Alastair and Soteria had finally arrived at the destination, which was the luxurious hotel found in the business district of Anfang. On their way to the hotel, they were followed by presumably the spy sent by the security bureau. Alastair understood that she was too lax and trusted herself a little bit too much.
It was expected for the chief to have some instinctual warning. But, even if Alastair had an alibi, the chief would continue digging for information about her as she dug for knowledge about the city of Anfang. Though, this would be better for Alastair and Soteria. After all, if they acted normal during the investigation of the spy.
The chief might leave their backs, and they could finally proceed with their plans.
Alastair was walking through the hallway of the luxurious hotel, followed by Soteria, who stood right beside her. Alastair was looking around as she sometimes noticed gold in the paintings plastered on the walls. With such a scene, Alastair couldn't help but still wonder how much a room in this luxurious hotel cost Soteria.
It didn't take time for them to arrive at the reserved room. Soteria opened the door as Alastair entered. She found herself looking at a two-bed bedroom with a red carpet on the floor. The walls were filled with paintings, and a balcony revealed the entirety of Anfang.
Alastair was honestly amazed by such scenery, and she still had wondered about the price of this room. She turned her head towards Soteria with a questioning face while Soteria tilted her head with a smile. Seeing Soteria's reaction, Alastair sighed and shook her head.
Alastair understood that Soteria wouldn't tell her no matter how much she asked for the cost. But Alastair underestimated Soteria. Seconds later, after Soteria tilted her head, the maid decided to release information about the price in the simplest way possible.
"Well, if Lady Alastair is curious about the price. It should be about a million vaets per month. For a simpler comparison, I could buy two houses with that money." Soteria smiled as Alastair froze in shock. Alastair didn't know that it was that expensive. She had the instinct to leave the hotel before wasting more money.
But before she could even continue with such a thought, she gazed upon Soteria, who had a hopeful expression. 'Well, staying in this luxurious hotel for a month shouldn't be extremely bad.' Alastair thought to herself as she sat on the comfy and expensive bed.
Her body wanted to fall asleep upon the touch of such a luxurious bed. Fortunately, Alastair managed to resist such desires. Soteria then began preparing as she placed the things she brought from the mansion on the gorgeous table. After placing it, she planned to walk out of the hotel as she wanted to buy something from the market.
Alastair raised an eyebrow upon seeing Soteria walking towards the door and questioned with a calm voice. "Soteria, where are you going?" She was curious about her maid's plan. She wondered where Soteria was planning to go in Anfang. Soteria stopped as she turned her gaze towards her master.
"I'm heading towards the market, Lady Alastair. I believe that we have to buy things. That includes supplies, materials, and food. We should be ready." Soteria nodded to herself with an emotionless expression. She wanted to go shopping, and she knew that her master needed a lot of things. It was an excellent opportunity to explore the area.
"Then, can I come with you? I hope you don't mind, Soteria." Alastair said with a slight smile plastered on her face as Soteria thought about it for a while and nodded in agreement. "If that is what Lady Alastair wants. Then so shall be it. Your wish will always be my priority no matter what."
"No need to say it that way. If I come with you, I can have a first-hand experience of how this city works. After all, I was simply staying in the security bureau all the time and didn't have the chance to explore on my own." Alastair gave her reasoning on why she wanted to come with Soteria. Soteria nodded in understanding as she looked at herself and Alastair.
"Is our clothes strange and weird, Lady Alastair?" Soteria questioned while looking at the military uniform of Alastair and her victorian maid outfit. Upon hearing the words of Soteria, Alastair looked at herself and couldn't help but nod in agreement. Their clothes were strange. It was obvious in itself that she was from the military. The question would be, what military?
If she couldn't find an answer. They would be suspicious of her and might notice her plans for the future. With this in mind, Alastair made it a goal to buy some ordinary clothes, which Soteria instantly perceived. She smiled at her master and uttered. "I will buy everything we need, Lady Alastair."
"Well, then." Alastair nodded though within her mind. She had a bad feeling that something was about to go, especially with Soteria's emotionless yet strange expression. Alastair shook her head after a while, as being too paranoid about things would make everything less enjoyable.
Soteria and Alastair then went out of the room as the sun was still up. There was no need for them to rest as there was still plenty of time for them to do numerous activities. Once again, Alastair found herself walking through the expensive hallway. She wondered what would happen if she stole everything from this hotel.
Of course, thievery wasn't something Alastair was willing to go down on. But if it benefits her plans, her pride would crumble, and she would act like a veteran thief. Though for now, stealing things wasn't essential and needed. But for the future, she might have to do it.
'Well, let's not think of the plan for now. I'll have to enjoy the shopping along with my maid. After all, this is my second life. I'll have to take this slowly and surely.' Alastair thought to herself as she gazed at the maid right beside her.
