A stolen chariot, zero legal identification, and a squad of elite city guards pointing sharp spears directly at your chest.
For any ordinary traveler, this specific layout would translate into an immediate, high-velocity panic attack.
But Kaelen wasn’t an ordinary traveler.
As the echoes of the lead guard’s command faded under the stone archway of Oakhaven, the tense midnight atmosphere didn’t break.
Instead, the flickering orange torchlight illuminated the painted emblem of the Night Eagles mercenary guild on the side panel of their transport—the ultimate, flashing red beacon of suspicion.
“Stop them right there!” a commanding voice barked from the deep shadows at the rear of the gatehouse.
Two guards on duty immediately stepped out from the shadow of the wall, their expressions hardening into pure suspicion.
Clank!
In a clean, synchronized motion, the guards leveled their heavy iron spears directly at Kaelen on the front row, blocking the chariot’s path entirely.
“Halt!” the muscular guard commanded, his deep voice echoing aggressively under the stone archway as his sharp eyes locked onto the suspicious, hooded figure holding the reins.
Kaelen braced his boots and pulled back sharply on the leather reins, forcing the massive, armored dray-beasts pulling the transport to dig their hooves into the ground.
The heavy iron wheels of the stolen chariot ground to a sudden, violent halt, scraping loudly against the cobblestones.
Under the flickering, orange glow of the gateway torches, the cold midnight atmosphere instantly hardened into a tense, high-velocity standoff.
Then, two tall sentries stepped out completely from the deep shadows of the ancient white-stone archway, carrying long, polished halberds.
These were the men running the entire sector checkpoint: Lead Commander Gerald and his assistant commander, Mike.
The lead commander, Gerald, was a hulking, six-foot mountain of a man whose heavy iron plate armor looked stretched to its absolute physical limits over his broad, muscular frame.
Beside him stood Mike, the assistant commander—a medium-tall sentry who seemed completely unbothered by the freezing valley wind.
He was casually holding a small, polished hand-mirror, checking his reflection under the torchlight with an air of intense vanity before snapping his sharp eyes toward the cart.
“Hands where we can see them!
Step out of the vehicle immediately!” Gerald commanded, his deep voice booming aggressively under the stone archway as his grip tightened on his halbert.
Mike lowered his hand-mirror, his eyes narrowing into pure, unadulterated suspicion as he scanned the kitted-out knight, the trembling healer, and the mysterious boy in the dark cloak.
“We’ve got a high-alert layout here, Gerald.
Look at the side panels—that’s a registered black-market syndicate emblem.
They’re driving a Night Eagles mercenary chariot, and they’ve got their faces completely covered up.
For all we know, these freaks could be high-level spies smuggled in directly from the Demon King’s forces.”
Before Mike could step any closer with his spear leveled, Lisa let out a heavy sigh, pulling back the deep fabric of her traveling hood to reveal her face beneath the torchlight.
“Uncle, Mike—stand down,” Lisa called out, “It’s me, Lisa.”
The guards froze.
Mike squinted through the flickering light, his tense, defensive posture suddenly evaporating into complete disbelief.
“Wait…
Lady Lisa?
that actually you?”
Gerald’s harsh expression instantly lightened up, a massive, booming laugh escaping his chest as he lowered his halberd by a fraction.
“Well, holy metrics!
Lisa, it’s been an absolute age!
How did your last mission go?
Where exactly did the kingdom send you this time?”
“The Borderlands of the Southern and Eastern continents,” Lisa replied, her shoulders slumping with a tired, official nod as she completely relaxed her stance.
” I was sent to investigate the level of the demon King’s corruption there.
A total nightmare.”
“Sure sounds like a highly risky mission,” Gerald muttered, his brow furrowing in genuine respect.
The surrounding sentries relaxed visibly, clearly pleased to see a high-ranking knight returning to the metropolis in one piece.
But the brief moment of relief didn’t last.
Mike’s eyes darted past Lisa’s armor, shifting sharply onto Kaelen, who was still sitting calmly on the front driver’s bench.
