Chapter: 25. What Have You Protected!
First came the sound, then the sight of a crowd starting to panic and move aside at the street corner as they looked towards another street.
Xialet instinctively protected Princess Xue Fei behind her, while simultaneously gripping the invisible hilt of her sword, ready to draw.
“Wow…! Xiya, that move is cool!”
“Really… really?! Cough, don’t let your guard down, it’s coming.”
“Got it, got it~”
Compared to the response to risks, Xue Fei’s clenched fists seemed to express more anticipation for fun.
Finally, when the sound became loud enough, the full situation finally revealed itself at the street entrance.
There was a scruffy middle-aged man lowering his old straw hat and clutching a bag that obviously clashed with his attire. He stumbled through the crowd, frantically running toward this street, charging at them like a mad dog without regard for anything!
The sound of collisions and shoves echoed repeatedly.
The man screamed sharply, as if in a hurry for reincarnation.
“Get out of the way! Get out of my way! If you don’t want to die, don’t block the road! Move aside!!”
“Catch the thief! Stop him! Catch the thief… whew…! In broad daylight, this is the capital city! Is there no law here?!”
At such times, the one shouting to catch a thief must be the unfortunate victim.
Sure enough, closely following the man was a slightly chubby noble lady, panting and pointing at him. It was clear that there was quite a bit of her property in that bag.
Having seen the situation clearly, Xialet slowly loosened her grip on the sword hilt.
Oh, if it’s just a theft, there’s no need to make a big fuss with magic.
“Xue Fei, wait a moment, I’ll be right back…”
“Little thief, where do you think you’re going!! Surrender now! You can’t escape!! Hurry up and accept your punishment!”
“?”
Xialet heard this strange noise and thought that Xue Fei had acted first to create trouble again!
But when she turned around quickly…
Princess Xue Fei was still standing quietly right there~
She even spread her palms, indicating—look, you’ve misunderstood me; you should buy me a few more donuts!
“Sorry…”
“It’s fine~ It looks like someone jumped the gun to have fun… no, to act heroically. Let me see who it is!”
As soon as she finished speaking.
The running criminal was suddenly hit on the head by a stone that came flying out of nowhere!
“Ah!!”
With a scream, the little thief toppled over and rolled far away.
The spot where the stone hit his head quickly showed a circle of blood on his cheek.
The little thief lay on the ground, crying out in pain and struggling.
Meanwhile, from the crowd of onlookers, an eye-catching and elegant figure slowly stepped out.
It was clear that this figure initially intended to make a stylish entrance, but there were too many spectators, and the street was blocked. She had to circle around several times before awkwardly positioning herself at the front.
However… this was only the situation before she appeared.
Once she stood there, the crowd suddenly seemed to discover something, and they respectfully lowered their heads and moved aside, making way for the suddenly appearing girl.
This piqued Xue Fei’s interest.
She hopped onto a small stool at a nearby stall to get a better view of the show.
What an unexpected sight.
At the front of the crowd stood a girl with long, dark hair like a waterfall, dressed in a light ink-colored robe, with eyes as green as emeralds.
She smiled confidently, continuously weighing the stone she picked up from the roadside, which must be the “weapon” she used to hit the criminal earlier.
In terms of height, she was slightly shorter than Xialet, probably around 1.7 meters, which is considered tall among girls in the Aulus Kingdom.
As for appearance…
Well.
Let’s just say that Xue Fei firmly believed that Xialet was the most beautiful, no doubt about that!
The beauty of the girl across from her could also be described as stunning, but it possessed a different tranquil charm compared to Xialet’s noble beauty.
However…! She had an absolute disadvantage!
With that disadvantage, she was destined to never compare with Xialet!
That was her chest size…
It was so much smaller than Xialet’s!
Hmph~~ what’s that slight curvature even worth? Clearly, my Xialet is the winner!!
Xue Fei herself didn’t even know what she was comparing. Anyway, in their first meeting, she had unknowingly placed Xialet on a pedestal without her knowledge!
By the way… Is the Aulus Kingdom really abundant in beautiful girls…?
Seeing the situation over there stabilize, Xue Fei hopped off the small stool and, holding the back of her head, asked.
