The following day.
The morning chill seeped through the cracks in the window.
Tap, tap, tap.
In the silent room, a pair of silver-white wolf ears suddenly twitched, capturing the source of the sound with radar-like precision. A series of knocks, not particularly urgent but exceptionally clear, shattered the silence of the attic.
Feng Qin—or rather, the current Elia—switched from a deep sleep to full alertness almost instantly.
She opened her eyes. There was no trace of morning groogginess in her ice-blue pupils, only subconscious wariness and coldness.
Only after confirming there was no malice outside the door did she slowly sit up. Her voice was cold and clear. “Who is it?”
“Mm-hmm, it’s just me, little Elia.”
The voice of the tavern’s Proprietress came from outside the door, carrying the characteristic lethargy and warmth of a mature woman. She sounded like she was in a good mood.
Elia frowned and glanced at the system time in the corner of her vision.
5:30 AM.
“Proprietress, it isn’t working hours yet, is it?” she said, getting out of bed and straightening the slightly messy hem of her maid outfit.
The Proprietress seemed to chuckle softly. “Well… it is a bit early, but it’s nothing major. I just wanted to ask you to go to the market to buy some supplies. You know business has been so good lately that our drinks and ingredients are almost gone, and I happen to have some urgent business I can’t walk away from.”
“I’ll give you five silver coins for the errand. How does that sound?”
Five silver coins.
Elia quickly calculated the value in her head.
That was equivalent to the profit from killing twenty low-level slimes, and it was completely risk-free. The cost-performance ratio was extremely high.
“I can do that. I’ll leave immediately.”
***
The morning market was as bustling as a boiling pot of soup.
The cries of vendors, the sound of haggling, and the rumble of wheels over stone paths intertwined.
Elia pushed a two-wheeled cart piled high like a small mountain, her steps steady.
Beside her, a young maid named Bella was panting, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat as she steadied the handle.
“Whew… whew… Elia, is that everything? I—I’m exhausted…”
Bella grumbled, unable to help but glance at Elia, whose expression remained unchanged and whose heartbeat was steady.
Elia’s slender finger tapped the bottom of the list. “One item left: waterproof glue for the wine barrels. The general store was out, so we have to go to the shop in the south of the city.”
“One more item?” Bella wailed. “That’s halfway across the district…”
“We’ll take a shortcut.”
Elia’s tone was flat. she turned the cart directly into a deep, narrow alley between two buildings.
By cutting through this alley, they could save nearly ten minutes of travel time.
The alley was dimly lit, the sides piled with discarded junk and moldy trash, feeling like a world isolated from the bustle outside.
As they went deeper, the surrounding noise gradually faded.
Elia’s silver wolf ears twitched imperceptibly backward, and her steady breathing quietly slowed down.
It was the sensation of being locked onto by a greasy gaze, like a rat in the gutter eyeing its prey.
With the keen hearing of the wolf-kin, two voices, intentionally lowered, drifted clearly into her ears on the breeze.
“Hey, Boss, are you sure you saw that Barr guy leave?” a raspy voice asked.
“I saw him clearly,” another voice responded. “Ten minutes ago! He left the city with that old woman. Seems like they’re going to pick up some high-end goods. They won’t be back for at least half a day.”
“That’s good then…” the first person whispered, his tone filled with lewd excitement. “Look at that silver wolf-kin pushing the cart. She’s top-tier! That figure, those legs… tsk, tsk. She’s much hotter than that hidden gem Barr’s got.”
“Even if she screams her head off in this alley, no one will hear her.”
“And I saw her at the market earlier. When she paid, her purse was bulging. There are at least dozens of silver coins, maybe even the sound of gold.”
“Money and a girl?”
“You bet! We hit them hard, dump her in the suburbs, take the money, and find a new place to hang out. If worst comes to worst, we just skip town!”
Lecherous laughter echoed in the shadows, making one want to gag.
Bella was completely oblivious, still wiping her sweat and complaining about the smell in the alley.
Elia came to a halt.
She lowered her head slightly, her bangs obscuring her eyes so her expression couldn’t be seen.
But her hand had already moved silently from the cart handle toward her outer thigh.
A razor-sharp short dagger was strapped there.
In her originally calm, ice-blue eyes, the coolness and excitement of a top-tier player now quietly surged.
‘Red-named targets.’
‘Proactive attackers, low-level experience units with no special mechanics or numerical advantage.’
‘I’ve been in this world for so long, and I’ve been looking for a place to vent.’
The corner of Elia’s mouth curled into a cold arc—the expression of a hunter locking onto prey.
‘Perfect.’
‘I’ll use you two for a damage test.’
From the shadows, two thugs wielding rusty daggers and short clubs stepped out with sneers, completely blocking the path.
“Yo, two lovely ladies. This road… isn’t open for passage.”
The man with a scarred face grinned.
However, right at that tense moment—
A flamboyant, piercing voice, dripping with an intense sense of self-importance, suddenly exploded from the top of the high wall at the other end of the alley.
“Ha! I knew there was something fishy over here, and I was right!”
“In broad daylight, under the watchful eyes of the world, someone actually dares to commit a crime in front of me—specifically, harassing maids!”
This sudden interruption caused the tightening atmosphere to freeze instantly.
The thugs were stunned.
Elia’s hand gripping the dagger paused slightly, and her erupting killing intent was quietly retracted.
She looked up expressionlessly.
On top of the high wall, Leo was perched in an extremely inelegant manner.
He held half a bitten apple in his hand, staring at the scene with wide eyes.
The next moment—
“BACK OFF!”
With a thunderous shout, Leo leaped down.
One had to admit, his posture in the air carried a hint of the elegance unique to nobility.
His golden hair fluttered in the morning breeze, and the sun behind him gilded him with a dazzling golden glow.
If things followed the script, he should have landed steadily, kicking up a circle of cool dust and intimidating everyone present.
Unfortunately…