A young woman floated through the air of the city, flying in the night’s darkness.
The city was bright, but she floated as her blue hair swayed through the air.
Her cloak fluttered in the gentle sea breeze coming in off the black sea and her gaze was serious as she made her way to the city.
“Good shot. Now let’s get back to the patrol.”
A voice sounded in her ear through the earpiece, and the young woman sighed.
“Sorry to bother you. I know you must be tired.”
“No, no, it’s not that, manager. I know you guys work hard too, but... I feel like I’m not doing enough even though I’m an S-Rank,” mumbled the young woman with a disappointed tone.
To secure her image and for the idea of helping others, she volunteered to the allied forces and they, instead of putting her on the front lines of battle, decided that she should guard this city.
Recently there was an increase of monsters and from time to time there were conflicts between mercenaries or adventurers, still... She felt disappointed.
“Don’t worry, these kinds of missions are also important. They need to have their back secured in order to move forward,” said the manager, and with a subtle change of subject, he pointed out. “Besides, this is excellent for your image.”
“Is that so?” hesitated Adala with sparkling eyes.
“Sure, your online broadcasts were popular on the networks and many fans support you by encouraging you to continue,” informed her manager and, with an animated laugh, added. “We even got some sponsors for the Blue Tide.”
Being a hero was not easy.
Even though she didn’t go to the Hero Academy, it cost quite a bit to get the title of ‘hero’, which was given after passing some tests in the heroes’ guild.
However, the complexity was not that, but what came next.
She had to hire a whole support group that was in charge of supporting her in her missions, being the support in the transmissions, taking care of her appearance, and dozens of other extra tasks.
Not to mention getting her title ‘Blue Tide’ recognized like other famous heroes.
Titles were important and representative.
There were many heroes highly recognized only by their titles.
The ‘Steel Giant’ or ‘Silver Light’ titles were recognized even today, even when they retired and while it was normal when that pair of heroes intervened in the European-Demon War and even earlier events, it was still incredible.
If they went to youth levels, the ‘First Heroine’ who became known in the undead calamity was also still recognized in these times, even though she had also retired.
The titles of heroes represented the general image of those people and could be recognized on an international level.
Another example was ‘Serafin’, the singer who, although she was not a complete heroine, her songs encouraged millions of people to help or lend a hand to others.
She had hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers and such a person could create trends with her actions.
That’s what Adala was aiming for.
“Lost in thought again?” Her manager asked, and letting out a laugh, pointed out. “From the drone cameras, I can see your glib smile.”
Adala gave a glance at the drones recording her and blushed a little for getting lost in her thoughts.
“Oh, a warning has come in. Some kind of fight is going on in an apartment. Neighbors have alerted that some noises are heard in the neighbor’s apartment as if someone is fighting,” reported her manager quickly.
“I’ll handle it,” Adala replied, turning serious again.
The support team her manager ran allowed her to not only improve her image, but literally helped her with these types of tasks.
“Those places are known to have gangs. Be careful. Stopping criminals or mercenary fights is great for your image, but you don’t need to risk it,” warned her manager earnestly.
Adala began to fly, following the direction of the map on her holographic clock.
“Remember, we are recording. The idea is that as a heroine you need to stop the battles happening among humanity, and more so at this time, where we must unite to stop the abyssal portals,” informed her manager as a director, giving guidance to the actress.
Nodding and planning the performance in her mind, she moved forward quickly as she readied her staff with a sphere at the top, which at the same time contained a wildly churning blue tide.
Arriving at the building, she noticed some small fluctuations of magical energy coming from an apartment and some cries of pain were heard, which could not be fully concealed.
“Tell me where your boss is!” A young voice came from the building, and Adala’s expression twitched as she heard a moan of pain.
As she knew it was bad for her image, destroying buildings or walls, she descended to the balcony and, creating a water dummy, forced him to open the door while she raised her guard.
However, her expression quivered as she found what was inside.
Four crooks were held by the neck by black arms reaching out from the back of a young woman with a bag of chips in her hand.
Next to her was another young woman who looked weak, putting her foot on the stomach of another man who was groaning in pain as if he was carrying hundreds of pounds.
Some of his teeth were broken and his face was bruised and swollen, while there was some blood staining the furniture in the vicinity.
