They left the shipyard, and entered their carriage before heading to the inn.
Minutes later, they arrived at the inn, and booked rooms for everybody. The process was quick, and Aldred did not have to pay a single penny.
Having a backing was very convenient. Not only did he got 99% discount, he also got free accommodation that would normally cost thousands of gold coins per day."
After they got to their room, the soldiers immediately jumped to bed and to sleep.
Meanwhile, Aldred had a different idea. "I want to explore the city."
"Me too," Mareona said.
"Me as well," Sophia and Stella said.
All 9 girls wanted to explore the city with him. And so they told Bartrem to take care of the soldiers as they walked out of the inn.
Bartrem sighed. "I don't get paid enough for this."
Aldred and his girls were all smiling as they left the inn. On the bustling street, they saw a lot of clean and proper shops with a lot of customers coming in and out.
"Business is good here," Aldred said.
"All the empress territories offered lower tax for business. This made things cheaper while keeping the profit high," Mary said
Aldred smiled as Stella clung on his left arm while Rachel clung onto his right arm.
With 9 beautiful girls following him, he caught the eyes of amazement and jealousy of the people.
He looked to the side at a mirror shop and looked at himself. He was currently in his adult form. Tall and with more defined muscles. His face stood out among the ordinary and average, and his outfit looked good on him no matter what. Although he wore a pretty good outfit currently.
His black eyes were also brighter than before. As if there was hope for the brighter future ahead of him.
A lot has definitely changed since a year ago, but his goal was still far from his reach.
As they continued walking on the street, Aldred accidentally knocked against a little boy which made him fall.
"Sorry about that." Aldred bent down to reach out with his hand, intending to help the boy.
The boy grinned under his hood, and slipped his hand into his pocket about to take the knife and stab this man.
But then suddenly, he felt a terrifying aura. No. Not one, but four sources of pressuring might. He looked up and saw four girls were glaring at him with sharp sheen in their eyes.
The boy trembled and almost pissed himself.
"Are you okay?" Aldred asked.
"I— I am okay."
"Good. Here. Have some candy." Aldred then gave the boy some candy made out of honey.
The boy received the candy with a dumbfounded face. "T-Thank you."
"Take it as my apology." Aldred stood up and continued walking with his girls, leaving the boy staring at his back. After a few seconds, he sighed in relief. "That was close. The girls around him are scary. Uhh, uncle will be mad at me for failing the mission."
Aldred glanced at his girls, and noticed that Mary, Mareona, Sophia, and Stella were frowning.
"Hey, what's with the long face?" Aldred asked.
"That boy earlier, he was about to kill you," Mary said.
Aldred laughed. "You think a small knife can kill me?"
"You knew already?"
"I am a soldier as well, Mary. I can sense danger from miles away."
"Yeah right. I think Krista has better senses than you. She can even detect that the enemy was hiding in the fake hills."
"Now that I think about it. Krista, how did you know the enemy was hiding?" Aldred asked.
"Krista had a feeling."
"That's it? You simply use your feelings?"
Krista nodded. "Un. Krista can also tell that there's five people staring in that window." She pointed at the second floor of the building next to them."
And sure enough, the five people immediately pretended to drink their coffee after being found out.
Mary and Aldred narrowed their eyes. Now that he realized those five men, he could see with his godly eyes that they had weapons in them, and some sort of bottled powder. Further analysis showed that the powder was poisonous.
"This city is more dangerous than I thought. We're still in the empress' territory right?"
"Yes." Mary nodded. "I can't believe those five people can pass the guards."
"Krista, can you tell us more about any danger?"
Krista nodded innocently and pointed at a beautiful lady on the second floor of her house. "That lady is dangerous."
Aldred analyzed her and saw nothing wrong, and then he analyzed the pot of flowers on her balcony. All of them were filled with magic knives, and they were rare quality.
"Shit… political warfare is scary. The empress faced all of this for years?"
"Are we still going to explore the city?" Ivette asked with one hand on the handle of her blade. She was ready to strike at any time.
"We have to," Aldred said. "I don't want to be scared by these assassins. They will think that the empress is weak."
"Are you sure about this, Aldred?"
"I am sure. Let's keep looking around the city."
…
The assassins glanced at Aldred as he kept walking in the city. The 5 males looked at each other and gave a slight nod before they stood up and left the cafe.
They scattered immediately, but still followed Aldred from a distance. As Aldred glanced at them, they quickly hid in an alley.
After a few minutes, one of them tilted their head from around the wall to check if Aldred noticed them or not.
"We're safe."
Just as they were about to go, 5 pairs of hands came out from the wall and grabbed tight on their mouth, preventing them from screaming. Then quickly, they were pulled into the shadows, never to be seen again.
This scene repeated itself numerous times.
One assassin spied on Aldred on top of the room before suddenly his leg was pulled by a hand that came from a circle of darkness on the rooftop.
He was about to scream, but a pair of hands came out and shut his mouth.
More and more hands grabbed onto his body before pulling him into the darkness. The assassin could only struggle for a second before he was engulfed by the shadow.
In a hidden room nearby, a man entered an office.
"Boss, we lost a huge number of our spies."
"What happened?"
"No one knows, but a lot of them failed to report back after a few hours."
"It must be the Phoenix."
"What should we do boss? Should we send the Dragons?"
"No. We don't want to turn this into an all-out war. Tell our spies to retreat."
