*Whoosh*
In a fraction of a second, the body of the one that raised their head was severed clean off their body which resulted with unrest coming from the people present.
"Can you give us the tokens?" Arabella asked as her pink eyes surveyed the guards who were visibly shook with what had unfolded. They looked at the two ladies with great apprehension.
Committing murder so casually was something that rarely happened however in the wild, it was a natural occurrence. However in public locations such as kingdoms, it was punished as law and order was meant to control the chaos.
But of course equality was something that humans strived to achieve and just like tomorrow, it seemed out of reach thus there were cases where such actions went under the bridge.
"Miss, you can't kill so recklessly. This isn't the wild." One of them spoke with a tint of fear laced in their voice. Arabella seemed apathetic with what she had done, deeming it as normal.
"So what if they died? We're not in Quillara for it to be deemed a crime." The guards fell silent as they felt hopeless in their situation.
Firstly, she was right as they were still outside the kingdom, secondly, the individual they had swatted off so casually was a tier three expert making it clear that they were no simple people. Thirdly the person they had killed off was a noticeable face in Quillara.
A trader who would ship all kinds of wine into some of the taverns and bars present thus either they were aware and deemed him a pest or they were unaware of his position and killed him out of spite.
Regardless they couldn't keep them waiting. "Hah! Very well! Here are your tokens." One of them handed them over with shaking hands, terrified of their methods.
Those behind them could only watch the scene unfold in sheer silence as they already knew the price of raising their voice. The injustice that reigned kept on growing due to the nature of the human heart.
"Why did we even bother getting these tokens if we could have just snuck through?" Arabella asked as she surveyed the token in her hand. It had the emblem of Quillara, a majestic and grand grown which had three golden feathers sticking at the top of it.
All kinds of finer details such as rubies and sapphires could be seen on the crown however she didn't that much of a care about that.
*Crack*
With one hand, she crushed it easily which came off as banal to Lirien. "Because we have more to do here than just Zarina. The Rien Royal family is here as well and we can't leave such a window open."
"Should they somehow come to know that I had a hand, their ignorance will be a bother to deal with later on." Arabella saw it as normal after she had divulged that dealing with Zarina wouldn't be easy.
"But it won't be anything crazy. I can deal with the royal family and you deal with Zarina." Arabella mused as they kept on walking down the street. Their appearance was above the norm thus certain glances were thrown in their direction.
"Very well. I'll see you later." Lirien added on before both their figures flashed out of sight which was a baffling sight all together.
…
A lady, seemingly in her mid twenties stood passively behind a counter in a restaurant, it was mundane in appearance on both the interior and exterior with few people walking in and out.
Nothing about her seemed to stand out, bland short brown hair, a tier one ranking and casual clothing. However her state if mind was elsewhere as her hand supported her head, drowning her in a flurry of daydreams.
Before she could douse herself in any more of her throes ongoing in her head, a voice sharply called out to her jolting her back to reality. "Elyse, get back to work!"
She nearly collapsed on her head as she recalled the events that were unfolding in front of her. "Ah! Sorry Mrs. Zoe!" Her demeanor was completely all over the place as she scrambled to get her note book.
"Ugh! Is this how you treat your guests?" A man who seemed rather dissatisfied mused as he looked at Elyse. Regardless he moved on as he placed his order.
Elyse wrote it down as she handed the piece of paper to Zoe who shot her a sharp look as she murmured. "If you want to keep your job, you're going to have to do better than that."
Elyse gave a defeated sigh as she complied. "I understand, Mrs. Zoe." She turned around as she faced the customer with a warm smile on her face. "Just wait shortly, your meal will be delivered to you."
Her arms showing where to seat to which he did. "Some restaurant." Elyse heard a faint murmur coming from the customer however she could only ignore it for now.
'I can't believe that I went from a princess to a lowly peasant. Sure this isn't bad however I can't be sure whether Lirien is still following me. Not to mention with the collapse of Rien, more and more kingdoms are growing more wary of Sablestone and those two.'
Zarina knew that such a life would definitely not be easy however she had yet to fully endure it. It was by a miracle that she had managed to sneak through and secure a job.
With the spare cash that she had on her, it was enough for her to afford a dirt cheap inn. Her mind was plagued with the thought of Lirien giving chase to her however as time passed on, it seemed that she wasn't drawn to her which was a big relief for her.
'Not to mention that I'm slowly burning through my savings. I need to find a better job than this.' Her head was full of such muses before it was jolted back to the reality that she was in.
*Ring*
Hearing the sound of another customer, she directed her attention at the source only for her demeanor to completely shatter. It was a lady, pale skin indicating that she was a vampire, dark crimson eyes and an aloof air around her.
She was dressed in dark clothing that made her stand out in front of a crowd, clearly she wasn't planning on taking it covertly with her target.
