While Souta and the rest were talking they heard a knock on the door.
"Hmm...?" Souta raised his eyebrows as he turned his head. He guessed that they were here. It's impossible for the officials of this country to leave them alone while giving them a luxurious place to rest. Of course, they must have some goal.
Well, he could guess their goal as it was quite obvious. They must've wanted a Master-class Knight to stay in their country.
Mae stood up and said, "I'll go and check it." She then left to see who's coming to see them.
After a while, she came back with a group of five people. The five people consist of two women and three men. The one who's leading the group was a handsome man with long blonde hair with white skin.
Souta ignored the rest as he focused his attention on the tall man wearing full plate armor with a blue cape. The tall man had sharp blue eyes and short brown hair. What caught his attention was the aura he was releasing.
'Oh? Finally met an expert of this world.'
He said inwardly as he guessed that this man must be the Master-class Knight of this country.
The tall man's demeanor was cold and fearless. He was the strongest in the group while the seductive woman beside him wearing a dark blue robe with gold trimming was only second to him.
This woman was trying to hide her mana but it seems that her control wasn't that great. Maybe, a level 3 [Mana Manipulation] skill.
The other three including the handsome man were just weak individuals. Maybe they have some sort of artifacts that could hide their energy like him.
He looked down at his wrist and saw two bracelets around it. One was the artifact that Alice gave to him to hide his appearance and the second one was the [Bracelet of Silencing] that he got from Raeshka, the Destruction Queen.
[Bracelet of Silencing](Orange): A bracelet of who wandered around the continent while hiding her powers. She secretly kidnapped children from different countries and used them in her experiment.
Effect: +60 Intelligence, +30 Vitality, +100 Health Points, +200 Mana, +5 Mana Regen
Passive Skill: [Energy Stealth] This skill can hide the wearer's energy from the senses of the people in the surrounding area. It has a limit as this skill can't hide the energy fluctuations from level 80 creatures and above.
The five people looked around the room and focused their attention on Alice after they saw her.
The other officials already said that the Master-class Knight was a beautiful woman like a fairy but they didn't expect that she was really that beautiful.
'Why are people in this world getting shocked by Alice's beauty every time they saw her?' Souta said inwardly. At first, he was like them. When he saw Alice at that time, he was surprised at how beautiful she is but he's now used to it.
Well, Great World Imperium wasn't lacking in beautiful women like her so people got used to it. Also, there were hundreds of races in the Great World, and some of the races have their own definition of beauty. So for some races, Alice's appearance was just normal.
"Forgive me for entering this room without any notice. I'm Janford Raymaine, A secretary governor of the Department State. It's my p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to meet a Master-class Knight." The handsome man said in a polite tone.
"I'm Cirus Oxcram, the Head of the Military Department. It's nice to meet another Master-class Knight." The tall man introduced himself.
After him, the woman wearing a dark blue robe introduced herself, "I'm Alyssa Sydmond, the vice-head of the Military Department."
Then, the other two people introduced themselves. They were also officials but their ranks were lower than the first three people.
Souta glanced at Alice and saw that she was simply observing the group without saying anything. It seems that she didn't plan to introduce herself.
Alice glanced at Souta as if she was asking him for help. She didn't want to talk to these people.
He laughed inwardly and turned his head away from her gaze. He was planning to leave it to her for the time being. Even if she offends these people then it's fine for him. After all, it was his decision to leave it to her and he will accept the consequences.
Alice narrowed her eyes when she saw him turned away. She sighed and opened her mouth. She started the conversation by introducing herself.
Their conversation was long and Alice was answering them in simple words. The officials talked about their country and the benefits that she will receive if she stayed here.
The one who ruled the Gyunar Republic wasn't a king nor an emperor but instead a president that the citizens choose. Well, that's what the public knew but the vote was altered by the nobles of the country who secretly ruled this place.
The nobles ruled this country. Well, it's also because of them that this country became one of the three dominant countries in the world. Nothing much to say about it.
While they were talking Souta excused himself and left the room.
He sensed that the person who was following them even followed them inside the palace.
Oho? What a bravery? Is that person not afraid of the power of this country?
'That person possessed some ability. Entering the palace without getting detected by the guards is hard.' Saya said to him.
'Yeah, it's good that's why I'm done ignoring that person.' Souta replied to him as he vanished in his position and head towards the direction where he sensed the person that was following them.
Swoosh!
As soon as he moved he sensed the person moved too. That person was trying to escape the palace now.
In just a few minutes, both of them were out of the palace and were chasing in the middle of the city. Of course, some of the guards with s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e senses detected their movements. But they were too slow to follow the two who were moving at astonishing speed.
Their movements were so fast that the ordinary people couldn't saw him. They only felt a gust of wind passed beside them. Some of them saw blurred figures and that's all. They didn't even know that Souta and the unknown person run on their side.
Another minute had passed and Souta saw the person turned into alley.
He kicked the ground and followed that person. He then suddenly stopped moving after he turned into the alley. It was because he saw the person didn't run anymore.
The person that was following them was on the opposite side while looking at Souta. It was none other than the woman who won the fighting competition in the Buckshawn State.
Both of her hands were in the air indicating that she didn't have a plan to run anymore. She must have guessed that there's no point in running away.
Souta was fast and she couldn't outrun him.
"Fine, I wouldn't run." The woman said to him.
Souta narrowed his brows and slowly asked, "Who are you, and why are you following us?"
"Okay, since you caught me I'm going to answer your question." The woman replied to him. She paused for a moment while looking around before she added, "But first we should leave this place. The guards are going to find us soon."
"Fine, let's find some quiet place. If you run away then I will not show any kindness."
He said as he turned around. He finally understood why this woman dared to follow him in the palace. She possessed speed that could rival any B-rank powerhouses in the Great World Imperium.
"I know."
The woman nodded at him nonchalantly. She then followed him as both of them disappeared before the guards arrived at the place.
The guards arrived at the alley and they've found nothing. They were sure that they've detected the slight mana fluctuations come here in this place.
"Where is it?"
"We detected that it run here?"
"But why did the fluctuations suddenly disappeared like nothing happened?"
"I don't know."
"We'll investigate it further and try to find the answer to it."
The guards called for more people to investigate the place. This was the capital and they wouldn't let something that they couldn't understand occurred in this place. They would do everything to know the reason behind it.
Unfortunately for them, the reason for this incident was both powerful people. They wouldn't find these two people no matter what they did.
...
Souta and the woman were on top of the large building. They were looking at the palace.
"How about you start introducing yourself?" He looked at her from the corner of his eyes.
"I'm Lydia De Capell." The woman simply said her name to Souta. After a while, she added, "I'll tell you why I'm following your group."
"Go on," Souta said to her.