Chapter 30: Alastair's Morning
"So, Shai visited..." Alastair uttered as she sat on the wooden chair and ate her breakfast. She had finally awoken from her deep slumber and was hungry for an early meal. Soteria immediately readied the meal without any hesitation, which resulted in this situation where the maid kept staring at her master with a smile plastered on her face.
"Yes, that is correct, Lady Alastair. She gave us new information regarding your situation." Soteria replied as she continued staring at Alastair, who kept eating her meal without noticing Soteria's perceptive glances. Hearing the words of Soteria, Alastair nodded and questioned.
"What kind of information is it?"
Alastair wanted to know about the knowledge Shai gave to Soteria. At that moment, she would receive a lengthy explanation from Soteria. Soteria stopped looking at Alastair and finally gave up the information Shai gave her. It took minutes for the information to be simplified and completed.
While Soteria was explaining everything, Alastair kept eating and nodding every now and there during Soteria's explanation. It appears that the piece of information Shai gave was not to be underestimated. Alastair would like to thank her, but unfortunately, she had no known way to contact Shai other than at the mansion.
A dozen minutes had passed ever since Soteria uttered her first words. Alastair had finished eating her meal and was not entirely thinking about her plans. She would have to change a lot of things, especially with the information she had now. The spirit diseases, the soul deal, and the astral power adaptability.
"That's a great explanation about the new information. It appears I have a lot of work to do after this morning." Alastair said with a calm voice as she stood up from the chair and stretched her body. Soteria also stood up, waiting for Alastair's new orders. She wondered what her master's next plan was about.
After entirely stretching herself, Alastair nodded to herself and uttered. "I need to take a bath." Without any hesitation, Alastair walked towards the bathroom of the hotel room, leaving Soteria standing with an emotionless expression plastered on her face.
Soteria then nodded as if she had finally understood her master. "As expected of Lady Alastair. Daily hygiene is her main priority. The danger outside will have to wait before Lady Alastair's lifestyle." Soteria was relatively exaggerating as Alastair simply wanted to take a bath after her deep slumber.
With such thoughts in mind, Soteria silently uttered. "I'll have to prepare Lady Alastair's clothes. I wonder what kind of clothing would she want to have for the day?" She ended her words with a question that would end up plaguing her the entire time while Alastair was taking a bath.
Alastair had entered the bathroom and found herself gazing upon the exquisite and expensive tiles. There was a big and luxurious bathroom along with a unique-looking sink. Even the bathroom of the wealthy hotel was not to be underestimated. Though, such a scene also gave her a single realization.
"All of this is so expensive..."
Alastair couldn't help but utter such words. It was inevitable for a statemate like that to escape from her mouth after seeing the bathroom. The expensive decoration and the fact that she was living in this place had been plaguing her mind. She would rather go back to the mansion and stay there as long as she could.
"But, it ain't my money." Alastair shook her head as she continued. She walked into the bathtub and opened the faucet. Turning it, she finally started her first bath in her new life, which was relaxing. A steamy mist then slowly enveloped the entirety of the bathroom. Alastair relaxed on the tub as she looked at the luxurious ceiling.
She found herself fully naked, and it took a while for her to completely adapt to bathing with this new body of hers. The crow-like wings behind her waist seemed to be obstructing many things that she would have normally been able to do without it. But it wasn't that much annoying for Alastair.
"That dream... Was that the effect of the souls staying in my body?" Alastair silently questioned as she wondered about what happened in that dream. Collapsing and being forced to go back into that memory, wondering what happened and confused about which reality was true, was extremely horrifying even for Alastair.
"I hope that doesn't happen ever again..." Alastair closed her eyelids as she thoroughly softened and continued to take a bath.
A dozen minutes passed, and Soteria was currently cleaning the entire hotel room. Of course, hotel maids would do such things for them, but Soteria wasn't willing to let other maids clean her master's temporary settlement. So instead, she wanted to clean the hotel room, resulting in this situation.
While cleaning the entire room, the door of the bathroom slowly opened. The steamy mist slowly escaped from the bottom as Alastair exited with a bath towel covering most of her body. But the towel fell off without any hesitation. It died on the floor, leaving Alastair in a naked state.
"The towels in this place don't support people with wings," Alastair uttered as she walked towards the wardrobe with an expression of annoyance. Her wings were stopping her from using the bath towel. She had done everything she could, and there was nothing she could do about it.
"I see... Should we make a complaint, Lady Alastair?" Soteria asked with a calm voice while staring at Alastar with a blank and emotionless expression. Hearing the words of Soteria, Alastair shook her head in disagreement and replied. "I'd rather not do annoying things."
Alastair began looking through the wardrobe and found that it had many clothes within it. She then remembered the entire store's worth of clothes that Soteria had bought. Soteria gazed upon Alastair and said. "All of them are within your size, Lady Alastair. So there is no need to worry."
Soteria had picked the clothes that were within the size of her master. She wanted her master to wear regular clothes instead of military ones. The military one was supposed to be for an emergency like the soul deals. With this in mind, a normal clothing should be enough for their current situation.