When that man saw her, he screamed. “Help!”
******
“They went to beat up a gang leader. They have guts for such young ladies,” A guard muttered as he looked ahead at the two young women walking down the hallway.
“I don’t understand why they’re stopping them. That guy had it coming,” murmured the other guard standing next to him.
“Shh... Keep quiet, you know how it is, don’t you?” said the first guard, and looking that the other prisoners were asleep and that there was no officer in the police station, he muttered. “There are too many rumors about corruption... But they are just rumors, you understand? You’d better understand. I don’t want to look for a new partner.”
Aurora heard the voices behind her back and her expression trembled, though in the end, she kept walking.
Her gaze stopped at some drunks and mercenaries who were detained because of street fights.
It was her first time in prison... Or, to be more precise, in the jail of a police station.
When they reached a small barred section with some thick bars and some magic circles of containment, they were both forced inside by the guards.
“Don’t you want to give your statement? That gang member... The man you beat up has some connections, and he says you tried to kill him. He wants to press charges so you’ll go to prison. Real prison,” the policeman said and ignoring his partner’s gaze, he recommended in a low voice. “You better say something. Staying silent is the worst thing you can do... Even if you were doing something illegal, it’s better that you both go down together.”
His tone sounded serious, and he looked at both of them as if she and Alice were some kind of highly dangerous crook.
“No, thank you,” Aurora replied with a smile.
The policeman sighed and activated the magic circles in the cell.
Aurora felt her body heavier and at the same time felt her magical energy leave her body.
She knew that if she tried to escape, the magic circles would not only alert the guards but also increase the weight on them.
This method was basic, but it would stop an A-Rank... As they were officially.
“By the way, doesn’t one of those young ladies look familiar?”
Aurora noted as a guard pointed at Alice doubtfully as she walked away and when they finally left, she sighed.
“This is proving troublesome,” Liam murmured in her ear.
She was wearing an earpiece that was concealed to perfection and would make it so no one would notice.
So when the cops checked their weapons, removed their space rings, and anything dangerous they might have, they couldn’t discover the earpiece in their ear.
Because they ‘surrendered’ and gave up the heroine who arrested them voluntarily, they were not treated badly by the cops.
Despite the accusations, they had not killed anyone and had only beaten up the gang leader and although it was not in the plans for an S-Rank to intervene, generally speaking, the plan worked.
“How’s it going?” Aurora asked quietly.
“Perfectly. The gang boss is now demanding unreasonable deals for you from the police chief. He’s even lost all his cool and has threatened the police chief, wanting to get his dirty laundry out in the open if you don’t end up in prison,” explained Liam calmly and with an odd tone, he added. “Although I don’t know if the police chief will understand... You’ve broken several of his teeth.”
Alice let out a giggle as she listened to Liam... They both wore the same headphones in case they were separated, being able to communicate, but now Aurora’s expression trembled.
“I had to make it believable, didn’t I? A mysterious individual looking for his boss, and that’s why he got beaten up,” Aurora explained quietly.
This was a little show where she just had to be stopped for it to work.
“Apparently it’s working. He just walked out of the police station with a communication crystal in his hands. Alros’ team will infiltrate the comm and see what they can find,” Liam reported in a serious tone.
If someone took a big beating to the point that his teeth were shattered just because someone else was looking for his ‘boss’... It was clear that he would call his boss to warn him and try to get revenge for him.
That was what they were aiming for.
Alros’ team would help, as they had magical means to intercept communications and locate them.
Aurora waited patiently without being worried.
“He just spoke to his boss. The location popped up in this city. Alros is personally moving in to stop that individual and see if he can find anything else,” Liam reported in a serious tone.
“Excellent. Let me know if things get complicated, so I escape,” Aurora replied, giving a slight sigh of relief.
The biggest problem was that the gang leader would no longer relate to whoever sent that strange machine or the other party wouldn’t answer the communication... Both options would make this little show useless.
“I understand. Either way, I will also intervene if necessary,” Liam answered with a professional tone without wondering how they could escape from the police station and, letting out a laugh, he commented. “You can rest easy there, boss.”
Aurora’s expression trembled as she heard those words... The way he called her ‘boss’ was in the style of gangsters or thugs carrying out illegal missions.
“Do you want some?” Alice asked as from her shadow one arm pulled out a bag of chips.
