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“Uncle, aren’t you always trying to save those poor innocent girls? It’s not good to jinx them like that.”
“I’m not jinxing her. I’m just telling the truth. Trying to do things like that without careful consideration isn’t an act of courage, it’s just recklessness.”

“However…” I gazed at the uncle’s pale side profile and said, “Uncle, you clearly knew you weren’t a match for the enemies, but you still rush forward without hesitation.”
“You’re right, knowing that I lost a lot of things because of my recklessness, I have long since resolved in my heart to think carefully about everything, but sometimes I can’t control myself.”

The uncle’s eyelids dropped and even though I couldn’t see him clearly, I could feel a loneliness from him.

“Regardless, I still have to go.”
“What?”

“I won’t talk about the deal that Carol and I made, but if the only thing I need to worry about is money, then I’ve got no fears that I will be beaten out.”
The uncle was silent for a long while and said, “That Carol, she must be a very important person to you.”

“No, we’ve only known each other for half a day.”
“Half a day?” The uncle opened his eyes wide and asked incredulously, “You only know her for half a day and you’d go that far for her? Let’s not talk about danger, I’m afraid the money you will need to buy her this time is also an astronomical figure. Is it worth it for someone who has only known you for so short a time that you’re practically strangers?”

“Is it worth it?” In my mind, I suddenly remembered a night from my previous life when I was a youth, the crowd, the shaking figures, the bright red liquid, and the spectators wearing demonic masks.
Everyone seemed to be watching a shadow play, clapping at the story in the show, but they couldn’t show any genuine compassion for those actors.

“I don’t know, but when she asked me to join in her foolish plan while crying on the ground like a child, I saw a shadow of my past on her. Just like me before, forced to leave important people, and only able to squat in a corner and cry. I don’t want to see others like me, because every time I’m forcibly reminded of many things that I have gone through lengths to forget.”

“Also, aren’t you the same, uncle. Back then, if you didn’t care about Carol, you would’ve been able to flee without any trouble. You knew Carol wouldn’t be in danger of getting captured.”

The uncle didn’t answer my question, instead he sighed before saying, “I didn’t expect you to be so young and still have such stories to tell.”

“Everyone has a story, they merely have different circumstances. Moreover, even though I look like a loli, I’m already a full-grown adult,” While speaking, I puffed out my inexisting chest to show off that I am a respectable adult.

“…yeah, everyone has a story.”
“Shouldn’t you be commenting on the fact that I said I’m an adult?”
“……”

Uncle raised his head with difficulty, looking at the dim nebula in the sky, but his eyes reflected some kind of crystal liquid.

“Lil’ sis… Alex¹…”
“Hey, is that all the reaction I get when I reveal my real age? Don’t just change the subject!”

“Hush.”
“…I have half a mind to abandon you here.”

“Hush, uncle is tired, and he needs to sleep for a while.”
“How about I let you sleep here forever?”

“……”
“Hey! Don’t actually fall asleep! I really will leave you here, you know? I’m a woman of my word.”

“……”

“Wow… guest, why are you bringing another injured person back?”

I took the uncle for a few laps on the street, but couldn’t find a place similar to a clinic. The uncle also fell asleep because of his injuries, and I had no choice but to take him back to the inn.

I didn’t expect that the inn’s waiter was still so busy at this time of day. When he saw me enter the door with the uncle, he rushed over to help me carry him to the room.

“Honestly, you are such a good person,” said the waiter with after he helped me bring the uncle to the bed.
“What do you mean by good person?”

“Earlier this afternoon, didn’t you bring that little beggar in? You even let her take a bath and feed her. Now you have brought back this badly injured person, if you are not a good person, then what are you?”
“Aren’t you afraid I’m actually a slaver? Can’t you tell that the little beggar is gone?”
“Haha, guest, you really are a joker, how could a cute girl like you be a slaver?”

It seems I’d make a fortune if I really went and became a slaver.

“… Just think of me as a good person then,” I threw a gold coin to the waiter, “Let’s not talk about that for now, please go out and find a doctor for uncle, quickly.”
“Okay,” the waiter caught it with a smile on his face. As he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and said, “oh, right.”

The waiter brought out a pile of dirty rags from the corner, “These are the clothes that the little beggar changed out of, did you want me to throw them or what…?”
“Just throw them… wait no, burn them.” If that kind of thing isn’t burned, I’m afraid that something like rabies virus will spread.

“Alright.”

The waiter held the rags and ran. When he reached the door, a silvery object suddenly fell from the inside and made a crisp sound when it fell to the ground.

“What’s this?” The waiter picked it up and found it to be a silver lotus pendant.

Just from looking at the material, it was easy to tell that it wasn’t incredibly valuable, it was difficult to imagine that it was something that a young lady would have. However, judging from Carol’s unconventional appearance, it’s not that hard to imagine where she’d have found such a thing.

“I’ll hold onto it.” I took the pendant and found that there was nothing special about it other than the vivid budding lotus flower carving, so I was about to casually shove it into the storage ring.

“Wait a minute.” The uncle, who I had thought was asleep because of his injuries, suddenly said.

Looking back, I found the uncle struggled to sit up while bearing with the pain of his injuries. He was staring at the pendant in my hand, with lips trembling with excitement as if what I was holding was his younger sister who had been missing for many years.

“Can you show that to me?”

Before I could answer, the uncle started taking trembling steps towards me. No, he was stretching his hand towards the pendant in my hand. If I didn’t give it to him, he would just fall directly on the ground because he couldn’t reach it.

I helplessly handed the pendant over to the uncle.
The uncle took the pendant carefully looked it over several times, then he placed the pendant on his forehead with trembling hands and suddenly burst into tears.

“This… this is my sister’s pendant…
It was a birthday present I gave her when she was ten years old.”

Uncle… sister’s pendant? But why did Carol have it?
I frowned slightly and realized that things were getting complicated.
Looking at the uncle who was crying like a child, I suddenly felt as if I stepped into a melodramatic plot written by a dog-headed writer.

1. Silva wonders about the connection between this Alex and the previous one. I motion to rename Alex to Alyx