A middle age woman sitting in a room that is filled with books and various laboratory equipment. The room doesn't have any windows, and the rest of the room is filled with darkness except the area around her. There is also a magic circle drawn on the ground near her location.

The woman is currently fiddling and grinding the herbs that are placed on the table in front of her. The room is also modified with various buffs. One of the few of them is soundproof. It is so that no other living beings would be able to steal her work.

"This is not going to work. Will these do? No, I don't think it will be more effective than the one I am using currently."

She frowns while pinching her forehead with her right hand. It's been ten years she worked as an alchemist within the magic tower organization. Months before, she was tasked to create a device, potion or whatever that could reveal one true identity. Unfortunately, things are not going too well, and she is forced to make use of the demi-human weakness.

Their sense of smell. Due to an urgent matter, the woman was forced to lie to the Royals that she needed more time for something that she hasn't any idea on how to make. It is unfair to her as her superior make her lie by threatening her. Her family will be involved if she doesn't follow their order. It is only in order to save their reputation and avoid shaming their face.

Now she felt stupid and regretted taking the tasked in the first place. She didn't think the magic tower organization that she is so fond of would do such a thing. The only thing left for her to do is to either find a way to tell the Royals without letting the organization know or accomplish the given tasked.

Whatever the case, this is her tenth day prisoning herself in the room. She forces herself to focus on the task at hand so that she is able to escape from reality. In truth, whenever she goes out, she would be mocked and ridiculed by her peers. Various gossips have started to fly around, and every time she goes out, there's one or more news of her that she didn't know.

Most of her peers don't know the real story is all about. In addition, she is unable and wouldn't tell the truth in order to protect herself. What if one of the demi-human had disguised as one of the people in the magic tower. It would be easy for them to eliminate her and burn all of her research.

From seeing the daily report, she feels relief to know that the potion that she had created in urgency had worked. Thus, allowing her to have more time. The only problem she has currently is the fact that she is the reason that the demi-human has been kidnapped and tortured.

It is because of her slow progress. Her superior had decided to buy most of the demi-human slaves in the black market to use them as living specimens. Day after day, screams of terror can be heard from the basement. Despite her soundproof laboratory, she still is able to listen to people screaming for help. She is not sure whether it is just her delusion or it is real.

She is about to start on a new theory when she hears a knock on the front door. The only person that is authorized to meet and talk when she is in this room is none other than her master.

"Camelia, I have orders to received fifty resolute smelling potions. If you are not done yet, it's okay. I can come back again later." A solemn and sad voice speaks to Camelia. An old man stood by in front of the door while showing somber expression on his face.

The old man wore a grey cloak that covers most of his body. A blue sapphire for his eyes and a long white mustache that reach his collarbone. Seeing his apprentice sufferings, he can't help but only empathize. No matter what, he had no power to overturn the superior decisions unless he betrays the organization and exposes the news to the king of the kingdom.

"It is ready, master. Please wait a moment." Camelia turns around towards her back. Where all of her potions are properly arrange and categorized. A short chant is all it takes for fifty potions to float up and swallowed by a small storage dimensional ring.

The ring is also her creation. It is the only reason why the magic tower allows her to be hired. She invokes another chant which her front door creaks open allowing the ring to land on her master left palm. After a thank you greeting from her master, he turns and slowly withdrew. Camelia stares at her master back while apologizing to him within her heart. She felt that she had failed her master only after her master is gone that the door slowly closes itself.

"Camelia you can do this!" Camelia motivates herself again for the hundredth times.

She starts muttering to herself and continues her four hundred and eighty-five theory hoping one of them would work out for her.

~

A sizzling and flavorful meal is placed on the table in front of a young lady. After giving a slight bow to the customer, the waiter continues to do her work even though she got ignored.

The young lady remains to drool in front of her meal, not moving an inch. She recommences to smell the delightful smells of the steak in front of her. The moment she is about to pierce the meat with her fork, she felt that someone is staring at her.

Turning her head up, she saw a young woman shabbily dressed looking at her once in a while from a distance. The woman is sitting not far from Ava, and she seems to be waiting for her food as well.

'Enemy?'

[Who knows? She looks like one of the regular customers that love the manga meat]

'Manga meat? Well, whatever. Do help to keep a lookout for her as I busy myself with this delicious delicacy in front of me.'

[You didn't even train today, what is wrong with you Ava? Time is of the essence here.]

'You sounds like a mother, demon. You kept on and on to me to train. What's wrong with taking a break once in a while? My father is clearing out the demi-humans. Why would I have to worry about it?'

[Look here, I should have revealed it to you earlier. I don't think things are going smoothly within the human kingdom. If these continue there will be retaliation from the demi-human.]

'Hold your horses. We can continue the conversation after the meal.'

Connor shrugs to himself as he stares back at the young woman that is currently staring at Ava. The young woman is, in fact, a demi-human. She appears to be clueless that her cover is quickly blown.

Ava consumes the food in front of her slowly in order to enjoy it to the fullest. As she is about to take another bite, the light in front of her seemingly blocked by something. Seeing the silhouette of a person, she looks up to see the young lady.

'Demon, why didn't you say anything?'

[I did. You aren't listening at all.]

"Do you need something?" Ava frown as she got irritated by someone that is trying to disturb her while she was eating.

"Are you Alice?" The young woman cautiously stares at Ava while keeping a distance.

Ava nods her head while observing the woman reactions. The woman gives a smile and greets Ava. Introducing herself as Shana and she is the granddaughter of Enma. It took Ava a couple of seconds before she is able to remember. The person before her is the granddaughter of Enma that she had saved not long ago.

She is surprised that Enma had a granddaughter in the first place. When Ava asked the reason why Shana is looking for her, she replied;

"My grandma told me to find you. She's got something to ask of you."

Ava turns around to see that it is already late afternoon. Calculating the distance from the grandma Enma home, it wouldn't take much time before she is able to get back to the inn. The only problem is the need to disguise herself.

Connor kept quiet while nonchalantly observe the people around them. He decided that he should stop leading Ava to where he wants her to be. It is more interesting to see where Ava decision will lead her.

"Sure, take a sit while I finish my meal."

Shana took a seat in front of Ava. She appears to be hungry as she constantly peeks at Ava plate while swallowing her saliva. Ava didn't bother to be polite. She continues to eat quickly, feeling scared that Shana would ask for some.

'The amount of gold I have can only last me for three more days.' Ava unconsciously remembers and calculate the amount of gold she has.

After finishing the meal, Ava and Shana immediately went straight to Enma house, which brings them to the current predicament. Fortunately, before they reach to the destination, Ava went to an alley and changed her disguises.

"Grandma!?" Shana panic as she charges into the house.

The house appears to be ransacked, and evidence of struggles is apparent. The wooden front door has been bashed, and various slashes can be seen on the wooden walls. Splatters of blood on the ground and the walls cause Ava to have a bad feeling.

Upon entering the house, she is also able to see that there is a large hole on the roof of the house. A strong smell of blood cause Ava to shiver. A total of three casualties and one severely injured demi-human. It seems that their disguises will disappear when they fight or when they are dead.

Grandma Enma struggles to smile as she comforts Shana, her granddaughter.

"G-Grandma! What, happen?" Tears of sorrow start to pour out from Shana's eyes. She chokes on her own emotions as she tries her best to ask her grandma on what just happened.

"You... Found Ava... That's good." Enma needed to hold a deep breath in order to speak out her voice. It is her only way to speak while holding out from her severe injuries.

Ava was taken aback, as grandma Enma shouldn't suppose to know her real name. She sighs and shook her head. This is not the time to daydreaming.

Ava approach and invoke life magic on Enma. It manages to clean the blood and dirt from Enma, but it has no effect on the injuries. Enma blood continues to flow out from her body. Connor thought of asking Ava to apply pressure. He changed his decision after seeing a patrol of troops slowly walking towards their direction.

[Incoming troops.]

Connor didn't think twice, and without hesitation, he created a quest for Ava to escape from the incoming troops.

"What!? S-Shana, we got to go." Ava strengthens her conscious and pulls Shana's arms. She doesn't think they are able to save Enma.

"N-No!!" Shana struggles, trying to escape from Ava. Shana trait of being a demi-human allows her to ignore Ava desperate attempt to pull her away from Enma.

