The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

An icy feeling came over her.

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose.

That pair of red eyes was deep-set in a frustratingly handsome face. Silver hair, half of it tied with gold ornaments, the rest cascading down his broad chest and back, covered in dark clothing that fit his body so well she could make out the outline of his hard muscles.

His jaw tightened. Eyebrows drawing in together, knitting tightly as his eyes tried to focus on her.

Aisha shut the door behind her more forcefully than she intended to. Either that or chance a persistent sentinel on her tail.

She hadn’t expected Nykos to be in this place. There can only be two reasons a man of his status wanted to stay in a brothel. One, to spend his entire wealthy into alcohol and drink until he dropped dead. Two, he had a lot of pent-up stress and decided to relieve it by spending a night with a very eager and welcome embrace of one or two of the courtesans there.

In any case, none of that should be her business.

Their gazes merely met for half a second. If he was here for something else, that short time shouldn’t distract him from a more important rendezvous with the courtesans in Sweet Bliss.

Aisha decided to throw the thought to the back of her mind and refocused on Styx, who was in front of her.

The effects of compelling someone to do her bidding would not last long. Even with the abundance of power she had in reserve, it would be impossible for her to be a god-like figure. It would go against the natural order of the universe.

At most, the effect of making a person follow her will should last about a couple of seconds to nearly a minute.

Even so, that took a lot of power reserves within her.

Clenching her fist so that the trembling would somehow stop, Aisha stabbed the needle back into Styx’s neck. She looked around the room and found it was equipped with a carefully carved bedframe, a mattress, a table with two chairs, and a carpet in the middle of the room. There were also vases with steel wires twisted into the shape of a flower.

A satchel of scented stones hung by the bed, already emitting faint smoke that swirled into the air.

She pulled a chair and sat on it while Styx stayed standing. His eyes had grown wide soon after he had laid his eyes on her.

Of course, he could recognize her. Zenick hadn’t been quiet about his affection toward his younger sister. Whenever their merchant ship ended up on a star system, he’d go off on his own to look for trinkets and gifts he’d bring back to her.

Styx recalled that a room inside the ship had even been dedicated solely to storing the mountain of gifts he had prepared for her when he returned home.

Though now, those things have ended up in his crewmates’ hands. The cheaper and smaller items must have already been sold and given away. The bigger and more expensive stuff was either auctioned for a higher price or kept.

But what Styx couldn’t understand was how the young lady of the Novalis family ended up here. How did she find him?

Worse, how did he get caught by her so quickly?

And that ability of hers... was she truly a D-rank?

Even as an ordinary human with no chance of ever awakening as a sentinel or guide in this life, Styx knew a bit about the classification of a guide’s ability. A D-rank may soothe and stabilize a sentinel. But they couldn’t possibly have any effect on ordinary humans other than purifying the miasma inside their bodies.

"What...do...you...want...from...me?" Styx’s voice had a scratchy quality to it. His jaw was kept closed, but his voice came out low. It took him half a minute to finish his question.

Aisha grabbed a steel flower from the vase on top of the table. She held it in her hand, turning it over once or twice, before getting bored of it.

She glanced up at Styx and smiled. "Who took my brother?"

"And don’t bother lying to me. I’ll just have to touch you and draw the answer from you." She warned.

Styx’s eyes shook. He had no doubt she could do that. Not after experiencing that mystifying ability she imposed on him.

"...Holden," Styx said forcefully through clenched teeth.

"Holden?" Aisha tried to recall anything that could’ve given her anything that might help find Zenick. But there was none. "Who is it?"

"Susa," Styx said.

His body was convulsing now, trying his best to escape from his predicament.

He looked at Aisha with a glint of malice in his eyes. Styx had booked this room with the intention of spending several nights with the courtesans at Sweet Bliss. To get the full experience and have a good time, he placed scent stones that could arouse anyone who smelled them.

The effect should show any minute now!

Even if Aisha were a guide and capable of immobilizing him, she would have no way to avoid breathing the scent stones in that room.

Styx was sure that Aisha had no idea that she was trapped in this room and was in danger. A young lady who came from a wealthy family wouldn’t know anything.

He just needed to get his body moving and catch her off guard. Then, he’d make her suffer dearly for this humiliation!

His fingers twitched beside his legs. Just a bit more... A bit more. He chanted inwardly while keeping his eyes on Aisha, who was clearly deep in her thoughts.

Upon hearing his answer, Aisha was indeed thinking deeply. She had initially thought ’Susa’ was the name of a person. Someone Zenick had managed to offend or had a grudge against her older brother. But when she searched through her memories, it finally clicked.

Susa Merchant Corp. It was a rival merchant trading company that the Novalis family had been facing for several years. And for quite some time, they had pulled ahead of the Novalis merchant company. But they seemed to be declining in the past few years ever since Zenick had started to take over Dominick’s role.

Aisha tapped her cheek, frowned, then looked down to see a droplet of sweat on her finger. She rubbed it dry and went back to thinking.

That wasn’t all of it. When Aisha had her first appearance in the society, the Susa Merchant Corp’s master proposed a business marriage between their two families. Aisha had been targeted by them and wanted to pair her with one of their sons.

But how could the Novalis family stoop so low and accept their proposal when they could just take a prince as their son-in-law?

Though the rejected marriage proposal wasn’t what drove the two interstellar merchant companies against each other, it certainly did trigger the Susa family.

Following that, Zenick’s talent as a merchant and being capable enough to deal with them must have brought this situation to rise.

"Hmm?"

Aisha felt her spiritual beast wriggle inside her pocket. But that slight distraction had been enough for Styx to take this chance!

His limbs were starting to feel like his own. Though it felt sluggish and stiff, he could now at least take a step forward. Even without bending his knees, he had already taken two steps toward Aisha.

But just as he could reach her, dark tendrils like snakes twisted around his body. It rose from the ground and wrapped around his feet, legs, waist, and arms. What little movement Styx had successfully made was now completely blocked.

Then, as Styx’s eyes filled with terror, a shadow form of a man suddenly materialized behind Aisha.

At the same time, the shadow form’s mouth formed a smile.

A voice, low and deep, came from the swirling shadow.

"You do have a talent for finding troublesome men, don’t you?"

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