The wind was hot as we walked towards a shining building which looked gorgeous from the outside while following sandra who was walking in front of us leading the way a bit rigid but alright.

There was an annoying smell in the air which smelled like something burned,for a second i thought about the incident that had happened couple minutes ago and assumed the strong steam after hestias flame rushed out must have soaked onto my clothing giving me this burned smell which was a bit disturbing but bearable.

Hestia in question was also walking next to me with a refreshed expression on her face she didn't seem to care about the fact that she had burned every soldier on that place leaving only ashes behind while sparing sandra and the other personal,honestly the flame work looked amazing but as the flame rushed out i couldn't even hear a sign of a scream of the men before they were burned into ashes.

-Master james if i may ask...where are we going ?

For a second there i didn't realize that christina was speaking to me because she was using a false name until hestia made a light nudge to the side reminding me of my role.I coughed for a second to clear my throat it was pretty simple where we were going and christina probably knew too.

-We need to rest up for a bit and take in some info you guys also need to clothe properly instead of those rags

Christina and the other girls blushed for a second when i mentioned they makeshift clothing which was basically rags barely hiding their skin and covering enough to seem polite about it too.I could see christina pushing down her little skirt she made which didn't really hide a lot not even reaching her thigh and i almost guessed that it was probably a bit chilly for her and the others so i let hestia make hot air around us for comforts sake.

On the topic itself sandra turned towards us with a cheerful smile not daring to have anything else as she asked me.

-So your name is master james? It is fitting very much to a person your statue and i hope that my establishment can befit your needs master james anything really.....

She said a bit anxiously,but her smile never faltered and i could see some small drops of sweat on her face as she faced me still walking in a backwards track waiting for my answer which never came actually making her shut up and walk straight again.Hestia snickered for a second seeing this act out and knew why because i wasn't going to further involve myself with anyone from this place without needed to do so.

Chase was also snickering because i was ignoring sandra and concerning the rest of the people behind me which were the 12 slave woman and other personal which belonged to chase i guess...we were all going to stay in sandra's place for the time being and also sarah was in this group too standing behind christina the whole time taking small glances at me a bit warily,christina said she had told sarah the news and sarah herself didn't seem to be sure if this was a good thing or not so i let her judge for herself for now.

I looked back towards the hotel again,it was shining from here with a lot of lights and extravagant carriages were parked nearby while guests were coming out lead by red clothed personal into the massive building which almost resembled a tower mixed with a fortress.

The outer guards were placed in very smart locations as to not scare any customers while guarding the building from anyone suspicious individual that may cross the road,their clothing was a deep shade of grey almost dark fitting into the shadows making them invisible sometimes hard to see in the dark i guess and over all i could also see snipers sitting on some of the guard towers in the hotel,my vision allowed me to see everything without anything to hide and hestia who stood next to me also frowned when she noticed the security.

It wasn't really a problem more of a nuisance really the important part here was avoiding to make a large ruckus which was fairly easy since sandra had seen hestia's overwhelming power so i doubt anything bad would happen.

As we continued walking hestia twitched for a second coming closer to me and whispering.

-young master...someone very strong is in that building and i can also feel that he has the same badge that you carry on you...

I was a bit flustered for a second...there is another member from the broken brother hood in this place ? I really wanted to doubt that but the person who said that was hestia and her sensitivity was no joke it came to such things...

While thinking about it i slowly grabbed my badge from the breast pocket and transfered it over to the clavicula and sure enough the presence of the badge was gone now meaning that,that person couldn't possibly find me.

With that thought we slowly reached the fortress which sandra called her "hotel".

===============================================

-Welcome home mistress

As we entered the large reception hall the servants and maids started to line up properly next to the entrance while greeting sandra with a bright smile on their faces.As we continued to walk the long red carpet that lead to the reception i took some sneak peeks towards the servants and wasn't surprised when i saw the iron collars on their necks,any servant here was a slave and i guessed correct that only slaves are set as staff in this place i could even see people who stood on the sides with fancy clothing looking at sandra with a courtesy smile,they were all customers and the more i saw the more i got disgusted by it,some of the customers were really bold while they held their slaves like having them go half-naked or letting them sit beside the door like dogs....there was even one guy who put a leash on one of his slaves and walked her like a dog...the woman behind me particular didn't like that guy as we stood in front of the receptionist which also turned out to be a woman who made a business like smile as she talked with sandra about the placement of our rooms,she finished after a couple of seconds pulling out 2 different plastic cards one white and one black with different numbers on each.

-Here you go master james these are the 2 rooms as you requested i hope you like the stay and call if you need anything or have a problem the staff works 24 hours a day and my number is behind the white card which is your room if you need anything.

I didn't quiet understand the last part but i also didn't really care and took the 2 plastic cards which seemed to work like a key to open a door.

Seeing sandra the boss of this house to be so polite to me the people around us mainly the guests started to whisper amongs each other taking slight glances at me towards my mask actually and trying to guess who i was even the servants seemed a bit surprised as their eyes shined for a second remembering my face or more precise my mask i guess.

This whole ordeal seemed to be tame at the moment so i didn't think much of it and tried to ignore the people around me and quickly start using the ticket to get to the colloseum staying here and enjoying ourselves was just a waste of time and the reason i wanted to stay here was to get the woman proper clothing before we departed i also wanted to have a small chat with christina about the ticket and ask her if she could use it to transport us,of course chase was still following us with her remaining servants,she told me that after she finishes doing the slave transfer she will return to her mansion and start cleaning up the mess she had left there,i also wondered what happened to her sisters but i could tell that chase didn't even recall or care about them which seemed very cold to me,but it wasn't my business so i didn't care either.

