The mont we walked through the gates of the palace, we were t with an open ballroom. There were hundreds of seats scattered around, and luxurious painting plastered all across the marble pillars.
Obviously, with so much luxury available to everyone, so cheeky commoners dared to try pocketing one or two of the paintings. Sadly for them though, the paintings were secured by energy barriers.
The mont soone tried to steal a painting, an electric shock would run through the person. It was pretty effective... not that I’d know.
"Should we take a seat?" Clentine suggested.
I paused for a mont, then shook my head.
"This place’s too large, and there’s way too many people. We should look around first and find so vantage points. For one, if what Evelyn said was the truth, there’ll be two factions trying to assassinate the emperor today. I want to find at least one of them."
"You know this thing’s only going to start in an hour or so, right? What if those people only co a little later," lina chid in.
At her words, I just shrugged.
"Trust , they’re here. For example..."
I pointed with my chin toward a group of people. They were on the second floor of the ballroom, looking down from the long hallway. They seed like commoners at a glance, but the way they were walking and talking, I already knew that these guys were trained.
And clearly, they also seed to be wary of as the black haired man I had just locked eyes with smiled back at .
Hmm...
He has a thin scar under his left eye.
Maybe a rcenary?
Could he be a part of this though?
"Clentine, could you check his soul real quick?"
Clentine glanced up at the person I was looking, and then leaned onto my head once again.
"Very pure. It’s almost like he hasn’t killed a single person in his life."
"That’s..."
"Deceptive. I can sll blood on him. His comrades also reek of it."
"..."
Judging by what I saw back when I visited the barbarians, I had a theory circling at the edge of my mind.
If soone doesn’t directly kill, but is indirectly involved in a killing... could these people be infected and used like demon portals?
At this point, aren’t they just lesser catalysts?
"Oh? I know that guy."
Both Clentine and I turned to lina at, surprised.
"You do?"
"Mhm. He’s one of the instructors at the academy. Or I guess, not really? He kind of cos and goes as he pleases. He’s more of a contracted instructor, than a full ti one."
Isabelle coughed once and then narrowed her eyes at lina.
"His Gift is Telekinesis, and because so many people associated him with Amon, he had no choice but to work as a contractor. Otherwise, my father would hound him for questioning."
Telekinesis?
Another one?
First it was William, and now so random guy...
Sothing’s not right here.
"Can we move already? We look extrely suspicious standing out in the open like this," Kevin said.
"Oh... Yeah, good call."
With that, we moved to a slightly more quieter place. Rather, it was still loud, but being on the the third floor, not many people could flank us or watch us from the side. In short, it was the perfect location to look over everyone.
I tapped on Clentine’s thigh, signaling for her to get off.
But almost like I should’ve known better, she crossed her legs and tightened her grip, refusing to get off .
"Humph."
"Clentine..."
"No!"
"Jeez, if you were my sister, I would throw you off this balcony," lina said, nearly making choke on my saliva at that random comnt.
Right as Clentine was about to reply, we spotted a green haired girl go up the stairs, approach one of the tables filled to the brim with food and alcohol, and then dump a whole colorless potion into the punch bowl before giving it a stir.
To my surprise, when she was done, she picked up a glass and scooped up so of the alcohol. Then, while sipping it slowly, she approached our group and leaned against the arch with a classy look.
Though, her plain brown dress and a teddy bear t-shirt were anything but classy.
"Sup y’all. Sorry for being late."
"It’s this muscle brain..." lina grumbled.
On the other hand, Clentine just tilted her head. She hadn’t t Alicia yet.
But clearly, judging by the faint smirk on her face, she seed to also like Alicia’s personality.
"Muscle brain? I get better grades than you, I’m richer than you, and I can get a boyfriend faster than you. Who’s the real muscle brain?" Alicia retorted, taking another sip.
At first, I thought she was kidding, and actually not swallowing the alcohol.
But... she was.
"Alicia? Didn’t you say you’re going to spike the alcohol with an aphrodisiac?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"...You’re drinking it right now?"
She shrugged and downed the whole glass without batting an eye. Then, she did a few nonchalant twists and turns before jumping up and trying to toss the glass at as though she was passing a basketball.
However, her aim was far from the best, and so, she threw the glass so high up that it flew over everyone’s heads and thundered down to the first floor, until finally...
SHATTERRRR!
"Ah shit..."
lina nodded.
"As I said, you’re a muscle brain."
Alicia rubbed her temples. She wiped the alcohol off her lips, then sighed.
"Eh... it’s fine. I’ll pay for the damages. On another note, don’t worry about the aphrodisiac. Since I’m immune to most alcohol, aphrodisiacs are the only things that can make feel sothing. And no, you don’t have to worry about pouncing on you."
She puffed out her chest.
"You may be attractive, but I would never sleep with my patron. On the other hand, Kevin, you’re like a brother to ."
"..."
I didn’t know what was more insulting, to be honest.
...Who am I kidding.
Getting brother-zoned by a woman who drinks aphrodisiacs to feel a high is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
Holding back a chuckle, I filtered out her constant bickering with the others, and instead, looked over the balcony, down at the first floor.
The glass shattering did cause a small commotion, but not only that... It managed to draw out rilyn.
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