Chapter 2

3rd person point of view

From the moment Irvene who seemed to invite cold winds everywhere she goes stepped her feet on the town, the townsfolk began to dart their eyes at her; their hands covering their mouth as if they didn't want someone hearing their whispered chatters.

She, the focus of the rumors, couldn't help to roll her eyes. The people surely have already made their variations of rumors just to ease their curious minds. Rolling her eyes, she walked straight down the road without anyone meeting her eyes.

The place she went to was the famous store in town. Reaching it, she saw an elderly shopkeeper standing proudly with a benevolent smile on his face. Although it took only a glimpse of Irvene's presence for his optimistic attitude to turn the complete opposite.

Irvene, as if used to it, ignored his solemn attitude and did what she came to the obsolete wooden shop for.

'My, my, I haven't seen someone welcome me with goodwill,' Irvene thought.

"Good greetings, I have heard that you have the Eternal black lotus. I will gladly trade it to an orb of an equal value," Irvene started.

When her short and direct words reached his ears, the old man's brows nearly formed a straight line. His hands crossed towards his chest and looked down upon Irvene.

"I'm afraid you can't afford it! Young people like you really don't know anything about the real world. Every Black Lotus holds high value and it wasn't for the likes of you, ha, do you even know that it could only be exchanged to the rarest orb, the Black Orb?"

The man said it with an imposing manner, with his index finger up in the air, raising an eyebrow after he spoke.

He's expecting the girl to boil down her anger and show her impulsive behavior like that of a child for everyone to see. But her blank uninterested face confused his narrow-minded thinking.

'Blah, blah. Just give it to me,' Irvene thought.

Irvene bit her lips. Her hands balled into fists were hidden at her back which seemed to force her to accidentally swinging a hand at the frail old man. She inhaled and exhaled. Her beating heart calmed down and was finally able to relax.

Then she took back her right hand from her back and showed him the round black evil-looking thing known as the Black orb.

It's how the countryside people of this place perceived the orb. In Irvene's mind, it was just the same as looking at a copper coin. If only she wasn't in this village, with her status, anyone would be willing to give it for free.

The old man have his eyes widened from seeing the Rare Black Orb, his breathing hastened, his hands trembled and a brief of regret lured his mind.

'Seeing their reaction, I wonder how well can they keep calm after seeing the capital,' Irvene thought.

In other words, the people here treasured it greatly because of its scarcity and how a person would felt the difficulty of getting a Black Orb inside a monster. Nevertheless, it only served as a mere decoration other than restoring a bit of magic or get stronger for a while.

An orb that was rare to find might not be enough of an effort of one's energy unless that person could get many.

As she could observe, the people here weren't skilled enough to get a Black Orb consecutively. Although it wasn't her problem anymore.

If they could only be nice, maybe Irvene would teach them a thing or two.

The rarity of it in this town proved to be true when Irvene saw how the frail, old man trembled with his widened eyes.

That made her smirk. That old man extended his hand but she moved her hand away.

"Lotus," Irvene said.

Getting back on his wits, he hastily ran inside his store. Not long after, he handed the Eternal Black Lotus in a glass case without a second thought.

That lotus could be said to match the Black Orb's rarity. The only difference was it could be harvested once per three years. No matter the time spent waiting, they could harvest another one next time, unlike the Black Orb.

Then the old man started to change his attitude and even apologized, lowering his sky-high pride.

Nonetheless, Irvene didn't say anything and left once she got the Eternal Black Lotus in her hands.

She sighed in relief and thought, 'Finally! I don't have the time to wait after three years after knowing that it's already harvested!'

She was full of glee was walking in peace but the world was not in her favor.

'Do these villagers here enjoyed looking down on people?' Irvene said, starting to get frustrated.

They didn't feel satisfied by spreading rumors so some started making scenes to bully her even more.

"You're blocking my way!"  Someone shouted at her.

Irvene couldn't believe her logic since the road wasn't narrow nor anything was in her way. It was the insensible lady who pushed her away.

"I apologize," Irvene said, not wanting to deal with a childish lady acting out of her age. Then her plan to leave as though nothing happened had failed.

