"And why\'s that Bela?" Atlas asked.

"hmm….if you want something from a merchant, you need to pay for it. Did you forget?"

\' God Damn! Coming out of nowhere and hugging me like that, and I didn\'t even realize until I heard her voice. If she was an enemy, I would have been done for.\'

"So, what do you want in return?" Atlas asked, turning over to her.

"hmm…..let\'s see….oh! you wore my gift. That\'s surprising. I thought you would never use it."

"Well, had to adjust it a bit… to…actually wear It." he slowly said.

"oh….I see" she said gripping his hand tighter.

"Ou! Ou!….Be…Bela it hurts. It hurts….." he said in pain.

"hmm….."

"Ouch! Ouch! Bela!!"

"..."

She finally released his hand, freeing him from the straining pain. Making his hand all red.

\'Shit!! That really fucking hurt. Even joseph\'s grip wasn\'t that hard. How In hell is her delicate hand so freaking strong?\' he thought, shaking his hand, the pain still lingering up to his bones.

"You don\'t have to Bully me like that you know."

"ha...Why did you remove all the necessary charms? All I am trying to do is just to protect you."

"Huh? What about that love po…."

"Oh, you wanted to know more about that girl Liyana right?" she said suddenly cutting him off.

\'Changing the topic huh…\'

"haa...yes, you said I can\'t find her even if I tried."

"Yes, it\'s related to \'them\' so let\'s talk about that in my house."

"you mean…"

"yeah.."

Both of them walked to her home. The huge gate opening for both of them, pushed by the tall muscular hired guards with the name of the Merchant Company on their chest armor.

The smooth marvel pathway they walked on was wide enough to pass even two carriages if necessary. He gazed around the extensive green garden decorated with many flowers and rare trees. All of them, laid properly in the right positions to enhance the beauty even more.

Small birds and animals flying and running around. There were even ten or eleven gardeners, cutting the unwanted grass and pulling away most of the long weeds. It really was managed properly. When he was watching it from far away. It seemed beautiful but looking closer. The beauty of the garden intensifies to a whole new level, matched with the whole white mansion itself.

All the workers there bowed as they all saw their master walking past them. The entrance of the house opened and six maids came out with different accessories, waiting near the entrance door.

Bela took the cold drink from the maid nearby and drank it all in one fell swoop. They couldn\'t give Atlas one cause they didn\'t even know he was there in the first place. If they didn\'t handle their master\'s guest properly knowing he was there, They wouldn\'t be able to handle the shame as first-class maids.

"Welcome home Master." They all said in unison.

Bela only nodded and entered her mansion. All the maids also followed closing the door behind.

"Keep doing what you all were doing," Bela said waving her hand away.

"Yes, Master." They all started walking away in their own work-related direction.

Atlas and Bela both walked up to her private office where no one was allowed to come without her order.

"I thought, you would also have a personal maid or something," Atlas said remembering his own personal maid (Anna) after gazing at the maids before.

"haha….I have, but she\'s busy at the moment."

Finally reaching her private office, she took a bottle of alcohol from the drawer and poured it on two wine glasses on the table near the sofa.

"Have a drink."

Atlas nodded and scanned it with his all-seer first.

\'hmm…..nothing mixed in I see.\'

He gave it a taste, taking a sip. The brown alcohol flowed around his tongue giving him a rough flavor. He knew the alcohol was a good one as it was a five hundred years old drink scanning it with his "all-seer" but his taste buds didn\'t like it one bit.

"So would you be so kind to tell me, why I can\'t find her?" he said putting his drink down.

"...straight to the topic huh. hmm…..how should I say this?....the girl you were looking for was a spy, part of the All-father\'s Familia."

\'what? Familia? Are they some sort of mafia or something?\'

"so? More reason to find her then."

"...that is impossible now. The only chance to catch her was the time when we both met but now, looking at her empty room with no evidence left behind. She must have been called back or somehow got info on her identity being blown away, changing her form after that."

"changing her form? Wait, what?"

"She isn\'t just part of the familia for nothing. She is an awakened, her bloodline origin being related to one of the most dangerous assassins in the past. She can hide in the shadows, change her form, copy people, and take other people\'s form giving her the capacity to hide even in plain sight.

