When Rose woke up, she looked around to make sure that the last day’s events weren’t some sort of desperate fever dream. She saw Igraine was sprawled out and had done a complete 180 while she was sleeping, her legs now resting on her pillow. Cassandra hadn’t moved since falling asleep, still in her blanket cocoon. Yuuki and Alice were still hugging each other closely, maybe even closer than the night before. They were radiating heat, and Rose could feel it even from the other side of the not very large room. Luckily, the mattresses and blankets seemed to be weaved with strange enchantments that drew heat away and were always nice and cool.

Not wanting to wake anyone, she quietly made her way to the door and gingerly closed it behind herself. She took an audible breath once she was sure they couldn’t hear her.

‘What do I do? I agreed I’d work for her, but I just said that in the spur of the moment! I can’t leave the shop behind! Can I? I’d need to say goodbye to my mother too… Ahh, this is so confusing.’

As she was having a crisis, she realized what she needed. After getting dressed, she walked out the door and went to the nearest café. She didn’t usually like drinking it, because of its price, but she had no other choice if she wanted to quickly make a good decision. Well, jumping in cold water was an option, but she really didn’t want to do that. After she got her coffee, she sat down and drank it, savoring its sweet taste. She melted in her chair, not realizing she had gulped down her entire portion just then. With some disappointment, Rose decided to take a walk and think over things rationally. The day was young, the Sun had not yet come up, and the streets were mostly empty.

‘Alright, if I choose to go with them, I won’t have to worry about money anymore, or food, shelter, any of that. I would also become quite famous most likely. On the flip-side, I would probably have a lot of work, and would have immense expectations placed on me. If I refuse… they might get angry, but even if they don’t, would I want to stay here? I don’t. I want to see the world, I want to spend time with people who appreciate what I do, who appreciate me. Yep, I’m going with them.’

As she came to a conclusion with a smile, she noticed that she was currently in a dark alleyway. And she had no idea where. She heard footsteps behind her, so she went to ask for directions.

“Excuse me, do you know how I can get back to the main road?” She asked the two people in front of her. They were dressed in ordinary clothing, one of them was a tall lean man with sharp features, the other was slightly more muscular. They both had cleanly shaven facial hair, and clothing that, while wasn’t complicated, seemed high-end.

The taller man stopped moving and muttered something she couldn’t quite hear, but the moment he finished, she felt a wave of nausea and tiredness wash over her.

--

Alexander Martini was usually a calm man. He knew of everything that went on in the city. He chose what shops would be allowed to flourish, and which ones could not be allowed to grow. And, if need be, to weed out anyone who tried to topple his large shadow. He had no problems with Roselle Follerio. Her parents, and later she refused to work for him, but he didn’t care. Of course, they couldn’t be allowed to grow to the detriment of shops he held interest in, but she could be allowed to scrape by. Her newest visitors however were a problem. An unaccounted wrench in his perfectly oiled machine. They show up, out of nowhere and gather so much attention at a carnival completely unintentionally. Even worse, his spies spies could get nothing on them. He employed many talented mages who could read the surface thoughts of others, and get an idea of a person’s past. They had nothing on these people. So, it was time to get some answers.

Rose was sitting in a comfortable armchair, opposed to him, sitting in his own.

“Wake her up.” He commanded and the mage lifted his spell that kept the shopkeeper asleep.

“Hmm? What, why am I here? I didn’t do anything!” She yelled in panic.

“I know. And I don’t wish to harm you. I simply want information on your… customers.” He spoke slowly and calmly, trying to instill trust in Rose while still being professional.

“You don’t. You really don’t. They will leave soon enough, they won’t bother you, but they are beyond you.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that they are strong beyond what would be reasonable for their looks. I think I’ll manage. My question is about the bracelets they were wearing.”

“What bracelets?” Rose didn’t remember them wearing anything of the sort, and she had very good memory when it came to clothing and accessories.

“Jack.”

The mage, as called, reached out and sent a blue wave of mana in Rose’s direction. She instinctively put her hands up in front of her face, but as the wave was about to hit her, something flared up around her wrist. It glowed dim violet as the wave was stopped by an invisible force-field around Rose. When she tried to feel out the place where her bracelet had been, she found it once more invisible, and she could not touch it.

“If they have such technology, they must have some very wealthy backers. That means, a very large and powerful organisation is sending people to this city. I have every reason to be worried. Now, what can you tell me about them?”

Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door. “Boss, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you.” Alexander nodded toward it, and one of his men went to open it.

“Good morning Mister Martini.” A golden haired young woman adorned in priestly clothes was standing there. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“What do you want? The church has no jurisdiction here.” He replied sternly.

“I am not here in these robes to force you to do anything. It is simply proof that I only wish to prevent suffering.” This got his attention. “It’s about her. I advise you to let go of her, and not to bother her again. If you don’t, you’ll make an enemy of something even the gods are wary of.”

“Boss, this is one of the girls.” One of his spies, who was standing in the room told him.

“I see.” He looked the priestess dead in the eye. “Pretending to be church? Really? And you wanted to threaten me with something so absurd? Normally I would have you killed for that. I’d advise you to leave the city and tell whoever you work for to never set foot here. Now, get out.”

She looked saddened, even regretful by those words. “I’m sorry. I made a deal that I couldn’t say too much… I was hoping it would be enough.” She looked at the people in the room and muttered something akin to a blessing under her breath. She left the room and walked out the building. The moment she left, someone else began walking up to the entrance.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret.” Cassandra said.

The figure walked slowly to the door that had guards in front of it.

“What do you want? Your friend there was already told to le-” Before he could finish, he and the other guard collapsed on the floor, their eyes bleeding.

The figure walked through the door like a ghost, ignoring physical obstacles. The guards in the hallway began to approach her.

“If you get in my way, you will die.” The strange woman said coldly. Her violet eyes were glowing faintly. The guards took out their weapons, but as they did, they collapsed, dead.

She made her way to her destination, walking through the door once more.

“Good morning Alexander.”

“What now? How did you get in here? Guards!” The crime boss shouted. But nobody came.

“They were in the way.” She said simply. She was looking at Martini like a predator at its prey.

“You think you can get away with this?” As he said those words, he too collapsed.

The figure walked up to one of the men who were in the room and was absolutely terrified. Yuuki’s aura was pressing down his own so violently, he was on the verge of passing out.

“Congratulations. You’re now in charge. What do you choose?”

“You can do whatever you want. We’ll stay out of your way.”

Yuuki retracted her aura and strode up to Rose, who was as confused as she was terrified.

“He’s actually dead this time?”

“Yes.” Her cold tone hadn’t changed from when she was talking to someone she was going to kill regardless of what he did. She put a hand on Rose’s shoulder and the both of them disappeared from the room.