Overlord: Blue Citadel Alternate

"This is not the main settlement?" The Princess walked beside Vertum as they were traversing across the Village grounds, their personal escorts a few paces behind.

"No," Vertum's gaze washed over the small village, there were very few people actually out here after the attack from the Black Scripture. Most of them only came out here to tend to the farming, or mend their homes. Though now that the wall was functioning as it should be, there was no worries of that anymore. "I'll show you, all of you."

Ninya approached, separating from the rest of the group and coming right up beside him. "We're going to your lair?" She asked with a curious smile on her face, her eyebrows at rest.

"If you want to call it that," Vertum snickered at the word she used. The thought of a Dragon's lair was very different in his mind, consisting of piles of gold and treasure from pillaged cities.

Once they reached the edge of the village, where there were no buildings and the forest was mere feet away from them, Vertum came to a dead stop.

The Princess stopped and looked over at him, blinking a few times. "We're stopping here?" Her eyes skimmed the area around them. There was nothing here and she furrowed a brow.

"Not exactly, everyone move into rows of three. Silver in front, Adamantite in the back." Vertum ordered with a casual tone, waving his hand a bout as if to get them moving.

Evileye rolled her eyes slightly as they did as they were told, all of which stood behind Vertum and the Princess soon after. They remained compliant for the time being since nothing weird was happening. That was until he held out a hand to the side, and recited that portal spell again.

Suddenly a massive swirling mass appeared before them, this one being blue in color and its energy much more apparent. Her eyes widened seeing this, only being able to assume the amount of mana having to be used to do this.

Ninya who was standing in the front of the crew, stared with wide eyes at the portal. She was far more amazed than Evileye as she had less experience seeing such extravagant magics.

"This goes to you... 'lair' I assume?" The Princess planted her fist under her chin and tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as she observed the portal.

"Yes," he said before entering several seconds after answering her question, tugging her along by the shoulder. The rest of the people went following in behind them, remaining close together as they did so.

Renner's jaw nearly dropped as they appeared in a dimly lit, though beautifully built, underground City. They were standing at what appeared to be a hidden entrance, the sounds of the forest being able to be heard rather subtly from the outside.

Ninya immediately darted forward, along with her Adventurer group, looking around in amazement. "Woah!" She nearly squealed, holding her magic staff in one hand by her side.

"This is amazing..." Laykus walked slowly up beside the Princess, looking at the roof of the underground lair. Then her eyes drifted over towards the massive pillar that appeared to be a vertical standing castle of some sort with fortifications around it.

The Princess looked to him inquisitively, "This is where you've been staying for hundreds of years?" She let her hand drop down to her side, resting on her hip.

Climb walked up beside his charge before looking over the cityscape as well. Flat roofed buildings, ambient lighting and a water supply that seemed near infinite and clean.

This place wasn't normal, nor natural.

"Most of us stayed in the castle. The exterior was abandoned for generations at a time," Vertum clarified even though it was just another lie, though he was telling the truth about it being abandoned at one point.

"And it's directly under the Forest..." The Princess uttered under her breath. She could only imagine how much access he had to natural deposits hidden from above ground.

Her mind immediately went back to how he asked what they were going to trade, her eyes narrowed forward, she had been duped. Her eyes flickered on over to him, raising her lower right lid, but didn't say a word. She had gotten what she wanted out of the agreement.

"What is this place called?" Ninya turned on her heel and had all her attentions on Vertum.

"Vilisyrteria," Vertum stated as he looked over towards her with a small smile across his lips.

The Princess could see the attention Vertum was giving the lone, weaker, adventurer. Could the two of them had shared a moment before? Shrugging to herself, she looked to Climb.

"Are you alright, Princess?" He asked with a big smile across his lips, happy to protect her.

"I'm alright. Climb." She smiled warmly to him as she reached out and grasped onto his armed arm with her dainty hand.

Vertum turned and looked towards the two Ninja like folks who were silently looking over the area, crouched as they did so. His gaze then traveled towards Laykus who seemed to be in her own little world, then towards Evileye.

Out of all of them, the little blonde seemed to be a killjoy.

"Vertum-sama," A woman appeared out of nowhere, one that only Vertum knew.

He turned to look towards Silva as she was standing there in her usual militant attire, though she wasn't wearing a helmet. A small grin took over his smiling lips, "Ah, hello Silva."

