Were all my actions really allowed?
Sitting quietly on the edge of a tall building’s eaves, I gazed at the gloomy sky with no sunshine in sight, the deserted rooftop terrace, and the city wall entrances both far away and right before my eyes. My mood was absolutely terrible.
Just now… wasn’t I a little too arrogant?
“Emotions I can’t understand? Yeah, I guess I’m still just too naive… I always thought I was the one bearing the most, not realizing that they were all carrying a lot too…”
These emotions I can’t understand… what are they really like? When will I ever mature? Hehehe, forget it, forget it. I’m just making a fool of myself.
There was another rustling sound around me. It was probably the game officials updating resources in this area again. One small update every day, one big update every week, and there’s even a major story chapter update every month. They sure are diligent, the official studio behind Art World Online. The programmers there must be pretty young.
After all, if they were any older, they might not be able to keep up.
After observing for a while, I lay down and secretly watched the cheerful figures walking past on the street below. I didn’t even need to think about it; in this entire city, I was probably the only one secretly wallowing in sorrow.
There’s never been such a thing as “fate” in this world.
Flicking the imaginary dust from my fingers, I stood up and walked towards the empty city edge behind me. Looking at the low city wall just millimeters away, I thought to myself, all I have to do is take this one step, and it’ll all be over.
But I didn’t. In the end, I turned back and quietly watched the distant sky and mountains again.
The lump in my pocket was poking me, making me uncomfortable. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore, so I reached in and took out that murky, yet faintly glowing, gemstone.
(—As long as… I get this… jewel…)
A jewel, huh? It’s a really important thing. It was given to me along with the Gothic outfit at first. I have no idea where its original owner is now… What’s this jewel for? Can I just destroy it? Thinking that, I squeezed it hard. After all, even if I broke it, I wouldn’t lose anything.
But all I felt was an absolute hardness at my fingertips. It meant this thing couldn’t be destroyed. Well, in that case, there’s no reason not to keep it with me.
I fastened it securely onto the collar of my sweater. Setting aside its nature, it was just a rather pretty gemstone anyway.
(…The victor gets the spoils…)
(…The loser gets nothing…)
My ears twitched. I sensed someone standing behind me. So I obediently got up, acted as if I hadn’t noticed anything, then turned around to face him.
A man. Normal height, normal complexion. He was a feline subhuman. His clothes were casual, showing off some muscle. Overall, he looked agile. I didn’t see any weapons, but he was wearing a pair of gauntlets.
A boxer. And an all-rounder type. Boxers are usually known for their burst damage and technique. With their agility, they close in on a target and unleash a flurry of powerful punches—
Well, this was an eye-opener.
“Hey, kid, what are you doing here?” I wanted to ask you the same. What are you doing here? This isn’t exactly a place for a boxer.
I squinted, smiled, and waved my hand to show I didn’t know anything. The boxer looked me up and down, nodding and clapping occasionally, then said with a smile.
“I’m sorry, little lady, but I have to take you down here.”
“For a grown man to talk about ‘taking down’ a little girl, I find that very rude.”
The boxer nodded in agreement with my offhand remark, then took a deep breath and got into a fighting stance. I certainly wasn’t going to back down, but I just tensed up, focusing on his movements.
What are you going to do? Show me your attacks, your actions, your strength.
“Huff… here I go!”
Suddenly, as if teleporting, he appeared right beside me, his fists clenched tight, seemingly wanting to finish me in one blow. But there’s no way I was going to let him hit me.
I dodged his uppercut by a hair’s breadth. But he didn’t stop; he continued his combo, and I kept evading.
“In the span of a few words, you’ve thrown dozens of punches, but not one has hit me.”
Just as I said, his punches were incredibly fast, each one carrying immense force. Without strong stamina, he wouldn’t be able to keep this up.
I estimated the time. In about three seconds, he’d thrown about fifty punches. Even without factoring in external variables, that was already the standard for an excellent boxer. As for how ridiculously I must have looked dodging in his eyes, that didn’t matter anymore.
Excellent, but unfortunately, the speed just wasn’t enough.
“Time to end this.”
His sudden remark caught me off guard, and I let out a surprised laugh. So he was holding back, huh? I guess even this boxer had some sympathy when he saw his target was a girl?
I created some distance with a single step, waved my hand, and deliberately smiled at him.
With another lunging step, he appeared to my left, his fists blazing like fire. I didn’t feel like dodging anymore, so I tried to interrupt his attack—
“‘Swiftness’!”
He vanished, then reappeared on my right, grabbing my right wrist and lifting me high into the air.
Fast. Really fast. Honestly, if we weren’t on this rooftop but on the ground where he was more comfortable, he’d probably be even stronger. To be honest, being lifted up like this is a first for me… My arm hurts, the nerves connected to my shoulder feel like they’re being torn apart—
“Gotcha! Kid, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t want to rough you up…”
“Then let me go…”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. I’m just doing my job. Don’t hold it against me.”
He said helplessly, apparently getting ready to tie me up with some rope and take me away… Oh, does he not know that I’m not just some little girl who only knows hand-to-hand combat? Now that would be interesting.
