ANNOYOING SITUATION

What… the fuck! Sage thought.

No other words came to mind as she gazed upon the collapsed figure of the half-elf. Kaylee was clearly drunk.

How the hell did she get into that state? Sage asked herself.

She continued to stare; and she was not the only one. Practically everyone on the street was staring at the half-elf mercenary with dubious eyes. From the expressions of the people it was clear to see that an intoxicated person wandering around did not happen occasionally in the Green District.

"What a moron," She muttered, returning to her book.

She had finished with it a while back and was actually studying the spell models for [Conflagration] and [True Image] which she had placed within the pages to avoid drawing attention. She had seen a few mages walking around this place. None of them had been something impressive; there had not been one of them above the 3rd Order. However, as practicing sorcerers they would obviously be able to recognise that she was studying spells if she left them exposed in the open. The last thing she wanted was some over-enthusiastic moron coming over and trying to initiate a conversation with her.

"Are we just gonna leave her like that Master?" Nyx asked her, briefly removing his teeth from the rare steak.

"Why not?" She replied. "If something happens to her it will entirely be her fault."

As a woman, the half-elf had to be aware of how dangerous it was to be intoxicated in the absence of trusted company. Taking advantage of the drunk and intoxicated was probably more common on Aran than it had been on Earth. The law in this world did not seem to cater to the public so the chances of someone getting punished for taking advantage of a drunk woman were negligible; unless she happened to be a noble. Sage highly doubted that was the case with the half-elf.

"Those shady looking guys seem to have plans for her?" her Familiar casually pointed out before returning to gnawing his meat.

"What guys?"

Her eyes shot to where Kaylee had fallen and sure enough she was being pulled up by two guys. These men were well-dressed, so the shadiness that Nyx alluded to was easy to miss if one did not pay attention to their shifty eyes. Their faces bore twisted smiles as they each swung one of Kaylee's arms around their necks and began to lead her into the alley she came from while whispering something Sage could not hear. If she had to guess they were false words of concern that were uttered for the sake of the witnesses.

What a bunch of douchebags, she thought as she watched them.

They were about to vanish into the alley when she put the book down and sighed.

"Ah fuck!" she breathed out.

Then she fished into her purse, brought out three silvers and placed them on the table.

"Store my book Nyx," she ordered as she got up from her seat.

Without waiting she used {Blink} and vanished momentarily to appear in front of the duo and their would-be victim. When they saw her appear in their path the two douchebags came to a halt as they shot her looks of disbelief.

"Thank you for taking care of my friend kind sirs," she said. "I'll take her from here. You can return to what you were doing"

Without waiting for a response she stepped forward and reached for the comatose mercenary. However, before she could grab hold of Kaylee one of them let go of the half-elf stepped forward to cut Sage off.

"What are you talking about lady?" he said with a cinch of venom in his voice. "This woman is our friend. I've known her my whole life."

"Yeah," his friend backed him up. "Maybe you've confused her for someone else. I suggest you move out of the way if you know what's good for you."

Sage stared at them in puzzlement.

Where these morons serious? She had just appeared out of thin air in front of them and they only seemed to be momentarily fazed before regaining their composure. It was worth noting that these to arseholes were normal. Their physiques were Grade 5 and their aptitudes were H. Where then did they get the courage to confront and even threaten her?

Do they have some kind of hard-core backing? she wondered. After thinking, she that offered them an amused smile. Do they believe it will scare me off somehow?

Her expression must have ticked the douchebag that was blocking her way off because he suddenly let out a dissatisfied grunt and pounced on her with fists raised.

"I told you to m-AHHHHHHH!"

Before he could touch her she cast [Terror] on him, causing the arsehole to abandon what he had been about to do and release a bloodcurdling scream. The amplitude of his scream directly rose to a level where she was tempted to cover her ears'; and she was about to do it. However, before she could the horrific scream ceased and the douche dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Did he just-

"What have you done!" the second shitbag shouted.

Kaylee was instantly forgotten as he cast her aside and rushed to his fallen companion. Sage paid him no mind as she watched Kaylee fall. Instead of moving to catch her she remained where she stood, resulting in the half-elf's head hitting the ground with a thud.

"Ouch," came Nyx's voice. The cat suddenly jumped out of Sage's shadow and landed on her shoulder. She did not mind its action as it continued to speak "That will come and bite her later."

"I hope it bites her right in the arse," she responded grouchily. "It would serve her right."

Honestly, she was really tempted to leave her here, to make her learn a lesson.

