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Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.
"He's an imposter!"
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"..."
"...? ...!"
"..."
When my senses returned, the muffled verbatim of hearty laughter and excitement echoed in my head. The source of the noise coming from the floor beneath.
Taking in the sights of a room that looked like a hotel room, I tried to remember what brought me to be in this place. Wasn't I just in the Emperor's palace?
"Are you awake, my lady?"
As usual, whenever I awoke from a place I didn't recognize, Priest was nearby. Standing watch over my bed at arms reach, he had his sword at the ready.
When I tried to sit up...
-thump!
"Ack..." I rubbed against my forehead due to a sudden, faint pain.
My head hurt. It felt like it had a heartbeat of its own. I then remembered that I basically drank a whole bottle of wine. Shit tasted good too, so I didn't regret it one bit.
"How long was I out?" Like always, I asked Priest. I had blacked out, and now I wasn't where I last remembered.
"About two hours."
"Two hours? And I already have a hangover? That's weird... oof."
The last thing I could remember was that I was about to fight that sister of the Emperor. Her name started with an 'A'... ah, I don't care.
I told Priest what I last remembered and asked what happened after that. He told me that I soon fell asleep moments later and that I showed the Emperor that I was a child by unconsciously losing control of my magic upkeeping my older form and he figured out that I wasn't as old as he assumed I was.
Hearing that, I looked down at my body and realized that I was in my child form.
"That's not good..." I mumbled, "...How did that creep react to that?"
"He bowed to me, expressing his apologies. I would assume that he was ashamed that he fell in love with a child."
"Is that so?"
Personally, I could and couldn't believe it. That guy? Saying sorry? I was more or less surprised at how calm, or nonchalant, I was right now. That guy figured out I could change my age at will, one of my biggest magical secrets, yet now I can only view it as a shame that he knows.
I decided to change the topic.
"So, where are we?"
"We are in an inn near the gate. I assumed that my lady would like to spare as much coin as possible, so I picked a cheap, yet decent establishment. It is called, The Lightning Rod Pavilion."
"Uh-huh." I absent-mindedly muttered. Everything about this damn empire was named after shit related to electricity.
Hmm. My mind was foggy and I didn't feel like thinking anymore. Perhaps I was still buzzed. It was a nice feeling, not needing to think.
I laid back down on the bed, wanting to preserve this feeling for as long as possible. With how my human form was, my wings and tail naturally prevent me from comfortably laying on my back, so I just laid on my side.
"Heheheee~" I felt giddy for some reason, so I quietly laughed to myself.
Priest didn't make any noise or movement. He just continued to observe me without interrupting as I sporadically shifted about on the bed.
***
"..."
Priest was often a man of few words unless more was needed from him. He was the type that once they had a goal, would do anything to accomplish it. A byproduct of his personality of a long forgotten time of his life.
To Priest, his master, his Lady, was his everything. Everything he did, had done, or will do, is all in the name of making the life of his master better than what he could have done for himself. Since his master was his world, he'd make that world a better place; A better person.
Even if it meant becoming someone who that world would come to loathe.
Ever since the minions of the Demon King has launched their expected attack, Priest had been making connections and efforts in the underworld of Lionprairie. A person like him wouldn't be as suspicious in a place like that compared to normal human-dominant nations.
There, he gathered information. Be it by murdering, bribing, torture... anything that was required of him. This is what he'd been doing in his frequent leaves he took away from his master's family under the guise of selling leathers and pelts.
His master didn't need to know about the evil he has committed or will commit. Though she has her own fair share of deeds both evil and good, through his efforts, she will not need to go too far into the deep end of the pool.
Priest clutched the collar of his suit. There was a faint sense of longing in the movement.
He didn't regret his actions. He didn't regret forsaking his former friends and family and offering his very soul to his master. He didn't regret taking actions that may lead to an early grave.
But, if there was something to regret...
It would be that his master wouldn't be able to return his feelings. Priest had decided that the best course of action was to keep his master at arm's length. He could be there when she needed him, yet wouldn't get any closer. It simply wasn't his place to.
