Esdeath walked outside on the streets. The surroundings hadn't changed much from before; the same streets and shops lined the path. Of course, that was only the outer appearance.
In reality, many things had changed now.
The territory they were in right now was under the rule of barbarians. She could clearly see the barbarian guards walking around, their heavy armor and rough faces a constant reminder of the new power in the city.
It was also rumored that the currency was soon going to be changed. It would still be in gold, silver, and bronze coins, but the structure would symbolize the Vanara tribe's culture instead of the old kingdom's.
Since Esdeath and Lortell were both political figures and the place they were living now was quite controversial, it was a tense time. Specially when both Mourya and revolutionary leaders were sending her letters to join them almost on a daily basis. The pressure was constant.
Lortell, although thinking of leaving the place and shifting to the Church Kingdom instead, But since Maruti was also here, being the daughter of the current king, Mourya, she could be said to be the second princess of the kingdom. Thus, as long as she was with them, it was less likely that any problem would come for them.
Another palpable thing was the marriage rate. It had increased by about 110%.
Because the barbarians were a minority in their own ruling territory, even lower than beastmen, they were marrying at a rapid rate. They were having multiple wives, even from other races, to create the next batch of barbarians.
"Fuck, I purposely made her come half an hour early. Why isn't she here yet?" Esdeath muttered to herself, a feeling of annoyance growing inside her.
She had purposely told Maruti to come half an hour earlier than when she herself had planned to come, since Maruti always gets stuck with Kailith and others, who are always stalking her, and ends up being late every time.
But still, after coming half an hour late herself, she still couldn't find Maruti.
Esdeath turned her gaze, looking around. She saw the vegetable shops, the beggars on the street, and some orphan children running around.
Her eyes passed over one particular superstition shop that claimed to be able to purify ghosts and negative energy.
The man inside was doing weird poses and rituals, specially targeting women as witches to gain more sympathy from the people around him.
There was no doubt that he was a scammer, but of course, people were actually lined up, even after paying entry fees, just to tell him about their problems.
"Just medieval things..." Esdeath sighed to herself as she shifted her gaze somewhere else.
Only then, her gaze landed on the public execution area. People were gathered up to see the beheading of criminals and to watch them die miserably by hanging.
It was a grim spectacle, but a popular one. Esdeath's eyes slightly lit up, an idea forming in her mind.
"She might be there!" she said to herself, a spark of hope in her voice as she started walking towards the execution area, pushing through the crowd.
Esdeath pushed through the crowd who were at the very back, trying to stand on their tiptoes to get a better look at the execution area. As she pushed through, she reached a wooden barrier with two guards standing there. They immediately stopped her.
"Three bronze coins for the front row and one for the back, or you can pay with wheat or rice as well!" one of the guards said in a bored voice.
Esdeath didn't argue. She calmly took out three bronze coins and handed them over to the guard, knowing that if Maruti was here, she would definitely have chosen to be at the very front. The guard immediately made way for her.
Esdeath walked inside, leaving the noisy crowd behind her.
In just a few seconds, she could clearly see the front wooden stage with hanging and beheading tools placed on it, with three guards standing there quietly.
Esdeath turned her head around, and as expected, she spotted Maruti standing at the front side of the crowd with some random people, eager for the execution to start.
"There you are..." Esdeath sighed and walked towards Maruti and then—Smack!...
Esdeath lightly smacked Maruti's back of the head as she approached her. "What are you doing here? We were supposed to meet in front of that shop!" she said.
Maruti felt slightly surprised but then quietly rubbed the back of her head. "You were taking so long, so I decided to come here instead!" she said, not sounding sorry at all.
She then pointed to the stage with a wide smile. "I've been coming here frequently for the past few days. I always wanted to see executions in real life. It also feels so funny that they execute people for the weirdest reasons!" she said with a chuckle, like she was talking about some comedy show.
"Not interested. Let's go somewhere quiet to talk," Esdeath replied, exhaling with an exhausted expression, just wanting to get away from the morbid scene.
"I paid money. At least let me watch one. It is about to start. Just wait a second," Maruti replied, nodding her head to try and make Esdeath agree.
Esdeath only glared at her for a few seconds but then crossed her arms and looked towards the stage, deciding to stay for a minute. She knew Maruti wouldn't budge otherwise.
The next moment, a chubby man wearing a robe walked onto the stage, holding a chain that was tied to a woman's neck. They both came to the center of the stage, and then the chubby man started speaking, his voice booming over the crowd.
