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Chihiro puts away the pill potion in the rucksack dirty with mud. She put it inside a dirty rag so that it is not stolen. She put it deeper in as if to hide it, and it would simply look like there’s trash inside.

They exited the Krita General Store.

Chihiro took deep breaths and nodded at Dry with insightful eyes. Dry also nodded back.

“Alright, let’s go, Dry.” (Chihiro)

“Hn. Real deal comes now.” (Dry)

They know that the way back to the slums is the most dangerous part. Residents of the slums will be able to notice immediately that residents of the slums going out of their way to go to the Surface District must have something of value.

They wouldn’t hesitate in attacking 2 weak-looking girls, and you could even say it is a given.

That was the case for Lanpeach who was attacked by Dry, and how it was originally meant for Lanpeach to be the one attacking Dry.

The people of the slums view life and crime lightly.

And so, they are aware they are rabbits entering the wolves’ den, and the two of them walk with quick steps while being careful.

It is currently afternoon. They walked through the fallen snow that was sherbet shaped due to the sunlight while being exposed by the cold wind, and with flushed cheeks.

It is winter. Every single person should normally be deep inside the buildings, searching for a relatively warm place, and not come outside, but the two girls walking there stood out negatively.

…Especially for the people who have no hesitation in searching and stealing anything of value.

They knew this the moment they entered from the Surface District to the slums.

“You—gaeh!”

“It is that rucksack—dawa!”

“Give this old man that—aaah!”

Hoodlums showed up one after the other like wild dogs that found food, and then they screamed at the frozen ground, trip, and fall. Their limbs slid without them being able to get up.

The frozen ground below them is not a natural one. It is ice ground that was made with slippery magic that makes it hard for normal people to get up from.

“You are incredible, Dry. The rucksack would have been stolen a long time ago if it were only me.” (Chihiro)

This wasn’t flattery, Chihiro was praising Dry with her honest feelings. Also, she didn’t expect it would be this dangerous to have something of value in winters of the slums, and deeply regretted how naive she was.

“Hn. Can deal with weaklings with just this much.” (Dry)

“So you don’t kill them. Is this mercy?” (Chihiro)

Even when they try to stand up with all their limbs, they slip and fall, which is comedic, but wouldn’t it be better to kill them if they consider the future?

She tried to read the personality of Dry here, wondering if she is soft on those fronts.

“No. Killing requires mana. Waste. Would have killed them before, but learned the style of Peach-oniichan.” (Dry)

Until now, Dry has always killed them with offensive magic whenever there was danger. But that fighting style consumes a massive amount of mana.

Her strongest Blizzard Lance would allow her to kill around 10 people and then she would run out of mana. And then, she would often suffer cases when they would target the moment she ran out of mana.

But the fighting method of Lanpeach was different. He only ordered her to use the spells that she thought were plain and useless spells to hinder the actions of the enemies.

The result was that it had even more effectiveness than using offensive magic.

It stopped the movements of hundreds of Big Rats, and made it hard for more than 20 Rat Men to move. And yet, she still had mana to spare.

For Dry who would run out of mana quickly and would have to run away pretty quickly from monsters in the Spirit Ward, this was a mindblowing strategy.

You could say Dry was way too much of a musclehead. Also, Lanpeach draws a way too safe line. But still, it was shocking for Dry.

Lanpeach would be dumbstruck and say this is normal if he were to hear this, but for Dry, this is on the level that could make her common sense crumble.

Dry learned from the battle style of Lanpeach, taking it into her own, would think about how to defeat the enemies, and how she would have more leeway in her mana if she doesn’t kill them and just incapacitates them.

Her battle sense has budded a bit.

The result is that the assailants were showing pathetic sights, unable to get up from the skate ring.

Ice Field didn’t require her to use Element Fusion with Pochifer, has short cast time, has wide range, and costs a low amount of mana.

Chihiro could somewhat feel that mindset of hers. This is not mercy; she is not killing them for the sake of efficiency.

She also began to feel respect for the strength of Dry, put a lid on her hazy heart, and directed a smile at her.

