Morning arrived at the waystation without a single trace of awkwardness.

Everything remained exactly as it was the previous day, while Vaela maintained her professional distance with flawless precision.

Ensuring the other guards noticed nothing unusual proved she was remarkably good at her job.

Kane didn’t acknowledge the passionate, sweat-slicked night they shared against the tree, and she offered no secret smiles either.

This mutual understanding kept their travel arrangements smooth.

While packing his gear near the wagons, Kane paused to consider a strange anomaly in his system interface.

He fucked Firlia’s brains out back in Sylvandar, pinning the noblewoman to the bed until she screamed his name and milked him dry, yet the elven conquest quest never formally triggered.

Vaela, on the other hand, had already been claimed by the system for a one-night stand.

’Why did the system stay so quiet, Firlia?’ Kane mused, swinging Mjoldr onto his back.

’She is a high-ranking noble, while Vaela is an elite royal military. Maybe the system requires a much deeper emotional bond to register a true conquest, or maybe I just need to fuck Firlia senseless again when I see her to test if a second round forces the milestone to pop.’

It was a very appealing experiment, so he fully intended to bend her over a desk again to find out.

Only if her boyfriend allowed it, of course.

The final stretch of travel brought the royal caravan to Elaryndal right before midday.

[System: New Location Detected]

[Location: Elaryndal, Imperial Capital] 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

[Thornwall perimeter reached]

[Passive scan initiating. All party members are being assessed]

[Target Kane: Unknown divine energy signature detected]

[Target Grieselda: Known signature detected]

[Target Mjoldr: Fallen energy signature detected]

[Note: Three separate alerts sent to the palace in the thirty seconds it takes to cross the Thornwall]

[The queen knows you are here before your horse clears the gate]

Kane heard Elaryndal long before he saw the famous skyline.

A low sound vibrated in the air, but it wasn’t quite standard.

It felt much more like a steady pressure pushing against his eardrums. The Thornwall generated a magical frequency that sat right at the edge of physical perception, creating the distinct sensation of being assessed by an entity that possessed no eyes.

Then the majestic city finally appeared over the horizon.

Kane had seen Sylvandar, but he quickly realized he was completely wrong about understanding elven architecture.

Elaryndal grew upward in a way that defied basic construction logic. Graceful white towers reached so high they disappeared into the passing cloud cover.

Slender bridges connected buildings at dizzying heights that made Sylvandar’s walkways look like quaint garden paths.

The oldest structures sat near the very center, towering far above the rest because five centuries of continuous magical growth made them look less built and more naturally evolved.

The queen’s central palace sat right in the middle of the sprawling metropolis.

It stood taller than everything else in the empire, wrapped in a silver light that definitely didn’t come from the sun.

[System: Elaryndal tactical assessment initiated]

[Population: 340,000]

[Military: Imperial Guard 12,000 active. Silver Wardens 300 elite]

[Strategic vulnerability assessment: Incomplete]

[Warning: Forty percent of city infrastructure has no game data equivalent]

[Note: You are in unmapped territory. Your meta-knowledge ends here.]

That final line landed harder than anything the interface had said in weeks.

’Unmapped territory,’ Kane thought, staring up at the shining silver palace with narrowed eyes.

’The game never actually got this far, as the developers never finished the capital expansion. The tournament wasn’t postponed in that timeline. Everything from this point forward is real, so I am flying blind.’

The Imperial Gate consisted of two giant trees grown together to form a living archway over five centuries.

This wooden structure opened smoothly for the approaching caravan, parting like a giant curtain.

As Kane passed through the invisible Thornwall, the strange pressure in his ears intensified briefly before releasing completely.

Grieselda rode quietly beside him, but the intricate mark on her chest pulsed once with a strong, visible light as she crossed the threshold.

Then the rune faded back to its steady, familiar glow.

Inside the city walls, the environment was scaled perfectly for people who had lived there for centuries and never needed to account for anything outside their own refined standards.

The paved streets were flawlessly maintained without a single cracked stone in sight. That’s it.

Elven citizens stopped their daily routines to stare at Kane’s group as they marched down the wide avenue.

They didn’t display theatrical, aristocratic contempt like the snobby nobles in the border city.

Their reaction was unfiltered bewilderment.

A rugged barbarian carrying a glowing crimson axe, walking right through the Imperial Gate escorted by royal guards, was simply not a sight this sheltered population had ever processed before.

A small elven girl pointed a delicate finger at Mjoldr and said something quickly to her mother.

The elegant woman pulled the child’s hand down immediately, but she couldn’t stop herself from looking at the intimidating weapon too.

Rutheus rode tall beside Kane, scanning the rooftops with veteran paranoia, while Kessa kept her eyes locked forward to ignore the stares that reminded her of her unwanted beastwoman status.

The escort finally led them to the Honored Guest District near the prestigious inner ring.

Their assigned residence was a beautiful four-floor tower featuring a private enclosed courtyard and luxurious furnishings.

It looked extremely comfortable on the surface, offering soft beds and running water.

Walking through the front doors, Kane scanned the elegant living area and spotted the surveillance measures almost instantly.

The quiet rooms were monitored from at least three different magical angles that Kane identified in his first five minutes of occupying the space.

Small scrying crystals sat disguised as decorative glass ornaments on the high shelves.

Thora walked in behind him, her eyes darting around the ceiling.

"The magic in this room is suffocating," she whispered, stepping close to his side.

"They’re watching us."

"Let them watch. Every single word spoken inside these walls is a performance from this moment onward."