"This feels nice."
Levi said as he dipped his body in the hot bubble bath. He did spend quite some money because it was a VIP room. In the end, it was worth it. Not only that, he also had the offer to get a massage, which he kindly declined because of the injuries that he still had. However, one thing that they provided captivated Levi, and that was wine.
Levi's taste buds were completely dead. He couldn't taste a single thing, even sh*t, not that he ever had involuntarily. However, one day he discovered he could taste wine. At first, he couldn't find out why and soon gave up intoxicating himself in the heaven of grapes.
Though the constitution of the wine mattered a lot. If the alcohol percentage should be about 5.5% to 6%, more or less than that, and he could taste anything at all. The grapes also needed to be of the highest quality for his taste buds to activate.
Levi, after getting reincarnated in this world, did try to find a wine with this composition but never found it in any shop nor had the time to look for it. But now this 'Uzurn's Grape Wine' came with the dinner service and it suited Levi's dead palate. So much that he had almost drunk the whole bottle on his own and had to stop himself from ordering another one.
The warm bubbly bath and the taste of the wine made him feel drowsy. As he was about to enter his land of dreams, his instinct went on an alert mode. His skill Sense activated on its own. Before, it didn't activate on its own, but since Levi's rank up, its range and some functions had changed.
'Can't I get even a wink of rest?'
Levi focused on his skill and felt a presence at a window of his room. He clearly didn't know who it was, but knew it was a woman, and not an ordinary one. Levi didn't panic and acted normal. Getting out of the bath, he wiped his body, wore a robe, and closed every light off.
He went to bed and started casting a mirror dagger under the sheets ready for whatever was about to happen.
'Someone really hates me enough to hire such a strong assassin for me. Though I don't feel too much hostility from her.'
Levi waited for anything to happen for five minutes, then ten… slowly an hour eventually went by without anything happening. Not caring about the possible assassination anymore because of his tiredness, Levi fell asleep. The person on the ledge soon moved away after they realized Levi slept like a bear in its hibernation.
The figure started jumping on the roof, moving faster than the speed of sound. Within a minute, the person reached her destination. Swift in the wind, the person changed their disguise without wasting a second and walked through the entrance of the hotel, welcomed by the awes and bows of the hotel staff.
She took the elevator and reached the third floor, and gave a rhythmic knock on room number 98. The door opened and in front of her was a stressed Eliza. Rubbing her eyes, she asked,
"So, anything out of the ordinary?"
Eliza had assigned her knight to bring the carriage so they could travel to a different location, but she had a change of heart. After meeting Levi and him coming here to celebrate the festival rose many suspicions in her head.
The knight shook her head and replied, "No, nothing of that sort. He just seemed tired and didn't do anything rather than just go to bed. Well, he does seem to drink a lot of wine and smoke cigarettes too."
Eliza smiled hearing. "Doesn't surprise me; maybe he fancies taking drugs too. Let's not overthink about it. Get some rest Kira, we need to celebrate as well as travel."
Kira noticed the same expression on Eliza back at the alchemy shop. She couldn't help but ask, "My lady, if he is someone you loathe, then please give me the order to erase his filthy existence-"
"No… don't do anything like that. He doesn't matter. Just go." Eliza shunned off Kira. The knight just bowed and she exited the room. Eliza locked the door and shut the lights. She sandwiched herself between the warm blanket and the soft bed, trying to get some sleep.
"You smoke and drink at such an age, freak."
Kira outside the door stood there, thinking what exactly Levi meant to Eliza. She had figured out him to be Eliza's classmate but their relationship was unknown. But she did know one thing, "He matters to my lady but I don't know in what way."
Kira didn't think about it much and decided to keep this a secret from her lord's ears; otherwise, Levi might say goodbye to his short-lived life.
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**[Continued]**
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"Sir, is our food not to your liking?"
"No... is not that, I just have a bad stomach."
"But sir, you immediately finished the wine."
"It helps with the ache."
The waiter was confused about how wine could help with a stomach ache. He didn't think much about it and left the room. Levi stood up and got changed. He wore gray trousers and adorned a black shirt, opening the top button. The inn allowed him to rent the clothes.
After wearing black leather shoes, he got out of the inn, locked the door, and provided the keys to a lady at the counter. The lady, for a moment, couldn't believe the beauty of the man in front of her. The man of her dreams seemed to have manifested. Though she never had imagined the scar, it added even more to his beauty.
The lady, drunk in his beauty, didn't even acknowledge Levi handing her the key, "Excuse me... MISS."
"Y-Yes," the woman answered, red cheeks flushed and her palms sweaty. Levi handed her the key, and she took it without making eye contact with him. Yesterday, her father looked over the counter so she didn't know such a stud was staying at the inn. If she knows, who knows, Levi could have gotten even more "special" service.
Today was the start of the "Festival of Greatness," and the city of Uralitha was dressed in its celebration. Every shop decorated with lights and fake lustrous swords. The commoners wore fancy trousers and shirts just like Levi, just in different colors. Street entertainers and musicians painted their faces with the design of two swords crossing each other.
None of them knew the hero personally, but the tales of his bravery brought out the inner hero that everyone wanted to be during their childhood. Happiness and laughter spread across the air, really making this festival a great one.
Levi's original plan was to visit the mermaid's home during this festival, but the two days' holiday would nowhere be enough and he would have to go through a lot of trouble if he missed too many school hours.
Plus, he had been working his ass off, so taking a day's rest wouldn't mean any trouble.
As he walked through the city, buying some souvenirs and decorations, he felt something quite odd. Like someone watching his move, not just everyone in the city.
'And here I thought, I finally got a day off.'
At first, he activated Sense, whose range had increased due to him leveling up, but its range wasn't large enough to observe those suspicious people. He summoned two of his lesser eyes underneath his sleeves and let them out when he reached an alley.
Like he had hoped, the title [Demon with Hundred Eyes] didn't increase the lesser eyes in number. Maybe he needed to be more powerful to handle the full prowess of the title.
As those lesser eyes scouted through the shadows, they did notice some people, among the crowd, that didn't feel normal. They had the same attire and expression as those festive junkies, but those lesser eyes could not only see but feel something wrong.
"Boss, the lesser eyes couldn't see much difference in their clothing but could see an energy similar to what we have."
Levi unconsciously clenched his fist. That wasn't a good sign; those people definitely aren't here to celebrate.
'Majins?'
"Yes."
'How many have they managed to locate?'
"Only three for now."
Worse, the situation was a lot worse than Levi had imagined. He never let his guard down nor decided to follow the plot, but in the end, he was just a human. To handle such an amount of force alone, without a proper plan, was not possible without having casualties.
And having Majins at this place at this time wasn't a coincidence. Everything was planned from the start, and Levi could have never guessed them to appear this early.
'The Unbound Crimson.'
An organization made of humans, devils, and demons to create a world of their liking, mainly by killing. Their ideal was simple: rule with fear to have peace, take away freedom to stop war, and spill blood for strong men to grow. An ideal of psychos and crazies.
Levi acted to shop around the area, as the lesser eyes would keep on scouting the whole city. Altogether they managed to find 7 Majins, all of them B-ranks
Levi could kill them, but the crowd was a nuisance, and once they figured him out, his element of surprise would be busted. He needed some help, and could get it, just needed to alert his stalker about the coming danger.
He sighed knowing it wouldn't be easy to convince her after all, though he couldn't see her, he could feel the look in her eyes.
'She definitely will try and kill me first.'