Interlude; Silver Eyes

Kreal city like every other city has rankings for even the most mundane of things. Everything in the world needs to be graded so people could know what their level is. Cloths has grades, cars has grades and naturally people also has grades. The saying that everyone is equal is nothing but a disillusion.

It is just a saying uttered by those that choose to deceive themselves. After all the evidence of inequality is clear for everyone to see in the everyday life. The world would cry when a famous person dies while a poor good for nothing person might not even find those willing to bury him.

The rich might commit a grievous crime and go unpunished while a poor person is punished for even the lightest of crimes.

An influential person might get things worth millions as birthday gift while a homeless person won't be spared a simple bread to save his life. If this are not proof that people are not equal what is?

Following that logic, naturally there's also a grade to hotels. In most cities the highest grade hotel is graded as five star while the lowest is actually one star. Kreal city also follows the universal grading system but the only difference was the highest grade hotel in the city stopped at four star since the place is a little backwards and doesn't have a good hotel worth a five star grading.

Anyway even among this four star hotels in the city the Peacock Hotel was one of the best. It's a large multi floored building situated in the main Street of the High district, close to the city's governor's mansion. High city, a place drawing a contrast to the ugly Band E district being that it's a place reserved for the wealthy, made the hotel looked even more lavish.

As if one walked among palaces and beautiful gardens.

At 7;34 PM in the night a blue taxi stopped outside this grand hotel. The car opened and a beautiful silver haired woman stepped out. The taxi driver stared at her in a daze, lost in thought.

It was not her beauty that stunned him, it was his confusion. The driver could have sworn that when she got into the taxi she was a brunet but now her hair had grown longer and turned silver, even her face has gotten more beautiful. Maybe I am getting old, he thought. The driver gave this woman's back one long look again before driving away.

Elizabeth did not mind the taxi driver's gaze and walked leisurely to the entrance of this grand hotel. A wall surrounded the compound so she headed to the gate without hesitation. One hand was holding her bag, the other had a concealed knife.

Just as she stepped into the gate, she turned to the side, reached into the void and grabbed somebody. The air shimmered as a man appeared out of thin air. Elizabeth's dagger was held against his neck.

"Hehe hehe boss is indeed formidable," he licked his lips and said. This man was a skinny dark haired middle aged man dressed shabbily like a homeless man.

"Luka," Elizabeth retracted her blade and stepped back. With a secret gesture the dagger was sent away into an unknown place. "When did you return?"

"A few hours ago," Luka laughed. "I just came out for a stroll and saw boss get out of that taxi so I hid and wanted to scare you,"

"Childish," Elizabeth admonished then started walking to the main hotel building. Luka naturally followed after her. "How's the prison?"

Luka's eyes turned grim. "It's bad. There is no sign of him. Is there any luck on your side?"

"Not really,"

"Great, just now we got a call from the guild that the Realm Knights are coming,"

"How long do we have?"

"Maybe a few weeks at most,"

"Few... be specific,"

"Three weeks,"

Hearing that Elizabeth took a deep breath and nodded.

Inside the building they took an elevator to the third floor. Entering their suite, they saw a harmonious scene. A man and woman were sitting on the floor playing a board game - that entails moving stones through holes following certain rules Elizabeth didn't care to know - while another man stood over them, leaning against the wall watching them with a smile.

If Yamato was here he'd recognize this man as Saldo; the man who posed as Elizabeth's bodyguard yesterday when she met him at the entrance of Dragon Park.

Consequently he might not recognize Luka, but Luka is actually the thief that snatched Elizabeth's bag and was defeated by him. Of course Luka just let himself get defeated and wasn't fighting seriously. Normally Luka snatching Elizabeth's bag had been entirely their plan.

Originally the plan was for Luka to steal the bag then be intercepted by Saldo so he's arrested. But then Yamato had gotten involved. Still it didn't change anything, Luka had let himself be arrested.

It might sound ridiculous but to investigate Kreal city's detention facility that's the only method this group could come up with.

"I hope you have good news on your end Parish," Elizabeth said as she walked in.

"So boss has returned," The blond man playing stones turned to her with a smile showing perfect set of white teeth. "How's the date?"

"Parish do you believe I'll cut off your tongue?"

