From Slave To Ruler

Trying not to panic at such a situation, she decided to put her trust at Dalerus about this rather s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e matter. She had trust in his qualities and today she was even more convinced about it. But she still had to make something very clear to him."I do not want any sort of problems slowing down our progress Dalerus. I entrust you to deal with this problem. Whatever needs to be done, do it."

"Even if it means giving out a little extra coin?" Asked Dalerus hoping to get that bonus, to shut the merchants mouth. It would be the easiest way out of this evolving mess.

"Even if you have to send him down the river, if you know what I mean." She replied while toying with that special knife on her hand, which still had a little bit of blood on it. 

"Aha I see how it is." He replied a bit nervously, understanding the seriousness of this situation. He admires her ambition, and adores her darkness. But killing for gold? Not his sort of thing, the only way he would actually kill, is if his loved ones were threatened or hurt by anyone.

Something else however, has been puzzling his mind greatly. Especially now since he has less distractions, able to focus more. When he saw her working at this poor small shop with a pervert around, he felt dumbfounded. Because at first "Z" claimed to be a very rich woman with a lot of gold to spend. So this doesn't exactly match her previously described financial position. If she was as rich as she described herself before, she would be guarded by at least 6 people now. And not by Patrol Guards who aren't worth two bronze coins, but Guards you would find in a palace guarding royalty. "So what exactly is going on?" he asked himself, hundreds of thoughts scrolling through his mind.

What better way to find out, than to ask? "Don't get me wrong but... walking at this scene today got me thinking twice about your claimed identity and or power." He did have a strong point though, what if she can't provide all of the gold? But yet again she did provide the first payment, which isn't a coin less than 150 gold coins which makes processing this information, a whole lot more confusing.

"Oh is that so?" She asked as she leaned forwards with a strict dangerous expression. Which made Dalerus lean back, almost even falling down since the Chair is short and doesn't have back support. He didn't exactly know what to expect, death maybe? She is holding an intensively sharp knife on her hand after all.

"Well. Yes!" He calmly spoke as he loosened the collar around his neck in nervousness. "First you claim that you have 2,000 Gold Coins to throw at this project, and now I walk in to a pervert slapping your behind. Obviously I have a lot of questions!"

Understanding his point of view, she broke eye contact for a bit and glared to the left, giving his words more thought than usual. "I suppose it doesn't make much sense. But trust me I have the Gold Coins, I have a lot to give." She replied as she Wiggled a small leather bag containing around 50 gold coins in the air. "And I'm willing to throw in a little bonus if you choose to look at the other way. This wasn't exactly what i wanted you to walk into." Leaning her face closer to her hand which of course means that she was also leaning her face just a little bit closer to him. With a low tone she said, "But i suppose i wouldn't be able to handle today's situation smoothly if you weren't around."

With bonus coins feeling very nice but not at all his main goal, and having a closer glance at the freckles above her cheeks felt like heaven, even if she approached this closely just to buy his silence. Other concerns of course got his soul puzzled.

He grabbed the surface of her hand pushed the gold away and his first thought was, "Wow, I still have my hand." Before stating. "I don't want Gold. I consider you a valued person, so please don't try to buy my loyalty. You have it without a coin more. My main concern is your safety, i really feel like you won't be safe here."

"So proud that i didn't cut off his hand." She thought to herself as a strange feeling struck her c.h.e.s.t. Thankfully, it wasn't from a knife. She felt his concern, enough to drop hee pride for a while. "Look, it's very complicated. I can't tell you much about it or i could be risking the whole project and even both of our lives."

The 5 men who spread the rumours know just a little bit more about this topic than Dalerus, but they are just told to spread rumors. They don't care much about her identity and origin and they don't know about Z's employer either. Their knowledge is very similar to Dalerus' and their main motive is gold. Hawk Kingdom can crumble into dust for all they care.

Seeing that this project was way more than he bargained for, he still felt concern for her. At this point, he is almost willing to drop the 500 Gold Coin payment just to make sure she is safe. "I understand! You don't have to tell me. But now i won't be able to sleep well knowing that you are targeted by so many perverts."

"I can handle myself." She tried to yell, but still replied with a short breathed tone showing an assuring face and actually putting an effort to convince him, her tone was so delicate that you would think that she is talking to the most important person on this planet for her. It was rather adorable to see, it was as if they were sharing burdens. It wasn't egoistic either this time, she just wanted to assure him that she will be safe. Her face showed it all.

"I know you can. But a pervert's mind has no stopping. What if they catch you off guard, asleep or even charge at you with several other men? If you identified to the customers as a poor woman working for a small salary, you are done for. They will attack you at every chance they get." He replied as he hit the surface of his palm with the back of his fingers, trying to convince her about the highly possible danger.

Swallowing her pride which felt like as if she was swallowing daggers, she did it because he felt his strong concern. It would be inhumane to mix up ego at such topic, she used common reason. Proceeding to say. "I suppose you do have a point. The dead man underneath our feet talked about coin a lot before he made his move."

"See!" He slightly yelled when he felt sure that his point was proven. But what was more shocking, was her tone and agreement with him. This was possibly the first time she revealed this rather different side to him(different for her at least. Very different). "I can't depart for Salmon River Kingdom if i know that you are at constant risk. We need to do something about it."

Although feeling something strange in her heart, feeling good emotion. She still stuck to her motive, she still pushed those feelings away and found the guts(which was easy for her) to ask, "Are you tapping out of the project for m..."

"I don't want too." He interrupted just before she was about to finish her sentence. "But if you are about to face possible ****, i'm willing to throw those 500 Gold Coins just to assure that you are safe!"

"Slap!"

A strong slap was heard across the shoop. But thankfully, no one hit anyone's behind. She just slapped his face, hard. 4 Finger marks were stuck on his face. Although very confused of such reaction, that slap was nothing compared to the kick in the heart he received when he saw that pervert touch her. This was minor.

"Thank you!" She murmured under a low tone, avoiding eye contact and her face got over exaggeratedly red. After her reaction, he understood completely what was going on. "She isn't very good with processing these sort of emotions." He thought to himself, finding her insanely adorable.

"Oh, you are shy now aye??" He let out a warmly felt smile as he glanced upon her face while she was still avoiding to make eye contact. Her face got so red that you could fry a Salmon over it.

"Shut up." She replied swiftly as she held two of his fingers and started twisting them until he stopped teasing. It worked well.

Taking her own safety into big consideration now, she started thinking while still wrestling his fingers(well more like she was obliterating his). "Safety, is no doubt a big issue we should think about. If i'm not here be it physically or mentally, the project results into failure."

"Wow she is still putting the project first." He thought to himself admiring her ambition while trying his best to remove his fingers from her death grip.