Naru glared at Hakuya. The black crystal he had used to get rid of her magic now lay in glittery dust on the ground.

“What do you want with me?” She asked Hakuya.

“Mhmm, I can answer that question easily but I will tell you again, it’s not a decision to be made lightly. The moment I tell you is the moment you lose all freedom to leave this job.”

“I refuse,” Naru said as she tossed a punch at Hakuya.

[???]

Naru felt her punch glide past Hakuya’s face. It was as if his head had teleported away.

She stumbled slightly, losing her footing as she missed her attack on Hakuya. Falling forward Naru looked up to see the grinning face of Hakuya on her.

“Grr!” Naru thought. She was being taunted by Hakuya. She threw another punch and it frustratingly missed again.

“mhmm, you were closer that time,” Hakuya said.

Annoyed Naru began to attack Hakuya with her fists. Annoyingly, it seemed impossible for her to hit him. Hakuya’s face would always seem to either glide out of the way moving the bare minimum needed to dodge her hits.

“So you can use magic, but you don’t even know how to fight, how odd” Hakuya said.

“Why are you making a girl like me try to fight in the first place! You’re the weird one here!” Naru shouted.

She launched another barrage of blows and still, they all seemed to miss. Her arms grew heavy, and she began to get tired. On the other hand, Hakuya seemed to be fine and was not tired in the slightest.

Hakuya was grinning.

“Having trouble there.”

“As if!” Naru shouted. She channeled magic into her chest crystal again.

“Ah, that’s no good” Hakuya said and Naru felt the magic in her chest get sucked away.

Hakuya pulled out another black crystal from his pocket, and the crystal broke into glittery dust just like the last one.

Naru paused. There was no way for her to get past Hakuya right now and wasting her magic like this wasn’t going to work out.

She stopped and relaxed her pose.

“Are you done yet?” Hakuya asked Naru.

Glaring at him, she nodded slightly.

“Do you accept my terms?” Hakuya asked her.

Naru also nodded in response to Hakuya’s questions. Hakuya in response pressed his hands together obviously pleased.

“Good, we can get started can you please move to the side slightly?” Hakuya asked Naru.

Naru followed Hakuya’s orders while glaring at him.

Hakuya went to a nearby wall where a shelf held several non-perishable goods and he stuck his hand deep inbetween one of the shelves. He fumbled around for a bit, muttering to himself before it seemed like he had found what she was looking for.

“Ah, here it is!” Hakuya said, there was a mechanical clank sound, and the area in which Naru was originally stood lifted slightly.

It was a trapdoor that appeared to have a lock mechanism and was covered in dirt.

“annoying little thing, always so hard to find.” Hakuya said to Naru.

Naru didn’t speak and instead only glared at him, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

“Please spare me those, eyes. I don’t plan on doing anything to you. C’mon can’t you trust me a bit, I know animals are jumpy but you seem more like a rabbit than a deer.” Hakuya said in response to Naru’s expression.

Naru knew in her heart that Hakuya didn’t mean any harm to her, but still… She didn’t like him.

Hakuya was a man that seemed to keep his secrets close and even while in the Bar always seemed to be hiding something. Naru didn’t trust those sorts of people. Although she herself, had once been a human, she still couldn’t bring herself to believe they were capable of good in this world.

Hakuya bent down to open the trapdoor and upon flipping it open Naru saw a large passageway. The passage was dark, and not lit at all.

“Sorry, we don’t have any magic lamps here,” Hakuya said. The lamps he was referring to were the lamps that dotted the streets inside the city walls. They were glass bulbs that were filled by the court mages. Each night they would be lit with a small amount of magic and they would last until around sunrise.

In this passageway, there was no such thing and it was completely dark.