Chapter 40 - Volume 3 (1/2)
“Is this really New Port City?”
The image of New Port City Myurena had was one of violence, corruption and filth befitting its infamy, but what stood in front of her seemed no different from any other urban district in the Empire. The street stretching out in front of her was clean and furnished with artists and musicians performing their craft and exhibiting their skills to the bypa.s.sers. People enjoyed meals and tea in the restaurants and merchants laid their goods in the streets as they attracted customers.
Most of the pedestrians were women, and they all had elves following behind them like a butler chasing after their master.
Myurena also wished to talk and eat with a handsome elf like the others, but could only look at others with envy since she had no clue as to where she was supposed to apply for the service. After looking through some of the shops, Myurena decided to enter a restaurant to ease her aching legs and appease her growling stomach.
Myurena finished her meal and washed it off with a cup of tea. But she felt alone. Everyone who sat around her were couples, radiating in happiness as they seemed to be in their own little world. Myurena’s interest was quickly dropping. She began to consider leaving New Port City after this tea, when suddenly a push on her shoulder made her spill the tea she was holding.
“Kyaa!”
Myurena let out a scream and quickly stood up to look behind her. An elf could be seen standing behind her, his face showing a faint smile. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Myurena.
“I apologise. It seems I’ve made a mistake.”
“Sigh, no it’s fine. Be more careful next time.”
In all honesty, Myurena’s temper was urging her to make a scene. But her rational mind decided that being angry against an elf over such trivial thing wasn’t worth the time and decided to accept his kindness and wiped at her pants.
“My name is Miller.”
“Huh? Okay. I am Myurena of Rogenic Family.”
“Hahaha. This must be my lucky day, to feast my eyes on such a beautiful woman.”
Myurena paused on drying her pants after listening to Miller’s words. His voice was off-tone and awkward. She wasn’t sure what he was trying. The elves were famous for being oddb.a.l.l.s, and she has a hint of suspicion that he knocked her shoulder to make a move on her. But this suspicion was let go quickly. There was no way he could attract anyone with that awkward act.
Myurena tried to give back the handkerchief after wiping off most of the tea, but Miller interrupted her with a wink.
“Dear me, I guess this is it for today. I’ll see you later, pretty lady.”
“Huh?”
Myurena stood dumbfounded by Miller’s words, and he quickly turned around to make a run. Shouts could be heard from afar, chasing after Miller with their harsh, coa.r.s.e voices.
“Found him! Over there!”
“Kyaa!”
“Uwaa!”
A mob of thugs could be seen chasing after Miller ferociously. Soon after, Miller was surrounded by them and began to fight through the mob using swift and elegant moves as expected of an elf. Civilians tried to run away from the scene as best they can while shops and tables were destroyed left and right as the fight continued on.
What was strange was that the people around Myurena weren’t running away from the scene; instead, they were cheering like this was a fighting match. As if inspired by the cheers from the crowd, Miller, who knocked down the four thugs on their backs, kicked off the walls to stand on top of the building’s roof.
“Get down here right now!”
While the thugs shouted out in outrage, Miller maintained his composure as he looked to Myurena. When their eyes met, he smiled gave a small wave before quickly disappearing. Meanwhile, Myurena was confused by everything that was happening. She couldn’t understand the differing reactions she was seeing. On one side were the merchants and shop owners who crawled on the floor, scared by the mob of thugs, while around her stood pedestrians who seemed to enjoy what was happening.
‘Huh? What’s going on?’
One of the thugs quickly approached Myurena who was still confused at this sudden turn of events.
“Oi! You! You were with him before!”
“Sorry?”
“What were you speaking with him? Are you with him?”
“What was that?!”
Myurena’s temper was a feisty one, one that wouldn’t lose to anyone else in a fight. One glare from Myurena and the thug flinched, his threatening att.i.tude vanished. It was instead replaced with urgency as he seemed unsure of what to do next, and Myurena fell deeper into confusion.
Why did the thug falter after a single glare when he was the one who started to threaten her?
What was even more confusing was the conversation they had with each other.
“C-captain, she’s a guest. Calm down.”
“I, I know.”
“If the guest sends a complaint, it’s us who gets the stick from the Lord’s Representative.”
“That’s why I’m holding back now. H-Hey, you! Ahem, consider yourself lucky! And don’t even think about seeing that man from before. It won’t end pretty if you get mixed up again. Remember this!”
So many things seemed wrong with this threat. His unnatural posture and awkward tone didn’t match his forbidding face. But even as he delivered this threat, his voice was trailing off and became a whimper by the end of it, and throughout the whole thing, he was slowing inching away from Myurena. This didn’t seem like a threat no matter how she saw it.
“Sigh… What is all this?”
Myurena felt a wave of overwhelming regret in coming to New Port City. She immediately turned to leave New Port City, but the sight of the broken shops and the shopkeepers who cried in misery stopped her from moving on. What also infuriated her was how the women and elves laughed at the situation from the side. They could have at least given a look of pity or charity to them, yet they were enjoying this situation to the fullest.
Myurena thought that even if she was going to leave now, she should most definitely complain so that this would never happen again. She called out the waiter to pay for her meal and began to walk toward the City Hall.
As Myurena disappeared out of everyone’s view, the cries from the shopkeepers began to quiet and then stop.
“Is she gone?”
“I think so?”
“Shh! Keep going until we get the order!”
“Cut! End of Act 1! Hurry up and move! Clean up the streets! All actors partic.i.p.ating in Act 2 are to move to their designated place!”
