"You Vega vixen! Just you wait!" Young Master Aren said through gritted teeth as he sadly handed over the last piece of wealth from his pocket to the innkeeper. He had searched both his car, his bag, his wallet and even had to labor by mopping the floor and washing plates for an entire morning in order to pay off that nasty thirty pieces of gold.
It wasn't that he was poor; in fact, the Hanns are filthy rich, being a noble family from the Capital which means that the wealth and lands that they own are vast and deep, maybe only slightly inferior to the imperial family. However, Aren was merely a part of their junior generation and was a son with no title to his name. He wasn't even the first born, but the third.
Also, as this trip was an official mission given by his Master, it was his Senior Brother who was in charge of the money that their Master provided for their expenses. He only snuck out to play a little and didn't ask for a coin to spend.
Who would have thought that he would be tricked like this? If he knew, he wouldn't have whimsically helped out that ungrateful vixen!
Besides, his master is a recluse who seldom dealt with people, who had long separated himself from the desires of the mortal world. There was basically no luxury in his vocabulary, let alone his disciples. Well, except Aren who was the youngest and had been under his wing the shortest. However, that spelled that Aren was guaranteed to receive close to little money from his Master.
What he had paid to the innkeeper was nothing more than the little savings he had left from the allowance his father gave him the last time he visited the Capital.
"Good laddie!" the innkeeper beamed, glad to be able to earn three months' worth of revenue in a single night. "Come again next time!"
In his eyes, this handsome young man who looked a little too frivolous was a cash cow sent by the gods.
"Never!" Aren inwardly roared, but he offered a dazzling young-master-smile instead. He was bred as an aristocrat; besides, there are already customers inside the inn, eating in the common dining area. After pulling off that stunt a while ago after waking up, he could no longer make more of a scene. "Be sure to give again that delicious tonic."
"Of course!"
Aren dangerously narrowed his eyes, his lips still curled in a charming smile. "By the way, where's that girl who was with me last night? Did she mention where she's going?"
The innkeeper had a puzzled expression on his face. "Girl?"
Aren felt like a vein in his head popped as he imagined how he would ask her for compensation. She better satisfy him, or else, he would ask his Senior Brother to get even with her.
Revenge is never too late!
"Yeah. That girl, I mean lady. Lady Vega. Do you know where she is now? Has she returned home? Do you know where she lives?"
Like a parrot, the innkeeper echoed his words, this time with more confusion on his face. "Lady Vega?"
Aren was starting to lose composure as he was painfully reminded of that thirty freakin' pieces of gold. His pocket felt barren. Would this mean he had to get back home again to ask for money?
"Cassandra Vega, that demon— I mean, the fairy-like girl around fifteen or sixteen maybe. I know she's pretty famous here in Gaelsworth. If I'm not mistaken, she introduced herself as the daughter of Vega family…"
Suddenly, his smile dropped as a heart-breaking thought hit him, "… well, that is if she did not lie about her identity."
"What if she's not Lady Vega?"
"She probably lied to me!"
"That girl is a scary monster. She doesn't act like a woman. Not gentle and virtuous. Not at all."
While he was lost musing, the innkeeper interrupted his thoughts with a dry cough. "But laddie, there is no daughter in the Vega family, let alone a Cassandra. Besides, you came here alone."
"What? What do you mean there is no daughter?" Aren wanted to rage. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?! She's the number one beauty I keep hearing about ever since I entered this town. She's the first name I kept a lookout for— wait, can you repeat what you said?"
"T-There's no daughter in Lord Vega's family?"
"No! The one after that!" By this time, he had lost all sense of propriety and was holding the man on both his shoulders, rattling him like he was trying to shake an answer out of his mouth.
By this time, the innkeeper was out of his wits. "Y-Y-You came here alone?"
"Yes, that." Aren's eyes narrowed again, his mouth half-smiling. "I came here with a girl. Remember?"
"Y-You w-were by yourself…"
"I came here. With. A. Girl." His eyes were now curved into slits right now. Even the tempo of his breaths had changed. "Now tell me, how much did she pay you to keep your mouth shut?"
"Laddie… Sir. Kind sir, you are really all by yourself last night."
"You did not see any companion sharing the table with me?
"None, sir."
"I fell on the floor. She slapped me and then I fell on the floor. Remember?"
"You fell by yourself, even talking to yourself, sir. I thought you were already drunk by the time you arrived here…"
In a blink of an eye, Aren released the trembling innkeeper who was so stunned by the unexpected change of temperament that the young man in front of him exhibited. He then strode outside and climbed his car, driving back to the gate of the inner part of the town where he first met her.
It took him a little less than an hour to determine one chilling fact.
No one remembered the vixen, not even the guards from last night.
There existed no Cassandra Vega in their memories… but how could that be when two days ago, she was one of the most common topics in the pubs and the streets?
She was the first name people answered when he asked back then who's the belle of the town. He had confirmed this from all walks of life back then, both the ordinary townspeople, to the silkpants, to the drunkards, even the children playing on the streets.
At least a third of those he surveyed vouched for her beauty. How come right now, no one knew her?
Aren could not mistake this fact, so what happened?
Did she deliberately erase herself from everyone's memory but his own?
He had suspicions about her level of energy, but now he had confirmed that she's really an expert practitioner. An expert! Think about it, how much inner energy would it need to affect the population of an entire town? Gaelsworth might be only a small merchant town, but it still has thousands of families living in it! Not to mention the guests and traders from the sea and the frequent visitors from the Greater Mountains!
Could this be that legendary realm achieved after reaching the peak of inner energy, where the soul can be sublimated and Karma threads can be cut?!
Weren't those people in the pinnacle of the continent, old fogeys who had practiced arts for hundreds of years? Could Cassandra Vega really be an ancestor of sorts?!
If so, then did this not mean that vixen is not just stronger than his Senior Brother, but could also defeat his Master with a flick of a finger?
If so, then did this not mean his thirty pieces of gold would forever wave him goodbye, never to be recovered?!
Oh, no! Dammit!