When the plot-skips players into the game world

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Beyard pulled Aiwass along, walking through the streets of the Helasal Empire at night.

Aiwass admired these imperial-era buildings with an appreciative eye.

From Aiwass's perspective, the architecture of the imperial era was close to Gothic in style, with common features being their towering heights and sharp verticality, along with numerous pointed ribbed vaults.

The buildings varied greatly in height and width, without any standardized specifications, and unlike Glass Island, where an entire district was of the same color, with almost uniform building heights and sizes. Here, the architecture conveyed a strong sense of freedom and artistry.

Almost all the exterior walls of the buildings were adorned with a plethora of bas-reliefs and latticework, as well as copious amounts of colored glass—knowing that Avalon, abundant in glass, couldn't even cover ordinary glass windows throughout its towns and villages two hundred years later. Yet now in the Helasal Empire, one could see all the buildings on the street decorated with large amounts of colored glass... and nearly all of these glasses were unique and lavish paintings.

In those vast open spaces, there were many artistic graffiti. The entire street was paved with stone slabs, and a passing carriage had a luxurious, jade-like shell.

At a glance, Aiwass felt it was possibly made of whalebone. But it was hard to say; it might have been some other bone.

The clothing styles of people on the street were lavish and complex, hardly with any of the simplicity found in the countryside of Avalon.

This vibrant city was brimming with a sense of prosperity and artistry.

The late Helasal Empire... this was a truly golden era in human history, although its internal contradictions were exceptionally acute, with numerous factions. Yet, the cause of the empire's dissolution did not stem from the common people, but from the power struggles of the upper echelons.

The prosperity and downfall of the Helasal Empire were born of the same reason.

It was the first in human history, and perhaps the last, empire where all nine Paths were parallel, and all professions were equal without discrimination. Even occupations such as necromancer, Demon Scholar, Blood Magus, Deceit Master, and assassin could equally become prominent figures in the upper echelons of the empire. All extraordinary abilities were fully taught and applied, giving the empire a productivity far ahead of its time.

The street even had public lighting installations similar to streetlamps, though they were not powered by electricity and seemed to burn some kind of oil. Such streetlamps were planted throughout the entire street, bright and stable in light, with hardly any dark spots.

The Secret Cultivation Assembly, which worshipped Sister Sasha, could openly exist on the street, not far from the Necromancy Academy—with visible Shadow Souls entwined around the Spirit Summoning Tower piercing the sky. Those necromancer apprentices, dressed in dry leaf robes, having just finished their evening classes, roamed the streets hungrily looking for food.

Assassins in leather armor and hoodies covering their faces entered a tavern on the street corner arm in arm with heavily armored Knights. Alchemists with vials and jars hanging at their belts discussed something with solemn-faced Mages with a glint of blue in their eyes at a street corner.

Demon Scholars in purple robes, followed by Demons of various styles, casually let their Demons out to accompany them—Aiwass even saw a Penalty Demon pass by, which turned back to glance at Aiwass and her Shadow Demon, casting a warning look.

Vampires with crimson eyes leaned against a wall with one hand, chatting with a girl they happened upon; Witches zipped past swiftly on their brooms overhead. Painters propped up their easels at street corners, surveying the night scene of the district and the multitude on the street.

Only the moon above in the sky remained unchanged, as quietly illuminating the earth as it would hundreds of years later.

And Beyard, holding Aiwass's hand, leisurely made their way through the bustling crowd.

She led Aiwass to a tavern, deftly ordered two mugs of ale and three bowls of meat soup, and they took a seat in a booth.

From here they could maintain a degree of privacy while also watching what people were doing outside.

The tavern was not noisy nor did it seem vulgar.

On the central stage, people were dancing—not a professional dance troupe but led by a professional dancer, with citizens joining in, and there was also a band playing musical instruments, apparently not very professional either, yet bursts of cheerful laughter erupted from time to time.