For someone who had a hidden space attached to her own shadow and could ‘devour’ people by tucking it into her shadow, it was clear she could store other things.
“Do you always carry those, or did you prepare for this?” Aurora asked curiously.
The reason they could go help was that she had prepared in case she had to leave the station.
It was true that security could be considered acceptable, but it was mediocre for her.
Even without her space ring, her system had a ‘space’ of its own where she kept her secret equipment and if she went even further, she could always go to her master and ask for a sword to come back and cut everything down.
Of course, officially Alice was the one who kept her weapons and equipment in her shadow in case of emergency.
Keeping weapons was nothing for a person who could jump into other people’s shadows, swallow people completely and hide inside the shadow herself.
“I’ve had them since before. It’s one of my emergency rations,” Alice replied and as her shadow slid off the ground, a black hand pulled out a space ring which Aurora realized was filled with bags of chips.
She didn’t know how to respond to Alice’s eccentricities and addiction to potato chips...
—You’re no different, though. You keep condiments and other edible things in your space rings.
Aurora’s expression quivered at her system’s comment.
It was because of Alice... A glutton that Aurora had to keep well fed, to keep her running smoothly, like a well-oiled machine.
As to why it was condiments and not fully prepared food?
It was because she liked to cook for him and it was a way to distract herself by just having to feed her glutton.
Waiting several minutes accompanying Alice eating her chips, Aurora yawned with boredom.
“They have already captured him. It was a Rank A demon. They have also found the machine. Professionals will be invited to investigate,” Liam reported calmly and after a moment, he revealed. “Alros has already gone to free you, along with officers, to arrest those corrupt ones.”
Aurora let out a sigh of relief.
This was the best outcome.
The truth was that she did not wish for Alros to encounter an S-Rank demon lord or worse, a great demon ritual.
While the demons didn’t have as much time as they did to prepare to face the abyssal portal, it never hurt to assume dangers.
Waiting several minutes, Aurora heard several noises from upstairs and after a moment, Alros walked with the two policemen who had brought her in.
The pair of policemen were slightly pale, perhaps because the ‘internal affairs’ members of the police department nationwide had arrived.
Aurora knew that Liam had released quite a bit of information after infiltrating the police network to get the ‘dirt’ out.
If you added in the conversation he had been overhearing between the police chief and the gang boss, then it let in a little more of those dirty dealings.
As to whether it was illegal? First of all, they were running a completely legal operation to catch the demon, which meant that the revelation of the police department’s corruption was just an extra matter.
At least that’s how they had set it up.
“Sorry, we were delayed. Although we caught him by surprise, we were watching to see if he was connected to anyone higher up,” Alros said with a friendly smile and looking around the cell, he asked. “Did the cops treat you guys well?”
The policemen shivered as they tried to open the cell and their faces paled, though strangely, they had done nothing.
Surely they realized they were from the allied force and for that reason were pale.
“Yes. We just had to wait and nothing more.” Aurora replied with a shrug.
Saving her curiosity for later, Aurora followed Alros to the second floor, where several national officers were moving throughout the police station.
The chief of police was arrested directly.
While Romania was not in a state of emergency, they had an abysmal portal on their lands, and goblins had arrived, they were in a very strict situation.
From what Aurora had heard, they were even using this opportunity to clean up the ‘dirt’ that was on their lands and, in the process, try to rid themselves of some internal problems.
When they reached the room, Aurora noticed the young woman who had ‘saved’ them and ‘stopped’ them.
“What’s going on?” Adala asked rather incredulously.
Alros looked at Aurora, asking if she knew her, and she in response shook her head.
“We’re just running an operation to stop the corruption that was going on at the police station. No big deal,” Alros replied with a professional smile.
They did not wish to reveal what their main objective was so as not to alert the others... It was possible that this demon had connections to other demons elsewhere, so they had to move quietly.
Adala was stunned, perhaps more surprised by that answer.
“Thank you very much for your intervention. Although unexpected, it served perfectly,” Aurora said, smiling calmly.
While it was Adala who ‘stopped’ them at that moment, the truth was that she did a good job when it came to acting, never overstepping her bounds, and calling the police to take care of it.
In the end, everything worked out the way they wanted it to.
Adala’s expression trembled and all she could do was nod.