Without any hesitation, Soteria picked the clothes she needed. Though a problem once again emerged. None of them managed to fit her due to the wings. Soteria furrowed her eyebrows as she flicked her fingers which instantly changed the clothes Alastair wanted to wear.
"This should be good, Lady Alastair. I believe that I must make a trip back to that store. I need some matters to take care of." Soteria said with a soothing smile plastered on her face. But what Alastair saw wasn't a tranquil smile but something that devil would do when there were about to do something terrible.
Soteria then walked towards the front door and left the hotel room. Alastair silently stood with a calm expression thinking to herself about the clothing store's future which was bleak. Alastair shook her head and decided that it was time. She looked at the front door and uttered. "Well, it's time for me to start..."
After uttering such words, she also left after entirely wearing the clothes Soteria gave her. Walking down to the hallway covered in paintings once again, it took time for Alastair to wholly leave the building. She looked around and found herself surrounded by a lively atmosphere.
It seemed that everybody was festive. Strange posters got posted everywhere, and the road appeared to be full of people. Some of them wore costumes while others wore regular clothes. Alastair was quite confused as she didn't know what was happening. Though there was one thing, she was sure of.
It may be the festival of the city of Anfang, which might explain the scenes she was looking at. But Alastair shook her head as it wasn't time to enter the festival. She had more problems that she needed to deal with. With this in mind, Alastair walked towards the front gate of the city, intending to leave for a short while.
On her way there, numerous people were greeting her. They were primarily vendors, which she had recently visited yesterday. She wondered why they were acting like this but didn't care enough to investigate. As she continued walking through the street, she met thugs for the first time in Spectrum.
They were thugs of different spirit species, and they seemed to be specifically targeting her. The thugs walked toward her with a smirk plastered on their ugly faces. Alastair sighed and thought within herself. 'This? Why? After my good sleep, I was in a good mood until I saw them.'
Alastair found herself disappointed in such a scene. She didn't want to handle them as she was rather ruthless to anyone who dared to cross against her. And she herself knew this, so Alastair would want to avoid trouble, so she didn't want to meet with the thugs.
Alastair then walked towards the different route, only for them to walk towards her without any hesitation. They were rather blunt and straightforward. Not caring about the authorities that would imprison them for their actions. As they arrived before Alastair, one of them then uttered.
"Oi, oi, were you avoiding us?"
"Do you know how much that hurt our feelings?"
"We need some reparations for the thing you just did."
"I heard that you were quite a pack of money."
And as always, anyone with money would get targeted by thugs. Alastair shook her head and uttered with a cold voice. "I didn't know that your feelings were so fragile. Even a little girl would be stronger than you. Go back to your mom and tell her how much of a disappointment you are."
Alastair's straightforward brought upon the strange reactions of the thugs. Some were laughing at the one who had spoken while the one that got roasted by Alastair gritted his teeth in anger. He looked at Alastair and shouted. "You bastard!!!" At that moment, Alastair was sure to use violence against them.
But fortunately, a sound echoed behind Alastair. "Stop it!!!" The thug then stopped his swing midway as he looked at the one behind Alastair. It was none other than the chief of the security bureau. He was currently holding grocery bags in his hand and was wearing a normal clothing.
"What the hell are you doing!? Hmm... Aren't you the security manager's son? Is this what you are doing? Being a thug?! Don't tell me that your father is also involved with this shitty hobby of yours." Without any hesitation, the chief began reprimanding the thugs and forced them to follow him.
They were about to be brought back to the security bureau for disrupting the order of the city. As the thugs followed him, the chief turned his head and uttered towards Alastair. "I apologize about that, young lady. I hope you have a good morning." He waved his hand as Alastair replied with a wave of her pale hand.
Everything that had been happening was uniquely strange for Alastair. She wasn't used to this ordinary and dull morning. After all, in her previous life, she always had something to do. Punish traitors, punish traitors, and kill enemies. Now that she had thought about it. It was a tough job for her subordinates.
Alastair arrived at the entrance gate, where she had met with the guard once again. Upon seeing her, the guard immediately apologized for the misunderstanding, which Alastair didn't mind. She asked if there was a fee for leaving the city, to which the guard answered a no.
With this, Alastair left the city for a short while to get stronger than ever before. She continued walking through the alien-like forest and wondered what the far lands looked like. It might be even stranger than the forest she was currently standing in. But it might also be duller.
"Well, the Farland is a problem of the future me." Alastair silently uttered as she continued walking in the alien-like forest with an emotionless expression plastered on her face. After a while of walking, she had finally arrived at the distance, which she could consider as excellent.
She stopped and took a deep breath, and silently uttered.
"Emergence..."
Without any delay, a dark light shone over her entire body as the military uniform had completely enveloped her once again. Alastair then summoned the grimoire to use the souls she had acquired from the soul deal. Well, thinking of them as souls weren't accurate as they were simply unguided astral energy.
"Then, let's use them."
A smile formed on Alastair's face as the beginning of her growth was about to start.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone