Pate never followed me.
I sat there, dejected. How could he!? I obviously meant for him to follow me when I said that!
“Whatever. Why do I care anyways?”
Having his trap-laying ability was good, but my greatest regret was not being able to say goodbye to the turtle one last time.
I shook my head to focus on more important things such as my left arm. It wouldn’t take much money for it to be fixed, but the problem was that no one here knew how to do anything related to prosthetics.
Believe me. I’d posted a Request for a few days now and no one had come forward.
“Prosthetics is in the realm of Alchemy and Sculpting. I only need mine fixed so only an Alchemist is required. Is there no good Alchemist around?”
If only Hannah was here….
“Pffft, anyways, want a drink?”
The gal whose back I’d been using as a chair shook her head intensely in fear. She trembled so much that I almost fell.
“Oi, calm down. This punishment is light compared to what you did….”
The guts of this girl to try and rob me like a third-rate bandit. ‘Hand your money,’ she said while pointing her puny knife at me; in broad daylight in front of a crowd of Mercenaries no less.
If it wasn’t for her obviously beaten appearance, I’d have turned her in to the Guild.
I mean, I kinda did, seeing as how both she and I were inside the Guild, but I never pressed any charges against her.
“I think that’s enough,” I muttered. Then, I pulled a proper chair over to sit on it.
The girl tried to stand up, but I rested my feet on her back.
“My footstool now. Oh, and I permit you to talk.”
The girl quickly opened her mouth. Somehow, I already knew the words she was going to say.
“P-Please let me go!”
Yep. Always like that.
“After what you did?” I stared at her with all righteousness. “Golly gosh no! I can’t, in good conscience, let you go! What if you robbed some other innocent bystander!?”
Ew, is this what being kind feels like?
The girl shook her head. “I-I won’t do it again! Please! I just want to go home….! Running to this city was a mistake!”
“Hm?” Now this was interesting. “Tell me your story.”
The girl took a deep breath before recounting her story. Apparently, she wanted to make money so that her brother wouldn’t be hungry anymore, so she decided to go here to get a job.
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Long story short, she, the country bumpkin, got scammed and now had to work for a gang like a slave.
I sipped my milk and nodded along with her story. She was nearly bawling her eyes out toward the end, and her voice was so shaky and unintentionally loud that everyone around us heard it.
With those looks of pity being sent toward her, I sweated and panicked but didn’t let my emotions show. This is a fucking mistake.
I still wanted to stay in this city for a little more while. And if I didn’t do anything here, nasty rumors would soon spread like wildfire.
Of course, I couldn’t care less about my reputation. But having a bad rep now would definitely decrease the chance of me finding a good Alchemist willing to work.
“Kneel.”
The girl kneeled obediently.
I crossed my legs and propped my head on my fist.
“Do you swear to Navr that what you said is true?”
She nodded resolutely. “Absolutely!”
Either she was very good at lying or she had been telling the simple truth.
None of that mattered. I also had another reason to help her.
Shit, fuck, dammit, fuck! Her story is wayy too similar to mine!
I knew how it felt to be under a street gang. Heh, maybe I really did take Freya’s advice to heart, since I couldn’t bear to ignore her after hearing her story.
“Then, stand up.”
I grabbed her shoulder and stared straight into her eyes. She had such beautiful brown eyes like her silky brown hair. Someone like her was lucky to not be sold into a brothel or something.
”I will help you.”
“I will help you.”
I snapped my head around. There stood a burly man with dark hair and green eyes. He donned completely silver armor like a knight. Slamming the butt of his halberd on the floor, he proclaimed loudly.
“You have my word, girl. The great Schimitel here will get rid of your problem for you! To think such foul forces nest in this beautiful city….”
I blinked. What the fuck was this theatrical performance? If I didn’t know any better, I—
Oh,
Ooooh!
He’s flirting with me, isn’t he?
I’d seen girls act this way with the Hero Eric before. But to think I would one day be on the receiving end….
“Your help is much appreciated.” I gave him a sweet smile and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “Tell me your name.”
“Schimitel Arland, an Adventurer.” He smiled back. “But you can call me Smith.”
…What was an Adventurer doing here? Whatever. It’s probably nothing.
“In that case, call me Esther. Now, Smith, do you truly want to help?”
“Yes!”
“Then, be here at noon a week from now. I’ll be waiting.”
Saying that, I left the Guild without even sparing a glance back. Even if I so much wanted to when I heard someone say “gosh she’s so cool!”
Anyhow, I noticed someone sneaking out of the Guild with sweat running down his back the moment I said I was going to help the girl. He thought he was sneaky, but he was up against a Nogitsune like me.
My footsteps were muted as I followed him through dark alleys. Until eventually, I saw him enter a trapdoor that was hidden below unassuming wooden crates.
It wasn’t concrete, but this was probably the gang’s main hideout.
“Haaah, they never change.”
Gangs would never reveal their main base to cronies like the girl. And from my experience as the ears of a big gang, they always had someone who spent all their time at institutions like the Adventurer or Mercenary Guilds in case something like this happened.
A smile was plastered on my face.
It’s gonna be fun.
My plan: clear out the gang before the week would end and watch as he desperately tries to find other ways to woo me.
Of course, I couldn’t rush in recklessly right now. Gangs like this had several secret entrances and exits across the city. I’d have to find most of them to make sure that the problem was completely eradicated.
It shouldn’t be too much work.
Oh, how wrong I was.