“Now then, let’s run away before they get up.” (Chihiro)

“As fast as possible.” (Dry)

Chihiro winked with a playful smile, and Dry gave her a thumbs up and puffed her chest out with a smile.

That’s how they fended off the assailants while advancing through the ruins that are dyed white with fallen snow.

Just when they entered the back alley that was narrow for two people to walk side by side…

In this back alley between buildings whose outer appearances weren’t broken, which is rare in the slums, they got a bit of leeway here, so they had loosened enough to talk.

But Dry, who was walking at the front, stopped her feet and made a grim face.

Chihiro stopped as well when seeing this and raised her guard.

“What’s the matter, Dry?” (Chihiro)

Even when Dry was wary a moment ago, she didn’t show a grim face and even looked somewhat composed, so this state of hers was strange.

Chihiro hid her uneasiness that maybe this is that much of a bad situation and asked.

“A lot at the front. Ambush.” (Dry)

“Ambush? Eh, but a lot?” (Chihiro)

Two girls.

There’s not that much to gain even if they were to attack them, so they have only been attacked by two or three at most until now. That’s why they had leeway.

Chihiro was confused and looked at the front, and a man showed up from the exit of the back alley with a grin.

Chihiro’s face turned grim as well when she saw this man and she asked with a stiff tone.

“Tsuyoshi. What business do you have with us when you ran away like a rabbit scared of a wolf?” (Chihiro)

“Yo, you doing well, Chihiro? It has been a while…or not really.” (Tsuyoshi)

The big man that could be mistaken for a bear and tried to defeat Lanpeach the other day to take the spot of boss for himself, Tsuyoshi.

“You lost to Lan, got scared, and ran away the next day. You brought your cash and luggage with you, so you should have just hidden until spring. Lan is going to come and punch you.” (Chihiro)

Chihiro clad herself with the air of anger while keeping her strong attitude, and glared sharply at Tsuyoshi.

This included her feelings of how the other team members wouldn’t have run away if Tsuyoshi hadn’t betrayed them.

If they had gone to the basement with a lot of people, Lan wouldn’t have been injured -is how she felt with her burning anger as she directed intense vigor towards Tsuyoshi.

It is a bit cute that she said punch instead of kill, but her intensity was the real deal.

Tsuyoshi would win against Chihiro if they were to actually fight.

The difference in strength is massive, and yet, Tsuyoshi took a step back, pushed away by the aura of Chihiro.

That’s the limit of Tsuyoshi, and it shows that he is just a coward that’s all looks.

“Aah, could it be that you came here to take revenge? Then, you should know the personality of Lan. He would easily abandon me.” (Chihiro)

She knows the personality of Lanpeach.

His own survival is the utmost priority, and he would easily abandon even his favorite woman.

…He brought food for the sake of the orphans…for the sake of Chihiro, and went to a dangerous basement with just two people because it would trouble everyone if there’s no water, so she doesn’t understand the current somewhat soft Lanpeach.

However, she hid those internal feelings of hers and showed the smile of the strong towards Tsuyoshi.

She declared this with a snort and Tsuyoshi made a bitter expression, but he still showed her the gun in his hand with a strong attitude.

Any human would feel fear when seeing a gun that can easily take away your life.

She will surely grow pale, her body will tremble, and will listen to the demands of Tsuyoshi…that’s what he thought.

And then, he raised his hand as if to supplement his strength. A bunch of people began to come out from behind Tsuyoshi after seeing the signal.

They laughed with an ‘uhehe’ and showed the guns in their hands with sleazy faces.

It is close to 10 people.

All of them are people that left Lanpeach.

Chihiro faltered internally, but she knew that the enemies would take advantage of her fear, so she didn’t show it in her expression at all and maintained her strong attitude.

“Is that supposed to be a gun? That’s a wooden gun. Do you know just how weak that is? It is a weapon that can’t defeat a single monster.” (Chihiro)

All of them were holding wooden guns from goblins that utilize acorn bullets. It is practically like a toy gun that probably can’t even pierce a magazine.

It is wooden, so it is unreliable. It is basically a trash gun that you could find one or two of if you were to wander around the slums.

Few carry those around since they would be made fun of, but Tsuyoshi responded with a strong smile at the smile of contempt from Chihiro.