Next to the performance stage were a few tables where people played a game resembling chess, only the chess pieces were much larger—they weren't even picked up by hand but were semi-automatic. People would pat the pieces then pat the spaces, and the pieces would fly to their respective positions on their own.

In other booths, masked fortune-tellers with crystal balls, pendulums, and tarot cards whispered softly in the corners with their patrons.

Young kids could be seen peddling lottery tickets—it sounded like horse racing tickets. But the more Aiwass listened, the more she felt something was amiss, as if those "horses" were referring to something else... like maybe a certain Prince.

"They're betting on who will be the next emperor."

Noticing Aiwass's gaze, Beyard commented casually, "It's a traditional pastime for the citizens here."

"What, are you surprised?"

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While waiting for the meat soup, Beyard whispered to Aiwass.

"Hmm."

Aiwass nodded gently.

She was certainly surprised.

It would be more accurate to say she was surprised in all sorts of ways.

Whether it was Beyard taking her to an ordinary citizen's tavern, the nightlife and games people played during the Empire era, the joyous scene on the streets of the nine Paths, or the citizens daring to treat the successor to the throne as a gambling "bet,"...

The prosperity and joy here even made Aiwass wonder if the decadence and cruelty in Crescent Moon Manor were an illusion.

Moreover, if Aiwass remembered correctly, the dreams constructed for promotion ceremonies usually only involved a few people. Just like Aiwass's first promotion ceremony, there were hardly any living souls on the streets, much like the sparse passersby in the later periods of Conan. Explore more adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

This wasn't to reduce the workload of the Pillar God... The main reason was to provide clear investigative clues for the promotants.

After all, if you had to ask each one, you might not get far before being marked for suspicious behavior. Plus, that would also make the ceremony heavily reliant on luck— who first encountered an important character would gain more information than the others. Therefore, the ceremony typically removed unnecessary people.

—But there were far too many passersby in this ceremony.

There were already many guests back in Crescent Moon Manor. That time, Aiwass thought to herself, with so many people interacting, she feared the clues would have to be investigated until the next month.

And now, she was shocked as soon as she stepped outside.

The streets were full of people!

Had Aiwass not vividly remembered that this was a promotion ceremony, she might have even thought she had truly returned to this era.

Although the ceremony was constructed by Amber, Aiwass remembered that Amber's last constructed ceremony was not so complex.

It must have been the demand of the Gemini Mirror...

"This is the tavern I used to frequent as a child. At first, it was just a coincidence. One rainy day, because I was adamant about going out to play, I lost my way from the servant and ended up here to take shelter from the rain. Seeing me shivering from the cold, the tavern owner gave me a bowl of meat soup to warm up; the owner's wife found me a towel to dry my hair."

"At that time, I thought it was the best meat soup I had ever tasted."

Looking at the now silent Aiwass, Beyard smiled to herself.

"It's not just a personal feeling... I truly think the meat soup here is excellent. The owner's wife would stew cow bones and chicken carcasses together. And when I was a child, frail and thin, the owner's wife would specially put a few extra pieces of meat in my bowl.

"My father had been teaching me spellcasting since I was young, and my mother was teaching me how to become a charming Witch. When I got tired of studying, I would run out to drink meat soup here, listen to bards play the harp. Sometimes, clowns would take the stage to tell jokes or act out risqué comedies, and whenever they did, the owner would curse a few times, 'There are children here'.

"That continued until I became of age and started to take over the family business. I felt very lonely at times, and sometimes, I wanted to drink alone... even then, I would come here."

Beyard said, propping her face with one hand and looking at Aiwass with a smile that could be called beautiful, "I brought you here to share my childhood with you, my dear... And at the same time, I brought 'her' to have a look as well.

"It's been a long time since the last visit, right... If you were me, you would probably want to come here to see it too. I thought about it, and if I were you, I would probably want to come here for a bowl of soup.

"I could sense it, you seem to be very lonely."

Upon hearing this, Aiwass was taken aback.

And the Shadow Demon in the depths of Aiwass's heart sighed softly.