Air whirled past Kori as he rode on Akira in Wolf form with Elizabeth. Akira had offered to transport them to the capital. She couldn’t go full speed because of her wound, but she sped up the travel ten-fold. They might reach the Imperial Capital by tomorrow afternoon.

“Akira, how are you holding up?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m doing fine. Thanks.”

“You’re really fast considering your wound you know?”

“I have an affinity with the Wind. That helps a lot. I can summon the winds to assist me.”

“I see. Want to take a break at the nearest town?”

“Yeah sure. I’m starving.”

Kori said, “Next town is right there, right past that next hill. It's called Rivendare, the Land of the Dead.”

“What's with that name?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well, its supposedly built on a big battlefield from the Great Holy War. The amount of Demons and Demon Beasts that died there made the area rich in mana, but since lots of humans died there too, its known to have a lot of undead. When someone dies there, they have to burn the body instead of burying it as for it to not turn into an undead.”

“Scary place huh?”

“Indeed. But it hasn’t spawned an undead in decades. It will be fine.”

They approached the Land of the Dead with Akira back in human form as darkness crawled into the sky. The surrounding land was… quite unexpected from the “Land of the Dead.” Flowers and grass were everywhere trees stood tall and strong. Mana was rich in the air after all. Mana was the very essence of life.

They reached the front gates, and the guards halted them. “Identifications please.”

Kori asked, “An Adventurer’s License works right?”

“Of course.”

Kori and Elizabeth showed the licenses and were allowed to pass. But there was one problem. Akira didn’t have any identification. “Ah, can you please let this one pass with a temporary ID or something? She lost hers while fighting Demon Beasts…”

“Hmm… alright. I’ll notify the lord of this. Here you go. If you cause any trouble in the city with a temporary ID, you will be immediately banished so please be careful.”

We thanked the guards as we entered the city. Akira was pouting. “Hmph. These lowly humans think they can contain me? I will show them no mercy…”

“Hey hey hey. Let's try not to cause any trouble here alright? Akira please just restrain yourself a bit.”

“Please. You talk as if I have no self-control. I know that much common sense.” Someone bumped into Akira as she said that.

“Hey! Watch it kid.” Akira glared at him with deadly piercing eyes. Her brilliant blue eyes seemed to glow with bloodlust. She grit her teeth as she said, “Do not touch me, you filthy human.”

“Ah? Whatcha just say to me? Do you have a death wish? Wanna go?”

“Hmph. Alright. I’ll take you on.”

“Akira…”

“What? He’s challenging me. I’m defending myself. I won’t go too far.” The old man and Akira moved into a dark alley way where no one else would be around. Five minutes later Akira emerged by herself with bloody hands. She licked it right off with a satisfied face.

“Akira, you said you wouldn’t go too far! You didn’t kill him, did you?” Elizabeth sounded worried.

“Of course not… well maybe. I got a little excited. Sorry."

“Akira!”

“It doesn’t matter. Let's just find a place to stay for the night.”

“How much money do we even have?” Kori asked.

They all went through their pockets. Kori and Elizabeth had 25 copper each. Akira however… had 10 gold.

“Holy- How do you have so much money?”

“I took them from people who attacked my family. The only thing I knew was that this was some form of currency I didn’t realize it was so much.”

“Well I guess we won’t have any money problems for a bit.”

“Yeah. Let’s go find a nice inn. With a hot spring!” Elizabeth said.

“And big rooms.” Kori added.

“That'll be 1 gold for a night.”

Kori and Elizabeth had a shocked look on their face as the receptionist confirmed the cost for our stay. Akira however, how had no concept of money, just calmly handed her one of her gold coins.

“Thank you very much! Here’s your room key. The hot springs are down there, and the training room over there. Have a good stay!”

The three of them headed to their rooms to unpack their things and unlocked the door. The room was absolutely massive. It couldn’t even be called a room anymore. This is just a luxurious small house. Elizabeth of course, wasn’t very fazed since she comes from a rich household.

There was a living room, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and all of them are very luxurious. It almost made the gold coon seem cheap. Almost. They unpacked their things and immediately headed to the hot springs. They went their separate ways. Akira had refused to take off her clothes. She said it was like cutting off all her fur. Though Elizabeth had convinced her eventually. Kori went into the spring, careful not to dip his hands into the water, even if he had his gloves on. That would be disastrous.

They all had a nice and relaxing soak in the springs, except, Akira didn’t realize that the difference between the sexes – especially when they’re both nude – was this big for humans. She had almost gotten them all in big trouble by walking into the men's bath. Akira didn’t kill anybody else as well which was a relief. The hot spring must have really calmed her down.

After a nice soak, they all went into their respective rooms, and fell asleep with the lingering feeling of the warm hot spring water on their skin. As they peacefully slept through the wretched night where large and ferocious Demon Beasts came out of the dark and devour unsuspecting travelers like themselves, an unexpected horror that will decimate all of Rivendare, unseen for decades, is slowly awakening.