Chapter 196 – Tracked Down
Next on my list was to take care of the water, as usual. I would go to a new warehouse in 6 every day, and today was no exception. The rooms always contained the same things: wide containers, enough to hold a large quantity of fluids.
I started the work, put one of them in my storage, teleported to the river south of Geola, and filled it with water. When this was done, I put it back in my storage, teleported to the warehouse, and placed it on the ground. I then continued with a new one until they were all full. I usually tried to put in a little more water than necessary since it wasn’t easy to determine how to stop at exactly one thousand liters. I sometimes received a bit more money, but never the other way, telling me I was doing it right.
When I teleported back after filling the third container, I suddenly heard someone banging on the warehouse’s door.
“Open the door! We know you’re here.”
That took me by surprise. I was used to working in silence during those times, which was quite relaxing, and the loud noise disturbed my peace.
It didn’t take a genius to understand who was outside. There was a very small probability the police would come for an inspection, for whatever reason, but otherwise, it was almost certain these people were from the water management association.
Since I didn’t open the door, they eventually forced it open, destroying it without any care. The broken door flew for several meters inside the warehouse while I hid myself in a corner, ready to teleport away at any time.
“Look at all this water. There’s no doubt about it. This is one of those lowlifes’ warehouses. Hey! Search inside and get me whoever is hiding in there.”
“Yes, boss.”
Two women answered the first one, and I judged there were at least three of them here. I heard them walking around for a few moments, one of them eventually coming close to my position. Then, another loud noise was heard close to the entrance.
“Argh! You scum! I’ll kill you!”
The typical sound of water spells resonated in the room, followed by spells from other affinities. The ones who were searching for me ran toward the entrance, and I lightly took my head out to see what was happening.
A group of masked women was fighting the group from the association, spells flying left and right. Yet, the attackers had the advantage of having sorceresses come in close contact with the water mage before her escort could arrive. They took her out quickly before focusing on the two sorceresses who came just a bit too late.
Everyone was rank 3, but with the mage out of combat, the attackers were now outnumbered two to one. The real issue was that they were against two mages and two sorceresses. The combination of short-range combat with long-range spells made short work of them, and the combat ended barely a minute after it started.
“Tila Urtek! Are you here? You can come out if you are. We need to leave quickly before the police arrive.”
I came out of my hidden spot and approached them. The four women were masked, and their sel level was relatively low due to the burst consumption, but they appeared unscathed otherwise. They all looked up and down at me, visibly relieved that I seemed unhurt.
“Let’s go. Quickly.”
They turned around and started to run, leaving the three enemies fainted on the ground. I followed, zigzagging in the city’s streets for a few minutes. When they believed we were far enough, we headed toward a small backstreet and took a rest there. The two sorceresses looked fine, but the mages were breathing hard after that short run. I was also fine due to training physically every day and couldn’t help giving them my two cents.
“You should train your body a bit more. You never know what can happen in life.”
The four of them were surprised by my words, but the sorceresses turned toward the mages and nodded.
“See? I told you so. Even a rank 0 mage is in better shape than you two.”
One of the mages looked away while the other put her hands over her ears in annoyance.
“Ah! Ah! Stop with the nagging! I don’t want to hear it! I'm not hearing anything!”
That childish attitude made the sorceress sigh, and the group focused back on me.
“I’m glad you’re fine, Tila Urtek.”
“Just call me Tila.”
I smiled at the sorceress, and she nodded.
“Yes, Tila. We apologize for what happened.”
“Don’t worry about it. I started this knowing the risks.”
“How impressive. We wish all our clients were like you.”
“I was more impressed by your quick reaction. That was something else.”
“We know who the members of the association are, and we constantly monitor their movements. That’s why we were able to react so fast.”
“Thank you for saving me.”
“We should be thanking you instead. Your water has been very valuable, to the point we wish you could sell more.”
“More… Well, maybe later.”
“Is your water mage friend close to ranking up?”
I grinned innocently.
“Who knows?”
“Fine, you don’t need to tell us. Did they see your face?”
“I don’t think so. I was hidden, and you came right on time.”
“That’s great. They might know about you already, though, so please be careful. They either followed you to the warehouse or received intelligence about the place. We can’t use it anymore, but that’s not a problem. Do you have the note and key for tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We look forward to continuing to work with you, Tila.”
“Likewise. I feel like our relationship is progressing positively.”
“We know of your trouble with the association in 82. You’re someone we can trust.”
I grinned teasingly, not surprised by their investigative power.
“No need to stop at trust. It’s fine to like me.”
“As if!”
The childish water mage shouted, but the sorceress ignored her and laughed pleasantly.
“Hahaha! All right, we’ll get going now. Take care of yourself.”
“You take care, too.”
They left, and I also teleported to 82 soon after.
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