“You never run out of things to say, Chihiro. But you talk too much. You must be scared, right? We have these many people. We can kill you easily even if they are wooden guns. Moreover, these wooden guns are modified. It has the same power as a normal gun.” (Tsuyoshi)

Tsuyoshi and his group bought them for 1,000 Ele at the Krita General Store.

It is unknown what part was modified, but it was written on a piece of paper, so Tsuyoshi and his group believed firmly that the power must be higher.

They wouldn’t be able to imagine that Lanpeach thought about throwing them away like garbage if they cannot be sold, and Krita tried to sell them by simply lathering it with wax and calling them modified.

If asked, Krita was planning on answering that he did wax them, so it should be less slippery and the accuracy should have increased.

“I heard about it, Chihiro. You guys apparently obtained a new generator and water purifier. We were thinking about using them for you. You can’t match these numbers, right? Moreover, Lanpeach is apparently heavily injured.” (Tsuyoshi)

“…”

“Kuku, looks like it is true. Then, this will be easy.” (Tsuyoshi)

Chihiro fell silent and Tsuyoshi got even more confident.

Chihiro shouldn’t have fallen silent there. She shouldn’t have crumbled her strong stance. But she ended up giving herself away.

“Alright, you are going to be a hostage. Don’t worry, I don’t mind giving you a reward once we kill Lanpea—” (Tsuyoshi)

Tsuyoshi couldn’t finish saying that.

Dry, who was at the back and thought she was simply scared, went in between them and held her hand up.

“Bast warning, this is your end!” (Dry)

[Blizzard Lance].

She messed up in saying ‘last warning’ as she activated her spell.

An ice spear was created together with a cold wave, and was shot towards Tsuyoshi and his group.

It pierced through the wind, was clad in blizzard, and flew with speed like that of an arrow.

“Wa, that brat was a mage?!”

“Nahii!”

Tsuyoshi jumped to the side and the spear pierced a comrade at the back and exploded.

It blasted a smoke of cold air and changed the surroundings into a world of ice.

Several people were turned into ice statues in an instant and crumbled, scattering onto the ground.

Tsuyoshi saw his comrades die so easily without any warning, and pointed at Dry with anger and fear.

“You brat! You guys, kill her! Kill that brat! It is fine with just Chihiro being alive. Attack without worrying!” (Tsuyoshi)

He was also exposed to the cold wave, so he shouted with a face that had a layer of skin frozen.

“Oo, this brat!”

“I will make you pay!”

“How dare you do that!”

The comrades of Tsuyoshi shouted and pulled the triggers.

On the other hand, Dry pressed the head of Chihiro down and crouched, and then casted a spell.

[Snow Powder].

Powdered snow became a blizzard, assailing the enemies around.

It may have only been a few seconds, but the amount and pressure of the powdered snow that was no different from a blizzard made them close their eyes and took away their vision.

Dry held the hand of Chihiro by the side and ran, trying to pass by them.

“Au?!”

But Dry felt a strong impact on her flank right before she passed by Tsuyoshi and his group.

She stood up soon after, ignored the pain on her side, and faced that way.

There was an armored man standing there.

“What is this, Tsuyoshi? I didn’t hear about there being a mage. You are going to increase the reward, right?”

The man said this with a high-pitched voice, and at his side there’s Chihiro who fell behind in the escape and was grabbed by the collar.

It seems like she has been grabbed strongly, her face was warped in pain.

“Run away, Dry! Get the potion to Lan! I have never seen this man. He is most likely a mercena—kya!” (Chihiro)

Chihiro couldn’t finish what she was trying to say and was punched hard.

Dry saw this, her eyes grew serious, and…

“Hn, got it. I will tell Peach-oniichan that Chihiro fought bravely.” (Dry)

She turned around, abandoned Chihiro easily, and escaped.

“…Wa. You have a dry relationship.”

Everyone was dumbstruck seeing Dry grow further away. The man didn’t expect her to run away without hesitation, so he scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“That person is dry after all… Uhm, you won’t kill the pitiful me, right?” (Chihiro)

“I will think about it…”

Chihiro didn’t want to die.

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