His gaze turned icy and deeply distrustful, his hand automatically dropping back toward his sword hilt.
Out of the entire party, Kae looked by far the shadiest—draped in a sleek, Phantom Black Cloak with his hands resting casually on the reins, displaying absolutely zero fear in front of the city vanguard.
“Alright, Lady Lisa, we trust your metrics,” Mike said, his voice dropping into a low, cautious rumble as he pointed a finger directly at Kae’s chest.
“But where on earth did you find him and how did you acquire this asset?
He looks like a high-tier rogue straight out of a dark guild.”
Lisa’s face instantly flushed with embarrassment, her hands waving frantically in front of her visor.
“Oh!
Him?
It’s…
complicated.
And about the chariot, we actually confiscated this luxury transport from the Night Eagles bandit squad that ambushed us down the road.”
Gerald’s thick eyebrows twitched violently in pure disbelief.
“You mean to tell me…
you stole it from a licensed mercenary syndicate?”
“No!
No, absolutely not!” Lisa cried out , instantly shoving her head down in absolute denial, her body language radiating total flustered panic.
“We needed an immediate ride or we would have literally died in the middle of the wilderness!” Lisa explained rapidly, her voice cracking slightly under the pressure.
“Our stamina rations were completely depleted, we were entirely out of supplies, and then—by some absolute stroke of blind luck—they just showed up.
They surrounded us, tried to asset-strip us, threatened to delete us from existence, and then Kae just…
well, he beat them up thoroughly.
One thing led to another, and that’s how we got here.”
He turned his gaze back toward the cargo bed, his analytical eyes scanning the team.
“So, who exactly are these people traveling with you, Lady Lisa?”
Mike shot a warm, charming smile toward Karen, making the shy healer adjust her round glasses nervously.
But the exact millisecond his eyes slid over to meet Kaelen’s demeaning glare, his facial muscles locked into an icy frown.
Kae didn’t even blink.
He leaned back against the wooden driver’s bench, looking down at the guard with supreme executive detachment.
“What’s with that look on your face?
You don’t like me?
Great.
Because I don’t care.”
Mike’s face turned a vibrant shade of angry pink.
He violently began rubbing his sharply groomed mustache, his posture shaking with irritation as he muttered under his breath, “Loud-mouthed brat…”
Lisa completely freaked out, her internal anxiety spiking to an absolute maximum after Kae shot those cold words directly at the city guard.
She quickly stepped between them, her hands raised defensively.
“Please, forgive his inappropriate attitude!
It’s been an incredibly long day, we’ve been running at maximum capacity, and we’re…
we’re just completely exhausted, okay?”
Gerald looked at Lisa, pointing his thumb toward the Kae.
“You sure these people are with you?”
Lisa nodded rigidly, her voice full of unbending authority.
“Yes.
They are my friends.”
Just then, Mike’s sharp gaze spotted a small, luxurious ball of pitch-black fluff curled up fast asleep on top of a travel bag in the front row.
Pixel was completely zoned out, her white-tipped tail giving a slow, rhythmic twitch as she enjoyed her mid-journey nap.
Intrigued, Mike walked straight over to the side panel of the chariot, leaning over the edge and reaching his hands out to grab her.
“What do we have here?
Is this some kind of high-value magical familiar?”
Kae didn’t even try to stop him physically.
He just watched with a smug, lethal expression as Mike’s fingers closed around the cat’s midsection.
“Hey.
I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
That is a really bad idea.”
“What’s not a good idea—” Mike began, turning his head back toward Kaelen with a smug grin.
He never got to finish the sentence.
The exact millisecond Mike lifted her off the bag, Pixel’s amber eyes snapped wide open, flashing with absolute, terrifying malice.
Rip!
In a fraction of a millisecond, her front claws extended with a metallic click, tearing violently across Mike’s hand before transitioning into a lightning-fast, horizontal swipe right across his face.
“OUCH!” Mike screamed at the top of his lungs, his high-pitched screech echoing wildly under the stone archway.
