The Observer chuckled. "That's a start, but it won't cut it. For now, it'll suffice. Can you shed more light on the Devotees?"
"Since you have an idea of the basics, I'll add this," Theron leaned forward on his seat. "Devotees belong to any of the ten gods. There are four main stages for Devotees. Novitiate, Soul Sentinel, Ascendant, and finally Paragon. The Novitiates are the weakest, their powers are extremely limited, and every time they it use it they risk losing themselves to the will of the gods. The Soul Sentinels are the next stage. Stronger, and with a better grip on the will of the gods. At the Ascendant stage, the will of the gods has almost no effect on the Devotee, and for a small period of time, Ascendants can even take advantage of the god's will to establish a connection to the god and use the godly form. As for Paragons, they're at a stage almost impossible to reach. You can just consider them subsidiary gods."
"So, you want me to protect you from a subsidiary god - The Paragon of Destruction. I'm guessing he's a Devotee of Zalthar, right?"
Theron nodded. "Correct."
The Observer took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "That's enough information for now, I just have one request."
"Feel free to speak," Aeliana urged.
"I need a way to battle some of these Devotees. Any idea how I can do that?"
Theron and Aeliana shared a look. Tentatively, Aeliana suggested, "You could ask him, right?"
With a small groan, Theron muttered, "Do I really have to?"
"Who are you guys talking about?" The Observer asked.
"The Paragon of Secrets. He was once my master, and he's the chief of the Police in the city." Theron replied with a somewhat pained look.
"And…" The Observer prompted, causing Theron to shoot him a dirty look.
"And nothing. I'll introduce you to him tomorrow. See if he can involve you in a crackdown operation or something. Just know this, if he disagrees, I won't try to force things."
"No problem. So, when do we leave for… wherever it is that we're going?"
Theron turned to look at Aeliana who replied. "We'll leave in a week or two."
Satisfied, The Observer got up and started to leave the house, prompting Aeliana to ask, "Why don't you stay here until we have to leave? That way you won't have to waste your money on rent, and I'll also provide food."
The Observer planned on refusing her offer, but even before he could Theron did so for him. "Ana, I don't think it's a good idea for a lady like you to stay alone with someone like him. What would people think if they heard of it? It could ruin your reputation. Besides, do you really trust him that much?"
"Wow, I am so moved that you trust your bodyguard so little," The Observer spoke dryly.
"Theron, I trust him. Besides, after we get there, what good will my reputation do me? It doesn't matter anymore, Theron. Nothing does."
At her words, a sad look came across Theron's face. He closed his eyes and did his best to control his emotions. When next he opened his eyes, his face was expressionless. Watching all this happen, The Observer tried to guess what exactly was going on. Did Aeliana plan on killing herself? No, he doubted Theron would allow her to do so. But if that wasn't it then why did Theron look so sad? Could it be because she planned on never coming back, or some other reason that he just couldn't think of right this moment?
"Observer, you should stay with her. It'll make your stay here much more comfortable." Theron tried to convince him. However, he still had no intention of staying. Before he could state his choice, however, Theron interrupted. "You refuse? Fine. It's your choice."
With his mouth still slightly open from when he had started to speak, The Observer glared at Theron. He debated telling Theron to stop doing his mind or future reading whatever, but in the end, he just didn't have the strength to do it. Rolling his eyes, he opened the door to leave. "If anything comes up, Theron should know where to find me."
"Wait, you didn't tell me your-" Theron began to argue but The Observer wasn't having any of it.
"That is not my problem."
After leaving Aeliana's house, he pondered how to spend the day. He could return to his room at the hotel, pay for a few more days, and then maybe borrow some of Elina's supernatural magazines. Or he could go round the city, see the sights, maybe attend a theater show or something.
He made his decision quite quickly, turning around and heading back toward the hotel. Exploring the city was something he could easily do with his divine sense, and for free too. However he didn't head straight to the hotel, instead he first detoured to Pete's shop.
As he walked in, Pete, who was behind the counter, gave him a wide smile. "Here to sell something else? Or do you want to buy something instead?"
The Observer smiled back at him. "I'm here to sell. But I hope you'll give me a better price this time." The Observer made a motion, as though he were pulling something out of his pocket. Then he dropped three gold spheres on Pete's counter.
Pete's eyebrow raised as he watched The Observer. "We'll see. How many more of these do you have?"
"Not much."
Pete nodded and spent the next few minutes testing the gold like he did the previous one. In the end, he nodded satisfactorily and made an offer. " One hundred deram."
After some consideration, The Observer opted to accept the price. After paying him, Pete gave him a fawning smile. "If you have anything else you need to sell, come to me. I promise you, I'll make it worth your while."
"I'll keep that in mind." The Observer pocketed the money and left the store.
On getting back to the hotel, he headed straight to Elina's counter and gave her a wide smile as he greeted her. "Hey."
"What, do you want?" Elina asked as she shifted slightly away from him. His overly enthusiastic expression sent alarm bells ringing in her head.
He dropped some of his newly earned money on the table."I'm planning on staying here for a few more days. But I do have a request. Is there any good bathroom in the hotel? I don't like the one left for guests."
Elina collected the money and made note of The Observer's payment in a small notebook. "Well, there isn't a better bathroom here, but there is a bathhouse nearby. Whenever you want to go just come and meet me, and I'll give you the directions. Anything else?"
"Yes. I would like one of your magazines to read. I'm feeling a bit bored but I'm too lazy to go sightseeing at the moment."
"This is the first time I have ever seen someone too lazy to go sightseeing in this city. Are you sure that's what you want, if you really look there are a lot of places to go to. You just have to spend a bit of money." Seeing how his face squeezed once she mentioned spending money, Elina let out a knowing laugh. "Oh, I see. Yes, you're right, sight-seeing is a bit overrated."
Reaching into her desk, she brought out the Mystic Musings magazine he had seen her reading when he first came yesterday. As she handed it to him, she made sure to remind him. "Please, bring it back once you're done reading it."
"Understood." The Observer gave her a small salute and left for his room with the magazine.