Chapter 10

"The Golden Angel?" Marco asked, looking at the Lieutenant, who was smirking at them secretly. "Aren't you going to tell us, who they are?"

"Now, why would I do that?" Olivia asked back, trying to sip her rum but frown in slight disappointment when it was empty.

"Wouldn't it be better to tell us so that we can avoid her?" Edward hinted but merely received a glare in return.

"Ha! If it was that easy then I would have told when we met last night!" The white-haired woman slummed her mug and glared at the counter bar in front of her, remembering the multiple times the Town's Golden Angel was taken away from them multiple times when they were younger. "Just don't mingle too much with our people, you can think that the Golden Angel is any of them."

"..." Edward narrowed his before looking ahead and said. "With how you were acting, I thought that the Angel is actually the bar maiden here."

Marco glanced at his captain and then at the dragon but saw no reaction coming from her, in fact, her attention was focused on the door in front of them and soon enough they all knew why, because the bar maiden, Lucianna came through the door carrying a tray filled with food. The First Mate glanced at the female knight and nearly sweat dropped when he saw her drooling at the sight of the food.

"I miss this!!" Olivia cried out nearly gaining the attention of all the pirates but a single glance and glare from the Captain and First Mate made them look away. Lucianna merely giggled and put the tray in front of her teacher before grabbing her mug and then going to refill it. Edward and Marco glanced at the tray, blinking in amusement when it was a juicy steak with other types of meal that was all meat. The knight didn't hesitate to dig in her food, just as Lucianna arrived with her mug filled with rum as well as one other mug.

The young midnight hair lady handed over the mugs she was holding to Olivia and then to the Pirate that was sitting at the bar counter well, before crouching behind the said counter and then pulling a gigantic beer mug that was big enough for Edward to enjoy before she filled it with rum. Once she handed it over to the Pirate Captain, Luci began to give the rest of the pirates their drinks and soon enough she was back behind the counter and began to do her duties.

The bar maiden glanced around her tavern, before looking to the window from the corner of her eyes and saw plenty of townspeople passing through, even children, both human and demons glanced through the window. The pirates thought that it was merely a curiosity, but Lucianna and Olivia knew that they were making sure that nothing bad is happening to her or to the Lieutenant, despite the latter being a knight and stronger than her.

A lot of hours pass but the pirates were still in her tavern and Olivia was keeping her company and making sure she was safe at the same time. She glances at Marco before heading toward him and began to refill his mug but didn't move away once she was done. The First Mate, who was looking at his crew and making sure they weren't causing any trouble, felt her stare and turned to look at her.

Olivia looked at them from the corner of her eyes, same with the Pirate Captain but then they both soon looked away. The stare-off between the maiden and the pirate lasted a bit longer before Lucianna opened her mouth and stated.

"Seeing that you staying here for hours… does this mean that this is the meet-up point between you and the person you're waiting for?"

"...." Marco smirked at her and replied. "You can say that… seeing that this is the only place that offers drinks, meals, and lodging at the same time."

Well… that wasn't something Lucianna could argue about. Despite their town being mid-size, it was only her family that build a tavern and no one else decided to follow their type of business, still, it doesn't explain why the pirates choose this particular town to meet with whoever they were meeting.

"And you still don't have any idea on who and when you will meet with them?"

"That's right." The blond-haired pirate nodded and eyed as the maiden looked him straight in the eye as if she was searching for something, before covering them with her eyelids and moving away, standing in front of her teacher. "Why the sudden question?"

"...We don't trust outsiders," Lucianna said and as if to agree with her statement, Olivia moved the sword that was hanging from her waist to the table and patted it gently, smirking at the Captain and First Mate. "The longer you stay here, the more we deemed you dangerous."

"...Isn't it supposed to be the opposite?" Edward asked and the Lieutenant scoff as the maiden's grip on the mug that she was wiping tighten.

"Ha! That is not the way of our town." An ominous aura grew around the human-formed dragon and this made Luci step back. "For us, it just means that you planning something devious and not because you want to stay here and be native."

With the reaction that Edward and Marco are seeing, they knew that they stepped on a landmine that shouldn't be stepped on, especially by them, who are strangers. It would also explain the wariness everyone in the town has (well… it's not like the other places they docked weren't wary, however, this town is a lot more tense than the rest), the way the people seems to be gripping on something, the children holding stones and anything that could be a toy and a weapon at the same time.

Even trading merchants, which they saw earlier, weren't treated differently and were always nervous around the island. That particular nervousness wasn't just because the place was overwhelmed with dragons, but it was because they had heard of a story that was passed through each trader. Marco wondered why they didn't just stop trading with this particular town, but then he remembered how much money the traders got, so they probably believe it was worth it.

But still what was that particular story that seems to bring fear to the traders and made the people act so wary against outsiders?