Kurisa rested against the bench after she left the bar from dropping Fred's friend off. She closed her eyes and relaxed. The wind was in control as it blew her brown hair away. Her eyes gazed upward towards the sky again before they closed fully once more to think. Did she really have time to do this? Did she have enough time to find the person and be back by the time the dragon's attack? She had to hurry, but as she was about to get up she heard a darkened voice that spoke towards her. "I see you are still here. Glad to see it." She was at first scared that he did not want her to still be here for some reason, but that all changed once he said those last words. Her head turned to look at him, shocking her body upward to turn and see him.

The eyes of golden orange were so beautiful as she then gazed at the other features on their face. So handsome as she could stare at a picture of them all day. She explained to him that she just started recently and she has to go meet the client at the bar. His facial expression changed as if he was jealous of some sort. "A man?" He wondered with his arm crossed against his chest. She knew this was meaning to be defensive when it came to body language. She chuckled and explained to him that the people she was meeting had information for the person she needed to find to help her protect the people of innocence. His eyes gazed all over the place as if he was thinking deeply over something. What was wrong? Why was he so worried over this? "It'll be fine. As I promised. I will be back to protect you around.~" She jested and got up.

312

She closed her eyes and walked away from the bench where she once sat. The man who watched her walk away went towards his own path as they did not see each other after that for a while. She frowned as she felt that much. Yawning softly, she was truly tired as she had to go back to the bar. The information was quite important and the keeper promised her as much. The time that it was going to take for her to get there was enough time to set everything up if they were going to trick her in any way. Will they do so?

She went towards the bar and opened the door for the bartender Fred to be sitting on the table cleaning a glass. Her eyes gazed at his while walking towards the stool since she was going to be here for a while. Her eyes then switched to the guy who drank a lot and who she had to go receive. His face was fully covered to the point where she could not see his true identity. Could this guy be trusted at all? He could be some bad guy who was pretending to be some ally of Fred's.

Fred looked at Kuri and then at his friend and chuckled. He promised her that he was fine and he was in no way harmful to what she wanted. He put down a glass and started to pour some booze into the glass, passing it over to his friend. The friend started to talk afterward as he grasped onto the handle. The place was silent as not even the bard was here to play. What was truly going on? She squinted at the guy while her fingernails tapped against the wooden counter. Was he going to speak or perhaps after a little drink. What a drunk, truly.

311

Kurisa continued to tab her fingers against the counter as she waited for the guy to finally speak. She thought about how Zhongli was there for her when she was outside and wondered if perhaps he was just a really super nice guy. How old was he? Oh no, she thought as she was now worried that he could be so much younger than her. Then she remembered something. She was not even human so her age was divided by two. She flipped her hair and then heard a grunt from the drunk ass man beside her. She wondered what was so horrible that made him turn into some bum who drank all day.

He did not make any sounds at all after that, but instead, he turned his face towards her without even being able to see it. If she did not see the weirdest stuff before, this would have made her stomach turn. This was nothing compared to her past stuff though. She lifted one of her hands into a palm, positioning it upward. She gave him a confused look, a look that was like 'well?'. Kurisa was an impatient empress when it came to something she needed to get done and over with.

Finally, he started to talk. He was speaking with grunts and as if he was some wise sage behind all that facade. He explained that he always traveled around the world before his accident in Fiore that caused him to be stuck here forever. She really did not click one and one to make two so she did not understand what he meant by that. The man said that once he went to Joya and ran into some village at the shore. The people were really nice as they worshipped the water Dragon as many cities by the shore did there. Sometimes they will have festivals for the dragon and then in rare timings, a man would come out of the sea in beautiful attire.

His skin was a pearly white tone, his eyes were beautifully jeweled made of topaz and his hair was a shaggy purple color. It almost reminded Kuri of some guy she knew. The name just could not hit her tongue at the moment. Nonetheless, she continued to listen to the man's words. He next said that apparently there is a man who - before he could say anymore, the doors were broken as silent people started to roam inside.

409

Her eyes gazed at the people that were roaming inside. They wore white-clothed robes that looked as if they belonged to a cult. She has seen many cults so this one definitely looked like a cult. Which one did they belong to? She turned fully around so her body was positioned in front of these people. They wore masks of different symbols, but all were white as the base color. It was strange, who were they after? She soon found out as one of them pointed at her and the guy. Did he say something or do something that he should not have?

Another walked with a shift of coldness as they passed her to put a paper down on the table. It came with a symbol that was obviously Joyan. She could not read Joyan quite yet so she was pretty confused about what they wanted. Quickly, they reached out towards Kuri to stab her, but the knife went through her body as the water protected her. "Hmph." She made a small smile and threw a chair at one of their heads. She gave them cold eyes as she blasted one of their faces. Swiftly, she kicked their face, but did not do much damage. They would try to use their weapons on her, but none of them worked on her as the physical weapons phased through her.

Another blast of light and water went against the cult's face as they rested dead on the ground. There was only one last one already as she then grabbed a chair and threw it by then since her strength sucked ass. It was really a distraction as she then blasted the person's leg. Legless they fell onto the ground. Enough to where she could now investigate the stupid human being. Hmph.

300

Kurisa kicked the cultist who was on the ground, whimpering like some little child. They wanted to be evil, they wanted to be bad, well then they will have to get used to her justice as she punishes them. They're lucky it was not by torture as she then started to ask questions in front of Fred and the guy who was still overall drinking. Kuri first asked who they were, no response. It was pissing her off truthfully as she then wondered who their leader was. They did not want to answer. Her eyes cornered towards Fred who gazed at her a little worried.

She asked for a piece of glass which she received. Crouching, she started to draw on the person's mask slowly, carving into it while asking questions. She intimidated them by saying they will reveal who they are and destroy all those who are affiliated with them. They finally started to talk, saying they were apart of some God-worshipping cult. What god did they worship? Was it an actual god even? She squinted and glared as she wanted more. They stumbled in words as they told her that they were residing inside the silver mines in the lower district.

Of course it had to be where the poor people were. She sighed softly and wondered if she could get more info, but it was too late since the person passed out. Disgusting. She turned to look at the drunk man and Fred. She advised to get the Rune Knights to pick this guy up and then said she was going to continue on this. The drunk guy finally said something that made her think carefully, 'Are you sure you want to go further?'. Why did he care and why did he now ask? Was there something he knew?

302

1600+/1600

20% from belt

-exit-