"Miss, is it possible I can get a strand of your hair to test check it for myself?" the man asked.
Saphandra's head shifted from the green-haired man to Ning as she looked for the translation.
"Who's he? Is he your man? You, are you threatening her?" the man suddenly got aggressive.
"Dude, relax," Ning said. "How are you not understanding that she doesn't speak your language?"
"What is he saying? Tell me already," Saphandra asked.
"I think he's some sort of a recruiter. He wants a strand of your hair to check if it is legit. Then after that, he will probably tell you to come with her somewhere," Ning said.
"What? I don't want to go with him," Saphandra said.
Ning turned around and shrugged at the green-haired man. "I told her that you are here to recruit her and she doesn't want to go. Are we done now?" he asked.
"No, we're not done," the green-haired man said as an angry look appeared on his face. "She doesn't even know who I am or where I'm from. How can she refuse just like that?"
"You can be the Emperor of all the land and ocean on this planet and she will still say no to you. So I suggest you don't waste your time here and go look for someone else," Ning said.
"Bullshit!" the man said. "You will tell her that I am Noren from the Infinite Beasts school and that I'm looking for young people like her to join us so that they can become— hey where are you going?"
Ning stood up and walked away while the man was speaking, and now he was left alone with Saphandra.
"Where are you going?" both Saphandra and the green-haired man asked at the same time in their own languages.
"Here," Ning said as he pointed to an empty chair in front of him and sat on it with his head turned to the other side.
If he sat at the other table with the green-haired man any longer, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep his composure any longer and end up beating the man.
It was better to just leave him alone so he could see how useless his tries were.
'Well, I don't know about other things, but the man sure is persistent,' Ning thought. Even while he was sitting with his head pointed towards the wall, he could still see everything.
He found it funny when the man was frustrated and started talking in his own language but this time with big gestures as if that were going to help in any way.
Saphandra kept shaking her head, saying no, but the man didn't take that to heart.
Frustrated, Saphandra put up a finger and quickly ran away from the table.
The man stood there dumbstruck and didn't know what to do. He thought he had lost her and even wanted to go up the stairs to persuade her again, but to his surprise, Saphandra came down back.
Only this time, she had a massive book with her.
She glared at Ning for a while before walking toward the green-haired man. Then she slammed the book on the table and opened it.
She quickly flipped through the page and made note of a few words. Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke in a language the green-haired man would understand.
"Stop bothering me. If you bother me again, I will kill you," Saphandra said in such a loud voice that everyone in the room heard her.
They were all shocked at what she had just said, including Ning.
"What?" the green-haired man didn't know what to say.
"Stop bothering me," Saphandra said once again. She then took her book with her and walked away.
"No, wait miss. Please I need you—"
Suddenly, the man felt a lurch from behind him as he was pulled directly to the wall of the tavern.
The room shuddered at the force the man hit the wall and he fell to the ground.
"Hmph!" Saphandra said and walked back upstairs.
Ning didn't look at her and instead turned towards the man on the floor. "Poor guy," he thought.
"I can't believe I feel bad for him," Ning said. He waited for a few seconds and walked back upstairs.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
Saphandra had just reached her door and sighed. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just annoyed," she said. "Why the hell did you leave me alone with him?"
"Well, he wasn't taking no for an answer, so it had to come from you," Ning said. "Although I was just hoping he would be frustrated enough and just decide to leave. But I guess he was looking at you for something."
"I don't want to be tied down to a place. I want to be a free spirit and roam around the world," Saphandra said with a dreamy look in her eyes.
"You want to be just like little blue, don't you?" Ning asked.
"What? Oh right, yeah. Just like her," Saphandra said. "Maybe I'm getting influenced by her freedom."
Little blue walked out of her violet hair and chirped a bit like a bird. Ning tried to understand what she was saying, but there wasn't any language to her so he couldn't understand.
'She's just making noise,' Ning thought and sighed.
He was getting curious about little blue, so he was about to ask a question when suddenly he heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Ning asked.
"You have some people that have come here to see you," a hesitating voice said.
"Who?" Ning asked as he opened the door. The tavern owner stood outside with a grave face, so Ning wondered if the green-haired man brought assistance.
"He says someone's come for us downstairs," Ning said.
"Who?" Saphandra asked.
"I don't know, let's go see," Ning said.
The two of them walked downstairs and saw the green-haired man point to them, specifically Saphandra, and said, "It's them."
Ning looked at the neatly uniformed men and women next to the green-haired men and frowned.
"Who are they?" Saphandra asked.
"City guards."
