Chapter 135 Melocas

Mellocas city.

One of the four major cities in Robebia.

In a sense, this can be considered the capital of Robebia, because the city of Melocas was once the stronghold of the Demon King Prolas as the Demon King's city.

Alternative name: Old Prolas Demon King's Castle.

Although it was once the Demon King's castle, it seems that it was not made the capital after humans occupied it. Therefore, Melokas has lost its former glory and can only be considered one of the four major cities of Robebia.

~~~

"Halt! Who are you?!"

As the carriage approaches the entrance to Melocas, two sentries, resembling gatekeepers, will stop us.

To my surprise, these two were strange creatures with animal heads and human bodies.

One of them had a snake's head and looked very serious, while the other had a pig's head and looked lewd.

The reason for this assessment is that he stared at Lilith's body, which was exposed beneath her revealing clothes, with a burning and lewd gaze.

"Demi-human race".

I've heard of a similar race from Sylvie; it seems the Seg couple once traveled to a place like this, a town inhabited by demi-humans.

Even with prior knowledge, it was still unbelievable to see it for the first time, and one might wonder if Julius might also evolve into this form.

Or rather, the way this cat stands up resembles the demi-human race before us, as if an animal has been dressed in a human coat, which feels truly peculiar.

"What's in the carriage? And the child over there! Please get off for inspection!"

The one who spoke was the snakehead sentry, whose tone was very aggressive, and he pointed at me, who was leaning against the window, and shouted.

As for that pig-headed guy! He was still staring at Lilith with a lewd look, as if he could see something beneath Lilith's revealing clothes.

"Watch out, Lilith might gouge your eyes out if she gets angry!"

Of course, Lilith seemed to be used to such gazes. When she inadvertently bumped into the encouraging peak, she almost made that pig-headed man drool.

"We are adventurers from Kylorans."

Although Katya and I reluctantly jumped off the carriage for inspection, we didn't interrupt. Just like when we passed through the village before, we left all the negotiations to Lilith.

Julius, meanwhile, curled up in Katya's arms, pretending to be an ordinary kitten, seemingly having made some kind of pact with Lilith.

—Once inside Melocas, it must not reveal that it is a peculiar little cat that can use magic.

Katya, on the other hand, wrapped herself tightly in her robe, completely obscuring her ears and hair, revealing only her small and cute face.

"Adventurers of Kylorans? What can prove that!"

Upon hearing the snakehead sentinel's request, Lilith calmly pulled out the adventurer's badge from between the peaks.

"They actually put the nameplate in that kind of place!"

"Lek! I'll handle this! You go and see what's in the carriage!"

However, at this moment, the pig-headed man shoved the snake-headed sentry aside, snatched the nameplate from Lilith's hand, and even glared at Lilith's breasts before examining the nameplate.

"That's disgusting."

Pighead pretended to be nearsighted, brought Lilith's nameplate close to his face, and sniffed it hard with his lotus-like nose, almost licking it.

The snakehead sentry was used to pig-headed behavior, gave him a disdainful look, and walked towards the back of the carriage.

After lifting the curtain, the smuggler didn't look too closely, since there was nothing suspicious in the carriage except for the leftover tortoise meat.

"Alright! Nothing suspicious found. How's the investigation going on your end?"

"It's confirmed! They are indeed adventurers from Kylorans."

As he said this, Pighead sniffed hard again, looking quite pleased with himself. But what kind of smell would the nameplate placed on Lilith's Peak leave?

Melocas, isn't he afraid that having such a guy guard the gate will cause trouble for the caravan?

After returning the nameplate to Lilith, the two of them finally let us pass.

However, Lilith casually tossed the nameplate on the ground, seemingly disgusted with it after being molested by the pig-headed man.

"Lilith? After throwing away the nameplate, how do I accept quests from the guild?"

"It's not mine! That's my older sister's nameplate! Let her throw it away!"

"I see, as expected of Lilith."

Doing this to show the guards is just to lower their guard, but if Prusena loses her nameplate, she might become quite troublesome in the capital.

Of course, this is not something I should care about.

Because when I saw the construction of Melocas, my attention was completely focused on that.

Melocas is a city built in the depression of a huge crater, with cliffs on all sides like natural city walls, as if a huge mountain peak had been hollowed out.

The buildings were also built in a completely different way than those in Kylorans. The houses were built on terraced terrain with varying elevations, one floor after another, and every few meters there was a cylindrical support connecting them to the cliff walls.

"As expected of the Demon King's Castle, the Demon King Prolas's Castle."

This kind of construction is simply too spectacular.

However, the street layout is pretty much the same everywhere.

Near the entrance, there are stables and inns for merchants, arranged side by side.

Further ahead is the commercial street, with all sorts of stalls lined up in a row. The difference is that the people hawking their wares have been replaced by demi-humans with animal heads.

"Leon! Look! What's that!"

Like me, Katia was also looking at every part of Melocas with a curious gaze.

To her surprise, an animal that looked a lot like a lizard was pulling a carriage past us.

I am quite clear about this; I have seen similar descriptions in books. Unlike Kylorans, some places do not primarily use horse-drawn carriages as a means of transportation.

Instead, it is a creature called "earth dragon".

One type resembles a lizard; another type is a creature similar to a dinosaur.

Although they are large animals, they are like horses, gentle in nature, easy to handle, and will not harm humans.

Unlike horses, earthworms are better suited to traveling in sandy and dry places, and they have an excellent sense of direction. Even if they get lost in the desert, they can easily find their way out.

Therefore, countries living in such desert areas tend to use these creatures as a means of transportation, and have even given them a catchy name: "dragon carriage".

What happened to pass by was a yellowish-brown "earth dragon" with a flat head and spiky scales. Judging from its appearance, it looked more like the "Kalo snake" in my mind.

The only difference is that the lizard dragon doesn't have a single horn, and its tail is very short, so it can't be used as a weapon. What's more striking is the structure of its skin and feet.

Its short, thick limbs have rounded tips and sharp nails that seem to act as spikes, providing a strong grip that firmly connects the body to the ground.

If you were accidentally stepped on by such a foot, there would be no way to recover.

However, this is unavoidable, as the earth dragon's feet evolved to adapt to prevent slipping in the fine sand of the desert.