Ascension of the Monster Queen
Chapter 49 - 49: Strange

After entering the room she had paid for, Nessa set her bag down, then locked the door and used the last set of food they had left to feed Akio, then she ate and went to freshen up while Akio yawned and fell asleep due to being tired.

After finishing her bath, Nessa dressed and exited the bathroom, where she noticed Akio sleeping. She patted him and went to the window, where she had a beautiful view of the strange city and the rain falling.

"I wonder why those people were acting like that earlier," she sighed as a bolt of lightning struck the side of her window, causing her to jump back and then sighed.

'What in the world is this?' She pondered as she shut the window, adjusted the curtains, and climbed into her bed, where she promptly fell asleep since she was tired as well.

That night, Nessa had a series of disturbing dreams that she couldn't make sense of and made her feel very uneasy.

When she awoke the next morning, she saw Akio beside her and sighed.

"Good morning," She said.

"You were trembling, good morning," He replied as she got out of the bed then looked at him.

"I am fine, don't worry, I will go freshen up then we will have breakfast and go get things to keep, snacks and so on," She said.

"Alright," He replied, then she lowered her head and went to freshen up.

A while after Nessa finished freshening up, she got dressed, grabbed her bag, then left the room with Akio and went down to the lobby of the inn where she got breakfast, complimentary of staying at the inn and she went to the dining room, then sat down and began eating her breakfast when she noticed a few people looking at her and her hair blew up.

"You have beautiful hair," A woman commented, and Nessa looked at her and then smiled.

"Thank you," She replied and the woman smiled, then she continued eating and Akio looked at her.

'I don't like it, not at all, but I'll put up with it for the sake of my goal; I'm not going to give up, not like this,' Nessa thought as she finished her breakfast.

When Nessa finished her meal, she and Akio left the inn and returned to the market, where she purchased a few items for both herself and Akio to eat and drink so that they won't run out of the necessary things in case anything happened to them.

'My head hurts from this, it can't get any worse right now, this is stressing me out, how do I get to the royal palace and meet with the leaders?' Nessa wondered when the thunder began to rumble. She scoffed, then looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, and Akio looked at her.

"You have got to be kidding me right now," She said as the lightning flashed across the sky and Nessa sighed when Akio looked around and saw a carriage nearby.

"My lady, if you don't want too many eyes on you, we can hide in there," Akio said then Nessa looked at the few parked carriages, sighed, and both of them went in the back of one of the carriages and fixed the curtain to block them from being seen as the rain poured down.

"Woah," Akio said, looking at the rain, which was pouring down heavily when he bumped into something and jumped. Nessa looked behind them and saw a few different types of fruits, so she took an apple and handed it to Akio, who sniffed it to see if it was okay for her to eat.

"Eatable," He said, and she chuckled, then took a bite from the apple as the place became colder, and she exhaled deeply before rubbing her hands together, and Akio looked at her, then approached her and sat beside her, providing warmth from his body, and she smiled.

"Thank you, Akio, you are very warm," She said, leaning against him.

"You're welcome, my lady; I'm just glad I can help in more ways than one," He replied.

"Don't think like that, you are always useful, you think clearly, it's nice having you around," She said as she closed her eyes, and he sighed, knowing she was still tired from not sleeping well.

More than an hour and a half passed with the rain falling and the place getting colder while Nessa slept against Akio, but then the rain stopped and it was already afternoon by then.

While Nessa was resting, Akio sensed someone approaching the carriage and at the same time, Nessa woke up and her eyes widened as the curtains pulled open and someone gasped upon seeing them.

"Thief," The blonde young man said and she smiled nervously.

"Sorry, I am not a thief," She said, his brow furrowed as Akio began growling, and the young man sighed as he looked at Nessa and then at the wolf.

"Is that right? If so, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"We were hiding from the rain, then I slept away, the rain fell for a while, I'm sorry," Nessa responded and the guy sighed.

"I see, hurry up and leave before you guys get into trouble, the boss will lose his cool and his brain, not that he has any," He said and she chuckled as he saw the fruits tumbled up, then exhaled deeply, and Nessa looked at him as she got out of the carriage with Akio and her bag then he glanced at her.

"Thank you very much," She said as he looked at her hair and then smiled.

"It's fine, I understand your situation, besides you don't seem like you are from around here, there is no need to explain any further, now get out of here, this won't end well if the boss comes in and you're still here," He replied, and she smiled as she was about to leave when a tall muscular guy approached them and they all left staring at him as he glared at Nessa and at the young man who lowered his head.