Chapter 181 - The City

'I can't use Trace with these objects. Maybe the villagers were all taken far away from the village.'

As doubts grew in Ellena's mind, she decided to go to the nearby city to gather information.

For some reason, there was something in her heart that wanted to help the kid. She realized Gero was someone who loved the people despite being hated and harmed after seeing how he cried.

The thing that was inside Ellena was that she believed that helping Gero would also help her. She now understands not only how to correct her deteriorating personality, but also the origins of the cursed children.

She knew that she was one, but didn't know what it was in general. The only thing she knew was that the 'gods' chose her from what Aaron said. Because of that, in the past, she didn't bother to look at that matter.

But now, after seeing someone who was also supposed to be a cursed child and attracting witches, she couldn't think of ignoring it for a second.

For her, this matter seems to be important. If she really understands it, she might be able to forget about what happened in the past and try to figure out why people become like this.

If she can discover it, maybe in the future she can help those people who'll also be called cursed children.

In general, she wanted to reverse society's idea of children with black hair.

"We've arrived." As soon as light started to appear in their vision, Aaron mumbled.

From a small dot of light, it started to grow until they reached the walls of the city.

"There's a monster! Prepare for combat!" a guard was alarmed as soon as he saw Ellena riding on Cules.

However, as laughable as it seems, especially the face of the guard, Ellena climbed off Cules's back and unsheathed her sword before them.

"No one will hurt him. Sheathe your swords, he's my companion. "

The guards looked at each other but still didn't listen to Ellena. They just saw Ellena as suspicious, as she was also one. Her mask told them to not listen to her, and so they tried to push back Ellena with their swords.

"What a bothersome. Here! See it for yourself!"

Ellena took out a guild card and passed it to the guards. When they caught it, they cautiously observed the card and saw the white lining color of the metal.

"What's this? Silver ranker?"

"No! It's not. It's White Gold. Look how white this metal is! The heaviness of it is comparable to gold." one of the guards cut.

"Even though she's a White Gold Ranker, we can't let her enter with that huge beast. Maybe if she leaves it, we can consider her enter." the guard said.

When Ellena heard it, she cut off their words immediately.

"You don't have to worry about things." Then she looked at Gero, who was still sitting on Cules's back.

"Come down here," she said, and Gero followed her order.

After that, Ellena glanced at Aaron, who was flying above her.

"Unsummon," Aaron muttered and in an instant, Cules disappeared.

When everyone saw it, as well as Gero, they were surprised. What just happened was beyond their understanding, and they wanted to know for themselves.

"W-What just happened?"

Ellena looked at the guard who talked then pointed her sword at him.

"I am kindly asking you, don't tell anyone about this. And this didn't happen."

The guards just gulped and nodded. After that, they finally permitted him to enter the city.

As soon as they entered, they noticed that it wasn't as populated or crowded as what most cities are described as being. Even at night in cities, there are still businesses open, but right now, looking at it, there were only a small number of shops open.

'I guess there's regulation happening. Maybe... Never mind.' Ellena thought.

"Let's look for an inn," Ellena said, then Gero nodded at her.

They looked for an inn and, after some time, finally saw one that was open for business.

They pushed the door and entered the building, and as soon as they stepped their feet inside, they were dumbfounded by the silence of the place.

'Just where are the people here.' Ellena thought.

'There weren't that many people, but it's questionable for a place called a city. Isn't this basically problematic? How can the economy work with this limited number of people in such a huge land.'

As questionable as it seems, Aaron couldn't help but think about it. It was oddly bothering him, and just thinking about Ellena's purpose for coming to the city, he couldn't think of how they would gather some information.

"At least, it's open. Are there people here?"

A few seconds later after Ellena's call, a young lady appeared with her hands behind.

"W-Welcome." Aaron instinctively raised his eyebrows.

'There's a problem with the city.' he concluded, after finishing his observation.

"Yes. Thank you, we want to stay for the night." Ellena said.

"Uhm. It will be 5 silvers for a night. It will suffice for two people. "

Ellena just nodded and prepared the money, then handed it to the innkeeper. After that, she was given the key to her respective room.

"Thank you."

Aaron was left with a doubtful look towards the inn. It wasn't because of the inn itself, but how the people inside the city.

'They were anxious.' he thought, as he felt the aura of the people being overwrought.

'It looks like another problem will be an obstacle for Ellena. I should remove it as soon as possible. I can do something now, do I?'

After arriving at the room, Aaron waited for Ellena to fall asleep. When he was sure that Ellena was already sleeping deeply, he carefully left the room and went straight to the reception of the innkeeper.

When he finally arrived there, he intently observed them, and just after a few seconds, he was surprised by what he saw.

"So this was it...? I guess humans here are getting more greedy."