"You shouldn't have done that," Mara spoke to Mina when they got a bit far from the mountain.
"Done what?" Mina looked at her with a confused expression.
"You shouldn't have given that man the necklace; it was specifically given to you by the high priest. Offering it to someone else might anger the high priest and cause you many problems," Umra explained what Mara meant.
Hearing the explanation, Mina got silent for a long while, then sighed, "I know that I shouldn't have given it to him; it's just that he made me so mad that I couldn't think properly."
"Sigh, why are you like that? I have never seen you being mad at someone. Did he do something to you that warrants such fury?" Mara inquired with a curious expression.
"Umm, it's not that he had done anything to me; it's just that..." Mina's words trailed off as she remembered the scene of Alex removing his hand from Anna's panties and licking the love juice smeared on it while staring at her.
Mina's face suddenly turned bright red, surprising Mara and Umra.
"Why are you blushing so much? Did something happen when we were unconscious?" Umra asked in a worried tone.
"F-Forget it, nothing happened. As for the necklace, I will explain the situation to the high priest. I'm sure he will be understanding," Mina assured, gently guiding her two friends to continue walking, concealing her blushing face from them.
Turning to stare at the mountain one last time, she sighed internally, 'I hope giving the necklace to him won't come back to bite me in the ass later.'
If only she knew the consequences of giving the necklace to Alex, there's no doubt she would have turned back immediately to reclaim it from his hands, even if she had to steal it!
***
"So, how do I look? Handsome, aren't I ?" Alex pridefully tossed his vibrant multicolored hair in the air, wearing a grin as dazzling as a peacock flaunting its feathers.
However, seconds ticked by, and neither of the two women made a sound, which worried Alex and made him think that perhaps the multicolored hair had diminished his handsomeness.
All of that worry disappeared when he focused on the two women and saw the dazed expressions on their faces.
'Another two victims of my divine handsomeness,' Alex smiled contentedly and decided to wake up Amelia and Anita, who were on the verge of drooling.
"Ladies," Alex snapped his fingers, awakening the two women.
"Huh?" Amelia and Anita snapped out of their reverie, exchanging confused glances between Alex and each other.
''Goddamnit, it's the second time I'm zoning out while staring at him. If this continues, he might think I'm a creep,' Anita thought in embarrassment, unaware that she wasn't the only one who had been out of it a moment ago.
It's just that, unlike Anita, who was feeling embarrassed, Amelia was feeling aroused looking at her brother.
'Damn, I want to kiss him so bad,' Amelia thought as she felt a familiar wetness drizzle down her legs.
'Damn girl, you are lucky,' she thought as she glanced at the dozing Anna.
Amelia had never felt jealous of someone else's ability, but just this time, she felt that having Anna's invisibility ability would have been perfect right now. 'If I had that ability, I would just pin him down and have my way with him, without being interrupted.'
Seeing the hunger in her eyes as she stared at him, Alex chuckled, 'this girl is always horny. Unfortunately, we can't do anything right now,' he sighed in frustration.
He also wanted nothing more than to be with her, but they needed to deal with this situation before anything.
Expanding and thickening the remaining smoke after he had coated his hair, Alex divided it into three parts, each one going to one of the unconscious members of their party: Lilia, Anna, and Cedrix.
The thick smoke completely engulfed the three of them and lifted them from the ground.
"W-What is happening?" Anita asked worriedly as her father's body disappeared completely under the smoke.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen to him," Alex reassured her.
Nodding her head, Anita watched as the three clouds of smoke gathered around Alex.
Glancing at Amelia and Anita, he grinned, "now it's your turn."
Before the two of them could comprehend his intention, Alex directed his smoke to envelop them. In Amelia's case, it covered only her head, but for Anita, it shrouded her entire body.
Soon, as the dissipating smoke unveiled the two women, both now possessed the same multicolored hair as Alex. However, Anita had an additional touch – a flowing, multicolored cape that emitted subtle wisps of smoke, enveloping her whole body, beside her hands, and giving her a mystic air.
Staring at the two stunning women with multicolored hair, Alex felt desire swelling within him, causing his cock to stiffen in an instant.