Even if my right hand was trapped, I still had my left. He shouldn’t drop his guard so easily.
In a flash, a blue blade formed on the back of my left hand. Behind the boxer, a sly smile curled on my lips. I raised my left hand high, ready to strike down—
“Ugh?!” Suddenly, a chilling cold shot through my left wrist, followed by a searing, flame-like pain. Under this “torture,” my left hand limply fell.
A crossbow bolt? Who— Ugh!
Distracted by the arrow piercing my palm, I was caught off guard and someone slapped me hard across the face. In another moment of daze and a chill running down my spine, I finally came to. Trembling, I touched my cheek with my fingers… My ears twitched again. I sensed the wind, but my movement was still restricted—
“Hey! Stop it! What do you think you’re doing!”
The wind stopped. Then came the boxer’s voice, scolding someone… My face hurt badly. It must be bright red by now.
“But! But!! I just can’t let this go! Vincent! She almost hurt you!”
It hurts.
“Calm down, Weiss. Do you think I don’t know what this kid is capable of? That she can use magic? I appreciate you saving me back there, but you can’t throw a tantrum anymore!”
“Grr… Fine, fine! I’m not helping you ever again from now on!”
It hurts.
[Serious Mode Engaged]
I applied a little force with my right hand and pulled my wrist free. I ignored the sound of the boxer falling to the ground, my gaze fixed solely on the girl beside me. She was the one.
“Weiss! Run! I’ll hold her— Ugh!”
With a light kick from my right foot, I struck the boxer’s head. It probably wouldn’t kill him, but it would give him a moment’s pause. I raised my left hand again and used telekinesis to restrain the girl trying to flee, slamming her hard onto the roof tiles.
Staring at her terrified expression, I felt nothing. I didn’t even care what “thing” she was. I crouched down and spread my right hand open—
What goes around comes around.
Smack
…
“Hey, something’s off with those two. They’re taking way longer than usual… No, I’m going to check it out.”
“Forget it. They’re bound to run into special situations sometimes. We’d better just wait here a sec.”
“You mages are something else. Can’t you be any lazier? You’re ignoring your own teammates.”
“Hey, you can’t tell me what to do.”
“OK, fine. How about this? I’ll go find Vincent and the others, and while I’m at it, I’ll drop you from the team. You can just stay here then.”
“Ugh, alright, alright, you win— Hey! Wait for me!”
…
Sitting on the dome of the rooftop, I rubbed my shoulder and stretched lazily. I coughed a few times, trying to refresh my body’s state, but it was useless. I still felt that same gloom. The impromptu fight hadn’t brought me much fun; it just made me even more annoyed.
“Huff…” I breathed out a hollow sigh, gazing at the distant line where the sky met the earth, feeling lost.
Suddenly, I felt something sticky on my left hand. I lifted it to look… Oh, it was that arrow from earlier. I hadn’t pulled it out yet. Because my blood was trying to clot, the wound kept producing new healing cells while being unable to close properly. So I’d been bleeding this whole time, and I’d only just noticed after my hand was covered in blood.
This arrow was thinner than a normal bow or crossbow bolt, but it was still lethal. It was probably a specialized assassination tool. Judging by this, the tip might even be poisoned—
I couldn’t tell for sure, but I couldn’t leave the arrow in my hand any longer. So I pulled it out in one go, letting the wound heal quickly.
“…..”
“Hey! Let us go already!”
Right. After dealing with that girl, who was also a feline subhuman, I tied her up and left her aside. As for the boxer, since he could do what he did earlier, a rope was probably useless against him anyway.
“So… you’re just going to keep grabbing the scruff of my neck like this, kid?”
Yep. I was firmly pinching the boxer’s nape. If he tried anything funny, I could easily apply more pressure, pierce through the skin and muscle, reach his spine, and yank it out. I wasn’t worried about his speed at all, because I was confident I was faster.
“Kid, we weren’t trying to capture you on purpose…” Then what was the reason?
“Talk.” I wanted to hear who exactly had put a bounty on my head.
…
“Our team is just a simple adventurer squad. We make money by taking down evil monsters and accepting quests. Last night, while we were resting at the tavern, several guards burst in making a huge commotion. They said they were searching the tavern, and then they told us adventurers—the mayor has ordered a public quest. Whoever completes it can ask for any reward.”
“For us, that was incredibly tempting. Regardless of whether it was true or not, everyone rushed over. When we saw the target was a girl, people got even more frantic, saying they’d be the first to find her. And the news spread like wildfire… The guards also added that anyone providing information on the target would be rewarded, and anyone helping the target would be considered a criminal!”
I listened quietly, picking out a few key points: first, almost every adventurer in the city now knew my face; second, the mayor of [Feltro] seemed to know who I was.
“Huff…”
I sighed and let the boxer go.
“What are you—”
“Don’t get the wrong idea… Now, take your partner and get out of here. I need to leave too—”
“Hey! Don’t run! We still have to catch you!”
“Look at the situation you’re in.”
I casually cast [Mercy] on the rope binding the girl, then mechanically stood up and walked away without looking back. The girl’s angry shouts echoed behind me, but I ignored them completely, only focused on speeding up.
This is troublesome.
