Karen was having a great time looking at Eliza's expression. She was joking and was about to apologize, but now she was reconsidering. The monsters in the line, on the other hand, were starting to notice her, and she was not pleased with the unwanted attention.

"All right, let's get going. We don't want any prying eyes on us," she said to the sullen Eliza, who just nodded her head silently with a wronged expression on her face.

Karen sighed. "Forget what I just said." "I was joking, of course." Eliza's spirits were raised again after hearing this.

"As you can see, I warned you. I am more useful than you realize," Eliza boasted. Her depressed demeanour was nowhere to be found. She appeared to be used to changing her behaviour. "Let's see how much money we have," she said, opening the coin pouch.

Instead of the copper and silver coins she had expected, it contained only small black coins. She discovered a small yellow flame engraved in the center of these thumb-sized, pitch-black metallic coins.

"These are Denyrs. I haven't seen those in a long time." Karen remarked from behind her.

“Denyr?”

'It's the currency used here in Hell's outskirts. Yellow Denyrs are similar to human copper coins. There is also an Orange Denyr, which is equivalent to a silver coin, in addition to the yellow ones. There are also Red Denyrs, which are the equivalent of Red Coins.' Karen spoke quickly with her telepathy in order to avoid drawing any more attention to herself.

For a few moments, Eliza just stood there staring at the Denyrs in her hand. Her brain was having difficulty processing all of this new information at the same time. Karen suddenly grabbed her hand and led her to the door.

‘'What are you up to?'

'Did you forget what we're going to use to get inside? The guards would start to doubt us if we just stood there. If they used full-scale identification, we wouldn't be able to come here, let alone enter the city.'

They both rushed to the large gate that served as the city's entrance. A large wooden door closed the entrance, just missing the top of the wall by a few bricks. There was a small door at its left corner that served as an entryway. If one observed from this entryway they would notice that the main door was a few yards thick.

Karen dashed up to the Orc guards. She handed them two Yellow Denyrs and showed them the city pass. She and Eliza entered the city without saying anything. The Orcs didn't question her or say anything either.

It was completely different inside the city than it was outside. Despite the lack of metallic paths, the sand was cleared away to create a large path that led directly to the city center. Its sides were densely packed with wooden and a few metallic stores. There were several peddlers selling their wares as well. When one looked towards the center, one would notice that the structures grew larger and more opulent.

At the moment, people of various species were crowding the wide road. There were Orcs dressed as warriors, a few Lizardmen chatting on one side, and a few hobgoblins carrying wooden logs on their backs, and many more. It appeared to Eliza to be a normal human city, with people rushing about their work, except that everyone here was non-human.

Karen took a few moments to take in her surroundings before moving to the nearest shop, where a cloaked man was selling some old wares. "Greetings, customer. Would you like to look at the goods here?"

“No. Please direct us to the location of the Mercenary Guild." Karen gave him a commanding look. The man flinched and took a step back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you two were members of the mercenary guild; otherwise, I wouldn't have spoken so boldly." True, he had no idea who Karen or Eliza were because they were disguised.

"Forget it; just give me the directions." Karen became irritated all of a sudden. This perplexed Eliza a little.

The shopkeeper quickly directed them to the Guild. Karen began to move quickly after hearing him. Eliza quickly trailed behind her.

After a short distance towards the center, the area began to become more crowded. Karen quickly took Eliza's hand in hers and led her into an alleyway next to the road. Eliza couldn't hold it in any longer and asked, perplexed, "What's the matter?"

"Did you see the symbol on the city pass?" Karen inquired as she continued walking.

"What is the symbol?" Eliza inquired as she removed the city pass from her inventory.

"Look at the small star at the edge," Karen said, holding the square city pass and pointing to one of its corners. "At first I didn't think much of it, but after coming inside, I noticed a similar symbol on the clothes of one of the guards on the wall."

"What exactly does it mean?" In a serious tone, Eliza inquired. She was well aware that they were in big trouble.