-ho ? Some really interesting guests you got their little mistress...

There was a very cold chill in the air as someone spoke it almost gave me goosebumps for just hearing it but i quickly recovered and noticed that hestia had a hardened look as she faced towards the elevator staring at someone.My eyes followed her destination and met with what seemed to be a young man with blond hair coming out of the elevator,he had a gray vest and black shirt under it with gray pants wearing dark leather shoes,his eyes were oddly cloudy and the color was also gray giving him a mysterious appearance as he took slow steps towards us with a slight grin on his face.

I strengthened my sense's and looked into him for a second and at that moment i knew he wasn't human but a demon his essence was hidden deep inside of him as he trying to hide that fact from us which didn't work against me nor hestia but perfectly hid him from everyone else.

Guessing from his lineage i already knew who he was...he was a member from the broken brotherhood and it was unknown why he was here no the question was...why is he intercepting us ?

I took a slight glance towards hestia who had a passive look on her face almost emotionless while staring at the decently handsome looking guy you would almost think that she was charmed but not really as you could see an underlying layer of distrust and hostility in her gaze which wouldn't make you doubt on whose side she was on.

I also changed my gaze towards the guy in question and wondered what he wanted from us ? I knew that he couldn't have felt the badge that i had because i stored it inside of the clavicula meaning that he had another reason....with that thought i inspected him for a second and noticed that his eyes were taking slight sneak peeks towards hestia...ahh i get it now.

These two are strong individuals they must have sensed each other the moment we stepped into his threshold and as he walked towards us he didn't even look at me which was also understandable because for these kinds of people i was really just a very small candle flame compared to their burning nova they created with their presence alone it would be obvious to keep an eye to the strong once instead of the weaker once....but the problem here was i wasn't really weak but ignoring me was also helpful too.

I think i need a small explanation,the reason he doesn't seem to take any notice of me is because i don't really have any strength that is huge enough for him to take notice off and that was because i had no magical powers other than my time stopping ability which is undetectable towards anyone it seems,steward once even mentioned this to me when he told me about the time when we first met when i tried to making him believe that i was cecilia's classmate and at the time he even believed me because he couldn't detect anything out of ordinary from me even after i knocked him out,to any supernatural or strong mage i am simply put....a mortal i guess.

Back to the situation in hand the young man had already stopped in his tracks keeping a safe distance of 3 meters between us now staring at hestia without hesitation both of them were actually just looking at each other as if trying to see who is going to move first but as they were doing so in the corner of my eyes i could see movement as someone spoke out towards the young man.

-Ahh mr.valerian are you taking a stroll ? How can i help you ?

Sandra took notice of his appearance and came closer greeting the young man who made a charming smile towards her saying.

-It is nothing hostess sandra and i am doing well i was just curious about the new guests that had come seeing that you are polite with them i can assume that you know each other ?

His way of words was perfect to lead her into introducing ourselves and she did.

Sandra gestured towards us with a small smile as she explained to the man whose named seemed to be "Valerian".

-Ahh these people are master james's subordinates the master in question also came because he had heard of our establishment wanting to know how it was and to take rest more importantly...

Of course sandra was pointing at me and with that valerian changed his cloud like grey eyes towards me a bit confused trying to sense me it seemed but he obviously couldn't find anything out of ordinary and just kept his gaze friendly...

-Master james this is valerian gustov he comes to our establishment every year to take vacation in it and is considered as one of our loyal customers he is a....

Sandra suddenly stopped for a second in her explanation,you could see that she was a bit conflicted on how to continue on with her explanation as if she was scared that she was about to offend someone and at that exact point valerian stepped forward for a second.

-No need to continue hostess sandra i will explain myself.

His smile was generous making sandra smile unintentionally as he looked towards me back straight as he announced himself...the people here were still stuck as if glued on watching this whole scene playing like a movie.

-As you know my name is valerian gustov i am also known as the shadow prince and a humble member of the broken brotherhood serving under our beautiful leader Lena Hellborne it is nice to meet you master james

He gave me his hand in courtesy while he said that with a killer smile trying to impress me obviously but it didn't work it neither impressed hestia as both of us stood next to each other in silence while i looked at his outstretched hand.

The people around us though did make some strange faces when he announced his title and who he served for bringing the hall into almost uproar as everyone started to talk amongs themselves some even pale when they heard who he was while some starting to leave this place even the people behind me seemed a bit surprised but that was it because most of them already knew that i had originally introduced myself as a member of the broken brotherhood they weren't really shocked to see another one popping up which also made "valerian" a bit confused on the lack of expression we had on our faces when he announced himself making him narrow his eyes for a second.

I made a small smile for second i stepped forward another step,seeing my action hestia got vigilante as she watched valerian attentively,not like a lover or crush more like a wild tiger or wolf who is trying to do the wrong move.

I took in valerians hand giving him a slow handshake introducing myself this time.

-As you know my name is james,i don't have a surname so just call me that,nice to meet you valerian

I knew that valerian wasn't even listening to me while he was checking hestia for any sudden movement and just turned to me and said with a courteous smile.

-Me too.

============================================================

I edit and write other stories !

https://kakemonoko.wordpress.com/