A New Dawn 79 An Inconspicuous Employee

Her outfit was not necessarily provocative or even depraved, but it absolutely shaped her forms beautifully. At the same time, it was of a more solemn tone, mainly with black, white and grey colors. All the clothes were of very high quality, to not be belittled by others. The entire group was deeper inside the City Hall than most visitors, due to their more prominent status. After staying with the men and distracting them for a few minutes, another woman arrived to say that the mayor was finally free.

Sighing a bit after seeing that the group finally left, the first employee enjoyed a short break. Trying to remember the next appointment, she will have to deal with a nasty noble that was far more lecherous than those traders. Silently adjusting in front of the mirror her uniform, to appear far less attractive, she patiently waited for him to arrive.

Unlike the other human nations in this part of the world, the Republic of Avenio wasn't ruled by one man or woman. Instead, it was a council of the five most influent families. At the birth of this republic, four of those families were nobles and only one was from the commoner. But a thousand of years later, the situation was reversed and only two noble families were still part of the original group.

Because of this, each city was governed by a similar council, with one man elected as the mayor. The latter was in full control of the future of the city, where to develop and what objectives were chosen. The council only had to give its trust every year, and that event will happen in just ten days. So during this small period, the mayor needed to please a lot of people or at least, prevent them from supporting his opponents.

Fortunately, it had already been seven years since the last change, meaning that unless he made a critical mistake, he will not have to make a lot of concessions. Stability and peace were far more important than just a very small loss. Not thinking about all those things and only focusing on appearing as ugly as she could, the employee heard the door being opened.

Putting her very best smile on her face, she seemed to not notice the lustful stare that the old man was sending toward her body. She spent the next twenty minutes dodging his attempt at groping her body, never frowning or even complaining. When the old noble finally left, she asked for a short break that was accorded. Not a single women wanted to deal with that kind of man, especially since strange rumors were spread about some peculiar disappearances in the surroundings of his manor. Some beautiful young girl, never seen again after that.

The rest of the day kept alternating between waiting and entertaining the guests. She was a little bit exhausted, but she never showed it. Because of this attitude, she climbed the ranks far more quickly than most, even if it was mainly due to her appearance. Leaving the City Hall, she spent a few minutes buying food for the next day When she arrived at her place, she quickly undressed and dug under the comfy sheets she bought a year ago.

Staying in this position for a while, she reluctantly began to prepare some food for herself. She was by herself, not even having a small pet. For her, it was a waste of both time and money, something she would never do. Because she was employed by the city, she had the opportunity of living in a special room.

Like many other people, she was currently staying in a very vast building, similar to a dormitory of an academy. Of course, the rooms were more spacious, but the rent was far lower than most houses of Archet. In addition, it was located barely dozens of meters away from the garrison, making it one of the safest location of the entire town. This opportunity was only reserved for those that were working directly for Archet, one of the most visible benefits.

Until it was in the middle of the night, the room was awfully calm and silent. But a little bit after that time, a shadow opened the door and closed it, while scanning the surroundings. Being extremely careful, the silhouette in the dark patiently waited far away from a certain intersection. After even more than five minutes, the shadow was still waiting, albeit, feeling a bit exasperated. Suddenly, the patrol appeared and bypassed her location, without noticing anything strange.

This obstacle removed, the shadow rushed toward a remote courtyard, filled with a lot of garbage and wreckages. Moving a small pile of those, she uncovered the hole where a ladder plunged in the dark. Before using it, however, she grabbed a small wood stick nearby, covered in a viscous substance on one of its end.

The silhouette walked without hesitation with the dim light provided by her improvised torch. Unknown to all of her colleagues, she was capable of casting the most basic 1st Circle magic, like [Fire]. Finding her way inside the maze that was the sewers, she arrived in front of a corridor without any special features. Looking left and right one last time, she began to search the entire wall, trying to find the opening.

But to her stupor, she instead found the hidden door slightly opened, something very unusual. Normally, every member will have closed perfectly the door after entering, even if the chance that a patrol managed to see an irregularity in the wall was thin. Even they sometimes have a hard time finding it, especially in the dark like that. Pondering a bit about that abnormal situation, the beautiful employee put her ear on the stone door.

