“Haahh.”, Sylvia lets out after finishing the potion.

Looking at me with a complicated gaze, she then turns to look at Zhe Yun.

She gets up, walking over to his lifeless body.

As she stood over his motionless body, she turns to me, “Now that you’re to join the Assassin’s Guild, even as a logistics member, you need to learn…”

She reaches out into her clothes, before pulling out a shiny obsidian dagger.

She twirls the dagger for a round, before suddenly thrusting it into the neck of Zhe Yun’s body.

“Urk!”, Zhe Yun lets out a groan, his eyes open, before dilating.

“...to finish the job.”, she says resolutely.

I look on, surprised.

I guess I was too naive to believe that an adventurer, even a weakened and caught off guard, could be finished off by a simple ‘Ice Lance’ spell.

I squint my eyes, nodding slightly.

“Ahhh.”, I let out my held in breath.

“It seems even towards the end I’ve been led on by the string by you…”, I say in a tone of slight dejection.

I don’t feel too battered up over this though. She’s been a step ahead of me for so long, it’s only by a fluke that I realised her plan at the last moment. One step later, and I would have been just like Zhe Yun’s lifeless body now.

I look at Zhe Yun’s body, imagining that it could have been my body lying over there.

“Hehe.”, she snickers, seemingly knowing my thoughts.

Her casual smile seems different than it was before.

“Let’s pack the potions up and get going then, master?”, she mocks.

I guess, in a sense, the end result is all that matters. I’m not the one with a slave collar on, so in a sense, I’m the winner, by fluke or not.

I start walking towards the caravan, to help her pack the potions.

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We have to bury the corpses well after this too.

Ahh, it’s so tiresome.

Sylvia brings out a small rucksack, unexpectedly, it had traces of spatial magic on it, so it could fit all the potions within. It’s still the size of a full grown dog though.

Even a simple item like this is extremely expensive. In my past life, it seems the novels also describe spatial items as being expensive normally. The MC usually learns the elusive spatial magic with ease though.

I look at my hands, thinking of my amazing magic aptitude.

Resisting a sigh, I continue the work.

Now, we’re burying the bodies.

I’m handling the merchant’s first, since he may have kept some important items on him.

I scrummage through his robes, finding a ordinary looking jade ring, some banknotes and a potion.

I toss the potion over to Sylvia, who catches it.

“Hey, Sylvia.”, I call out.

“Yea?”

“Remember when you came to my tent before Wind’s attack?”

“Of course, I was so close to winning at that point.”

“You made me spill out my deductions too, must have been funny to you to see me explain my pitiful deduction, huh?”

“Well… you can’t say that, you did get the layer involving Wind, you were just pinning quite a few observances on luck. There’s a reason for everything after all.”, she cocks her head to the side, saying cheekily.

“I guess that’s so. There’s a reason for everything, huh…”, I mutter.

“Yup, don’t be too down, you’re alive after all that’s happened.”, she points at the barely visible tattoo on her neck.

“Did you know? You called me something then, I’m not sure what it was.”

She seems to have recalled something, jolting, “A- Ah.”

“It’s nothing, just a phrase we used in village.”, she says unhurriedly.

“De- Deteective, was it? What does it mean?”, I ask in a curious manner.

“It means…”, she thinks for a bit.

“Ah right, I just remembered, it means a smart person.”, she says quickly.

“Is that so, what about Mister then? I don’t know what that means.”

“Mister? ...I can’t really remember.”, she says awkwardly.

“I thought you would know, Miss loli.”, I say casually.

“I AM NOT A LOLI!”, she says angrily, reacting quickly.

“Wait… ‘loli’?”, she calms herself down, thinking.

“That’s not… ‘miss’ isn’t too…”, she mutters.

“YOU… You’re…”, she points her finger at me.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”, i finally let loose the laughter I’ve been holding in.

“I can finally say I’ve won, little loli.”, I reply, grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s right, I’m from Earth too.”, I say, affirming her thoughts.

“It… it’s really a small world, huh…”, she says in a defeated manner.

“It really is.”

“Wh- what age did you realise you were in a different world?”, she asks cautiously.

“I just transmigrated barely a year ago… wait, it can’t be… you’ve been inside since…”, I start to speculate.

Her ears turn red to the tip, she covers her embarrassed face.

She’s been inside a body of a Dwarf since infancy, even if she only got her past memories later, she’ll have lived through all of the things a Dwarf baby would have done, instead of simply viewing them as memories.

Imagining that an adult woman had to go through all of the things a baby would have to go through… not to mention possible ‘rituals’ a dwarf baby would go through… I’m so glad that I only came in when this kid was past all of that.

“I am so grateful now.”, I say, doing a quick prayer gesture.

“Thank you great god.”, I repeat, in a very solemn tone.

I’m sure I look like the model image of a devout believer now.

“Go to hell!”, she shouts, wanting to beat me up.

The collar reacts and restrains her though.

“Urgh…”, she frowns, clearly discouraged.

“You can’t say you’re a loli until you’ve lived the life of a loli.”, I nod my head in satisfaction.

I’m not sure why, but I feel a true sense of satisfaction from doing this.

...this is despite the troubles that’ll inevitably come once I reach the Assassin’s Guild.