A young woman floated through the air of the city, flying in the night’s darkness.
The city was bright, but she floated as her blue hair swayed through the air.
Her cloak fluttered in the gentle sea breeze coming in off the black sea and her gaze was serious as she made her way to the city.
“Good shot. Now let’s get back to the patrol.”
A voice sounded in her ear through the earpiece, and the young woman sighed.
“Sorry to bother you. I know you must be tired.”
“No, no, it’s not that, manager. I know you guys work hard too, but... I feel like I’m not doing enough even though I’m an S-Rank,” mumbled the young woman with a disappointed tone.
To secure her image and for the idea of helping others, she volunteered to the allied forces and they, instead of putting her on the front lines of battle, decided that she should guard this city.
Recently there was an increase of monsters and from time to time there were conflicts between mercenaries or adventurers, still... She felt disappointed.
“Don’t worry, these kinds of missions are also important. They need to have their back secured in order to move forward,” said the manager, and with a subtle change of subject, he pointed out. “Besides, this is excellent for your image.”
“Is that so?” hesitated Adala with sparkling eyes.
“Sure, your online broadcasts were popular on the networks and many fans support you by encouraging you to continue,” informed her manager and, with an animated laugh, added. “We even got some sponsors for the Blue Tide.”
Being a hero was not easy.
Even though she didn’t go to the Hero Academy, it cost quite a bit to get the title of ‘hero’, which was given after passing some tests in the heroes’ guild.
However, the complexity was not that, but what came next.
She had to hire a whole support group that was in charge of supporting her in her missions, being the support in the transmissions, taking care of her appearance, and dozens of other extra tasks.
Not to mention getting her title ‘Blue Tide’ recognized like other famous heroes.
Titles were important and representative.
There were many heroes highly recognized only by their titles.
The ‘Steel Giant’ or ‘Silver Light’ titles were recognized even today, even when they retired and while it was normal when that pair of heroes intervened in the European-Demon War and even earlier events, it was still incredible.
If they went to youth levels, the ‘First Heroine’ who became known in the undead calamity was also still recognized in these times, even though she had also retired.
The titles of heroes represented the general image of those people and could be recognized on an international level.
Another example was ‘Serafin’, the singer who, although she was not a complete heroine, her songs encouraged millions of people to help or lend a hand to others.
She had hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers and such a person could create trends with her actions.
That’s what Adala was aiming for.
“Lost in thought again?” Her manager asked, and letting out a laugh, pointed out. “From the drone cameras, I can see your glib smile.”
Adala gave a glance at the drones recording her and blushed a little for getting lost in her thoughts.
“Oh, a warning has come in. Some kind of fight is going on in an apartment. Neighbors have alerted that some noises are heard in the neighbor’s apartment as if someone is fighting,” reported her manager quickly.
“I’ll handle it,” Adala replied, turning serious again.
The support team her manager ran allowed her to not only improve her image, but literally helped her with these types of tasks.
“Those places are known to have gangs. Be careful. Stopping criminals or mercenary fights is great for your image, but you don’t need to risk it,” warned her manager earnestly.
Adala began to fly, following the direction of the map on her holographic clock.
“Remember, we are recording. The idea is that as a heroine you need to stop the battles happening among humanity, and more so at this time, where we must unite to stop the abyssal portals,” informed her manager as a director, giving guidance to the actress.
Nodding and planning the performance in her mind, she moved forward quickly as she readied her staff with a sphere at the top, which at the same time contained a wildly churning blue tide.
Arriving at the building, she noticed some small fluctuations of magical energy coming from an apartment and some cries of pain were heard, which could not be fully concealed.
“Tell me where your boss is!” A young voice came from the building, and Adala’s expression twitched as she heard a moan of pain.
As she knew it was bad for her image, destroying buildings or walls, she descended to the balcony and, creating a water dummy, forced him to open the door while she raised her guard.
However, her expression quivered as she found what was inside.
Four crooks were held by the neck by black arms reaching out from the back of a young woman with a bag of chips in her hand.
Next to her was another young woman who looked weak, putting her foot on the stomach of another man who was groaning in pain as if he was carrying hundreds of pounds.
Some of his teeth were broken and his face was bruised and swollen, while there was some blood staining the furniture in the vicinity.
