Melissa's face was wreathed in a smile as she waved a hand at Brandon before she turned around to leave the town. So many worries in her heart remained, but at least one of them had completely disappeared. The man was alive. He was not a spy discovered and then sold to the Edevane Household. His current face and voice were the younger versions of the ones in her memories. His hand was full of warmth and vitality, like that of a regular human's in his prime years.
'Our first meeting happened way earlier. He's also not a human knight forcibly assigned to me to humiliate him.'
'Now that I was given a chance to change things, I will do everything to stop him from becoming a slave!'
The vampirette looked back one more time to see his shadow merging with the darkness. A smile spread across her face.
After confirming that he had disappeared from sight, she too stopped dawdling and transformed into dark mist. When she reemerged outside the forest, she had already turned into a bat rushing towards a human city that was near the western boundary between the two empires.
...
Several hours later, at a shop located in a fairly secluded area of a human city that was about to usher the first ray of dawn.
A woman in a long grey dress wearing a black veil on her head bent her waist a bit as she leaned closer to a display rack. After inspecting the cluster of gems sparkling inside the plain-looking wooden back, she pursed her lips and said, "So if I were to order these..."
Her little forefinger pointed at a huge box filled with green gems. "And these... and these..." Her finger next pointed at other boxes that were full of various colorful stones.
Then her eyes went to the shop's owner who was flashing a toothy grin at the side upon seeing how much she planned to buy. "How long would it take your people to deliver these items to the border? Can you guarantee absolute secrecy of the whole matter?"
"Without fail, Miss!" The tall chubby boss answered immediately. When he heard the woman's words, he did not think hard about why the other party wanted the items to be delivered to that place. He did not bother thinking why it had to be done with utmost secrecy.
'It's a 100,000 gold deal! Holy moly! I won the lottery this time!' As a person who had been dabbling in this business for decades, he only knew the focus of a transaction must be on the number of products to be sold, which was practically everything he had on stock right now, and the amount to gain.
Since the trade the woman offered was really huge and tempting, the tall human did not hesitate to add, "I can have my workers ship out your order right now. What do you think? I guarantee there would be no damage or loss in the shipment process. You just need to give me the address, Miss!"
"How about the payment?" Melissa did not break eye contact with the human in front of her even as she moved her hand to pick up a pre-made card from her leather purse.
The shop owner received the card and gave the address written on it a quick glance before he replied in a low voice, "Of course, Miss, you would have to pay upfront."
A simple nod came from the veiled girl who went back to caressing the lustrous ruby-like stones in one of the wooden crates. After a while, her focus went to another crate. She was taking her time checking each stone she selected to see if there were cracks or unnatural patterns.
It did not take long for the man to become impatient. "So the pay?" There was still a smile on his face, but it was no longer as radiant as before.
"Hmm. Don't worry, my mistress would not let you suffer a loss. She will pay the price in full."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"But because this is our first transaction, milady first wants the items at her warehouse's doorstep."
The room's lighting was not that great, but because of a vampire's inherent superior eyesight, she was able to make out the frown that surfaced on the other party's face.
Melissa's lips curled into a grin. "Are you afraid you will suffer a loss? How about I sign a contract with you on behalf of my mistress?"
"A contract?" He furrowed his brows.
The owner was naturally not willing. He believed in cash more than anything. What was a contract good for? If somebody was determined to run away, would that thing, a mere piece of parchment, be able to hold them down?
"I'm afraid that won't do, Miss," he firmly said.
"Oh.."
The brown-haired lady was silent sometime before she let go of the precious stone in her hands. She gave the man a quick glance and laughed at the sour expression he sported. The other party was obviously very displeased, and worried. Was he thinking that he wasted his precious time on entertaining a poor, pretender guest? She could not blame him though. It was a fact that Melissa was penniless and had nothing precious on her person when she left the Edevane castle. But...
'How nice that angry humans don't easily resort to violence, unlike most vampires who kill at the drop of a hat.'
She batted her long lashes, then picked up a lustrous violet-colored stone the size of a thumb before throwing a teasing glance at the fat human. "My mistress is somebody who believes that money is a vulgar thing to use when forming relationships. This is why she specifically told me to show this somebody I deem worthy to befriend..."
At first, the frown was still on the shop owner's face. However...
'Magic?! Or did she enchant magic on that gem?'
When he saw the stone emitting a faint glow that gradually become brighter and brighter as time went on, his eyes exaggeratedly widened.
Melissa did not miss the change in his expression. With a lopsided grin concealed by the thin bonnet, she asked, "What do you think of my mistress' words?"
The man took some time before he managed to close his widely opened mouth. He was thoroughly shocked. With his lips trembling, he barely managed to reply, "I-I think she is a wonderful and insightful person."
"Right!" With twinkling eyes, Melissa passed the thing in her hand to the other. "Since there's something we think in common, I believe there's a room for discussion about the trade. So can you now consider signing the contract with me?"
He nodded repeatedly at her words. What a foolish question. How could he not agree when the woman before him just used magic? She seemed to be just a maid or close female attendant of someone. He did not manage to see the item that she used as a catalyst. But he was sure that she was a Vampire Hunter because, amongst humans, only Vampire Hunters could harness the power of elements through magic items! If she was a servant despite having that ability, it meant that she was working for a noble! A very high-ranking one at that!
The man failed to consider the possibility that he had just run into a vampire that snuck into the human territory. Scared that the other party would find fault with his previous behavior then change her mind, he hurriedly asked somebody in his shop to help prepare a contract.
When the piece of paper got handed to him, he flashed an ingratiating smile as he said, "Please pardon my disrespectful attitude just now. Miss, if... if it's alright with you, may I know the name of the lady?"
After signing, he passed the pen to the quill to the veiled woman. Melissa accepted it readily. As she wrote a fake name at the bottom of the paper, she answered, "Miss Tyche."
Tyche. A beautiful name that belonged to the Goddess of luck and fortune. One of humanity's many gods. She just thought of it randomly as she wanted a name associated with wealth. But because she took a liking to it, Melissa easily made up her mind to use Tyche as her alias in the human world.