17 Chapter 17: Mysterious crystal

Meanwhile,

Freya watched as Oliver called Usui to another room. She didn't follow them as she didn't deem it necessary for her to follow him, she turned around to look for the reason she entered this shop.

And, right around the corner, she found what she was looking for, the people she was following before that annoying idiot disturbed her.

She was following them from the time she noticed their suspicious behaviour at the inn and noticed them walking around the place inconspicuously, looking for something.

Freya walked by the shelves, acting like she was glancing through the crystals as she stood right behind them, in order to listen to their conversation.

" Do you think this would help him?" the female one inquired her second companion.

The female asked persistently," Do you seriously think that guards won't get suspicious?"

The male answered irked, " Have you seen any guards? No right... Thunder squad wouldn't patrol around the territory at this time and as for the normal guards, we can deal with them."

The female glanced around the shop and said, "How do you know whether the thunder squad won't patrol now? It's not like we can recognise them."

The male knocked her head slightly and said, "Well, all I heard from him is that we can recognise them as soon as we spot them, with their leader wearing a mask and one always carrying a spear."

Freya tried to hide her smile as she heard his words, she wondered how Jinha would react when he hears that people recognise him through his weapon and not face.

She was glad that they took the decision to announce to their people, before the competition began, to imitate the thunder squad members. That way, it would make them easier to patrol and hard to identify the members.

The female asked, "Isn't it strange that there are many people wearing masks in this city? We have come across a few ladies who wore masks and some who carries their weapons."

" Hmm... That is strange..."

"There is even one masked person in this shop. How are we supposed to know whether they are the soldiers or not?" the female nervously asked.

"Would you please not get nervous for every single thing?" the male snapped at her. He was fed up with her getting all tensed up for no reason. He mumbled, " I shouldn't have taken a newbie for the task."

The female asked, " What?! "

The male said, "They are not on patrol. I have got news from him that they are within the palace, attending to one of their members."

Freya was surprised that they got to know about this, she wondered who could be the spy in the palace. What he said wasn't wrong, it's just she escaped through the window for a breathing space which went unnoticed by the guards.

" The crystal is not here... The only place now left is the palace. We need to get back-up now or wait for further orders."

The female sighed, "The news we heard as soon as we entered is true then, the princess got a new collection of crystals and she seems to particularly love a blue one."

Freya's eyes widened when she heard them mention ' crystal ' that she fumbled and let go of the pendant she was holding.

The loud crash and broken pendant drew attention towards her while the subordinate looked like he almost had a heart-attack losing one of the precious crystals.

" Sorry, I will pay for this."

"That was a rare one... Boss is going to kill me. " the subordinate cried.

" I will get him a better one, the next time I leave the grounds and don't worry about your boss. I can deal with him." She sighed as she bent to pick the remains.

A helper came to her, suddenly stopping her from doing his job. She politely apologized for the extra chore to which the helper blushed and stuttered," It...It's...okay"

She smiled kindly at him and paid for the broken crystal, before turning back to notice that the two figures disappeared during the commotion.

She cursed silently and proceeded to walk out but was stopped again, by the idiot prince who just came back from the room along with Oliver following behind him, who looked at her puzzled.

Usui worriedly took her hands to see whether she was injured but was glad that she wasn't. He saw her struggle to free her hand from his grip, which he did later.

But, again stopped her when he noticed that she was going out.

She furiously asked," What is it? "

She was annoyed as her plans were getting delayed by him twice.

He shrugged innocently," Umm... don't you want to see the sword I picked?"

" And, why is that any of my business? "

" I thought you stayed because you wanted to help me buy a sword. Didn't you?"

" Arghhh... When did I even say that? Is it my fault that you misunderstood me."

She pushed him out of the way and hurriedly went after them.

Usui stumbled a little by her push and was about to knock into some crystals when someone grabbed his arm and as he turned to look at the person, he saw Oliver grinning slyly at him while he let go of his hold on Usui.

He looked at the black thunder he was carrying and knew that he had to wait before he followed her and sighed.

Oliver patted him and said," Hang in there, boy."

Usui smiled and followed him back to the room.