When that man saw her, he screamed. “Help!”
******
“They went to beat up a gang leader. They have guts for such young ladies,” A guard muttered as he looked ahead at the two young women walking down the hallway.
“I don’t understand why they’re stopping them. That guy had it coming,” murmured the other guard standing next to him.
“Shh... Keep quiet, you know how it is, don’t you?” said the first guard, and looking that the other prisoners were asleep and that there was no officer in the police station, he muttered. “There are too many rumors about corruption... But they are just rumors, you understand? You’d better understand. I don’t want to look for a new partner.”
Aurora heard the voices behind her back and her expression trembled, though in the end, she kept walking.
Her gaze stopped at some drunks and mercenaries who were detained because of street fights.
It was her first time in prison... Or, to be more precise, in the jail of a police station.
When they reached a small barred section with some thick bars and some magic circles of containment, they were both forced inside by the guards.
“Don’t you want to give your statement? That gang member... The man you beat up has some connections, and he says you tried to kill him. He wants to press charges so you’ll go to prison. Real prison,” the policeman said and ignoring his partner’s gaze, he recommended in a low voice. “You better say something. Staying silent is the worst thing you can do... Even if you were doing something illegal, it’s better that you both go down together.”
His tone sounded serious, and he looked at both of them as if she and Alice were some kind of highly dangerous crook.
“No, thank you,” Aurora replied with a smile.
The policeman sighed and activated the magic circles in the cell.
Aurora felt her body heavier and at the same time felt her magical energy leave her body.
She knew that if she tried to escape, the magic circles would not only alert the guards but also increase the weight on them.
This method was basic, but it would stop an A-Rank... As they were officially.
“By the way, doesn’t one of those young ladies look familiar?”
Aurora noted as a guard pointed at Alice doubtfully as she walked away and when they finally left, she sighed.
“This is proving troublesome,” Liam murmured in her ear.
She was wearing an earpiece that was concealed to perfection and would make it so no one would notice.
So when the cops checked their weapons, removed their space rings, and anything dangerous they might have, they couldn’t discover the earpiece in their ear.
Because they ‘surrendered’ and gave up the heroine who arrested them voluntarily, they were not treated badly by the cops.
Despite the accusations, they had not killed anyone and had only beaten up the gang leader and although it was not in the plans for an S-Rank to intervene, generally speaking, the plan worked.
“How’s it going?” Aurora asked quietly.
“Perfectly. The gang boss is now demanding unreasonable deals for you from the police chief. He’s even lost all his cool and has threatened the police chief, wanting to get his dirty laundry out in the open if you don’t end up in prison,” explained Liam calmly and with an odd tone, he added. “Although I don’t know if the police chief will understand... You’ve broken several of his teeth.”
Alice let out a giggle as she listened to Liam... They both wore the same headphones in case they were separated, being able to communicate, but now Aurora’s expression trembled.
“I had to make it believable, didn’t I? A mysterious individual looking for his boss, and that’s why he got beaten up,” Aurora explained quietly.
This was a little show where she just had to be stopped for it to work.
“Apparently it’s working. He just walked out of the police station with a communication crystal in his hands. Alros’ team will infiltrate the comm and see what they can find,” Liam reported in a serious tone.
If someone took a big beating to the point that his teeth were shattered just because someone else was looking for his ‘boss’... It was clear that he would call his boss to warn him and try to get revenge for him.
That was what they were aiming for.
Alros’ team would help, as they had magical means to intercept communications and locate them.
Aurora waited patiently without being worried.
“He just spoke to his boss. The location popped up in this city. Alros is personally moving in to stop that individual and see if he can find anything else,” Liam reported in a serious tone.
“Excellent. Let me know if things get complicated, so I escape,” Aurora replied, giving a slight sigh of relief.
The biggest problem was that the gang leader would no longer relate to whoever sent that strange machine or the other party wouldn’t answer the communication... Both options would make this little show useless.
“I understand. Either way, I will also intervene if necessary,” Liam answered with a professional tone without wondering how they could escape from the police station and, letting out a laugh, he commented. “You can rest easy there, boss.”
Aurora’s expression trembled as she heard those words... The way he called her ‘boss’ was in the style of gangsters or thugs carrying out illegal missions.
“Do you want some?” Alice asked as from her shadow one arm pulled out a bag of chips.
