“And that’s why we need your help, Eva san,” Lord Syllas said, sitting on a couch in a slightly rundown inn, sipping green tea served in a cheap, yet the finest of the inn, glass. Behind him, only a couple of steps away stood the 31 year old inn keeper with eyes sparkling like Eva had never seen before. She looked absolutely smitten when the older red haired mage turned and thanked her for the ‘wonderful’ tea. Eva could just feel the urge to narrow her eyes at the woman bubbling up inside. It had been close to three weeks since she stayed in that inn and not even once had she seen that tall brown haired woman crack a smile. Always frowning or glaring with a look that said ‘drop dead’, she had made Eva come close to telling her off many times. But who knew that the woman bore a huge crush on the Lord of Marigold himself. The thought of their age difference made Eva gag but she could sort of understand why any woman would be smitten with the Lord. Despite being somewhere in his fifties, the man still looked so young and regal with a smile that seemed to say ‘how can you not fall in love?’.

Now sitting across from him, Eva subtly raised an eyebrow at the beaming woman before letting her eyes fall back to the man who had his gaze fixed firmly on her. “So, you want me capture some of the bandits that has been going around the town at night. I get that,” she said, her eyes moving from Syllas to the woman and back again. Turning down the urge to clock her tongue at the sight, she too opted to fix her gaze on Syllas. “But I don’t understand why my Lordship would come and see me personally for this,” she questioned, earning a small smirk and nothing more in return.

“Well, I was in the area and thought about the beautiful mage that stole the spotlight on my previous banquet,” he raised his chin with a knowing look directed at her. “I was impressed. I’m sure that this small request is nothing for you,” he stated, not questioned, but stated as Eva fought the urge to glare at the old coot. She remembered how he managed to piss Eva off the last time she went to entertain the guests in his banquet. Seemed like he was going to make it a permanent thing every time they met now.

Sighing inwardly, Eva smiled on the front, putting on a mask that said she was super excited for the job when she could, in reality, care less. “You can trust me to take care of this, sir,” she said and followed Syllas as he got up. He gave her a grin and another one of the blasted knowing looks before he walked, much like a majestic tiger, out the door followed by her still heart-eyed inn owner. He paid Eva no more attention other than a customary nod before entering the horse driven carriage.

515/2000

When night strolled in, Eva stood in front of the mirror, tying her hair up in a messy knot. She wanted to make sure that her hair wouldn’t get in the way if she was going to fight anyone, which seemed to be the case with this particular request. Underneath a pure black hooded robe, Eva wore a white plain shirt with a pair of black jeans and ankle boots. It was the usual clothes she wore when she knew she was going to be fighting. Pulling the hood over her head, Eva shrugged at the depressed reflection that stared back at her and left her room, going down the stairs only to see the inn owner waiting for her at the door.

“I understand that you are doing this for our Lord,” she started, her nose raised up in the air in the same stuck up fashion she always carried herself in. “But I won’t tolerate it if you are too late in coming back,” she finished and stalked over to the counter at the back with a huff. Eva really felt a vein pop on her head. “Of course, ma’am. I’ll come back as soon as I can,” she managed through a strained smile and wasted no time in walking out the door.

“That woman is freaking senile!” Eva allowed a snarl that spilled from her mouth. She could form a very well meant string of curses for the woman. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had to keep up an act for her own sake, Eva would have had the woman pinned down begging for her life with her wind magic. That’s how much she pissed her off but whatever, she had other things to do now that she was actually roaming the streets at a time that almost everyone was home.

Everything was silent and covered in darkness save the streets that were lighted up with the magical lacrima lamps that floated over them. She felt at peace with the calm breeze that flew through the town, rustling her black robe and causing it to fly behind her. She had half the mind to throw the hood back and just enjoy the night when she remembered why she was even there at that odd time. The fact that she was sacrificing her sleep was also a fact to consider when her mood suddenly turned sour. Well, whatever.

Turning a corner, Eva was about call it quits and just sit down somewhere when she heard a loud clatter followed by several shushing sounds and hushed whispers. She quickly retreated to the shadows and craned her neck to see a bunch of rough looking people fiddling with the lock of a shop. There was a clutter of several items ranging from a knife to a can opener strewn below them. One of them looked angry as the others picked the things up and another worked on the lock with an apologetic grin.

