Chapter 848 Arriving At Sapphire Temple
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After half a day of flying across the skies, at the distance, we were able to see a large city, surrounded by huge walls made of stone. It seemed rather similar to the Ruby Palace city, but one key difference is that it lacked a huge palace where the Lord lived, and instead had an enormous temple, built using blue colored stones.
It must be the Temple of the Goddess of Water, where the church operates. I doubt the church is going to be anything by friendly, and they might be already in cahoots with Vampires for all I know. But our first mission there is to investigate things.
In Ruby Palace things were easier because we happened to find those kids, which pretty much helped us learn everything, but we don't know if there's the same thing in this place.
"Alright Akhenaton, get inside my shadow for now."
"Very well, Master."
The Pharaoh instantly merged into my shadows to hide from the public. A huge skeleton like him was bound to bring attention.
Fabian and his friends looked a bit odd as well, but they could still be thought to be Majin or Beast People, which weren't that common, but that we did see in Ruby Palace.
"Look! Silva look!" Nyx was excited about the city. "We can see it already! Papa's bringing us there! It's the Saphir… palace thing!"
"Wooow!" Silva seemed just as amazed to discover a new place.
She and Nyx had already become good friends, they seemed to be around a similar age too, so it was rather easier for them to get along. And although Fabian was friendly with them, he was much more interested in his revived friends now.
Of course, there was Takeshi and Laura, who were already very close with Nyx, and Silva was accepted just as easily as well.
"So this is the Sapphire Temple City." Takeshi said, rubbing his chin. "Hmm, I smell a lot of water, their Oasis is bigger than the one from Ruby Palace."
"Yeah,?but its odd…" Laura's eyes glowed brightly, utilizing her sight-enhancement abilities. "It seems… like they're surrounding the whole oasis with another wall? What in the world?"
"A wall?" I wondered. "Let's see…"
I opened my eyes more widely, and channeled Mana into them, and then many more eyes opened within my single eye thanks to my Gorgon's Eyes Skill.
And indeed, she was right. I noticed how their huge Oasis was surrounded by several gigantic walls, and the temple was right in front of it, the entire walls were guarded by many paladins.
This is odd… Why are they guarding the Oasis so much when it produces endless water with the artifact Akhenaton spoke about?
"It's really weird! Are they saving the water for themselves or something?" Nyx wondered. "That's a bit mean!"
"Catarina, have you been here before?" Emeraldine asked. "This is really strange."
"A few times, but I had no idea about that. I usually don't get that far from the suburbs, where I save people. Sometimes I give them food and stuff, and then just go off." Catarina shrugged. "But I have heard that for the last ten years, the church over there has become… increasingly corrupted. We should go and explore the place thoroughly."
"I agree." Lucifer nodded. "If this is like this, we need to find out what's happening. I am beginning to think that not only the Vampires are the problem in these cities anymore…"
"A church, huh? I-I hope they don't recognize me." Jonathan sighed.
"Well you're a handsome blonde man with shiny eyes! I think it would be hard to not be recognized as the hero of light and stuff!" Said Partner. "Make sure to at least wear a mask or something…"
"Ugh… Well, that's an option. I'll try to wear my helmet." Jonathan said, putting on a huge golden helmet.
"Wouldn't that bring even more attention to you?!" I asked in surprise. "You look like a Templar that came from a legendary crusade…"
"Is it really that bad?!" Jonathan panicked.
"I guess we are bound to get attention to your group, we all look very different and big… Myself included." Tear sighed. "Anyways, we're getting closer… Lucifer should go down if you don't want to scare the people."
"I know." Lucifer descended at a safe distance, as we made our way into the Sapphire Temple City by foot, reaching the gates, which were being guarded by a small group of guards.
"Well, well, this is quite the party, are you Adventurers? There's nothing much here. Our Dungeon's just filled with mummies." Said one of the guards.
"Yeah, I'm Adventurer Mary, nice to meet you." I tried to be polite. "Is there any entrance fee? Is showing our cards enough?"
"Even with adventurer licenses, the entrance fee is one silver per head." Said another guard.
"So expensive!" Partner said. "What? Is your damn city made of gold or something?!"
"Outsiders like you have no right to talk like that! Outsiders are the ones that need to pay, citizens can enter and go outside for free." Sighed another guard. "If you don't like it, you can come back from where you came from!"
"What did ya say?!" Partner was about to beat some sense into that guy, but I stopped her.
Money wasn't really a problem, so I didn't mind paying as much as they wanted anyways. I gave them a bag filled with enough silver coins to pay for all of us, and once they counted them, we were allowed inside.
"Please control the behavior of your little Majin friend, we don't like rude people here."
"Who are you calling Majin?!" Partner was looking for a fight again. "I am a- Mffgh?!"
I covered her mouth before she were to say something dumb, as we made our way inside the city. Vampires still count as Majin, but saying she's one so openly is bound to get us in trouble.
As we were already mixing with the crowd, Partner sighed, asking for forgiveness. She had been a bit hot-headed there.
"S-Sorry… I think the heat is making me a bit irritable."
"I can tell… Well, now that-"
"Please, anybody… can someone give my child some water?! He's dying! Please!"
Suddenly, a woman carrying a dehydrated, famished child started screaming in the middle of the crowd, nobody paying attention to her.
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