Chapter 119: Disguise
Chapter 119: Disguise
The man was covered in wood-like material, they could not see his body but they could conclude that he was a human from his posture and bearing.
Sol and his group did not show themselves to the man and decided to hide first and decide what to do with the man.
"let's go and ask him if he knows where is the city," Jennie suggested, She was about to go first when Sol grabs her by the hand.
"No, we don't know if he comes from the mortal realm like us or actually soul of the dead, we could not take the risk of exposing ourselves," Sol reasoned.
"that's right, we should disguise ourselves first, and it would be suspicious to ask him where the city location is," Tom added.
"The city should be near since he is cutting a tree here, we could just continue to follow the river," Tea said.
Everyone else agreed with her logic, meeting a person there means there was a city nearby, the closer they were to a city means that they would meet more people.
"Anyone have any idea to disguise ourselves among the dead?" Tea asked.
Harry raised his hand to the air, "we cover ourselves with dirt and blood while walk slowly," he said excitedly.
"..." Everyone looked at him awkwardly, they were flabbergasted by his idea.
"them..." Sol clears his throat awkwardly, "we are disguising ourselves as the dead, not a zombie, we would just attract more attention if we act like a zombie," he explained.
"From what I know, we could just cover ourselves in armor as the dead look just like a human in armor," he told them what Nerodia had told him.
"We should talk as little as possible with the dead so they have less chance of discovering us," Tom suggested.
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"Yeah, we should avoid unnecessary contact with the dead, we know too little about the underworld to act natural," Jennie agreed.
"the most important thing is to never call them the dead or act like a zombie, they took offense of such an act, it is how creatures in the underworld mock them," Sol informed the other, especially Harry as he seemed to really want to act like a zombie.
With the group understanding what they need to do, they conjured their armor and went down the river while avoiding the man who was cutting a tree.
Down the river they could see more and more people, it was unavoidable to pass by one or two of them as it would seem unnatural for them to change their path.
Luckily no one notices anything amiss from their group, they just look at them a bit and walk away to continue their day.
People there seem to live in a medieval lifestyle, there was no advanced technology like a car or phone.
It made Sol and his group conjure another layer over their bracelet to hide the clear sign of technology.
After a few minutes of walk, they reach a castle-like city, which was covered with a twenty-meter tall wall and there was a big gate on each side of the wall.
Sol and the group could see dozens of guards standing on the wall, some of them even comparable to Tea in power or even more powerful than her.
They were like going into a lion den, getting out alive was not assured, if they were discovered then they were as good as dead.
"Should we really get in?" Tom asked in whispers, he did not want to attract attention by talking out loud, who knows if such a simple question would give them away.
"It is already too late to turn back, if we turn back now, then they would know something is wrong about us, our only option is going in," Sol whispered back at Tom.
They walk forward in determination as if going to an execution, within a meter from the gate, a guard stops them.
"Who are you guys, are you new here," the guard asked them.
They got startled by the question as the other people passing by did not get stopped by the guard while the five of them got stoped.
They had to get ready to fight as they thought the guard had notice something a miss from their disguise, Tea was about to knock the guard when Sol stops her by holding her wrist.
Sol walked toward the man, "Yes, we are new, we came from the neighboring city, we are going to Styx river to try our luck,"
"Oh! That's why it has been a year since no one comes from outside, you are welcome here," he welcomed him.
Since the gate of the underworld were closed, the number of people living in the underworld stopped increasing and nobody new gets there.
"But I suggest you stop with your dream, there is no way that you could get back to the mortal realm through the Styx river, not even a Major demigod could pass it, you are just a lesser demigod, don't throw your life," he persuaded Sol.
People going to the Styx river to get back to the mortal realm was not rare, even the weakest would try their luck to get back with their beloved.
Luckily Nerodia had expected this and told Sol a countermeasure, people in the underworld rarely travel between cities so the guard would notice it when someone new got into the city.
After exchanging a few words with the guard, Sol and his group went into the city, the others had to calm themselves as they tough that they were about to die.
"That was close, I thought they discover us, luckily your wits is quick enough," Jennie whispered at Sol as she patted her chest to calm her heartbeat.
"Yeah, I thought they discover us for sure," Harry added.
"They will discover us if I said anything else, luckily my informant had told me about it beforehand," Sol said.
"Wait? You knew about it but you did not tell us beforehand?" Tea asked in accusation.
"Ahahaha, sorry, I forgot about it until the guard stopped us," Sol laughed awkwardly, he could sense the other's glare on his back.
"Anyway, let's get an inn before he starts to look for information," Sol suggested changing the talk.
Since Sol seemed to know more about the underworld that they did, they let him talk with the people in the city in their place to avoid mistakes.
The city was like a middle age city but with better quality and sanitation, the road was made from cobblestone and the house was made of wood and stone.
Everyone in the city was using armors even for the young children, although the number of children was smaller than adult there was still some among the population.
Walking around with weapons on their body was the norm in the city, almost everyone they met was walking with a sword or a knife.
Sol walks toward one man on a stall by the road, "Excuse me, where can I sell some Demi-Titan body?" He asked.
"Are you new here?" He asked in question.
"Yes, we are, we come from another city, we need some money so we are selling things," he explained.
"You can just sell it to me, no one would decline a demi-titan body," he said with a smile.
Sol pulled out a dozen miniature vultures from his pocket, he had learned to compress the body of a titan from Nerodia.
A titan could increase their body size naturally as it was part of their ability, Sol had learned from Nerodia that he could reverse this process by affecting their body with his power.
It was a crude method but do the job, people in the ancient time had created this method because Titan's bodies were too big to be looted.
"I could pay you one gold coin for each body, you have twelve of them so it's twelve gold coins," he offered.
Sol and the other did not know how much does the gold coin worth, it made him confused and he stayed silent for a few seconds, "Nerodia haven't mentioned how much gold coin worth," he thought.
The peddler thought that Sol thinks his offer was too cheap so he raised his offer, "How about fifteen gold coins for all twelve of them,?" He asked.
"Ugh... How much does a night in an inn in this city cost?" He asked to get some reference on how much a gold coin worth.
The peddler though he still did not agree with the offer as an inn price was common sense and Sol was trying to hint him that the price he offers was too low.
"Fine twenty gold coin and no more, I still need to make some profit you know?" He offered more than last time.
"I will take it then," Sol said as he guessed that it was the most he could get from the bodies.
"Why did he keep rising the price? Well, it doesn't matter" he thought.