“Whhew! This place is huuge!” Rose exclaimed, looking at the mansion standing before him and the set of keys in his hands. “Is this really where we are going to live from now on?”

“Well, its fully furbished and the association’s already paid 3 month worth of wages for the 5 maids assigned to this mansion, so I guess yea. Why not live in luxury while we can. Compared to the small room in my uncle’s hostel, this is so much better.” Kina agreed, slotting the key into the door and swinging it open.

It’s been 4 days since they returned from the broodmother hunt. Kina had been promoted to a noble status and the news made known to the entire Mayheir city. The news spread like wildfire and everywhere they went, they were easily recognised. The young girl with the blood giant sword, and the only Bird type demi human in Mayheir city. It was not difficult to spot them at all.

Despite having warned Mempheus about the tens of thousands of broodmothers and possibly millions of swarmlings lingering around the city, Kina did not seem to notice any change in the city’s overall atmosphere. She had expected security to increase and citizens to be tense, but the outcome was not what she expected.

After settling into their new home and deciding to take a walk around the city walls, they finally realised why this was so. It would seem that none of the guards at the walls and gates knew about the swarm, which seemed odd since it had been 3 days since she informed Mempheus. The information should have been disseminated to the guards at the very least, if not the whole populace.

“Incoming attack? Ahaha Miss Kina surely you jest. If it was anything serious, don’t you think that I, as guard captain of the 3rd section of the wall would have been informed? You don’t have to worry too much. The city has its own information network which has kept us alive for centuries. The council probably receives a few hundred of such reports from adventurers weekly, so until they can confirm the threat, there is no use in wasting effort and manpower to mount a defence,” the guard captain explained.

Hearing this, Kina could only shake her head and sigh in defeat. What he said made sense. Given the size of the city, it wouldn’t be strange to receive an uncountable number of reports of ‘impending attack’ from travellers or frightened adventurers. She could only give it time and see if this so called ‘information network’ truly lives up to its reputation.

“There is one more thing though. I encountered this giant lizard in my previous venture outside. It ate the broodmother’s swarmlings and started mutating or growing right in front of me. Do you happen to know what it is?” Kina queried, having failed to find any information within Zassler’s handy little notebook.

“Giant lizard that mutates and grow? It sounds a lot like the Tyrant Bandit Dragon to me. But it’s really only been seen once in the entire history of Mayheir City. How big was it?” the guard asked.

“I would say about 4 to 5 metres tall, its jaw could probably swallow a person whole,” Kina described. “Oh and it started growing extra sets of eyes as it ate the swarmlings.”

“Wow. You met one that big and survived? It’s most likely The Tyrant Bandit dragon then. It possesses the ability to absorb the best traits of what it eats, then mutates and evolves to gain those traits itself. It’s rare for one to grow that big though. These things start out the size of a rat, and are incredibly weak. Most if not all of them die before becoming strong enough to dominate the forest filled with demons and vicious predators.” He explained in detail.

“So why did it not attack us?” Rose whispered to Kina.

“Dunno. Maybe it has an ability to sense how powerful the opponent is? Who knows what it has eaten before it met us.” Kina shrugged, secretly confident that the dragon had not attacked her because it was afraid.

“So now that that’s settled, what is your plan next? You father told us to make it flashy and to garner as much attention as possible,” Rose continued, before taking a swig at his bottle only to realise it was empty. Throwing it aside, he looked at Kina with pleading eyes and asked, “Can I get one more?”

“Why not hold a tournament to hire some guards? It’ll be the perfect way to show off our strength, as well as start building up our army,” Kina suggested, ignoring his request for more alcohol.

“Right right. We’ve got to get more money for the prizes first. Why don’t we split up and do more requests from the alchemist association? So where do we stand on the alcohol?” Rose continued to pester her.

“Fine…” Kina sighed. “But I’m itching for a fight. It was disappointing that I didn’t get to sweat it out on the broodmother hunt. Let’s have a spar, then, I’ll teleport us to the ship to get more wine.”

[[Elsewhere within the Central district]]

“Should we push the plan forward? The appearance of this new human girl is unexpected. Seeing as she hangs around with the birdman, I’m almost certain she’s here on behalf of the birdmen tribes,” Mempheus asked.

“You say she killed a broodmother? Are you absolutely certain?” (Mason)

“Yes Mason. The blood from the vials checked out. And she extracted 50 vials, not just 1, which means that she had some method of restraining a broodmother while extracting the blood. You of all people should know better than anyone else how fast a broodmother heals. It would stop bleeding within seconds of being cut.” (Mempheus)

“And what of the vessel that this girl came in? Have you made any headway in the investigation?” (???)

