Chapter 29

Eva Lemuria

I make my way towards the adventurer guilds building as I ignore the stares looking over my soaked appearance. I thought about using fire to dry myself, but I don't want to ruin my only outfit until I get my other outfits from the tailor. I enter the guild and notice a lot of people are panicking and running around. I also notice some city guards yelling at the manager. I ignore everyone as I walk right up to the receptionist and drop the lighting forest horses mana heart on the counter with its tail.

“That should be enough to raise me to the 4th tier.”

“Yes, Miss Eva this should bring you up to the 4th tier. Let me just go process it for you.” She goes to fill out the paper work.

“Are you Eva Lemuria?” One of the eleven guards that were arguing with the guild manager calls out to me.

“I might be. What would it be to you?”

“The city Lord had wanted to invite you over to stay at his mansion, but it seems you didn't get the message. We were expecting you for a while now over there.” Guard

“No, I received your message, but I am not here to see some city, Lord. I don't plan on staying with some unknown person. If your city lord wishes to speak to me he can come to find me.”

“Miss Eva congratulations you are now an official 4th tier adventurer. You can now also take 3rd tier missions.” Receptionist

“Then I’ll take the mission for the 3rd tier rain storm raven.”

“What? That's perfect because it seems that mana beast has just had a confrontation with another mana beast. I will call for the other emergency adventurers who are going to subjugate it and you can work together.” Guild Manager

“There is no need for that. I have the mana heart right here. Also, this is the mana heart of a 4th tier rain raven that showed up in the middle of the fight.”

“What? Then the flooding is from your fight?” I stay silent. “All the land around the city has become muddy! It will take days maybe even weeks for it to dry up!” I still stay silent. It could have been from somewhere else for all I know. The guild manager is practically pulling out his hair now.

“Anyway hurry up and process these. I probably won't do any more missions till tomorrow and I have other errands to run today.” The receptionist gathers the things and the fills out the forms before telling me it's all complete. The guild manager clearly wanted to say something else, but I didn't give him the chance as I just walked out the door.

“Miss Eva please wait! The City lord insists that you come and stay with him at his mansion. He doesn't believe someone of your status should just stay at an inn.” City Guard

“Tell him his opinion has nothing to do with me. If he wants something from me then he can come ask me. If not then fuck off already.”

They finally pause their steps. It's probably because they didn't expect a princess to use that kind of language. I don't want them following me all over the place so I enter an alleyway and jump up on to the roof of the building next to me. I jump roof to roof until I believe I am far enough away. I jump down into another alleyway before exiting it and making my way towards the tailor shop. The streets are just as busy as yesterday when I was shopping.

I finally reach the tailor shop and enter it to find the place is a mess. Clothes are a mess on their displays and there are papers with designs all over the place. I don't see the tailor anywhere even after I had called out so I make my way into the back room to look for the tailor. I find her asleep in a chair and one of my new outfits is on a mannequin next to her. The outfit looks just like how I want it to be. It's similar to my current outfit except its black with red lilies on the bottom and sleeves. Overall it's a beautiful outfit that even I can tell will look good on me. Next to the outfit is a stack of papers with designs. I look through the rough sketches and almost all the designs I can tell will look good on me. I also notice that the tailor designed a few dresses even though I asked for none. I shake her awake so I can check to see if I can take the completed outfit now and when the next one will be finished.

“Hmmm oh, it’s you. Ahh, you must be here for your order. I have stayed up all night and finished just this one outfit. I probably could have got more done, but I would always stop to draw another design while I was inspired by working on this outfit. I think people will really like this design. Tell me where did you originally get these clothes?” Tailor

“The dragon tribe gave me them.” She looks completely shocked before bursting out laughing.

“Hahaha, fine don't tell me. Everyone has their secrets. I won't ask that anymore, but I will ask do you mind if I start to sell these designs to others as well?” Tailor

“I don't mind as long as my order is finished first. Is this one here finished now? I am in need of more clothes.”

She nods her head and takes the outfit off the mannequin before handing it to me. I take the outfit to the changing room and change my clothes. I put the old outfit into my bag before I walk and say my goodbyes to the tailor before I leave her shop. After I leave I start to make my way to the little cafe I went to yesterday. It's still awhile before they close up shop so I might as well go and relax before I go to the gambling den again. I enter the shop and ask for a private corner to sit in on the top floor overlooking the park. They are luckily able to accommodate me and I can have a bit more privacy now. My order is served and I sit back and relax there.

I had just defeated some mana beast that probably could have destroyed this city if they wanted to. It's hard to believe these people can live here for so long with no one strong enough to defeat those beasts. I definitely don't think that the guild manager could have done it and usually, a guild would have someone strong enough at each branch. I hope they don't plan on trying to tie me down here because I will probably be gone soon enough. I just have to wait until the shadow guard reports back to me with news from my family. As long as they don't go looking for trouble because of me ill be fine and probably come home in at most a year. I might go visit the dwarven Kingdom like I originally planned after this. My musing is interrupted as someone sits across from me. Luckily I had pulled my mask up after every sip of coffee, but I won't be able to drink with him here. He is dressed extravagantly and has two masked guards behind him. When I look at him I can't help, but get an uneasy feeling. He looks like he wouldn't be a threat to me, but I get a very dark feeling from him that I can't explain.

“Hello, Princess Eva. I am the city lord Lucas Sylvari. I sent some men earlier to invite you to my mansion, but it seems as if you had been busy then.” Lucas Sylvari

“Yes, as you can see I am very busy right now. Even though I am so busy you still came here. So what do you want? I hope it's not something stupid or I'll throw you out a window for ruining my peace.”

