Chapter 346: Shogitown [Bonus - ]
The sleek silver luxury transport glided through the bustling streets of Valoria City with the silent predatory grace of a deep-sea leviathan.
The chassis was forged from dense, refined mythril-alloy, designed specifically to withstand direct artillery fire from monster ambushes or spells just in case.
The tinted magically reinforced windows completely blocked out the harsh glare of the city lights, creating a dark serene environment in the spacious back seat.
The climate control system hummed with a quiet hiss of pressurized air, pumping a perfectly chilled breeze through the immaculate leather cabin.
Silas sat comfortably against the plush upholstery with his broad shoulders relaxing slightly as the vehicle navigated the complex streets of the metropolis.
He let his golden-ringed eyes drift toward the passing scenery outside.
The towering, pristine skyscrapers of the central commercial district were slowly giving way to denser and more aggressively packed architecture.
Beside him, Evelyn sat with her arms firmly crossed over her oversized gray hoodie with her knees pulled together in the massive space.
She looked out of place in the cab.
Despite her profound wealth and her status as a legendary streamer, she carried the tense coiled posture of a cornered street fighter.
She kept her dark eyes locked intensely on the GPS navigation display hovering near the driver’s partition, mentally calculating their exact coordinates.
"Approaching the drop-off sector now, Honored Lords," the driver announced.
The man was a professional driver, separated from them by a thick pane of enchanted bulletproof glass.
He checked his rearview mirror, offering a polite nod.
"We are entering the perimeter of Shogitown. Standard guild protocols prohibit luxury transports from idling in the central alleys due to the elevated risk of magical vandalism... I will have to drop you at the main crossing."
"That is fine," Evelyn instructed cleanly, her voice lacking any sort of warmth. "Just get us to the curb without drawing unnecessary attention."
The heavy transport slowed to a halt as the anti-gravitational tires settling firmly onto the damp cobblestone pavement with a soft thud.
Silas reached into the deep pocket of his dark trench coat.
He bypassed the phone that currently held his staggering new seventy-five million credit fortune and instead, his fingers brushed against a small, folded stack of physical paper cash he kept around for minor undercity transactions.
’It seems like that woman didn’t use my money... thankfully...’
He pulled out a few crisp bills, leaned forward, and smoothly slid the currency through the narrow transaction slot in the glass divider.
"Keep the change," Silas told the driver.
He didn’t wait for a receipt or a formal acknowledgment. He reached out and pushed the armored passenger door open, stepping out into the air.
"Thank you, sir," the driver replied, pocketing the cash with a genuine smile.
He looked back at the towering young man and the grumpy hoodie-wearing girl sliding across the leather seats to follow him. "You two have a wonderful evening down here. Enjoy your date!"
Evelyn, who was currently stepping out of the vehicle with one foot on the pavement, instantly froze in place.
Her pale face flushed a vivid furious shade of crimson at the casual assumption.
She slammed the heavy armored door shut with a violent burst of physical strength, glaring fiercely at the tinted windows of the transport.
"Die in a ditch, you overpriced corporate hack!" Evelyn cursed loudly, flipping off the retreating vehicle as it merged seamlessly back into the chaotic flow of city traffic and disappeared around a corner.
Silas stepped fully onto the sidewalk, completely ignoring her aggressive uncalled-for outburst.
He closed his eyes for a brief second and took a long, deep breath, letting the unique atmosphere of the district wash over him.
The air here was an overwhelming experience.
It was thick with the scent of sweet perfumes, deep-fried street meats, roasted spices, and the unmistakable feeling of mana leaking from illegal workshops.
They had arrived in Shogitown.
Silas opened his eyes, looking up at the sprawling magnificent undercity district.
It was widely considered the gritty beating heart of Valoria City’s eastern quadrant, a place where the strict suffocating laws of the World Council blurred into the chaotic gray areas of syndicate rule.
It was undeniably dangerous, but it was also incredibly beautiful.
Towering skyscrapers constructed from dark obsidian glass and rusted steel loomed overhead, their sleek modern surfaces completely covered in massive glowing neon signs.
Holographic advertisements flashed in a dozen different languages, promoting everything from cheap healing potions to black-market cybernetic enhancements.
But nestled directly beneath the imposing oppressive corporate architecture was a sprawling maze of traditional aesthetics.
Ornate wooden eaves with elegantly curved rooftops jutted out precariously over the narrow winding alleyways.
Bright red paper lanterns swayed gently in the evening breeze, strung together by thick black cables.
They cast a warm intimate glow over the damp, rain-slicked cobblestone streets, reflecting beautifully in the shallow puddles left behind by the afternoon drizzle.
And falling softly through the neon-lit air, drifting on the city wind, were thousands of delicate pink petals.
They were not cheap holographic projections or hard-light illusions.
They were real cherry blossoms.
They bloomed vibrantly from massive, magically enhanced trees that had been deliberately and stubbornly cultivated to weave their thick roots directly through the concrete and steel of the city infrastructure.
The petals drifted down gracefully in the fading sunlight, landing on the pavement, resting on the glowing hoods of hovering sports cars, and catching in the hair of the passing pedestrians.
It was a perfect fusion of ancient tradition and modern cyberpunk grit.
’And other cities are more advanced than this...’
As Silas and Evelyn stood near the curb, taking in the bustling shoulder-to-shoulder crowds of masked mercenaries, eager tourists, street vendors, and exhausted corporate workers, a young local boy wearing a traditional tunic over modern streetwear jogged past them.
"Moon Festival tonight!" the boy shouted energetically, his voice cracking slightly with excitement.
