After passing through the geyser area, Minos' party traveled for another two days until they finally reached the first green area since leaving the coastal city where they had arrived in this domain.
At the sight of this area, Minos and Emlyn quickly realized the reward that would come after a great challenge.
This place was very different from what they had experienced, and life flourished there like almost nowhere else.
For those who knew the Spiritual World in depth, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this place was a bit like Elves Island.
The spiritual energy was extremely dense, and the aura of life in the area radiated from the ground, the rocks, and the roots in the surroundings in such a way that anyone there could easily heal from injuries and regenerate some of their vitality.
At the same time, the plants and medicines in this place could develop deeper than in 99% of the Spiritual World.
The vibrant colors of the forest in front of the group were so striking and special that those who had just overcome the desolation of much of this area couldn't help but stop and sigh at sight.
After so much desolation, to come upon something so vibrant was truly strange!
"Beautiful!" Emlyn said as Minos looked at this place, feeling the difference from what Henricus Longus' memories told him.
Even the mercenaries of this state, who had seen it countless times in the thousands of years of their lives, couldn't help but observe the area for a moment before continuing their journey.
"The first city ahead of us is only a 30-minute flight from here." The person responsible for guiding the group commented.
Hearing this, Minos snapped out of his trance and said. "What's in this place? Is this a big city?"
"The city ahead is a headquarters city. It serves to meet the needs of the imperial guard soldiers working in the area. Although it's a richer place than the city where you arrived in our state, it doesn't have much of what you're looking for.
The best place to find Sea Folk is in the capital. There are politicians there, members of the imperial family, and it's also a renowned training ground in the state. There are definitely relevant members of various branches of the Sea Folk there.
With over 100,000 members, the Sea Folk race wasn't just made up of close relatives and heirs to the state. No, the imperial family of that state must have had at most 500 members who were in the line of succession.
Most of the Sea Folk were subordinates or vassals of the imperial family, with or without close blood ties to the family.
But all Sea Folk were of great importance in the state. In a sense, the various branches of this race either served as direct subordinates of the imperial family or were the nobles of the Marine Empire.
With this division similar to what one might see in human territories, it was very common for different families or branches of this race to send their members to train in the state's land or underwater capital.
As beings capable of evolving in both types of habitats, they moved between the two areas from an early age to train their skills best suited to each environment.
If they lived in only one place, they might weaken other essential traits and lose what made them special.
Knowing this, Minos didn't want to stop in the town ahead and thought it better to continue his journey to the capital, where there would surely be many members of this race for him to meet.
"Then let's pass this place quickly and continue our journey to the capital." He said to the group.
"How long until we reach our destination?" Emlyn asked.
"Well, two or three days. It depends if we run into any problems that make our journey take longer." One of the Sages in the group commented.
"Trouble? Isn't this area safer than the one we passed through recently?"
"Yes, but that's exactly why the density of living beings is much higher here. In this green part of the empire, a lot will make traveling difficult or easier for groups like ours."
"Sigh... All right." She sighed.
But Emlyn preferred it this way. Although she wanted to finish this journey as soon as possible so that she could see her tribe again on the Continent of Beasts, she preferred to travel through an area without the dangers of the region they had just crossed and to have the chance to see the different races of this place.
Their group continued to fly forward, quickly arriving at the city they had just talked about.
It wasn't a big place, just an urban area with about 100,000 inhabitants, most of them guards of the imperial forces. If you took those men out, there wouldn't even be 20,000 people left who lived there with their families just to serve those guards.
But as they passed quickly through the place, stopping to buy supplies, Emlyn and Minos had the chance to see new races.
There, they saw ogres and orcs, types of humanoid beings, but with extreme appearances and body shapes, not so beautiful from a human point of view.
However, despite their hideous appearance, these beings were very helpful and were behind much of the construction work around this state.
They had a lot of strength, and when they were commanded by beings of a higher intellectual level, they could do great things quickly and with impressive speed.
Although they were horrid and sometimes aggressive, they were very common on the land side of the Marine Empire.
In the aquatic area of this domain, one could find beings like mermaids who lived in this area of the south pole of the Spiritual World.
Minos was curious to meet the mermaids and other races in this area, but for the time being, he was content to observe the ogres and other beings of races that were unusual to find in other parts of the world.
After the beasts and humans in his party had received their supplies from the city, they made their way back to the forest they had just entered.
From then on, they would encounter various special creatures on their way, from sentient plant beings to even mythical races that lived in the local forests.
With a powerful formation capable of scaring off even Demigods, the group would have no trouble traveling for the next two days, finally reaching the capital of this magnificent place.
Even before entering the largest land city in the state, home to more than 4 million beings of various races, the group would encounter the first members of the Sea Folk, one of the strongest races in the Spiritual World!
...
