Journey to Become the Zenith

The Woman Behind the Fear

”What the hell is going on?”

The question sliced through the narrow street like a sharp knife.

The three people froze.

Neither of the men noticed Videl approach. One moment they had both been entirely occupied with the woman standing between them, the next they turned, and a young woman with long blonde hair and startlingly blue-sapphire eyes was standing directly behind them, her expression placid, but guarded.

For an instant nobody moved.

It was the woman who responded first.

Quickly backing away she hurried behind Videl, hiding directly behind her as if using her as a shield. Her breathing was ragged, and her hands were shaking as she gripped the white fabric of Videl’s shirt.

”Please! Help me!”

Her voice was tinged with fear.

Videl craned her neck over her shoulder.

The woman looked truly scared, but Videl immediately reached for her sword nor threatened the men in front. She’d learned that from patrolling through Fantom City.

Most things weren’t what they appeared to be.

A scared person might be telling the truth.

Or they might just be really, really good at lying.

Meanwhile, the two men gawked back at Videl in surprise.

It was one of the men who managed to say anything first. ℯℯ𝑙.

”Buddy, you really don’t want to mess in this right now.”

His voice wasn’t as confident as he tried to make it seem, in fact, it was laced with mild irritation.

Clearly, he had no idea who he was speaking to.

Unlike Victor, whose name seemed to have traveled through the city like a wildfire within minutes of his initial feats, Videl’s reputation had yet to become widely spread. There were only a few select people in the city who had heard of the valiant hero student who was now enrolled in the Knight Academy. To the two ruffians now standing before her she was just an unfamiliar young woman caught in the middle of something she had no right being part of.

Videl studied them intently, blue eyes drifting from one man to the next before resting again on the woman clinging to her. Normally she would have just charged forward and knocked both of the men senseless before asking any questions but she’d realized that this was the cause of problems on earlier patrols. Not every distressed scream was genuine.

Not every outwardly menacing figure was actually a bad guy.

Videl had slowly begun to differentiate between recklessness and urgency.

She let out a small sigh.

”I just want to know what’s going on here.”

Her voice was completely calm, devoid of any emotion which would imply aggression. At least, it seemed to be devoid of any outward aggression, but under the surface, Videl released a tiny bit of mana. Just enough.

It wasn’t much, but it made a difference.

The men instantly stiffened, the air in the alley shrinking by an invisible inch and a weight of pressure settling on their shoulders that made their chest begin to tighten and their breaths turn shallow. Their faces changed almost simultaneously when they looked back at Videl and finally comprehended that she wasn’t simply a curious bystander.

The swagger disappeared from the first man’s stance, replaced by surprise and a sliver of fear, and the second man swallowed hard, daring not to utter another flippant word.

”This woman... She stole our money and refuses to give it back!”

His voice dropped an octave as it spoke.

Videl squinted. Money. A theft. That was the accusation.

Before she could reply to the accusation the woman behind her blurted out.

”That’s not true!”

She shot upright with a gasp and looked up at Videl with a panicked look in her eyes as they turned slightly moist. She shuffled closer behind Videl and nestled in a spot directly behind her, the men were only able to get an intermittent glimpse of her. Suddenly she moved closer still as if in spite of the closeness then almost automatically adjusted her body’s stance.

She pushed her torso slightly forward and looked up at Videl.

Her desire to appear defenseless shone through but Videl didn’t need this visual cue and became slightly more vigilant of her even though no tell on the women’s part made itself present. There was something odd about the woman.

”What do you mean it’s not true, woman!”

The second man finally lost his composure and let out a frustrated shout.

”She was just f---ing with me a second ago and I saw her slip her hand in his pocket a moment ago after which she took off in a hurry and when my friend checked his pockets all his money had gone missing. Explain it!”

He shouted at the woman, his words echoing off the stone walls. The first man wholeheartedly agreed.

”She’s lying! I had no idea what happened until she turned to run.”

Videl said nothing. Her eyes were still locked onto the woman. She noticed the fleeting glance of her eyes that swept away toward the men for an instant, and her fingers tighten instinctively around the fabric of Videl’s shirt.

Videl knew people revealed a far greater portion of themselves with their body’s than with their mouths.

There was still the possibility that she was trying to pull off a fake story and convince Videl to help her commit further crimes after she tricked Videl into throwing some blows around to beat up the two men for them butVidel wasn’t willing to take the bait.

Videl turned her head toward the woman.

The woman’s eyes immediately meet hers; Videl’s eyes are level and without judgment as she continues to remain silent, waiting for an explanation or another revelation. The pause alone was enough to shatter the woman’s initial façade.

”They areobviously lying!”

The women spoke quickly, almost stumbling over her own words. ” They are just trying to take advantage of me and I didn’t steal their money! Why would I flirt with that pig when he’s clearly not even worth the effort? Just please believe me!”

The story tumbled out of her in a torrent of words. Too many words, and too quickly for anyone except those who were completely innocent to say. Videl narrowed her eyes, the look of fear still evident but somehow something about the confession was amiss.

Fear did not always equate with innocence-it could very well mean the opposite, that the person knew they had been discovered.

The woman abruptly moved again. She reached out her hands toward Videl’s and grasped them tightly, her pale, cold skin tingling against Videl’s palm, the woman’s trembling fingers wrapped tightly around her hand.

”Please...”

Videl was somewhat startled by the suddenness of the contact but the grip itself wasn’t weak by any account, the woman’s hands were surprisingly strong and steady although they remained cold. The woman looked up at Videl with fear still etched into her bright blue eyes and Videl felt the faint trembling of her hand with an instantaneous chill that sent a shiver down her spine. No one who wasn’t genuinely terrified or someone who put on an extremely impressive act would be so scared.

Videl looked down at her joining hands.

Slowly she raised her eyes back up and the woman’s face was still incredibly pale with an unstable breathing pattern as Videl discovered something else; the woman’s fear seemed to be just as much directed towards her as towards the two men. It dawned on her. Something was seriously wrong but she hadn’t yet figured out what. However, she knew she wouldn’t have long to find out.