"Come on, brother..." the silver‑eyed man's calm and soothing voice filled the air again.
"Don't say it like that... You make it sound weird..."
The black‑eyed man glanced back at his brother standing behind him.
"It's a fact. If she didn't underestimate you at the start, she would have killed you with that kick."
The silver‑eyed brother shrunk his head back.
That he couldn't retort.
The girl watched their interaction, her eyes locked on them.
But every now and then, her gaze would drift to the people around, seeing them tremble in fear in the presence of the two brothers.
The black‑eyed man (after shutting up his brother) turned his attention back to the girl.
"You should come with us!" he spoke calmly.
"Don't make me force you," he added, his voice even lower.
With that, he turned to walk away, his brother going next to him.
They didn't even glance back at the girl, expecting compliance.
But they miscalculated.
The girl didn't follow.
Instead (with Limit Killer still active, which was also why she barely felt the pain of her wound) she sped through the area, completely out of their reach.
The brothers realized a moment too late and had no chance of going after her.
They would have to slowly track her down.
"Do you remember her scent?" the black‑eyed brother asked as he glanced down at the blood on his brother's hand.
Even if the brother didn't remember the scent, they could use the blood to track her down, though it would be more troublesome.
When the silver‑eyed man nodded, the black‑eyed one showed a cold smile.
It was a small, tiny smile, but it still made the people around not dare look his direction.
Even the silver‑eyed brother had a slight frown when he saw it.
His brother's smile was something to watch out for.
"Make sure to track her down, and I'll look into the rest," the black‑eyed man finally said.
The girl didn't know what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into by disappearing, but at the same time, she got herself out of a bigger problem.
If she had followed the brothers, things would have been more troublesome.
But that would have been, though a big one, just a short‑term problem.
By disappearing, she got herself into a smaller one, but a long‑term problem.
Because shaking off that pair of brothers was impossible.
Since the sun was already setting, she went back to the tavern.
The patrons there were quite surprised to see a young girl with such a nasty wound.
But she didn't react to them and straight away went to find the owner.
"Goodness, what did you do?" the beautiful woman's eyes widened slightly.
But at the same time, something like a smile seemed to be present in her eyes.
The girl looked at the owner and touched her wound again as she finally deactivated the Limit Killer.
"I got into a fight," she answered simply.
"A fight?" the woman suppressed a laugh.
"It much more looks like you provoked a beast—" as she said that, her smile froze.
Slowly, a frown formed on her face as she let her gaze roam over the girl.
She indeed did look like she had a fistfight with someone, but the wound suggested otherwise.
That could only mean one thing.
"Please, tell me you didn't go to make a mess in the Alley of Silence."
"And what's that?" the girl raised a brow.
Though she had already been nearly everywhere in the lawless area, she didn't look up the names of the streets and such.
"If it's the area controlled by a pair of brothers where people don't dare make a wrong step, then yes, I went there."
The woman lifted her head towards the ceiling with a sigh.
"You are here just the first day, and you already provoked those two monsters? Brat, you really are talented."
The girl raised a brow.
"Are they real monsters, or do people just call them monsters?" she asked.
"What's the difference in that?" the beautiful woman frowned, turning her head back down to look at the girl.
The girl shrugged.
"Probably not."
The woman shook her head.
"How did you even make it out alive?" she sighed again.
"Anyways, let me show you to your new room. I hope you don't die before you get to enjoy it."
The girl followed the woman to her new accommodation.
It was a small simple room under the roof of the building with a bed, small wardrobe, single chair, and a wooden post nailed into the wall to serve as something like a desk.
The room, being under the roof, had only a small window that barely let in any light even during the day, so there was a candle placed on the provisory desk.
For the girl, it was more than enough.
She liked the room.
It was warm and cozy even if it was a small space.
"I'll bring you some bandages for that wound. You can rest here for now," the woman spoke calmly, turning to quickly disappear into a different room.
Just a while later, she was back with clean bandages, a basin of clean water, and an empty basin.
"Take off your shirt, let me see it."
The girl wanted to say she would take care of it herself, but from the woman's gaze, it was clear she wouldn't agree to that.
So the girl just listened to her, taking off her shirt.
The woman wasn't really gentle as she cleaned the girl's wound.
She had the girl lean her shoulder over the empty basin and proceeded to pour the water from the second basin over her wound, washing away the blood and such.
After that, she used a clean cloth to dry the area around the wound.
But she made sure not to touch the wound so nothing would get in it.
Finally, she proceeded to wrap bandages tightly around the wound.
When the woman was done, she picked up the two basins.
"Will you be able to work with that wound tomorrow?" she asked.
The girl touched the bandage lightly and nodded.
"The wound isn't that much of a problem."
Hearing that, the woman raised a brow.
"You make it sound like something else is a problem."
The girl gave something like a nod mixed with a tilt of her head to the side.
"I might have overused the Limit Killer, so my body is starting to protest," she spoke calmly, like it was the simplest of facts.
Hearing that, the woman was a bit confused.
"Is that an ability from the Power of Death and Extinction? You used an ability on yourself that harms you?" she questioned.
"Why would you do something like that?"
While the girl went on to explain to the woman how the Limit Killer worked, something quite interesting was going on in the Alley of Silence.
The silver‑eyed man stopped tracking down the girl and came back to his brother with some news.
"I just met one of the underdogs," his voice had lost the soothing it had when the girl was around.
It was just a melodic voice without any special capabilities.
"And what did he want?" the black‑eyed brother looked up from what he was writing down.
Unlike his brother, his voice was the same as when the girl was around; cold and unsettling.
That meant his voice was like that without any abilities activated, while the brother was deliberately using an ability when the girl was around.
That question made the silver‑eyed man smile.
"Apparently, they found the person for us," it looked like he was about to laugh.
The black‑eyed brother glanced at the window in the room.
"Oh really?" he showed a chilling smile.
The smile was nothing like the smile the man showed when the girl was around; that cold smile.
That smile was from cold intrigue and maybe a bit of annoyance.
But the one at the moment was the cold smile of someone planning to kill someone that has for a long time been making things difficult.
"Then make sure to inform them they can keep their trained spies for themselves," he finally said, retracting the smile.
The silver‑eyed man nodded.
"I told him that, just wanted to inform you."
"That means you can now return to tracking the girl," the black‑eyed man turned his attention back to what he was writing initially.
"Why are you so fixated on her?" the silver‑eyed man fixed his gaze on his brother.
"You never show an interest like this. What's so special about her?"
The black‑eyed man shot his brother a glare.
"You were also strangely fixated on her when you first saw her. Instead of killing her right away for disturbing the silence, you tried to manipulate her. You always said you hate doing that."
Those words were like a splash of hot water into the silver‑eyed man's face.
It was a fact that when he found out that someone broke two of the navigation stones he went over to kill the person; or at least severely hurt them.
But when he saw the twelve‑year‑old girl with her eyes closed, waiting for what would happen, he suddenly had the impulse to manipulate her.