Chapter 64: Observed and Observing

Therina closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, calming her mind which was currently screaming. She had told Styx she could do it, but playing along had been much harder than she anticipated.

She waiting for Gabralter in the designated location, deliberately not using Concealment so that he could find her easier.

Just as per the plan, he soon spotted her and rushed over. Therina was focusing on him via her mana senses the entire time while supressing the urge to kill him immediately.

She could feel his strength through her senses, a keen skill all of Styx's women pick up after several months of seeing and feeling mana. He was newly into the Second Step and even in a direct confrontation, she held absolute confidence in taking his life.

The way he spoke to her made her feel disgusted.

A human, one which she had never met, was trying to be intimate with her. Unfortunately, he was the duke's son and Styx had stated that she was not allowed to harm him for now.

She had stated that she could take on this role, and used her devotion to Styx to form the willpower to act like the image he seemed to hold of her. She played along, treating him as a stranger whom she had never met before.

It is true that he had shocked her when he stated how he knew she gave birth to monsters, even though he was incorrect about the forced part. He was also incorrect in which he thought Styx was an illegal dungeon lord. It may appear that way on the outside, but the truth was in fact quite different, meaning his information was flawed.

"Why did you have me leave? I could have gotten more information out of him," Therina quietly complained once she had left the marketplace, not understanding Styx's reasons for having her not press for more information.

"You don't understand, there is no woman who simply confides and trusts in a stranger who comes up to them."

"I don't think he would care."

"It's still likely to create suspicion. If not himself, anybody closely listening would notice."

"Just like those people?"

"What people? I can only see and hear what you do. I can't sense what you do."

"Oh, sorry… There are four people, maybe five, following me ever since I spit away from the duke's son."

"How strong are they?"

"It's hard to pinpoint…" Therina's ears twitched slightly as she focused her senses. "Two at the late Second Step, two at the early Third Step if I was to guess. There should be another I can't detect too, as I keep getting the feeling that there's an extra set of eyes on me."

"That's most likely the inner circle, high ranked city guards assigned to protect the duke's son. They may have orders to follow you to find out any information on you, or some other purpose."

"I suppose I can't return to Irie's then either."

"No, you shouldn't. Don't expose your connection with her. I will warn that female barmaid Aura has been giving too much valuable stuff to recently. These people may also approach her."

"I understand. What should I do from now on, then?"

"Go find a new inn to stay at. Pretend you don't know you are being followed. You will return to the market for your shopping as needed, running into Gabralter when he goes there looking for you again. On the other times, doing basic quests at the adventurers guild, at which times you can also return to the dungeon."

Therina nodded her head without questioning Styx and obediently went looking for a new inn to stay at. Styx also informed Irie, who stated she would miss her company, but was happy she would stop eating her rare and expensive fruits.

"How do you know he will come back when I go there, though?" Therina asked as she collapsed on the cheap inn bed, resting on her elbows while twirling her hair around a finger.

"Because he will be back every day."

"Isn't he a little too dedicated?"

"Yes."

"…Darling…"

"What?"

"I did good, right?"

"Of course."

"Then can I ask for a reward?"

"There is no need for a registration of an accomplishment to ask me for something, especially you."

Therina deeply blushed and hid her face in her hands. All of her negative feelings from meeting with Gabralter had flown out the window as Styx's words made her feel it was all worth it.

"There are a lot of dark elves in the dungeon now, but I am the only pale elf. I want to bring in more tree elves."

"That's half because of the crisis the dark elf village are going through, but we are constantly needing more people, I don't see why we can't get some people specifically. Why stop at elves, though, there are lots of exotic races."

"Y-yes, of course."

"Did you want to redeem the elves taken from your old village? The adventurers can ask around and seek to by their freedom for us."

"I don't care. There are other elven villages hidden in the outskirts of the Abyssal Forest, so we can capture some from there."

"Rather than capture, it would be better to lure them over instead?"

"How would we do that?"

"The same as the dark elf village, offer things they need in return for villagers. Education, goods, services, it doesn't matter as long as the incentive is there. Many would run over just at the thought of a safe life under the protection of a Fifth Step Monster Lord."

"Then let's do that!"

"I will have Aura locate the hidden villages and you can go visit them when you come back to the dungeon."

~~~~~

⠀

Over the next several days, Therina paid no attention to the high levelled guards watching her from just out of sight.

She first signed up to the adventurer's guild, a common thing most travellers did, although she was a bit late in doing so.

The attendant handed her a form to fill out and pointed her toward a nearby booth where she could fill it out. Being a global corporation, Therina was much happier to fill out the elvish version of the form in her own native language.

She filled out the basic information about herself as required and carefully signed the consent form for the guild to measure, record, and update her level when required. The application was returned to the woman and Therina opted to take a placement test rather than start at the beginning F Rank class.

The test was held two hours later for a group of five new adventurers, all people who had just reached adulthood and weak humans in Therina's viewpoint. Styx secretly complained in her mind as she did poorly on the theoretical test due to a lack of even basic education standards, but she aced the practical and even forced the Second Step assessor into a position where he could only defend himself.

Had she been going for the kill, not even that would have saved him though.

She was assigned an D- Rank solely based off her combat prowess.

"Elf princess! Come join our party, we are doing a wyvern subjugation!"

"Miss elf, would you please become a permanent member of our party. We could desperately use your help on our quests."

"So, you are the rumored elf. How would you like to join the Jörmungandr Guild? We promise we will help you grow into your best potential."

"Miss elf, please accept my invitation to be my date to the Hillman's Ball tomorrow evening!"

Rumors of her strength and beauty quickly spread through the guild and she began receiving countless invitation off all kinds and using various different means. She callously and coldly shut down each and every one of them, especially those which asked for more intimate things. One of them even asked her to marry him, earning himself a dagger in the stomach and a full investigation by the adventurer's guild which nearly cost her adventurer's card.

She did collection requests as a sole adventurer, from collecting herbs, to subjugating dangerous monsters that had been spotted nearby and the city had placed a bounty on.

There was also investigation quests on Styx's dungeon, but Therina deliberately avoided those quests.

During the entire time, she felt those hidden watchers following her around, but had yet to actually come face to face with any of them. It appeared their primary objective was purely to investigate her.

The only reprieve she had was when she 'secretly' returned to the dungeon and share some intimate time with Styx. The observer's were obviously wary of the dungeon and wouldn't enter it, especially considering that the alleged illegal demon lord would know of them the moment they entered the dungeon, just as Duke Ashburn could locate Therina anywhere in the city should he specifically look for her.

However, they didn't know their cover had been blown the moment they begun following Therina around.