She can even be one of the gardeners outside but I know she won\'t take that much of a risk. So finding her is nigh impossible now when she knows that her previous cover is blown, taking a new form, a new identity along the way.

Ha…..just thinking about her is giving me a headache."

"hm….i see, if you know her gender at the least then you must also know her name?"

"…that is also a no. the only way we even knew her gender was because the ratio of her taking a women\'s form was much higher than a male one."

"Only that?"

"It\'s embarrassing to say but…. yes"

\'So I really can\'t find her. I don\'t have her real name, don\'t have her pure mana signature, anything. How can I find a person who doesn\'t even have a proper identity…haa….I guess I will have to report it to Joseph first.

He would be pissed to hear an enemy spy was working under her nose for a year now.\'

"Thanks but how did you get that info then?"

"hm? Oh…had to spill some blood, haha." She said with a sadistic smile.

\'Looking at that reaction, it would be best to not ask more.\'

"Then….. how is the conflict going on?"

"hmm…..honestly, it\'s pretty bad, I might have to leave this country at this rate. They are attacking our most significant business areas in upper-tier kingdoms. My dear friend, there isn\'t handling it well enough." She said her fingers twirling on her long hair.

\'Oh! She can be nervous sometimes huh. These people are even giving her, a peak tier bloodline individual a hard time. I guess they are really some force to be reckoned with. Well if she went, it would be a bit sad.\'

"So you are going?" he asked.

"I might…" she said with a bit of a sad tone.

"I want to help if I can do something…"

"…..then can you come with me?"

"haa...sorry, Bela but I can\'t leave this city yet."

"I see….." she said in a sad voice.

\'Should I really just kidnap him? If I hinder his vision, he won\'t be able to use his \'blink\'. Ha…. I should have put some sleeping drops on that alcohol. Dammit!\' she thought.

Bela with her drink in hand sat close to him on the sofa, leaning on his shoulder. She wanted to take him forcefully but she controlled her nature thinking he might hate her in the end, which she really didn\'t want right now.

Atlas seeing her gloomy look sighed and pulled her closer, placing his hand around her shoulder.

Feeling his comfy hug, she snuggled on his chest, putting down her glass of alcohol.

\'ha...I missed this feeling so much. I wish I could stay like this forever and ever. If it wasn\'t for that All-father. I would have been spending my daily life with him like in the past few days.

I have to kill him soon and be done with it. Can\'t waste my time with this stuff any long….\'

"You are coming back, right? So I will wait for you here." He said

"You will wait for me…..?" Bela said, her cheeks turning light red.

It was just a sentence, said by any friend or lover or a family member but the moment she heard him saying he would wait for her. Her heart started beating rapidly. Her eyes sparkling as she gazed at him.

"Well, of course…." He answered.

Bela came near, staring at him without a single blink. She wanted to give a strong and passionate kiss but his juicy lips were hidden behind the dark mask, which she herself gifted. Having no choice she touched his mask around his cheeks, feeling the hard plate.

"Don\'t worry, I will come soon. I won\'t keep you waiting."

Atlas took her hand from his mask and holed tightly.

"Don\'t keep me waiting, then."

Bela nodded, still not leaving his sight. She hugged him tightly. Feeling his warmth. It wasn\'t their final meeting or anything but she just wanted to be close to him, listening to his heartbeat.

Looking at the situation, he changed his mask in that small time frame and hugged her back. Her skinny but delicate hands, gripping him tight around his back. Her soft pillow-like bosoms pressing on his chest. It was really a good feeling.

After watching Alina cry in pain and confronting a murder scene right at the morning was playing his mind, no not even that. The main reason was that the people around him were taking death too lightly. Was it because she was just a normal person with a normal bloodline or something entirely, no he knew the truth, this is not the same world with the same laws but now he didn\'t care anything about that.

He only felt the hug of the women who he now dearly cared about.

\'I don\'t need the promotion right away so let\'s relax a bit…\' he thought, as he drank his glass of alcohol again.

*****

Thank you for reading! The next two chapters are free on patr eon (https://www.patr eon.com/Highelder), eight chapters beyond that for three dollars, and many more for five dollars (five-chapter release a week at this tier).

And if you want to ask any questions I\'m in discord: https://discord.gg/QbWyAP3Y8j