“Aurora, are you alright? Did that bastard do something to you? Should I go after him and end his sorry existence?”
As expected, Rita was the first one to reach Aurora. Her panicked voice was a little unexpected and Aurora held on to her arm before Rita could make any foolish decisions.
“Hey, what is going on? Where did Huges go?”
Damian and Natasha had followed right behind Rita but they were a little late in arriving at the scene.
So the scene they came across was one where Aurora held on to Rita for dear life and the redhead was pissed off and ready to murder someone.
“Everyone, calm down. Huges did not do anything except provide me with the location of the next night market. I was just a little startled by his sudden proposal so I made a fuss about it. You should not take it to heart.”
“But how can I not be worried? You were alone in here with that man. What if he had…”
“He won’t have been able to harm me. And I could tell that he had no intention to do so either. He was just relaying a message from the overlooker to not cause any trouble.”.
Rita’s angry face was right in front of Aurora. Aurora could almost see the gloomy aura Rita gave off.
And that was why she decided to stop Rita before she could fly off the rock and do something foolish.
Aurora’s words sparkled with just enough truth to not make a mess of things even if the truth came out.
“Overlooker? Why would the overlooker be concerned about us? I thought that the overlookers were not allowed to interfere in the normal abyss situations.”
Natasha sounded worried and confused. But she was not the only one who was paying attention to Aurora’s words.
Rita’s dark look said that she was thinking the same thing but unwilling to say it out loud.
It was times like these that reminded Aurora that she might want to protect and live for these people in the present but she did not trust them to be safe.
She was hiding too much from them and she would continue to hide it till she is sure about everything working out.
“The overlooker likely looked for me because she got to know about a fraction opposing the tower. Despite their neutral stance, the overlooker cannot stay out of all the abyssal troubles.”
Aurora was making it all up. Anyone who had to spend even a fraction of a day trying to understand the overlookers could tell that they did not care about human affairs.
But Aurora’s companions had no way of being able to tell that. The only outlooker they knew was Ava and even that was a relationship that started with pretending that the other did not exist.
“Now that I think about it, Ava was oddly invested to know more about the tower when I talked to her. I did wonder why that was but maybe it was to sate her curiosity?”
“It is possible. She even asked our elders for information about anything unusual happening during the last few centuries. I think she even went to the goddess of victory for information but turned away,”
The more Damian and Natasha talked, the more they solidified Aurora’s claim about her words.
It seemed like she would not have to put any effort to get the others to believe her story. They were already making excuses for her anyway.
“I guess I am overthinking it a little bit. So, what did that man tell you about the next location?”
Rita finally seemed to have calmed down after hearing Natasha and Damian’s words. Her complexion was still not what it was supposed to be but her temper was in control.
“It’s a little further but we will be able to reach it within a few hours at a modest pace. I already made preparations for us to start gathering information so I am hoping for good results.”
Aurora was not sure if she wanted to head toward the night market tonight. She was exhausted by her encounters and she also had to think about the people left under her protection.
But even with everything that had happened, Aurora’s desire begged her to move ahead and keep on going.
“What about the people?”
[0)??? “We will take them with us. They can get back to the surface without help from there if they trade away useless things in their possession.”
“So we will wash our hands off them?”
“Yes, we will.”
Aurora only had limited patience and having a group of 4 was already enough of a responsibility.
She did not have it in her to be able to care for more people and still move ahead. In that way, she was not a good leader at all.
“We should send someone to escort them out. We also use them if we direct them toward the resistance. I talked with a few people here and they hate the tower for what happened to them.”
Surprisingly enough, it was Damian who came up with this idea. Three pairs of eyes snapped in his direction at his unexpected words.
“What? I mean, didn’t you say we were lacking manpower in the resistance? These people might be weak but they can still use magic.”
Damian was not wrong about this. But this was not something Aurora had thought about.
‘Maybe that is why I am not a good leader. Once I get focused on one thing, I lose track of everything else.’
“It is a good idea. And I have someone in mind who would be able to get you all out for the right price.”
Everyone looked interested to hear who Aurora had in mind. Honestly, Aurora was even surprised that she remembered that person.
But since Aurora had been helped by the ‘witch’ once for the right price, there was no harm in getting Michelle to help them again.
“True, we can get the witch to help us. But how are we even going to afford that? The outlanders are not made up of money and neither is the academy.”
“But the resistance had some to spare. I am sure they will be able to convey my message to Rex and he will figure it out on his end.”
Aurora sent Astoria the message. The half-goddess was the best person to convey her thoughts to Rex and get away scot-free.
‘Next time, I will give Rex a system as well. It is annoying to go through a middle party for important communications.’ this was a promise Aurora made to herself before her thoughts faded away.
And the party set out to reach the night market.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