Someone shouted aloud among the crowd, and everyone from the shopkeepers to the thugs who caused the scene quickly cleaned up the mess they made, while the onlookers applauded and cheered them on.
“Bravo! That was excellent acting!”
“Hohoho. The villains still seems awkward but the shopkeepers seemed so realistic.”
“Hehehe. Thank you.”
The women threw coins at them and flattered them with praise, and the shopkeepers and thugs showed their grat.i.tude as they cleaned up the mess along with the coins littering the streets.
“Man, I know this is an order but what are we doing?”
“Who cares? As long as it pays well.”
“I just feel sorry that we get paid for something like this.”
“Hehe. Maybe we should become professionals.”
Myurena entered the City Hall with the aim of turning it upside down, but she couldn’t even manage to see Isaac. Instead, she was seen by one of the employees from the Civil Affairs Division. Myurena had no idea as to why a graduate from the Campus was working as just an employee of Civil Affairs, but she couldn’t unleash her temper against someone who could be her sister or brother-in-law’s acquaintance. She politely and calmly gave her complaint to the employee.
The employee’s name was Trentor, and he apologised with a bow. The act seemed polite with a hint of awkwardness, but Myurena glossed over the fact thinking that it must be awkward for him to work in Civil Affairs Division after graduating from the Campus.
Myurena was about to leave after finis.h.i.+ng her business, but Trentor gave away tickets to enjoy buffet and concerts performed by famous singers from Gabelin for free as an act of apology, which changed Myurena’s mind.
She had gone to make a complaint, yet she was given free meals, tickets to concerts, discounts and souvenirs. It would be extremely rude for her to leave without at least using some of the gifts given to her. She thought it was their desperation to keep the customers in which forced him to do so, so she decided to stay the night in New Port City and booked a room run by Rivolden Merchant Guild. The hotel replied that they have received word from the City Hall and gave her a room spanning an entire floor, addingto on Myurena’s feelings of guilt.
Baronesses were indeed higher-cla.s.s citizens in the grand scheme of things, but they were the lowest of the low when considering the pyramid of aristocracy. The Rogenic Family was especially so with its short history and weak foundation. It was a t.i.tle that was received by her grandfather, who was a rare case as someone who received a n.o.ble t.i.tle without graduating from the Campus.
So although she lived a life of plenty, she never lived a life of luxury because of her family situation. And for the first time, Myurena witnessed what a luxurious room truly meant.
Myurena desperately tried to act calm out of her pride, thinking that she couldn’t possibly make a fool of herself here and now. But the moment hotel employee left after moving all of her baggage, Myurena looked to see if anyone was around before throwing herself onto the bed with a squeal.
This room alone was enough to convince Myurena that the trip was worth it. Even the room her sister stayed in for her honeymoon wasn’t at this level. Myurena was impressed by the room back then too, but compared to this room, it was nothing. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing at the thought of bragging to all of her friends that she got to stay in this extravagant, astronomically expensive room.
‘I bet they’ll be deathly jealous. Ronette will have sleepless nights after hearing this.’
Myurena chuckled to herself as she imagined her friends’ reactions of envy. She remained there on the bed, sinking deeper into its soft and comforting mattress. Just when she was about to fall asleep, she heard a loud bang and the door to her room was breached as a group of men rushed into the room.
“Kyaa! W, what is this!”
Myurena screamed and looked at the uninvited guests. Six or so men wore their black hoods over their heads, and the woman who seemed to be the leader stood at the front. For a group of people who barged into the room so confidently, they were oddly hesitant and looked to each other for a moment.
“Oh, hohoho. D, did you think you can trick us?”
“Huh?”
“I, if you hand over the goods, w, we will let you go. I, I mean, we’ll let you live.”
“What?”
Myurena was at a loss for words. Them invading into her room was one thing, but she could clearly see that woman whose face was bright red and stiff was repeating a line that was whispered to her by the group of men standing beside her.
At that moment, the window of her room shattered and Miller, who escaped before, entered the scene.
“Kyaa!”
“What?”
There was an awkward stare between Myurena and the woman. The woman screamed even before Myurena could react to the noise.
“…!”
Embarra.s.sed, the woman quivered with her bright red face. Only when the man behind her nudged her on the side with a whisper did the woman regain her calm and began to speak at Miller.
“Blue Wind of New Port! I, I knew you’d come!”
“Eh?”
“Red Rose of New Port! I, I have already revealed all of your schemes!”
“Eh?”
“A-as expected of the Blue Wind! T-to see through our scheme! B-but if we destroy the evidence, I, it’ll be our victory!”
“Eh?”
Myurena’s head turned each time the invaders and the elf exchanged dialogue. The scene held so little tension and the actors were so pitiful in their skills. A play performed by the most amateurish of actors would have held more interest to Myurena. When she began to think why she had to suffer through this, her temper began to surface.
“What is it that you want with me?!”
The outburst from Myurena made everyone in the room flinch in fear. They all looked at her for a moment, and then turned back to each other.
“I’ve already hid the evidence.”
“T, that woman probably holds the evidence!”
“Hey! Are you listening to me?”
“Huk! How did you know?”
“Oh, ohoh! It’s a trivial matter with our information network!”
“Make haste and leave at this moment, pretty lady; I will stop them from chasing you with my life. You must hold on to the handkerchief I’ve given you no matter what.”
“What is this bulls.h.i.+t?!”