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–––Karin’s viewpoint

At night, we successfully infiltrated the city with Flight Magic, and then looked for an inn like we did in the last city. The capital was heavily guarded, but there was a limit to the number of available guards, so they could not cover every single spot. On top of that, no one expected someone to get in through the air, and it was even harder to notice at night. That made getting in quite easy.

“So, what are we going to do now?”
“If possible I’m hoping some hoodlum will approach us first.”

Saying that, Ciel looked around carefully.

We were staying in a regular inn, which meant the first floor was an eatery like normal. That meant that the people eating around us were not only guests of the inn, but also other people from the city. But there was one thing that set this inn apart, everyone who was eating here had a bad air to themselves. The air was tense too, and it felt like a fight could break out at any moment. Even an ignorant child could tell that most of the people there had no honest lives.

All of that was because this inn was located in a bad part of the city. Every city had a couple places where criminals abound and public security was low, but they were much bigger areas in the capital. Those places were easily raided in smaller cities, but here they offered a perfect location to hide ourselves and contact criminals, which were our main objectives.

Ciel was carelessly examining the face of every single customer here. If a regular girl stepped in here, they would be afraid to even look at most of the people here, but we did not care much about that, and we had no reason to be afraid. Many of them would only glare back at us, but a few were more hot-blooded and would stand up and approach us.

“What’s wrong, girl? Is there something on my face?”
“You’ll just get hurt if you’re trying to make fun of me.”
“Who do you think you are walking in here like it’s your home?”
“Bingo.”

I giggled hearing those lines every hoodlum used. Ciel turned to look at me, her eyes saying ‘told you so.’ The three men turned red with anger, either because she turned away from them, or because their lines had no effect on us.

“I thought I’d let you off easy, but now you’re really asking for it!”
“I’ll sell you to the brothel when I’m done with you!”

The three tried reaching for their daggers, but a moment later all their weapons vanished from their bodies, and appeared stuck on a wall. They seemed confused, trying to understand what had happened, and then noticed my sword glinting against them.

“Wha-?!”
“You’re too slow. You can get as many friends as you like, but you’ll never beat me.”

I glared at them with just a bit of malice, and the three fell silent, color draining from their faces. They understood just how weak they were compared to me, and no longer knew what to do. Even in their path of life they still had some amount of pride, and they knew they would be embarrassed whether they asked for forgiveness or insisted on fighting only to lose instantly. One’s strength dictated the pecking order more harshly in this side of the world, and they would have a rough time from now on. The three seemed about to cry in desperation as they found no option but to fight, when someone spoke to stop them.

“Give up. Even a hundred of you could never win against those girls.”
“Ah, boss…”

A man silently stood up from a seat a distance away, he commanded an air of respect incomparable to the other three. Physically he did not look too different, but his manners and movements showed he was stronger. But still…

“A thief?”
“You could tell? I knew you were no regular girls.”

He heard my mutter, and grinned impressed.

“There’s something in the way you carry yourself. It’s different from adventurers or nobles, and your footsteps were silent. I guess it just made me think it came from the experience of stealing or assassinating?”
“You’re completely right. I’m definitely no upright member of society. Though that applies to everyone you see here. But I’m still curious, what brought you two to an inn like this? I’m sure you could afford a far more classy place near the city center if you put your strength to good use.”

I felt no enmity from him. Though I still kept a slightly low stance, ready to attack or jump out of the way if something happened. He was probably just curious about us. I glanced at Ciel, it seems this was just the kind of person she was looking for, so I decided to leave all the smart negotiating to her, since she’s the one with actual brains. She took a deep breath and sighed, shaking her head at me.

“Could I talk about a few more things while we’re at that? I think your opinion could help us.”
“My opinion? Hmm…let’s just hear what you have to say first.”

He made some signal with his hand to the innkeeper, who responded by throwing a key at him. He caught the key and went to a door behind the counter, where he turned around.

“Come with me. No need to worry about being overheard here.”

We stood up and followed the man, going past the counter. At some point we had all started ignoring the three men who confronted us first, and while they looked nervous as they went back to their tables, no one in the inn said a word to them.