“That’s also another problem. Our spies have not managed to get on board the vessel or even close to it. It’s almost as if it was alive, defending itself against intruders. Here are the reports. There is no visible opening on the side of the ship’s hull to make entry. The only way is from the deck, but we have no way of scaling the walls of a ship that large.” (Mempheus)

“So all we know is that she is really powerful?” (???)

“That, and also the fact that she’s discovered the 15 thousand broodmothers surrounding this city.” (Mason)

“And that brings me back to my original question. Should we move our plans forward?” (Mempheus)

“No, not yet. We have to be absolutely sure the plan will succeed before doing anything that might lead to the downfall of this city. Let’s just wait and see how this girl will impact the city, then act from there. For now, I’ll inform the general of this girl’s abilities.” (???)

“Ok then. We’ll do what you say Mirialla.” (Mason)

“There is one more issue though.” (Mirialla)

“Oh? What’s that?” (Mason and Mempheus)

“I’ve been getting several reports from the wall guards about the girl. I told them to keep an eye out for her. It seems that she’s been going in and out of the city several times these few days.” (Mirillia)

“And so? What’s wrong with that? She’s probably trying to complete another request from my association.” (Mempheus)

“I have 2 reports here. One from gate 2, and another from gate 37. Both reports came in within 10 minutes of each other, and both indicate the girl leaving the city. It takes at least 5 hours even if you run from gate 2 to 37.” (Mirillia)

“Maybe there was some error in the reports? I’ll get Madrin and Mitra to keep a lookout at the walls. Mina will keep an eye on her in her home.” (Mason)

“Well, that concludes our meeting. I’ve got a city to run. I’ll inform you if and when we need to meet again. We are so close to the final phase. We cannot let a small unexpected variable throw us off. If anything, that ship might be the key to our victory.” (Mirillia)

Having said that, Mirillia stood up and turned around, her dress flowing behind her. Her attendant followed closely behind her, bowing to Mason and Mempheus before leaving the room with her boss. The 2 of them looked at each other, nodded, and then left the meeting room as well.

[[Back at the mansion]]

“Welcome back Young Miss,” Mina greeted as Kina entered the house. “I didn’t think you will be back so soon. Didn’t you say you will be leaving to do some quests this morning?”

“Yea, I changed my mind. I’m tired. I’m going to take a quick shower and then a nap. Please warm up the bath water,” Kina ordered.

“Very well young miss. What about Sir Rose?” Mina questioned, finding it weird that Kina was not with Rose.

“Uh.. he is… He’s at the bar drinking. I’ll be meeting him later to go out for some quests,” Kina explained, stuttering a little.

“Oh ok. Please do tell him not to drink too much,” Mina reminded Kina, before hurrying to rally the rest of the maids to get the bath ready.

[[Back outside the city walls]]

Loud clashes could be heard as an intense battle broke out just beyond the city walls. All the city guards were either gathering around the fight or watching from atop the wall and through windows within the wall.

Tints of bright green and red blinded the guards as the weapons in play reflected the afternoon sun. Kina and Rose stopped momentarily, facing off against each other as they tried to catch their breath. It was a match of experience and skill against pure power. They had been going at it for over half an hour already, and yet there has been no clear indication of one side overpowering the other.

Panting hard, Rose moved first. A quick fling of his wrist shot the dagger straight towards Kian’s face, only to have his dagger deflected by her sword. Even before Kina had moved to block the first dagger, the second dagger was swinging around. Kina could not react in time after blocking the first dagger, giving Rose a chance to wrap the green chain around her neck.

Rose sneered, tugging on the chain hard to throw kina off balance. However, this time, it was Kina’s turn to smile. Rose could only frown, watching the taut chain that connected his wrist to her neck.

“Oh come on. This is ridiculous. Just how monstrously strong are you? I can’t even budge you a little with all my strength…” Rose complained, tugging on left chain to recall the first dagger back.

“It’s just the weapons, teacher. Mine is a few tiers above yours,” Kina smiled. “There is no way for a light weapon like daggers to match up to a giant sword.”

“Don’t be too sure about that Kina. There is a lot more you have yet to learn. Weapons don’t make the man,” Rose replied, quickly recalling the daggers back into his hands. “Let me show you a little something.”

With another quick fling of his left wrist, the left dagger flew out faster than ever, aiming for Kina’s right shoulder. Kina blocked the incoming dagger in the same way as earlier, but this time, the force from the dagger was much greater. Before she knew it, the other dagger was wrapped around her left ankle and tugging on it. Combined with the impact force from the first dagger on the right side of her body, and the pulling chain on her left ankle, Kina tripped, and spun a full round in the air before landing in the dirt, all tangled up in the chains.

“See? No matter how good or powerful you are, there are always more things to learn,” Rose smiled, walking over confidently to help untangle Kina from his chains.