Chapter 704: The world of Aquilonis
Aquilonis, a world located in the lowest realm of Elysium, inhabits the race of Nephilims, beings that are born from Angels and other races.
As for the Aquilonis, the floating islands were inhabited by Sky Angels and Primal Angels, Nephilims that are born to Angel and Bird-type monsters, and Angel and Land-type monsters respectively.
On the other hand, the entire ocean down below is claimed by the Aqua Angels, Nephilims that were born to Angel and Marine-type monsters.
Upon temporarily fusing with the sword of radiance, Azzy transformed into an Angel, grew up with six pairs of white feathery wings, a floating halo above his head, glowing eyes, and carried his plasma scythe.
In his angelic form, he flew above the floating islands, searching for an abundance of life, like a big town or a city. He ignored the small villages on the way, considering they wouldn't be of any use to him for his mission.
According to Lux, the best way to go to the Silver City is by going through world gates, preferably from the lower worlds to the higher worlds, in order to escape unnecessary attention from Archangels. Apart from the twelve Archangels, theoretically, no one would be able to discern his true identity as a human.
Azzy trusted Lux's judgment and followed her way, traveling for several hours in the sky, maintaining thousands of feet of altitude, eventually reaching what seemed like a town on a large floating island.
However, just like the villages, even the town seemed quite backward, with stone houses and structures seen everywhere in a disorganized manner. No proper roads were built either. But, at the very least, the streets looked very neat. Trash cannot be found anywhere on the island. Well, that's to be expected. After all, they can just destroy the trash with their soul energy, unlike civilians on Gaia.
However, another pressing issue bothered Azzy for a moment.
"These are all ocean waters. I can sense huge amounts of salt content down below. What do they drink? Maybe their bodies are adapted to drinking salt water? In that world of Aeni I explored last year, people drank those water with high concentrations of ethyl alcohol too." He couldn't help but wonder.
"Anyway, let's just go ahead and check it out."
Throwing away unnecessary thoughts, Azzy slowly descended to the center of the town, expecting to attract attention due to his different appearance from the locals.
Without any surprises, many locals, who were passing by, halted their movements and focused on the individual enveloped by a divine light.
They gathered around him but maintained their distance as Azzy landed on the ground.
Azzy saw a mixture of slight curiosity, moderate admiration, and a lot of fear in everyone's gaze, and he decided to take the first step by addressing them calmly while Lux automatically converted his speech to Seraphic, the official language of Angels.
Shrinking the plasma scythe to an arm-sized steel rod, he spoke, "I came here from far away. I need to speak to your leader. Who manages this place?"
One of them hurriedly stepped forward, almost tripping himself in the process, to volunteer. "Your Grace, I'll take you to Lord Owen."
Azzy observed him. He looked like a middle-aged person with green scales on his exposed body, except for the face, and had a long tongue. It reminded Azzy of a lizard at one glance. As for his strength, the fellow seems to have soul power equivalent to a mid-2-star rank.
"You are…"
"My name is Jorlan, Your Grace. I'm a servant of Lord Owen," replied the man.
And then, swiftly, someone else came forward and conducted themselves a bit more in elegance, "Your Grace, he is merely a lowly servant of Lord Owen's bastard. He never even met him directly. I'll escort you to Lord Owen."
Azzy shifted his attention to the one who spoke. This one seems to be a woman, quite young, and looked beautiful to some extent if Azzy had to use his own planet's standards.
Then, someone from the crowd sneered with a comment, "You are nothing but a bi*ch who sleeps with the Lord. Don't conduct yourself so highly."
Before she reacts to it, Azzy immediately cast a sharp glance at the one who commented, responding to it with a statement, "My time is precious." He pointed at the first one who came forward, "Jorlan, you… take me to Owen or whoever he is."
After inspecting their soul powers, and finding out that the highest one in this bunch is only a 3-star Arcana master, he acted like an impatient high-ranking Angel and ordered Jorlan to escort him to that place immediately.
On the way to the town master's house, he subtly interrogated Jorlan and found out that Nephilims also have rank among themselves, and it has nothing to do with their powers. The closer their attributes are to the angels, the higher they are placed in the ranks. There are also restrictions for the Nephilims to visit other worlds. Even if they have enough money, they aren't eligible to step into the higher realms of Elysium, unless they serve an Angel with noble bloodline. So, purity is everything in this place. Of course, as these Elemental Nephilims have the beasts of monsters in them, atleast in this world, strength decides everything.
