"I have a great idea, Grin!"
"I don't think it's good."
"Damn it, I haven't even said it yet!"
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"You're such an oblivious guy. I don't have time to argue with you right now."
With that, Felt stuffed the royal selection badge into Grin's hand.
"Now, take the badge and head back to the loot den. I'll lead those pursuers on a few more laps. If we succeed, I'll let those five Gold Coins slide."
"What?!"
Grin instantly flared up with anger and shouted loudly.
"What coins are you talking about?! You damn flat-chested, blonde, scrawny loser dog, why don't you just go rob someone! Do I look like I'm worth five Gold Coins to you? We're both from the Slums, so what right do you have to ask me for five Gold Coins? Do I owe you or something?"
"Stop, stop, stop, stop! Ouch, my eardrums are going to burst!"
Felt covered her ears with both hands and took a few steps back like a frightened little rabbit.
"Fine, if the plan succeeds, not only will I not charge you, but I'll even give you a ten percent commission. How about that?"
Ten percent... let me think.
If I remember correctly, Elsa offered five holy gold coins.
There are four types of currency in Lugnica: holy gold coins, Gold Coins, Silver Coins, and Copper Coins.
Except for the exchange rate between holy gold coins and regular Gold Coins, which is one to ten, the rest are all one to a hundred.
Converted to Gold Coins, a ten percent reward is five Gold Coins.
"That price isn't low..."
Wait, no, we can't beat Elsa!
In the original story, Elsa, the employer who hired Felt to steal the badge—that woman will kill to silence witnesses later!
While Grin was still thinking, Felt was already prepared to move.
"Then it's a deal!"
Leaving those words behind, she activated her Divine Protection of Wind and vanished in a flash.
"Holy crap, wait!"
Grin reached out to stop her, but Felt was already long gone.
"It's over, it's over. Maybe I should just call the police!"
"Right, right, call the police, let the authorities handle it!"
With that, Grin wanted to walk out of the alley to find a Guard. Ideally, he'd find Reinhard and let him handle it; one swing of the sword would kill Elsa.
Before he could take two steps, several figures suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley. They wore simple, plain light armor with a dragon crest embroidered on the chest—who else could they be but Guards.
"Heaven is helping me! Speak of the devil... Hey, Guard..."
Before the words "Lord Guard" could leave Grin's mouth, the other side spoke first.
"It's him! The child agitator!"
"I didn't expect him to actually escape from the Sun Princess!"
"Arrest him!"
Grin was dumbfounded; a wanted criminal had almost called the police on himself.
Run!
Only those words remained in his mind.
His legs, which had been weak just moments ago, were reawakened by the urge to survive, dragging his exhausted body through the alleys.
"Slow Movement! Slow down for me!"
Seeing that he couldn't beat these tough guys in terms of physical strength, Grin had no choice but to use magic again.
A purple-black magic circle flickered, turning into halos that settled on the knights' calves. Instantly, their speed slowed down significantly.
"Dammit, you're actually a mage!"
"You're the ones who are damnable, giving me such an embarrassing title! Just you wait, I'm going to scare every single kid in the Royal Capital!"
Grin shouted threats while disappearing from the Guards' sight.
Huff, huff~
After gradually shaking off his pursuers, Grin finally stopped running, resting his hands on his knees as he panted heavily.
"Damn, looks like I can't ask the Guards for help."
With that, Grin waved his right hand and summoned his fairy tale book. If he could get some more extraordinary abilities, he might be able to overcome this crisis.
The pages flipped and stopped again at the Snow White section.
[Prince Charming, Unlock Condition: Kiss a woman who is still deeply loved after her passing.]
[Snow King, Unlock Condition: Marry a witch]
[Snow White (Core Illustration), Unlock Condition: Kill seven demons]
Is this right?
Among these, Queen Snow White actually seemed relatively normal.
Unfortunately, the abilities provided by the Queen's illustration weren't enough to repel the gut ripper Elsa.
If it were the King, there might be a chance, since he possesses noble Authority-type abilities, but the condition is too harsh. Where am I supposed to find a witch?
Even if there were a witch, I'd have to get married. If I got turned into a frog by a witch for sexual harassment, that would be a real disaster.
"Right, I still have the magic mirror!"
The treasure provided by the Queen's illustration.
With a thought from Grin, a magnificent hand mirror made of pure gold appeared in his hand.
"Oh, my respected master, your humble servant awaits your command!"
A shrill voice came from the magic mirror.
Grin immediately ordered, "magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me, where is the Sword Saint Reinhard?"
"Yes, Master, your humble servant will search for you immediately!"
Hum~ Hum~
Ripples spread out in all directions like radar.
After a long while, Grin became a bit impatient.
"Hey, did you find him?"
"Master, this... this Sword Saint guy seems to have some kind of Divine Protection of Shadowlessness, he can't be tracked..."
"You useless piece of crap, what good are you then! Then find the location of the gut ripper Elsa!"
Hum~ Hum~
"Stop humming and tell me, did you find her!"
"Found... found her. I'll mark it for you now."
Subsequently, a map of the Royal Capital appeared on the mirror's surface, with a small red dot moving slowly toward the Slums.
"It seems I have no choice but to use that move!"
...On the other side, Elsa Granhiert had already walked into the heart of the Slums.
She was like a Kukri tucked in its sheath—slender, light, yet hiding dangerous curves everywhere.
Her steps were extremely light as she moved, her high heels making almost no sound, leaving only the edge of her cloak to slice through the air with a low whistle.
Occasionally passing others, Elsa would always inadvertently glance at their abdomens.
"Such a flat belly... I wonder if the intestines are thinner than others' because of the frequent hunger~"
"Wonderful~ In such a remote place, even if someone dies in the shadows, no one will notice~"
While Elsa was fantasizing about the intestines of passersby, the sound of rattling chains echoed nearby.
Clang, clang.
The first thing to crash into her sight was a face that forcibly stitched 'theater' and 'corpse' together.
Heavy white makeup, heterochromatic pupils, silver bells tangled in corpse-blue long hair, and wearing a clown's tailcoat—it seemed as if a smile would crack open the smell of rust.
The thin chains tied to his calves were likely the source of the noise just now.
"Oh my~ Isn't this Miss Elsa Granhiert? It seems fate has arranged for us to meet~"
"Ah~ Roswaal Mathers, Margrave? What a surprise~"
Two individuals who couldn't speak normally had converged at this moment.
Elsa froze for less than a second before her treacherous gaze began scanning Roswaal like a sharp blade.
"The ball hasn't even started yet, and the 'organizer' has already appeared. Has something gone wrong with the other 'dancers'?"
Roswaal was the one who designed all of this behind the scenes, so calling him the organizer was quite fitting.
Elsa stared intently at Roswaal, even sticking out her tongue to lick her lips softly and quickly. It seemed that compared to the dancers she mentioned, she was more interested in the kingdom's strongest Court Mage before her.
What color would a powerful mage's intestines be?
Roswaal quietly took a sharp breath because he noticed Elsa's gaze frequently focusing on his stomach.
"As expected of an assassin with the title of gut ripper, you're as sharp as I anticipated~ I have personally recovered the badge, so the previous plan must be canceled. My sincerest apologies, Miss Elsa~"
With that, Roswaal flipped his palm, producing the royal selection badge with a clown's magic trick and displaying it before Elsa.
The suspicious gut ripper didn't give her employer an answer immediately; instead, she took on a touch of the leisure seen only at the start of a hunt.