Chapter 15: A Walk II

"...a strong and an independent woman"

"Wait what?"

Arthur was seriously taken aback with the answer.

Did he not know something? Is being a woman a crime in this place? It just made no sense.

"Hahahahaha! Look at your face! Did you expect something different?"

Amon collapsed into laughter as soon as he noticed Arthur's completely bewildered expression. It was clear that he was making a joke at his expense.

"Then what you said earlier…?"

Arthur was more confused than angry. He did not know what to think of this.

"Sigh… I really can't joke with you…"

Amon stopped laughing and lamented about the fact that Arthur had no sense of humour. Still, he decided to clear things up and his expression turned serious.

"She is a half demon, a hybrid if you will"

In a hushed tone he revealed Renfri's shocking secret.

"Is she similar to you? You call yourself a demon after all"

Arthur wasn't too shocked with the revelation, perhaps he did not know what it meant to be a demon and what it implied but he was curious nevertheless.

"She couldn't be more different actually, being a demon does not mean that we are of the same kind, not to mention that she is a mere hybrid. Her powers are limited to an enhanced physique but even that makes her at most twice as strong compared to a regular human. Still I should remind you that in eyes of the public it makes her a monster which should be killed with no remorse whatsoever"

"Then is it really alright for us to be talking about it in the middle of a street?"

A smirk appeared on Amon's face when Arthur said this.

"Don't worry if I don't want something to be heard it won't be heard"

"Then why did you whisper earlier?"

"For a dramatic effect of course"

Amon said this as it was the most obvious answer but Arthur couldn't help but wonder what is wrong with him. He jokes about matters involving death as if it was nothing not to mention yesterday he proposed betraying Renfri in a manner like he was just planning an innocent prank.

Arthur was beginning to think that Amon might not be a good guy after all but remembering his outburst from when they stumbled upon the murdered man he realised that it might be his unique way of coping with things. It can't be that he is just straight up evil and enjoys tormenting others, right?

"Sigh…"

Feeling defeated, Arthur decided not to continue the conversation. Instead he upped his walking speed and wanted to reach the city centre more quickly.

***

Arthur and Amon soon arrived at the city centre and they couldn't help but notice a large crowd slowly forming. It almost filled an entire square which in size could be compared to a football stadium.

"Didn't you hear? City officials out of nowhere decided to hold an announcement and it's starting soon"

"Apparently something big happened and they want to address it, I have no clue what they will talk about though"

"I overheard some city officials talking about some sort of cliff but that can't be right… I must have misheard something"

They quickly learned the cause of this gathering from asking around different people and while Arthur felt bittersweet about this and smiled awkwardly, on the other side of the fence was Amon who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"What did I do to deserve this? I mean… I did a lot of bad things in my life but for that one particular sin I am more than ready to atone for"

He scratched his head and moaned in frustration.

His tantrum resembled that of a student who after pulling an all-nighter playing video games learned early in the morning he had an exam he couldn't afford to fail because if he did he wouldn't pass the class and of course he could retake it at a later time but in his mind that was too big of an inconvenience. Too specific? No, I don't think so either.

Anyway, Arthur didn't take Amon's cries to heart as he learned by now that he just liked being overly dramatic at times. Instead he took his chance to take a look around the crowd since the announcement is yet to start.

The people there were of different ages and genders but that was normal, what Arthur mainly focused on was their clothes as they were creative in a sense which caught his attention.

Among men different cloaks, coats and even robes seemed to be a trend. Women on the other hand, although also liked wearing cloaks and loose robes, had some dresses mixed in their wardrobe as well. In terms of colour a lot of variety was present with deep black, ocean blue and indigo purple being the majority but it seemed like the entire rainbow was well represented as no colour was left out.

Arthur also noticed a clear division as people who wore darker colours had their clothes on average of worse quality than those with brighter and coloured clothing. For example a person who wore a dark robe usually had some dirt, holes and patches on it not to mention the material appeared cheap while a person wearing a purple cloak seemed to have it made from silk with not even a speck of dust on it.

He now realised that when he travelled through the Coln district practically no one wore anything but black. Did that mean something? He pointed the fact out to Amon who smiled at him pitfully.

"Sigh… maybe we will leave that conversation for another time… Look I think the announcement is about to start"

Conveniently for Amon who appeared to really not want to talk about this a man wearing a red robe which bordered on orange at certain points rose to the sky and levitated above the crowd on the building level.

He rubbed his eyes and mumbled in a low voice.

"F*ck…"