Meanwhile, atop the small building near the hotel, a strange shadowy figure was hiding. Silence and calm shrouded the area as the dark figure or the lady continued investigating the two recent visitors. She wondered why the chief needed to examine the two, but after a while of observation. She understood why.
Despite acting like an innocent girl with a social issue, the lady had a feeling as an assassin and spy that the girl wasn't a simple one. Such feelings could only come from the leaders of the foes she had fought in the past. She couldn't kill them, so the only thing she had done was gather information regarding them.
The lady wondered why her instincts were telling her such things. After all, the young girl and her maid seemed to be ordinary. The two of them were what you would expect from a noble girl and a maid. Expect...With this word, the lady realized something important.
What if they were pretending to be normal? Such was the thought which passed through her mind. Her thought wasn't that far away from reality. Though, in the end, it was simply a theory. If she wanted to prove it, she must gather evidence for such a thought.
'I'll have to continue investigating them.' The lady thought to herself as she jumped out of the spot she was hiding in to follow the two recent visitors.
And she did follow them for the entire day.
The first thing Alastair and Soteria did was go through the street with many vendors. They ate numerous local food of Anfang and enjoyed it. The delicacies of the Realm of Spectrum were unhinged. And during the entire time. Alastair kept praising the vendors one after another.
Alastair and Soteria would go through every vendor to eat their food. Some even wondered if the two had the stomachs of a monster. It was quite an enjoyable activity for the two, especially for Soteria. It was her first time doing such a thing. Though, more or less, it was also Alastair's first time.
The rumor about the two began spreading in the streets as Soteria would pay the vendors a tremendous amount of money if Alastair enjoyed their food. Alastair didn't want to do such a thing, but she rarely enjoyed the food. With this in mind, Soteria's persistence was enough to deter her from resistance.
Their names were instantly known in the streets, which was actually a good thing for Alastair and Soteria. As long as they present themselves as harmless and caring. It should stop some investigation. But during the entire time, none of the two had such a plan. It simply came off as natural.
Anyhow, Soteria and Alastair were enjoying this first activity of theirs.
The second thing they did was enter the marketplace to buy clothes. Soteria forced Alastair to enter the most expensive clothes shop. And in that clothes shop was Alastair's suffering. There was a lot of luxurious, expensive, and gorgeous clothing in the shop.
That intrigued Soteria, so she let her master wear some of them in the shop. That was the start of everything that Alastair would consider hell. From casual, vintage, grunge, gothic, sportswear, swimsuit, and the last, which was erotic in nature. Alastair wanted to quit and leave the shop.
But she couldn't...
After all, her maid was smiling the entire time. Even though she got dressed up like a doll. It was a small sacrifice for a scene she would rarely see. Anyhow, this continued for hours as Soteria didn't seem bored from looking at Alastair with all the clothing in the shop.
Though, hours later, once again, Soteria had finally concluded. She wanted to buy everything in the store, which Alastair protested against. Soteria counted by saying three simple words. "It's my money." How would it be her money? Well, through her undeniable effort to conquer an entire mining company.
All of the money in their budget was hers.
Alastair's protest stopped as Soteria bought everything without any hesitation. Alastair herself even wondered if she could use all of it. After buying everything, Soteria got it delivered to their hotel room. It was a large number of clothes, so she had to place most of them in a warehouse which was owned by the store.
After handling it, Soteria would leave the store while Alastair would ask about Soteria's clothing. Soteria tilted her head and smiled. "I'm a maid." Soteria then continued on as Alastair shook her head. As Soteria left the store, Alastair would go meet the clerk and ask for some clothes with Soteria's size in mind.
The third activity the two did would be gathering more materials. They went throughout the entire marketplace and found it to be diverse. It appears the merchants outside of the country entered this place for trade. That might be the reason why they could see a lot of exotic items.
Anyway, such were the things the two had done in the entire day. The lady investigated them for a long while only to find nothing but a simple fact. They were normal. The alleged dark spirit had done nothing suspicious. No aura relating to the dark spirits could be found.
The maid was also innocent as the lady found none of the frequency related to the dark spirits. That was the conclusion of the investigation, which lasted for an entire day. During that time, the lady was observing from afar while enjoying the view of the city.
It was a long day for everything, though, in the end, it was an enjoyable one.
Back into the office found atop the security bureau, the chief was looking through the entire report. Everything related to the two got recorded in that report, including their personality, background, and recent actions. The chief raised an eyebrow while reading through the report.
After a short while, the chief stopped as he calmly sighed. It appears that his suspicions had led to a dead end. Well, he wasn't hoping for his idea to be correct. And he still had more problems to solve, which was the trafficking of spirits within the city of Anfang.
The chief then shook his head and uttered.
"So the two of them were the so-called rich spirits who stormed the entire market. Rumors about them had been spreading throughout the city. And the reputation about them being food connoisseurs also got plastered in such rumors."
"Gluttons, eh?"