“Hehe, young lady, you shouldn’t be in a place like this, you know?”
“Haha, exactly! Walking into the back alleys dressed so fancy like that… don’t blame us if you get everything taken from you!”
“…P-Please, let go of me…”
“Haha, sure thing! But only if you hand over all the money you’ve got.”
“…I-I… I don’t have any money…”
“Haha, lying isn’t going to help you, y’know? With a high-end bracelet on your arm, saying you’re broke is a hard sell. Just hand over that bracelet to us, alright?”
“…N-No… This bracelet is… very important to me…”
“Haha, whether or not you hand it over isn’t up to you, you know? Hey, why don’t we take that beautiful dress, too? Bet it’s super expensive.”
“…What? You want my dress… that’s… no, please…”
“Oh, nice! Yeah, it’s probably made of silk, right? Haha, that’ll sell for a lot!”
“Yeah, totally! Alright, take off that fancy dress—”
“Let go of that girl right now.”
–– tight grip
“Huh? Wha–? Ow! It hurts!”
I grabbed the wrist of the thug holding onto Asha’s hand and clenched it tightly. The guy who had been grinning smugly just moments before immediately began to wince in pain.
After training every day for the past year and taking down slimes, I’d built up a decent amount of strength. Sure, I probably couldn’t take on real bandits or professional thieves yet, but I definitely had enough strength to handle thugs like these.
“W-Who the hell are you…?! Ah, ugh!”
“Ow, bro! W-Who is this guy? Let go, man! Our leader’s in pain!”
“I’m not even squeezing that hard… but fine. If it hurts that much, I’ll let go.”
I released the thug’s wrist. Apparently, he was genuinely in pain, and his eyes were teary.
He stepped back, letting go of Asha and putting some distance between us, glaring at me with an irritated expression.
“D-Damn it… Y-You little punk! Who the hell are you? Don’t think you can get away with this!”
“Yeah, exactly! You brat, acting so high and mighty! We’re gonna tear you to pieces right now! This isn’t a joke!”
“If you don’t wanna get killed, hand over all the cash you have! You arrogant little punk!”
With that, the thugs pulled out pocket knives from their jackets. I watched them and let out a sigh.
(Sigh… these guys are hopeless.)
Their grip on the knives was so clumsy, and they were shaking. They kept saying they’d kill me, but it was obvious they’d never hurt anyone before.
(With that amateurish stance, they’re not even intimidating.)
I spoke up, letting my thoughts slip a bit.
“Look, I admit I’m a brat. But are you sure? If you’re coming at me with those knives, it means you’re okay with me fighting back and maybe even killing you, right?”
“Huh?! What’re you talking about? And why aren’t you scared?”
“Yeah, what the hell?! We’ve got weapons! We could easily kill a brat like you! Why’re you acting so calm, huh? Are you stupid or something?”
“Haha, I’m not scared of people who don’t even know how to hold a knife properly. Besides, I’m Seras Alfeid, the eldest son of the Alfeid family that governs this town. So if you keep causing trouble, I could toss you and your friends into jail. How about it?”
“Wha…?! Al-Alfeid family?! N-No way… They run this whole town! Hey, guys, let’s get out of here!”
“W-What? R-Really? W-Wait for me, bro!”
Throwing out a final curse, the thugs scrambled and ran down the alley.
The Alfeid family is in charge of this town, so just mentioning the name usually scares off low-level thugs.
That said, my rotten old man wouldn’t lift a finger to actually lock them up… Still, it’s not a good idea to let dangerous people roam free, so I’ll report them to the guild master at the Douglas Adventurer’s Guild. The guild handles town security too, so they’ll probably take care of them.
(But this isn’t the time to be worrying about them! I need to check on Asha!)
I hurried over to her.
“Um… are you alright? Did they do anything to you?”
“Huh? Ah, y-yes… thank you… Oh, um…”
–– tears start to fall
As I spoke, Asha started to cry quietly.
It made sense. In the game, Asha was always portrayed as a gentle big-sister character, but right now, she was still just a girl around 10 or 11 years old. Being surrounded by thugs in a dark alley would be terrifying for any young girl.
“Yeah… sniff… sniff…”
“It was really scary, wasn’t it? You did so well to hold back your tears. But this area’s still dangerous. Let’s head back to the main part of town, okay? Here, take my hand.”
“Sniff… huh?”
“I’ll protect you so you won’t be scared. Just hold onto my hand, alright?”
“Sniff… okay…”
–– squeeze
Tears still streaming down her face, Asha grabbed my hand tightly.
“Thank you. Alright, let’s hurry back to the center of town!”
“Okay… got it… sniff…”
So, holding hands tightly, we headed back toward the heart of the town.