"Your Grace, our world is indeed blessed. Others rarely get to meet pure Angels such as 'yours', but it is not an uncommon occurrence for us. His Majesty has chosen our world to build the world gate. Those who wish to travel to Zephyros must visit our world."
Jorlan continued to chat all along the way. Azzy didn't stop him as he needed information anyway. The sword of radiance might have the soul of an angel, but its knowledge was too limited.
After an hour of walking, they reached a stone house, which looked like any other ordinary residence of a civilian. But he could sense that the space inside it was a lot bigger, and there were atleast twenty more people inside. Five of them are around 4-star rank, and one of them is a 5-star. The remaining are insignificant for Azzy to consider.
Azzy halted his footsteps for a moment, developing a frown on his face, "their positions look like…"
"Your Grace?" As Jorlan looked behind in a bit of surprise, Azzy shook his head and walked forward, "Nothing. Let's go inside."
As he walked inside the house, in what seemed like a large living room, Azzy saw a little kid taking a nap on the seat, four of them were ready to attack and the remaining one, who was quite big, as big as 9 feet and too fatty, just stood beside the kid like a personal bodyguard.
"Sto… Uhh…"
The guards were ready to warn the uninvited guest, but as they saw Azzy, the four of them didn't know what to do, other than turn around to look at their boss.
The giant bodyguard spoke without moving from the spot, "Please state your business. Angels aren't welcome here." His tone looked calm but Azzy could sense nothing but malice from him.
Instead of getting offended, Azzy was actually impressed by his control over his emotions.
While he is interested in learning their story, Azzy went straight to the business, "I wish to meet Owen."
The bodyguard giant replied, "Lord Owen is not here at the moment. You can visit some other time."
Azzy was quite surprised by this bodyguard's behavior. He is only at 5-star rank and yet acting quite indifferently toward him, even when Azzy didn't hide his realm at all. It was quite in contrast with how people reacted earlier.
"Is it the trait of his monster's side?" Azzy couldn't help but wonder.
Spreading his feathery wings, "Then, tell Owen that someone from Silver City came to see him. He'll find me at Jorlan's house."
"Silver City?"
A collective gasp escaped from everyone. Jorlan, especially, who stood beside Azzy, had his entire body shiver as if he was experiencing a terrible cold.
Even the giant almost lost his balance for a second due to shock, "Six pairs of wings? I… I… I will tell it to My Lord."
"Good." Azzy subtly nodded in satisfaction, turning his head to look at the friend, "Jorlan, what are you waiting for? Lead me."
"Huh? Ah, Yes, Your Grace."
"Let's go then…" Azzy stepped outside. Jorlan gave a bow to the bodyguard and hurriedly caught up to him, escorting Azzy to his home.
Jorlan's home was quite near to Town Master Owen's house.
While the exterior looked more or less the same, the interior was quite small. It only contained two rooms.
Jorlan had a family. But, at the moment, his little son was at school, and Jorlan couldn't report to his duty because of Azzy's self invitation to his home.
Meanwhile, at Owen's residence, in one of the rooms, a middle-aged black-skinned fellow, robust and bald, was in a deep sleep, snoring. The wine was spilled on the floor, and several pots could be seen empty in the corner of the room.
The bodyguard giant reached there and tried waking him up. As his Lord continued to snore without any response, the giant raised his hand and firmly slapped the lord's face.
Owen opened his eyes abruptly with a handprint on his cheek. The anger filled his face, "You… damn pig. You dare attack your master?" A thick, dark aura erupted from him, completely sobering him up in the meantime. His rank pushed from 4-star to 5-star for a moment.
However, before he took his action, the bodyguard giant spoke, "A Seraphis from Silver City came to our doorstep and asked to meet you."
"Huh? Seraphim? That's impossible. They don't leave the God's palace, much less the Silver City. Which imposter came to my place and fool around?" Owen furrowed his brows in displeasure.
The bodyguard replied, "I didn't say Seraphim, My lord. It is Seraphis. I saw Six pairs of feathery wings, real ones."
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"Seraphis?" Owen abruptly tried to get up, only to roll around and fall to the ground. "Ouch…"
As the bodyguard helped him to get up, Owen shouted at him, "Seraphis is the realm guardian or their successor candidates. What does a Silver City's guardian successor candidate want to do with me? Where is he? Take me to him…"