“Hey, Xialet, who is that person, why do the crowd look so respectful? Is she a noble? Xialet? What are you in a daze about?”
“Ah…? Uh, no, I was just surprised by her sudden appearance. Actually, she is…”
“He has a knife!”
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted.
At the same time, the criminal, who pretended to be incapacitated, suddenly sprang up, wielding a sharp blade and wildly slashing, trying to break through the encirclement. Even though his erratic swings didn’t injure anyone, the previously stable situation became chaotic again.
The peaceful and quiet commercial street was thrown into disarray. The onlooking crowd scattered and fled, and the dark-haired girl who had just been confidently smiling blinked, coming back to her senses from her daze.
Seeing the situation change, she hastily started chasing after the criminal’s figure while also trying to shout for him to stop!
But what she said… sounded somewhat naïve and adorable.
“Hey! Stop running! You’re already caught! Why are you still running! Hey…! Put down the knife and give yourself a chance, don’t hurt the crowd! Sorry, coming through… ah, sorry, almost bumped into you! Ah, sorry!!!”
Who chases a criminal while apologizing to nearly-colliding people!!
Xue Fei found it immensely entertaining… No, it was absolutely thrilling!
The dark-haired girl was clearly faster, but because she had to navigate through the panicking crowd, she could only watch helplessly as the criminal ran further away.
Feeling anxious, the dark-haired girl spotted a moment where the road ahead was slightly open… she suddenly put her foot down and accelerated forward!
But she was unfamiliar with the street layout.
She didn’t expect that the place she began to speed up… was already at the end of this street corner!
And directly ahead at the street’s end was a stall selling strawberry donuts.
Realizing she was at full speed and unable to change direction, she immediately flailed her arms, signaling the vendor to get out of the way, even throwing the stone in her hand, as if reducing weight could help her turn.
But it was futile.
“Ah ah ah, I can’t turn…! Please dodge! I’m going to crash!”
“!”
The vendor, who had been in business for over a decade, had seen many storms, but had never encountered such a scene in reality!
Fortunately, the vendor reacted quickly and jumped into a nearby empty space to avoid it.
The vendor escaped.
But his stall couldn’t run away!
Bang!
Crash, crash, bang!
What a tragedy…
The dark-haired girl crashed directly into the strawberry donut stall, stirring up dust and sending items flying everywhere.
In the cloud of dust, donuts and toppings soared up into the air.
In that moment of collision, the girl surprisingly managed to adjust her position, preventing a terribly awkward fall, but the contact of her knees with the ground clearly looked painful!
She kneeled on the ground, rubbing her aching head, and despite the unintentional stubbornness, she quickly regained her composure, completely ignoring that a donut had landed atop her head.
She hadn’t forgotten about catching the thief!
“Little thief, don’t run!!”
The thief was already feeling extremely weary from running!
Logically speaking! You came to reclaim your bag and mitigate economic loss, but look at what you’ve protected now!
Even though the thief was beginning to contemplate surrendering, seeing an opportunity to escape, he surely intended to keep running.
Unfortunately…
He couldn’t move anymore.
Bang!
As he took one step forward, it felt like he ran into an invisible wall of air.
Panicked, he turned back to retreat, only to find another invisible barrier behind him.
There was no way to move left or right either.
In an instant, the thief was trapped between the walls of air, unable to escape no matter how he struggled.
The dark-haired girl looked at the bewildered criminal, who was suddenly trapped for some unknown reason, standing up from the already ruined stall.
She just wanted to go over and capture the criminal…
But she suddenly heard a rushing wind pass by her ear.
It was as if something had suddenly appeared right beside her!
Before the dark-haired girl could turn her head to react, she felt a sharp pain in her ear!
Her ear… someone had suddenly grabbed it!
Not only was it grabbed, but it was also being twisted!
“Ouch, ouch, ouch…! It hurts! Wh-what’s going on?!”
The response came from a cute voice filled with an ethereal innocence, mixed with anger.
“Why are you asking what’s going on?! Just look around you, look at what you’ve done! Look at all these donuts, how regrettable! You’re simply a devil!”
