Chapter 42 – It Was All a Comedy.

“Wait a minute! So does that mean we just have to wait for them to request it?”

As Lucia spoke disapprovingly, Tia Ran clicked her tongue.

“Ah, this is why I am a literary girl.”

“Who, who is the literary girl?!”

“Who is this, a delicate young lady who cries over the story of Lynette, who has never even seen her face?”

“When am I!?”

She denied it, her face turning bright red, but Anis and Krusha, who heard his story, nodded at the same time and agreed.

“Anyway, they are likely to approach us naturally. We just have to act like we normally do.”

“Do you know when they will come for us?”

Krusha spoke as if she was anxious, but there was no problem in that regard.

“Don’t worry. They will definitely come.”

“How does Tiaran know that?”

“Their plan seems quite improvised and their purpose is obvious.”

First of all, the first purpose can be seen in the fact that they targeted and robbed Crusha, who had nothing to do with them except for making their equipment.

“My equipment is now destroyed, isn’t it? The equipment I was supposed to receive today is also gone.”

“Could it be that they are taking advantage of the opportunity when there is no equipment!?”

Krusha also realized what Tiaran was trying to say. No matter how much she flies and crawls, she can’t use her best if the equipment or weapons she used are gone.

“Then it’s better not to take requests for a while… Huh?! Why are you hitting me?!”

Lucia spoke with a worried expression, but her words were cut off as Tia Ran placed a chestnut on her forehead.

“I should rather receive it.”

“So all you can do is fall into a trap!?”

“That’s right! You don’t even have any equipment!”

Lucia refuted and Krusha also joined in, but his thoughts did not change.

“Even though we know it’s a trap, there are times when we have to jump in. Or is there a way to eliminate all those who are targeting us and retrieve Crusha’s items?”

“Keueuung, haha.”

In the end, Lucia nodded her head as if there was nothing she could do, even though she was groaning.

“For that reason. I’m going to go out for a bit.”

“Now, wait a minute! In this situation?!”

“I can’t help it. If I take out my sword now, I’ll be bare.”

She was originally going to wear the armor that Krusha had made for her, but as she knew, it was stolen, so she needed at least some protection for her mouth, even if only temporarily. That’s why she tried to leave the dorm.

“Wait a minute! Then let’s go together! It’s dangerous to go alone, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“As expected, going together…”

Tia Ran looked at them all getting up after her and shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie, but newbies and pros should stay.”

“Why…”

“Hogu, if you go with us, don’t you think they would have passed on their information?”

The reason why Anise should remain was also similar. Because she had to protect Krusha from those who might attack.

“Then why Lucia?”

“That’s right, newbies can respond when other guys attack, but newbies are bad at doing it alone, right?”

“Ik! I’m sorry I’m sick!”

So, Crusha and Anis decided to stay in the dorm, and Lucia followed Tiaran.

“… But, is it really necessary to cover your face like that?”

The corners of her mouth trembled as she felt the gaze coming upon her.

“Of course! Just putting on a bread bag gives me a sense of stability!”

“Ha, I can’t survive.”

Even after Tiaran’s armor was broken, and she was left in the care of Krusha, she had no armor or helmet, so she lived by covering her face with a bread bag. Because of this, Lucia felt like hiding in her own hole.

“Why on earth are you covering her face like that?”

She couldn’t understand. His face with gray hair and eyes, with a sharp jaw line and impressive eyes that are occasionally seen, was Lucia’s favorite to the extent that it was hard to believe his usual eccentricity.

‘Why are you really covering it up?’

But now, she was just a person wearing a brown paper bag over her head.

“If I had to ask, it’s practice.”

“Practice? That’s it?”

“That’s right, helmets create more blind spots than you think.”

It can be said to be an essential piece of equipment to protect the head, but despite this, very few knights or adventurers wear it.

“The reason is simple: everyday life is inconvenient and visibility is limited.”

That’s why normal people use helmets to avoid being hit without pain, but instead try to clearly check and avoid attacks.

“Then what about Tiaran?”

“If you can’t see, just use other senses to detect the presence! We’re all lazy!”

“Because being lazy isn’t the problem at all?!”

In the first place, if you don’t know how to identify an object by searching using a marker like Lucia, isn’t it natural to live without your helmet?

“This is what is said among adventurers!”

“What do you mean?”

“If you have to use your brain, think about whether you lack strength!”

“What about adventurers…”

Lucia was once again considering the people called adventurers.

“Oh! Isn’t that the new armor from last time?!”