"This woman is not a noble, nor an awakened, yet she somehow, after just learning from the church's public classes, cleared mathematical problems that even men in higher class find difficult to solve!" he spoke, his voice dripping with accusation.
"She was even found doing suspicious things with some herbal plants. Her relatives testified that she was trying to spread disease and is possessed by some entity to acquire higher intelligence!" he added, his breath growing heavy.
He even took a deep breath and continued, "They tried to purify her by a local priest, but she stabbed him with her hairpin and falsely accused him, telling everyone that he tried to rape her!" he said.
The woman had an expressionless face, as if she had given up on living long ago.
"Hahaha... see? It's so funny. They are executing her because she is more intelligent than her peers!" Maruti chuckled, covering her mouth to not show her laughter too much, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
"Now, let the execution begin!" the chubby man announced dramatically.
The guards quickly took over. They dragged her in front of the beheading machine and made her sit down, putting her neck on the wooden plank.
SWISH!!....
The sharp plank shot downwards, beheading her head at once. Blood splattered out from her neck like a fountain, staining the stage red. Her head quickly dropped into the bucket placed in front of her, her body turning lifeless in seconds.
"Hmph. If you are done, then let's go!" Esdeath said, her voice cold and firm. She turned back and immediately started leaving the execution area.
Maruti followed her from behind, and they both walked out of the grim area, leaving the crowd and the smell of blood behind.
"Let's go to some restaurant, I'm feeling hungry anyways!" Maruti proposed the idea, her mood already shifting back to cheerful.
"Okay!" Esdeath agreed, just wanting to get to a quieter place to talk.
They both went to a nearby restaurant. It was quite big, with a warm, inviting atmosphere and multiple unique dishes on the menu. Both Esdeath and Maruti sat at a table in front of each other.
Maruti, as usual, ordered a bunch of things to eat as they talked, piling the table with plates of different foods.
"Okshey, wha... duw you wanna talkz about?" Maruti asked, her words muffled and gibberish as she tried to eat and talk at the same time, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.
Meanwhile, compared to the bunch of things Maruti ordered, Esdeath only had a normal plate with a meat steak. She cut the meat with her knife and fork with perfect elegance and took a single bite, savoring it calmly.
"About powering up. Soon, it'll be time for us to depart for Hell!" Esdeath said in a solemn voice, her expression turning serious.
Maruti gulped down the huge bite in her mouth and raised both of her hands in excitement. "Hell yeah! Let's go right now, I'm ready!" she said, her eyes shining with the thrill of the idea.
Esdeath sighed immediately, a familiar feeling of exasperation washing over her. "Of course not now. We are still too weak. Other than Lortell, none of us is ready!" she said, her voice firm.
"Not even Kailith?" Maruti asked, her excitement dimming slightly.
"Of course not. She isn't at her full potential yet. We are weak as well. Selene doesn't have the experience, and Alice's mental condition is not stable enough. As for Brenna and Ravenna, well, we don't have much time to wait for them to get stronger!" Esdeath explained, laying out the harsh reality.
"That's why we need some training or adventure to get stronger!" she added, her voice full of determination.
"Like what?" Maruti asked, finally stopping eating and focusing more on Esdeath's words, realizing the seriousness of the conversation.
"It'll be different for each one. Me and you will go to the Demon Realm to both collect essence stones and fight monsters and demons!" Esdeath started explaining, her plan clear in her mind.
"As for Selene, Lortell herself told me the idea about letting her teach Selene!" she said.
"And I'm planning to send Kailith to learn under Igret, the Pope of the Church Kingdom and the Succubus Queen. But you need to convince her to go," Esdeath said, looking at Maruti for help.
"Well, I can convince Kailith to go to the Church Kingdom. But what about you? Will your dear Lortell allow you to go to the Demon Realm without her?" Maruti asked in a teasing voice, a playful smirk on her face.
"I'll manage it somehow!" Esdeath said, but her words felt a little hollow. She wasn't sure herself, and a flicker of worry crossed her mind before she pushed it away.
"Okay, then what about Alice?" Maruti questioned.
Esdeath shook her head slowly. "We don't have any way to cure her mental health, so it's better to leave her here."
"Still, I'm thinking of some way of giving Alice, Ravenna, and Brenna some training to become stronger as well by the time we'll return from Hell!" Esdeath explained lightly, trying to sound hopeful.
