The woman walked forward from the crowd, stepping past the other villagers who parted for her.

Her expression was serious and determined, her jaw set.

Amir, still rolling on the ground in agony, looked up at her through pain-filled eyes.

"Aren't you..." His voice trailed off as he stared at the innkeeper.

The woman stood before him now. She looked down at him with pure disgust in her eyes, then turned back to face me.

"What do you think?" she asked.

I mean, she'd just casually said to burn them alive. I hoped she knew he was one of the Saytans... that he was a captain of the branch here. But still...

"Sure, witch," I replied, a smirk creeping onto my face.

She was the same innkeeper from the inn me and Sera had gone to after escaping the village. The witch who liked weird nicknames.

She reflected my smirk with one of her own.

"Then I will carry on the ritual, if you don't mind," she said.

My eyes widened slightly. "You realize everyone's watching, right? When they come to inquiry, you'll get arrested."

"Of course!" Amir spat from the ground, his voice sharp despite the pain. "I'll make sure every one of you here gets arrested. All you people who are just watching and not helping an officer in duty!"

He grinned through gritted teeth, still clutching his shattered knee. He was sweating buckets from the pain, his face pale and slick.

[Dude just got one dialogue and he's repeating it in a loop.]

True. He'd used "officer in duty" at least five times in the last five minutes.

The innkeeper just ignored him completely. She stepped forward toward me, flames still lightly dancing around her fingertips and wrists. The fire moved with her, controlled and deliberate.

She looked deep into my eyes, her brown meeting my gold.

She wasn't your typical innkeeper, that was for sure. The control of her flames showed at least three-circle mastery. A tier above even Lydia's mana mastery.

But there was no trace of aura in her. None at all.

She must have worked as a support mage in her prime. Powerful, but specialized.

"I am ready to take the blame... or rather, I want to take the blame for this," she said clearly.

Strange request.

"Are you avenging someone?" I asked.

Her hands held the sleeping kid in her arms a bit tighter, protectively.

I see.

"Yes. My dead husband," she replied, her voice steady but carrying weight.

A grin crept onto my face even despite the heavy reveal.

"You waited for this exact chance for years, didn't you?" I asked.

"You can tell?" she asked, slightly surprised. Her eyebrows raised just a fraction.

I mean, I'd always had a suspicion about her. While most inns asked for your citizen ID right away, this woman didn't even ask for names. She wrote down aliases instead of real names to make sure she could establish trust with adventurers.

Most inns would reject adventurers as soon as they saw their IDs, they were famous for their uncivilized behavior, drinking too much, getting into fights afterall. But she never did. Because she needed them in her inn.

I mean, what else was a better source of information about guards and law enforcement than adventurer's gossip? They talked freely over drinks, complaining about the local authorities, sharing rumors.

She was here with a plan. She'd been planning this for a long time.

"Surely, this weakling can't be your target, not for a three-circle mage such as yourself," I said, gesturing dismissively at Amir. "Are you planning to go against the Saytans themselves?"

I didn't know how her husband died. But I had a strong feeling she was more of an avenger type than a grieving type.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell..." she said, looking down at the child in her arms.

Hmm.

A small kid for someone who was at least in her forties... She might look young, probably in her early thirties at most, but that was due to her high mana cultivation. Mana kept you youthful.

The kid was probably not her biological child. And she might be here for the Asylum of Legacy.

She was clearly on a mission. A long-term one.

'Nexar,' I called mentally.

[Yep, dialogue is ready,] Nexar replied immediately, already guessing what I had in mind.

"You see..." I started, choosing my words carefully. "I'm in need of this... blame as well."

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

Poor Lydia just watched in silence, though I could sense many questions brewing in her expression. Starting with: who is this beautiful woman?

"But I do have a way to share the blame," I added.

She nodded, her expression knowing. She was already expecting that I was doing this public show to grab attention for my own goals. That I couldn't just give her this opportunity simply because she asked.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked directly.

I raised my hand, offering it for a handshake.

"While having a strong mage is a gift... I'm sure you can't join me since you have your own goals to achieve. So let me ask you this..." I said, looking between her child and her.

