The air inside the restaurant still smelled of dust, blood, and charred wood, shards of glass were scattered across the floor, tables lay in ruins, and the bodies of the pursuers were sprawled lifelessly around the room.
Dex stood in the middle of it all, his breathing steady, his gaze cold, he turned toward the only pursuer still breathing, the man's body was crushed, thick blood flowing from his mouth, yet his eyes still burned with hatred.
Dex approached, his steps unhurried but unsettling. "Hey you" he said with an irritated tone. "If you still want to live a little longer, hand over all your money right now"
The pursuer spat blood, his lips curling into something that was meant to be a laugh but came out closer to a groan. "Damn" he hissed, his voice heavy and wet. "I never expected Princess Anna to have a guardian as powerful as you"
Dex furrowed his brow, his expression shifting into something closer to genuine confusion than anger. "What are you talking about? Just hand over your money"
The man scoffed, though his body was nearly broken. "You won't get any information out of me, I'd rather die than betray my master"
It seemed the man had misread Dex's words entirely, mistaking the money he was asking for as information.
Dex opened his mouth to answer, but the man had already moved faster than he anticipated, his jaw shifting, biting down on something concealed between his molars, a small capsule that had apparently been prepared long before this battle began, for the worst case scenario that had indeed come to pass.
His body seized in one long convulsion, like a bowstring pulled too tight, then went limp, black foam spilling from his mouth, darkening the blood already there into something deeper and more final.
And as if waiting for a signal, the others followed, one by one, the sound of small bites almost inaudible echoed through the silence, and one by one, the remaining bodies stopped moving.
"Hah?" Dex stared in confusion. "Did he just say information? Seems like he misunderstood, I only asked for money"
Dex sighed, then waved his hand, the wind swirled, lifting the dead bodies and stacking them in one corner of the room, after that Dex crouched down, and began going through their pockets with an annoyed expression.
"Damn this is absolutely disgusting"
"Excuse me"
That soft voice came from behind him, and Dex did not turn around. Anna stood awkwardly a few steps away, her face still pale with color that hadn't fully returned, her fingers gripping the hem of her robe without realizing it, beside her, Liana stood with an entirely different posture, upright and ready, her eyes never stopped moving between Dex, the door, the window, and the people beginning to gather outside drawn by the earlier commotion, she was mapping the room even in a room that no longer held any threats.
Dex still did not turn around, his hands flipped over one cloth pouch after another, and gold coins poured out like water, along with a few small pieces of jewelry glittering in the dim light of the room. "Hmm, wow, not bad at all"
Anna said nothing, waiting, but when Dex continued to ignore her she finally spoke again. "Once again, thank you for helping us just now"
Dex did not answer, he didn't even lift his head, his hands paused briefly when he found a pouch larger than the rest, its weight felt different when his fingers pressed against it, and he whistled softly. "Heh, jackpot"
Anna stared blankly, not knowing whether to feel relieved or annoyed, and something closer to complete bewilderment about what was actually happening in front of her eyes.
Liana only shook her head slightly, muttering under her breath. "This person, truly has no manners at all"
After finishing, Dex weighed the full coin pouch in his left hand, heavy and satisfying. "Hahaha turns out they were quite wealthy, too bad they didn't have to kill themselves like that"
Anna wanted to speak again, but after being ignored twice she chose to wait until Dex was done.
Dex stood, then suddenly turned toward Anna. "By the way, did you see where the old man went?"
Liana moved slightly forward, her brow pulling faintly. "Hey, don't speak so rudely to the Princess"
Anna was startled more by the fact that Dex had suddenly spoken directly to her. "You mean the shop owner?"
"Yes" Dex glanced around briefly, taking in the destruction filling every corner of the room, the shattered tables, the cracked walls, the stained floor, and beneath all of that, the faint scent of broth that somehow still lingered in the air, "Yes, I intend to pay for the damages, besides, the chicken noodle soup was pretty good, it would be a shame if the shop ended up in ruins like this"
Anna looked down for a moment, then answered softly, "While you were busy fighting them, it seems he ran outside, perhaps to call the city guards"
Dex went quiet, then touched his chin as if thinking seriously, after a few seconds he reached into the large pouch, took out five gold coins, and placed them on the surface of the half-destroyed cashier's counter, the coins rang sharply when they landed, a sound that felt disproportionate to the quiet surrounding it.
Anna stared at the coins with a puzzled expression. "Ah... you don't need to replace it let me handle it, besides you have already helped me j..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Dex had already turned away.
