Drake Helkar's point of view
Excellent, this is a perfect point to separate from her. I thought, keeping myself alert with the help of Perception of our surroundings.
"Zoe, I have to go do something." I said dryly, leaving her confused before moving away from her and blending into the crowd. "It will be better if you return to where Mork and Ness are and wait for me there."
After a few steps blending in, I decided to completely hide my presence, changing core and reducing the mana my body emitted to the minimum, just so I could catch the attention of those people and incidentally discover their true purpose.
I don't like leaving Zoe this way, but it will be for the best, since they don't look like dangerous people. I thought, before confirming that their target was me.
After Zoe's unexpected confession, it wasn't very difficult to accept and digest the whole situation, since thanks to the romcoms and stories I read in my past life, I had the knowledge and fantasy maturity necessary to overcome something like this, or at least that's what I believed, since our approach was still a bit awkward due to what she was doing in our tent while pronouncing my name.
I should have known! After her invitation to bathe together when we were still children, I should have known she was up to something weird… I thought with a smile at that moment, mounting on Ness before shaking my head at the silly thoughts I had.
Upon landing, the first thing we did was buy the necessary supplies for the long journey that awaited us, since without a fixed course, we didn't know how long it was going to take us to reach that island I saw in the vision.
Everything was going normal, until after our first purchases, I noticed a strange pattern that I confirmed by going to buy supplies in random and contradictory directions.
Yes, just as I imagined… We are being followed! I concluded, noting how 2 adult people were following us from afar on all the routes we took.
Returning to the present, I inhaled deeply to then give a long sigh with closed eyes, feeling in detail the cold and ruthless emotions run through my whole body, feelings that came with my other core, the demonic one. Preparing to confront them after my separation from Zoe, I made a deep analysis with the help of Perception of their cores, realizing that they did not represent a real physical threat to me, since they barely scraped the Advanced Rank.
They are weak, but their stealth is very good, or rather excellent for normal people. I thought seriously, before moving away from their field of vision, as the first step of my plan.
Upon feeling that they started to move, I turned a corner that led to an alley. Taking advantage of the fact that the alley looked like a labyrinth, I purposely directed them towards a dead end, making them end up there with me without realizing it.
Having them at my back, I moved nimbly along the narrow walls jumping to position myself behind them, trapping them in my play.
"Well, but what do we have here." I said with a deep voice, stepping out of the shadows and cutting off their path to the exit.
Looking at them superficially, I noticed they were two young people, a demon man and woman who upon seeing me, shuddered. Exchanging nervous glances, they tried to dodge the encounter while apologizing.
"Excuse me, we are just looking for a shortcut and got lost." Said the man, trying to go around me on one side.
"Not so fast. You and I are going to talk." I replied with a smile, blocking their path with my body and a thick layer of demonic mana enveloping me.
With nerves, they looked at me uneasily while analyzing any possibility of escape, before giving up upon seeing how I took out Belarus from my dimensional rune, making both surprised and lose hope of escaping upon noticing how my sword appeared from out of nowhere.
With the three of us locked in that lonely and dark alley, I observed them carefully.
How strange, it is very rare to see this type of demonic race in this area. I thought, frowning after confirming their race with the help of the small horns on their heads.
"Start talking." I ordered, pointing the tip of Belarus towards the ground, implying that I would be ready to use it at any second if necessary.
"Why were you following us? What is it that you are looking for?" I continued, before using Perception for a moment to track Zoe's surroundings, who was moving quickly through the streets.
How strange, there is no one suspicious around her but even so she is restless. I thought, before returning my concentration to the demons I had in front.
The man, upon hearing my questions, swallowed saliva, looking sideways at his partner before answering with a trembling voice.
"We-We were just struck by the fact that you were dragonkin. It was just that, I swear!"
"Yes! It's true!" Added the woman quickly. "We were just curious to see two of your species around here!"
Raising an incredulous eyebrow, I approached them with a firm step until I was a meter away. Without warning, I reached out my free hand and grabbed the woman's wrist, injecting a small amount of mana into my own skin.
"LIE!" I shouted with hate, making the runes engraved on my hand shine with an intense purple light.
"These runes are not ornaments. While they are shining near you, I can know if your words are truth or lies." I lied shamelessly, keeping my stony expression to intimidate them, taking advantage of the fact that they didn't look very tough. "And I know it's not true! I know you are lying!"
I am certainly a bastard for demanding the truth when I am lying, but... I thought ironically, internally thanking my ability to act under pressure thanks to my demonic core. But it works. Fear of the unknown is always the best truth serum.
Seeing their increasingly nervous looks, I understood that my strategy had worked to perfection, making panic take over them.
After keeping silent, the girl, seeing how I tightened the grip on my sword, broke, opening her mouth and starting to sing.
"Okay! Okay! We will confess!" She shouted, trembling uncontrollably while falling to her knees due to the pressure I was emitting. "But don't kill us, please!"
"Yes, we will say everything, but don't hurt her! It doesn't matter what happens to me, but let her go, please!" Continued the demon, placing himself in front of her after seeing how his companion yielded.
