“W-What’s wrong? Why is everyone looking at us like that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because of the dragon flying behind us? Surely you realize that it is not normal under any circumstances.”
Aurora felt the awkwardness of the situation rise the more she was being stared at. These people did not know who she was, but they were still pointing toward her and making comments.
And because Aurora was someone who had lived through these floors before, she could understand what these people were saying.
‘Abnormality’, ‘an omen’, ‘destruction’.
Most of them were afraid because a dragon had suddenly appeared in their settlement. Many soldiers were even standing at ready with their weapons. They were seen as an enemy.
“Oi oi oi. I think there has been a misunderstanding here. We are not enemies, nor are we bad people. There is no need for you to behave like this with us.”
Rita tried to reason but all her words went in from one ear and out from another. It was not like these soldiers could understand what she was saying so they could not help but think of them as enemies.
Ur roared to get the people to back down but it seemed to have the opposite effect on the soldiers. Instead of being afraid, they looked more determined than ever to fight back.
“This is not good. Will we have to go through a whole settlement’s worth of force? I don’t want to hurt these humans.”
Rita was soft-hearted. She was hesitant to hurt her fellow humans but no other person in their group had that problem.
Aurora was even ready to make this settlement disappear from the abyss map when the forces parted to allow a familiar figure to emerge from behind.
“L-Lady! Are you here to help us get rid of these strangers? H-Hurry up and kill them with your mystic powers.”
‘Just what did Ava do in this short amount of time to get this reaction from the locals? Why do I have a feeling that I don’t want to know anymore?’
Aurora looked Ava in the eye to ask what she did. But the other silver-haired girl seemed to not even look guilty for manipulating the locals.
“Let them in. These people are my servants so treat them with respect.”
“Who is your servant-“
“Rita, not now.”
Rita was seething after hearing Ava’s comment but Aurora stopped her before she lashed out. She had seen how the locals had relaxed after Ava had proclaimed the group as her servants.
Maybe it was better to pose as her servants to enter this place than to fight against the flow of an entire settlement.
“O-Of course my lady. We will show them in right away.”
“Phew, it’s nice to see that our lady has so many powerful servants under her command. She is incredible.”
“Well, of course. She is the reincarnation of our long-lost king after all. This much had to be expected.”
Rita had a weird face when she heard all this. Even Aurora found it all rather irritating but did not judge the people.
First of all, she wanted to hear what was happening from Ava’s mouth before making assumptions. And then she was going to smack Ava across the face for creating this misunderstanding.
They were led to a faraway room and only once they were alone did Aurora breathe a sigh of relief.
The constant pressure of having eyes on her was nerve-wracking.
“Now explain. What the fuck did you do to make these people into your willing slaves? Reincarnation? What bullshit. I thought overlookers were older than these settlements.”
Rita explained with questions as soon as they were alone. Even Quince had a curious look in his eyes but he was controlling himself better than Rita.
As for Ava? She just sighed before opening the door. The only thing that lay on the other side was a huge painting of a familiar face.
The man in the painting looked like Ava but there were certain differences between that portrait and Ava.
“What the hell? Why does that man look exactly like you? Did you have a secret son or something?”
Rita asked, her brain coming to the obvious conclusion. Ava’s deadpan face made all the irritation Aurora felt worth it.
“What son? I am an overlooker. We can’t genetically reproduce. This child was just a doll I made to represent me when I was looking after this floor in the past. I had no idea he became a king for these people or anything.”
That made much more sense than Ava having a biological son. Frankly, Aurora could not see Ava being a mother, never less a good one. Ava was just too frank and unyielding to look after someone.
“Yeah, that makes sense. There is no way anyone would have survived under your watch. They would have starved in their first week with you.”
“Exactly. I am not someone who can look after people and…hey, I did not appreciate you making fun of me.”
Ava was back to her usual self and so was Rita. Aurora just did not care about the history of this floor and what was going on here to care too much.
“So, should we start looking for ways to clear this floor now? Does anyone have any idea where the exit is? What about you Ava? You were in charge of this floor for some time so you should know.”
Rita had a good point. As someone who had shared their senses with this floor, Ava should know every space available on this floor. But things seemed to not be like that.
If that were the case then Ava would not have to separate from the group to find this settlement. Nor would she have decided to come here for rest.
“Things don’t work like that. It’s been centuries since I’ve been in charge of this floor and it has changed a lot in the meantime. It’ll be easier to start from the scarp than to rely on my memory.”
Ava’s words triggered another memory inside Aurora’s mind. She had heard it in the passing but never paid much attention to before.
“Every new overlooker changes the floor once they take over. It is a never-ending cycle.”
“Right. And this floor has gone through at least 2 overlooker changes ever since I left it. This is no longer a familiar territory.”
Both Rita and Quince got what Aurora and Ava were saying but that did not mean they had to like it.
Rita looked especially disappointed to hear the news. Her expression made her face look twice her age.
Aurora would have gladly continued this conversation but she felt an unfamiliar energy signature running away from the room.
She quickly opened the door but no one was behind it. The energy signature was running away and Aurora decided to give chase.
As much as she did not care about Ava’s secret coming out, she did not want innocent people to know the truth of this abyss she had shared.
“Do you think you will be able to outrun me? How foolish you are.”
Aurora could feel the vibration those footsteps made as the body tried to get away from her. But a wave of her hand was enough to trap the other person in a prison-like space.
She wanted to know who the person who tried to run away from her was and what did they want with her.
“L-Let me go. I did not hear anything and I don’t know anything. I swear to never mention what I heard to anyone and..”
Aurora just wanted to see the face of this daring person. Not only had they dared to run away from Aurora but also tried to lie to her.
It seemed like they had a death wish and were not afraid of their betters.
“Aurora, why did you run out like that? Is there something wrong? And w-w-why do you have someone captured like that in the open? Did something happen?”
Rita and everyone else arrived at the same time Aurora opened her stone prison. A beautiful lady was caught up in her trap.
Those lovely eyes of hers looked like they were about to cry and Aurora felt like she wanted to bully this child even more.
Somehow, the crying face in front of her looked too good to pass up and seeing it also alleviated the irritation Aurora felt.
“Aurora, did something happen?”
Rita asked once again as she looked at the trapped girl.
“Yup. Something indeed did happen right now. Rita, I think we found a local who can help us out. We should take this child into our team for now.”
Aurora’s proposal was met with deadpan faces before Rita rubbed her aching head.
Her eyes looked almost dead when she looked at Aurora and there were even hints of jealousy in her gaze.
“No, we are not taking a local in our team and that is final. We don’t have time or resources to look after a kid.”
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