"Shana, go. Follow Ava. She knows about us. S-She can get you to safety." Enma looks relief and looks as if she wanted this to happen.

[Ava you do not have time. You got to go now.]

'I know, goddamnit!'

"Shana! I won't be able to help you if we don't go right now!" Ava grabs both of Shana's shoulders and tugs her as much as possible. Ava got shocked when she turns to Enma to realize that she had already passed away while smiling with her eyes open.

Shana weakly nods at Ava and allow Ava to pull her out from the house. As they come out from the house, the troops that are patrolling sees them and immediately yell at them from afar. Seeing someone coming out from a raided home, the soldiers can easily blame them as the culprit.

"Quickly follow me!" Ava flings her hand to create a sheet of ice to block the soldier's view from seeing which direction they are running.

It didn't take seconds before the sheet of ice is bombarded by magic. Variety of magic is cast upon on it. The ice melts as quickly as it was created, but it had served its purpose. Hoping for the troop's spirit to not encounter them, Ava invokes life magic upon Shana and herself to clear out the debris and run as fast as they could to join the crowd in the main streets.

"Are you able to change your disguise?" Ava turns to Shana. If this continues, no matter how much Ava can change, they could still be tracked.

"N-No... We need a dead body to do the changes." Shana shook her head sadly as she felt that she is bringing Ava down.

Ava is stunned as she does not have any idea what she should do now. Ava unconsciously stares at Shana. She told Shana to follow her as she walks to the nearest alley. She wanted Shana to change her clothing but stop herself after seeing soldiers gathering from different directions.

[They found you.]

'I can see that.' Ava turned around and told Shana not to panic and immediately head towards the west gate. No matter what, their only choice for survival is to escape from the kingdom.

As they got closer to the gate, more and more soldiers start appearing near their location. She clenches her fist to overcome her fear which might affect her decisions.

"Shana, what kind of magic do you specialize in?" Ava tilts her head and whispers to Shana.

"I... I wasn't allowed to learn anything." Shana starts to burst in tears as she confesses.

"W-What? What do you mean by that?" Ava was confused.

Ava shooked her head. She can hear the explanation later, now is not the time to chat. Things are getting worse when the west gate suddenly closes on them.

"Damn it. I guess it's time." Ava sigh as it is time to take action.

'Demon keeps the mana coming. I am going to start spamming on the count of three.' Ava immediately starts to plan where would she start.

A huge commotion started as people didn't expect the soldiers to close the gate suddenly. Adventurers rouse complains as if this continues, they will not be able to gain income. Merchants start to glare while yelling at the soldiers.

"Shana, stay close to me, we are going to break out."

"Eh?"

Ava closes her eyes and images a huge spike growing out from outside the gate. She aims the spike to towards the entrance from the outside. Applying pressure, the west gate cave in and broke. The soldiers were caught unguarded, and a few of them started to panic.

"Let's go! Now!" Ava pushes Shana from her back to get her to start running.

"Stop them!" One of the soldiers shouts at the top of his lungs while pointing at the two young ladies.

Ava once again flings her hand, in an instant, an ice wall appears behind her so that it will delay any pursuer while she rushes out towards the west gate.

[Behind. Top right. Top right.] Connor become her second eyes as he gave information on where to defend.

Ava easily blocks most of the attack with her strengthen ice powers. Ava risks herself to trust Shana as she is too occupied with defending herself. Her ice crystals exploded as the magic from the soldier collided with her magic. Ava also created two ice spike one after another high above the two towers near the west gate and let the gravity do their job.

The moment the two tower crash and tumble to the ground, the civilians surrounding started to panic. The soldiers aren't able to control the crowd, and they begin to hesitate to fire their magic recklessly.

The adventurers and civilians far in the distance were stunned as they see a young woman are able to defend off a considerable number of soldiers without receiving any damage. Most of them also slowly started to move out of the way so that they will not get attacked accidentally by any of the two opponents.

As Ava step out from the west gate, she creates multiple ice spikes from the ground to block the road. She also becomes dizzy and breathless as it was the most intense situation she had been. After her adrenaline is over, she felt like her strength within her starting to be drain away. She told Shana to approach her training spot as it is the only safest place for them now.