In the Whispering Pages, Emma rushed down to the downstairs and saw Bella finishing her dealings with the customers.
After the customers smiled and left with their newly rented books, Emma walked over to the counter and excitedly asked.
“Has my brother come yet?”
“Jesse?” Bella looked at the adorable little girl and shook her head. “No, he hasn’t.”
“Strange…” Emma pouted and leaned against the counter. “I visited his room and saw that he had logged back in. Maybe he is coming later tonight…”
Bella smiled faintly and looked over to the door. Her heart started racing with nervousness, and she wondered if he would finally show up.
She then shook her head and returned to her book at the counter.
At that moment, the door opened, and a tall figure walked in.
Bella and Emma immediately looked towards the door, but it wasn’t who they were expecting.
“It’s you.” Emma glared maliciously, but she looked like a harmless bunny.
“Ah, hello, Prince.” Bella formed a smile and asked. “Returning the books?”
Prince smiled and nodded. He wore a three-piece suit with a buttoned vest and a black tie. The undershirt was white, the vest was black, and the pants were tailored to perfection.
His blond hair had recently received a haircut, making it look neat and well-groomed. He could easily be mistaken for a real prince.
After returning the books to Bella, Prince looked over to the wall behind her and saw a new poster. This time, it was a different picture, but the name stayed the same, and the bounty had received an explosive increase.
‘Another wanted poster.’ Prince thought to himself and wondered. ‘Why is Miss Bella gathering his wanted posters? They must be acquainted with each other.’
“You are done returning the books; you can leave now.” Emma said while making a shooing motion with her hand.
“Emma…” Bella said with a wry smile and turned to Prince, giving him his special ‘library card.’
With the card, it was possible to get some discounts on books and other items in the library.
“With your recent purchase, you received our library pass.” Bella said with a smile.
“Oh.” Prince looked slightly surprised, then accepted it, and as he was taking the card from her hand, he accidentally brushed against her fingers. “Thank you…”
“No problem,” Bella replied with a friendly smile.
“Miss Emma.” Prince bowed in a gentlemanly manner towards the little girl and then turned to leave.
The door was then opened and closed by his departure, making the bookstore again relatively empty.
“Hmph.” Emma pouted and crossed her arms in a deviant manner. “We should ban him from ever entering our store again.”
Bella giggled and covered her mouth. “He is a nice person, and he offers protection for our store. It wasn’t this peaceful back in Yatagarasu.”
“You know he isn’t only coming here for books.” Emma said with a pout. “You should ask something about the books he rents and see whether he knows anything.”
Bella stopped reading the book and slowly closed it. She then turned around to look at the newest wanted poster and touched her rosy lips with a thoughtful expression.
‘I only like…’ She opened her interface, pulled out her chats with a player named ‘Ambrose’ and saw that their previous messaging was quite a while ago.
She sent a few messages while he was voyaging in Dark Waters, but she didn’t want to disturb him while he was on his journey.
She started typing a message and soon pressed send. She waited anxiously for his response.
Emma tiptoed towards her and asked. “What are you doing?”
“I sent a message to your brother.” Bella replied, biting her nail anxiously. “I asked where he was.”
“Has he answered?” Emma asked curiously.
“Not yet.” Bella shook her head nervously.
At that moment, she heard a ding as a result of receiving a new message.
[Ambrose: Amaterasu]
“He is here…” Bella looked at the message with a mix of excitement and anxiety.
“Oo!” Emma excitedly hopped like a bunny. “Is he coming here?”
Bella sent another message to ask that question.
Soon later, she received an answer.
[Ambrose: Want me to?]
Bella’s heart skipped a beat, and she bit her nail with a blush creeping up on her cheeks. “What a devilish question. Meanie…”
“What did he say?” Emma anxiously asked.
“Uhm…” Bella let out a shy smile and started writing another message. “He didn’t answer yet.”
At that moment, she pressed send, sending her message with a simple ‘yes’ towards Ambrose.
Ding, ding—soon, she received the final message.
[Ambrose: Coming soon, there are some business matters I have to deal with]
“He is coming soon…” Bella replied and closed the interface with a beating heart.
“Yay!” Emma threw her arms up in the air and cheered with innocent laughter.
…
[Silver Heart Dojo]
A black poncho-wearing man stood in front of the gates of the dojo with a sigil of a silver heart. He didn’t care about the neighing of horses or the chatter of people in the background.
Instead, he was completely focused on the task at hand, and with a single step, he stepped through the open gates and entered the yard of the dojo.
Before Silver Heart’s raid with Zahhak, it would be impossible to enter Silver Heart dojo this easily. The entrance was always packed back then, and the yard was filled with the members of the dojo.
Now, the yard was eerily quiet and empty.
However, faint sounds came from the backyard, as most of the Silver Heart members were training there instead.
Ambrose trotted across the dojo and slid the sliding doors open, opening his view to the backyard, where about two dozen players trained and fought together.
He crossed his arms behind his back and watched the training session with a keen eye.
At that moment, he felt a sharp blade touching the back of his neck, followed by a deep voice.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“Teddy.” Ambrose recognized the voice and looked over his shoulder at the muscular figure holding the blade. He had sharp eyebrows with well-defined facial features.
“You know my name, but who are you?” Teddy asked and yanked the hood off Ambrose’s head, revealing his inhumanly handsome face with striking purple eyes.
“Your face…” Teddy’s breathing quickened as a certain wanted poster was the discussion of the entire Silver Heart.
Last night, they spent time around a campfire, cursing a certain name and sharing stories.
They thought the picture in the wanted poster was wrong and that the Inquisitors had mistaken, but now he was certain that the picture didn’t really do justice.
“Ambrose…” He stepped backwards, but still kept his sword pointed at him. He wasn’t sure how he should be acting.
The downfall could be attributed to Ambrose’s doings, but they were also at fault.
“What are you doing here?”
“I want to talk to Alice.” Ambrose said, his voice low and even.
“Ambroseeee!” An enraged shout came from the backyard.
Ambrose looked over his shoulder and saw Leprechaun wielding a longsword while rushing at him.
The other players were utterly shocked as their primary enemy just appeared in their dojo on this random day!
“I see that y’all are still angry.” Ambrose pulled out his wooden sword and blocked Leprechaun’s rageful attack without any effort. “That is as expected.”
Tap, tap—as the gentle footsteps sounded from the stairs, Leprechaun and everyone else quieted down. They turned and saw the beautiful silver-haired young woman standing on the final step of the stairs.
Her eyes looked gentle, mixed with confusion and worry, as she looked at Ambrose, who didn’t resemble his previous self one bit.
“J-Jesse?”
“Hello, Alice.” Ambrose smiled confidently. “I want to have a talk.”