Chapter 26

Having seen the situation clearly, Xiarette instead slowly loosened her grip on the sword hilt.

Oh, oh—if it was just a theft case, there was no need to use magic and make a big scene.

“Sheffy, wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back…”

“Where do you think you’re running, thief?! Surrender now! You can’t escape!! Submit to justice immediately!”

“?”

Hearing this strange commotion, Xiarette thought it was Sheffy who had once again rushed ahead to cause trouble!

But when she suddenly turned her head…

Sheffy Harl was still obediently standing right there~

She even spread her palms as if to say—look, you’re misunderstanding me again. Shouldn’t you buy me a few extra donuts for this?

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine~ Looks like someone else rushed ahead to have some fun… I mean, to act bravely. Let me see who it is!”

Just as she finished speaking—

The fleeing thief had already been struck on the head by a stone that had flown out from who knows where!

“Ah!!”

With a miserable cry, the thief flipped sideways and rolled a good distance across the ground.

A ring of blood quickly spread along the cheek where the stone had struck the head.

The thief lay on the ground, wailing and struggling in pain.

Meanwhile, from among the onlookers, a striking and pretty figure slowly emerged.

It was clear that this figure had originally intended to make a cool entrance, but the crowd was too large and the street too blocked, so she had circled around several times before finally managing to hurriedly take her place at the front.

But… that was only before she appeared.

Once she stood there properly, the citizens seemed to notice something and suddenly began bowing their heads respectfully and stepping aside, making way for the suddenly appearing girl.

This piqued Sheffy Harl’s interest.

She climbed onto a small stool beside a nearby stall, raising her position to get a better view of the show.

And sure enough—she hadn’t expected what she saw.

At the front of the crowd stood a young girl with long hair cascading like a waterfall, dark as ink. She wore a dark gray long robe-dress, and her emerald-green eyes shone like gemstones.

She smiled confidently, idly tossing a stone in her hand—clearly the “weapon” she had just used to bring down the thief.

In terms of height, she was slightly shorter than Xiarette, probably around one meter seventy, which was already considered tall for a girl in the Kingdom of Aurus.

As for appearance…

Well.

In Sheffy Harl’s heart, Xiarette was definitely the most beautiful—no doubt about it!

But this young girl before them could also be called breathtakingly beautiful, though it was a serene beauty different from Xiarette’s noble allure.

However…! She had one absolute weakness!

And with this weakness, she could never hope to rival Xiarette!

It was the size of her chest…

Compared to Xiarette, it was simply worlds apart!

Tch~~ that slight curve, what was that even supposed to be? My Xiarette wins hands down!!

Sheffy Harl didn’t even know why she was comparing this, but at this first meeting, she had already placed Xiarette on a pedestal without her knowing!

But speaking of which… the Kingdom of Aurus really did produce a lot of beautiful girls, huh…?

Seeing that the situation over there was becoming more stable, Sheffy Harl hopped off the small stool, scratching the back of her head as she asked a question.

“I say, Xiarette, who is that person? Why do the citizens seem so respectful? Is she from some great noble family? Xiarette? What are you spacing out about?”

“Ah…? Uh, no, it’s just that her sudden appearance was a bit surprising. Actually, she is…”

“He has a knife!”

From within the crowd, someone suddenly shouted.

At the same time, the thief who had been pretending to be incapacitated suddenly sprang up, brandishing a sharp blade wildly in an attempt to break through the encirclement. Though the frenzied slashes didn’t hit anyone, the previously stabilized situation quickly turned chaotic again.

The peaceful and quiet commercial street erupted into chaos. The onlookers scattered and fled. The black-haired girl, who had just been standing there with a confident smile, blinked and snapped out of her daze.

Seeing the situation change, she hurriedly started chasing after the fleeing thief, calling out as she ran!

But the content of her shouting… sounded a little silly and cute.

“Hey! Stop running! You’ve already been caught, you know! Why are you still running! Hey…! Put down the knife, give yourself a chance, don’t hurt the citizens! Sorry, coming through… ah, sorry, almost bumped into you! Ah ah, sorry!!!”

Who chases a thief while apologizing to people they almost bump into, seriously!!

Sheffy Harl was watching this with great delight… no! With great tension and suspense!

The black-haired girl was clearly faster, but since she had to dodge the panicked citizens running everywhere, she could only watch helplessly as the thief got farther and farther away.

Anxious, the black-haired girl seized the moment when the road ahead cleared a bit… and suddenly pushed off with her feet, accelerating forward!

But she wasn’t familiar with the layout of the street.

She hadn’t realized that the place where she began to speed up… was already at the corner at the end of this street!

