As the silver ship sailed through the sky toward Miri, Ethan enjoyed fine dining in his cabin in the company of his new friend, Todd, who was likely going to die in a few weeks.

The man deserved to die by just trying to ambush and kill him. Adding his betrayal that not only created him another powerful enemy but also endangered the lives of those he cared for, his chances to keep his life didn’t seem good at all. Ethan only kept him alive for his usefulness, and while he wasn’t lying to him about his chances to survive, he also wasn’t expecting the guy to actually do so.

Though, after spending some time with him, he gradually started to like the dude. Todd wasn’t lying when he said he was good at adapting to different circumstances, and Ethan found this aspect of him both fascinating and amusing. The sleazy diplomat was already wholeheartedly considering himself on Ethan's side and trying his best to help him. Well, or at least he was pretending remarkably. Almost like, he knew how to get on his good side…

‘’Did Ani give you a character analysis of me, or something similar?’’ he asked abruptly, making Todd choke on a pretzel-like dish he was gobbling.

Todd sipped some wine and coughed a little. ‘’N-No. I mean, yes and no. Everyone from the diplomatic corps received some information about our companions from Ani. It was the basic stuff, mostly your actions in the game Cut-Throat. But I did read between the lines and try to distinguish your traits, just like I did to others.’’

Ethan hummed, intrigued. ‘’What did you come up with?’’

Todd considered his words for a few seconds. ‘’You… don’t seem to share the concerns of others in many subjects. It’s like your priorities are different. That makes you look like you don’t take life seriously, just an adrenaline junky who wants to have fun, but I think there are other things more important to you.’’

Ethan raised an eyebrow. ‘’Such as?’’

‘’I-I’m not sure. The information I’ve read was limited, but I still came to the conclusion that if I want you to take me seriously, I’ll have to be honest and sincere. I have to trust you if I want your trust, and I have to show you who I am with my actions. Even if you don’t like who I am, you’ll still give me credit for my efforts.’’

‘’Huh…’’ Ethan mumbled. ‘’You do know these observations based on a game I played, right? And it was a role-playing game.’’

‘’That’s what I meant by reading between the lines. Many other factors affected my conclusion. For example, do you know Marcus Aurelius?’’

‘’The last philosopher king? I heard of him.’’

‘’He was also a man with authority who seemed so much different from the others. While reading your speech from the time you’d disbanded The Dominion, I found many similarities between your and Marcus’s train of thoughts,’’ Todd explained earnestly. ‘’So, I didn’t just assume your character from the game, but I tried to understand you through other examples as well. And that’s just the gist of it, even the small things I discern from your body language could add up to something surprising. You should never underestimate Ani’s picks for this mission.’’

‘’Impressive,’’ Ethan said with a nod. ‘’Now I’m curious about this Marcus. Such a shame that Ani lost all this information, and we don’t even know if we ever get it back.’’

‘’Definitely,’’ Todd agreed, and his sad eyes lit up the next second. ‘’Did you read his notes to himself, The Meditations?’’

‘’Marcus’s? No, why?’’

‘’I’ve read it!’’ Todd said excitedly. ‘’I can use Ani to access those memories and manually write it for you.’’

‘’Yeah? Alright, sure,’’ Ethan replied before chuckling wryly. How am I gonna kill this guy? Man, bonding with your prisoners is a sure way to hate yourself. Nevertheless, there are still the 13 who were probably tortured until they cooperated with the Count. With the potions and healers of this world, I can’t imagine what they’d been through, or maybe still been through. I’ll give my decision after all this ends.

They chatted for a few more hours in leisure, and just after Todd consumed a mana potion, their destination showed itself on the screen. The trio walked out of the cabin to see the famous capital, Miri. As they got close, they noticed the small details on the cone-shaped huge mountain.

It had giant gates at the bottom that led inside and a gorgeous palace at its summit. The palace was surrounded by other buildings but they were all blurred, likely being protected with runes.

Between the gates and the palace, numerous wide balconies covered the surface of the mountain. Thousands upon thousands, all in a line and parallel to the ground. Upon a closer look, Ethan noticed that rather than balconies, these were the backyards of the houses that seemed to have been placed inside the mountain. Some of them had people in them, busying themselves in their gardens or just watching the sunset.

‘’Beautiful,’’ Ethan murmured in awe.

‘’Just wait until you see the inside,’’ Todd said. ‘’I heard there are some mechanisms that lead the sunlight inside, and the moment the sun goes down, some runes start working and keep the place illuminated all the time.’’

