Happy voices could be heard from behind the tall gates. Ren reached out and pressed the doorbell.

The heavy gate opened quickly, he could smell the fresh green scent, and he saw a familiar face peeking from behind the door.

Kestrel wasn’t wearing the pretty dress from dinner, instead, she was in combat clothes just like Ren’s. Her black hair was tied up, and the street light made her sparkly eyes shine.

In her eyes, Ren saw himself and the deep garden behind her - it felt like a quiet chat between the smell of flowers and the shadowy leaves.

"I’m not too late, am I?" Ren said, smiling.

...

Mantidale was a long way from the Imperial Nexus, but people could get there straight by a blimp that flew every couple of weeks.

The team got there on the blimp, and when they stepped off, the border outpost saw only poor neighborhoods and broken houses everywhere. The people walking around were really skinny and barely had clothes on, and they looked at the newcomers from the Imperial Nexus with angry, cold stares.

Just yesterday, they were in the fancy Imperial Nexus, enjoying great food and drinks. But today, as they left the blimp, they saw nothing but destruction and poor people, making everyone really confused, unable to figure out what was real. It was hard to know if the luxurious life and yummy food in the Tower were a fantasy, or if the sad sight of hunger and ruin here was the real deal.

Now, Kestrel really got what Rakan meant when he said, "But after seeing the harsh reality over there multiple times, I couldn’t just stay back and waste away in a make-believe safety." — Sadly, in this world, not many people are as brave and true as Rakan.

In the Tower, there were some people who had lots of perks and lived as if they were in a party all the time, not caring about what was happening in the world. They chose to ignore the harsh truths of such a desolate and tough world, either because they were scared or just didn’t want to face it.

At the entrance of Mantidale, the usual red warning sign wasn’t there. Instead, there was a weird little building, and the ones guarding it weren’t humans but several mutants dressed formally.

These mutants looked more like women, with faces like human females. They had styled hair that showed their smooth necks, thin waists, and wore old-fashioned long dresses.

When Kestrel and her group got there, one of the mutants, who was flipping through a book with her green, sharp, blade-like arm, looked up.

"Do we have guests?" she asked in a human language, giving them a polite smile. "To go into Mantidale, you’ll need to sign in with me first."

She had a calm voice, and her face was pretty. She was graceful as she said, "Follow me, you can call me Lady Greenwing."

Kestrel only noticed how tall she was when she stood up - she was over three meters tall, much taller than a human. She had thin wings on her back, and under her dress, there were several thin back legs. She moved in a way that was smooth and elegant, giving off a creepy but intriguing kind of beauty.

Despite her friendly look, Kestrel and her group could recognize her face and the building she was in from a picture Rakan had shown them before. It was this mantis-like lady who had taken a gruesome photo of herself. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

In that photo, with a smile that looked so innocent and kind, she violently killed a whole team of alphas, impaling them onto sharp stakes and letting them suffer and bleed to death, all while she smiled and took photos on the side.

"We have three ladies and three men, right?"

Lady Greenwing brought out an old-fashioned paper book to record their details, using her finger as a pen dipped in ink.

As Kestrel looked closely, she noticed that Lady Greenwing was writing in an ancient human language that most people didn’t remember anymore. The writing was blocky and simple but also quite pretty.

"What brings you to our Mantidale?"

"We have some things to trade," Raymond said, opening a box they had brought with them. Inside were carefully arranged stacks of silk clothes, all of them were hand-stitched and really fancy, truly luxurious.

"Oh, this is exactly what we needed. You guys are really thoughtful guests," Greenwing said, covering her mouth as she laughed.

"Just keep in mind, to have a good time in Mantidale, you need to follow Mantidale’s rules."

"For women, the rules are: no killing, no stealing, and no forcing yourself on the male."

"The rules for guys are a bit more detailed," she said, pulling out several pages decorated with golden borders from a drawer and gave them to Raymond, Rakan, and Ren. "Breaking the rules can get you into big trouble, so make sure to remember them all and follow them seriously."

The stack of papers contained many rules, covering things like what clothes to wear, how to behave, and which places they were allowed to go to. These rules were very detailed and complex.

Luckily, they had already gotten ready for this by learning the rules by heart. With serious faces, the three alphas took the papers from her.

"Also, the clothes you’re wearing now aren’t suitable here. In Mantidale, guys need to show off their good looks and should wear our special traditional clothes, not these unattractive trousers that don’t match our traditions," Lady Greenwing said, still smiling brightly. "If you want to come in, you have to change clothes in the changing rooms first."

Olivia had to stifle a happy cough. In the Empire, being classified as an alpha or beta was the most important thing, so all of them were considered alphas without any differences. But in Mantidale, gender mattered more, which meant the men were seen as less important and needed to try to make the women happy.

To enter without any issues, the three men had to follow these local customs, even though they didn’t really want to.

Even after the tiring trip they took to get here, everyone felt a bit relaxed seeing Ren, Rakan, and Raymond wearing the unique short outfits from Mantidale with shy faces, which helped to lessen the serious mood a bit.

"And they have to do it in front of two betas," Olivia thought with a sly smile, letting out a soft whistle.