Crossing Over

“I can’t believe this,” I mumbled. “I honestly can’t believe this is happening. What a nightmare.”

“…Hey, it’s not like I’m a fan of this either,” said Kai, flashing me a half-hearted smile under his hat. That didn’t help.

“Hah, will you shut up already?” Saga rebuked us softly. “If you don’t want to get discovered.”

Two days had passed since our battle against Two. We spent the night in Shellkeep and were outfitted with some equipment and supplies, including something useful we salvaged from the scene of the battle.

However, then came the most horrible moment of all. We started our plan to infiltrate the capital of Triccius.

It was impossible to know whether the news of Two’s death already reached the capital, but they probably wouldn’t be ready for us quite yet. Regardless, a group of strangers arriving there would surely come under arrest in moments, especially one with two men.

Therefore, we had to… we had to…

“Hey, you over there!” called a man nearby. Yes, an actual man. Not young, but probably only about twice our age.

He scrutinized our group as we stood in the line outside the large main gate. Kai and I kept our gazes down, but Saga gave him her usual poker face.

“What’re you coming into the city for, hmm? Looking for jobs or something?”

“Yes,” answered Saga. “We’re going to be maids in the castle.”

The man smirked. “Maids, huh? Always a shortage of ‘em. Most aim for the harem but then annoy His Highness too much, after all. Fine, go on.” He waved us in. “But if you ever change your mind, just remember there are other options around here…” He wore a rather disturbing smile as he seemed to scrutinize Saga.

We pressed ahead through the massive gate and into the city proper.

I was immediately bombarded by the many sights and sounds of an actual city as if we entered an entirely different world again, but for now I emitted a sigh.

Not like I could relax just yet.

Minutes before, we’d joined the small crowds of people who wanted to be granted entrance into the city.

We were searched for weapons, but luckily I had none and Saga could summon her so-called Tarisha, so she simply dumped it somewhere; apparently there was no issue of distance. Kai was the only one hurt by this.

Sucks to be him, I guess.

No, things rather sucked for both of us right now. Because the only way for us to sneak into the city was awful.

“Can we find some place to stay so we can take this off already…?” I grumbled, keeping my voice low.

“Hah. You’d have to keep your disguise anyway,” said Saga. Although nothing about her voice or expression indicated this, I could swear she was enjoying this at our expense.

Kai and I were… wearing dresses.

In this world, where 98% of the population were women, men simply stood out too much. In Triccius there were more men than the average, true, but that was because most of them were influential figures.

We had to properly shave for the first time in this world, but using some applied makeup, wigs and wide-brimmed hats we’d probably pass the casual scrutiny… probably.

I hated every moment of it.

My only consolation was that Kai had to suffer along with me. Luckily the fact he was so tall didn’t serve as much of a hindrance; apparently the average woman was plenty tall here, too.

Ugh, I wish we could just hop on to the castle, kill Three and be done with it. But I knew things would never be this simple. This was only the first step.

Well, we could probably relax a little for the time being.

We started walking around the city; we’d already received some information about its structure and streets, but wanted to see everything with our own eyes.

It was definitely a much different place from anywhere else we’d been to thus far in Avallux.

Tall buildings were carefully arranged to form cramped streets but wide roads between them. Every building looked pretty much exactly the same as the other, no matter their function.

Many people were roaming the streets. Dull-looking (but probably fashionable in local standards) ladies walked in groups, chatting together; one time I could even see such a group with a middle-aged man in the middle. Based on his attire he was probably someone important.

Honestly, for all the talk about Three being a horrible tyrant or whatever (and seeing everything One and Two were up to), I expected this place to be a dump with smoke and the stench of blood filling the streets. Apparently even evil overlords had standards, or something.

We moved through Triccius carefully, hoping not to catch any sort of attention, but groups of women walking together wasn’t anything to write home about here.

Navigation wasn’t difficult even without our given directions—because the city seemed to have been explicitly built to revolve around its most important feature, the castle.

All roads lead to Rome, or whatever. The rows upon rows of streets populated by identical buildings all surrounded a huge area smack dab in the capital that contained the towering castle.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t just waltz inside or anything; there were high walls and many guards patrolled the perimeter. But at least now we knew where our target was.

Despite the dangers involved, I was starting to grow excited.

My mind started conjuring scenes of us vanquishing Three and taking over his castle… not bad at all.

But that was far away still. We still had so much to do in the meanwhile.

“So, uh,” Kai said in a very quiet voice as we stood by a less populous area of the street—no matter how we were dressed, our voices would be a dead giveaway—“what’s the next step?”

We currently had two priorities.

The first was, of course, finding Three and defeating him, but we didn’t want to rush into battle, especially after what happened with Two. We needed more intel.

Our second priority, however…

“Let’s head over to the magic guild,” I said.