‘’What are you waiting for then? Speed up.’’

Soon after, they passed the gates and entered the city. Surprisingly, the toll was the same as Marah’s, and all they needed to do was show their identity badges. However, flying artifacts weren’t allowed inside, and even the use of [Mana Flight] required special permits.

Storing his ship, Ethan walked inside the mountain with Beet on his shoulder, followed by Todd. At tier-4, the little terror wasn’t so little anymore. He wasn’t heavy but his size was enough to draw many eyes to their group. Not that Ethan cared, he was too busy admiring the mythical city.

The bottom of the hollowed-out mountain was filled with stone buildings of various heights. Most were a few stories high, but some of them were even taller than the stone towers they had discovered in Anpu’s Imperial City. Those were the guild buildings he had heard about for so long. Adventurer's guild, alchemist’s guild, merchant’s guild, and hunter’s guild were the ones he’d somewhat anticipated, but the ones like craftsman’s guild, tamer’s guild, and assassin’s guild left him speechless.

Other than the guilds, the rest of the buildings were all different kinds of businesses. There wasn’t a single house at the bottom, all of those were on the upper floors, close to the mountain’s surface, and there were a few enormous artifacts that carried people up and down.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Ethan walked in the crowded street while watching everything with interest. As they passed by some musicians, he took out a silver coin and tossed it in the bowl before turning to Todd, ‘’I fucking love this place. The free cities were nice but this is really something else.’’

‘’It’s even bigger than I’d expected,’’ Todd commented, sounding surprised. ‘’Marah is like a village compare to this.’’

‘’We should check out a skill shop. I’m curious if it’s any dif–’’ Ethan stopped himself abruptly as he saw a sign with the words Ballsy Bowling on it. It took a few more seconds and some blinking for him to understand what was going on. ‘’You said some of our people opened shops in Miri, right?’’

Todd also noticed the shop and started chuckling. ‘’To be rich enough to rent this place and make it a bowling alley… I wonder who this guy is.’’

‘’Let’s find out,’’ Ethan said in amusement and walked toward the entrance. What he found inside, unsurprisingly, was a straightforwardly designed bowling alley. There were about a dozen lanes and half of them were full of people. Cultivators with fancy robes playing bowling were certainly a sight to see, and it was impossible to not discern the guy who made that happen. Behind the bar desk stood a bored-looking man in his thirties with a simple shirt and a cardigan sweater, idly watching the players.

‘’Oh, so it’s him,’’ Todd said. ‘’I should’ve known.’’

‘’Who is it?’’ Ethan asked as they walked toward the bar. ‘’He seems familiar.’’

‘’His name is Jeff. He was a VR player of the most bizarre games and a popular streamer.’’

‘’Ooh, I remember! The guy who infested the games with his fans and broke the balances wherever they go!’’ Ethan exclaimed, perhaps a bit loudly because Jeff also heard him and turned to look at them.

His eyes widened as he yelled, ‘’Ethan!’’

Ethan chuckled as the customers startled and sat on a bar stool before Jeff. ‘’Hey. Nice place you got here.’’

‘’Hey, man! Thanks. I didn’t know you were in the town,’’ Jeff said before extending his hand. ‘’Right! We’ve never met before. Name’s Jeff.’’

‘’Nice to meet you,’’ Ethan replied with a smile as he shook his hand. ‘’We just came to Miri actually. Oh, this is Todd, and the little one is Beet.’’

‘’You did?’’ Jeff asked in surprise. ‘’Then, Adrian doesn’t know you’re here?’’

‘’Adrian is here!?’’

‘’For sure. I think he only showed up a few months ago, but he was looking for you everywhere,’’ Jeff confirmed. ‘’I can send someone to fetch him if you want?’’

‘’Yes. That would be great,’’ Ethan said with a nod and sighed in relief. Finally some good news. Now that–

‘’Carmen!’’ Jeff shouted without any restraint, making everyone jump.

Someone threw the bowling ball to a different lane, another dropped their drink and shattered the glass, and a little boy started crying. A moment later, a door with a staff-only sign opened and a girl with messy brown hair walked out. She looked at the customers in confusion before looking at Jeff and widening her eyes.

Carmen hastily arrived at the bar while almost tripping twice on the way. ‘’Y-Yes?’’

Jeff rolled his eyes. ‘’Go to the Assassin’s Guild and find Adrian. Tell him Ethan is in my place.’’