Evileye narrowed her gaze on the female, it was another Vampire! Her eyes drifted towards Vertum, then back towards the girl. "A vampire?" She almost moved into a defensive stance.

"I wouldn't try using any magic within the city." Vertum turned his head and looked to her with a frown across his lips, it was a warning. "This is Silva, one of the head Guardians of the City."

"Guardians?" The Princess was curious rather than appalled at the idea.

Blinking at the woman's title, Evileye slowly returned to a more civil stance before walking towards them. Reaching up, she would slowly pull her mask from her face, revealing her red eyes and blonde hair as well as her youthful complexion.

Silva raised a brow at this, a small titter escaping her lips, otherwise keeping a stern expression. "Hello," her eyes traced over the young vampire who was about two hundred and something years old. "Who may you be?"

"My name is Evileye..."

Silva creased her brows down as she heard this response. Evileye was not a name. "That's not a name, that's the name of a creature..." She responded as she crossed her arms over her c.h.e.s.t.

The small blonde blinked up at the other Vampire.

"What is your true name?" Silva asked as she leaned forward slightly, waiting for an answer.

Ninya looked to Vertum, "Am I able to head down towards the water?"

"Yes, it should be fine," Vertum responded with a light snicker across his lips. "Just don't try swimming in it." He added before looking to the Princess, then towards Climb who was beside her. "I can send you back directly to E-Rantel if you'd like. Or you can stay here for a day or so."

"I think it's worth a grand look around!" Laykus put in her two cents.

"Of course you would think so, Evil Boss." Tina shook her head with a scoff.

"Spoil me?" The Princess seemed to lean towards Climb, trying to get him to agree despite the fact that he would agree with her anyways, without the pushing.

"Y-yes your highness, of course." Climb dutifully nodded towards his savior, the one he owed everything to. His eyes trickled on over to Vertum however as he was walking away with everyone else in tow. It had happened so quickly, he hardly noticed it until everyone was already on the move.

The two of them were quick to catch up, and soon enough made it to the City Square.

Sounds emanated from the factory, things were being manufactured and built. And their current depth within the City seemed to expose them to more soldiers dressed in leather and metal half-plate armor.

"What kind of weapons are those?" Ninya asked as one of the soldiers were walking by with a blunderbuss holstered on their lower back, a rifle over their shoulder and a sabre at their hip.

"Ranged weapons for the most part, the rifle uses magic, the one on their back uses hard projectiles... They fire them at lethal velocities..." His eyes traveled over towards a warehouse which was being erected off in the distance. "For anti-armor."

"I heard from Gazef-dono that you used them to wipe out the initial wave of Theocracy Troops, is that true?" Climb asked as he walked up to him, wondering just how strong these individuals were. If that was true, it meant that if he learned how to use those particular weapons, it would make him strong enough to fight for his Princess without fail.

Vertum just looked at the boy as he asked this question. He could see the hard determination within his eyes, he nodded slowly. "The blunderbuss tore Imperial armor rather easily."

Pursing her lips, the Princess now could only assume that if he were to join them in the Annual War, then perhaps they would be able to invade the Empire. At the same time, she didn't want to. Invading the Empire meant putting Climb at risk as he was a soldier of the Kingdom, despite being favored by her.

"Silva," he turned his head towards the Vampire, "Please show our Royal and her escort around the City, while I entertain my personal guests." Without expecting much of a response, he watched as his head guardian nodded.

Vertum's gaze turned towards Ninya and the Swords of Darkness, as the others were lead away. "Would you like to see the interior of the Castle?"

Lukrut laughed a bit, he was excited to be here, if not more than Ninya. This place, it was bigger than any cave or cavern he had wandered into as an Adventurer. "Would we!"

"It seems like we have one vote," Vertum raised a brow looking at the others.

Humbling pitching her head forward, Ninya nodded as she rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. "I've never seen a place like this..." She wanted to sit down and write about this, about him. This place was just amazing to look at, she could only imagine what was inside the castle.

"Two votes?" Vertum looked towards Dyne and Peter.

The Druid, Dyne, was rather mellow as he stood there with his weapon still holstered. "I don't see a problem with it. We've been compensated for our work, but new experiences are good too."

Peter agreed with his wise friend, and cheered, "I'm already excited, let's get a move on!"

"Init." Vertum snickered as he turned on his heel and lead them towards the front of the Castle, a place he called home for several days now, folding his hand behind his back as he did so.