Without breaking his stride, the kid shoved a glossy brightly colored paper pamphlet directly into Silas’s chest before disappearing into the flowing crowd.
Silas blinked, his reflexes easily catching the paper before it could fall to the wet pavement.
He looked down at the pamphlet in his large calloused hand.
It featured a beautiful hand-drawn illustration of the Shogitown central plaza illuminated by thousands of floating paper lanterns.
Bold stylized text advertised an array of evening celebrations, including massive street food stalls, local martial arts tournaments, and traditional music performances that were scheduled to run late into the night.
Evelyn leaned over, peering critically at the paper in his hand. She let out a soft scoff.
"Tourist trash," Evelyn dismissed it instantly, adjusting the baggy sleeves of her oversized gray hoodie. "Come on, Silas. His place is located a few blocks deeper into the district, down in the black-market tech sectors. We need to move right now before the enforcers start their evening patrols and lock down the main thoroughfares."
Silas didn’t move.
He kept his golden-ringed eyes locked firmly on the glossy pamphlet with his thumb gently tracing the edge of the paper.
"We should stay for a bit," Silas suggested, his deep voice carrying a strange uncharacteristic softness that entirely lacked his usual edge.
Evelyn stopped walking.
She turned around, looking at him with her dark eyes narrowed in genuine confusion.
This was the exact same ruthless guy who had just butchered a mobilized army in the Sovereign Realm which was hers without breaking a sweat.
Why on earth was he suddenly interested in a noisy crowded local street fair?
"Are you out of your mind?" Evelyn asked bluntly, placing her hands on her hips. "Did you forget what we came here to do? We don’t have time for a festival."
Silas looked up from the paper.
His gaze swept slowly over the vibrant neon-lit stalls lining the bustling street.
The air was thick with the mouth-watering scent of grilled kraken skewers, sweet bean pastries, and roasted chestnuts.
"During the years that I was attending Valoria Academy," Silas explained quietly, his voice steady but carrying a weight of nostalgia. "I always wanted to come down to Shogitown... The other kids in my group, the ones with noble backing and rich parents, would constantly talk about the evening celebrations here. They talked endlessly about the atmosphere, the carnival games, and especially the food."
He folded the pamphlet neatly along its crease and slid it carefully into the deep pocket of his dark trench coat.
"But I never came," Silas admitted with a smirk touching his lips as he remembered his past. "I was too busy working three separate dead-end shifts at the lower-tier processing plants just to keep the lights on in our apartment for Lia... I didn’t have the disposable credits to waste on train tickets, let alone expensive street meat. I just looked at the holograms online. But now..."
He reached into his pocket with his fingers brushing against the cold metal of his phone.
"...now I actually have the money. I have more money than I know what to do with and I just want to see what all the fuss was about. Just for a little while."
Evelyn stared at him.
For a fraction of a second, a flicker of genuine empathy crossed her pale tired face.
She understood the grinding and humiliating weight of poverty better than almost anyone else in the Sovereign Realm.
She knew exactly what it felt like to stand on the outside looking in, desperately wanting to participate in a world that demanded wealth you didn’t possess.
But then, the suffocating stress of the day violently crashed back down onto her narrow shoulders.
She had watched her Vanguard bleed out in the mud.
Her First Hero had almost died. Her nerves were completely shot, running on pure adrenaline and lingering panic as her patience was entirely nonexistent right now.
Evelyn sneered, her deep-seated defense mechanisms instantly flaring up into aggressive hostility.
"Didn’t you explicitly state back at the bank that you wanted to get your fake identity sorted out as fast as possible?" Evelyn snapped coldly, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. "Why the hell would we waste our valuable time staying at some crowded noisy event? We have actual business to conduct, Silas."
Silas frowned slightly at her sudden tone.
"It would only be for an hour, Evelyn. He isn’t going anywhere."
"If you desperately wanted to go on a cute little festival date," Evelyn continued ruthlessly, her voice dripping with uncalled-for spite as she projected her own bitter internal frustrations directly onto him. "You should have just stayed at your pristine apartment and gone out with the rich girl you are currently ripping off."
Silas completely froze in place on the cobblestone street.
The casual conversational warmth entirely vanished from his demeanor, replaced instantly by a cold look.
His broad shoulders went rigid under his heavy leather coat, and his golden-ringed eyes darkened with sudden confusion.
"Ripping off?" Silas repeated. "What exactly are you talking about, Evelyn?"
Why was she in a tantrum too?
Evelyn didn’t answer him. She just turned her back, shoving her hands deep into her hoodie pockets, and began storming off down the crowded neon-lit sidewalk with angry stomping strides.
Silas let out an irritated breath.
’Why are women so complicated...?’
He lengthened his stride, effortlessly jogging through the dense flow of pedestrians to keep up with her frantic pace.
They passed by beautiful, ornate wooden shrines tucked cleanly between modern reinforced weapon shops, the stunning architectural contrast of the city lost on them as the tension thickened.
"Evelyn, wait," Silas demanded, easily catching up to her shoulder and matching her pace. "Explain what you meant by that. Who am I ripping off?"
Evelyn kept her dark eyes locked firmly on the wet pavement ahead, her jaw clenched tight.
"Well, you clearly have a rich billionaire heiress fawning all over you back at your house," Evelyn stated bitterly, her words spilling out in a rapid angry stream. "I saw her looking at you... Go on a date here with her or something. Play your little seduction games to fund your territory but do not involve me in your kid nonsense. I am a Lord, not a tour guide for your childhood fantasies."
Silas quieted down instantly.
’...Oh?’