[Vol. 8] Chapter 289: Hello, I’m Looking for the “Daughter of Truth”
Creak~
The slightly old wooden door was gently pushed open from the outside, and two figures stepped in one after another. This caught the attention of the clerk behind the counter, who looked up briefly.
Without making it obvious, she quickly tucked a few sheets of paper from the table into a drawer, then put on a practiced, professional smile.
“Welcome, welcome! What would you two like to buy?”
It was an ordinary grocery store, the kind you could find anywhere, located in a somewhat remote corner of the western part of the capital city. The shop wasn’t big, just over a hundred square meters.
The foot traffic was small, and the goods and displays were nothing special. At this hour, there were barely any customers, and even a thin layer of dust had settled on some products. The whole place looked like it was on the verge of going out of business.
But the black-haired girl in a white robe didn’t seem to care. She just gave the plain-clothed clerk in front of her a curious look.
The clerk was young. Although her clothes were simple and she wore no makeup. Actually, it seemed she had deliberately used a few makeup tricks to make herself look a bit messy, anyone paying close attention could see her eyes were bright, her features were fine, and her expression carried a sharp, clever air that was hard to hide.
If she put in even a little effort to dress up, she would be a real beauty. With looks like that, working in a small grocery store seemed like burying a pearl in the dirt, quite a waste of talent.
Of course, this didn’t necessarily mean anything. In this world, especially in the Austre Empire, strength was respected above all else. A woman’s beauty could draw attention, but it didn’t directly decide her social standing. So the odds of a pretty girl working as a shop assistant weren’t exactly zero.
“Customers?”
The clerk tilted her head, puzzled, when she saw the two women only looking around without saying a word or picking up any goods. She was just about to speak again when the black-haired girl stepped forward and spoke bluntly.
“I’m here to find the [Daughter of Truth]. Can you help introduce me?”
?!
The young clerk’s body stiffened for an instant. A flicker of shock flashed in her lively eyes, but she quickly recovered and shook her head with a calm face, replied,
“Truth? What are you talking about? We don’t have anyone like that here. If you two want something, pick it out quickly. If not, please leave. We’re about to close for the day.”
The black-haired girl didn’t seem surprised by this attempt to brush her off. She wagged her finger with a smile.
“Come on, no need to be so nervous. If I really worked for the Austre Empire and wanted to take down this place, I wouldn’t have come with just one other person. You’d be facing an entire squad of Imperial Guards. In a way, I’m actually here to help you.”
The clerk’s delicate face instantly turned cold when she saw the other party wasn’t going to give up. She slapped the counter hard and put on an irritated look.
“Hmph! I don’t understand what you’re talking about! If you keep causing trouble, don’t blame me for being rude. This shop may be out of the way, but if I shout, the city guards will be here in no time. Don’t think you can make trouble just because you’ve got numbers on your side!”
The black-haired girl laughed softly.
“Do you believe what you just said…? And if we’re talking about numbers, there are only two of us, but your little shop here is hiding more than ten skilled fighters. So really, who’s the one outnumbering who?”
“You…!”
Hearing her secret exposed in an instant, the clerk could no longer hide the fear in her eyes. She quickly reached under the counter and did something unseen.
With a bang, the shop door behind the two young women slammed shut by itself, cutting off the outside light and plunging the room into darkness.
“This hiding method was personally taught by the Saintess of Truth. Inside the shop’s range, even a legendary-level expert should have no way to see through it, what are you!?”
As soon as she finished speaking, several scattered “customers” in the corners of the store suddenly drew their weapons. From the deep shadows all around, more than ten figures in different clothing seemed to appear out of thin air, surrounding the two girls from every direction.
They stepped forward in unison, cutting off any possible escape routes. A heavy killing intent surged toward them like a tide, making the entire grocery store feel suddenly colder.
But the black-haired girl only smiled, as if she hadn’t noticed the deadly pressure aimed at her at all. Her expression stayed calm.
“Who knows? Maybe I’m just a little different from normal people.”
“……”
There were clearly only two people in front of them, but for some reason, the clerk suddenly felt a coldness rise from her feet straight to the top of her head. The appearance of more than ten elite guards didn’t make her feel any safer. Instead, the other girl’s overly calm manner gave her an uneasy feeling she couldn’t explain.
“Stop them!”
“Yes!”
The hidden guards, showing no fear of the enemy’s mystery or unknown strength, rushed in together with blades drawn. The higher-ranked clerk didn’t hesitate, she grabbed the few sheets of paper from the drawer, stuffed them into her clothes, and ran out the back door.
The grocery store wasn’t large and had no warehouse or courtyard. The girl dashed out the back door straight into a narrow alleyway behind the shop and quickly ran toward the distance.
She was fast, faster than any of the guards who had attacked earlier. In fact, she was the leader and captain of this guard unit. She knew well that if she had stayed in the shop to direct and help in the fight, the outcome might have been very different. But she couldn’t take that risk.
Right now, she was carrying out an important mission, protecting something more valuable than her own life, and even more important than the lives of everyone in that base. She didn’t know how the other side had learned about it or why they had chosen such a critical time to come here, but none of that would change her actions.
No matter what, this item must never fall into someone else’s hands. Otherwise…
“!”
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks.
Somehow, one of the two women who should have been far behind, blocked at all costs by her companions, was now standing right in the middle of the narrow alley ahead. It was the same black-haired girl who had spoken to her earlier.
Like an unpredictable ghost, she appeared silently and impossibly, as if she had been waiting there for a long time. She even had the time to smile and casually raise a hand in greeting.
“Not to be rude, but isn’t your reaction a bit too extreme? Was it really necessary to run away without saying a word? It’s not like we’re man-eating tigers…”
“You…”
“Relax, your little friends are fine. Sigh… this is why it’s so hard to be a good person these days, look at me, getting scolded by both sides~”
BOOM!!!
Before she could say more, a thunderous explosion erupted. The girl instinctively turned toward the sound, only to see the grocery store they had just been in collapse as if struck by an earthquake, crumbling into a pile of rubble.