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When Finia finished tidying up Letina’s room, she cleaned Nicole’s room along with Den.

Den could do that much himself of course, but a girl’s room had places that needed special attention.

Thus, he asked Finia to help him with that part.

“Besides, I have to make sure Lady Nicole’s identity remains a secret too.”

She muttered to herself while cleaning the room alone. She didn’t know Den’s circumstances, so she was trying hard to hide the fact that Nicole was Reid. Naturally, Den had already heard from the Wind God that Nicole was Reid, so there was no need for that. Den was cleaning the vicinity of the simple kitchen, so he couldn’t hear it.

Still, Nicole ordered them to stay together as much as possible, so this was a good situation. They could be together for a natural-looking reason, so no one would find it suspicious.

“Lady Finia, do you have a moment?”
“Hyah, yes?”

Den addressed even her with a polite tone, so she responded quite tensed. He showed his face from the kitchen with an empty jar in his hand.

“We ran out of the scented tea leaves, so I would like to go and buy it.”
“Ah, Lady Nicole sure drinks it a lot. Understood, let’s go together then.”
“Much obliged.”

Even Den wasn’t familiar with the type of tea leaves that Nicole preferred. Finia, being Nicole’s long-time caretaker, was the winner when it came to such things.

She quickly removed her apron, then headed to take her wallet and a shopping basket from her room which was opposite Letina’s, getting ready to head out.

Den also finished preparations in the meantime, and once they firmly locked their masters and their own rooms, they headed out of the dorm.

Incidentally, the owners of said rooms, Nicole and Letina, also had keys on them, so there was no problem in locking the room. Nicole, in particular, could easily open a lock of this level too.

As they walked through the streets, Finia could feel the stares pricking them from all around. Den was a handsome boy at a glance, so coupled with Finia, they were enhancing each other into a picturesque sight.

The last time they headed out to the city, Nicole and Letina looked suspicious with their hoods on, so it served to offset the image.

Finia stole glances around, and as expected, detected suspicious people at the back of alleys and such. Clearly suspicious people were lurking here and there. Realizing that, she unconsciously reached out to the dagger on her waist.

Den’s sharp eyes didn’t miss that.

“Is anything the matter?”
“No. I just thought it was a scary city.”
“Yes, the public order is quite bad. This way, please.”

Den invited her to the middle part of the road. It was his consideration to get her as away from the unpopulated back alleys as possible.

Thus, the two bought the tea leaves in question along with some daily necessities, and headed back to the dorms. However, three men suddenly appeared to block their way.

“Hey there. Stop for a moment, young lady.”
“Kyah?!”

Finia gave a small yelp as they almost collided, and stopped in place. Den quickly pulled her hand and covered for her. They remembered these three men. They were the drunkards they got involved with the last time.

They assumed an encircling position around them and pressured them into heading towards the back alley.

Finia and Den stepped back to not oppose them, and ultimately were forced into the alley. The passersby naturally noticed that, but they passed by without doing anything.

“W-What do you want?”

Finia asked in a somewhat frightened voice, while the men smirked in response.

Given her strength, she could easily deal with the thugs of this level, but as her personality wasn’t suited for violence, she hesitated to do so until they resorted to violence.

Moreover, the men were all armed and had swords on their waist, which added to her anxiety.

“We just want you to pay a little for before.”
“Yeah, you really gave us quite the shame.”
“We want remuneration for it.”

One of them reached out towards her with a plastered smile.

But she was different from a town girl who’d stay frightened, so she reflexively defended herself. She quickly caught the hand that reached out to her while ignoring Den, and twisted it.

“Gahhh!?”

The man screamed and fell forward along with the twist. As he was slouched, Finia drove her elbow in his neck.

“Yahh!”
“Agh-!”

The man fell on the ground without even realizing how he got defeated. Seeing that, blood rushed to the other two men’s heads.

“This f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g s̲l̲u̲t̲!”

Another one pulled out the sword on his waist and tried to slash at Finia, but Den got in the way.

He took a sideways posture and easily dodged the slash. Not only that, he even covered the distance with a half step and drove a chop into his throat. Getting his throat smitten, the man fell down with a somersault, not even managing to scream. His life wasn’t in danger, but depending on how damaged his throat was, his breathing would be hindered.

“Do you still want to go?”
“Khh…”

Finia asked slightly out of breath due to the sudden battle. However, the man was not in a state to notice that tone.

Having two of his friends taken down instantly and being the only one left, he finally realized that they had underestimated them as just a boy-girl pair.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, if it’s come to this…”

Being pressed into an overwhelming disadvantage, he pulled out a small bottle from his pocket.

He removed the plug with used movements and poured it into his mouth. This happened too smoothly for Finia and Den to stop him, so they could only stand and watch.

“Gh….GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

Along with that scream, the man’s body started to swell up. It was a phenomenon caused by his muscles expanding unnaturally.

The capillaries in his eyeballs started to get torn and the whites of his eyes were being dyed in red.

“Khi….Khihihihihihihihihi…”

The man faced the two with bloodshot eyes and drool spilling from his mouth. There was not a fragment of reason remaining in his expression.

“I used the three portions of the drug in one go. It’s easy to…strangle…you now…”

He spoke with a muffled voice. The muscles on his neck were also abnormally swollen, so he couldn’t make proper sounds. In this state, he no longer held the fragment of memories from earlier when they planned to play with Finia.

“I will kill you….Kill…KILL BREAK DESTROY AND END IT AAAAAAAAALLLL!”

Along with his shriek, he swung down his sword.

At the same time, Den kicked Finia aside, while also jumping back from the recoil.

“My apologies.”
“Kyah?!”

A moment later, the sword passed where they had just been standing.

The swing from that strangely stretched arm easily pulverized the stone pavement and produced a shock wave.

The wave traveled through the pavement and blew the two collapsed men away.

Finia and Den who withdrew to a safe distance saw that the recoil from it had pulverized his own arm.

“Looks like he is no longer a human. Which means there is no need to hold back anymore.”

Den muttered quietly, but took a big step, and then kicked off the ground with a powerful and violent step.

He drew so close to the man their noses almost touched, and then with his fist raised upright, he drove a peculiar punch into the men.

The destructive power produced by his stance was as strong… no, even stronger than the man’s sword attack, and it was concentrated on one point.

An instant later, the man’s body burst open as if pierced by a battering ram, and a large hole opened up in his torso.

“Kh?”

Having the area near his lungs and diaphragm blown away, the man couldn’t even speak words, and raised a snore-like groan as he looked down on his body.

He had a face as if he had finally awakened from a trance and realized his own situation.

“N-No way…”

With that final mutter, the man tumbled down.

“Fuh. Looks like this ended without problems.”
“Wait, Den, aren’t you super strong?!”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Lord Hastur is training me, after all. More importantly, it might be better to leave this place quickly.”

Finia finally noticed the situation at Den’s words.

There were too many destructive traces and battle sounds to call this a simple quarrel. The people around started to fear and peeked their faces to check the situation.

At this rate, they would be taken away by the guards and questioned thoroughly. That could influence Nicole and Letina badly too.

“L-Let’s go.”
“That would be for the best.”

The two left the place behind, leaving the man’s corpse be.

Convinced that the citizens who were ‘pretending not to see this’ and looked away would not be able to remember their faces.

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