Chapitre 74: Flirtation Practice

Ryuma was wiping all the tables down this time. The place was about to be shut down. He glanced at the two Red Dog priest who were merrily chatting with each other and being obnoxious. They were still here to his annoyance. Looking around again, that odd Ronin was still here as well. They hadn't ordered anything that warranted them being here this long a few drinks wasn't enough.

"So have you heard that they found that sack of shit Geneo and the rest of his squad?" The second one said.

Ryuma froze in mid table wipe. He knew exactly what state they found him in, whoever 'they' are. After that momentary pause, Ryuma began wiping the tables down again. Hopefully, nobody saw that.

"Geneo… that fat bastard. His squad is a bit strong for a few tithe collectors," The first one said.

"Was a bit strong. Looks like that whole unit kicked the bucket," The second one said.

The first one looked at him shocked. "For reals? With that man's skill and survival instincts, it's a bit hard to believe he could just die on the side of the road. Not to some basic demons. Had to be at least level three. Might have managed to catch him off guard,"

{Well... he's half right.}

Ryuma knew that if he hadn't have crippled Geneo first, he wouldn't have come out of that alive. Few apparitions in the lower level were tactical enough to hide themselves. So his stealth and choice in targets is what saved him that night, even if he had attacked one of the other priest that was with him that night, he certainly wouldn't have made it out.

"Check this, it ain't no demon that killed them. Only demons around were the scavengers. The squad had some of their soul force on them when the hunters found em,"

The first priest looked at him. "You tellin me Geneo got ambushed and murdered by a human,"

"Think about it. Three priest dead in the area around Lue," The second one chuckled and got up closer towards his ear. "Some thinking they might have died to the Priest Killer,"

At this Ryuma stopped working again and fixated on the two talking… the priest killer? What priest killer? He's never heard of a priest killer stalking around the town of Lue. To be frank, he assumed that the two would immediately suspect that he was the one who'd done it. He actually did do it, but why wouldn't he be the primary suspect for it? Shouldn't they have figured out by now that he was dropped right around this vicinity and three priests are found murdered and not ravaged by apparitions? To him, the circumstantial were just too coincidental. Then again, he didn't know everything going on in the surface world and had a weaker perspective. Maybe hiding in plain sight was the best idea.

"Priest Killer? Bull shit!" The first one said. "I don't care how skilled a Surface dweller is with his blade. I refuse to believe that a surface dweller with no soul force to his name was able to kill three priest,"

The man at the far end gave the drunken priest a sharp look. He retracted just as fast, but Ryuma managed to catch it.

Even though he caught it, he said nothing about it. Perhaps there was a thing to this whole Priest Killer after all. Indeed Geneo was his work, but if there was rumors of a Priest Killer before he had a hand in this, then his own life was very much in danger. If there was a reason for him to target priest, then the logical solution would be that this man didn't differentiate between which type of priest he'd be killing. They were all marked for death.

{But if he's known as the priest killer. Then this guy might be doing this for fun and sport, Or just a sick pleasure to get off.}

Ryuma was neither of those things. He only killed Geneo because the man was being a tyrant. He never decided to just do this for fun.

"Ya know, there's always the chance that the killer is none other than the guy that left the Skylands. It could be that Ryuma," The second one said.

The first one waved his hand away dismissing the notion. "Doubt it. That kid's fresh out the academy. Shining spirit or not, he doesn't have the method to kill. Besides, all of them had their blades awakened. Ain't no punk kid's gonna do the trick,"

As they kept talking, they've said a lot of stuff. Most of it was noteworthy intel. Today might just be his lovely day. Though that last part stuck with Ryuma.

{What did he mean by their blades were awakened?}

Was it something they purposely left out of the academy? If so, why hasn't he heard anything about an awakening?

The day had gone by, the inn was closed up, and Ryuma headed home. At least, to the place he was staying at. He was getting too comfortable with that spot. Should it be time for him to go? No… it felt like there was something he was missing. Some sort of clue or direction to tell him what his next move should be.

"So tell me what you learned today," It was Saya. Ryuma was at the house waiting for his plate of food. Between the two of their work schedules, they had a three hour window of time before Saya had to go work the night shift.

"Well… I learned that the Red Dogs Shining spirit has awakened," Ryuma said.

"And what else?" Saya asked.

"Hmm… There's the fact that Lue had a priest killer roaming around these parts," Ryuma raised an eyebrow. It was an unnerved look he gave her. It would have been nice to know that there was a known killer out there. "Don't you think I would've liked a bit of a warning about that?"

"Why do you care? He only targets priest. None of that concerns us" She blinked a few times with a perplexed look.

Ryuma sighed. "Ok. You have a point. I mean a priest killer is still a killer. I think it'd be smart to inform me of such things,"

"Well you need to learn to go out and get that information. If you don't, you could end up dead in an alleyway and not even know why. So what else did you learn?"

"Hmm…" Ryuma thought again. "Well there's the fact that three tithe collectors were found dead. That and the fact that a young man with the Shining Spirit for the White Dragons has emerged.

Of course he already knew that one. He was that young man to begin with.

"That's all good. You've got a lot of information, more so than I thought. How did you coax it out of them?" Saya asked.

Ryuma nervously smiled. He never coaxed it out of them, they just kept talking and eventually, that was the subject.

"Nevermind, don't bother. Let me guess, you were eavesdropping," Saya said. Ryuma nodded his head. It was the only thing he could do

Saya sighed. "Ok, next time. Instead of eavesdropping. I want you to learn how to strike up conversation,"

"Oh… I… you mean…" Ryuma fumbled.

"I mean with a stranger. Specifically a woman. If there's anybody that knows the rumor mill, it would be a woman," Saya said.

{Oh God…}

Everything in his head was screaming at him that this woman was going to teach him something he wasn't supposed to learn. He could only shiver.

"Ok, we woman are creatures of curiosity. The best way to get our attention, is with intrigue,"

"Intrigue?" Ryuma asked.

"Yes intrigue," Saya put her hands on her hips. "You build intrigue in us, and we can't help but want to unravel the mystery that is you,"

Ryuma checked himself over. "But… there's nothing intriguing about me,"

Saya lightly bopped him on the forehead. "It doesn't matter if there's nothing intriguing about you. She doesn't know that. Fortunately for you, you were blessed with good looks. I'm willing to bet you were a heartthrob where you were from. Probably too dunce to notice,"

Ryuma exasperated. Every word this woman threw always felt like an anvil being dropped on his head. She could ease with the bluntness every now and then.

"Listen. The best way to get a woman intrigued into you is to casually enter her zone of comfort, and then pull out just as casually. It works for a natural pretty boy like you," Saya said.

"Her comfort zone? You want me to get close to her?" He asked.

"No, not like that. That'll just creep her out. Just do something soft. Give her a wink and a smile. Compliment her out of nowhere. After you do that, casually move on as if that's par for the course. Bonus points if you talk to another woman afterwards," Saya said.

Ryuma's face panned… "Why would talking to another woman help?"

Saya huffed. She cupped her hands beside her face in a cutesy pose. "Who was that guy? Did he just compliment me? If he means it, why isn't he chasing me? Who's that girl he's talking to? Is that his girlfriend? It'll be an endless supply of thought's thinking about you," Saya said.

Ryuma didn't get it and inwardly groaned in frustration. The first thing he's learning on the surface world was how to pick up chicks. This wasn't a troubling situation at all.

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