Just as the loitering clothes on the floor turned into particles and vanished into seemingly thin air, Aiden noticed that the red dots standing before the entrance formed into a four-man group and approached the entrance with a steady but wide-stepped pace.

Giving a gentle pat on the little girl’s head who seemed to be already back to gently resting and even snoozing off, he donned his usual calm smile, pulled the hood slightly back, and hurriedly equipped the faceless black mask he had from before. The same faceless mask that he wore many times before, and could always fit even the strangest facial changes and transformations once again appeared over his face, leaving only two small slits for his golden gaze to shine through.

*CRREEAK!*

The old wooden door creaked as it was pushed from the outside, slowly giving way into the outside force and allowing entry for the shining metal armored Temple Guard’s force to step inside.

A slightly larger Draconic Skink stood at the center surrounded by three other ones. His scales were of a deeper shade of orange closer to a brighter crimson than anybody else Aiden had seen before. He was slightly larger, taller, and even bulkier than the rest, sporting the size of an average-looking dwarf, gaining at least a full head over its brethren. A large bright yellow fin-like comb stood proudly at the top of his head, protruding through his most likely specially designed helmet as well. 

Though he was undoubtedly an officer, a higher rank than the rest, he was still using a large javelin-looking spear-like weapon as a walking aide, rather than the usual one-handed swords Aiden would have been expecting. At the same time, the subordinates that came along with him were each holding onto a similar-looking one albeit made from a lesser quality material without any adornments on it.

The captain’s armor was also of higher quality material as instead of the usual metallic bright shine, it had a dull, darker tone, with a strange roaring dragon-head-shaped insignia etched at the center of his chest plate.

Even his tail, which was also slightly thicker and longer had some armored plates covering it from the top, with a few spikes adding more damaging potential during fights.

“[Reptilian] HALT!” The man roared as they took a couple of steps into the room and arrived at the center of the empty first floor. He looked at the hooded commoner-looking filthy peddler and the spawnling hanging from his neck with a disdainful, contemptuous look as he scoffed and asked arrogantly.

“[Reptilian] YOU!” He pointed the tip of his weapon in his direction, his eyes shining with a cold, heartless glint. “IDENTIFY YOURSELF! Who are you and what are you doing here? Where’s the innkeeper?!” He yelled, yet as he finished he already seemed to grow irritated and exclaimed further. “[Reptilian] SPEAK NOW, or we would take you and your child away for questioning! I can guess you wouldn’t want that, right?!”

As he finished speaking the two guards at his side stepped forward, and pointed their weapons threateningly at the unknown hooded figure. They sneered at the man, already expecting to be quite fearful and most likely trembling under the cover of the ugly-looking fabric of his hood. 

“[Reptilian] You there, pull that hood down and reveal yourself!” They yelled at Aiden’s figure. Poking their spears in his direction in the air just to give an even bigger threat.

Though sneering inside at these creatures trying to act though, Aiden didn’t show any of that emotion on the outside. He slumped his shoulders and was leaning slightly forward hunching down, playing the role of a powerless, weak refugee. He gently caressed the top of the snoring Tolliah’s head as he nodded and bowed towards the direction of the guards.

“[Reptilian] Y-yes, my g-good sirs!” He hurriedly exclaimed, and pulled his hood completely down, revealing only his masked face. 

A deep frown appeared over the guard captain’s face as he looked at the strange-looking dark mask that still somehow covered the face of this unknown figure. Still, he wasn’t here to waste time on some worthless filth in the Slums. He scoffed and clicked his tongue signaling his annoyance, before raising his right hand in the air silencing the already growling dogs that were his accompanying guards.

“[Reptilian] Count yourself lucky that I have no time to waste on the likes of you. Still, next time you are asked to show yourself, that means everything that you wear over your head, even the mask!” He scoffed again, before coughing as a means to change the subject.

He turned his head to the left and then to the right as if searching for somehow he was looking around, before finally asking with a frown.

“[Reptilian] You… what is your name, commoner?” He asked arrogantly.

“[Reptilian] S-Sorak good sir… My name is S-Sorak… I came with a couple of others from far aw-” Aiden spoke with a humble tone, stuttering along the way to show his ‘subservience’ and ‘frightened’ attitude, playing his role to the best of his abilities. 

It seemed to be working as the captain raised his hand mid-sentence and silenced him with an exclamation.

“[Reptilian] Stop it, I don’t care about your sob story! Answer the question I asked before Sorak. Where is the innkeeper?!” The captain asked again with a visible tone of annoyance in his voice.

Looking shocked and surprised by the question, the masked figure, Aiden swayed his head wildly as he responded swiftly with the same faked frightened stutter.

“[Reptilian] I-…. I d-don’t know g-good sirs! When we arrived at the city, we stopped by this inn hoping to ask for shelter for the night but there was nobody here, I swear! My daughter and I was just pondering about what to do whilst the rest went looking around for another place to stay.” Aiden spoke, bowed, and looked at the ground. 

Taking a few seconds to allow the guards to process his words he continued.

“[Reptilian] As I am certain you are all aware, finding a place to stay on these streets is not an easy task, especially if you have a small child to feed as well. They are still searching for a roof whilst I decided to stay hoping that the owner would come in the meantime.”

Aiden sighed melancholically as he reached this point. Shaking his head as he slowly raised his gaze and looked at the arrogant-looking overly proud guard captain.

“[Reptilian] Sadly, I was unsuccessful so far, as nobody came before you, good sirs!”

Ending his speech, Aiden kept his bowed, subservient posture, whilst holding onto little Tolliah, he acted as respectfully as he could.

He wanted to avoid any trouble, that would only cause further complications to their plans. Killing off a regiment alongside its probably well-known captain wouldn’t help them in any way…

—

>>>Check out my latest novel: The Strongest Demon Lord in the Modern World<<

It’s an urban modern-day styled story, with a reverse transmigrated (‘Banished’) immortal entity from the fantastical world of Nova!

Planned Tags and Genre:  # CULTIVATION  # R18  # BETRAYAL  # TRANSMIGRATION  # URBAN  # ACTION  # ANTIHERO  # OVERPOWERED (romance maybe at some later point)

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Links:

https://discord.link/Shaele

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