“Well, hello there. Where did you come from and what is your name? Don’t be afraid of me, I am just a small-time merchant. You can call me Asami.”

Asami extended her hand out toward the boy who has accompanied his sister. The glazed-over look in the girl’s eyes was a clear indicator of her being under a strong influence.

The locket that was warped around her neck shined with a light red glow which indicated that she was currently dreaming and her body was being controlled.

But that was not something her brother was going to know just yet. Especially not with the weak magical aura he had.

“What are you doing here? What do you want with my sister? Why did she come out to meet you in the middle of the night?”

‘Kid, you need to slow down your questions. Do you think I want to answer you if keep on behaving like this?’

Asami’s thoughts were not in the children’s favor but she only smiled outwardly. She did like people who tried to go beyond their station and achieve something more.

But that was only when the person they were trying to go against was not her.

“So, your sister came out to meet someone suspicious in the middle of the night and you decided to follow her without calling for help? Aren’t you over-estimating yourself a lot here?”

The kid took a step back as Asami took a step ahead of him. She could see the fear in his eyes as he tried to pull his sister back.

He was looking at Asami like she was out to kill him. And she might not have hesitated if the situation was a little different from this.

“Look kid, I have no beef with you or your sister. I just want your cooperation n some matter. I promise I will let you go as soon as I am done.”

Asami was being generous by offering this. Kids were a hassle to deal with and Asami did not want to waste her time trying to convince a brat to come with her.

‘I should have brought a second one in case of an emergency. I never thought I would have to hold back my powers like this.’

Asami was a free spirit so this was almost a first for her to be like this. But she had to keep on reminding herself that this was for the mission and nothing else.

“I don’t trust you. Did the tower send you here? Are the after my sister?”

“Kid, I don’t need to answer any of your questions. Come with me while I’m being nice or you will find yourself in a difficult situation.’

But the kid still did not seem to be in the same boat as her. It was giving Asami a small headache and she just decided to knock the child out.

The child must be sensitive to magic because he went down quite easily. There was no resistance in his body.

Asami picked up the boy first before extending her hand toward the girl with a blank look in her eyes.

The magic of the pendent was still holding up quite nicely but it was not Asami’s specialty to make it. Any form of disruption would make it collapse.

And that disruption came in the form of a small body catapulting itself between Asami and the girl.

“I knew you looked fishy. So you are trying to kidnap someone from our academy? Are you from the tower?”

It was the kid without any magic. The one who had won the stall game Asami had set up and had confused Asami’s magical senses.

“Kid, go back. I don’t have time for you and you won’t be able to handle me either.”

“We’ll see about it.”

The kid did not take Asami’s warning seriously. Despite all odds, he attacked Asami and she had to make a visible effort.

His hand was covered by a weird glove-like device that rendered Asami’s attacks useless but anything other than that was free range.

The kid managed to cover the distance between Asami and himself in a short while but Asami was not worried.

Why was she not worried about the kid breaching her defenses? It was a simple matter.

“You are a good kid but there is too much difference between your body and mine. I don’t need magic to take care of you.”

Asami knocked the boy out by kneeing him in the stomach. She was not cruel enough to rapture his organs but she did make sure that it hurt a lot.

The kid won’t be able to keep himself awake for a long time.

“W-Wait! Where are you taking Joseph.”

‘Wow, he’s still conscious? This kid sure is something.’

Asami had never seen a kid this determined to keep himself awake before. Had the situation been different, Asami would have taken the kid under her wing in a heartbeat.

Too bad that they were enemies now and Asami had to make sure that the kid didn’t become a problem to her in the future. With another blow, the kid was knocked out cold.

‘Too bad for him. I was interested to see how well the kid did in the future.’

It was a shame but what could one do? The kid had already lost consciousness and Asami wanted to get going.

The girl was already coming around now, the illusion losing its potency on her body and her wide eyes looking back at Asami with fear in them.

“Ugh, why did you have to gain consciousness now of all times? I cannot believe I missed my timing.”

And to think that she had even taken that weird stall owner’s advice to use the back gate. It seemed like she had been scammed.

‘A scammer getting scammed? Who would have thought.’

Asami did not find the situation funny.

“W-Who are you? Why are you carrying Joseph on your shoulder like that?”

Emily was awake and her eyes were fearful yet determined to save her brother.

“Yes, I would like to know who you are as well. Since you managed to get past our defenses then you cannot be any ordinary person either. Why don’t you and I sit down and talk.”

‘Ugh, they just keep on coming. Just where are these people popping up from? I thought this was supposed to be a deserted area?’

A quick in and out of the mission was what Clove had said to Asami. What a load of bullcrap it had been.

Ever since Asami had stepped into this carnival nothing good had happened.

“Well, would you look at the time? I should get going now. It was not nice to meet you all.”

The unnamed man attacked Asami. He was much faster than anyone she had met including Seraphina and his swing was really precise.

She quickly took out her stored power to create a shield around herself to deflect his attack but the man managed to pierce her shield.

A human had managed to surpass a goddess’s magic.

“Oi, are you even human? How the heck did you do that?”

Asami asked, her voice full of awe. Never had she seen such a marvel of human power in front of her eyes.

‘This man, he’s fascinating. I want to find out more about him and how his mind works.’

Asami had never been this interested in a human before. Her eyes were all but sparkling with a need to know more.

“Alexander, be careful. She had my brother hostage in her arms. We need to be careful if we want to avoid hurting him.”

Emily was finally fully conscious and had taken note of what happened. There was a fear in her eyes that only came when one was on the verge of losing someone precious to them.

In this case, it was her brother.

“Got it. Emily, go back with Damian and call Rex and others here. We cannot take a goddess down on our own but we can stall for help to come our way.”

Now, this was irritating. Asami was sure that she had not done anything to give herself away but the man still sounded confident about her identity.

The girl ran away as soon as she heard the man’s command but she did look back to see her brother being carried in those foreign arms.

“Did you send that child back because you were too afraid that she would see you lose? Man, you sure are a crafty person.”

The man looked taken aback at the address before understanding flashed across his face.

“No, I didn’t send Emily back because of that reason. I just wanted to get the children out of the way so that you could preserve your dignity after losing to me. Now, hand Jospeh over to me as well and then I can let you go.”

The man did not look afraid of Asami at all. On the contrary, he looked bored to be facing her.

‘Such a fascinating human. I guess he won’t mind dying then.’