Chapter 319: Boundaries and Schemes

"Welcome back… I was waiting for you. Care to explain where have you been last night and what happened to your bald sidekick?"

Deep in her thoughts about all that transpired during the last day, Sarah was startled momentarily when she was suddenly confronted by the golden mascot, the current leader of the Adventurer's Guild, the illustrious Sir Michael. 

He was the Mistress's chosen little puppet, that she was planning to use to run for the City Leader's position. After all, he was a well-known and trusted name, a bona fide hero to the citizens of Higrove.

As such, all her subordinates, just like Sarah herself, were ordered to cooperate with this man, and follow his orders. They were in no circumstances to go against him. At least not directly…

Her shock only lasted for a couple of fleeting seconds, Sarah quickly regained her cold composure. Under the enchanted hood's trusted cover, she addressed the invading party with her usual, melodic, enchanted, angelic voice.

"Sir Michael," She started with an impassive tone. "in case you have forgotten, this is my office. As such, I would appreciate you wouldn't act like if you were home." 

With a flick of her fingers, she sent a small blast of energy, throwing the man's legs off the desk, startling the man as well as earning his ire.

A momentary frown passed through the well-kept and clean-shaven figurehead's face before he forcibly restored a friendlier smile towards the hooded examiner. Giving a fake cough, he responded, trying to guide back the flow of the conversation to its planned course.

"I apologize if I have shown any disrespect, Mr… or maybe Miss… Examiner." His words were strange, his friendly smile curved into a mischievous smirk midway through his speech.

Pausing only for a second, to give a bit more theatrical weight behind his greeting, the golden armored man continued while he sat back up in Sarah's chair.

"The reason I am here today is to inquire about the ongoings in the guild. Some of my men informed me, that they saw you leaving in tow with that long, black-haired peasant boy yesterday, and you haven't returned until this morning with two other females without the boy. One of them is unconscious in a critical state, and an envoy for the Amazon Queen, while the other's identity is currently unknown."

Not beating around the bush, the leader expertly revealed most of the cards in his hand, immediately pushing on the examiner to an uncomfortable situation.

Sarah, however, wasn't going to let this nobody threaten him. With slightly more power behind her voice, she replied with her usual coldness.

"Sir Michael Sonovan, I advise you not to continue with your current line of thought if you value your miserable, pathetic existence." 

Her words were harsh and contemptuous, clearly not giving face and value to the respected sole Tier 3 adventurer and leader.

Sir Michael's smile quickly soured after hearing the Examiner Leader's cruel words, replacing it with the frown that has already appeared for a brief moment a few seconds ago.

Before he could have a chance to speak, the hooded magician flicked her fingers again, causing a gust of wind-like energy to hit his plated back and throw him off from the chair. Not too hard, just with enough force to push the man back up her feet.

"Also, I already told you to not think you are home. This is my office, I would appreciate if you would at the very least show the modicum of respect." 

While Sarah addressed the man, taking the reins of the conversation away from him, she casually walked behind her desk and took her seat that she just made free, before waving at the startled and annoyed man to walk back to the front.

Sir Michael clenched his hands in fists with annoyance, trying to swallow his rapidly rising anger. With gritted teeth, he took a moment of a breather to regain at least some of his composure before acquiescing to the figure's demands and walked in front of the desk as asked.

"You…" He couldn't help but growl, he had a hard time swallowing the humiliation he was shown. The only saving grace was that besides this unknown figure no one else saw this greatly degrading scene. He the greatest warrior in Higrove, the adored and respected golden hero was being pushed around like some pathetic commoner…

However, once again, before he could continue with his obvious tangent, Sara raised her right palm in the air, abruptly silencing him and interjecting.

"I already warned you, do not follow this dangerous trail."

She lowered her hand and leaned on the table. Two purple dots flared up behind the darkness of her hood, her voice gaining a mystical undertone.

"Do not even THINK for a second, that you have any sort of authority over me. You are nothing but a little rat, a puppet serving the Masked Mistress, the Lady. You are her convenient tool, nothing more. The boons you received from her, can be taken away if you continue with this.., This… whatever you think you are doing."

The glow faded, her tone returned to its melodic, unrecognizable state, she leaned back in her chair. She waved her right palm, causing the door to sprung open behind the stunned man.

"To answer your misguided question, however, I was out on an assignment given by the Lady herself. The young man with me was my partner, someone you do not need to bother with." She coldly, insipidly uttered, adding a sentence in her mind. 'Not that you could ever measure up to him anyway…'

Pointing towards the open door, she continued, ending this unwanted conversation.

"As for the two ladies with me, they were related to the mission. They are to stay in Meeting Room number 2, until further notice. You and your lackeys are not to not bother them at all. Is that understood?!"

His gauntlets were cranking upon the pressure of his might, he was clenching it so hard. There was no trace of his faked smile, his friendly gestures at all anymore. His face was contorted into a lasting frown whilst his eyes were morphed into slits. His body was visibly trembling with the rage he was feeling.

Still, he knew that the figure was right. It would be ill-advised to go against the leader of the examiners. This mysterious being was not closely related to the local branch. No, the examiners were a group that could move between all the branches in the kingdom, usually working from the capital. 

Taking quite a while to retrain his emotions, he eventually managed to force a calm exposure back to his face. Whilst nervously holding the hilt of his sheathed sword at his side, he gave a courteous bow.

"I apologize for my actions. I was just merely confused about the sudden changes. Besides the respected leader, his trusted aide, the vice leader has also been missing since this morning. As the assigned leader of Higrove's Adventurer's Guild, I felt I should know if there were anything going on."

Taking a breather, he continued whilst keeping his bowed posture. His eyes were plastered towards the ground, his words carried a sort of respect that Sarah, for the time being, couldn't identify if it was honest or not.

In any case, the man's play was quite decent.

"If I overstepped the boundaries of the assignment and trust I was given by the Respected Milady Mistress, I hereby apologize and am willing to step down."

Listening to this man, quickly tired Sarah's mental defenses. She wasn't willing to waste any more on this nuisance. She already wasted more than she wanted.

Dismissively waving her right hand, she pointed towards the still-open door.

"Do not bother with that. Just remember to not question the Mistress's decisions and complete her orders to the letter. You are dismissed, leave me be, and do not bother our guests."

"As you wish." Sir Michael responded with a respected tone, before he straightened his posture, turned around, and swiftly left through the open door. As soon as he stepped out, the door closed by itself, and the clicking of the lock could be heard.

The smile instantly vanished from his face, transforming into the earlier maddened, angry look he had. His gauntlets were creaking under the pressure of his clenched fists as he hurriedly left through the hallways while he threw varied curses and threats under his breath towards the figure that just made him humiliate himself and bow.

"Just you wait, until I win the upcoming war, and become the next City Leader. You and that masked b*tch will learn your places…." He grumbled. Turning around the corner, his frown morphed into a cruel smirk, as the last report of one of his 'eyes' returned to him.

"You think you can hide behind your magic and that attire… I know who you are... Sarah Rox… Just you wait… just you wait…" 

He snickered, as he resumed at a much calmer pace through the empty hallway.