4 That's Crazy Talk

Yun and Astraea both agreed to leave immediately this time. Since the latter was going to leave Elendil anyways, Yun decided it would be better to set off to the North Blossom Kingdom immediately. The bar patron who eyed the pair of them intently kept watching them as they were leaving. However, this act finally was observed by both Yun and Astraea. Their gazes met briefly though the pair of them quickly left the establishment. A cold sweat ran down the man's back, but he quickly regained his composure and extended his arm up, placing a bracelet he was wearing up to his ear. The bracelet itself was plain silver, adorned with a single offset jewel that appeared to be quartz. "The spy from the North Blossom Kingdom has left," he said quietly. The bracelet was evidently an enchanted communications device. Awaiting an answer from the other side, he nodded profusely, seeming to get a response in a moment's time.

"I will chase them down then." the man nodded. He relaxed his posture before leaving the tavern himself. By now, however, both Yun and Astraea had left the town. God knows how far they'd already left. Yun, being a top class spy from the Dark Moon Guild, could easily keep up with Astraea's own quick and elegant movements. The bar patron, left in the dust, sighed as he stood away from the door of the tavern, sniffing the air. Suddenly, as if realizing something, he sped off to the east.

"We are on the run now, Sir Yun. Please elaborate." Astraea finally opened her mouth to ask Yun a question. Unlike Yun who was beginning to show signs of fatigue, the [Rose Sword Saint] didn't appear tired at all.

"Don't put it like that, Sword Saint! Anyway, His Highness is in a dilemma, as the Princess is uninterested in the sword arts, thus, he has requested for your assistance to become her tutor." Yun explained succinctly.

"Is that all?" Astraea didn't seem very angry or hassled by this request.

"That's it."

"I see..." Astraea's face was covered, but she was grinning. "This will be very interesting, then. This is the first descendant of the North Blossom lineage in hundreds of years who did not express an interest in swordsmanship! Perhaps it will help me to improve my own understanding of the sword in taking a disciple."

"You're not mad?" Yun was surprised.

"--Wait, we're being pursued!" Astraea's seemingly good mood was ruined as she suddenly halted. As she was traveling by leaping in the air by manipulating air currents, she gracefully landed on the ground next to Yun. "Stranger, identify yourself!" Astraea unfurled the cloth around her tachi, revealing its trenchant, seemingly dull form.

The bar patron from earlier revealed himself in plain sight, having chased the two of them the whole time. "How could you realize I was already on your tail?!" he looked surprised upon seeing Astraea immediately asking for his identity.

The [Rose Sword Saint] didn't plan to mess around. "You've been following us! We didn't do anything, so what could you possibly want?"

The other man grinned as he stared at Yun. Yun frowned as he placed a hand behind his back. This spy from the Dark Moon Guild was unlike his peers who used daggers or their fists. Yun was actually a concealed weapons specialist, even capable of using pebbles to assassinate others. He was ready to defend himself at a moment's notice when he felt the killing intent seeping out of the man's malicious stare. Astraea disregarded him on the other hand and did not look quite as on guard.

"Fella, this is between me and the North Blossom Kingdom," the man spat. "I'll let you live if you just leave us be."

Astraea sighed. "I don't think you're in any position to make demands." she said, standing still and letting loose an imposing aura - akin to that of a lonely tyrant who possessed all the power in the world. The man was now beginning to get rather intimidated. Who the heck is this fellow with the hat? How could he be so strong? This man immediately assumed Astraea was a man, since her face was totally concealed by her hat, increasing the intensity of her intimidation.

Yun was perfectly still, and after a moment, he finally realized something. "You guys shouldn't exist anymore!" he was surprised. "You should have been destroyed five hundred years ago! There's no way you could have possibly re-established yourselves."

The man scoffed, licking his lips and looking at Yun as if he were an idiot. "Did you think that Queen Yagyu and her retinue could totally eradicate us? Haha, her noble sacrifice was for nought. Over half a millennium we have slowly been rebuilding and recovering from our losses underground by making use of the dark energy that has been discovered near the inner core of this planet!"

When the man uttered the notion of "dark energy" and "inner core of the planet," Astraea froze in place. She had spent two of her years in seclusion trying to comprehend the origin of the worldly energies of Heralldia. While she had a theory that there was indeed a literal, physical origin, she didn't anticipate that there was actually an inner core deep underground. What was worse, the man said 'dark energy' was found near that core? Astraea tightened the grip on her tachi. Unfortunately, Yun didn't seem to take this news as calmly.

"Vile! You deserve to be put to death!" Yun sputtered in anger.

"Heng!" the man, thoroughly incensed by Yun at this point, rushed towards him at lightning speed. However, he wasn't as fast as Yun's hands as he instantly threw five shuriken at the charging man. With him dashing in a straight line, the throwing stars immediately collided into his body at precisely vital points. The man fell forward, his body dragged forward by the residual momentum. Astraea stared at Yun as if he were a monster himself. She did not need to make a move, Yun had already killed the man.

"That's crazy talk! I refuse to believe in such things." Yun dusted his hands. "Sword Saint, we must get going. I need to inform His Highness that those devil spawn from the Abyss Temple are back!"

Astraea was not too involved in worldly affairs nor Heralldia's history, thus she did not know what the Abyss Temple was, nor did she know what those fellows wanted. However, she did know that what the man said was not entirely 'crazy talk.'

She suddenly felt that this request to become the 37th Heiress' tutor might end up yielding very surprising results after all!