“Yes?”

But Lucia could not hear the answer. Tiaran had run off somewhere before she could catch him.

“Eh, eh?!”

In the end, she was left alone.

“What on earth are you thinking!? That person!?”

Lucia got so nervous that she used her remaining foot to pound her bottom! Sigh! She walked as if trampling, looking for Tiaran.

“No matter how good the armor is, there are people like that!”

It’s not like she doesn’t show her skillful side sometimes, so I trusted her, and it turned out like this.
I should have considered that she was a unique person beyond being strong.

“Ha, where should I start looking? Huh?!”

Lucia was walking down her street, lost in her thoughts. Pop! As she did so, she bumped into a passerby.

“Oh! I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m truly sorry. I can’t see clearly.”

Even when he apologized to the person who bumped into him and saw his bundle coming loose and spilling on the ground, the other person lowered his head and started picking up the spilled items into the bag.

‘Wait, gypsy?’

Lucia instantly recognized her as a gypsy, with her checkered hood covering her head and her shabby-looking clothes that accentuated her womanly figure. She paused for a moment, but didn’t show it and picked up her things.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No. It was my fault.”

Lucia said hello briefly and went on her way.

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

If her gypsy hadn’t called her out.

“This is also a relationship. Could you tell me your name? My name is Nancy.”

“Oh, I’m Lucia.”

When she turned her head and looked at her, her womanly smile, as if she had painted it, was so elegant even for a woman like her, that Lucia inadvertently let it be known.

“Lucia, Lucia. What a pretty name!”

“Is that so? Nancy also has a gorgeous name.”

“Hehe, there’s nothing to say.”

‘It’s pretty.’

Although she wasn’t really pretty enough to attract attention, there was something about Nancy that strangely caught her eye.

‘She really looks like Margaret.’

That feeling reminded her of the heroine of ‘Your Name Is Margaret’, which she had stayed up all night reading because she was so focused, that she inadvertently wondered if Margaret had really appeared alive.

“Then I’ll go. There’s someone looking for me.”

“Who are you looking for?”

“Oh, that’s right. Have you seen it?! He’s a strange man wearing a bread bag.”

Lucia was embarrassed to have to say these words herself, but she had no words quite right now to describe Tiaran.

“Do you know that person?”

“… I’d rather say we don’t know each other.”

When Nancy heard that story, she made a strange expression as expected, and as she waited in an even more embarrassed mood, she finally opened her mouth.

“I ran into the alley over there, shouting what kind of armor I was wearing.”

“Thank you!”

Lucia went straight to the alley that Nancy had pointed to, but instead of going in, she peeked in.

‘Good. There is definitely a way.’

Just because she was her didn’t mean she blindly trusted Nancy. She was also a gypsy, Trixie, who took the equipment that Crusha was making and her property. After listening to Tiarán’s story, she realized that the thoughts she had about her gypsy were just an illusion.

‘There is nothing wrong with searching.’

After confirming that there were no people waiting inside the alley through a search, Lucia tried to enter the alley.

“Hey, you’re not such an innocent girl, are you?”

“Kuh?!”

For a moment she wouldn’t have if there wasn’t something strangling her. The voice was definitely Nancy’s, the one who taught her way.

‘This is… Cloth?!’

What was strangling her was a rope made of various fabrics.

“Huh, how?”

There wouldn’t have been anything behind the search, right?

“It’s the power of my Maka. [Caligo] She usually used it to steal simple items. It seems like she can easily ignore Makasia’s search?”

She struggled against the feeling of being more and more suffocated, but Nancy’s grip on her neck was stronger than she thought, and no matter how hard Lucia struggled, she could not escape.

“Hehe, that adventurer. I’m afraid it’s Nimaka as expected. Isn’t that so insignificant? You even leave your target like this.”

“Ah, drama!”

“I guess adventurers can’t help it~ They all fill their brains with muscles. Should I say it’s thanks to them? I didn’t originally plan on doing this.”

I’m sure I’ll get more money if I take you with me. If you want to blame me, blame that stupid man. That’s what Nancy said, but Lucia realized at some point that her neck didn’t hurt.

That’s because her thick fingers somehow got between her neck and the crude rope, preventing her from strangling.

“Since when?”

“… Huh?”

Someone had approached so secretly that even Lucia, who was strangling her, did not realize it. Nancy must have noticed it too late and looked blankly at the owner of her arm.

“Since when did you think I would leave our newbie alone?”

The identity of the owner was, of course, Tiaran.