He dropped the cat instantly, stumbling backward as he clutched his face in absolute agony.
“You little demon…!
My mustache!
My beautiful face!” He frantically yanked his hand-mirror out of his pocket, peering into the polished glass with horror.
The clean, sharp edge of the mustache he loved so much was completely distorted, a chunk of the hair entirely missing alongside three neat, bloody scratches across his cheek.
Pixel landed flawlessly on her paws back on top of the boulder, puffing out her chest defensively as her tail flicked with insufferable superiority.
“That is exactly what you get when your hands are too grabby,” Pixel’s sharp, haughty telepathic voice suddenly rang out like a loud, distorted radio signal directly inside Kaelen, Lisa, and Karen’s minds.
“Let it be known across this entire world that I am not to be held by weirdos like a stuffed animal, okay?
That was a basic warning.
Next time, I am taking your skin off entirely.”
Mike was now standing there with a lopsided, half-destroyed mustache, looking absolutely ridiculous under the torchlight.
The sheer structural damage to his vanity was so immense that Gerald couldn’t contain himself anymore.
The hulking six-foot lead guard let out a massive, thunderous roar of laughter, clutching his iron breastplate as his shoulders shook violently.
Karen and Lisa both bit their lips hard, their faces turning completely red as they bubbled up into a muffled, hysterical chuckle, desperately trying not to openly mock the guard.
Mike’s eyes bulged as he whipped his head toward Kaelen, his blood boiling with pure, unadulterated rage.
“You!
You planned this entire data breach, you scrawny kid!”
Kae offered a cold, satisfied smirk, lazily dusting off the sleeves of his Phantom Black Cloak.
“Told ya.”
“You didn’t tell me anything, you absolute liar!” Mike shouted, his voice hitting a comical octave as he stomped his leather boot.
“I pretty much tried to warn you ,” Kae countered smoothly, looking at him with supreme executive detachment.
“I explicitly told you not to touch her, but you refused to listen.”
“But you said nothing specific!” Mike replied angrily, his chest heaving.
“You just said ‘that’s not a good idea’!”
“Well, one data point is infinitely better than nothing,” Kae shrugged dryly.
“This was a complete setup!” Mike screamed, his face turning a bruised shade of purple as he looked into his mirror again. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
“You knew she was a vicious, high-aggro monster who reacted violently to physical touches, but you let me get scratched regardless just so you could laugh at me, right?!”
Kae didn’t even bother listening to the rest of his sentence.
He casually turned his back on the guard, adjusting his cuffs with a sharp, deliberate snap of his wrists.
He paused for a brief second, threw a glance over his shoulder, and muttered, “Uh…
did you say something?
The audio quality on your side is dropping.”
“Your cat ruined my beautiful face!” Mike shrieked, completely enraged as the surrounding sentries continued to snicker.
Gerald finally wiped a tear of laughter from his eye, stepping between the feuding pair and turning to Lisa.
“Alright, let’s wrap up the intake compliance.
Do these two actually possess any city identification clearance cards?”
Lisa cleared her throat nervously, her posture slumping.
“Nah.
They don’t.”
“Fine,” Gerald sighed, waving a massive hand toward the iron-reinforced portcullis.
“We’ll let them pass into the inner city this once without IDs, strictly because Lady Lisa is vouching for the party network.
But next time, there will be zero exceptions.”
“Perfect,” Kae smirked, immediately stepping up to mount the front driver’s seat of the cargo transport.
“Not so fast, boy,” Gerald commanded, planting his massive halberd firmly in front of the wheel layout.
“The chariot stays right here for deep structural inspection.
After all, this is registered mercenary property.
Who knows what kind of illegal black-market assets could be hidden inside these crates?
We’ll return the vehicle to your possession once the logistics team clears it.”
Kaelen’s smirk vanished.
The team sighed in defeat, stepping onto the cobblestones and quickly hauling their personal travel packs, iron weapons, and essential gold pouches out of the storage boxes, leaving the rest of the heavy gear behind.
