Chapter 4667: Changing City

While her father felt a headache rising at the dilemma that he faced, Ria had taken the opportunity to walk through the City of Vargard after what felt like an eternity. Even though it had only been half a year since she had begun working as a virus hunter, she could have sworn it had been at least five years. To someone who was only eighteen years old, half a year was a lot of time.

In half a year alone, she could sense the changes that had swept the city. The impacts of the war had penetrated every corner of human civilization, including its very core. The City of Vargard was arguably the most important city in existence, for it was the capital of the most powerful empire in existence. It was extravagant in its high-tech infrastructure and smart civil engineering that allowed it to rival even the most ostentatious cities of the dwarves and the tekvores.

Massive skyscrapers were omnipresent in the City of Vargard, so much so that they would have ordinarily drowned the city in darkness from crowding out all the light from the morning sun. However, special electromagnetic manipulation technology allowed sunlight to grace the open land of the city nonetheless, creating a strange illusion where the magnificent skyscrapers took on an almost ethereal transparent quality, with sunlight passing right through them.

It was a spectacular sight that made the city feel surreal, especially compared to the more crude frontier cities that she had been accustomed to living in.

Yet, having lived here for most of her life, she sensed the changes all too well. What drew her attention the most was, of course, the noticeable increase in the population density of the entire city. She could feel it as she walked through the well-spaced streets of the city, noticing an increase in the number of people she walked past.

This was, of course, caused by the war. Once the war began, there was a rush of people who wanted to move to Gaia Prime because it was the safest and most secure planet in all of human civilization. This had caused the number of people on the planet to increase, which made everything a bit more crowded.

Not that she minded. A more crowded Kandria made it easier for her to walk about without standing out too much. In the Kandrian Empire, her face was much more well-known compared to the frontier. She would be recognized if people took too close a look at her. Thankfully, at the level of power she was at, she could use misdirection to evade attention even from Martial Masters.

Those weren’t the only changes in the air that she sensed, however. She noticed an atmosphere of unease and anguish about her. The people around her had visible tension in their taut faces. There was apprehension, uncertainty, fear, and some relief mixed in deep emotional turmoil.

This was, in part, caused by the recent attack on Gaia Prime. Even though her parents and several newly unveiled Transcendents had protected Gaia Prime, it was still unnerving nonetheless and broke their sense of security.

Ria could only scoff in contempt. The frontiers were far more risky and dangerous, and the people on those planets lived those uncertainties every day without batting an eye. As far as she was concerned, the people of Vargard were simply pampered richies.

"Now then..." she stretched, raising her arms while pushing herself on her toes, relaxing a little more. "What should I do?"

She had wanted to spend more time with her parents, and particularly her mother, but they were clearly preoccupied with something very urgent and important. Something that they chose not to tell her. Her father hid it well, but she sensed a grave urgency in him. The kind that he only had when the most important things to him were threatened.

She had a feeling she knew who that was, but she pushed the thought out of her mind. Anything that could make her father worry that much was far outside of her pay grade to handle. Moreover, she trusted him with everything to protect what he loved, allowing her to spend her days doing whatever she wanted.

Of course, she wasn’t merely frolicking around. She had some places and people to visit. The first thought that came to mind was visiting the head office of EsoQuest Solutions, but she decided against that. The company had come under a lot of scrutiny in the past six months, with countless parties trying to scry the power behind the company. Most people had guessed an extremely powerful sponsor was responsible for setting up the company, but probably none of them could have imagined that the princess of the Kandrian Empire was the one who was responsible for it.

Not that she had relied on her background as princess all that much for this project, but nonetheless, it wasn’t a good idea to be seen near EsoQuest Solutions.

"I suppose I should go say hi to my friends," she muttered.

She only had two of those, unfortunately. An eighteen-year-old girl was hardly ever deficient in friends, but Ria’s circumstances had caused her to shed friends left and right. Making friends became virtually impossible after her identity was revealed. That was why she valued the few genuine friends that she did have.

She first visited the one she was most comfortable with. The one that made her feel the least guilty.

"It’s been a while," was the first thing Misha told her when she saw Ria standing at the door of her dorm room. The half-blood hemosapien wasn’t one for sentiment, simply nodding at Ria with a simple nod before ushering her into her room, a simple, but rather luxurious housing unit in South Acherialis.

"It’s so good to see you!" Ria hugged her in abandon, clearly thrilled to meet her old friend after what felt like a long time.

For her, it had been a long time, especially thanks to the intense time dilation caused by several manifolds in her many infection-hunting escapades.

"You haven’t changed at all!" Ria remarked, pulling back to take a look at the dark-skinned hybrid. The girl’s attire was simple and bland, exactly what she expected of her. Her curly afro was maintained to the same length it always was, right down to the millimeter; her cybernetic eyes had distinct glowing red pupils that made one feel like she was constantly studying you.

The only thing that was distinct was the sense of threat that Ria felt from the tekvore-hemosapien.

She had gotten stronger, even if modestly.

"You have changed," Misha replied. "Your blood flow has grown healthier, and your face isn’t as pale as it was. Your facial muscles are also more relaxed. It looks like you’ve recovered well from what happened. That is good."

Ria chuckled. Yep, she truly hadn’t changed.