Her tier was indiscernible however one could easily tell that she was no ordinary person. Such people rarely visited the restaurant and were greatly valued however this one made Zarina train of thought come to a screeching halt.
The same lady who had singlehandedly taken down Aurorise was calmly walking through the restaurant as she looked at the menu. 'It can't be a coincidence, right?'
Her mind was in complete disarray as she saw Lirien who made her way closer and closer to the counter. "Hello, I'd like to order something." She started off warmly however Elyse could barely come up with a proper sentence.
"Uhh? Hello. What would you like to order?" Seeing a vampire in a human restaurant was something that rarely happened as they would usually have a huge diet consisting of either raw blood or flesh.
Her hands were covered in sweat as she took up her notebook. Her damp hands drenching the book in sweat as the pencil shook hard as she struggled to lend an ear to Lirien.
Lirien looked at the board set up as she admired what was on display before her eyes landed back to Elyse. "I'll have the chicken with a side salad." From afar the encounter looked rather odd as one of them seemed to fail to fit the vibe.
Elyse was sweating buckets as she stiffly wrote her order. 'Calm down.' She tried to calm herself as she realized how off scene she was. After a few deep breathes, she managed to calm herself.
"Please take a seat, we will have your order ready." Lirien gave off a slight smile showing off her fangs to Elyse. "You do know that it is a shame that Rien was taken over by those two devils and now similar to Aurorise, it's up for sale."
"I pity the royal families, imagine having it all to hearing that your kingdom will be sold off at some auction like some trinket. Must be terrible." Lirien suddenly started off which tore down through Elyse's composure.
"It certainly is a shame." She replied as she heard a small chuckle from Lirien who took her leave and sat at a table, admiring the scenic view of the town through the window.
Elyse found the conversation rather off putting however she could only fulfil her order as she handed the page to Zoe. "What took you so long?" She heard her sarcastic remark which her brain tuned out.
She was contemplating whether she should make a run for it as it would be too much of a chance that she happened to come here. 'Maybe she is here to take down Quillara as well?'
A stray thought crept into her head as she inspected Lirien. She didn't seem at the least upset as she looked outside before her eyes landed back to her. 'Either way, I have to leave this kingdom as soon as possible!'
Knowing that Lirien was here, she would be gambling with her life if she continued to stay here. 'I can't even tell what tier she is however I last recall that she was on the fifth tier.'
'With a couple of weeks, I can't tell what tier she has achieved now. It would be best to assume that she is on the sixth tier which is the same league as the Queen of Quillara.'
Quillara lacked a king as he had passed away from unsure methods, some speculating that his wife was his downfall while others believed that he had fallen prey to the hands of demons.
Regardless Quillara was still in development however it had advanced much further than Rien and in the same class as Aurorise. The queen was known for being kind and benevolent to not only her children but also her subjects.
And as a result, the people thought of her as an angel while some of her nobles held a shade of pessimism because of this. Brushing it off as ignorance and naivety to some extent.
'It would be better to inform her however I won't be able to get in contact with her unless I reveal my identity. Maybe I can get to her through the Royal family of Rien.'
'I can simply shift the blame to Lirien and they would at the very least be interested with what I have to say.' Before she left, she wanted to inform her about the threat that lurked.
*Ding*
A small bell was rung by Zoe at the back, indicating that the food was ready. She grabbed the previous order as she delivered it to the man from before taking the latter.
Lirien shifted her attention to her meal as she saw Elyse draw nearer to her table as she placed the meal on the table. "Why don't you keep me company as I enjoy my meal?"
"I'm so sorry miss but I have other customers to attend to." Elyse pointed out as she tried to get as far away from Lirien as possible. Zoe's face which beamed at her over the counter said it all.
It had been a while since they had a proper customer thus it was natural that she would want to treat her in such a fashion. "Very well." She gave in as she took a seat opposite to Lirien.
Pushing a piece of the chicken to her, she pushed it back. "I'm not that hungry." Lirien brushed it off as she kept on digging into her meal. After a couple of minutes sitting in awkward silence as Elyse watched Lirien dig into her meal, Lirien sparked off the conversation.
"So how long have you been working here?" Elyse found it a rather normal question. "Two years." A look of intrigue washed on Lirien's face. "Really? Cause it looks like those two years of work weren't present when you were taking my order."
Elyse fell silent as she heard this. "No, it was just that I wasn't expecting a vampire to come here. I thought that you'd prefer the classier hotels."
*Clang*
The sound of Lirien's fork could be heard as she placed it down on her plate. She had dug halfway into her chicken and barely scratched her salad. "I don't like salad now that I remember."
A light chuckle escaped her lips to which Elyse awkwardly tried to follow making it weird rather than settling. "I really do like you, Elyse. You have a weird knack for humor."