Chapter 08 "A Spy from the West"

I was stunned. Compared to realizing when Kohru, the cute animal was Elvian's pet that could rage like a tiger, this made me more surprised. How could someone come out of the blue, suddenly asked was I a human being or not? Although I didn't make up my face to enhance the disguise. I was sure enough to fool others.

A drop of sweat appeared on my forehead. An idea crossed my mind if this woman was a kind of witch capable of reading people's thoughts. Came from the royal capital and accidentally met me. I felt so bad. There would be a big problem if people knew that I was a Haier-Elvian.

"What? I don't understand what you mean," I said, pretending not to understand a thing.

"You know what I mean, young girl! Although your skin and hair color resembles a human being," in one blink, her hand already entered into my hood. Then stroked my long ears from the bottom up to the top. I didn't have time to react. Just silent like a marble statue for a while, "but not with long ears that you were hiding. Your camouflage technique is not good enough."

The smile showed on her face full of satisfaction. As I was stunned, I decided to immediately flee from the spot. Although I had bumped into people and food carts on the super busy street several times, I still didn't reduce the pace. There was no reason to look back. Whoever she was, she knew my actual race. I had a bad feeling when my presence was known by this country.

After a few minutes of running, my stamina decreased. My breath was heavy. Sweating much from my whole body. I forced these two legs to walk farther to get to the bench that was five meters ahead. These thick and completely enclosed clothes made it worse. I sweltered. Luckily, this bench was in the shadow of the building. So the sunlight didn't worsen the situation.

I used my hand to wag toward the neck. Actually, I'd like to open the hood and let the breeze caressed me with its natural coolness. But I didn't dare to take risks. I was wary if someone saw my long ears like before.

I cast a glance around. It was a residential area on the edge of town. The architecture of the houses in this area wasn't too appealing. Looked very simple. This place seemed to be a settlement of middle-class people. Fortunately, I didn't get to the area of the nobility lived. Not just anyone could go in there. Ordinary people would be punished if caught trespassing.

The wind was blowing hard, releasing this stifling that covered my body. Then drying these lips. I stroked my dry throat. Thirsty! No drinking taps here. The shops also closed. The streets looked deserted. The windows and doors closed. It seemed like a lot of people here went into the Sun Festival.

While tormented by fatigue and thirst, suddenly there was someone who gave me a drink. "Here ... drink!"

I grabbed a plastic bottle from her hand, then drank it. That was a cold orange juice. Super tasty beverages in this misery. I emptied the glass in an instant. It was bliss!

"Thanks," I said, throwing a gaze at the person who gave me a drink. She stood beside me and laughed. When looking at her face, I was shocked. "You again? How come?!"

The woman who was previously in the square before, somehow already had been here. My eyes widened. I wanted to run as fast as I could, but the body not allowed me to. My strength was gone. My legs felt petrified.

"You don't need to worry." She chuckled, then sat beside me with a relaxed and friendly attitude. "Not so hard to chase you, you know? You ran away while leaving Esze trails. Really! What a total idiot you are! You should have pressed your energy in order not to lose control."

"Esze? You mean?"

After confirming that she wasn't as dangerous as I thought before, I became more relaxed. Asking with curiosity about the word that bothered me. Esze? It was the first time I heard the term.

"What were you talking about? Are you kidding me! A person who used disguise techniques like you was impossible not to know Esze."

I shook my head. Didn't understand a thing. This woman should give an answer I want. Rather than making it more complicated.

Even the woman looked surprised. "Did you just come out of the cave? Did you not realize about yourself?"

I shook harder.

She tapped her forehead. "Geez! I just knew there was Elvian who didn't know herself."

"Elvian? No. I'm not Elvian, but -."

"Follow me!" She pulled my arm and dragged me to follow her steps without knowing where she would bring me.

We passed the road leading to the southern city wall. Many buildings here were made of wood and zinc. The pattern of housing was irregular. There was a house part recessed to the road. There was also a house blocking the street, so we had to walk along the sidelines at the wooden building to pass it. The path was also narrower, which was impossible to pass by a horse carriage. Not only that, broken and muddy roads exist everywhere. At an instant glance, this area was similar to the slums in Jakarta's suburb.

"Where are we going?" I asked quietly. Because of the distance from the street to the door of the houses, only one meter. I didn't want my voice to annoyed people who were in it.

"Shut up and follow me!"

I followed her from behind, tried adjusting to her quick footsteps. On the road, I paid more attention to this woman. Leaving aside about 'who is she?' I liked her tall figure, my height around her shoulders. A lovely dark hair went down to her shoulders. She also had brown skin. It was the embodiment of an exotic tropical girl.

Although my body had become a woman, I was quite interested in her captivating appearance. Looked like my man's side hadn't gone entirely.

A few moments later, we arrived at a small wooden house. It took a bit of wariness when climbing two or three stairs to get to the front door. If you didn't, you might fall. The woman let me in after opening the door. The interiors were not very good. Just an old house.

"Sit down, please!"

I sat on the sofa in the living room. That woman headed to the next small room, which seemed to be the kitchen and dining room. I could tell from looking to the cursory at a long dining table and a stove near a window.

My eyes took a glance around. This house measuring 7x6 meters and had four rooms. In addition to the living room, one bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Quite narrow, but the stuff she had was quite a lot. As a result, some of the furniture overlapped with other goods, making this building no different from the used warehouse. I had absolutely no objection to this mess condition. After all, the state of Dark Night hunter base was worse than this place.

Moreover, it made me sure that if she wasn't a person who meant harm. She presented me with a lukewarm green tea.

"Have a drink, please!" She said.

Without thinking twice, I immediately took a small cup and sipped. It was the first time I drank green tea in this country. The taste didn't seem much different than I had ever remembered.

"You must be wondering why I brought you here, right?" She already knew I wanted to ask. Her exclaim was very precise.

I nodded slowly.

"Let's start with the self-introduction first. My name is Almira. I'm just a normal bread factory worker. At least that's my identity in this country." She showed a thin smile. Then snapped her fingers. My eyeballs almost came out. In an instant, her appearance changed. Her brown hair color decaying to golden yellow. Similarly, her brown skin suddenly became very pale. I was stunned when I saw pointed ears that longed almost 30 cm. "But my real name is Elywien-Kri, a former scout of the West Elvian Kingdom."

A knotted thin smile on her lips. As if to say a lot of meaning, but I had no ideas.