"Get that sword away from me, you bastard!" she yelled, pushing herself backward and hitting the wall. "Ouch... Can you untie me? Please? I won't run away, promise."
"I will if you tell me a bit about these monarchs," Neraxis bargained.
"Ha! You want answers when you dress like them? I call bullshit, no way are you not one of them with that weird white hair of yours! You look just like their leader!" she said, squirming on the ground.
"If I were their leader, you'd already be dead, idiot," he replied with a sigh and proceeded to ask questions. "What are the monarchs? How long have they been around? Why are they sporting that hyena symbol?"
"You are a liar, but if you are a truthful liar, then I shall tell you," she stated, looking to the side while grinding the ropes tying her on a sharp rock.
Noticing this, Neraxis chose to intimidate her. "If you try to escape one more time, I will cut your fingers off, then your hands, your legs, and lastly your head. Now be a good hostage and tell me what you know."
"Hmm..." she hummed in an amused tone and leaned back, stopping her resistance. "Fine. The monarchs are some cultists supporting that hyena. All I've heard is that it's some kind of higher being, like a god or something that comes down every now and again."
After a short pause, she continued, "They've been around for quite a long time, but only a few weeks ago have their numbers increased drastically."
"Do you have a trial tower in this world?" Neraxis asked.
"Those things? We do, but barely anyone goes in since not many come out," she replied. "You're not from here? But how... Did you find a warping rift?"
A warping rift? He raised his brow. "What's that?"
"Aha... So you're just an idiot then, I see," she said, leaning back, her head hitting the wall again. "...Ouch."
[So monarchs are supporters of those Sovereign things, and they became active after you and I came back,] Evangeline deduced, and he nodded in response.
That's what I thought as well. Too many coincidences happened ever since my death and return, Neraxis thought, and sent a glance at the elf on the ground.
Since she was no longer of any use, he was going to simply leave; she'd free herself on her own later.
And that's what he did. Walking to the edge of the bell tower, Neraxis prepared to jump off.
But before he could, her voice stopped him. "I wanna pee... Edgy white-haired imposter dude, can you set me free? I'm really gonna piss myself here."
With a sigh, Neraxis took an empty vial from his dimensional ring, shattered it against the wall, and left behind a sharp piece of glass.
He kicked it over to her, and without any more distractions, he jumped back down and put the white jacket on.
She was pretty straightforward, Neraxis chuckled inwardly and proceeded to look around the streets again.
[Why didn't you ask her where the monarchs were? She might've known,] Evangeline questioned.
If she did, she wouldn't be camping inside a bell tower waiting for them to appear, he replied, approaching a nearby inn.
Neraxis nabbed the elf's purse on his way out, so sitting down, he bought himself a steak.
Thankfully, he could understand the language here, so while he spent his time eating, he was also actively listening to whatever the people were saying.
But aside from the occasional murmurs regarding his strange appearance, mainly his hair and matching jacket, no one said anything about the monarchs.
That was until the inn's doors were swung open, with an angry elf walking in and sitting beside him.
She's... back, he felt the headache coming.
"You fucking bastard! I almost slashed my wrist on that glass, and you even stole my purse! Step outside, I will kill you!" she yelled, drawing her bow and aiming it straight at his face.
"Calm down," Neraxis said, tossing her purse over before calling the bartender. "Get her a steak as well, it's on me."
"On you!? It's my money!" she exclaimed, watching as Neraxis bought another steak with her money.
But she knew it would not be wise to do anything violent in an inn, since they had the tightest security policies, and even a single fight would get her several years in prison.
"It's a good steak," Neraxis remarked, ignoring her anger as he continued listening to the people talk amongst themselves.
Soon, he caught an interesting bit of information.
"They will be gathering by the outskirts, some kind of honoring ceremony," one of the men said with a chuckle before shooting a quick glance at Neraxis and whispering to his friend. "Do you think that one is going to be there as well?"
Outskirts... Interesting. He continued listening on as they detailed some kind of buildings.
From what he could deduce, they were shabby buildings, so it was highly likely this gathering would be in the poor area.
"Those pricks are talking about the encampment outside of the city," the elf girl spoke, biting into the steak. "Seems like the southwestern encampment, one of the more shabby and abandoned ones."
"I see you are enjoying your steak," Neraxis commented, making her brows twitch.
Nonetheless, her information would prove useful, since now all he needed to do was camp out and eliminate them.
Neraxis stood up and proceeded to head out, leaving his half-finished steak behind.
However, he could tell that he wasn't the only one who left, as there were footsteps trailing him.
Therefore, he turned off into an alleyway, and after walking a bit more, turned again.
As the person trailing him finally came into view, he looked at them with a frown.
Yet before he could complain, an arrow flew directly at his face, which he barely managed to evade.
The next moment, another arrow shot out, then another.
Evangeline... Dull, Neraxis said with exhaustion and proceeded to use {Sword Dash}, appearing right before the annoying elf and smacking her over the head with his sword, knocking her out again.
[She sure is something, huh? Chasing you around like a bride chasing her groom...] Evangeline squealed. [Are you going to leave her here?]
Not on the ground, Neraxis replied, ignoring Evangeline's remark, and turned to the nearby dumpster before chucking the elf's body inside.
It didn't have a lot of trash inside, but nonetheless, he had a feeling he would be seeing her again soon.
But for now, he dashed onto the top of the building, and by using the general city's outline, Neraxis traveled to where he could only assume the southwestern encampment was.
Soon, he spotted a bit of smoke flying up into the sky and a massive bonfire in the very middle of the forest.
Neraxis didn't go closer simply because he didn't need to.
After all, from where he was, he could spot several white jacket silhouettes either running around or seemingly praying on the ground.
If he were to go closer, he'd run the risk of being spotted way too early, so he wanted to wait until a bit more of these so-called monarchs gathered.
Guess the waiting game begins...