Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 236 Humanity

"How about I take you up there?"

"Up… there?"

"Rhys?"

Not only Prince Dubhai, but Edissa was also quite confused by Rhys's statement. Edissa could not help but just squint her eyes as she looked at Rhys; she initially thought that he did not want any of the cenleons on the Surface, since he was so excited about kicking them out and even bringing them here… and now he was bringing others to the Forbidden Land?

"Don't you mean… down there?" Prince Dubhai's confusion, however, was short-lived as he just quickly smiled at Rhys, "And for my kind to go there, it is suicide — who knows what truly goes on there. The monsters who dig their way through the Forbidden Land often do not come back at all."

"Then don't you want to know why that is?"

"Because only humans can really live there," Prince Dubhai shrugged, "That is how the gods intended it to be."

"No," Rhys smiled, "Didn't your guards mention to you that Edissa and her tribe sought refuge in the Forbidden Land before going here? That was how we met."

"What…?" Prince Dubhai squinted his eyes before looking at Edissa.

"Well, we met here," Edissa shook her head, causing Prince Dubhai to let out a sigh of disappointment. He was going to confront Rhys for his lie, but Edissa continued to speak before he could do so, "Our land was trampled by the Ice Warden, and then we saw Rhys and his women out in the distance — that was when he screamed to us in another language and offer us refuge…

…in the Forbidden Land."

"You've… been to the Forbidden Land!?" Prince Dubhai then suddenly pounced toward Edissa, only to be met with her hind leg as she quickly spun in the air and kicked him away.

"I… I apologize! "I… I didn't mean to do that," Of course, Edissa did not mean her apology at all as she was still completely livid at the prince for the stunt he pulled on her and Rhys. But of course… a part of her actually… quite liked what happened to them.

"What does it look like!? Does it look like the depictions!?" Prince Dubhai then quickly rummaged through his books again before showing a certain page which Rhys could really only define as the depiction of hell.

"N… no," Edissa shook her head before looking around Prince Dubhai's study which seemed to be made of rock and cobblestone, "If anything… it looks like this."

"Interesting," Prince Dubhai turned around, "...So, all we know about the Forbidden Land is wrong."

"I think our kind could both benefit if you visit my land, Prince Dubhai," Rhys completely ignored the two's shenanigans as he stood up from his chair.

"There's… no merit in that since we can't—wait," Prince Dubhai then turned to look Rhys in the eyes, "We can understand you, you can be our mediator."

"That's what I've been trying to say from the start, Prince Dubhai," Rhys reached out his hand to Prince Dubhai. He was confused at first, but as he looked at Edissa who was gesturing to him to shake his hand, the prince did not hesitate at all and did so.

"Let me just gather some of my things."

"Bring more people if you'd like," Rhys shrugged, "The more you are, the better — so that my people know that you are actually a… civilized community. But bring only—"

"Those who will not be tempted to eat your kind," Prince Dubhai continued Rhys's words for him, "You do not have to worry in that regard, we have an organization here who do not partake in eating humans."

"Have you seriously not tried going to the Forbidden Land?" Rhys asked, "The hissyrs have always tried to… they don't live long, however. It was my job to eradicate them before they could come up."

"The hissyrs are barbarians," Prince Dubhai scoffed, "And now knowing that we could actually communicate with your kind, they are barbarians who are even more dumb than humans. Stay here, Rhys! I just need to prepare some things and—"

"Brother!"

And before Prince Dubhai could even finish his words, a loud and obnoxious voice suddenly barged into his office. No, it wasn't only his voice that was obnoxious, even the random man's words were quite obnoxious as Rhys could hear his steps, which was extremely rare when it came to the cenleons.

Rhys then turned around, only to see the very first cenleon he had seen with a mustache.

"What is this news that I am getting that you brought a human to castle grounds? What—what!?" The cenleon with a mustache quickly halted his steps as soon as his eyes met with Rhys. And without even any hesitation, he pointed at him and ordered his guards,

"Kill it! Kill it now!"

His guards also did not hesitate to follow his orders, but Prince Dubhai quickly moved in front of Rhys and stretched his arms to the side,

"Stop it! I will not let you harm a single strand of hair on this almost hairless creature!" Prince Dubhai hissed at the guards before looking at his brother, "Abu, I will not have you trespassing on my quarters!"

"We are done playing your games, brother!" The cenleon with a mustache, Abu, hissed even louder as he pointed at Prince Dubhai, "Your disgusting hobby stops here! I can not have you wasting these delicious delicacies because you are playing with them! We've let you go on for so long since we thought you were actually breeding and farming them, but this stops now!"

"..." Both Rhys and Edissa just looked at each other as the two brothers began hissing at each other. Rhys watched the two argue for a few more seconds before just taking a step forward and letting out a short but very loud sigh.

The guards who saw this were confused. After all, they were currently pointing their weapons at him, and just one more step would lead to him being stabbed. They all looked at each other on what to do, but before they could even think… Rhys truly did take another step.

"!!!"

Contrary to their expectations, however, the blades of their weapons did not go through Rhys at all and instead, they found themselves actually being pushed back.

"What are all of you doing!?" Abu, who was busy arguing with his brother, finally noticed this and could not help but just scream at his subordinates' incompetence. And so, he grabbed one of the spears his men were holding and just swung it without any hesitation toward Rhys…

…only for the blade to just shatter there and then as it made contact with Rhys's skin.

"Hm…" Rhys just slightly leaned his head back to avoid the shrapnel from hitting his eye. In truth, he already knew the weapons would have no effect on his body, but he didn't think it would actually shatter.

He was becoming strong… stronger than he thought, and he wasn't even actively trying to use any of his abilities at all.

"What in the—" And before Abu could finish his words, Rhys's hand moved so fast that he wasn't even able to react to it; the only thing Abu could do was lose the strength in his legs and faint as Rhys hit him straight on the chin.

"I don't really want to be stuck in a family affair," Rhys whispered out before he just started knocking Abu's guards one by one, "How fast can you gather your people?"

"...Less than a day?" Prince Dubhai took in a small gulp as he looked at the aftermath of what Rhys did — it did not even take several seconds for his office to just turn quiet, "There… are still humans stronger than you?"

"Yes," Rhys just shrugged before he started letting out threads from his fingers and tying up Prince Abu and his guards, also throwing a bundle to Edissa so she could help him. As for Prince Dubhai, he was shocked at first that Rhys was once again exhibiting other abilities — but he did not stay and just started getting ready for his sudden adventure.

"Rhys…" And as they finished tying up the unconscious group, Edissa quickly approached Rhys with a slight confusion in her eyes, "...What are you trying to do? Do you truly want Prince Dubhai to learn about your people? What if they used it against your kind?"

"He could," Rhys shrugged, "But after seeing what the humans are truly capable of, his mind won't ever go there… and we should probably follow behind him to make sure he's not bringing any useless things."

"...Right."

It did not really take Prince Dubhai more than half a day to get ready and call for more people to join him. His entourage was just several of his loyal guards, and then more than a dozen cenleons who shared his enthusiasm for humankind. All of them were quite excited as they stepped out the gates of their city.

Well, they had to act fast before the castle discovered Abu.

"Wait, Rhys…" And as they were about to leave, Edissa grabbed Rhys by the shoulder, "...Are you not going to take the other humans in Prince Dubhai's dungeon?"

"Oh…" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he looked at Edissa. But after a few seconds, he just shrugged and continued walking away,

"...What for?"