It was late in the afternoon. Clouds had gathered overhead, the sun's oppressive rays covered by them.
Down below in front of a fortified wall, there stood a long line. Adrian, Ren and Rachel were among them. They occasionally saw luxurious carriages passing by them and entering through another side gate meant for the rich and the nobles.
"How unfair." Rachel sighed. "Hey Ren, let's get rich in here alright? We can copy ideas from thEra you know." She grinned, loving her own idea.
Ren thought for a while and replied,"Do you think you are the only one who has considered that? Truth me, others have already opened their own mercenaries here. It's all over internet."
Rachel pouted a little before arguing back,"Let's just create an empire here. Then we monopolise all of them."
Adrian who was simply listening to their bickering, suddenly chipped in. "Careful with what you speak. If those guards get air of what you said just now, they might even detain you with charges of treachery."
Rachel raised an eyebrow muttering,"But I was just joking..."
"You might be, but there are specific things here that are quite restricted. The throne is always in danger,whether they like it or not. And such, strict actions are always taken against any suspicious individual or activity." Adrian warned them, while Ren nodded with a thoughtful face.
It didn't take them long to reach the gate.
"IDs?" One scribe looked at them through his slightly cracked glasses hanging over his nose.
"Here, I would like a permit for a week", Saying that Adrian passed his ID mandatory for every citizen. The scribe noted down the information on the official parchment and handed it back to him.
"That would be 7 coppers." The scribe said, and Adrian handed it to him.
To avoid overcrowding in any city, this was the rule-- pay for a permit and stay. Obviously the inhabitants of this place were exempted from that.
He then pointed behind him and said to the scribe,"Those two are saviours." The scribe looked up from his parchment and scrutinizing the two, he bowed slightly and said with a hint of respect,"Welcome to Woodrock City, sir and ma'am. May you have a great stay here."
Ren and Rachel looked at Adrian with a questioning gaze. He simply shrugged before saying, "Saviours can simply enter. No fees required. And certainly no need to stay in long lines..." The last, he added with a hint of mischief in his tone.
The siblings looked grounded for a moment before they paced up, entering the city and catching up to him.
With a deep inhale, Ren looked at Adrian and asked, "So you are saying us that we could have entered the city bypassing all security measures without even standing in a long line....and you didn't consider telling us that?" He stretched out each syllable, as if tasting his own words for something bitter.
Adrian didn't stop walking. Shaking his head a bit, he replied back, "We shall split up and go our own ways. It was fun in the company of you guys and I didn't want to let you guys go so fast." The words would have had an emotional effect on Ren if not for Adrian looking as if he was somehow holding his laughter from spilling out his lips.
Rachel defended him as well. "Brother, why complain? I know he loves being with us, especially with me, isn't that true,Adrian?"
Adrian glanced back at the awkward Ren before nodding to Rachel with a smile, "Obviously, I do."
Rachel smiled sweetly hearing those words.
Adrian smiled as well.
He couldn't trust any one of those two...not after getting to know about the Crime System and its top targets from Evelyn.
But for now he could talk with them without being paranoid, atleast until they come to know that he is Leonard himself.
Splitting up with Ren and Rachel,who went to register themselves as members at the Escort Guild, Adrian walked towards a local inn.
On his way, an angry voice resonated in his head.
[Just kill them.... especially that girl. Ugh I don't like the look in her eyes. Atleast with that you can proceed with your quest.]
He remained quiet for a moment.
Why did she sound angry at that girl? Did she know her?
Then he calmly replied back not showing any of his confusion.
"I could have. But befriending them also has it's own benefits. They could access places I won't be able to, not until I use my infamous disguises..and no way I would do that now."
He heard a light chuckle.
[ So you are using them? That's acceptable then. ]
His face scrunched more as he felt the confusion deepen. 'What the heck! I proudly consider myself a psycho but she...she is on an another level. And why does she sound happy knowing I am only using them...?'
Her voice had gone silent. Adrian took that as a sign of the end of their short conversation.
She had been doing this every day. Coming in whenever she liked, checking on him and disappearing again.
Adrian was quite irritated. He wasn't a great fan of having his privacy invaded, and certainly not by someone whom he couldn't trust at all.
It wasn't the best feeling knowing that you are sharing your own vision with someone else...unwillingly.
He gladly shook his thoughts as he came across an old looking inn, one of the local ones. He booked a room for four days and paid 20 copper coins. It covered his lodging as well as his meals.
His room was on the second floor, at the end of the corridor. The wooden floor creaked under his weight.
He opened the lock and entered his assigned room. The interior looked much more neat compared to the receptionist area of the inn and the small dining space at a corner.
There was a small single bed pushed to one of the edges of his room, a circular table at a corner and few cloth hooks embedded on the wall. Fortunately, there was a bathroom attached to his room.
He freshened up and ate the light meal brought to his room by the staff.
At last, he switched off the bulb and laid on the bed, gazing out of the window.
The days going forward shall get busy for him. Every move he plays out from here on, all of them shall be focused on only one task - leading him to Cassius Valtoria.
The main quest would be helpful to him in several ways. First, it would help him understand the affairs of the Valtoria Court and help him to find out the reason behind why an organisation from thEra would want to kill a Zenim Ruler. This was the only way he could get a trail leading to thEra...and her.
Secondly, it would appease Evelyn for a while and buy him the crucial time for finding a way to get out of her hold.
Liberating himself from her hold...it actually wasn't hard. By the time he could kill Cassius Valtoria, he should be strong enough to cut the string of the soul node that bound him to Evelyn.
And that...he definitely will.