Starting from the Dragon Tribe! - Chapter 34

Starting From the Dragon Tribe

Chapter 34: Male Guests

“Greetings, milady. Are you perhaps alone?”

Before Milana stood a typical British gentle lad with neatly combed hair and a bright smile on his face. Judging by his appearance, he should be in his mid-twenties.

Though somewhat irritated, Milana answered with a beam, “Yes. I’m Milana Bergson. Pleased to meet you.”

As they joyfully interacted, the commissioners were already in position. Although the first “male guest” was not likely to be Slaughter, and that it was highly unlikely for him to cause a stir in the open, the Executive Department couldn’t take the chance to loosen their security.

…

Meanwhile, rather than a flirtatious encounter, Lutecia had met with a mini accident.

After lunch, she stopped by the Library of Birmingham—the largest regional library in Europe. Ahead of the mission, she had visited the library a few times. After all, it was such a comfortable spot for reading that one would lose track of time with the company of a good book and a fragrant cup of tea.

Given that eight out of nine of the victims were shopping enthusiasts, the director didn’t recommend Lutecia to visit the library, although one victim was a librarian, which was but a coincidence.

Nevertheless, Lutecia insisted as she thought going to the mall every day would raise skepticism. Moreover, being in the library didn’t mean she wouldn’t be targeted, hence the visit. In spite of everything she said, she chose to stay in the library out of personal intention as there was a book she had read in the past that she wished to go back to.

Straightening her slender figure, she scanned through the towering bookshelves only to be disappointed by the absence of the book.

As she turned around, she walked into a young man. Along with the stack of books he was carrying, the lad fell and lay flat on the ground.

Despite donning a pair of high heels, Lutecia, as a hybrid, was able to exert her strength and maintain her balance, visibly more skillful than an ordinary human being.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Extending her hand to help the boy up, she simultaneously sized him up.

The young man in his late teens sported a pair of faded jeans and a white shirt with the word ‘LIKE’ imprinted on the chest area. Other than that, some noticeable details included a fairly long set of fringe and faint freckles on his pale mug.

Seeing Lutecia offering her hand, the boy instantly blushed and lowered his head, too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. Panicked, he hastily helped himself up and collected his books.

In response to the kid’s bashfulness, Lutecia withdrew her hand and squatted down to help the boy pick up his books. Although it was merely an accident, the voice through her earpiece instructed her to scrutinize every man who came in contact with her.

“T-Thank you!” Nervously, the teenager blurted his gratitude as if he had never seen such an angelic missy.

“I should be the one to apologize.” Lutecia countered with a benign smile and turned around to leave.

“E-Excuse me… w-were you perhaps looking for ‘The Merchants of Venice’, m-miss?” All of a sudden, the young lad’s stutter stopped Lutecia.

At once, Lutecia’s body slightly froze as she momentarily made a confused face with her back facing the boy. After a split second, she turned around with an amiable expression on her face.

“I’m Lutecia Campbell. What about you?” Lutecia took the initiative to introduce herself.

“I… I am Albert Evans… ” The boy responded, still too timid to look her in the eyes. To a regular boy like him, Lutecia’s glowing beauty was indeed overwhelming.

“What a nice name, Albert. How did you know I was looking for that book?” Lutecia curiously questioned.

“It’s b-because all the books in this row are Shakespeare’s works. And the fact that you didn’t grab a book after scanning through the shelves suggested you might be looking for it. A-Also… it’s the only book that wasn’t on the shelf.” As Albert spoke, he was constantly clutching and squeezing the hem of his shirt.

“You’re very sharp, Albert! Perhaps you could tell me where the book is?” Lutecia complimented.

“Y-Yes, miss! Someone placed it at Area B… Allow me to lead you there,” he mumbled. As if he had mustered up all of his courage, his face was as red as a beetroot.

“No need to be so formal, Albert. I’m at most two years older than you. I even have to trouble you for the book!” Lutecia comforted after seeing the young man being this self-conscious.

***

***

Out of everyone’s expectations, Milana’s side was rather eventful. The man, Abner Smith, was a talkative young man. Furthermore, he was quite knowledgeable regarding Birmingham and even brought her to countless city highlights. Nonetheless, what alerted her and the Executive Department was the fact that every place he had led her to were all within the region of their speculation.

“Miss Milana, would you by any chance lend me a hand?” As the sky darkened, Abner and Milana were sitting on a bench by the river.

“Depends on how difficult the task is,” Milana replied in a joking manner.

“So there’s a banquet tonight, and I haven’t found myself a plus-one. If somehow, I could attend it with you, my peers would go green with envy to see me show up with a beauty like you, Miss Milana.”

As if he was a veteran in relationships, his utterance was outstandingly natural, though, to Milana, it was a cheesy, goosebump-triggering obstacle that she had to smile her way through.

Before this, she had secretly vented to Lu Chen about how she wished the user of Bond had a higher grade lineage, which would have saved them the effort to lure in the subject.

Compared to other hybrids, the ones possessing the Kotodama of Bond had exceptionally responsive sensors to detect the presence of other hybrids within a substantial radius. However, the flaw was that they could only detect those with equal or lesser bloodline. Sadly, even less fortunate was the fact that hybrids with Bond were usually of lower grade lineage no higher than Grade B.

Because of that, the Executive Department always had a hard time searching for feral hybrids with bloodlines of Grade A or higher as they would have to resort to traditional, non-supernatural means.

Thus, all of that led to her being obliged to attend a banquet that she didn’t even know was real. If the banquet was real, that would indicate that he was, alas, an ordinary man, which would further mean that all her efforts were all for nothing. On the other hand, if the banquet was made up, then grave danger should be awaiting her arrival that night.

“Why not! Should I go and get changed?”

Despite all her worries, the commissioners from the department were all within her immediate vicinity, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

After all, she was still a mighty Grade A.

…

“What do you think are the odds of Slaughter falling for such bait?” Laying down a pair of binoculars, Susie asked listlessly.

“In my opinion, the department’s information is somewhat reliable. Although the chances aren’t high, I speculate the probability of Slaughter being one of these two men to be more than ten percent,” Chu Zihang claimed.

“That’s stupid high!” Stupefied, Susie responded. I mean, sure, Birmingham isn’t the largest city in the country, but it’d still be like searching for a tick in a lock of hair!

“Didn’t you notice? Before today, Miranda and Lutecia had been traveling alone, and not a single soul had come forth to bother them.” Chu Zihang mentioned a key hint.

Naturally, Susie pondered on that idea.

Born in a royal family, Lutecia even had the blood of an emperor flowing within her, blessing her with the charm and air of a princess. Thanks to her innate advantages, instead of attractive lines of pursuers, she would only draw out the self-abasement of those pursuers. The same theory applied to Milana as well, which explained why no one dared to approach them when they were shopping alone.

This phenomenon was theorized as ‘Curse of the Blood’. Based on this hypothesis alone, the chances of high-grade hybrids approaching them drastically spiked!

“Among these two, who’s more likely to be Slaughter? Prince Charming Abner, or the bashful young Albert?” Clearly, Susie was fascinated by Chu Zihang’s perspective.

After a moment of silence, Chu Zihang expressed, “I’m rather skeptical toward Albert. People like him tend to develop social anxiety and would stray away from social interactions if possible. It was awfully unusual for him to take the initiative to interact with Lutecia.”

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