Trying her best to hear anything, she still found nothing. The massive door was still enough to attenuate any sounds in the room, and while it was slightly opened, it was not enough for her to even see inside. Not really knowing what to think about all of that, she still activated the regular mechanism. Pushing a few stone blocks in a precise pattern, the heavy part of the wall began to move a bit, until it was stuck.

Repeating the process once more, the same sound of the mechanism resonated. Accompanied with the exact same result, being the inability to move the stone door. Trying her best, she tried to use her hand to pull it, but she had to realize it was totally useless. Her full out effort resulted only in her exhaustion, nothing else. As she was feeling dejected and preparing to leave, the door suddenly moved.

Because she had to put her torch on the ground when she was trying to open the door, the light was not directed toward the inside of the room, leaving her in front of a very dark opening. Shaking her head to destroy those stupid thoughts, she quickly grabbed her torch and extended it in the empty room. Or that was what she guessed.

At first, she saw nothing at all, since the light was not strong enough to illuminate everything. But when she lowered her torch and looked more at the floor, she noticed a large amount of red liquids that were forming some ponds. It only took her a second to realize what it truly was, and by instinct, she began to retreat. She only managed to step back one time before something suddenly appeared in front of her, grabbing her pretty face into an iron grip.

"?gnitiaw erew ew tahw si siht ,oS" She couldn't understand a single thing of what the creature said in front of her, only feeling terrified by what she was seeing. A giant in a dark and menacing armor was barely visible in this dark environment. At his feet, a half-eaten body, visibly the one of a child. But past the initial shock and fear, the beautiful woman began to ponder a bit more.

"If they are here, then they knew about the hidden room. Only we could know, so someone leaked it to them. Since they killed a child, they can't be good people or the guards. Maybe they are from another group of believers?" Instead of cowering and sobbing like a pathetic weakling, she stared at the giant that was not really hurting her that much. Of course, she couldn't get away, but it was not forceful like some ugly nobles groped her.

"Ach chou memhe mor ghe magher?" Trying to talk when something pressed your two cheeks was awfully difficult and maybe sensing this, the giant released her. Massaging her red face, she opened and closed her mouth a few times before getting rid of the discomfort.

"You should treat a lady with more gentleness. Anyway, I was saying, are you here for the master? And who recommended you to come here in the first place?" Even when facing someone two times her size, she was not even showing her fear anymore and ordered the giant to explain himself. She was constantly in contact with people far more powerful than her, reducing her apprehension at defying someone stronger.

At her words, the giant was visibly surprised, and he couldn't help but turned around, staring at an obscure corner. From it, appeared a similar armor, albeit far less threatening and smaller. The second being, covered in an iron suit, approached the employee of the City Hall and began to examine her. Even if it was not the first time for the human, she felt that it was not the same type of examination that she generally received.

Nodding a bit, Meridiana approved the fearless woman in front of her. Still talking in the intergalactic language of the Demonic Empire, she acted like no one else was present. "I guess we can say that. I mean look, she is beautiful, she is great, she has at least ten times the courage of that ratman. No, in fact, that's not good at all. Why should we kill such a person? Better kill that master of hers instead."

"Why do you like her so much, she is just a human? But I agree, someone like that could be more useful after we capture the city. During the initial confusion, especially if we utilize some undead in the open, people will react badly. If she could at least appease them, it would be even better if she was someone important. Fine, go ahead."

Agreeing partially with the succubus, Davion closed the door behind the human, while Meridiana was removing her helmet. It was far easier to control someone when direct contact between their two pairs of eyes was made. Manipulating her powers to their maximum, the moment she took off her helmet literally cut the breath of the human. It was the very first time Meridiana didn't care about mana and she enjoyed seeing the expression of that beautiful girl. A mix of envy, jealousy, worship, and hate.

"Where do you work, honey?" The succubus touched a bit the cheek of the human, even putting her hair behind her ear. Of course, the latter didn't notice at all this, totally focused on the perfect goddess in front of her. She mechanically answered everything that was asked, telling all her secrets. By the time someone else arrived, the employee of the City Hall had betrayed everyone, both her secret cult and the city of Archet. But she didn't care at all about all of this. Her main goal in her life was now to please Meridiana at all cost.

Chapter end