Rem didn't ask Grin why he was leaving.
She simply stood there, like a wife waiting for her husband's return, watching him disappear into the depths of the Royal Capital's lights.
The bustling nightlife of the capital had just begun. Anyone seeing a man bid a hasty farewell to his lover to leave alone would find it suspicious.
Could Green-kun be planning to go fooling around?
Certainly not; Rem wouldn't lose to that kind of woman!
The girl shook her head vigorously, dispelling those groundless fantasies from her mind.
Then, carrying the supplies purchased today, she followed Grin's instructions and walked quickly toward Emilia's location... The wooden door of the pharmacy was pushed open gently.
A figure wrapped in a black cloak stood silently before the counter. A hoarse and somewhat lazy female voice slowly rang out:
"Boss, are there still any High-Grade Healing Potions for sale in the shop?"
The fat boss, who had been dozing on the counter, jolted awake at the sound and instantly straightened his back.
"High-Grade Healing Potion?"
He shook his head repeatedly, looking helpless. "That stuff has been out of stock for a long time. This small shop only has some Mid-Grade Hemostatic Medicine left. Do you want it?"
"Of course~" Elsa's voice was somewhat casual. "As long as it can preserve a life, any medicine will do."
Slender Fingers reached out from under the cloak, and a glittering gold coin was gently placed on the counter.
"Hey, miss, that won't do."
The fat boss's tone suddenly became a bit sharp and slippery. His pudgy Fingers pushed the gold coin back, adopting the posture of a dishonest merchant.
"With the current market, how could it be this price? One bottle of Mid-Grade Hemostatic Medicine costs at least three... no, five gold coins!"
A fleeting cold light flashed in the depths of Elsa's eyes as she took out four more gold coins.
"These potions really are comparable to silver and gold."
Seeing the money in place, a fawning smile immediately piled onto the fat boss's face.
He turned to fish out a crudely packaged small medicine bottle from the bottom shelf, quickly pushed it in front of Elsa, and nimbly swept the five gold coins into his purse.
Elsa examined the bottle of hemostatic medicine in her hand, remaining silent for a long time.
A cold killing intent spread silently from beneath the black cloak.
"This bottle of potion has clearly been opened, and only half the liquid remains inside. If possible, could you explain the reason to me?"
The fat boss's eyes darted around. He quickly leaned against the counter, avoiding Elsa's gaze.
"Sigh, where can one even buy medical supplies on the market these days? This bottle was one I kept for my own use. Seeing that we are fated, I reluctantly parted with it to sell it to you!"
Elsa's gaze remained fixed on the bottle.
The crimson corners of her eyes tilted up slightly: "Ara~ So that's how it is..."
If someone were standing behind her, they would have seen her other hand, hidden within the cloak, already gripping that sharp Kukri.
It seemed as though in the next second, this dishonest merchant would fall in a pool of blood.
Bang, bang, bang!
At this critical moment, a sudden, urgent knocking came from the back door of the pharmacy.
Elsa's whole body stiffened. She took a wary half-step back, and with a flick of her finger, the Kukri slid silently back into its sheath.
The fat boss looked toward the back room in confusion, scratched his greasy hair, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Who is it!"
As he shouted, he lifted the door curtain and walked into the inner room, constantly muttering to himself.
"Strange, is there a delivery this late?"
The back door was always reserved for his own people and business partners.
His shabby little shop wasn't important enough for a high-ranking member of the Hoshin Merchant Guild to deign to visit.
In the past, those who knocked on the back door were always peddlers coming to restock.
The fat boss's footsteps gradually receded, leaving only intermittent grumbles drifting through the curtain.
Creak—
"Not using the front door in the middle of the night... I want to see which unlucky bastard dares to come here looking for a scolding!"
"Hey, you are..."
Thud!
A very faint muffled sound came from deep within the inner room, and the fat boss's voice stopped abruptly.
After a brief silence, his voice rang out again, though it was now filled with a bit of exasperation: "Cough, cough, so it's you. Get lost already!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a shrill female voice responded with a sob: "Waaa, you heartless man!"
Bang!
There was another loud bang; clearly, the fat boss had slammed the door hard.
He rustled through the curtain and returned behind the counter, holding an exquisitely packaged tree cake.
"Sorry about that, guest. It was my ex-wife running here to beg for a reconciliation. Thinking she could use a broken box of cake like this to win back a heart that's been thoroughly hurt—it's simply wishful thinking."
He pointed at the cake in his hand, his face full of disdain.
Elsa studied him thoughtfully and spoke slowly:
"I see. However, I thought I heard the sound of an impact. Did you accidentally hit your head, boss?"
The fat boss shook his head vigorously, returning to his arrogant manner.
"How could that be! That little wench dared to show up at my door; she must have been itching for a lesson."
He patted his stomach proudly and continued.
"Of course, I couldn't let her leave empty-handed. I just used a Flying Scissor Kick to floor her. That's where the noise came from. Sorry for making a fool of myself in front of the guest, hahaha!"
A dangerous light flashed in Elsa's eyes. The sharp Northern Kukri had somehow already been pressed beneath her wrist.
"You really are a piece of scum, boss..." she chuckled, her tone sickeningly sweet.
"Haha, thanks for the compliment!" The fat boss laughed so hard he couldn't close his mouth, completely unaware that the Grim Reaper had already arrived.
Whoosh—
Elsa turned into a streak of black lightning, grazing past the fat boss's body like a nimble leopard cat.
The fat boss's laughter was still stuck in his throat when an icy tearing sensation suddenly came from his abdomen, so fast that the pain couldn't even keep up.
He looked down. The black fabric was being rapidly soaked by a warm liquid, which flowed down his pant legs with a fishy, sweet, and clammy sensation.
"Splat—"
It was the muffled sound of internal organs sliding out.
The fat boss's pupils shrank suddenly. A wheezing sound escaped his throat, and his hands tried in vain to cover the gaping wound.
But those slippery, warm loops of intestine still vied to pour out, entangling his Fingers and staining his hands with greasy blood.
"No... no... I don't want to... die..."
He wanted to scream, to beg for mercy, to curse, but he couldn't even utter a complete syllable. His body collapsed backward like a pile of mud.
Thud!
The heavy sound of the impact echoed in the silent pharmacy.
His body twitched a few times and soon became still, leaving only those wide-open eyes filled with the terror of his final moments.
A thumb-sized glass bottle rolled out of his upturned pocket, the bottle etched with the exquisite emblem of the Hoshin Merchant Guild.
It was precisely the High-Grade Healing Potion Elsa had been searching for.
Elsa looked down at the corpse on the floor, the crimson corners of her eyes curving into a cold, thin arc.
"Judging by the reaction, he didn't have any defenses and died instantly. Could it be that I overthought things?"
She stepped over the eye-catching pool of blood and bent down to pick up the potion, her movements as gentle as if she were stroking a treasure.
Afterward, her gaze fell upon the exquisitely packaged tree cake on the counter.
The creamy aroma of the cake mixed with the smell of blood in the air, creating a bizarre scent.
Elsa reached out a finger and gently poked the small frosting flowers decorating the cake, a casual smile playing on her lips.
"What a wonderful texture. Meli-chan should like this. Arigato, Mr. Scumbag."
She gave an elegant bow to the fat boss's corpse, tucked the potion into an inner pocket of her cloak, picked up the box of cake, and turned to walk toward the pharmacy's front door.
After closing the door, she flipped the business sign on the handle to reveal the word "Closed."
By the time someone discovered the corpse inside, this greedy boss would likely have long since rotted and begun to stink.