"I am sorry senior, has my friend here somehow caused you trouble?" The red-haired girl asked with a polite smile to the half-blood magus.
Due to that, Magus Nimeria, who was about to go for another round of interrogation on the disguised Emery, held back from what she planned to do and turned her head around to see who it was.
There, she finally saw it – the arrival of what appeared to be Emery's friend, as the latter mentioned earlier. This naturally took out the suspicion Magus Nimeria felt.
Immediately, she knew she was wrong. In a situation like this, it was only natural to apologize. Alas, she was anything but normal.
The female half-blood magus only looked at Emery again, her expression disgruntled, before walking away towards where Magus Leon and the others had gathered.
On the other hand, Emery knew his problems were far from over. One problem had been solved, but a bigger one arrived as quickly, when he saw Annara taking a seat in front of him with her signature wicked smile.
'What is she doing here? What does she want? Why is she helping? Does she even know who I am?'
Those were some of the questions that floated in Emery's mind, as his eyes fell on the beautiful figure sitting before him.
Then, when Emery prepared himself to face what was about to come, the girl suddenly said something that completely threw him off the table.
"I am a bit tired though. Let's get the room first!"
The girl stood up, but not before slipping a small note to him. As he threw a confused look at her, Emery took it off the table and quickly read it. There were just three words: "Follow me now".
Afterwards, she walked towards the bartender, spoke with him for a moment, and looked towards Emery's direction briefly, before turning around and walking up the stairs – presumably to the room she mentioned earlier.
Seeing how confident she behaved, Emery guessed it was most likely that his cover was already blown. Hence, if he wanted to continue his plan, he had to see what she wanted. Otherwise, the consequences won't be good.
Emery stood up from his seat and walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor.
After climbing the stairs, he was welcomed by the sight of Annara waiting in front of the door. She smiled at him and entered the open door, of course not before teasing him to enter with a provocative gesture.
As he walked into the room, Emery's vigilance was raised to the max, preparing himself for any surprise, only to see the red-haired girl already sitting on the bed facing him. The girl's posture was very thought-provoking, especially the part where her legs were folded showing lots of her pale skin.
"Come in," said Annara with a faint smile.
"Don't worry, I won't bite," she added, when she saw the hesitant look on Emery's face.
Emery looked left and right, wary of any kind of trouble, as he entered the room. The girl, on the other hand, looked really annoyed when she saw this. Then, she took out a small object from her storage ring. This action of hers successfully caught Emery's attention and his eyes immediately fixed on the object.
It looked similar to a small-sized table lamp and it suddenly began to emit a soft glow, followed by the appearance of intricate runes on its surface.
Emery's apparent confusion immediately told Annara he did not know what it was she was doing.
"Huh! You lower realm peasants are really just too pitiful," She sneered. "This is a voice dampener. With this, we can talk freely without fear of someone eavesdropping on our conversation."
It appeared not only did Annara know who he was, she also knew what was going on. Hence, the reason for that object called voice dampener. She didn't want the magus downstairs to hear their conversation.
Emery was silent. He tried to reassess the situation and think of what he should do. Moments later, he stared at Annara and said in a calm voice.
"Tell me. What is it that you want?"
Annara showed a smile before saying, "Well, let's say that I am on a similar mission as yours, so I think we should help each other. What do you think of my suggestion?"
Not planning to be fooled, as there was a chance she tried to bluff him, Emery proceeded to say, "Mission? …What mission?"
Emery's reaction did nothing but annoy her. The sneer on her face grew increasingly apparent as she said,
"Unfortunately we don't have much time for pretense. I am gonna tell you what I know and you can add whatever after. However, I need us both not to get discovered by the people downstairs."
Without waiting for Emery's approval or disapproval, Annara immediately began to say everything she knew. The dubious mission involved a meeting with the White Fang Clan's chief, the objective of the mission, and Emery's task within the mission.
It was at this moment, when he heard the girl in front of him say one thing after another, Emery realized that if Klea had a way of finding out about the mission, then it was no wonder this girl had one as well.
With this, Emery started to think this mission was going to end badly, looking at the situation, where so many people already knew about this supposed 'secret mission'.
Even so, the fact Annara knew about the mission was far from enough for Emery to agree with her idea of cooperating. Not mentioning about trust, which was basically nonexistent due to the nature of their past contacts with each other, the girl was Zenonia's disciple – the person who wanted to kidnap him ever since he returned to the academy.
There were also a few other things Emery needed to know from her, before he even considered the idea of collaborating.
"I want you to answer some of my questions first," said Emery with a serious look.
The girl showed an amused look, before gesturing with her hand.
Emery immediately said, "Tell me… how do you know it was me?"
As if she had already expected the question all along, Annara showed a proud smile. She instantly opened her palm and held it out towards Emery.
Immediately after, a tiny moth-like creature flew from the back of his clothes into her open palm. She let it circle around her hand for a while, before it eventually dissipated into specks of light.
"I have been attaching this cute little thing to you since we met at Zodiac City. She has been my ears ever since."
Hearing this naturally made Emery angry. How could he not? He quickly wondered what she had learned since.
Seeing Emery's reaction, the smile on her face turned to a grin as she said,
"Don't worry, I don't particularly enjoy listening to the part with your girlfriend…"
Alas, Emery was in no mood to play around with her. He took a deep breath to calm himself and asked.
"Tell me. What's your objective?"
Noticing the look on Emery's face, Annara knew she couldn't tease the other party again. Hence, she rose from her sitting position and looked him straight in the eye.
"Well… First of all, unlike what the general populace believes, we, the Bat Bloodline, don't really like to be in the dark if you know what I mean," said Annara in a calm voice, the grin on her face was gone. "Secondly, would you believe me if I said my goal was also to make sure you were safe?"
Emery narrowed his eyes when he heard that for a moment.. It was such an absurd thing to claim, of course Emery would never believe such a reason.