If you're going to get drunk alone do it in a safe place… like your inn room! she wanted to shout.

As much as she was tempted to do though she could obviously not afford to let anything happening to her anchor so she could only suck it up and grabbed her.

"I swear, you owe me for this," she muttered as she put Kaylee's arm around her neck and hauled her to her feet.

Maybe after this she would stop asking for the stupid money she had taken from their group.

"Anders!" screamed the final douche as he hunched over his collapsed comrade.

He was in a panic as his hands roamed around his fallen friend's throat and midsection. When he saw her looking on casually he exploded in rage.

"You fucking bitch!" he exclaimed. "He's not breathing. You killed him you fucking whore!"

"Oh," Sage responded, surprised.

She had only been trying to scare him when she cast [Terror]. If she really wanted to kill him she could have used other spells. Even so, she quickly resumed her normal posture; the douchebag's death, as unintended as it was, was no skin off her back. She would not lose any sleep over it

"Oh?" the arsehole's anger flared at her nonchalance. "Do you know who you just murdered?"

"No?" she replied. "Should I?"

"He's the son of Duke Tremas!" the man shouted. "Mark my words bitch; he will make you pay for what you have done!"

As soon as the spectators heard the name Tremas gasps could suddenly be heard across the entire street. This Duke was quite the individual if he could elicit such a reaction here. This alone was enough to cause Sage's heart to sink just a little. If the parent of the dead douche truly was a duke then this matter would not die easily.

Still though, it was not something that rendered her paralysed.

"Okay," she responded, casting [Dimension Door].

The last thing she heard as she before she dragged Kaylee's comatose form through and closed the Door was the continued shouts of the mourning moron about how she would not be able to escape no matter how far she ran.

Looks like it's time to switch to a new disguise, she thought after the arsehole's annoying voice disappeared.

But first, her gaze wandered to the unresponsive woman whose arm was wrapped around her neck.

What do I do about her?

The Door had taken them to the roof of a several-storeys building so they could avoid attention. Now that there were no other presences she dropped the half-elf, causing her to hit the hard surface of the roof with a thud. Another addition to Kaylee's suffering when she woke up; served her right.

Surprisingly, when Kaylee's head made contact with the roof she regained consciousness. It was the drowsy kind though.

"Where <hick> am I?" She slurred her words through hiccups as her unfocused eyes wandered around and landed on Sage. Then the twisted smile from earlier returned. "You! <hick> I found you <hick>. Now I'm gonna strangle you until <hick> you give back all the money <hick> you took from us <hick>."

She stood up and lunged for her, but Sage merely side-stepped, causing her slip on her wobbly legs and crash back onto the roof. This fall, which looked very embarrassing by the way, did not seem to deter her.

"Stand still <hick> you corpse bitch <hick>," Kaylee slurred as she got back to her quaky feet. "Let me <hick> strangle you and until you give my gold back."

She tried to pounce again and was met with the same results, though this time her impact was harder.

"This is sad," Nyx commented, watching her get back to her feet once more.

"Annoying is what it is." Sage was pretty irritated, "I'm tempted to just kick her in head and have her sleep for the duration of her intoxicated state."

"Then why aren't you?" her Familiar asked. "Do you enjoy seeing her make an ass of herself? I do!"

"It's not as enjoyable as I would like," she replied. "Though if I had a phone I would record this and upload the video for everyone to see what a moron I have to deal with."

"A what with a what?" Nyx seemed confused.

"Don't concern yourself with it," she brushed him off.

"Are you <hick> mocking me?" Kaylee's slur angrily interrupted them. Her eyes were suddenly filled with a blaze as she charged forward. "Stop that you fucking arseholes!"

This time, instead of dodging, Sage punched her square in the face. The blow caught the half-elf between the eyes and sent her dropping like a sack of potatoes.

"She is gonna be in hell the next time she wakes up," Nyx comment, sounding just a tiny bit elated.

His tone caused Sage to eye him out the corner of her vision. Is this cat a sadist? She could not help but wonder.

However, her attention was quickly diverted back to Kaylee. The half-elf looked out of it now, but she seemed to be mumbling something.

Sage crouched down so she could hear what she was saying.

"You will regret this <hick>," she mumbled in her sleep. "Fucking Greggo <hick>, fucking Thelma <hick>, Elmer <hick>. I'll show you <hick>. I'll fucking show you <hick>. The Kaylith you knew is no more <hick>."

And then she was snoring.