Ezra Echelon Liberation System

Chapter 24: Killing In Cold Blood

When Ezra went into the inn to book a room he realized that Mira had already booked a room on her own. Realizing this made him to feel a bit sad because the both of them had always booked the same room when they went to sleep in inns. This was the first time Mira was behaving this way and it wasn't sitting well with him.

I think I have to find which room she booked and talk to her, he thought to himself as he made his payment to the innkeeper. We can't keep on quarreling or it would be very much detrimental to our relationship. I need to make sure we resolve this before morning...

After making up his mind he turned to the innkeeper and asked, "Do you know which room the young woman who came in here just now booked?"

"What young woman?" the innkeeper asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Kids these days won't stay off women older than them, he added inwardly but didn't dare say it out loud so that he wouldn't end up offending his customer.

"The slender one with brown hair," Ezra replied without feeling offended at all. "She just came in now."

"Oh," the innkeeper raised his eyebrows. "The one by the name Mira?"

"Yes, that's her," Ezra said. "You know, she's my companion but we got separated and she ended up booking a room without me."

"Huh?" the innkeeper raised his eyebrows again. "She's your companion? By that do you mean your mistress?"

When Ezra heard this, he couldn't help but clench his fists. He wanted to badly to crush the man I. front of him for asking stupid questions but controlled himself. He didn't want to end up doing something that violated his principles.

"She's my friend," Ezra said. "We're traveling together and got separated due to an incident."

When the innkeeper heard this he couldn't help but look at Ezra suspiciously for some time. It was as if he was insinuating that he wasn't buying what Ezra was saying right now. He kept on scrutinizing Ezra for a long period of time till the latter became impatient and slammed his right fist on the table in front of him.

"It's very urgent!" Ezra said, finding it hard to control his temper. "I need to meet her this very moment!"

"Or what?" the innkeeper flared up instantly. He couldn't sit idle and watch a youngster misbehave with him. He had to stand up and show this kid his place before he did something detrimental to the inn's image.

Ezra stared at the innkeeper, several ways of beating him flying through his mind. But in the end, he chose not to do anything and unclenched his fist. Instead, he said to the innkeeper, "Consider yourself lucky today I'm not in the mood to deal with you..."

He was still talking when he saw Mira walk out of one of the rooms. She was wearing a black night dress and looked very gorgeous in it. But then her expression was sour, showing that she was still feeling bad.

How do I initiate a conversation with her? Ezra thought within himself. Her expression looks very bitter and it seems as if she's not in the mood to talk to anybody. I think I shouldn't talk to her right now...I should wait till tomorrow...

Mira who had come out of her room and was walking towards the innkeeper saw Ezra staring at her and stopped instantly, her eyes narrowing. She wanted to turn around immediately when Ezra called her.

"Mira!" he yelled as he ran towards her, stopping her from turning away. He immediately gave up the thought of not talking to her till tomorrow. He had to do it today before the issue between them escalated into something else.

The innkeeper, seeing this, immediately yelled, "Hey, young man! Stop harassing that lady or I'll show you your place!"

Ezra ignored the man and proceeded to grab Mira's arm but she brushed his hand off and turned to face him, glaring into his eyes. This caused him to become startled and he had to move back a little. He was surprised by Mira's expression because she had never behaved this way before.

"Mira..." he took in a deep breath, arranging his words so that he wouldn't offend her. "I'm really sorry for what happened—"

"You don't have to be," Mira said. "We're just traveling together. Nothing more."

"I—" Ezra wanted to talk but was cut short by Mira again.

"Look, I heard you talking to the innkeeper," Mira said. "You don't have to pretend anymore. Things are already wrong between the both of us and it needs to stay that way, okay?"

"Mira..." Ezra tried reasoning with her but she would not listen. She turned around and went into her room, slamming the door shut without even looking back.

This caused Ezra to feel so bad that he clenched his fists very tightly. He then silently walked towards his room sadly, opening the door. He could hear the innkeeper saying something about kids these days being too bold but ignored him. Someone he deeply loved and cared about now disliked him and he wasn't feeling very good about that.

He had just entered his room when two men suddenly crashed down the roof and leaped towards him, slashing their swords at him. The attack was so sudden but he didn't panic and lunged forward towards them.

Ethereal Step!

He flashed past them, drawing out his katana which glittered under the candlelights in the room. He appeared behind them and turned around, watching as their swords fell out of their hands with loud clangs. Blood spurted out of their throats and they clutched their necks before falling to the ground. He had just slashed their throats at a speed that the both of them could not even observe.

"Mira..." Ezra muttered the name, his eyes widening in realization as he immediately ran out of his room towards her room. Two people had just tried to kill him in cold blood and he feared they would try to do the same to Mira. He had to get there in time and save her before something bad happened to her. This was because if anything happened to her, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.