At the edge of the city, in the middle of a dark alley, facing the group of three companions, the savage woman's eyes sharpened when she heard that her former lover had gotten married.
Trying to calm herself, she clenched her fist and spoke in a lowered voice so as not to draw the attention of the nearby guards patrolling the streets.
"So you're married? I thought it would be impossible for you to even consider something like that… After all, crossbreeding is forbidden in this kingdom…"
"N-No… It's not what it looks like…" Lucian said with an uneasy gaze, but when he glanced sideways and saw Cristofer perking up his ears, waiting for him to slip up, he let out a sigh and gathered his courage. "We're not actually married, we signed a blood contract."
"What?" the cat woman reacted, her tight clothes looking like they might burst at any moment.
At that moment, Ebony felt the situation spiraling out of control, so she shifted her legs, preparing to attack in a natural act of self-defense.
The cat woman looked at Ebony. Her long blond hair was unkempt, but her gaze had sharpened in an instant, she wasn't a fearful woman like the ones she knew.
She let out a long sigh and her muscles relaxed, her deep cleavage that looked like it was about to tear through the fabric of her white shirt gradually shrinking back down.
Cristofer made a disappointed face. He had heard that savages possessed the ability to increase their physical strength in a state called "Rage" a skill that temporarily cost them their sanity, and their clothes too, due to their sudden growth.
Relieved, Lucian continued his explanation.
"I'm sorry things turned out like this, it wasn't planned, but she…" Lucian didn't want to hurt his ex's feelings, yet he couldn't explain his delicate situation in front of Cristofer.
"I stole a dagger from the Cult of Promises… I wanted tooo… I wanted to marry him even if the law forbids it, so, well, a marriage is still a contract, or at least that's what I think" Ebony said as she relaxed her stance and cleaned her ear with a finger.
The savage woman's posture remained just as rigid. Her instincts screamed at her to kill them on the spot and claim the bounty on Lucian's body for being an elf, but she remembered all those days she had begged him to run away with her.
In their youth, the two had become friends during the long hours spent at her father's trading post, and when he died, she wanted to flee the country with Lucian, marry him, live together. But more than thirty years had passed since then.
After a brief silence, the cat woman let out a heavy sigh and extended her hand toward Ebony, showing a bit of respect. "I suppose Lucian didn't tell you about me… I'm Veronica."
The blonde smiled slightly as she returned the handshake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ebony." The two stared at each other seriously, searching for deceit in the other's eyes.
"And I'm Cristofer" the fifteen-year-old boy said, trying to break the awkward silence between them.
"Anyway, Lucian said you want to leave the kingdom. That won't be cheap, but I'll give you a good discount, it'll only be 2 gold coins each" Veronica said as she continued smoking.
At that moment, Ebony's expression turned worried, then she looked to Lucian for his reaction. He stared back at her seriously, arms crossed.
"We actually don't have that much, we only have 3 coins" Lucian replied.
"Don't tell me, what a surprise, I never would've guessed, you're the richest man I know" Veronica replied with a mocking smile. "Fine, just because we had our fun back then… make it 5 gold for the three of you."
Ebony smiled at the girl's kindness and was about to open her mouth to accept the offer, but Lucian coughed loudly and shot her a sidelong, murderous glare.
"Sorry about that, I got sick recently… We spent money on medicine, so I'm serious, we only have 3 coins" Lucian said with a tired face, letting out a controlled sigh.
Veronica looked over Lucian's body and stepped closer until they were face to face. They were the same height, two meters of pure stubborn muscle.
"Four, and that's my final offer. I'll call the guards if you refuse" the cat woman said.
"Hm… Okay, four then" Lucian said, asking Ebony for the coins.
The blonde rummaged through her clothes and pulled out the four coins, keeping only one in her pocket, a situation that left her worried.
"(Damn… I didn't think it would be this expensive… That was everything I had saved up…)" The blonde's blue eyes grew moist as she dropped the coins into the cat woman's palm.
"Good, now I need you to pay attention…" Veronica said as she stubbed out her cigarette in the palm of her hand, an act that left Cristofer and Ebony looking terrified at her complete lack of pain as she continued speaking.
"You're my personal guards now. We'll be transporting this." She pulled out a bag containing a silver necklace with a huge blue crystal that emitted a faint magical aura.
"It's an urgent delivery to Black Sun Village, a small town north of the next hexagon, so it'll take us about three days to get there" the cat woman said as she scratched her ear out of natural habit.
"(Hexagon? I've never heard of that before, what the hell is she talking about…)" Ebony thought, nodding her head while pretending she understood.
"The guards will ask for your documents. I have the fake ones I got" Veronica said, handing over small booklets barely three pages long, their binding identical to a passport from Ebony's original world.
"You don't say anything, absolutely nothing. For the law, and especially for me, you'll be mute from now on… Now let's go, I want to get this over with as soon as possible" With that, Veronica led the group toward the stone gate, the southeastern border of that country.
That gate had two guards standing on either side in full armor, and in front of the gate, blocking entry and exit, stood a guard without a helmet. His beard was prominent, and his gray hair made him look over fifty.
"Documents" the guard said as he scratched his beard, causing Ebony to clutch her passport nervously. She had never left a country before, not even in her past life.
Without hesitating for a second, as if it were routine, Veronica pulled out a knife and cut the palm of her hand, letting her blood drip onto the ground. Suddenly, the blood began to move, forming a square sheet.
That sheet took shape until it became a reddish piece of paper covered in signatures, and at the top it read "Trade Pact"
"Verified. Now your guards' documents" the guard said, visibly calmer, more relaxed after seeing that magical document, which instantly vanished into a cloud of evaporated blood.
Veronica began wrapping her hand with a handkerchief, then turned her head to look at Ebony's group behind her. She smiled and leaned close to the guard's ear, whispering a few words.
At that moment, the guard's face changed completely, his brow furrowed and his gaze darkened.
"(That bitch sold us out?)" Ebony thought, just as she shifted into a fighting stance.