The duo arrived at the gate of the capital by end of the day and just made it in time before the city would be closed for entry. Glad he had been rushed by Aria, he no longer felt as bitter about her continually pulling him along."See! I told you we needed to hurry!" Aria puffed out her chest with her face full of an irritating "I told you so" look. Suddenly, Greyson was itching to just ditch her but he knew that he could not escape from her as easily as he did that girl in the forest. Although she acted air-headed, he could tell throughout their journey together that she is actually extremely intelligent with great instinct. She was also extremely petty and held grudges like no other, so the thought of running away from her secretly then getting caught made him drop the idea. At one point, he had used Shadow Escape but she had somehow quickly caught up to him and, because she had a larger mana store, he ran out of energy first. After beating his good-looking face to an unrecognizable state, she then chained him up using a special magic tool that wouldn"t break no matter how hard he tried. Only when they were approaching the gate did she finally let him go free so people wouldn"t misunderstand him as some kind of criminal.
Touching his now-healed face and wincing as he remembered getting beaten, Greyson vowed he would definitely get stronger than this girl and have his revenge. It really hurt his pride that a girl not much older than him could defeat him so easily.
Walking down the street late at night, there was still a surprising amount of activity. However, Greyson was not too surprised by this as all large cities had facilities that ran at night. He was young not oblivious and obviously knew what went on, but he had no curiosity towards that kind of scene. Growing up in the church and being brought up by Sister Lily made him feel rather uncomfortable with the idea casual romance. The church had a good amount of influence in Snow Country and thus these kinds of activities were looked down upon in public, but it was an open secret that all the wealthy did not pay attention to this. There were already kids in the Academy who went to the most famous one in city called "Flower Shop." A lot of the aristocrat sons start very early with their maids apparently. Greyson couldn"t help but roll his eyes thinking of who came up with that name. Real subtle.
In order to get to the tavern, Greyson and Aria had to pa.s.s by tons of establishments that stank of cheap perfume while loud festivities could be heard from within. Completely ignorant of what was going on, Aria commented on everyone they pa.s.sed by.
"Hey, Grey, aren"t those women cold? Wearing so little. Oh no... could it be they can"t afford clothes because they are too poor? I have to give them money! Grey! Hey, we can"t just walk by these suffering women. They will freeze to death!"
"That man is pa.s.sed out on the floor in the snow like this, won"t he get sick? Is something the matter with him? Why would he fall down here? Should we help him get home?"
Her constant pestering and questions were driving Greyson near insane. He was someone who preferred silence, thus her constant chatter was starting to irk him. Aria obviously had a kind heart, but wasn"t this too much? Had she been living under a rock somewhere even more in the middle of nowhere than where he came from? And he thought HE was an ignorant countryside commoner. Ignoring her words, he walked without stop towards the closest tavern.
However, before he exited from the area, a wiry body stepped in front of him. It was a rather old-looking man with a rat-like face. From the beginning, Greyson could tell from the evil l.u.s.t in the man"s eyes and disgusting smile why the man had stopped them. His deep red eyes glanced at Aria before looking towards Greyson with obvious greed. Feeling the stare, Greyson"s eyebrows furrowed as a look of clear abhorrence appeared on his face.
"h.e.l.lo, little beauty. Why don"t you follow me? If you"re obedient, I won"t hurt this other little friend of yours." The man grossly licked his lips and continued looking at Greyson. Tempted to puke, Greyson disdained to even breathe the same air as such perverted trash so he moved to avoid the man. Sneering, the man quickly blocked Greyson"s path again and released his mana. Advanced level second stage. Greyson paused with surprise as the average man could not break through to this point. But just that, as Lucius and Aria were both stronger than the man in front of him.
"Beautiful doll, do you understand now? I could easily kill both of you and no one would do anything about it as I am the King"s cousin. The city guards will all look the other way. I do whatever I want. I"ll just take you in as my slave for a little while and let your other friend go free. I promise I"ll treat you real well." His ugly grin was arrogant as if Greyson would have no other choice. Related to the King? Although he was not inclined to believe that the King would have such a disgusting relative, the man"s power could be indicative of having some connections. Thinking about it, Greyson preferred not to cause any trouble.
Just as he was about to peacefully escape by asking Lucius for help, Aria had made her move. Her sword moved swiftly with a red glow and cut into the man while also setting his body on fire. Shrieking in pain, the man was shocked that the other little girl had dared to attack him and was also so powerful. He used a spell similar to Shadow Escape and disappeared into the darkness while shouting at Greyson and Aria.
"This is not over, stupid brat! Pretty little one, you will be mine sooner or later. I"ll have you begging for mercy."
Greyson just scoffed at his words. Just because he didn"t want to cause trouble didn"t mean he was scared of the man. Honestly, Aria striking him like that was really satisfying, however, it also made him antic.i.p.ate when he would have that kind of power. He was also starting to feel that he should ask Teacher Vivienne to teach him close combat.
"Don"t worry, Grey, although you are a little weak and girly-looking, this big sister will chase off all those disgusting flies. I will protect you!" Aria suddenly pounded her chest while making a grand promise. Looking at such an act on a small girl of 8-years-old, he suddenly chuckled at her unreliable looking pose. The chuckle soon turned to a full out laugh. Aria stomped her feet seeing that Greyson had not taken her words seriously.
"Alright, alright. I know you are a super powerful big sister. I will be relying on you, then." Wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, Greyson placated her with his words in case she hold another grudge. He suddenly felt that it was not so bad to hang out with Aria, at least his days were filled with fun. He couldn"t remember the last time he had laughed so hard before and, although he laughed, Greyson felt really touched by her words. They hadn"t even known each other long, yet she was willing to go to such lengths. Thinking about it, he couldn"t help but wonder what sort of strange parents were capable of raising such a crazy girl.
...
"Hmm?" A man felt a sudden feeling like someone was talking bad about him.
"Aria, probably. That trouble-making girl never gives me peace of mind..." he mumbled to himself.
"Lord, it"s terrible! The young lady has run away!" A breathless subordinate burst into the room with his report. The minute his words escaped his mouth, a threatening atmosphere broke out and nearly suffocated him. The Lord"s mana level was astonis.h.i.+ng as always. Dropping to the ground with weak legs, he lamented that he was chosen as the one to break the news.
"Have you located her?"
"No, she now knows to conceal her bloodline power so we can"t sense her location."
"This rascal! Why can she never stay in one place!" He rubbed his forehead and furrowed his brows in frustration.
"Rosalie!" He summoned. After the name rang out, a shadow popped out from the shadows.
"Yes, my Lord." A beautiful young woman revealed herself while kneeling in front of her master.
"Find her. Don"t go easy on her this time!" He ordered.
"Hehehe, of course my Lord. I"m the best at finding the Young Lady. I will complete the mission in no time at all." She smiled cheekily while winking at him before disappearing again. Sighing, the man shook his head at her antics.
"That girl. She would be so much more reliable if she could just rid herself of that mischievous nature."
"Aria... I hope you won"t cause too much trouble this time..." The man suddenly fell silent and could feel the start of a large headache coming on. A sense of foreboding and apprehension came over him.