1012/2000

With the pale silvery light of the moon and golden glow the street lights provided, Eva made note of the men quickly. They hadn’t done much to cover themselves up with just a few black rags thrown together to make a somewhat battle-ready outfit. They kept playing with the lock, one of them at the verge of raising his voice at the one trying to get the lock out of the way. From the look of things, Eva noted with her eyes fixed on the agitated one, he was the leader. Not only did he have a bigger structure than the rest of them, he was also commanding each of them on what to do. Though, it seemed that he had a short fuse that was about to blow any second.

Sort of angry at the fact that she had to clean this mess up, Eva drew in a long breath before hooking a finger under the knot that kept the robe together. She pulled the long black piece of fabric away from her in one swift movement, taking a measured step out of her hiding. With the heels of her boots making sharp clicking noise against the floor, it didn’t take them long to notice the tall figure stalking over to them.

Alert, one of them took a step back in reflex while the others stared at her with their mouth open save for the big guy that stood in his place, unmoving. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she almost sang with her lips curving up into a disarming smile. “But don’t you people think it’s too late to be out in the streets? Maybe you fine looking men should go home and cry for the pathetic lives that you are wasting away in the most pathetic way possible,” she chuckled, her visage still as kind and disarming as ever. “But then again,” her voice developed an edge as her eyes narrowed at the gawking men, “what can I possibly expect from the most pathetic people?”

That seemed to have done it since one of them charged at her, probably hoping to capture and tie her up before she mad noise. Thankfully, Eva had enough reflexes to avoid that one. Stepping to the side, she brought a hand up to grab the man’s fist before turning her body around to bring her knee up to meet his stomach. The impact made a cracking sound as the bald old man’s voice failed in between a gasp and a cough. She was pretty sure that the man was going to have a minor fracture on his ribs now.

And if Eva’s initial appearance hadn’t alarmed the bandits enough, this display of power sure did because the next thing she knew, everyone except the big one was flailing and stumbling around in an attempt to run away. They scattered, much like rats, as each of them went in different directions. She didn’t bother going after them either since, why would she when she still had the bigger fish standing there on the board? The fish was absolutely raging, too, and then looked a little worried when all of his ‘partners’ in crime ran away. Even the one Eva already dealt with had managed to crawl off somewhere.

1555/2000

“Brat, you have definitely put up a great display of power,” he said, taking slow steps towards Eva. Leaving a three-meter gap between them, he continued, “but you have just made the biggest mistake of your life thinking that you can take me, the great Barlan Brasser, down!” Wow, someone was very confident of himself. “Oh dear, I didn’t know you are the great Barlan sama,” Eva’s voiced went up a pitch, drawing her legs together in an elegant posture as a hand crossed over her chest while the other rested on top of it with two fingers placed over her painted red lips. “So you are the even more deplorable soul that just couldn’t get over his shameful self?” Eva made an act of blowing a kiss at the man, but effectively dropping his speed with the gentle wind that she passed over him.

Seething, the man lunged forward but visibly paled when he noticed that he wasn’t fast as usual anymore while Eva stepped to the side with a twirl. Elegant streams of wind swirled around the twenty one year old woman, undoing her messy knot to let a pool of fine platinum blonde hair flow. With the last few buttons undone, the end of her shirt fluttered around her waist, letting her milky white skin peek through the ruffles.

“Now, now, that is no way to court a lady,” she chuckled, waiting for the guy to get up and come at her again. Since it would be a bad idea to actually let the beefy guy land a hit on her, Eva tried to dodge almost all of the hits, though some of them landed on her left arm and back. “Bastard,” she gritted out, raising the intensity of the wind around her as the contract symbol in her eyes glowed red. “I don’t care if you are human or not,” she growled, “but don’t you dare think for a second that you will be getting away with this”. She raised a hand, causing a swift stream of sharp wind to rise from below the sunken eyed man. It cut across his chest and arms, and threw his balance off, letting Eva lunge at him this time with a kick right up the middle of his legs. That had done enough for the pain had made the man pass out.

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue in irritation, inspecting the wound on her arms to see if it was going to bother her for a while. Soon, she heard the sound of footsteps from a distance, and she wasn’t sure how they had the most perfect timing but she found some city guards quickly closing in on them. A couple of them grabbed the man on the ground while one of them handed her the rewards, thanking her for her ‘service’.

2029/2000