Chapter 172 Waning City

As John was passing the caravan a notification alert suddenly appeared.

[*COSMIC ALERT* An enemy with hostile intent has appeared and is targeting you.]

As John saw the alert he quickly said.

"Speed Burst."

[DEX: 482>>964]

[Speed Burst Time Remaining: 5 Seconds]

As his speed increased he seemed to vanish from the group on the caravan's roof.

"What the hell!"

"Where the hell did it go?"

The group on the roof were confused until they heard a voice come from beside them.

"Hey, what made you think it was suddenly a good idea to fire an arrow at me?" The rabbit asked, surprising the group.

"Wait, you can talk?"

"No, I'm communicating telepathically directly into your mind, of course I can talk." John replied.

"How can you talk.?" 

At this point those inside the caravan became aware of the commotion.

They all started to pay attention including a beauty with pink hair that previously everyone had been fawning over.

"Did you even consider using inspect before firing off an arrow?" John asked.

"Why would we inspect a rabbit?" One of them asked haughtily.

"Why don't you inspect me and find out." John suggested.

All the people on the roof used inspect on the rabbit before their eyes widened in surprise.

"You're a player."

"Ding ding, give this one a prize." John said sarcastically.

"Wait, if you can transform into an animal, that must mean you're a Druid, but your race says you're human."

"And?" John asked.

"And how is that possible?" 

"Why would I tell someone who attacked me?" John asked before saying.

"If this happens again it won't be my rabbit form you will be seeing close up." 

John then jumped forward off the caravan and flew around twenty feet in front of it before dashing off into the distance.

Everyone onboard the caravan watched the rabbit leave before the pink haired beauty smirked and sent someone a message.

John continued to dash along the road and soon enough he saw the human capital of Waning City appear in the distance before it started to grow larger as he approached.

High walls that ran all around the outskirts of the city blocked most of it from view, however in the distance he saw a large castle sat atop the edge of a large cliff above the city.

"I read about the Silver City back when I was in school and apparently the layout is much the same here in Waning City, except for the large lake in the center of the City that the cliff sits at the edge off." John thought out loud.

As he approached close to Waning city more and more travelers were on the road and took notice of the rabbit that was speeding down the road past them.

John ignored all the stares and carried on dashing towards the city.

As he approached the large entry gate he saw lines of individuals, caravans and carts queuing to enter.

A group of guards stood before the city entrance performing inspections before allowing anyone to enter.

(Honestly I'm not in the mood to wait in line.) John thought before mumbling.

"Stealth."

As he did so his body started to disappear and those that were paying attention to him as he passed them were surprised to see the rabbit disappear right in front of their eyes.

Now invisible, John continued to dash towards the city avoiding the attention of most of the individuals.

A few of the more senior guards on duty however managed to see through his stealth and became alert when they saw a rabbit dashing towards the gate.

"Halt rabbit." A female guard that was dressed in far better armor than the rest said, causing the crowd to look around curiously trying to find the individual the female guard was addressing.

(It seems these ones are high level since they can see through my stealth.) John thought before he said.

"Speed Burst."

[DEX: 482>>964]

[Speed Burst Time Remaining: 5 Seconds]

As John's speed suddenly increased suddenly the female guard showed surprise before she started to draw her weapon.

She was suspicious of the rabbit as no animal ever tried to enter through the main gates since there were always so many humans present, also the fact that this rabbit had antlers and was invisible to almost everyone.

John, not wanting to waste any time, increased his speed to the max to get a good run up and just as he was a few meters away from the female guard he leaped into the air.

His Enhanced jump ability enabled him to see high into the air and leap right over the female guard as she and the others who could see him showed surprise as they watched the rabbit leap over them.

As John landed back onto the road he continued to dash off into the city out of site.

The guards only came back to their senses as when the rabbit had vanished from view.

The female guard sighed before she put her sword back into its sheath while shaking her head.