For someone who had a hidden space attached to her own shadow and could ‘devour’ people by tucking it into her shadow, it was clear she could store other things.
“Do you always carry those, or did you prepare for this?” Aurora asked curiously.
The reason they could go help was that she had prepared in case she had to leave the station.
It was true that security could be considered acceptable, but it was mediocre for her.
Even without her space ring, her system had a ‘space’ of its own where she kept her secret equipment and if she went even further, she could always go to her master and ask for a sword to come back and cut everything down.
Of course, officially Alice was the one who kept her weapons and equipment in her shadow in case of emergency.
Keeping weapons was nothing for a person who could jump into other people’s shadows, swallow people completely and hide inside the shadow herself.
“I’ve had them since before. It’s one of my emergency rations,” Alice replied and as her shadow slid off the ground, a black hand pulled out a space ring which Aurora realized was filled with bags of chips.
She didn’t know how to respond to Alice’s eccentricities and addiction to potato chips...
—You’re no different, though. You keep condiments and other edible things in your space rings.
Aurora’s expression quivered at her system’s comment.
It was because of Alice... A glutton that Aurora had to keep well fed, to keep her running smoothly, like a well-oiled machine.
As to why it was condiments and not fully prepared food?
It was because she liked to cook for him and it was a way to distract herself by just having to feed her glutton.
Waiting several minutes accompanying Alice eating her chips, Aurora yawned with boredom.
“They have already captured him. It was a Rank A demon. They have also found the machine. Professionals will be invited to investigate,” Liam reported calmly and after a moment, he revealed. “Alros has already gone to free you, along with officers, to arrest those corrupt ones.”
Aurora let out a sigh of relief.
This was the best outcome.
The truth was that she did not wish for Alros to encounter an S-Rank demon lord or worse, a great demon ritual.
While the demons didn’t have as much time as they did to prepare to face the abyssal portal, it never hurt to assume dangers.
Waiting several minutes, Aurora heard several noises from upstairs and after a moment, Alros walked with the two policemen who had brought her in.
The pair of policemen were slightly pale, perhaps because the ‘internal affairs’ members of the police department nationwide had arrived.
Aurora knew that Liam had released quite a bit of information after infiltrating the police network to get the ‘dirt’ out.
If you added in the conversation he had been overhearing between the police chief and the gang boss, then it let in a little more of those dirty dealings.
As to whether it was illegal? First of all, they were running a completely legal operation to catch the demon, which meant that the revelation of the police department’s corruption was just an extra matter.
At least that’s how they had set it up.
“Sorry, we were delayed. Although we caught him by surprise, we were watching to see if he was connected to anyone higher up,” Alros said with a friendly smile and looking around the cell, he asked. “Did the cops treat you guys well?”
The policemen shivered as they tried to open the cell and their faces paled, though strangely, they had done nothing.
Surely they realized they were from the allied force and for that reason were pale.
“Yes. We just had to wait and nothing more.” Aurora replied with a shrug.
Saving her curiosity for later, Aurora followed Alros to the second floor, where several national officers were moving throughout the police station.
The chief of police was arrested directly.
While Romania was not in a state of emergency, they had an abysmal portal on their lands, and goblins had arrived, they were in a very strict situation.
From what Aurora had heard, they were even using this opportunity to clean up the ‘dirt’ that was on their lands and, in the process, try to rid themselves of some internal problems.
When they reached the room, Aurora noticed the young woman who had ‘saved’ them and ‘stopped’ them.
“What’s going on?” Adala asked rather incredulously.
Alros looked at Aurora, asking if she knew her, and she in response shook her head.
“We’re just running an operation to stop the corruption that was going on at the police station. No big deal,” Alros replied with a professional smile.
They did not wish to reveal what their main objective was so as not to alert the others... It was possible that this demon had connections to other demons elsewhere, so they had to move quietly.
Adala was stunned, perhaps more surprised by that answer.
“Thank you very much for your intervention. Although unexpected, it served perfectly,” Aurora said, smiling calmly.
While it was Adala who ‘stopped’ them at that moment, the truth was that she did a good job when it came to acting, never overstepping her bounds, and calling the police to take care of it.
In the end, everything worked out the way they wanted it to.
Adala’s expression trembled and all she could do was nod.