His master was an anomaly whose purpose was far grander than what he could possibly imagine. She was involved, whether she knew it or not, in a scheme made by the Gods. There was no reason for the mysterious God she called 'Sans' to use his authority to bring not only her, but 29 others into this world and expect nothing in return.
The least he could do was protect her for as long as possible and make sure the young girl's life was not chock full of struggle and strife.
The hand he was grasping his chest with reached out towards his master.
...But he stopped.
His hand slightly shook once he realized his hesitation and his eyes slightly lost their focus. Was he too greedy to wish for what he didn't deserve?
Did he deserve the love of another? Or was that being too greedy?
Did he deserve to be happy? Or was that too greedy?
Did he deserve to even be alive? Or was even that him being too greedy?
"..."
There was no answer, thus he couldn't speak. All he could do was watch over and protect the one that could provide the answer,
"Hah~ hehehee~"
His life,
His world,
His master:
Isis. Or rather...
Setsuna.
***
I eventually fell back asleep while fooling about on top the bed. When I awoke, it was dusk.
"Oh shit."
I had a feeling similar to when I overslept for work or a planned event. But since I wasn't in my old world anymore, I didn't have a job to miss. So I thought back to figure out what I was so anxious about.
"...!" And after thinking about it for less than a second, I figured out why.
It was Brent! I left him all alone!
I threw the covers that I didn't remember putting over myself and sprinted out of the inn as fast as my feet could take me. I began to change the age of my body on the move as Priest followed behind me at a moment's pace, apologizing to the inn owner and guests for my loud behavior.
After getting out into the street, I immediately readied my wings to fly towards the gate and took off, using the wind magic I was able to learn throughout the last 5 years to spiral into the air.
In a short moment, I was hovering over the capital gathering my surroundings.
Once I was at a vantage point to look over the entire city, I closed my eyes to focus.
Through the years of training I had with both Yuri and Priest, it had come to my understanding on how to sense the magical powers of other living creatures. My parents were able to easily perform this skill. They used it in order to know where my siblings and I were in the event that we snuck out like before. I obviously wasn't as good as my parents, but I was able to sense traces of my own mana that I had left on objects and people for assistance.
My sensitivity to the mana around me rose. In just a few short moments, I had discovered a trace of a remnant of my mana. When I looked over to the direction I sensed it, I saw a large building within a district of houses and shops that looked to be a warehouse.
I instantly assumed to worst.
"My lady, how is your search?"
Priest had finally caught up to me. The both of us were flying in the air with the systematical flapping of our wings. In response to Priest's question, I pointed to where I felt the traces of mana I left of Brent.
"He is over in that direction, likely inside that warehouse. I think something may have happened to him. He's just a country bumpkin taking in the sights of an unknown place days away from his village. He is a prime target for robbers."
As with any civilization, the businesses that bring in the most money in the shortest time possible involve illegal activities. Most of these have human wellbeing as its collateral consequence, such as drug sale and human trafficking. I hope what I'm thinking happened to Brent isn't true. I did say I'll come get him once I was done with the Emperor, after all. I had my word to keep.
I flattened by body like a bird in flight. Moments later, I was picking up speed, gliding my way over to where I sensed Brent.
Since it was dusk out, there were not as many people in the district. Most of the shops were closed, there was no need for anyone to be there. Once I finally arrived at the warehouse, unlike the rest of the place, there were two men standing guard in front of the place.
"No fucking way."
Once I touched down, I couldn't believe what I saw so I blurted that out loud. Two people keeping watch over a warehouse? That were not even official guards? Clearly something was up and they were extremely obvious about it.
The two guys heard me and instantly swiveled their heads to look at me. The man closest to me kept his eyes on me and the other was keeping a lookout incase someone was watching.
"Hey, little girl." The man said with a soft voice, like he was trying to act friendly, "What are you doing out here all by...?" The man's sentence was cut short, because Priest had made his landing right next to me.
"...Is there something the two of you need from us?"
The man's instinct was telling him that the two of them were dangerous. With a hand behind his back, he signaled to his buddy not to do anything strange.
"Just looking for someone."
I vaguely answered the suspicious man's question, taking a step forward towards the door they were standing watch over. The man quickly called out to me,
"Hey, I don't know who you two are, but you can't intrude into private property. We're hired to prevent people from stealing from this warehouse, so please stop what you're doing."
The man was worried that we would force our way in.
"...What is being stored here?"
"Well obviously, its stockpile of grains and other foods for emergencies. We can't have people stealing what isn't theirs, so we were hired to keep watch over it."
I didn't buy it. And because I didn't buy it, I ignored the man's words and swung open the doors wide, the man didn't take any action to stop me. Besides, if this was a government owned warehouse for storing surplus, It'd be guarded by actual guards, not these blokes that don't look the part as actual, official guards.
When I opened the door, the escaping air smelt like fermenting bread and expiring fruits and vegetables. This was a warehouse for storing food, but it clearly wasn't being maintained.
I walked inside, Priest following close behind.
And when we did, the sense of my mana I left on Brent also felt closer nearby. He was here. But the question was, 'Why?'
"Miss, please be understanding and leave this place. I don't know why you are looking for someone here, but I assure you that no one would want to tread through this place willingly since it smell so bad..."
Ignoring them, I continued inside. Seeing that I wasn't listening to them, the men started to get nervous. They were debating whether to risk their lives to keep me out, or to just pretend they didn't see me.
The more I thought about it, it was weirder and weirder. If these guys were apart of some underworld organization, just how are they able to operate right under the nose of that man, the Emperor, in his home city no less? It couldn't be that he was endorsing them, right?
Thinking that, I turned to face the men. The men saw that and got slightly hopeful I would leave willingly.
"You two." I called the two men, pointing at them. "I will search through this place, and if I find the person I'm looking for, or anybody that shouldn't be here, I will come back for answers. And you will answer my questions."
"Ma'am, please..."
The two guys got even more nervous. Seeing that, there clearly was something wrong with this place.
"I already know that the person I'm looking for is here, so will you come clean and die without a sound, or will you choose to continue this charade?"
"...Tsk."
Hearing the man click his tongue at my words, he finally gave up being secretive and pulled out a shortsword he had on his waist. The other man did the same. After readying his blade and getting into a stance, the first man stared at us while the second one smacked his fist against the door, creating a loud sound.
"An alarm system." I deciphered. Clearly, the two of them were not alone if there were others hidden nearby. "Priest, kill any that get too close to you, but leave any that come for me alone. I will kill them myself."
I began to change my clothes, changing from a dress to the armor I would normally wear when I used to pose as an adventurer, ready to face against anything.
The two men charged at us, holding their swords in front of them as they ran like they were about to thrust or stab.
I didn't have my sword on me, so I had to use my fists in this fight.
"Aaaah!!!"
With a shout, the first man reached me and stabbed his blade forward, ready to kill me. The trajectory of the sword showed that it was aimed at my neck, a place where there was a gap in the armor and where my flesh was exposed.
There were a number of ways to dodge his attack, but I decided that it would be easier to just take the hit and beat the shit out of them. With that in mind, I didn't make a move to dodge.
After all, their equipment was too weak to even scratch me. There was no way a sword owned by a lackey like him would be good enough to hurt me. Seeing that I wasn't making a move, the man assumed that I was accepting my fate and put more strength into his thrust.
A stuffy sensation coated around where the blade would make contact as my brain anticipated the contact of the blade. And right when it was about to, my hand reached out and grabbed the edge of the sword.
I changed my mind. Being stabbed, or being hurt in itself, sucked major donkey dick. I don't know why I thought it was okay to be stabbed. I passed it off as still being drunk or something.
Seeing me move at a speed his eyes couldn't follow and grab his sword at its sharpest point to stop it, the man thought that I was crazy. He quickly tried to push the sword forward, but it didn't budge.
"Hmm, I feel like Guts right now."
Saying something that wouldn't make sense to those that didn't know, I ripped the sword out of the man's hands and held it in my own. The man was powerless against the natural strength of a dragon like me that was a Master rank.
With his weapon taken from him like candy from a baby, the man didn't hesitate to turn around and run.
With a powerful step forward, I chased after him, copying his movement from earlier and stabbing my sword forward straight and true right into his neck.
"Aaaah~"
And with a shout that clearly made a mock of his own, I felt the sensation of my sword clash against the bones of his spine and rip through his neck. The sword's tip was sharp enough to easily puncture through bone and make it through the flesh.
The man fell to his knees in an instant. Since he couldn't breathe, much less move now that his spine was cut in two, he was destined for death.
I pulled the sword out, performing a sweep with the blade against the unresisting ballistics dummy. The blade cut through just as easily as it did before and cleanly decapitated the man's head right off his shoulders.
"Your sword... will keel."
Saying that, I thrusted the sword into the headless corpse's heart and glanced over to see how Priest was doing.
In short, his opponent was on the ground with a laceration across their throat. Blood pooled out unceasingly as they desperately tried to keep pressure on it. They coughed and made gross noises as their lungs were filled with their blood.
And along with the noises he was making, there was the sound of many armored footsteps making its way towards us from outside the warehouse. It was the new challengers.
I pulled out the sword from the corpse's body and held it's blade in my gauntleted left hand where its center of gravity was.
"Priest, go check the warehouse. I'll hold them off."
"By your will."
Sending Priest off to look for Brent, my heart began to beat wildly in anticipation of fighting against many people all at once. How would I fare? How many mistakes would I make that would normally cost me my life if I couldn't heal myself?
I formed mana around myself, blessing the scales that made my armor, learning from seeing David fight.
A group of about 10 men burst through the doors of the warehouse. They scrunched their faces at the smell before noticing me and the two corpses beside me.
Some had looks of disgust and fear on their faces, while some looked at me like I was a prize trophy.
"May I ask who you are?"
Someone who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward, pushing the others out of his way. A man with pitch black hair and ashen grey eyes greeted me. He, along with the others in his group, had metal breastplates and boots on. He held his hand on the handle of his sword, ready to respond to any action I took.
"Just a passerby looking for someone. May I ask who you are?"
"Ah, a passerby? Well, someone like that wouldn't know who we are, so I guess I'll tell you before I kill you."
"The name is Yama. I don't know why something like you is messing with me and my boys, but I will be sure to make you regret it."
Saying that, the man snapped his finger and the others beside him instantly started to rush and surround me.
...Well then. If they want to come at me all at once, I'll do the same.
I stabbed my sword into the wooden floorboards of the warehouse and poured mana into my hands. I attributed them with mana of the attribute of fire.
Something I had figured out about my magic with the properties of other elements is that they only work when they are applied to a living target. Being that with fire, water, earth, light, or wind. They only worked when the mana that made it up made contact with a living organism.
If it didn't, the effectiveness would drastically reduce. But when it did make contact, the maintenance of the spells would become that much less of a burden. So with something like my fire magic, though it practically healed the burns it created against its targets almost instantly, it couldn't be put out as long as I maintained the spell.
It would make its victims feel like they are on fire for as long as I wished and I didn't have to worry about burning the place to the ground. It was a flame of hell in the guise of one used by an angel.
I manipulated the mana surrounding my hands and twirled in circles. The white fire followed behind their sources and made it seem like it was flowing like water and in the next moment, I released the flames. The white flames flew across the space between me and the nameless enemies in the blink of an eye.
"Ah, AHHH!"
"FIRE! SHE'S A FIRE MAGE!"
"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"
"UWUAAAAH!!!"
The men surrounding me were bathed in a hellfire that wouldn't go out. Some frantically patted at themselves in hope of extinguishing it, others rolled against the floor, and some that could use water magic tried to put it out, but to no avail. All of them were eventually covered from head to toe in white flames as they passed out from shock or died. The disgusting smell of burning flesh overwhelmed that of the decomposing fruits and vegetables.
Yama, who didn't take a step from where he was, finally made his move after seeing all of his men being burned and die in front of his eyes. His body tensed up and he began to sprint... Not at me, but out the door of the warehouse. He booked it without a second thought, leaving what little hope his friends had of being avenged to die.
What was with this group of gangsters and running away?