Seeing that he was about to leave Anna called out to him immediately.
"Sir"
"?"
"May I come with you?"
Dex stopped walking.
He didn't turn right away, only stood still for a moment, then slowly rotated his body, looking at Anna with a flat expression.
"Come with me?"
"Yes, as you can see, I'm being pursued" Anna did not look away. "I promise I will repay you, someday"
Dex glanced at Liana briefly, then back to Anna, he was quiet, his face showing nothing, before finally turning away again.
"Whatever"
Anna was slightly taken aback. "That... means yes?"
"Be quiet" Dex was already walking toward the door. "If you want to come, hurry up, if not, that's fine too."
Liana moved close to Anna, whispering. "Your Highness, we know nothing about this person"
"I know" Anna followed Dex's steps. "But we don't have any other choice, do we?"
Liana stared at Dex's back as he walked casually as though nothing had happened, then exhaled softly.
***
Van sat on the edge of his bed with a book still open in his lap, but his eyes hadn't touched the page for several minutes now, he listened to Dex sitting on the bed, relaying the story in a tone just as flat and calm as someone describing today's weather.
"So that's the gist of it" Dex finished his explanation, then sat on his own bed. "Now they're coming with us"
A brief silence.
Van closed his book slowly, his fingers tapping the leather cover several times, a small habit that appeared whenever he was processing something significant. His eyes moved toward the two women standing awkwardly near the bedroom door, one with blue hair and an upright posture whose hand never strayed far from the hilt of her sword, the other with white hair whose face was still covered by a hood.
"You just" Van chose his words carefully, "destroyed an entire restaurant, killed dozens of people, searched through their bodies to take their money, and then brought home two complete strangers you don't even know"
"I didn't invite them" Dex lay back, staring at the ceiling. "They were the ones who asked, and besides they killed themselves, I didn't kill them"
"Dex"
"Hm"
"One of them is a princess"
"Seems that way"
Van stared at him for a few moments, then drew a long breath and leaned back against the wall. "Alright" he murmured, more to himself than to anyone. "Alright, so this is how the day turned out"
"You know" Van continued, his tone shifting into something that sounded more like a scientific observation, "this morning I left you for only three hours. Three hours, Dex. I went to take care of something, and when I came back you had already destroyed a restaurant, created a massive problem, and somehow came home with two strangers"
"And a pouch full of gold" Dex corrected.
"What?"
"You can't forget the best part Van"
Van stared at him with an expression that was difficult to describe, perhaps he regretted going along with Dex. "That's what you took issue with from what I just said?"
"Come on, you're making everything I did sound terrible"
"Dex" Van drew a deep breath in the manner of someone counting to ten inside their head. "Focus on the point"
"The point is that in those three hours you managed to create an international diplomatic incident over breakfast" Van grabbed the collar of Dex's shirt and shook it back and forth repeatedly.
Dex went quiet for a moment, appearing to consider that statement with genuine seriousness. "I didn't even get to finish my breakfast"
Van opened his mouth, closed it again, then opened it once more. "Hahaha, fine"
Liana who had been standing still all this time finally stepped forward, her posture upright, her gaze sharp and calculating, she assessed Dex and Van in turn the way a guard assesses a threat, mapping possibilities, measuring risks, though watching their foolishness did not lower Liana's guard even slightly. "Before anything else, shouldn't we introduce ourselves" her voice was cold and measured, "I'm Liana and..."
"My name is Anna" Anna cut off Liana who had been about to introduce her.
Her hand rose, pulling back the hood that had been covering her face, and the afternoon light coming through the gap in the window poured itself directly onto that spill of white hair like someone had deliberately placed a light source at the most perfect angle.
Her face was like a masterpiece carved to perfection, as her hood fell away, a thousand flowers seemed to become her backdrop, as though she carried within her all their blooms and fragrance, her beautiful eyes made the world seem so dim, not even a thousand words in this world could describe her beauty.
Dex found himself unable to think of anything except one simple sentence repeating endlessly somewhere at the back of his awareness.
'This doesn't make sense'
Liana noticed something in Dex's expression, but in a different way, her eyes moved between Anna and Dex with a guard's sharpness, which made her brow rise very slightly, almost imperceptibly.
"Don't stare at the Princess like that" Liana immediately seized Dex by both arms, her hands closing around his neck.
"Alright, stop I can't breathe" Dex twitched like a fish out of water.