"Oho... aren't you quite confident that we'll win?" Maruti said with a chuckle, impressed by Esdeath's resolve.
Esdeath smiled, a small, confident smile. "Well, losing isn't a choice. It's either win or die, so I would rather assume we'll win!" she answered with a confidence that felt unshakable.
And then, she took another elegant bite from her meat and added, "Before we depart for the Demon Realm, we must meet M.A.L.I.C.E. and Maddie to inform them that they should be ready in advance!"
Maruti nodded quietly, thinking something for a second. "I'm still wondering why did they both agree to come with you to Hell?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Well, they are more desperate to go to Hell than me. Especially M.A.L.I.C.E.," Esdeath replied, yet her answer contained no useful information, leaving Maruti even more curious.
She quietly put down the knife and fork beside her plate. "I'm done!"
"Huh? Already? But I just started," Maruti asked with a wide and surprised expression, her hand paused mid-air.
She looked over at Esdeath's plate and saw that it still had half a meat steak left on it.
"You are a slow eater," Esdeath added expressionlessly, taking a small sip of water.
Maruti's lips twitched immediately. "I'm a slow eater? You're the one who doesn't eat anything at all! Even a ten-year-old kid eats more than you!" she shot back, her voice full of playful indignation.
This time, it was Esdeath's lips that twitched. "I can eat more than you, you know?" she said, a glint of mischief in her eyes.
The moment Maruti heard it, her cheeks puffed up, and she tried her best not to laugh out loud. "Yeah, sure. Show me!" Maruti challenged, leaning forward with a grin.
"Okay then, wait a minute!" Esdeath stood up and went to the counter, ordering something.
A moment later, she sat back down in her seat. Maruti felt confused, but then the waiter came back with a big jumbo hotdog on a plate. It was about fourteen inches long and three and a half inches thick, way bigger than a normal size.
"I may not eat more than you, but I can eat more than you at once!" Esdeath said with a confident smirk.
Maruti immediately understood what Esdeath was talking about. She put her chin on her hand, thinking.
"Hmm... if you can eat it all in just three bites, then it might be a problem," Maruti said. She was confident that she could eat that jumbo hotdog in just four bites.
But then Esdeath chuckled. "Who said about three bites?" she added, and then grabbed the whole jumbo hotdog with both of her hands, lifting it up.
Maruti's eyes widened as she saw Esdeath opening her jaw wide and eating the whole jumbo hotdog in one go without any issue.
Gulp!
Esdeath swallowed and stuck out her tongue to show it to Maruti, proving it was all gone.
"See? I won!"
Maruti was literally baffled. She almost stood up in pure surprise. "How did you do that? Is that even humanly possible?" she asked, her voice full of disbelief.
But Esdeath didn't answer. She had a sly smirk on her face as she stood up and waved her hand.
"Goodbye, loser~!" she hummed in a sing-song voice and left the restaurant, leaving a stunned Maruti behind.
****
A few minutes later, Esdeath arrived back at home. She walked inside and saw Lortell still sitting on the same chair, thinking about something deeply.
"Huh, you're still here?" Esdeath asked, breaking the silence.
Lortell immediately snapped back to reality and stood up quickly, a little startled.
"Ohh, you're back already? Do you need something?" Lortell asked, trying to sound normal and hide the serious thoughts that were consuming her.
Esdeath paused for a second, her heart starting to beat a little faster. "Actually, it's a good thing that I found you here!" she said quietly. She started feeling nervous, not knowing where to start, and even began playing with her fingers, looking down at the floor.
"Actually, I wanted to get your permission for something!" she said slowly, her voice softer than usual.
"For what?" Lortell asked, her eyes narrowing slightly, already sensing that this was important.
Esdeath hesitated again, looking back and forth. "Actually, I was planning to go to the Demon Realm to collect some rare essence stones and materials. I'm not alone, Maruti will be with me. We won't go much deeper, either. It's all safe, I promise!" she said quickly, giving excuses and assurances in advance, trying to make it sound like a small, harmless trip.
But the moment Lortell heard it, something snapped inside her. She was already puzzled, wondering whether to ask Esdeath about her suspicions or not, but Esdeath's statement just made something click in inside her.
Her gaze immediately turned dark and intense. She grabbed Esdeath's wrist tightly, making Esdeath look up into her eyes.
"Enough is enough! Just tell me what you are hiding from me,"