She looked at me a bit suspiciously as my tone changed slightly. The fire around her rose a tad bit higher, ready to be cast at any needed moment. Her guard was up.

"I want you to form an alliance with me," I said clearly.

"An alliance...?" she asked, her eyebrows raising.

As she was processing that word, Amir suddenly moved.

He'd been slowly crawling toward her legs while we talked. His hand shot out and caught them.

"Wha—" She stumbled, caught off guard.

Too late. He pulled her leg backward hard.

She lifted the kid in her arms protectively as she fell toward the ground. The child jolted awake from the sudden movement.

I caught the kid just in time, pulling her safely into my arms before the innkeeper hit the ground.

The woman fell with a wet thud. Her breasts thudded between her weight and the hard ground beneath her.

Amir got up slowly, wincing through his broken knees. He grabbed her face, pulling it off the ground by her hair.

"Ghh..." A sound of pain escaped her mouth as he yanked her hair hard.

A blood streak flowed down her forehead, tracing her pale white skin in a crimson line.

"Kekeheheh," he laughed, his voice twisted and manic. His hand moved to grope her breast roughly while his teeth hovered near her neck. "Don't ignore me, you bitch."

"You think you can get away from me after disrespecting me when I came to your inn?" he snarled.

"You didn't give us the info about your customers, despite me saying the information about the white-haired girl and black-haired male was necessary for inquiry!"

I see.. They have done thorough search for us. It was a good decision to join Tugnier.

His eyes turned to look at me, then at Lydia.

"You take a step forward toward me and I'll bite her neck off clean!" he threatened, his grip tightening. His hand still pressed against her breast painfully.

"Sorry, buddy. Wrong hostage," I said, sighing as I gently tapped the back of the little girl in my arms. She'd just woken up, confused and disoriented.

I wasn't going to let her see her mother burning people alive.

Then, suddenly, the hand that was on the innkeeper's breast blazed in fire. In an instant, flames erupted.

"WAHHHHH!" Amir screamed, backing off as the fire crept up his body like a living thing.

"WAHHH! WAHHH! WATER!" he screamed desperately, dancing around in pure agony.

His underlings immediately took off their blue SBV uniform coats and started hitting his hand with them, trying to smother the flames. A few ran off to bring water.

He even forgot about his broken knees as he danced in pain, hopping on legs that should have been unable to support him.

No kidding, burning was the worst kind of pain, after all.

The woman just got up slowly, deliberately. Blood was still coming out of the injury on her forehead, dripping down her face.

She walked toward me for her child, her movements steady despite what had just happened.

"Thank you..." she said softly as she took her daughter back from my arms.

She immediately covered the child's line of sight, hugging her close and turning her face away from Amir's burning form.

"Mom..." the kid said, confused and scared, as she hugged her mother back tightly.

The woman hugged her closer, covering her ears from all the screams Amir continued to make.

Finally, his underlings came back with buckets of water and splashed it all over his hand. The fire slowly subdued, leaving charred, blackened skin behind.

"AAAhhh..Huff..that bitch.."

"About the alliance..." I asked again, returning to the topic.

She looked at me carefully, her daughter still pressed against her chest.

"I don't know what it is... but as long as you can promise me there won't be any ill intentions, and I get to have my part of the attention, I will agree," she responded.

She was quick to decide now that her child was awake. Had she planned to do all of that without waking her child up? What kind of person was she?

I nodded. "I promise. There won't be any side effects to this deal, and I will explain how an alliance with me works after this."

She nodded back.

Did she always trust people at their word, or was this situation making her desperate enough to take the risk?

"Please form an alliance with me," I said, extending my hand once more.

[Formation of an alliance is in progress.]

[Target: Serena]

[Divine Gift: Pyromancer (B)]

[Attribute Sync: Pyromancer (B) → Pyromancer (A+)]

Damn! she is one lucky witch. Attribute sync with the divine gifts is rare. Afterall most divine gifts don't imitate a natural element.

"I accept," she said firmly, shaking my hand.

Her grip was strong, steady.

[Target has agreed to join the alliance.]

[Alliance formation is initiated under the administrator: Nexar, The Warlord's Carnal System.]

[Alliance Members: 1]

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