Brushing past the princess

"And that's the gist of it," Nadia said while spreading her arms open; as if to encompass all that she discussed with the young clerk.

There was no sign of the fluster that formerly inhibited the young man's ability to deal with her. As their negotiations continued and Nay revealed more and more details of what she wanted him to do and for what price, the young man stopped looking at the girl like the girl she was, but started to see her as a walking bag of money that was free for him to just lean and pick up.

"I understand," the clerk said, standing up only to then deeply bow his head. And with his face parallel to the floor of the room, he pleaded, "I will have everything done as requested, so please, find me near the entrance of the branch in about an hour."

The young man straightened his back… only to then bow again. Then and only then did he dare to move past the girl's seat and approached the door. "In the meantime, feel free to enjoy the snacks or any of the literature kept in the room," the clerk encouraged before bowing for the third time and finally leaving the room.

"In about an hour, huh?" Nay muttered to herself, finally allowing her body and most importantly, her face, to relax.

The fake, polite smile that she bore on her lips was really tiring to keep up. Yet, as a professional, Nay was more than able to keep it on her lips for as long as it was necessary… But safe to say, it wasn't something she enjoyed doing.

Nay then heaved a long, deep sigh.

'While I'm doing nothing but just waiting around, whoever pursues us is getting closer and closer,' she thought, gritting her teeth as she had to fight off the natural desire to do something.

When the danger was closing in on her, Nay was more than happy to move to either dodge it or maybe even fully avoid the threat.

But right now, for the sake of whatever plan Theo cooked up, she was forced to just sit tight and do nothing while waiting for the time to pass.

'Still, no matter what he thought off, it's going to be one hell of a pain to escape the nobles, especially when they are so dead set on catching us,' Nay, having nothing better to do, fell into a state of deep thoughts.

The chances for their successful escape were slim. No, calling them slim was already doing them a huge favor.

And yet…

And yet, for some reason, Nay couldn't bring herself up to just abandon her master and use her skills to escape herself.

'Isn't it weird how quickly I changed from trying to set him up to actively helping him?' she thought, feeling deeper into her chair as she closed her eyes and started to analyze her own thoughts.

With nothing else left for her to do, sorting out her thoughts seemed like the best use of the time she had on hand.

'Is it his unorthodox and decisive way of both thinking and acting?' Nay asked herself after compiling all the general information she gathered on her new master over the course of the past few days. 'Is it his extremely down-to-earth rationale? Or is it…"

Nay's face turned sour, only to then grow serious all of a sudden, as a feeling that she buried at the very bottom of her soul started to rear its teeth, trying to make its way to her active consciousness.

"Nah…" Nay muttered a moment later, falling lower on her chair while pushing her hips closer to the edge of the seat. "There is no way."

The random idea that appeared in the girl's head vanished as quickly as it came to be, allowing her to remove all the doubt that made its way to her heart.

Then, already tired from doing nothing and just thinking, Nay stood up and started to pace around the room.

The time was passing slowly.

After getting herself tired of just walking around in circles, Nay sat back up and snacked on the food and beverages the clerk left behind. Yet, even this activity could only take so much of her time before further stuffing her mouth would only result in an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach down the line.

And then…

And then, just by the will of her guts alone, Nay judged that an hour has passed and casually stood up, approached the doors, and left.

Despite not having a guide to direct her through the building, Nay easily navigated through the set of corridors and stairs, all the way to the point where she emerged back in the narrow, main hallway of the building.

The bottom of the Imperial Express was far more crowded than when it was when Nay came in here herself. It was busy to the point of some people actually having to rest on the chairs that the receptionist offered to Nay before!

But that wasn't even the worst of it.

Right as she looked up to the doors that screamed freedom and safety, Nay saw the new party enter the building.

'Woah!' Nay raised her eyebrows, quickly stepping to the side to make way for the dignified guest of the Imperial Express.

'An Imperial princess? And accompanied by a saintess to boot?' Nay thought, glancing with her eyes wide open from underneath her lowered head at the party that ignored the receptionist and passed right by the counter.

Surprisingly enough, though, Nay sighed a breath of relief.

'There is no way a damn princess is chasing after that guy,' she thought, watching how her seniors of the imperial slave corp moved along the princess and saintess, always standing close enough to react to any threat but far enough not to be a bother.

The moment passed quite quickly. The dignified party skipped the reception, brushed past bowing Nay, and then proceeded to make their way deeper into the building.

And the very moment their presence no longer obstructed Nay's way to the doors, she raised her head and moved towards the entrance, more than happy to leave the building behind.

'Now that I was seen here, I can't return her ever again,' Nay thought, looking at the building over her shoulder before shaking her head and stepping onto the street.

In an instant, the girl squinted her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose.

For but a moment, Nay remained rooted in place, analyzing every last particle of smell in the air…

Before she caught it. The familiar scent hidden in the effigy that she gave to Theo and infused with enough mana-dust to spread throughout the city in a very specific gradient that was exclusive to every user of this method of tracking.

With the map of the gradient spread in her mind, Nay quickly judged the direction and momentum of the smell, easily figuring out the general idea of where the rest of her group ended up hiding.

Yet, rather than heading for the safe house right away, Nay looked around before noticing a young man waving his hand at her.

'Just a little bit more and we should be set,' Nay thought, taking a step towards the young clerk… Only to force herself to remain composed when she felt someone's stare digging holes in her back.

***

Just a fewteen meters away, right at the entrance of the Imperial Express, Sarah stood in place as she stared through the glass of the doors.

"Sarah?" Mera called out, clearly anxious to get deeper into the building and fight whoever was of the highest rank in there before squeezing all the information that he had to offer.

But the princess wasn't going to reply to her friend, not this time.

"Take one more and track that woman," Sarah ordered in a slightly hushed voice before shaking her head and wiping the serious expression of concern that decorated her face. She then put a smile on her lips and turned around to face her friend.

"Let's go and ask around, shall we?"