“Yes, I can definitely tell you are very busy so I will get right to it. I don't believe a lady of your status should be staying at a simple inn and even more, you are coming to such a shop with a foreign drink. You should come and stay at my mansion. I would be able to take good care of you there. Don't worry nothing would be uncomfortable there. In fact, once you stay a night you'll probably love it there and want to stay.” Lucas Sylvari

“I’ll have to say no thank you. I am comfortable where I am so there is no point in going somewhere else. I did not come to this city to be taken care of by others so your kindness is unnecessary. You should just focus on your job instead of some runaway foreign princess. I heard recently there's a lot of flooding in your land. You should go take care of that.” I am glad he can't see the smirk underneath my mask. “Another thing before you leave. The adventures guild is not to be underestimated. They don't like nobles trying to control them or steal their members status.”

“I understand. I will come again to invite you to come stay with me. The city is peaceful but every place has a dark side so be careful here. The flooding of the land is truly a mystery and it will be hard to fix. Don't worry I just want a peaceful relationship with the adventurers guild. Sometimes while speaking a few things slip from both parties. Nothing to worry about.” Lucas Sylvari

After that, he gets up and leaves the cafe with his guards in tow. He left for now, but I know nobles don't like it when they don't get what they want. He will keep pestering me until I agree and if I don't he will probably resort to some other stupid methods. Nobles pride is too high and he seems even worse. I don't know what is under that smile, but my instincts were screaming danger around him. I can't help but wonder why he is so desperate to get me to come to his mansion. At first, I thought he was just a typical noble that wants to use my position to try and grab more power somehow. Now that I have met him I feel there is more to it than just that. I will definitely avoid him and his guards as much as possible. I don't even know how he knew I was here which just shows he's a dangerous person.

After the city lord left I went back to relaxing in the cafe while I thought about what he could want and why. It's troublesome that my identity is known. I should not have told the city advisor when I got here, but I thought it could help me get in without much trouble. I got in easily, but other trouble showed up because of it. For now, I will wait and see what happens before I leave this city.

I keep relaxing at the cafe until the server came to tell me they were closing so I could only pay my bill before I left to go do some more gambling. I will admit that I am having fun at the gambling den. People, there are all very lively and the place can really bring up someone's spirit. For most, it's probably just the booze they serve. For me, I enjoy the feeling of looking at everyone panicked faces when they lose their money to me. I'm pretty sure that if my family finds out I am spending my nights at the gambling den they will probably want to rush here and drag me away so I hope that shadow guard isn't still watching me.

I reach the gambling den and look around at the lively scene. I noticed that as soon as I walked in one of the guards at the side rushed away probably to inform them that I am here. I thought of going to play roulette again, but I instead went to watch one of the card games being played. The game I was watching is called blackjack. It seemed to be a relatively simple game at first. It seems to mostly depend on luck, but as I watched I noticed that there are patterns that can be followed. After following the game for a while I begin to understand the game and I can predict the cards with a pretty high accuracy so I take a seat. I thought of just betting a high amount right from the start but I decided to just start low until I double my winnings and then I'll keep my original bet and use whats left to play so I don't actually lose anything. The same as last time a waitress comes to serve me and I order a whiskey. I keep playing and when the waitress comes by I notice there's some extra alcohol served to me this time, but not enough to affect me at all. I just use the technique Shadow taught me when consuming poison. I spend a couple of hours gambling and drinking at the gambling den and tonight I actually made less than I thought I would. The pattern I found was actually kind of hard to follow at first so I kept losing almost as much as I won. Either way, it was fun so I kept playing till I got tired so I collected my winnings and left.

Like I thought would happen I was followed out the door except for this time there are even more thugs following me. I decided ill teach them a small lesson tonight so they don't keep trying this every night wasting my time. I start walking towards the city gate and when I reach it I just wave to the guards as I leave the city. I walk over to an open area and wait for all the thugs to show up. There are about fifteen of them this time. I am surprised that they followed me all the way here. They must really want to take my money. I guess since I am unknown around here they think that I am just a traveler without any backing that would come after them.

“Well, Missy looks like you didn't run away this time. It's good that you came out here so you can hand over your winnings and maybe even give us a sample of yourself.” Idiot Thug 1

“Seriously that's why you thought I came out here? You are clearly an idiot so tell me now if you have a boss that orders you around.”

“What'd you say?! Well, since you probably won't even be able to form a thought after we're done with you ill tell you that the den doesn't like some nobody coming in and taking all its money so we decided to just take it back.” Big Idiot Thug 1

Seriously I already guessed it, but I was just asking as a formality. I really didn't think they would actually tell me. They are seriously underestimating me. Can they not see the giant deadly halberd on my back? I know it's currently wrapped up, but they should be able to tell that it's heavy. Are these guys so weak that they have no danger sense at all? Well, I guess I can just finish them off quickly before I go back to the gambling den tomorrow night and take everything they own. I guess the thugs have gotten impatient because they all charged at me. They didn't even draw their weapon as they try and grab me. When they're all about to reach me I release lightning from my feet and let it travel through the soaked ground. The flooded ground made it perfect for my spell to easily electrocute all the idiot thugs at once. I watch as they all stop and open their mouth for a silent scream and they twitch nonstop. I keep going until I see all the thugs start to smoke and I cut the lighting. They all fall over with their eyes roll back. I don't know if they survived or not, but if they did the ones that fell face first into the water will definitely die later. I look them over before I just walk over their bodies and make my way back into the city. I make my way all the way to the city gate and wave at the guards who seem to have seen the little scuffle considering their pale faces. I go to my inn and head straight for my room. Tonight I easily fall asleep without any heavy thoughts.