"Why can't you kill him?" I waved my hand towards the paper in my hands. "And why did you have to print out a picture of him?"
"Let's see..." Aurora folded her arms and shifted her weight to her back foot. "I'm a powerful mind mage, and also own one of the biggest stores for magic items in the system...Now, why might I be unable to act?"
"Do your bodyguards have loose lips or something?"
She gave me a look of mixed confusion and disappointment.
I looked back at her.
"I don't know what I think I see in you sometimes," She shook her head with resignation.
"What?" I spread my hands. "I don't understand. No one knows who you are, and you have all that power. So, why can't you do what you want?"
"It's precisely because I have power that I cannot act directly," She responded. "I have people watching me, even now."
"That's not creepy at all," I remarked. "What about privacy?"
"I do have some measure of privacy, but it is extremely limited," She shrugged, as though it didn't matter to her.
"I don't know about you, but I highly value my privacy!"
She smiled bitterly.
"Why don't you just get rid of the people watching you?"
"I have. Several times, actually," She handed me another sheet of paper, as though she had predicted my inquiry. "The man and woman who keep sending people to monitor me are these two."
I looked at the two portraits on the sheet of paper. The woman had glowing, lemon-colored eyes, skin as dark as pitch, and spiraling, red-veined horns growing out of her forehead.
The man had was shrouded in a pale gold halo, with eyes of the same color, snow-white skin, and feathered wings folded behind his shoulders.
"It's really ironic you have both an angel and a demon watching you," I remarked.
She shrugged. "I'll get them eventually."
"Hey, aren't they both politicians?" I asked, suddenly recognizing the woman. "She's Ansel Siatas, right?"
"And the man is Devon Warring," Aurora nodded, hopping up onto a nearby counter and swinging her legs back and forth. "Both of them are powerful in their own right. Clement Balthazar, on the other hand, is a lamb waiting to be slaughtered."
"I can't help but feel that there's more to this," I muttered, memorizing the faces of the two politicians.
"They're all related to an international crime syndicate known as Ace," She hopped down from her perch and pulled out a map.
She first pointed to Yytria and Barbor on the map. "Their main business is drugs, and Barbor has one of the biggest imports of their product."
"I've never even heard of a drug problem in Barbor," I remarked, stroking my chin to distract myself from the creature that was now nesting in my hair.
"They don't sell in Barbor," She replied. "Not much, at least. Their main hub for sales are in Yytria."
"I have not heard of a drug problem in Yytria either."
"When was the last time you've been to the slums?"
"Yytria has slums?" I replied stupidly.
"You've lived in Yytria for Saints know how long, and you don't know the city has slums?" She threw her hands up, exasperated.
"I haven't done anything but work here and do magic at home," I shrugged sheepishly.
"How were you not bored to death?"
"The... fun is in the climb?" I replied lamely.
She looked at me pityingly.
"What? I don't see the issue."
"How many relationships have you been in?"
I suddenly saw where the conversation was going.
"Not even one?" Aurora raised her eyebrows in shock.
I didn't reply.
"You were that infatuated with me?"
I shrugged, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.
"Aww, that's so sweet!" She suddenly strode forward and embraced me.
I bent my legs and awkwardly reciprocated the hug.
"I think you need to be shorter," She suddenly said, breaking away from the hug. "Your height is eye-catching."
"I can't control my height!" I protested.
"Well, I suppose," She rubbed her chin, a devilish grin quirking her mouth. "How do you feel about stilts?"
"I don't follow," I dumbly replied.
"If you can't be shorter yet, I can just make you taller!"
"With stilts?" I thought about it. "Can't they just calculate your actual height based on your torso size?"
"It's wildly inaccurate," She waved me off. "Besides, the stilts will only be a backup. You're going to use your buggy friend to disguise yourself on top of a backup disguise."
"That's... actually pretty smart."
She glanced at me, her smile widening.
"But first, we'll need to go get some stilts." She grabbed my shoulder and, with surprising strength, twisted me around and began propelling me out an ornate grey door.
"Wait! Isn't this the-" Before I could finish my sentence, my view distorted and I found myself once more in an unfamiliar landscape.
I facepalmed, quietly wondering to myself, "why?"
"What? Did you want to train here, after all?"