and gold. Each coin had different value, and hundred copper was equal to one iron coin, and it went the same way for others.
Stealing more today would get the law enforcement heated to they decided to postpone the purchase of magic items for now.
Walking towards the inn, the duo could see humans of all colors and sizes from different backgrounds. They could see the city guards in light armors and even some powerful looking guards with heavy armors that radiated mana.
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Humans weren't the only ones as the duo also saw Elves, dwarves, half-elves and beastmen. These non-humans weren't just slaves or such as they were counted as proper citizens.
Elves and Dwarves were counted as the allies and were treated with respect, which was why Semiramis could even become a Duchess instead of a slave.
But the fact was that the White Sacrament was a human supremacist group as such all these species were treated as lower than humans, they were second class citizens.
The treatment varied from territory to territory but the minimum was also not so bad unless they went against the White Lord, then they were slaughtered without a chance to repent.
The beastmen living on the side of the continent were more human than beasts, they had human body with just some animal traits like tails or some fur or ears or eyes while the beastmen that were too beast were slaughtered long ago and the ones that survived were treated as third class citizens.
Slavery was still a thing but human slaves were banned, anyone found with such slaves would be killed without a trial.
Shirou asked Kurono to keep an ear open for anything useful so the young man focused on his hearing. He had been trained in fighting so he could easily focus on any of his senses for the optimum usage.
From just the sight they could see the discipline and order of the city. They could see the excellence of the one at the top from what they had seen from the people and the guards.
They could also see slavery being part of their culture as the slaves with collars attached to their necks didn't warrant a reaction from anyone.
They could also see that the slaves were well fed and treated humanely as they didn't show a hopeless expression or countless scars.
From the things Kurono heard, he learned that the City was the masterpiece of the Duchess Semiramis who was exceptionally beautiful. He could hear many expressions of delight and poetry about her intelligence and beauty.
He also learned about the coliseum on the other side of town that was gathering fighters from all around the Empire as the Duchess had put forward an exceptional reward for the winner. They were all talking about and theorizing what it could be as it was still a surprise but everyone knew that the Duchess doesn't underplay the rewards.
Other than that most of the things were confusing and weren't important except the thing about exploration. There were talks about the White Sacrament and adventurers getting ready to invest into the exploration of Pandora.
Pandora was another continent and according to the words from the people, it was filled with demons and monsters. It was a place of savages that needed to be shown their place in the world by the power of light. It was a place where dark immortals were worshipped and that needed to be rectified.
They also talked about the twelve apostles that were the avatars of the White Lord and the strongest beings on the continent.
There were also talk about King Arthur visiting Semiramis for some reason and he was still in the city with his entourage so the city was hyped as King Arthur was very famous figure.
He was the King of Logres and also one of the strongest. He was the descendent of the Sword King/ Hero of Light of the Dark Age.
He was a kind King with dashing looks and people loved him a lot, though Kurono also heard some nasty things about him as people didn't want his hands on their Duchess.
It could be seen that the people were very much loyal to their leader.
Kurono conveyed this information as they sat inside their room in the inn over some food to recover from the exhaustion of using so much mana.
Shirou listened and digested the information, 'I need to get that translation device and learn the language.'
Shirou decided to gather information from different places around the city, especially pubs and the port. The coliseum was an attractive option but it would put them in the open and the nobles would investigate them.
They would be found out easily as their appearance was known. They needed to do something about their appearance as illusion couldn't be used all the time.
Masks were very suspicious and guards would look at them first so they needed something else like the alchemical mask that could hide the appearance while looking completely real.
Shirou knew how to make this thing as part of his training for his goal. So he needed to get some money and buy the ingredients, for now illusion magic would have to do.
They will have to get it done quickly as the security was very tight in this city especially with the foreign King visiting.
Shirou was obviously surprised by the names Arthur and Semiramis as he had learned a lot about the legends and history after the war. He was especially well informed about Arthur since his lover was Artoria, a female Arthur.
He was aware that there was a male Arthur as well and had been summoned in the past.
From the words, it seemed to be the same person in appearance and especially because he also heard that the King had Excalibur.
The sword also existed, meaning there could be other people from legend in this world along with their noble phantasms.
'This just raised the difficulty level.' Shirou thought but kept it to himself for now as he didn't want to alarm Kurono who had yet to let go of the darkness.
"Let's sleep for now, we will start tomorrow morning." Shirou said as it was already 10 P.M, they had escaped in the afternoon from the Lab and hours had passed since.
Kurono nodded as he was feeling the fatigue making his body heavier especially after eating, his eyes were drooping.
With that the duo went to sleep while things were active on the enemy side. The Pegasus squad arrived to see the destruction in the forest while Robinhood along with his companion Billy the Kid watched them from afar.
These two were outlaws that fought against the nobles for the rights of their people. Robin was an elf ranger while Billy was human but they were best of friends through their shared experiences.
They had followed the direction from where the crow had come from and arrived at the battlefield. The injured enemies weren't of concern but they were interested in the one responsible for it.
They gathered people that were good and powerful to be part of their group called Yggdrasil.
From their observation's they could only see the power of the individual and the interest of the Higher ups with the man. The fact that Bishop Judas was interested was more than enough to light the spirit of curiosity inside of them.
But just like the Pegasus Knights, they also lost them. The duo had escaped in a confusing manner before arriving near the river, where all traces vanished.
All of them could see that there was only one conclusion as the duo would have made themselves scarce without any clues if it was possible so the only answer was that they traveled on water.
They could see that a tree was missing so they followed the river that led towards the sea. Following the river there were no traces from the duo as the mana had dispersed in the time they took.
There were three directions now, Port town or the right or left side of the river. This was not a mission for the Pegasus squad but they split and gave it a once over to see if they could locate from the air.
On the other hand, Robin locked onto the port town as he believed that a skilled individual would choose a crowded town to lose the tail especially after meeting a magical tracker.
"Want to follow?" Billy asked as he stood beside Robin, looking over the horizon.
"Not now, Arthur is in the city and we don't want to rely on him." Robin shook his head as he decided to inform the leader about the incident. The security was too tight and the enemy already had their mana signatures, meaning they would be noticed if they entered Assyria.
"So we will wait for them to get out of the city?" Billy asked since the duo were most likely not aware that Assyria had a barrier around it that read any foreign mana. Only registered signatures were allowed and this kind of security could be found in the top cities of the continent as the barrier wasn't some simple thing and required large resources, and a mage squad.
"Yes, let's see if they are worth the investment." Robin muttered with a smile as they had found two powerful individuals for the group. With those words, the duo moved towards Assyria.
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A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment