The conclave district and the Mercenary district's differences didn’t become apparent until after she’d ventured several blocks away from the gate. The main avenue was still well lit, and others were walking by, but the guards and soldiers stationed regularly disappeared. The side streets were definitely off-limits, and she could see why. They were poorly lit and looked like people had littered them full of junk and trash for the most part. A few larger side streets looked somewhat well maintained, but they were definitely in the ‘Oh god someone is following me and it is too dark category.’

Elburn, Lieutenant Anton’s nephew, had given her several pointers and suggestions on what to do along with Henri despite the objections of a few of the other guards who seemed intent on persecuting her for being a demon. Luckily, they either didn’t have the authority, or her two benefactors' social pull was more than enough because they ended up silenced and grumbling in the background.

While there was no curfew in the Mercenary district, it was still on the verge of ‘night’ and most business would be done with until the next day. That included the Artificer that she needed to find. Hanging out at the gate with the guards until the next day was unfortunately not an option, they’d be relieved at some point, and there was no assurance the next set of guards would be amicable toward her.

Not needing sleep or any food or anything was undoubtedly something that improved her situation, though. She had considered staying at the gate until Elburn left anyway, but the guards had a different suggestion.

So she was looking for a lively inn or pub along the main avenue where she could wait. They had assured her she wouldn’t actually need to buy anything, so not having any coin wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t uncommon for people to stay in a tavern's public room while waiting for others. If someone gave her issues about it, they told her she could just leave and head to the next one.

Elania was beginning to question the existence of such places, however. She had traveled quite a bit further down the main avenue than she thought she would have to, and just as she was about to stop and consider turning back, a bit of laughing caught her ear. She pressed forward around the corner, and there was a giant tavern set right in the center of the street and dividing the main path into a V. The extra people milling about certainly had them standing out compared to the relatively empty streets. One of them even had an ‘outdoor’ area, which she supposed made a lot of sense when there wasn’t a risk of rain or bad weather in the city.

She homed in on that one almost immediately. The outdoor tables weren’t all full, and she could tell it was a lot less noisy as she got closer, further solidifying her choice.

She slid her backpack off and in front of her seat to keep it safe from a quick snatch and grab. That was something she’d learned from her dad. He was always giving her safety tips like that, trying to keep her safe, and she wished she had taken him up on the karate lessons now.

Settling in for a long wait, Elania began to study the other patrons visible to her. She noticed that many of them were lower level, much lower than she had seen at Waystation Four and the checkpoint. People were a broad mix; the lowest was even lower than her! He was a young man, maybe even a teenager, and was only level thirty-three. The rest were around forty to seventy, with a few nearing one-hundred.

That’s when she noticed someone staring at her near the door. A slightly portly man, but he had some leather armor and looked dangerous. Elania immediately used [Identify] on him.

[Bouncer – Human – Lvl 245]

That made sense; from what Henri and Elburn had said, every place would need its own security in the district. He was not as high level as some she had seen, but she realized that made a bit of sense. The people in the Waystation had been those who lived out in the Dark fighting and killing things all the time. She was already almost level 50, just from a few weeks of travel, and had fought multiple monsters and even several demons.

But levels weren't the best judge of strength though, even if it was the most visible, Elania knew that very well. She might not know Karate, and she was still low level, comparatively, but she’d killed and fought things much higher than her and won with her special ‘demon’ abilities.

She took a deep breath and smiled and waved at the man, but his frown seemed only to crease harder. Maybe she had stared at him too long, or she wasn’t supposed to acknowledge him, or the obvious: she was a demon. Oh well. She looked away and tried to pretend to be interested in something else.

Which wasn’t hard, because she was interested in a lot of what she saw. The architecture here was different from the conclave district, but no less made out of stone. There was very little evidence of any wood, which was what she would have expected everything to be made out of, except they were deep underground, so it made sense. Using what was available and easiest to access was just what people did.

Elania was lost in thought, considering the differences between the carved stone buildings and the rough brick and gritty look of the Mercenary district, when someone coughed near her to get her attention.

A young man looked at her expectantly, although the little notepad and pen for writing down orders was missing. The world had paper, but maybe it was too expensive to waste on taking orders.

“What can I get you?”

“I’m fine for now, just waiting for a friend to show up.”

That elicited a frown, and Elania had expected that no matter what Henri or Elburn had said, but they shrugged and began to ignore her. She predicted that she'd have gotten a different response if the place had been packed completely full. The interruption had her watching the interplay of people rather than the buildings.

Most of the patrons were men, although there were a few larger mixed groups at some bigger tables. The open construction and lack of a front door and wide-open windows made it easy to see into the building. Of course, they didn’t really need doors or windows. If there was never any bad weather and the place was open all day and night, when would it need to close them?

When the waiter went to re-enter the tavern after taking the orders of a few others outside, he paused and whispered something to the bouncer, who just seemed to glare at her even harder.

‘Maybe I should find another place to wait.’

Still, maybe it would be best to wait here as long as she could before moving on. It didn’t seem that things were going to be as easy as the guardsmen had led her to believe. Their plan would probably have been fine for them, but she was definitely seen in a less favorable light than a guard, which considering where she was at, wasn't a very comforting thought.

Nearby, two blue eyes were shining brightly with interest at the newcomer. It wasn’t often that new demons arrived, much less one that wasn’t bound to a master.