"Captain, what should we do?" Asked another of the guards who could see through John's stealth.

"There is nothing we can do, you saw its speed, it will have already disappeared into the maze of streets in the city." The female guard captain replied before saying.

"Put out a notice to all guards to keep an eye out for a rabbit with antlers, I on the other hand will notify the palace."

"While I don't think one rabbit could do much damage, it is strange enough that I need to report this to the empress just in case." 

As the guard captain finished speaking she turned on her heel and headed into the city heading towards the palace that stood atop the cliff.

Inside the city John dashed around a few corners until he was sure no one was following him.

When he was certain it was safe he headed for an empty ally before saying.

"Wild Morph Human"

John's body started to grow as he transformed back into his normal human appearance.

[WIS: 0>>96] 

[STR: 0>>95] 

[INT: 0>>122] 

[VIT: 0>>268] 

[DEX: 482>>101] 

As he stretched slightly to get used to being back in his human form he thought.

(Well I made it to Waning City, however since I did not plan to come here first I never had a chance to arrange a place to meet up with Adria, I guess I should message her.)

John had added Adria and Shizu to his friends list at the banquet during one of the free moments the girls allowed him to rest from dancing with them.

[Vincarna: Hey, I have arrived in Waning City, where do you want to meet up?]

After sending the message he thought.

(Since I'm here, let's go grab the portal stone for Waning city and I may as well visit the auction hours to see if I can upgrade my gear and also Lilastea, oh I can also sell off that Junk I have.)

After coming up with a plan he left the ally to go find the teleport hall.

***

In the palace of Waning City Fire Empress and Red Rose were sitting across from each other while drinking tea as the group magic spell had just ended.

Adria placed her teacup down on the table before saying.

"Maria, please leave us."

"Princess?" Maria asked in a confused tone.

"I need to speak to my mother about something in private." Adria responded.

Maria turned to look at Alexia who simply nodded.

"Very well, If you will excuse me, empress, princess." Maria said before leaving the room and closing the door behind her to wait outside.

"Now mother, shall we discuss the matter regarding you wishing to join the harem and become John's lover?" Adria asked.

Alexia placed her cup down before looking at her daughter and saying.

"I personally never said I wanted to join and become his lover." 

"Then is what Alea said about broaching the subject slowly a lie?" Adria asked back.

"Not entirely, while I had no idea Alea was also thinking this way, Tanelia had mentioned this topic to myself and Sakoto previously." Alexia replied.

"Sakoto too?" Adria asked in surprise.

"Indeed, it would be beneficial to Sakoto because she and John both share the same affinities." Alexia replied.

"While I understand your meaning that won't be enough for her to join, just as you simply wanting to replace that useless father of mine won't be enough for you to join." Adria replied in a serious tone.

"Oh! Are you implying that two empresses are not good enough for John?" Alexia asked with a smirk before adding.

"Is this how it will be from now on? You will take your lover's side over your own mothers?"

"I never said you are not good enough, it is just that John won't accept either of you as you are, and because of that neither will the rest of us."

"Please explain." Alexia said.

"John has no interest in being with someone purely for sex and at the moment that is exactly all it would be with you and Sakoto, you will be having sex with him because of your urges from not having it for so long, while Sakoto will be doing it to increase her magical power." Adria replied before continuing.

"While this will bring benefits to John such as being the lover and emperor consort of both races while also increasing his own magical power, that won't be enough for him to let you into the group."

"Please explain why." Alexia said.

"Simple, he does not care for either of you, he only cares for you both indirectly as you are the mothers of myself and Shizu who we love dearly and he does not want to see us sad." Adriea began to explain.

"So while he will help you both in the future if you need it because you are essentially family, that is not enough for him to sleep with you, especially when we are unsure how John would feel about sleeping with both the mother and daughter."

"I see." Alexia said as she thought for a moment before asking.

"Are you not against this daughter?"