The girl still walked into the tavern, going towards the counter.
At the moment, she had other things to do than go chat with acquaintances.
Though she was curious about what the guy in black was doing in the tavern.
As of the moment, the plot of the book had started.
She had to act in order with that.
In the book, the girl she became had never been a student in the Academy of Magic.
She had never even been called in front of the Emperor.
It happened to the girl after taking over the body most probably because she left the Capital City and went to the town.
The Emperor's people were looking mostly through the areas away from the Capital when looking for the wielder of Power of Death and Extinction.
Because the wielders of the power were ostracized, they just didn't think someone with the power would live in the Capital.
By leaving the Capital a few years prior, the girl got into an area where the Emperor's scouts worked.
And she got forced back to the Capital, back to where the girl in the book lived.
But already with the difference that the original girl just lived in the lawless area, while at the moment, the girl was still officially a student of the Academy of Magic.
But could that even be said about her when she had no name to be written into the register of students?
It was basically an insignificant fact that could be forgotten.
Once the Academy realized she was gone, they would no longer bother about her.
They would just report it to the Emperor and Archmage.
So, to perfectly align herself with the plot, the girl didn't need to do much.
Just enter the lawless area and get the same job as the girl in the book had; in the tavern she had just entered.
Thus, the girl didn't pay attention to the familiar face she saw and went to the door leading into the back rooms of the tavern.
There, she could probably find the owner.
Lifting her hand, she knocked and waited for someone to open.
And it happened just a moment later; a girl a bit older than her opened.
"What do you need?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
"Is the owner around?" the girl asked.
The girl that opened the door nodded.
"What do you need with the owner?" she asked as she let the girl walk through the door, showing that she would lead her to the owner.
The girl followed the tavern girl (probably a worker there she guessed).
"I would like to work here," she said truthfully.
The tavern girl raised a brow.
"Here? Amongst rough men and criminals? You think you can survive that?"
The girl nodded a bit.
"I have much higher chance at surviving here than anywhere else," the girl admitted.
"Really?" the tavern girl looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Well, if that's the case, the owner will very much like you," she said as they stopped in front of a door.
"Go on in," the tavern girl nudged.
"No need to knock," she added.
The girl listened and pressed the door knob.
The door, already old, opened with a squeaking sound into something like an office.
But the place was empty of people.
The owner clearly wasn't there.
The girl was just about to look at the tavern girl when that one passed by her and went to sit at the desk.
As she walked by the girl, the girl noticed that she no longer looked as young.
"So, you want to work here for me?" the woman asked with a smile, resting her elbows on the desk in front of her.
"Close the door when you come in," the woman added.
The girl stepped into the room, closing the door behind her with another squeak.
The door would really need some oil for the hinge.
"You are the owner?" the girl asked, though the answer was already in front of her.
"Why disguise as a teenager?" she changed the question.
The woman tapped her fingers on the desk rhythmically, like a melody was going through her head.
"Do you think it would be safe to step into that crime‑infested place looking like this?" the woman straightened her back as she spoke, letting her quite prominent curves be completely impossible to ignore.
"Well... that makes sense," the girl nodded.
The tavern was swarming with all kinds of people, but they had one thing in common; they were no angels.
Stepping into such a place with the beauty of the woman (she was stunning) would be incredibly foolish.
The woman's smile widened.
"Let's return to the important things," she leaned back in her seat, the plush of the chair looking like it would swallow her.
"You want to work here for me? Even though you've seen the men that come here every day? Let me tell you, little girl, I don't want anyone to die on my property. Why should I take in a defenseless little lamb like you?"
The girl knew she would be asked something like that because of the kind of place the tavern and the lawless area was.
"If I may, I could prove to you I am far from defenseless," she said as she walked a bit closer, just so when she reached out, she could touch the desk.
The woman raised a brow, intrigued by the girl's confidence.
"Do show me," she nodded as she crossed her legs.
The motion caused her to sink further into the plush chair.
The girl had thought of a few ways to show her power.
The easiest would be if the woman had some plants in her office (if it could be called that), but there was nothing like that around.
Another way the girl thought of was using the Death Presence on herself, and if the woman doubted her, she would also use it on the woman for a moment.
In the end, that ability wasn't harmful; just painful for a while.
And the last idea she had was to use the Limit Killer to do something extreme, but she didn't really feel like breaking anything.
So, she settled with the Death Presence.
When the woman let the girl prove herself, she expected her to do something right away, but instead, the girl didn't move for a moment, making her narrow her eyes in observation.
Only a while later did she notice a change.
Something was swelling on the girl's face.
At first, it was just a red spot before it actually opened up and turned into a wound.
And such wounds seemed to be appearing all over her body.
Initially, the wounds were just wounds, but in just a few seconds, the pungent smell of rot started spreading from them soon.
The woman could see the wounds getting deeper not by tearing or anything like that but by rotting from within.
"You look like you have leprosy," the woman frowned, not liking the scent.
"But how does that prove anything? You can hurt yourself, excellent."
The girl smiled.
"I never said I can only use it on myself..." her voice was calm, even melodic.
The woman raised a brow.
She wanted to ask more when she felt a sting on the palm of her hand.
Turning her hand over to look, she saw a big red spot.
Just like the spot that had first appeared on the girl's face.
"You didn't even touch me! How did you do it?" she was astonished.
And she was a bit worried that it would get worse, but after the redness cracked into a slowly bleeding wound, it no longer progressed.
The woman wasn't dumb enough to think that it was because the girl wouldn't be able to make it more serious.
She was aware that it was because the girl just didn't want the rotting to start on her.
But on the girl's own body, the rotting was continuing, making her look like a living corpse.
And the stench was only getting worse.
"You can stop it now," the woman stood up to go open the window.
The girl nodded and retracted the ability.
The woman could nearly instantly feel the sting on her hand disappear, her skin returning to how it was before.
And when she looked over at the girl, the flesh that had already been rotten started returning to normal.
"Well, that's quite amazing," the woman nodded in satisfaction.
Having a worker like that in her tavern would definitely not bring her more work.
"You have the Power of Death and Extinction?" she asked.
There were also other powers she could think of that would have a similar effect.
Like the Power of Disease and Toxin or the Power of Poison and Venom.
But those powers were much weaker and slower acting, so she still thought it was the Power of Death and Extinction.
The girl nodded.
"It's a very versatile power, actually. I really don't know why people fear it so much."
The woman chuckled.
"But that versatility comes at a cost, doesn't it?"
It was obvious what she meant.
While training, or rather untangling the power, the power always killed all that was around.
And if a person was around at that time, the user of the power could actually go out of control to kill the person.
Naturally, something like that would be feared and abhorred by people.
A power that caused the user to go out of control and on a killing spree seemed to ordinary people like a gift from the devil.