And directly in front of the street corner was a stall selling strawberry donuts.

Realizing she was at full speed and couldn’t change direction, she frantically waved her hands to signal the stall owner to move aside, even tossing away the stone in her hand, as if that would somehow help her turn.

But it was meaningless.

“Ah ah ah, I can’t turn…! Please move aside! I’m going to crash!”

“!”

The stall owner had been in business here for over ten years, having seen all sorts of situations, but a scene like this—this was a first!

Fortunately, the stall owner reacted quickly and jumped to a nearby empty space to evade.

The stall owner escaped.

But his stall couldn’t run away!

*Bang!*

*Crash, clang, bang!*

A tragic sight…

The black-haired girl crashed straight into the strawberry donut stall, raising a cloud of dust as both she and the stall were sent flying.

Within the dusty air, donuts and toppings flew and tumbled through the sky.

Amazingly, at the moment of impact, the girl managed to adjust her posture so she didn’t fall too embarrassingly, though the sight of her knees skidding across the ground looked truly painful!

Kneeling on the ground and rubbing the back of her aching head, she showed surprising resilience and quickly recovered her composure—completely ignoring the lone donut that had landed on her head.

She hadn’t forgotten about catching the thief!

“Thief, you won’t get away!!”

The thief was already utterly exhausted from running!

Honestly! You were supposed to be reclaiming a stolen purse and minimizing economic loss, but just look at what you’ve been defending now!

Even though the thief was starting to feel like turning himself in, seeing that he still had a chance to escape, he of course intended to keep running.

Unfortunately…

He couldn’t run anymore.

*Bang!*

Taking one step forward, it was as if he had slammed into an invisible wall of air.

Panicking, he turned around to retreat, only to find another unseen barrier behind him.

In both directions to the sides, he couldn’t move an inch either.

In an instant, the thief was caught like meat in a bun, firmly trapped between the walls of air. No matter how hard he struggled or flailed, he couldn’t escape and was completely immobilized.

The black-haired girl looked on in confusion at the thief who had suddenly been trapped. She stood up from the now completely wrecked stall.

She was just about to go over and properly arrest the thief…

But suddenly, she heard the sound of wind sweeping past her ear.

It was as if something had swiftly appeared beside her!

Before the black-haired girl could even react and turn her head, she felt a sharp pain in her ear!

Her ear… it had suddenly been grabbed by someone!

Not only grabbed—she was also being forcefully twisted!

“Ow ow ow…! It hurts! What… what’s going on?!”

What answered her—

Was an ethereal, youthful voice, tinged with adorable yet indignant anger.

“You’re asking what’s going on?! Just look around you—look at what you’ve done! Look at these donuts—such a waste! You’re practically a demon!”

**26. Identity**

“Chasing a thief without watching where you’re going, huh? Wasting food, huh? I think what you need is a good beating!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…! Wait, who are you, esteemed master?! Ah ah, my ear… my ear is going to fall off!!”

Now imagine this: what kind of sight would it be when a cold and breathtakingly beautiful young woman was being scolded and had her ear pulled by a little girl more than a head shorter than her, all the while begging for mercy?

Of course—it was quite a peculiar scene.

But for some reason, the surrounding crowd instinctively kept a great distance from the black-haired girl, whispering among themselves on the other side of the street.

Even the poor donut stall owner had been so frightened that he scrambled and crawled far away.

Leaving aside other things…

At this moment, Sheffy Harl was truly furious!

Of all the things to crash into—why a donut stall?! And specifically her favorite strawberry flavor!

Just as she was about to continue her “instruction,” earnestly trying to reform this stubborn and infuriating girl—

Suddenly, Xiarette’s slightly anxious voice came from nearby.

“Xue… Shaya, stop! You need to give her some face—she’s not someone you can just hit!”

“Huh…? Born as a human, and there’s someone you *can’t* hit?”

*Does being human mean you should be beaten?!*

Sheffy’s teleportation had been so swift that even Xiarette, with her famously quick reflexes as a Hero, had arrived more than ten seconds late.

And upon arriving, what did she see? Sheffy grabbing someone’s ear and giving a lecture!

Also… when in public, one had to call Sheffy Harl “Shaya.” Xiarette had completely remembered this now.

In truth, seeing Xiarette’s slightly panicked expression, Sheffy Harl could tell that the girl in front of her probably wasn’t an ordinary person.

—But so what!

She had smashed the donut stall. Even if she were the King of the Kingdom, she had to pay the price!

“That voice… is that Lady Xiarette?! Please… please speak for me! My ear… my ear is about to go numb! Numb, I tell you!”

Important things must be said twice.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep