"The ice cream shop is opening tomorrow! Will I really be alright on my own? Arrrgh! I"m so nervous! But Boss placed so much trust in me, I have to do a good job!"In a dim alley, Yabemiya"s voice reverberated as she walked with a nervous yet expectant look on her face.
This alley was one that she had to pa.s.s through on her way home. At night, the alley was pitch-black and the rows of houses on either side were very close to each other, thus making it difficult for even the moonlight to illuminate the alley. It was very quiet here, but also a little eerie.
The sound of Yabemiya"s shoes treading the ground was particularly noticeable in the silent alley.
All of a sudden, a thud sounded from one of the courtyards nearby. It sounded as if something had fallen onto the ground, giving Yabemiya a fright.
"What was that?" Yabemiya stopped next to a wall and listened intently, only to find that the sound in the courtyard had disappeared.
"It must have been a mouse or a cat knocking something over." Yabemiya tried to console herself as her expression eased slightly. However, she began to walk more quickly than before, and her hands had balled up into tight fists unconsciously.
The sound of her footsteps increased in frequency. She was the only one in this dark alley, but she could indistinctly sense that there was a pair of eyes looking at her from within the darkness.
She suddenly recalled the stories about nighttime told by the female employees in the previous restaurant that she had worked at.
Chaos City was a city with a strict law and order, with the Gray Temple and the city lord"s castle controlling the vast majority of the city, but there were many places where the light didn"t s.h.i.+ne. In those places, some demented perverts could be lurking, and they were extremely dangerous to women who traveled alone.
She began to hear the sound of footsteps behind her. The footsteps weren"t very loud, but they were very brisk, just as if something were pursuing her. She could even hear her pursuers labored breathing as if she were being hunted down by a wild animal.
Yabemiya could feel her heart rate accelerating as her footsteps quickened. She had already broken into a brisk jog. The ordinary alley suddenly seemed impossibly long to her, and she felt as if she would never reach its end.
All of a sudden, a m.u.f.fled thump erupted behind her, and the pursuing footsteps fell silent.
The only sounds left in the alley were of Yabemiya"s brisk footsteps and ragged breathing.
Despite this, Yabemiya didn"t slow down. She picked up a thick wooden stick that was lying around in the alley; with it in her hand, a sense of security welled up in her heart. She felt as if the stick in her hand could smash open the heads of any perverts who dared to try and touch her.
A beam of moonlight shone down on the opening of the alley nearby, like a torch that had suddenly been ignited in the night. Yabemiya"s eyes lit up upon seeing that. If she could make it out of the alley, then she would be safe.
All of as sudden, a humanoid figure appeared at the opening of the alley, cutting off that beam of moonlight.
"Argh!" Yabemiya screamed as she closed her eyes and raised her wooden stick high above her head before bringing it down on the humanoid figure with all her might.
"Crack~"
The wooden stick snapped upon impact.
Yabemiya"s eyes were tightly closed as she gripped tightly onto the remaining half of the stick.
"Um… Are you alright?"
A perplexed yet concerned voice sounded.
"Huh?" Yabemiya faltered before her eyes flew open.
The person standing in front of her wasn"t some nude freak, nor some burly man as she had imagined. Instead, it was Elizabeth in a white dress.
Her silvery-white dress glittered under the moonlight, and even though the light wasn"t s.h.i.+ning directly on her features, her beauty was still apparent to the onlooker. She currently had her left arm raised in front of her, and there was half of a wooden stick lying at her feet.
"Argh!"
Yabemiya screamed again, this time in apology as she threw her half of the stick onto the ground. "I"m sorry… I"m so sorry… I didn"t know it was you… I thought, I thought…"
Elizabeth looked at Yabemiya and put down her arm before taking a step forward.
A frosty aura wafted toward Yabemiya as she took an unconscious step backward, pinning her back against the wall behind her. She looked at Elizabeth with apology and fear in her eyes, too scared to say anything.
Elizabeth furrowed her brows before taking another step forward, reducing the distance between the two to less than half a meter.
"I… I…" Yabemiya clenched her little fists and raised them in front of her chest. She didn"t dare to look Elizabeth in the eye; the haughty disposition she was giving off struck her with a hint of fear. At the same time, there was something about her that felt strangely comforting to Yabemiya, and made her want to approach Elizabeth.
It was just like on the moon festival celebration, when she had placed the mooncake in Elizabeth"s hand. At the time, she had sensed a familiar aura that was very mysterious yet appealing.
Elizabeth stopped in front of her, and said coldly, "Look at me."
Yabemiya turned to Elizabeth with a timid and apologetic expression. She didn"t expect her to suddenly emerge from the darkness. "I"m sorry, it wasn"t on purpose. If I hurt you, then you can hit me back if you want."
"Alright." Elizabeth nodded before touching Yabemiya"s fingers with her own.
Yabemiya immediately withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted. She had felt a cool sensation on the tip of her middle finger, as well as a faint p.r.i.c.k of pain as if she had been p.r.i.c.ked by a needle. However, it was only a very indistinct feeling, and she wasn"t bleeding from that fingertip, either.
"I extracted a drop of your blood." Elizabeth withdrew her hand, and a small vial constructed from ice appeared on her palm. Within it was a drop of golden blood.
"Why do you want my blood?" Yabemiya looked at Elizabeth with a perplexed expression. During their previous encounter, she had also requested a drop of her blood, only to be denied by Sally. Who would have thought that she would appear here, and that her objective would be secure a drop of her blood again?
"I have my reasons." Elizabeth stowed away the small vial, but didn"t explain anything.
"Aright, then." Yabemiya was a little disappointed. However, as she looked at Elizabeth, she simply couldn"t contain her curiosity as she asked, "You"re a giant Frost Dragon, so you must know how to fly, right? Flying in the sky must be a really awesome feeling, right?"
Elizabeth looked at Yabemiya"s expectant expression, and was momentarily silent before asking, "Would you like to try it?"
"Huh?"
Yabemiya was taken aback by that response, and before she had a chance to react, Elizabeth had already tackled her across the waist. A silver spell formation appeared on the ground, and both of them disappeared form the alley in the blink of an eye.
Yabemiya closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she had already appeared in the air above Chaos City. Her feet were completely dangling in mid-air, and she abruptly began to plummet.
"Argh…"
Yabemiya"s scream only made it halfway out her mouth before a giant Frost Dragon appeared beneath her. She landed right on the dragon"s back before hurriedly grabbing onto one of the dragon"s scales, upon which she was carried high into the sky.
The wind howled past her ears as the giant dragon broke through the clouds, revealing a brand-new world to Yabemiya where the stars and the moon were extremely bright and clear.
…
Meanwhile, in that dark little alley, there was a half-naked man pinned to the wall by an ice spike through the glabella. Even in death, his eyes were still wide open…