An Owl's Rise

After several days of flying, Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee finally were able to see their destination on the horizon.

"Let's land here and walk the rest of the way. We'll attract far too much attention flying in." Lucia said, beginning to descend towards a road below them.

Evelyn and her compassion followed suit and soon enough the five of them had touched down on solid ground.

"Gah, it just doesn't feel natural. I hate flying on this thing." Bylur said, holding out the aerial disk they had been using instead of their wings.

In order to blend in as humans, they could not bring out their wings to fly as they normally would and were having to use magic tools just like the people of this world did.

Despite often being at odds with each other, Rehni readily agreed with Bylur on this point. As creatures meant to soar freely, it was weird to use a tool to do something they usually did naturally.

"Sorry but the two of you are just going to have to get used to it. Using your wings is a quick way to expose all of us." Lucia said unsympathetically. She could not fly normally anyway and always had to rely on a magic tool.

As for Evelyn and Aralee, they got by using wind magic to fly. They of course had been given the option to use aerial disks if they wanted, but both of them decided to use their own magic instead since they disliked the feeling of using the flying magic tool.

"Now let's get going. The city is just a few more kilometers ahead. Once we've entered, we will need to get accommodations and find a job that will bring us into Laigi Sect's territory.

With Lucia in the lead, the five of them marched down the road until the city's western gate came into view.

Lined up for several hundreds of meters were other people trying to enter the city. Most of them were driving carts, though a few were on foot just like Evelyn's crew.

"I can understand your hostility towards humans but try to keep your emotions under control. Anyone with decently sharp intuition will sense the animosity you are emitting." Lucia said.

She could tell that Evelyn's rage was building just from looking at people from afar. After what had happened to her even just the sight of humans was enough to set her off.

"Sorry, I'll try to keep it together." Evelyn responded before taking a deep breath to calm down.

Once Evelyn was no longer radiating killing intent, their group continued forward and took their place at the back of the line.

Thankfully things moved along fairly quickly, and within just around a half hour they managed to make it to the gate.

"Entrance Fee." One of the four guards manning the gate said.

He was slightly above average height with brown hair and a few days' worth of unshaved stubble.

As for his armor, he was wearing a metal breastplate that looked like it had not been polished in months and his weapon was a spear tipped with some sort of yellow metal that gave off a sinister vibe.

"Here this should cover the five of us." Lucia said, taking out a small pouch and handing it over.

The guard opened the bag filled with fifteen green magic crystals and motioned for them to enter.

Without being asked for any sort of identification, or being checked in anyway, Evelyn and the others made it into the city.

"That was surprisingly easy. I can't believe that all we had to do was hand over a few magic crystals to get in." Evelyn said, having expected more.

"Yes, the ease of entry was why I chose this nation. The Usturg Federation is known for their lax policies. If we tried to enter any of the sects within the Tyrannis Union the same way, we would have been put under a great deal of scrutiny. However, by stopping here in the city of Taidale, we can lay the necessary groundwork to enter the Jaigi Sect without arousing any suspicion." Lucia explained.

Now that they had entered the city without issue, Lucia told them all to be on the lookout for a hotel they could stay at.

It took a few minutes, but Evelyn eventually spotted a place that looked decent enough and they reserved three rooms for four days.

Once they had their rooms, they all crammed into one to further discuss their plans.

"Now, we are going to need to obtain some identification that we can use in the Tyrannis Union. They don't let people in as easily as they do here."

"I understand that part, but you also said something about picking up a job to help us get in without drawing as much attention to ourselves. What exactly will that entail?" Rehni asked.

"Well, there are a few types of people that will be travelling from here to the Jaigi Sect. Merchants are likely the most common, but it could also be individuals with family both here and in the Union and want to purchase a little extra security during their travels. Our goal will be to get hired as guards for someone going from this city to the Jaigi Sect territory."

"Yeah, but how are we going to do that? It's not like we are well known around here. Who is going to hire us as guards in the next few days?" Bylur said, a confused expression on his face.

"It just so happens that the Usturg Federation is home to an association specialized in finding soldiers for hire work. Most of the actually strong fighters in this nation are actually apart of this organization rather than working directly for the state. We should have little problem getting registered with them and finding someone looking for protection on the road."

Having finished giving her explanation, Lucia got up and beckoned for Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee to follow. It was time for them to go out and familiarize themselves with the city.

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