Chapter 206 Alice The Sweetest
"Bye mummy," he kept waving and shouting loudly as he left.
"Mmm, bye baby." she waved back and shouted just as loudly. Both mother and son ignored the first library rule which was maintain silence at all times. The head librarian was a stern looking woman that Scarlet hired because she adhered to the rules in every situation no matter who the person was. Originally, she was supposed to be the head of all castle maids recommended by her mother but Scarlet diverted her to the library.
The woman, who insisted on being called madam Olga was reserved and she liked keeping to herself so library work suited her perfectly. Olga made it no secret that she was frowning at Scarlet for violating the most important rule of the library.
"Sorry madam Olga," Scarlet ducked quickly out of the library and found a spot outside to answer the call. Esong must have really wanted to speak to her so desperately if he was this persistent.
She smiled, took one deep breath and answered the video hologram call. "Hey," she said which was followed up by a quick "You are not my husband."
"I am his assistant, Dez Mino." the other party replied.
"Okay," Scarlet nodded, "Where is my husband Mr. Dez Mino?"
"He is sleeping currently which is a good thing because he has not had any good sleep ever since winter arrived. I apologize for using his terminal to contact you, I did not mean to violate your privacy or his. I wanted to discuss the new internal heat medicine which you sent the mecha warriors association. Did you personally make it?"
"Yes," she replied, She could not say that another grim reaper that you cannot meet or talk to made the pills. "Is there a problem with the pills?"
"A few mecha warriors have fallen asleep after taking the pills. Is this a side effect of the medicine or has something else gone wrong." Dez asked her.
"It's a side effect, I mentioned it in the brief which I sent along with the pills. If you had read it you would not be contacting me but we both know that nothing goes into a mecha warrior's body especially during the winter without a very thorough investigation so why are you contacting me really?"
Dez Mino bit his lip and scrunched his eyes, then he said, "Okay, you got me, I just wanted to speak to you and feel you out. The general he has changed, he smiles more, he got a tattoo and he says he misses home. I just needed to look at you maybe, talk and see if all these new changes are a permanent thing. We are in the ugly season, I do not want him to break down as he once did because of you. It will be bad for us all if you changed your mind and went back to being evil you."
Scarlet rolled her eyes and laughed, 'Evil me!!, now that's a new one. Look, I appreciate you being so nosy and looking out for him but he is fine, I am fine, we are fine, the medicine I sent is fine and everyone is fine. There is no evil me, so next time you need to talk about something, contact me personally. I think us being in contact could also be a good thing because the last time I reached out and couldn't get through to him I was worried. It will be good to have someone that updates me daily on his condition. For example is he eating?"
"One meal a day, sometimes two, it's always much worse in the capital than other places really." Dez blew air out of his mouth in a loud sigh that made his lips vibrate. Esong shifted his body and Dez's eyes widened, "Gotta go." he hung up abruptly.
She was left astonished by his behavior, knowing that if Esong found out what he had done, he would probably be in trouble. She looked at the time and remembered that she had a division one fight coming up in less than ten minutes.
Rushing her steps, she made her way to her private training room and prepared herself by entering the virtual world with her helmet. She recognized some members of her family in the arena closest to her and she waved at them.
This was a scheduled fight, one in which she was not the challenger but the challenged. It was not the norm for someone of high ranking on the virtual champions roll to challenge someone in a lower position but the paladins had probably become impatient and decided to seek her out because she was making no move to challenge them.
Some attributed it to fear, others lack of skill and a few claimed that she had only climbed so far due to sheer luck and her luck had finally run out. Those who knew that she was the governor of the blue star however were well aware of how busy she was. She did not live for the mecha fights as they did and she would return when she had time.
She was sitting in the assigned sitting area for all challengers or challenged that were waiting before their fights. "Hound, hound, do you have anything to say before the fight?" she was suddenly accosted by a reporter.
"No comment." she replied but the reporter would not leave her alone. 'Was it legal to beat up a reporter in the virtual world?' she wondered.
"Oh come on, say something, you have been hiding away for months like a coward and the people have a right to know what's on your mind." the reporter said, shoving her rudely in the shoulder.
"Seriously, you guys don't even rest in the virtual world," a woman that was sitting next to Scarlet pushed the reporter to the side. "No press is allowed here, beat it or I will report you for violation of player's privacy."
The reporter unhappily backed away, but not before taking a picture of both women against their will.
"Stupid paparazzo." the woman muttered. "They are not even real reporters. Are you okay?" she looked at Scarlet with that question.
"I am okay, thank you for your help." she replied. "I did not know that reporters or paparazzi could work in this world. It's a virtual world after all."
The woman laughed and raised one eyebrow which was pierced, three piercings to be exact. "You don't spend much time in the virtual world, do you? Come to think of it, I have never seen you here on the benches. I have heard about you of course, the female fighter in weird black armor that has a picture of a fierce dog, you are the hound."
"Or you just heard the paparazzo call me hound and now you know who I am." Scarlet countered with a smile. "But you would be correct on that. What's your name?"
"Alice, the sweetest." she replied.
Scarlet was a bit surprised because this was a name from the virtual roll, number two in division one as a matter of fact. "You are the one with a picture of her back instead of her face."
"Yeah," Alice laughed casually, "Why expose my pretty face when my skills are all in my hands and feet?" she folded her fists and wriggled her feet.
"Why that name, Alice, the sweetest?" Scarlet was curious about that. She had been curious ever since she first heard the name.
"Because, my pain is sweet sweet pleasure." she winked. "But I guess you will never know because after number ten tonight you will be challenging number one. Which means, you and I will not be getting a chance to meet in the division one fights, right?"