"Even in this faraway place, one must be at least on the level of a Greater Demon to become a City Lord. And the City Lord is aided by a few Lesser Demons. I believe this city pass belongs to a faction of a Lesser Demon."

"What's the point?" Eliza was still confused about the main issue.

"Ah!" Karen exclaimed, frustrated. She kept forgetting Eliza was a human. She rounded a left turn and came to a larger road, where she continued walking.

"What will he do when he discovers that his henchmen are no longer alive and that someone has used their city pass to enter the city?"

Eliza realized how serious their situation was after hearing this. They would almost certainly be pursued and forced to flee the city. They had no idea where they were or whether they had enough food and supplies. Furthermore, their only weapons were bone polearms, which were losing effectiveness. This is going to be even more difficult than the Dead Forest.

"Do you have a plan to get out of this?" she asked, looking at Karen expectantly.

“Why do you think I’m rushing?”

"I'm not sure. Could you please elaborate?" she asked.

"There isn't any need. We've arrived." Karen came to a halt and looked to their right.

Eliza followed her gaze and came across a large 'Mercenary Guild' written in the common tongue. She was overcome with a sense of foreboding. She felt shivers down her spine as she looked back at Karen, who had a big smile on her face.

'Karen, what exactly is this?' She inquired telepathically.

'Mercenary Guild'

'How come we're here?'

'Of course, I'd like to join.'

'How does it address our current issue?'

'The Mercenary Guild is a self-governing organization led by an Archdemon. Due to having his authority even the City Lord does not mess with the Guild. So even his subordinates will think twice about causing trouble for us. We can figure out the rest later, but first, let us go in.

Karen dragged the helpless Eliza into the Guild House as she said this. It was much bigger on the inside than it appeared from the outside. The monsters were occupying several wooden tables and chairs scattered throughout the room. They were drinking and laughing.

The atmosphere suddenly calmed down when Karen and Eliza entered. Karen then went straight to the counter and spoke with the Lamia.

"We'd like to join the Guild."

The Lamia was so preoccupied with her paperwork that she didn't notice the Guild's silence. Because of her long hair, she couldn't see her customers' faces and only handed over a few papers.

"Just fill them out and your stats will be checked." The Lamia gave the order, "Then, depending on the outcome, I'll decide whether to enter or not."

'Why are you filling mine too?' Eliza reacted angrily.

'It would have just been a waste of time. 'You should be grateful that I saved you a lot of time and effort,' Karen retorted. Eliza simply swallowed her rage silently. This was not the place to start a fight.

"So, which one is Alectrona and which one is Selene?" inquired Lamia, the receptionist.

"I'm Selene, and she's Alectrona," Karen replied.

The Lamia nodded and pulled out a small, pitch-black glass sphere.

"Put your hand over it, and it'll do everything else," she said.

Karen took the first step. Her appearance was concealed, but the Lamia confirmed her youth after she placed her small hand on the glass sphere.

Karen quickly opened her status window, which she hadn't opened in a long time.

Karen

Species: Young Demon (Royalty)

Level: 7

Stats:

Available Points (10)

Vitality -10

Strength -12

Endurance -12

Agility -11

Mana -5

Intelligence -8

Skills:

Available Skill Points (4)

Identification - Level 3

Eyes of the World (F)

Hereditary Skills:

Bloodline Suppression

(Hereditary skills will be unlocked as level increases)

Soul-Binding Skills:

Telepathy- Level 2

Soul Transfer- Level 1

Intermediate Regeneration – Level 3

(New skills will be unlocked after your bond increases)

Penalty (Permanent) – As a result of the forbidden technique used by the hosts in order to preserve their lives, their power will increase 10 times slower than before.

Looking at her stats, she was confident that she would at the very least be able to cross the passing line. She had purposefully saved her stat points in order to use them in an emergency. What happened next, however, completely surprised both her and Eliza.