The road to the Ariel Capital isn’t too bad according to Lia, just I don’t know what to expect after the people we just encountered. Luckily they weren’t hunters but I’m sure they might’ve been a problem somehow.

Crunch. Crunch.

My attention immediately shifts over to Lia as I notice her eating an apple.

"Have you had this the whole time?" I question.

"Yes, I do have to eat real food unlike you," Lia answers before continuing to eat her apple.

"My bad," I say softly.

She just continues to eat her apple as we push forward.

Nice beautiful trees surround us as we enter the forest, leaving the town behind. Nothing but death remains back there so it is best to move towards something.

The feeling from drinking blood is still lingering within me as well which is kind of good. I don’t know if we’ll encounter any other enemies or not while we are out here walking.

I don’t really want to chance anything with the way things have been going since I came back out into the world.

At least those voices have gone quiet for a little bit since we left the town... That alone is relief that I needed. I’m not sure I’d want Lia to think I’m going crazy during a time like this.

She did leave those idiots behind to join alongside me on my journey to the capital, or rather my journey to kill. She doesn’t really know my overall goal; Would it even matter if she did know it or not?

My goal would remain the same regardless of her knowing it.

Ahead of me I just manage to catch the glimpse of a carriage going the same direction as us.

"We are going the right way," Lia speaks before I can.

"I was about to say the same thing," I reply.

"That means we aren’t much further from the capital," Lia says calmly.

"Best to be on guard," I suggest.

"You’re worried when we are this close to it?" She questions with some confusion.

"People can lurk around with enough patience," I answer while keep one hand on the hilt of my sword.

We continue to push forward while keeping our guard up, seeing nothing but trees and the path forward. The carriage from before is already gone, not that it really matters.

Eventually we reach a nice clearing where you can actually see the giant capital in the distance. Giant walls surrounding the whole place as far as the eye can see, but a lingering castle sits at the top where you can just barely see it.

He can see over everything from up there, probably even over the walls a bit.

Guards seem to be posted up along the walls as well which is good for their defense. I can only wonder what kind of attack would even work against something so guarded.

"Doesn’t the sun bother you?" Lia asks quietly.

"Years of adapting made it less of a problem for us," I answer while looking forward.

"You guys really have been getting stronger in some ways as well," Lia says with a bit of shock in her voice.

"It wasn’t enough at the end of the day," I reply with a soft tone.

Years of adapting didn’t do anything for us when the humans came to attack our home so it doesn’t matter. It didn’t give us any advantages and us straying away from blood made everything even harder.

I don’t think I’ll ever skip out on blood like we did again. Lia has also been keeping me in a good place with the blood she spares me.

There should never be a chance of me getting weak like I was, but I’ll make sure to do everything in my power to get stronger. I’m coming for them no matter how long it takes me to do it.

Securing a place to call a base or just something that we can fall back to would also be smart.

Traveling aimlessly with nowhere to fall back to is definitely a big risk in itself. I’ll figure it all out with Lia regardless.... It doesn’t really matter as much right now.

I’m here to see what the capitals are like so I know how to move forward with everything. Hunters will probably be keeping an eye on me the moment they notice I enter the city here.

"The gate is ahead Dante," Lia says while pointing towards it.

"Hopefully they’ll allow us inside," I reply with a calm tone.

"There shouldn’t be a reason for them to deny us," Lia says with confidence.

"I’ll take your word," I reply while moving my hand away from my hilt.

I glance back to make sure no one is watching us; luckily we are on our own with no eyes lingering which means we shouldn’t have to worry yet.

Lia took the lead a little bit here since she knows a lot more than I do about the actual world.

It is interesting to be traveling with an elf when I didn’t even really know they existed originally. She carries herself well, even with everything that she went through since joining me.

Grab!

She takes my hand and drags me with her as we finally begin to approach the giant gate standing before us. You’d think it was meant for giants with how tall it is.

The guards by it also seem to be pretty heavily equipped with black steel armor that bares the crest of a lion on it.

One of them is holding a sword while the other keeps a rifle in hand. Close range and long range in one go, not a bad idea with the way things are.

"What business do you have here?" The guard asks with muffled, yet serious tone.

"We are here to seek help from the guild," Lia responds without any hesitation.

"I didn’t think anyone was coming out here for that today," He says with a surprised tone.

"It is urgent," She pushes.

"Alright let them in. I don’t really want to make someone wait for an urgent matter," He responds with no hesitation whatsoever.

"What is the urgent matter?" The other guard speaks up.

"My village is being attacked," Lia says with tears starting to form.

"Yeah, let them in!" He shouts.

She really did a good job persuading them to let us in.