"Hehe hehe," he laughed. Parish has a rather handsome and delicate face that makes him look effeminate. But it couldn't hide the madness in his purple eyes. "Boss is very violent,"

"Am I?" Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow as she walked to the sofa and took a seat. "I went all round Band E today but saw no sign or clue of the target,"

"We found nothing to," Saldo shrugged. "After hours in the High district, I guess is even worse,"

"So what do we do now?" Kira the short haired red haired woman playing stones with Parish asked.

"We be more direct," Elizabeth said. "My tour of the slums was not entirely useless. I think I know where we can buy information. But we have to be careful, this guy is very tricky. If he catch a hint of us he'll disappear... or even ambush us, though I hope for the later,"

"I hate this.." Luka sighed. Not everyone nodded but everyone agreed in their hearts. But they still appeared calm as if nothing could shake them.

These guys are called the Silver Eyes. They are a high grade mercenary group that have completed many missions across the Human Realm and even Outworld. These guys has gone in and out of many hellish places they had no chance of returning from time and time again. But this mission is one of the strangest of them as their target is a master in hiding.

The target is a very dangerous criminal even worse than the Fang Brothers. He's said to have escaped the law to Kreal city fifteen years ago. At that time the imperial family had sent Realm Knights to Kreal city. But after searching for months, they found nothing and had to leave empty handed.

Originally the target was thought dead but he was spotted last month in the most oddest of ways. Last month a tourist came to Kreal city and took a picture of the center plaza. His uncle is one of the Realm Knights so while the uncle was looking at the pictures he spotted someone that looked like the criminal that he'd chased back then in the background.

The old man was greatly shocked so he took it to the department building to have a check. Surveillance check reported a 98 percent match with that criminal.

Moving Realm Knights is not easy so by some twist of fate the Silver Eyes mercenary group was tasked with this mission. To give them this mission it's because of the trust the government have in them, having taking many missions from the imperial family in the past.

But to these guys it looked like this mission is the government deliberate plot to find fault in them and suppress them. They just couldn't believe the fantastical story of how the criminal was coincidentally spotted in a picture. Perhaps the target is long dead and they were just sent to chase shadows. That's their real worry.

The worse part is that their lives depends on whether they complete this mission or not. To motivate them to do their best the imperial family had decided to give them many benefits but they added a clause that they would forfeit their lives if they fail to kill or capture the target. There's also no chance to refuse, they could only step into the quagmire. If not because of that they'll not be so anxious.

Elizabeth noticed everyone's worry beneath their poker faces and frowned. "Have more mentality. Don't lose hope yet, there's still a few places we didn't check,"

"What do you mean?" Saldo asked grimly.

Kira scratched her nose with a frowned. "In the first we searched every district within the city for this guy. Where else haven't we checked?"

"There's indeed somewhere we didn't check," Luka replied in Elizabeth's place drawing the curious gaze of everyone. It was obvious that he loves keeping everyone in suspense. Elizabeth let him have his fun.

However Parish just scoffed and ruined the atmosphere for him. "The outskirts right?" He sneered. "Stop being mysterious!"

Luka glanced at the blond man but said nothing.

"Hmph, as I thought," Parish said. "It is already this late after all so we must wait for tomorrow to check through the outskirts of the city. The target might be one of those hermits,"

"Not necessarily," Elizabeth added. "Don't overlook the little villages around the city,"

"That makes sense," Kira nodded hope returning in her eyes. The rest also nodded.

Done with the briefing, Elizabeth rose to her feet. "Well that's it then, I am going to sleep early,"

"Sure, good night boss," Kira said. The rest just waved their hands.

This hotel suit is one fitting a top 4 star hotel. The rooms are bright, the furnishing extravagant, and the atmosphere luxurious. Beside the sitting room there are many other rooms in this suit and each one befitting a king.

After entering her room, Elizabeth took a bath first then changed into her pyjamas before jumping in bed. But she didn't immediately go to sleep.

Her mind is too unsettled for sleep, even if she tried, so she took out her phone. She touched the screen to change it to hologram mode. Seeing the hologram screen hovering in the air she hesitated only a little before typing a set of words.

Yamato Armor.

Saldo had checked on him before she decided to employ him as a guide but she also wanted to see more about him from the local Street Fight forums. Saldo has said Yamato is just a local young fighter, but spending the day with him today Elizabeth decided his character is quite to her liking.

The fact that he didn't behave rashly like the typical Band E people left an impression on her. Furthermore this kid is quite talented. Forget his fighting skills the way he dealt with everything today was quite good... especially the Fang Brothers.

'Perhaps I might get a recruit if I survive through this,' Elizabeth thought looking forward to it.