I looked at them in silence for a second, noticing the genuine desperation in their eyes. Wow, I think I overdid it…
Being both on the verge of collapse, I decided to lower the intensity of my mana and put Belarus away to the side, giving them enough space to breathe a little, warning them dryly that I would not hurt them if they decided to cooperate with the truth.
Calmer, although still trembling, they began to relax minimally at my change of posture.
"Start from the beginning." I ordered seriously, crossing my arms. "Who are you and why are you following us?"
The girl, taking a breath to calm her nerves, was the first to speak.
"My name is Kharina…" She said in a low voice, before pointing to her companion.
"And mine is Kuzo." The man completed quickly. "We are both independent trackers."
"Eh? Independent trackers…?" I asked, frowning at not fully understanding the term they used. "What do you mean by that?"
They answered quickly, explaining that they were a couple who were in charge of finding and locating people by commission, and that they had been hired in the Central Continent to locate all the dragonkin of this area.
Listening to their words, my mind started to work, looking for a logical answer. That they were hired? By whom? Who sent them? Markus? No... it doesn't make sense, if it were him they wouldn't have been afraid to confess from the beginning.
Feeling that they wanted to hide something, I took a step forward, using my height to intimidate them again.
"Who sent you?" I asked seriously.
Looking at each other again, they hesitated, telling the other with their eyes to speak, until after a while, Kharina opened her mouth, stammering her words. "We-We d-don't kno–". She said, before Kuzo put his hand on her shoulder and interrupted her.
"We don't know for sure, we never saw his face." He said hurriedly. "But we know the order came directly from someone in the castle of the Kingdom of Clifland."
I opened my mouth slightly, surprised by those words, making my mind quickly process the gravity of what I was hearing.
Someone from the castle, that means… that Kadian succeeded? Was it like that? No… it wouldn't make sense, because very little time passed since our farewell in Birton. Then, that means that… They killed them?
A pang of cold ran down my back upon analyzing that possibility. SHIT! If so, it would make sense why Mork and Ness returned to us or could it be that… Wait! No, that cannot be either, because it is impossible that these two trackers or the news traveled faster than dragons flying without rest.
Quickly I connected the remaining dots, arriving at the only possible conclusion, one that ended up freezing my blood due to what it meant for our journey.
"It was Boris…" I said in a whisper, confirming my thoughts after analyzing it a second time.
Changing my countenance to a much more serious and lethal one, I stared at them, telling them to tell everything they knew or consider themselves dead in that very instant, all while imbuing enough mana into my Atlas rune to make it shine with intensity, reminding them of my previous threat.
Terrified by the violet glow, they confessed everything hurriedly, telling that Clifland castle sent several people and hired a few others to look for something, with a unique description and order; find a young dragonkin of about 40 years old, accompanied by other dragonkin or an adult demoness through the Kingdom of Flok.
"In the last year that we have been traveling through these lands, we did not find any other of your species… so upon seeing you enter the city, we confirmed that our target was you, since you fit the description perfectly." Said the demon Kuzo, before continuing while averting his gaze to the side. "All so that when we found you, we would give a report of your whereabouts immediately via a Faxed to the castle, something we haven't done yet."
They haven't done it yet…? Ah shit…. I suppose they won't leave me a choice. I thought, mentally preparing myself for what was coming while my exterior continued with the questions.
"What? A Faxed? Is it an object?" I asked, not understanding what they were referring to.
"Y-Yes, a way to send information almost immediately regardless of the location." Kharina answered.
Something like that… shouldn't it be impossible for this world?
Trembling, Kuzo took out of his pocket a small metallic device similar to a marker, with crystals and magic runes embedded in it up to the last part.
Taking it in my hand, I examined and stored it, before continuing with the interrogation.
"Does everyone looking for me have something like this?" I asked quickly.
"Yes, it is something that the Kingdom of Clifland developed about 3 years ago." Kharina explained. "And few outside the Kingdom of Clifland have one, like us and others… who are looking for you."
"Others? How many are looking for me?" I asked finally, wishing to stop this theater after feeling satisfied with the information I had collected.
"W-we don't know for sure, but there are several…." They answered, swearing that that was all, and that they were not hiding anything else.
"Alright… I suppose we are finished here." I said coldly because of my core, before activating Dark Steam to cloud their senses.
"What!? What is happening to me!?" Asked Kuzo confused, while searching with his hands for Kharina to hug her.
"Please, don't kill us!" Shouted Kharina crying, before falling to her knees and begging for her life, saying to forgive them.
"I'm sorry… we were just doing our job." Continued Kuzo, closing his arms to hug his partner.
Ahh… Sighing, I grabbed Belarus with my left hand while with the right I intensified Dark Steam.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot trust you after hiding the report you made from me." I said finally, remembering the faint mana signature that was on the Faxed they gave me.
"I beg you… forgiv—" They said, before my sword passed through their necks with a clean slash, which together with the help of Dark Steam, prevented them from feeling the attack that ended up killing them.
As if it were a fountain in a beautiful park, their blood splashed through the alley from their necks, forcing me to use Atlas to hide their bodies before this turned into a festival.
Now that they know our whereabouts, we will have problems… I meditated coldly while looking for a safe place to clean the blood that had splashed on me, and incidentally investigate the route we would take in the coming months.