Gerald turned toward the gatehouse, raising his hand.
“Open the main gates!”
With a heavy, mechanical groan of grinding chains and iron gears, the massive portcullis slowly began to rise, revealing the glowing neon expanse of the metropolis beyond.
As the group began walking through the threshold, Gerald hollered over his shoulder one last time.
“Lisa!
Remember to get these people some proper identification cards first thing in the morning, okay?”
“Sure will do!
Thanks, Uncle!” Lisa called back, waving her armored hand.
As Kaelen crossed the final threshold into the stone archway, he paused, turned his head toward the fuming guard, and shot a lazy, two-finger mock salute directly at Mike—his face painted with an extremely annoying, insufferable smirk.
Mike looked like he was about to physically combust, left standing under the torches, he clutched his mirror in his hand, bitterly murmuring completely unintelligible curses to himself as the gate slammed shut behind them.
As they took their first steps past the massive iron gates, the cold, suffocating silence of the wilderness was instantly obliterated.
It didn’t even feel like midnight; it felt like the middle of a blazing, hyper-active day.
The city of Oakhaven stretched out before them in a breathtaking labyrinth of light and sound.
Massive, towering buildings constructed from smooth white stone and reinforced with dark timber rose high into the night sky, their windows glowing with warm wizard-fire and steady mana lamps.
The streets weren’t dusty dirt roads—they were wide, meticulously laid cobblestones, completely swarming with a massive, diverse crowd.
Everywhere they looked, merchants were loudly shouting out their midnight sales from underneath glowing fabric awnings.
Human travelers, demi-humans with twitching animal ears, and heavily armored adventurers walked side by side, weaving through crowded pathways filled with open-air shops, bustling hotels, and rowdy underground clubs throwing colorful light onto the streets.
Heavy patrols of royal guards armor-clad and holding glowing crystal spears marched in tight formations, keeping the peace in the vibrant chaos.
Both Kaelen and Karen stopped dead in their tracks, their travel packs suddenly slipping slightly from their shoulders.
Their mouths fell wide open as their eyes darted from one magnificent, glowing structure to another, completely overwhelmed by the sheer scale and beauty of the town’s layout.
“Wow…” Karen breathed, her eyes sparkling behind her round glasses as she stared at a massive fountain throwing magically colored blue and purple water into the air.
Lisa stopped ahead of them, turning around with a proud, sweeping gesture of her hands, a bright smile breaking across her face.
“Welcome to Oakhaven, team.”
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed slightly as his internal processor attempted to log the sheer volume of data flooding his senses.
The city didn’t just look alive; it felt like a massive, overclocked engine running at absolute peak capacity.
He tracked the blue mana lines pulsing visibly through the white-stone walls, humming with a low frequency that vibrated right through the soles of his leather boots.
In his previous environment, darkness meant downtime, a universal signal to lower operational metrics and conserve power.
Here, the night was a commodity, thoroughly weaponized by merchants and high-level entities alike to maximize their daily economic layout.
Right on cue, Pixel let out a long, dramatic yawn from her perch on Kaelen’s shoulder.
She stretched her small black paws forward, flexing her tiny claws before her haughty, telepathic voice broadcasted directly into all of their minds with a pathetic, agonizing whine.
“I am so incredibly hungry I could literally eat a whole cow.
If my stomach metrics drop any further, I might drop dead.”
Lisa sweat-dropped, a single bead of moisture appearing at her temple as she let out a defeated laugh.
“Okay, well, that settles the priority list.
Since we are all completely exhausted and starving, here is the plan: we are going to check into a lodging house, secure some food, and spend the night resting.
First thing in the morning, we’ll head straight over to the Silver Sieve Guild to handle your paperwork.
What do you say?
Who’s with me?”
Instantly, Karen’s hand shot into the air, followed closely by Kaelen, who gave a silent, tired nod.
“Perfect.
Follow me,” Lisa said, turning on her heel and leading them down a slightly narrower, lively side street.