‘’Okay,’’ Carmen replied and turned to leave. After a few steps, she stopped, turned back, and headed toward the door.

‘’I have a bad feeling about this,’’ Ethan murmured.

‘’It’s fine. She’ll be fine after some fresh air.’’ Jeff said, waving his hand. ‘’Anyway, what can I get you, gents?’’

‘’Got anything sweet? Dessert maybe?’’

‘’Sure,’’ Jeff answered and looked at Todd.

‘’Just water for me.’’

Jeff took out a bottle of water and a plate full of pastries from his spatial pouch and casually placed them on the desk. From his pursed lips, it seemed like he was expecting something more challenging.

‘’So, how did you open this place?’’ Todd asked, grabbing his bottle. ‘’If you don’t mind me asking.’’

‘’Oh, it was a spontaneous thing, really. I like Miri but life here is too expensive. I wanted to own a business so that I could support myself. This was the first idea that came to my mind.’’

‘’I mean, how did you find the money? Is it that easy to start a business here?’’

‘’Nah, I borrowed the money from a buddy of mine,’’ Jeff replied as he started making a cocktail for himself. ‘’He’s a chill dude and didn’t even want me to pay back. You guys ever heard of the Nightingales?’’

‘’The Duke?’’ Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘’Yeah. He is Duke's favorite cook’s assistant. Makes good money.’’

Ethan chuckled wryly. He had no idea if this guy was teasing them or if it was just the way he usually was. ‘’You seem to be doing fine as well.’’

‘’Not really,’’ Jeff said, taking a sip from his shaker. ‘’The opening month was a banger, but people gradually stop coming for some reason. Then I did a lot of advertising and managed to attract more customers, but it cost me quite a bit. Now I’m thinking of switching to something else. Since I’ve already plenty of cultivation-restricting artifacts, maybe I’ll open a dojo or something.’’

‘’Isn’t that–’’

Thud!

A dull sound echoed in the shop, followed by Jeff’s loud shouting, ‘’Roll, god damn it, roll! Do not throw, but roll. How many times do I have to tell?’’ He started walking toward the frightened teenager while looking at Ethan apologetically. ‘’Sorry about that. I’ll be right back.’’

Ethan pressed his lips together to not laugh and turned to Todd.

‘’Yes, he is like that,’’ Todd confirmed, reading Ethan’s mind. ‘’That’s why people loved him back on earth. The influencers are–’’

‘’Boss!’’

A wide smile appeared on Ethan’s face as he heard Adrian’s voice. Other than the leather armor, his old friend and the once-right-hand man seemed exactly the same, short dark hair, sharp features with slightly tanned skin, and a posture as straight as a pole.

Adrian’s eyes lit up. He rushed forward and gave him a bear hug which Ethan returned.

‘’I’d told you to stop calling me boss.’’

‘’And I’d said no,’’ Adrian said, releasing him with an excited smile on his ever-serious face. ‘’It feels weird to call you by your name.’’

Ethan patted him on the shoulder. ‘’Good to see that you’re still as stubborn as a mule. Also, Assassin’s Guild? Seriously?’’

Adrian shrugged. ‘’When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’’

‘’Yeah, tell that to Jeff,’’ he muttered. ‘’Come, we have a lot to talk about.’’

‘’Absolutely. Did you know that–’’

‘’Hold on,’’ Ethan cut in, looking at Todd. While he started to like the guy, he still wasn’t trusting him enough. He could’ve blocked their voices with [Void Mute], but he wouldn’t be surprised if Todd was able to read lips.

‘’I-I can wait outside if you want,’’ Todd said, once again reading his mind.

‘’Nah. There is no need,’’ Ethan replied with a smile and took out a small flask from his ring before dripping three drops of its liquid into Todd's water.

‘’W-What’s t-that?’’ Todd asked, alarmed.

‘’Just a fun herbal drug that I’d bought from Marah. I’ve been told to use a drop for some relaxation time and two drops if I wanna have a really good time.’’

‘’And three?’’ Adrian asked, intrigued.

‘’Best time ever, but you won’t remember a single thing, according to my good man Dale.’’

Todd looked between his water and Ethan. ‘’I-I really can–’’

‘’Huh, I thought you knew me already.’’

Todd paused for a moment and sighed before gulping his water down.

Shortly after, as Jeff was still giving bowling lessons with an irritated look, Ethan and Adrian started exchanging stories while Todd was giggling like a little girl as he stared at Beet.