Scarlet

It doesn’t take me long to realize where I ended up after going through the Gate. And that realization leaves me rather… annoyed.

Why couldn’t Black have sent me to the Southwestern continent, where the Gate to Demon Isle is located? Did he really have to send me here of all places?!

I can’t help but feel that the man did this on purpose as I charge through the snow in my quadrupedal beast form towards the nearest city.

Just the mere fact that there’s snow here means that I’m on the Northeastern continent. The continent commonly known as the Continent of the Dead. Strictly because the most common demons who live here are undead, and the others are arachnid-type demons of the Envy Sin. Some of the Greed Sin too.

So basically a continent full of undead and thieves.

But more importantly, a lot of my blood magic doesn’t work on undead who don’t have any blood. At least, my blood magic involved with draining or messing with their blood. My blood plagues won’t work either.

A major pain.

I grimace as I continue running, only to eventually slow down to a stop when I get close to a city. Then I immediately transform back into my lycan form and don a cloak to cover my appearance before making my way through the rest of the snowy forest around me to enter what looks to be a snowy plains. One with a large city smack dab in the middle of it.

The city is built in a much, much different style from the cities I saw back on the Southwestern continent, with a six meter tall wall surrounding the entire thing made out of stone blocks with a shiny blue light coating it. Likely some sort of magic to add additional protection to the wall and, judging by the lack of snow on the wall, keep it clean. Meanwhile the front gate has two undead standing guard, each wearing full body armor that honestly reminds me a bit of the armor I’ve seen Vikings wear in video games. Some sort of extremely old culture from Earth I believe.

Their helmets even have those odd horns on them.

But because their armor is so thick, I can’t really see much of them beyond their humanoid shape and their pitch black eyes. A common trait for undead.

So I go ahead and identify them.

|Bjorn Eriksson – Draugr – Level 561|

|Ingrid Freyja – Draugr – Level 580|

Class IV guards? Probably means there’s a Noble in this city.

I should be careful not to let them catch me. Which means not letting them see under my hood.

Although, at the very least, from what Gramps has told me the Continent of the Dead is a lot less strict in terms of their cities. They kinda just let anyone in without asking questions as long as they pay the fee.

The cities are literally just pots of crime waiting to boil over with the Noble in charge of each region claiming some of the spoils from the victor in each bout.

It’s to the point that crime in some of these cities, especially the ones on the Eastern side of the continent belonging to the arachnae, isn’t even really crime. It’s perfectly normal. To just go and steal someone’s things right out from under their nose.

If they didn’t catch the criminal, then it didn’t happen. The stolen item belongs to the thief now.

Should help me stay hidden here at least. I should probably keep a close eye on everyone around me though.

Good thing I use spatial pockets. They can’t exactly pickpocket those. Not unless they want Leonidas’s anti-thief enchantment to snap at them.

It won’t exactly do much damage, but it’ll hurt and expose their crime so that they will be caught in the act.

I continue walking through the plains until I reach the line at the gate, briefly reaching into my spatial pocket underneath my cloak to check on my current money situation. Then I remember that I still have all of the coins Gramps gave me when I first set off away from the Bloody Duchy.

An entire fortune’s worth that I never really ended up spending due to my stay with the kitsune.

Nice. Gramps never cared about getting it back so I never gave it back.

Although it’s more like I forgot about it, but whatever.

Not like he needs money. He’s the Demon King. If he wants something he can just order someone to give it to him and they won’t be able to say no. Literally.

Anyways, I quickly spot several pickpockets amongst the line stealing from other people in the line. But no one else says a word when they try to steal from someone and succeed. They only step out of the way calmly when they’re caught and either have all of their own belongings stolen or they’re killed and tossed out of the line by the one they were stealing from.

A rather brutal scene, but now that I pay attention, most of the demons in this line, including the undead, are all either Greed or Envy demons.

Not a very good combination.

My hand whips around to grab at a forearm reaching for my waist. And before I can even turn around to look at whoever it belongs to, I hear cracking sounds coming from their arm from where I grabbed them.

Oops. Snapped their bone.

When I get a glimpse of the thief in question, I find it to be another draugr just like the guards. But unlike the guards, this one is only a Class III.

Which makes me wonder why on earth they thought it would be a good idea to target me. They should’ve been able to identify me and see my level, even if White did redact my name again.

Wait…

I blink in surprise.

Did the cover Black and Purple put over me also block identifications for my level? That would be cool.

Probably possible, considering that it’s the highest level stealth and divination Guardians in existence. Unlike White who uses null magic, those two are practically made for hiding an identify result.

Not bad. If that’s the case.

Anyways, the thief who’s arm is still in my grasp, tries to break free with a look of both anger and greed on their face without a trace of fear. At least, until I pull them slightly closer and grab them by the neck, raising them into the air before snapping their neck and tossing them out of the line.

But their look of fear only lasts a second.

There’s no use pitying or taking it easy on the demons in this continent. They would all just as soon betray me and stab me in the back right after sparing them as they would eat breakfast that morning.

The one thing Gramps ingrained in me the most about this continent is to trust no one and never give anyone mercy here.

I focus on the line again, finding that not a single one of the demons around us seem to be paying me any mind despite me having killed a draugr.

Such a different place from Earth.