Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 69: A Change of Clothes

Sheila turned on the light as it started getting dark in the shop. It was fine while the sun was overhead, but as soon as it was on the other side of the veil, it got a bit too dark in her shop.

She went back to her station, stirring the broth and pulling out the raw noodles from a bag before putting it into one of the boiling pots. From the other boiling pot, she took out freshly cooked, firm noodles and put them in a bowl, and started putting the broth and garnishes on top.

"Rena, we’re running out of bowls. Wash some please," Sheila said.

"Okay," Rena said and took the bowls that had been gathered in the store outside to wash them by the stream. Rena was older than Sheila by nearly a decade, but the two of them spoke to each other equally since Sheila had employed Rena after she had nowhere to go.

Sheila gave the bowl of noodles to her customer and returned to the station again to cook the raw noodles she had just put in.

As she stirred the noodle, her eyes moved to Rena that was far outside the store. Her eyes then moved left, looking at the man in plain clothes that was hanging around the bridge, never leaving very far away from it.

She went back to cooking. As the sun went down more and more and evening came around, Sheila prepared to close the shop. As she had used up all ingredients, there was nothing more to sell.

"Here you go, all done," Rena said after bringing back the last batch of bowls.

"Grab a bowl. Let us eat too," Sheila said. They divided the last remaining bowl of noodles she had saved for themselves and started eating.

They ate silently for a while before Sheila finally spoke. "Have you gone out as of late?" she asked.

"Gone out? You mean..."

Sheila silently nodded.

Rena’s voice turned to a whisper as she spoke, "I went out 3 days ago. Why do you ask?"

"Someone is keeping an eye on you," Sheila said. "If I’m not wrong, it’s a Defender."

"What?" Rena said and tried to turn around to look at whoever was close by but Sheila grabbed her before she could do so.

"Don’t look. Don’t act suspicious," Sheila said.

"What do I do now? Did they find out?" Rena asked.

"Most likely," Sheila said. "Has any of the 3 that went to the mayor’s speech told what they said after the speakers were cut off?"

"No, they say there is nothing to tell," Rena said.

"That’s a load of bullshit," Sheila said. "Must have been some mental manipulation."

"The boss should talk to them directly. Only he can make them talk most likely," Rena said.

"Most likely," Sheila said. "I’ll see if he’s up yet."

She finished her food and stood up. "I’ll send the boss if he’s awake already. In the meantime, go take a tour of the upper side. Make sure to not hide from the Defender as he’ll most likely follow you around."

"Sure," Rena said. She quickly finished eating and walked away.

Sheila acted like she was working on her cooking station while checking at the man that had been there the whole day. He no longer was.

She quickly closed the shop and walked upstairs. She entered a room with a small bed barely fit for her and a table to keep various makeup stuff.

She looked at the mirror hanging on the wall and took it off. Behind the mirror was a small hole with a sack that she quickly took out.

She stripped herself out of what she was wearing, down to her underwear. She then pulled out a black suit which she quickly got into.

She pulled the zipper of the suit up to her neck, the suit tightly hugging every curve of her body. She reached into the sack once again and pulled out a black belt with a bunch of things hanging off of it.

There were three holders on the left side of her belt, 6 at the back, and a large holder on her side. All of the holders were filled with small or large objects, except for the 3 on the left ones.

They were the only empty ones as those were the only things she had used.

Sheila looked at the slightly gleaming item inside the sack and wondered if she should get it or not. In the end, she decided not to.

She placed the sack back into the hole in the wall and the mirror on top of it. She quickly wore her original clothes on top of what she was wearing and looked at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"1 Hour."

Her body blurred in the room, slowly vanishing. Her presence dwindled with each passing second.

10 seconds later, all that remained was a very transparent black mass floating in the middle of the room that could be easily missed if not looking for it.

Sheila quickly checked through what she had and what she needed to remain safe. Then, she left the room.

She walked down the hallway, arriving outside on the busy street as people returned to their homes in the evening. She was very aware of her surrounding as she couldn’t touch them at all.

She weaved through the crowd, with nobody noticing her even as she moved. The most they noticed was a breeze of air that appeared and disappeared just as quickly.

About 10 minutes later, she arrived outside a house in the 4th quadrant and knocked on the door with a weird rhythm to her knocking.

The door opened and she walked in, closing it behind her.

As soon as the person opening the door saw the door closing on its own, he looked for the person that should be there.

He noticed the transparent black mass that was barely visible to his eyes.

"Boss!" the man quickly shouted, catching the attention of the others in the room who started addressing her as Boss as well.

Sheila looked at the man and spoke in a very deep, raspy, masculine voice. "Call over the three that went to the Mayor’s speech. I have some questions for them."