There was someone out there who knew his secret. But the answer that Adui could not come up with was, how does she know? Some obvious questions were popping into his head like, who was this woman, was she following him all this way, etc. But after quick thinking, he realized that it was simply not possible that someone was following him in the first place.

Not only he had been very careful while traveling, he had been very vulnerable more than a few times in his journey. If this woman was indeed following him then she had just missed countless chances to kill him and get his bounty. So the question now he has to answer was, how does she know that he has blood money?

"Why do you think that I have blood money?" he asked the hooded woman.

"A person who wears clothes like you, dont go around with this many mana stones with them,"

He smirked, "So you judging me based on my looks?" he then took a bite of the pork, staring at her with a nonchalant attitude. He wanted to see whether this was her guesswork, or did she really had proof that he had done something wrong.

"You look like a bum, and there is a distinct stench of a woman's blood on you. Considering the amount of mana stones that you are carrying, this is the most obvious reasoning," she countered.

Smelled? I am wearing the same clothes in which I killed the maid.. What was her name again… Anyway, based on the fact that the clothes are not washed, it makes sense that the stench of blood is on them. And if she could smell that, she might be a mana wielder. He thought.

"Well your reasoning is wrong," he simply answered, "I am transporting the stones. As far blood is concerned, I did fuck a girl who on her monthly cycle,"

"Do you want a job, or not?" she asked again, this time with authority.

"What is the job?" he asked.

"Not here," she said, "There are too many ears around here,"

Now he was truly intrigued about what this girl was trying to pull. It was then the bartender came along, "Miss," he said, "How would you like to settle the bill,"

"Well, I forgot to get my coin pouch from my room," she said, "I can give the money tomorrow,"

"That is enough," The bartender said glaringly, "That won't work. You have not yet forked up two days worth of food and accommodation. Either pay up now, or we will find other ways to make you pay,"

Unfazed the woman simply replied, "I am sorry for the inconvenience, I will pay today. But later, I am talking to this gentleman over here,"

"Oi bitch!" the old man yelled, "Didnt you hear the word I say?"

It is then Adui felt it, the uneasiness of the air. It was like the air itself was vibrating, and for some reason, he could tell that the air was behaving this way because of the woman. He could tell that the old man had managed to piss her off. The way the surroundings had become, he could tell that everyone in the room could feel it, even the old man. Beads of sweat formed on everyone's forehead, and the foreboding of death started flashing before everyone's eyes.

Definitely a mana wielder. Probably a strong one as well. He thought.

He slammed his hand on the table, gathering the attention of everyone. As he removed his hand, there was a silver coin on the table, "Take this. And fuck off,"

The old man who was sweating looked at the coin with greed. As his hand reached to grab the coin, Adui grabbed the hand and with a low voice whispered, "If you disrespect the lady like this again, I will fucking kill everyone in this village and make you watch. Do you understand?" the old man nodded, "Fuck off now,"

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As the old man went away, the other patrons also averted their gazes. They all understood nothing good would come if they meddle in their business. Then he turned towards the hooded woman, "And you were saying?"

"That was quite impressive," the woman said,

"No it was not," he said.

"No it was," she said, "Usually a person with your kind of power would have decapitated the old man. But you just made the old man run away like a scared cat,"

Alright, this is getting out of hand. Now she knows what kind of power I have… This woman, her mystery is getting better and better.

"You were telling me about a job that you needed me to do?"

"Let's talk in my room," The woman then led him out of the restaurant. He grabbed his pork and mead glass and followed her…

The woman had rented one of the smallest rooms of the inn, he could tell because according to the old man, the whole third floor was his room. He had somehow booked a villa in a shitty inn. But Adui couldnt understand why the hell the woman was staying here in the first place. From the way that her anger was able to make the air vibrate, she was clearly a rather strong mana wielder. So why was she in this room?

In the confines of the room, the woman went and sat down on the bed. He took the small chair in the room to eat his roasted pork. And it is then the woman finally removed her hood and got rid of her robes. Adui was greeted by an albino beauty.

The woman's skin was so pale, that it looked as if no blood as ever flown in her veins. With her dark red pupils, along with her white hair, the woman looked like a porn actress from a vampire parody porn. And the way she was dressed was not helping as well. She was wearing a leather bra and leather panties. The bra was clearly very small for her chest, and it looked like she was deliberately flaunting her wealth.

"So, about the job that you mentioned," he asked, clearly more intrigued by the mystery of that woman rather than her body.

"I have met many mortals in my lifetime. And there are only a handful of them that were not tempted by my beauty. You are a one exceptional man,"

"Yeah yeah.. About the job," he said.

"You seem eager to accept my job," the woman asked, eyeing him.

After finishing a mouthful of pork, he replied, "Lady.. I have learned many things in my life. I know for a fact that if you have Guts, Brain, and Brawn, you will find opportunities that can get you both power and money.. And this right here, it is making me feel that this opportunity could take me to new heights,"

The woman laid down on the bed seductively, "Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong. But the truth remains, do this task for me and you will be rewarded,"

"What is the task?" he asked while taking a sip of his mead.

"I need you to find this insignia," she said. While lying she went through the satchel that was lying on her bed. She then took out a small box and from it a ring. She then threw the ring towards him.

Adui caught the ring and saw an insignia inscribed on the thing. And the thing was, he recognized the insignia. Isn't this a fucking rose? Who in our kingdom has a Rose as its insignia? From what he could remember, all the major houses took animals as their insignia. No house had a flower as their banner.

"Looks like some sort of flower," he said.

"This flower is called Rose. It is a peculiar kind of flower that used to grow on this island. Find where it used to grow, and which house it belonged to. And I will give you the reward that you are so greedy for,"

That is it? He thought This woman is trying to get me to find some information about a house and the flower? I told her that I am a mercenary, so how the fuck she concluded that I have experience in this kind of stuff?

"Forgive me but…" he said, "I am a mercenary. I do not have expertise in this sort of stuff."

"But a man for your power surely has connections. Right?" she said with sly smug.

"Another thing," he said, "A woman with your beauty and power… You can easily get information about this if you go to the capital. Why are you hiring me?"

Frustrated, she asked, "What is up with these questions?"

"In all of my years, as a mercenary had taught me one thing, it is preferred to know everything about the person that you are going to work with,"

The woman sighed, "Fine… I cannot show my face. Which is why I need someone from outside to do this work,"

"Is that so?" he said…

A part of Adui wanted to decline the job straight away when he sensed something. He was feeling disturbance in the air, from outside of the room. He stood up and went to the window of the room, in time to see someone sending a firecracker into the sky. Instead of bursting into a thousand colors, this firecracker instead burst and created a dome, which engulfed their inn as well.

"What the fu…" he was abruptly pushed aside, and the woman now had stood up and saw the dome.

"Fucking inquisitors!" she yelled and within a second burst out of the window.

For the love of god, Adui could not understand what the hell was going on. But he understood one thing, there was no real reason for him to stay here now. He didnt want to get in between, whatever this was happening. He turned around, pocketed the ring, took his bag, and was about to go when he stopped. He saw that the woman's satchel was still on the bed.

He thought about the consequences of taking the satchel, and decided to keep the satchel safe with him for now…