As Zhen Liu walked back to the Cozy Maple hotel with his family, he made sure to keep his eyes pointed forward while doing his absolute best to appear calm and collected on the surface.
In reality though, Zhen Liu was internally panicking over the possibilities on who the fuck these stalkers were.
If they were a smaller power looking for revenge, that was fine, he could handle it, but if they belonged to say, the Imperial Royal family or someone who would definitely turn heads no matter where they go...things could get messy in more ways than one.
[Those...eyes...,] Frosttusk rumbled,[ they...are...accompanied...by...whispers.]
[In...my...ears...they...call...for...violence...for blood...for revenge...]
’What do you-oh...okay, I can sense that now. Heavy...’
Due to having gathered and condensed multiple [Desire Cores] at this point in time, Zhen Liu had developed a sort of "knack" in regards to picking up certain [desires]. Granted, it still needed to be pointed out to him by the kaijin before he can actually sense it himself.
’Against who? Me? My family?’
[Not...exactly...minn...jarl...it...is...a revenge...that...is...colder...and...older...like...a...glacial...graveyard
[You want us to take out these "eyes", maestro? Dazzle and blind them for the crime of looking our way in a harmful manner?]
’Not just yet, Hurricroak. We might as well see what sort of people carry these eyes, right?’
_____________________________________________
A festival can’t always be uproarious.
Eventually, the people get tired, the food runs out and the booze runs dry.
All over Willow Scale City, hundreds and hundreds of exhausted festival goers, citizens, tourists and guardsmen alike were groggily turning in for the evening after a long and active day celebrating.
Even the nighttime guards were caught up in this wave of exhaustion, a yawn can be quite contagious after all.
But amongst these dozing fellows, these sleepy citizens, an act of skullduggery was afoot.
Cloaked in shadows and making use of a Bronze grade stealth type aether treasure, a robed figured quietly moved through the shadows of the city, avoiding the patrol routes of the city guards while making haste.
It wasn’t easy going from one side of the city to another after all, in a timely manner at least.
This robed man was known simply as "Kuro", a fake name obviously as it would be improper for a rogue of his caliber to use his real name while on the job.
Kuro moved in a rapid manner until abruptly stopping in front of a particular district in the city, one marked with a large sign reading a name in two different languages: Stomp Town.
’So this is where the exile and his kin are staying? How...quaint.’
Surprisingly, this was the one place in Willow Scale City that the robed man was unfamiliar with.
Many, many of his previous targets had all been in the main city area, like on the busy crowded streets of the commerce districts where it was difficult to be noticed, or in the noble areas where the rich employ powerful personal guards and tamed aether beasts that could rip one’s head off with a single swipe of their claws.
In other words, Kuro had absolutely zero reasons to scout out and perform reconnaissance on a little ethnic enclave that was home to nobody but foreigners and tourists.
None of them had any conflicts of interests with his employers, so why would he bother keeping tabs on them?
However, this time was different.
’Alright, if my memory serves me right, the exiled branch members should be staying at the...something Maple hotel? What a gimmicky name.’
The robed man quickly made his way into the inner parts of Stomp Town, leaping from roof to roof, and hiding away in the occasional alleyway when a guardsmen was walking by, until he finally reached what he assumed was his destination, a hotel that just so happened to look like a giant maple tree.
’Oh so that’s why it’s called the Cozy Maple...still gimmicky, but I can appreciate the novelty of it all.’
From where Kuro was standing, an alleyway several dozen feet away from the main hotel, he could sense the distinctive aura of aether warriors sleeping, coming from within this tree shaped hotel, more specifically, coming from rooms and suites that were situated on the hotel’s branches.
Several of the auras he picked up were quite weak, belonging to Acolytes and Masters, but mixed in were the much more noticeable auras of three Grandmasters and a singular Lord.
_____________________________________________
[Heads up, milord. Looks like one of those eyes have decided to take a closer look.]
[Now can we blind them, maestro?]
’Not yet Hurricroak, not yet. I want to at least know why they’re here. Maybe they’re not trying to sabotage us...again.]
_____________________________________________
The robed man stood in his hiding spot, coming up with a plan of action, or rather, a chain of negotiation.
’While it would be ideal to convince the patriarch of these exiles to join up with us so that the rest will follow, perhaps it would be easier if I negotiate with the younger generation first, since they’re a bit more impr-’
"Excuse me, can I help you?"
Before Kuro could figure out his own plan, someone had appeared out of nowhere, directly behind him.
As a professional, Kuro was only slightly thrown off his guard when someone had appeared behind him but he managed to quickly recover.
It also helped though, that he didn’t sense any killing or hostile intent coming from the person behind him.
Knowing that there was no hostile intent coming from the voice behind him, Kuro slowly turned to see who, or possibly what, was able to perform such a feat on an assassin like himself.
Once he did though, he was shocked to find that the person who had snuck up on him was none other than one of his targets, the Fourth Young Master of the exiled branch, Zhen Liu.
"Hmmm. Why is it all you assassin type characters always dress in black robes? I get that it’s supposed to be covert, but still."
Kuro could barely understand a word coming out of Zhen Liu’s mouth, since he never bothered to learn Hoof Speech, but he could at least pick up the feelings of what wasn’t necessarily contempt but boredom coming from the young man’s mouth. It was weird and unexpected, but also gave off the feeling that the young man was... unhealthily used to the prescene of assassins and spies.
Kuro couldn’t help but to wonder what the fuck kind of upbringing this man had in order to elicit such a response, but he still had a job to do.
’Well, maybe I can use this as a test run before I move on to the others,’ Kuro thought to himself.
<> Zhen Liu interjected with a strange smile on his face, <>
<> Kuro continued with a confused expression that was obscured by his robes.
<> Zhen Liu asked while maintaining that same unsettling, bemused smile, as if he knew exactly was going to be asked of him.
Underneath his mask, Kuro couldn’t help but twitch a bit at Zhen Liu’s demeanor, as it was very reminiscent of one incredibly annoying, tattooed matriarch. Regardless, he still needed to at least complete negotiation before doing anything...drastic.
Kuro didn’t expect to be having to give whole ass sales pitch in the moment, but he did know what he had to say at least.
<> Zhen Liu replied with that same unnaturally breezy tone.
<> Zhen Liu hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought, <>
_____________________________________________
[Milord? Are you actually going to-]
’No no, just fucking with this guy. You guys find his accomplices yet?’
’Huzzah, wait what was that last one?’