Chapter 216: ''Captured''
The men who burst into their room were all covered in dark clothing from head to toe, and it was hard for anyone to be able to distinguish their identity with just a nce.
Of course, even though she couldn''t use her probe skill from within her spatial istion, Evelyn knew they must be rted to the old innkeeper and the deacon from the Temple of Shinra, though she wasn''t sure if the ''leader'' of these thugs were among them or not.
The two fake girls, who appeared so lost just moments before, were just about to scream when they were knocked out by the light from a strange artifact in one of the cloaked figure''s hands.
"Fuck, what a waste! That would have been so much more useful to catch a high-level beast!"
Cloud frowned as he chided his subordinate. "Shut up! Carry them out. "
His buddies rushed forward and flung the two girls over their shoulders with ease, but one of them couldn''t help but be worried. "W-What if the princesses back to bully them and finds out they''re missing, though? Won''t we be in trouble?"
Cloud sneered. "Bah, she''ll just think they ran away or something. At worst, the innkeeper will be in trouble, but don''t remind that senile bitch. It doesn''t have anything to do with us anyway, heh. Let''s go, let''s go, our fate changes from this day!"
Naturally, he didn''t find anything strange about the expressions of the two girls when he entered the room. Not to mention that he wasn''t very familiar with them, who knows what that crazy princess had done to them before?
Evelyn didn''te out of hiding until long after the group of men had already left, and quickly helped the unsteady ash blonde keep her bnce. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yes!"
She didn''t pay much attention to her friend''s embarrassed expression, and instead focused on observing the surroundings using Ruru''s eternal ripple skill.
It didn''t take long for the mayor to hear the news of the third princess getting into a dispute with two foreigners in Riham''s Inn, terrifying him to the point that had it not been for the deacon being right next to him, he would have already abandoned his post and run away.
"Calm down, mayor. No need to panic. No one said she discovered my arrangements. Didn''t you say she was a troublemaker before? This kind of thing is only natural."
"B-But w-why at the Riham''s inn?!"
The deacon frowned, but soon rxed. "It''s the busiest ce next to your mansion. It''s only natural for!"
His words got caught in his throat when one of his initiates came rushing in, his expression full of panic and terror. "M-My lord, t-the princess, t-the princess!"
The deacon frowned. "Speak clearly!"
The initiate shivered, and took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "T-The princess has arrested our people!"
The old innkeeper never expected that Lorraine, the third princess of Lavinia, would return to their inn so soon after she had already left. Unfortunately, before she could even bow down in terror, her royal guards had already stormed upstairs.
The purple-haired girl sighed. "This town is so boring, I might as well make use of these toys for a little while more. No use throwing them away so soon."
The innkeeper shook like a dry leaf, and when the royal guards who had stormed up returned in a hurry, she almost fainted from fright.
"Princess, they seem to have escaped! The room is empty!"
Lorraine''s expression turned dark. "Escaped? It''s impossible for them to have run away in their condition. That can only mean someone here helped them?"
An oppressive aura assaulted the old innkeeper, pressing her knees down into the ground so hard that she could hear them creaking as they barely resisted being shattered.
"Let me see for myself who is so daring as to take away toys from this princess."
Cloud had no idea of the cmity that had befallen his ''partner'', but even if he knew, he wouldn''t care.
He had long since made up his mind to use these ''excellent goods'' for himself, and never had any intention of handing them over to the ''client'' at all. Naturally, he wouldn''t return to Riham''s inn either.
Although what he assumed to be the light affinity stone was still in the olddy''s hands, Cloud already knew that at least one of these two must be a top-tier talent based on what the innkeeper told him before, and that was good enough.
The two girls had already been knocked out, and once they were safe in his hideout, the gruff man instructed his subordinates to throw them to the ground. "Tie them up."
''Evelyn'' and ''Cecilia'' were quickly tied to the wooden beam, and one of the thugs couldn''t help but flip the pink-haired girl''s hood. Naturally, since it wasn''t the original cloak from Aurora, it didn''t have any of its functions either.
Even Cloud couldn''t help but be stunned when he saw the breathtaking face under the cloak, let alone his less culturedpanions.
"Holy fuck, even the second one is a real beauty!"
Naturally, although the two ''spirit moulds'' were missing the auras of the ones they were imitating, their appearance was still top-notch.
"What a pity... I''d give an arm and a leg to see them in a few years."
"Hey boss, are they gonna die after you''re done with them, or can we keep them?"
Cloud frowned as he took out the broken array disc from the hiddenpartment in his hideout. "I don''t know if they''re going to die yet. Wait until I''m done, then you guys can have your fun. Don''t worry, since you have followed me so far, I''ll definitely take you with me to the top!"
The men were clearly ecstatic, and felt that they had to be the luckiest bunch of ruffians in the world. Which boss didn''t use his subordinates as fodder?
Not only did their boss not do that, he would even take them forward to the top after being blessed with an opportunity!
Who knows, maybe he would even enhance their talents, and they too would be like fish soaring through the dragon gate, bing sons of heaven!
Thinking of such a bright future, they couldn''t help but grin from ear to ear.