Seeing the door open, Ace swiftly leaped toward the corner of the room where his swords were!
He quickly grabbed the two swords and was ready to fight the 'great enemy' who invaded his room. However, after some time, no explosion or massive army came from the opened door.
'Are they waiting for me to make the first move?' Ace thought gravely.
Ace elected to jump out of a window and escape into the darkness. He was confident in escaping without a scratch. But he halted his movement because he heard footsteps from the open door; only one person was there!
A graceful figure entered Ace's room at this moment.
Just by seeing this kind of figure, one could tell it was a lady. She was 1.8 meters tall and wearing a black
Her long black hair was like a waterfall. Albeit, it was a real pity that no one could see her face because she was wearing a black fox mask. But her gorgeous foxlike hazel eyes were twinkling like golden stars.
Her delicate white hands were holding a tray with Ace's dinner.
The Fox Mask-wearing girl was Asher's top subordinate, 'Black Fox.' But she wasn't wearing her armor and instead displaying her seductive characteristics.
If Asher saw her now, he would be bewildered because even he hadn't seen Black Fox like this before. Black Fox was actually a 'gift' or, more accurately, a slave given to Asher by his mother. His mother was from the Grant Family, the second-ranked family in the inner region.
That was why Asher's position was high in the Kelby Family, and no one dared to mess with him; he was talented himself. When he received 'Black Fox' all those years ago, even then, she was wearing black armor, and this fox mask was on her face.
She was like an emotionless puppet.
Asher's mother only told him never to try removing her mask, so he never cared much about it. What mattered most was she was talented and could get the 'jobs' done.
Black Fox gracefully entered Ace's room while holding the tray of dishes in her milky white hands and closed the door with an invisible force. She placed the tray on a wooden table and sat in one of two chairs around the table.
"You should eat first, or it will get cold." Her voice was like warm wind in winter, extremely charming.
Ace was flabbergasted by this sudden development and dumbfoundedly watched this fox-masked lady. He nearly let go of his sword after hearing her beautiful voice. There was some kind of bewitching power mix in it, and Ace thought she was not an enemy.
But he quickly sobered up because of his soul sense and, most importantly, that Black Fox Mask gave his soul sense a gloomy feeling.
"YOU! Who are you exactly, and what do you want?" Ace pointed his sword's tip at her mask. 'She's dangerous!'
A surprise glint flashed past her eyes after seeing Ace wasn't affected by her mind skill.
"You can eat first. Then we can talk." Black fox said naturally as if it was her own room, and this time, she didn't use her skill again.
"Just say what you want and leave, don't force my hand." Ace threatened.
"Hmm. I know the infamous Black Ghost Thief of the outer region is difficult to deal with. Hence, I'm not here to pick a fight with you. I'm only here to form an equal partnership." Black Fox stated honestly while placing her hand under her chin as if she was smiling teasingly behind her mask.
A tremor ran through Ace's body after hearing the 'Black Ghost' name, and his heart turned cold.
'How did she find out!!?' This was the only question on his mind right now.
Ace was extremely sure about carefully hiding and cleaning his tracks. But this masked girl had exposed him in two days after coming into the inner region. This was a massive blow to his self-confidence.
Ace tightened his grip on his sword hilts and was about to attack using the Dual Shadow Swords Technique when the masked girl raised her snowy hands in the air and spoke innocently, "Look, I don't even have any weapon. You aren't going to attack a harmless girl like me, right? And don't worry, your secret is safe with me. Only I know about it."
When Ace heard this, he forced himself to calm down but didn't put away his swords.
"I don't know what you're talking about, and I've never heard of this name before." Ace calmly retorted, but his heart was thumping like crazy.
Ace didn't know how this girl came to this conclusion, but she didn't have any evidence of him being the Black Ghost.
Even if things go south, he was confident in his escaping abilities. He hadn't escaped till now and was still talking to her because he didn't sense any malicious intent from her soul fluctuations.
"Hihihi, You hide your traces quite well even though I didn't find any information about you first, and you were even able to sneak into the inner region without alerting anyone. I must say I'm quite impressed by your abilities. But you made a huge mistake: you sold your spoils to Kelby Shop. You went to the same person's shop who was investigating you." She giggled while pointing out Ace's mistake.
"I don't understand." Ace sighed profoundly and dropped the act. He could sense this girl had some solid evidence on him. Moreover, she has no hostility towards him, so he asked her to explain herself clearly.
Ace was quite perplexed now. Even if he goes to Kelby Shop, this doesn't mean anything because so many people make some kind of deals like him daily.
"It's like this when you stole from that fatty. Asher was already on your tail. He's an extremely greedy and ambitious person. When he heard you opened a 1-Star treasury without alerting anyone and even disabled an illusion array, he reckoned that you have some kind of treasure or secret skill and wanted that skill for himself.
"That's why he ordered me to search for you. But you were too good at hiding your trails, and even I, who is good at finding people, couldn't find any traces of you. But I do investigate what you stole from that Fatty's shop." Black Fox giggled like a kid who had just solved a great mystery.
"So you're saying you come to this conclusion by the number of pills I robbed from Billy? No, this is not it! I had eaten one of the pills before; therefore, the number was different. Could it be the nature of pills?" Ace was very smart and instantly found many loopholes in her explanation, and apparently, it was not enough to reveal he was the Black Ghost.
"You are right. It was not the number of pills, nor was their nature, but..." Black Fox's eyes flickered mysteriously before she continued, "Can you explain your identity as Ace White? Who should be in the outer region slums now? Yet, here he is in the inner region without anyone knowing about it?" She shot questions at Ace like arrows.
'Sigh'
Ace lamented, "What makes you think a mere commoner can become Black Ghost?"
Ace put down both swords, sat opposite Black Fox, and started eating. He surrendered entirely before this masked lady.
If she wanted to harm him or covet his secrets, she just had to tell Asher he was here, and she didn't even need to say he was Black Ghost. Asher would've come running here with an army because he hated Ace to the bone after what Ace did.
"I guess it's because only your little hut in the slums was empty. When I asked around your neighborhood, a friendly aunty told me that you were a pretty normal and very good kid. Strangely, you haven't gone to work since last month and have always been inside.
"Your little sister also mysteriously vanished a month ago, and afterward, you did as well. First, I think you were just a random, pitiful kid who was searching for his missing sister and didn't pay much attention.
"But after what you did to Asher today and Caleb described your appearance, I immediately connected the dots, and here I am paying you a friendly visit. Hihi." Black Fox giggled vigorously.
She watched Ace eating his dinner, who didn't seem like the person who was about to attack her a few moments ago.
"I must say I'm impressed and somewhat indignant towards my good nature yet gossiping neighbor. Now tell me, why didn't you tell Asher? Didn't you work for him?" Ace asked while he kept eating. But he was secretly absorbing the Qi, and his soul was locked on Black Fox.
He would escape if he sensed even a little bit of hostility from her.
"I worked for him until I found you this morning and finally saw a ray of hope." Black Fox's eyes shimmered excitedly as she looked at Ace's handsome face.
"What do you mean 'ray of hope?" Ace was baffled.
"I always want to be a thief just like you." Black Fox's hazel eyes begin to gleam like stars.
"W-W-WHAT?!" Ace nearly choked on food when he heard her words. "Y-you... are you Crazy!?"