"Hm, you now have the same hair color as hi- wait, do I also have that same hair color, and what is this cape? It looks cool!" Anita exclaimed.
"I need to see myself right now!" Anita shouted excitedly.
Meanwhile, Amelia approached Alex and questioned, "Why all of that?"
"Well, we can't risk being discovered for who we are, right?"
"Yes, but I doubt just changing our hair color will do the trick," Amelia countered.
"I know, that's why I also prepared these," Alex snapped his fingers, and the smoke around him took the shape of three masks, each with the initial 'A' inscribed on them.
Alex took a mask and positioned it on his face. Due to their identical colors, when the mask touched Alex's face, it seamlessly blended with his long hair, creating a mesmerizing display of colors that shimmered beautifully from the mask to his hair.
"With this, it will be difficult to recognize us," Alex grinned under the mask.
Amelia wanted to argue that even now there were chances that they might be recognized, but she shut her mouth and simply nodded her head. After a few seconds, she pointed at Alex's bare upper body. "Do you intend to go like that?"
"Ah, I forgot about that," Alex exhaled a small amount of smoke, expanded it, and commanded it to wrap around not just his upper body, but his entire figure.
An instant later, the dissipating smoke revealed a figure cloaked in an elegant, multicolored mantle flowing from his upper body to his feet and much like Anita's cape, wisps of smoke emanated from his attire. Though Alex's current attire was beautiful and mesmerizing, it also bestowed upon him a mystical and intimidating presence, capable of sending shivers down anyone's spine with just a glance.
"Cool, right?" Alex's voice resonated from behind the mask, oddly unaffected.
"Pretty good, if intimidating is what you were going for," Amelia answered, sizing him up.
"That's exactly what I was going for!" Alex grinned. "I'm supposed to be a mysterious entity leading a mysterious organization that sells mysterious things, so of course, I need to look intimidating!"
"Now that everything is prepared, we should proceed," he added after a moment.
"Okay, but do you really intend to take her with us?" Amelia pointed to an excited Anita who was using the metallic surface of the large door as a mirror.
"We can't leave her here; it would be too dangerous in case someone came back. So, we can only take her with us. Since she could be recognized from her previous clothes, I gave her this cape," Alex explained as he walked towards Anita, the clouds of smoke supporting Lilia and the others following him.
"Wear this," he tossed the multicolored mask to Anita.
'Looks kind of cool,' Anita smiled excitedly.
After handing the mask to Anita, Alex turned to the door then froze.
Turning to Amelia, he lingered for a bit, then spoke in a hesitant tone, "Umm, do you know how to open the door?"
"You were so eager, yet you can't even open the door," Amelia chuckled, then replied, "yes, I do know how to open that door."
"Great! I knew I can count on you sis," Alex raised his thumb to Amelia.
Amelia shook her head, approached the door, and then retrieved a small knife from her space ring.
She cut her finger to draw blood, then wrote the same symbols she had witnessed Anna write on the door.
Just as she finished inscribing the last symbol, the large metallic door began to open.
"Wear your masks," Alex ordered the two women before the door fully opened.
Once the door opened wide and Amelia and Anita donned their masks, Alex stepped through the entrance, three clouds of smoke trailing just behind him, followed by the two women.
The instant Alex stepped through the door, he froze.
'Even though I was informed, witnessing so many people held captive here is still shocking,' Alex thought as his gaze swept through the hundreds of captives, yet no one glanced in their direction.
'I wonder- hmm?' Alex's thought process came to a halt when he sensed something strange.
'Their levels, the weakest level here is 1,' Alex's eyes, hidden by the mask, widened in surprise.
Although having level 1 strength wasn't significant in the grand scheme of things, for an empire like Fiore, where more than fifty percent of common people weren't even at level 1, seeing such a large quantity of people with at least level 1 was stunning. This was particularly true if the majority of those people weren't of noble upbringing.
The most shocking thing, however, was the fact that less than forty percent of those kidnapped were at level 1, with the majority being at level 2, and there were even a few who were at level 3!
'I had my doubts, but now I'm certain. Those people weren't randomly kidnapped.'