Chapter 20 - Gaze

Then, as Darius and Ashe approached from the gates of the city, the two guards which were in front of it stopped them.

They were simply doing their job which was to verify everyone that was coming into the city, especially in such a period when a lot of people were coming because of the Royal Academy Entrance Ceremony.

"You there! Stop running," shouted the man at both Ashe and Darius.

Hearing him, they both stopped running and they started walking in the direction of the guard as they didn't want to have problems when they were only arriving.

"It's one gold coin each to enter the Avalon Empire," said the guard as he handed out his hand.

The guard then watched the two of them, however, he seemed to paying attention to Darius in particular for no reason.

Darius who heard him smiled a little as he couldn't believe that there were actually using gold coins just like back in medieval movies.

Darius who had no money simply looked at Ashe, wanting for her to pay which was exactly what she did.

"Good luck," said the guard.

'Weird, why would he say that?'

Then, the guard moved away and let them enter the bustling Empire.

Everywhere that Darius looked he was shocked, this place was just amazing and there wasn't anything like it back on Earth.

On every street, there were small shops which sold weapons, skills, armour, and other things like that.

The architecture of such buildings made him think of the Middle Ages, it was as if he had gone back in time. However, he clearly hadn't.

He was just in a completely different world and he had to say that it felt great, to see so many new things since it wasn't only the buildings and the atmosphere which was different the people who were walking in the streets were especially different.

Some of them had long pointy ears, some had tails with ears, some had horns on their heads, and some had the same red eyes as him.

It seemed that there were Elves, Humans Beasts, Demons, and Vampires roaming the streets.

"So, where did you want to go?" asked Ashe, looking Darius in the eyes, worried about his future.

She had been smiling on the way here, but now that they had arrived, she couldn't but worry about him.

"We only have two days before the Entrance Ceremony, so you can decide what you want to do first."

Then, Darius nodded as he looked around himself trying to see what would be the best place to visit first.

Looking around he noticed that there were two big buildings which you go much higher than everything else in the Empire.

From a glance, one of them seemed to be the academy, and the other seemed to be somewhat religious. From Darius's point of view, it seemed to be a church.

'Seems like religions will never go away, even if you change worlds,' thought Darius, somewhat interested in who they were praying for.

However, he dismissed those thoughts as he had many more important things to do right now.

For example, he needed to find himself a weapon because he had given back the dagger to Ashe.

Then, after thinking for a little, Darius asked Ashe something.

"Where is the best weapons shop around here?"

Ashe hearing him wasn't surprised by his question as she showed a little smile on her lips.

"Don't you think that you're aiming too high?"

Darius hearing that answer shook his head as he really wanted the best, but he had to admit that there was also another problem.

He had no money.

He didn't have anything because all the monsters that he would kill would simply disappear without giving him anything.

So, he couldn't trade anything.

However, Darius who had thought that Ashe had finished speaking was surprised as he heard her voice once again.

"But I might know a place for you."

***

Ashe and Darius were now roaming in a small alley with nothing around them.

'Is this the spot that she's talking about?' thought Darius as he couldn't see anything around him.

However, Ashe didn't stop as she continued walking in this small alley, it seemed that they still hadn't reached their destination.

Then, as the two of them reached the end of this small alley, they arrived in front of what seemed to be an abandoned shop.

Ashe who had noticed the expression that Darius had on its face could only laugh.

"Ahaha, don't worry, it's much better inside it."

After saying that, the two of them entered the small run-down shop in search of weapons.

There was a small creaking noise as the two of them entered the shop, it seemed that the door wasn't in its best condition.

Nonetheless, Darius still had the same problem with money. Ashe knew about it too, but she hadn't said anything about it yet.

Darius also didn't want to depend on her too much, so he decided that he would try to make a deal with the seller.

Then, as the two of them entered the shop, Darius was shocked by how much cleaner it was inside compared to outside.

"See, I told you it wouldn't be so bad."

Darius hearing that nodded, as he looked around him, wanting to see what sort of shop he was in.

On both of his sides, there were many weapons, swords, daggers, spears, hammers, there was literally everything.

Darius, however, didn't care about all of that variety as he was already used to one weapon, the dagger.

So, he immediately went toward the dagger section.

Then, as he was about to take one of the daggers on the wall, a small person which he hadn't seen when coming interrupted him.

"Um, um, young man, what can I do for you today?"

Darius hearing that, looked around him but he didn't see anyone.

"Down there."

Then, Darius glanced down and finally saw a dwarf right there in front of him.

"Oh, and hello Ashe I see that you brought me another customer. How nice of you," said the dwarf, without any enthusiasm.

It seemed that Darius had interrupted whatever he had been doing.

"So, what are you looking for young man?"

"A dagger," responded Darius, cutting in straight to the point.

The dwarf hearing this passed his hands in his beard as he observed Darius with somewhat of a weird gaze.

A gaze which looked similar to the one the guard had given earlier.

Darius didn't know what was happening as he had simply wanted to buy a dagger.

"Is he one of those?" asked the dwarf looking at Ashe, with a complex look in his eyes, completely changing the subject.

"Yes, he is."

"Oh, how unlucky."

'What are they talking about?!'