The lady didn't seem to bear the same thought as her foot was left hanging in the air when the lady took her shoulder. Her long nails even digging it.

"You plan to leave? Sorry but you can't. I demand an apology by having you as my servant!" she started. It was a ruse but she'd do whatever she wants.

"Irvene Xu! Ignore me and you'll be brought to prison!" she continued.

"Don't touch me," Irvene warned, her eyes darkened. Although her cold gaze didn't meet that girl's eyes because she dragged Irvene near a store.

It was an eatery that started to grow after a year. Irvene could see in a glance that this girl was making a scene to make her succumbed to her existence and feel helpless just because of the rumors spreading that she was weak.

A wide grin formed on her lips and whispered, "Don't regret your actions after this."

Her body began to be enveloped by a dark heavy aura. It spread throughout the surroundings, making some passer-by shiver but most were directed towards a certain someone.

Meanwhile, the lady couldn't believe that the person standing in front, Irvene, released such a powerful magic aura. Nevertheless, her actions couldn't be undone.

Her reactions were amusing but Irvene was not done. Raising her hands, she chanted,

"God of fire, with your borrowed wrath, I shall let this house perish by your endless anger!"

The ground began to shake while an enormous fire appeared, engulfing the whole store in front of them. Somehow that girl started to feel weak, balling her hands into a fist. She couldn't do anything. That was the first time her parents let her took charge of their store that was about to open at this time. Nonetheless, all she could do was to look for trouble.

On the other hand, she thought that Irvene was to blame since it's her spell. Right, it was not her.

This time, Irvene shook her head helplessly. Looking down on people too much would only lead to nothing. She stretched her shoulder that was previously dug by that lady's long nails.

"S-stop this fire! Stop it! Guards!" she shouted in every direction. Her ear-strickening voice reached a guard riding a horse. He stopped to confront the troublesome lady.

"H-help, she's burning our store!" To further make it believable, the girl started to cry.

Although, the guard furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Lady, I don't see a burning store in this area nor a burnt one. You perhaps woke up in a nightmare. Don't cause troubles," he said.     

"W-what are you..." The girl stopped her words when she turned her head on their store. It was fine. Not a single trace of burnt woods could be seen. She rubbed her eyes and almost went crazy.

"Mister, it's clear as the sky that she's lying and I couldn't believe that the people here didn't treat the adventurers well. Maybe I shouldn't suggest this place to some friends," Irvene said.

The guard felt uneasy. His boss would get mad if he heard that the guards fail to maintain peace in the village.

"The rules are clear. Lady, you should not get outside and start mumbling harmful words to others. Next time I heard about this, you'll be fined" he reasoned.

That was all he could do, thinking that the lady would stop after his warning. He left afterward and took another round in the town. The commotion they made would certainly be a reason for the people to spread some new rumors about Irvene.

Yet, Irvene didn't mind it. She was used to it as long as no one would mess around with her.

Finally, she could get out of this place. A spoiled girl shouldn't be a reason to mess up her day, so she let her thoughts wander to a different subject.

Although Irvene couldn't help but laugh after she saw how that girl believed her actions. The spell she chanted wasn't even real but only an illusion that her target could see for a limited time. To make it convincing, she babbled a fake chant although that spell didn't need a chant. It could trigger just by snapping her fingers.

Irvene was still on her right mind and wouldn't dare use a real spell. How could she fake being weak if that happened? Furthermore, she couldn't control fire.

She was entertained that she didn't notice that she was on her way home. It's a shelter away from the criticizing eyes of the people.

Her peaceful haven. It was a small house made out of wood in the middle of the forest. That little forest that no monsters located because she killed them long ago. No one knew that she killed them thus she's the only one that's brave enough to enter this area.

It was a house that was painstakingly built with the help of her magic spells. A simple house devoid of any extravagance yet provides equal comfort. Then the trees around her house have two main purposes; hiding them from the people and the heat of the sun.

Seeing the couch, tiredness entered her body. She quickly took her pillow and jumped on it. Sleeping, Irvene reminded herself that she should be careful from getting herself into trouble with the townspeople.

'It's too early, you should stay away from them Irvene,' she thought.