Hey guys, this is the end of the chapter 2!

Just who is this girl Shina helped? Fufufu, take a look.

Enjoy and don't hesitate to let a comment or rate the fiction!

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“La-... I mean mister, you still want another one?”

Looking at Arsal who had devoured more than twenty of his meat skewers coupled with his little devil-like daughter, the bald stall seller more or less believed him when he said he wasn’t human.

As the man was giving out another skewer, Arsal politely refused it.

“I have some work to do, I’ll be back.”

Arsal took out his purse and threw away one large crystal at the man whose eyes almost popped out.

“M-Mister! T-this is…”

“Keep the change, it would be more of a bother than anything.”

Arsal showed a cold expression as he slowly walked down the street with his hands behind his back before unnoticedly disappearing after several meters.

‘Maybe I should use this time to take care of the few bugs swirling around my daughter…’ He suddenly thought as he vanished.

* * * * *

In a dark alley a few minutes away from the marketplace, a young girl was holding her chest while panting out of exhaustion. It was the girl Shina helped earlier.

Looking backward and making sure nobody else was there, the girl finally breathed out of relief before entering the building by using a small fissure located at the rear of the edifice.

She arrived in a basement where a few days worth of food were safely hidden together with a small bed half ripped.

The girl opened the purse and smiled, it contained almost ninety gold coins. It was enough for her to eat at her fill for eight or nine months.

“Nice, today’s harvest is great.”

An annoyed thought suddenly came into her mind and the girl kicked out a chair next to her before taking out one of the many bricks situated near her bed and taking out a large half full purse filled with a few gold coins and many differents others less valuable.

At the same time, she took out another purse from her hidden stash and threw in a dozen of silverish coins while feeling like she was repetitively stabbed in her heart every time she heard the sound of the metallic silver coins hitting each other.

The girl grabbed a small piece of bread already half eaten and slowly enjoyed it while calming herself, remembering the young four years old girl she saw earlier.

She strangely felt familiar with the girl yet was a hundred percent sure she had never seen her before, moreover her eyes were extremely mature and resolute despite containing a certain amount of childishness.

From her dirtied clothes she imagined her to be a child of the street like her but quickly dismissed this idea, despite how dirty they were not a single scratch could be seen; in fact, they even looked somewhat new.

While she didn’t see how Shina had beaten up the two thugs, she only assisted at her first display of strength when she sent him flying a few meters away with a single kick.

“Is she… a warrior?”

Thinking about this possibility for a while with longing eyes, she quickly threw this idea away.

“Like hell! If it was this easy to become one, I would have long ago left this city. She’s probably just training, aiming to become one in the future.”

“But still…”

Recalling her eyes, the girl somehow felt like she must have experienced many things to mature this quickly, but her sympathy didn’t even last ten seconds before coldness returned to her eyes.

Traces of doubts still persisted in her cold eyes, her mind despite how hard she tried just wouldn’t dismiss the image of that enigmatic young girl.

Her expression constantly wavered, she knew the law of the street was ‘every man for himself’ and you shouldn’t wait for someone to help you; even confronted with death people would still backstab you for a mere gold coin.

‘Why did she help me?... She obviously has nothing to gain, yet…’

Helping someone because he was in danger? This type of person wouldn’t last two days in the city with this kind of thoughts, even though she was rather good at judging people which helped her to survive until now, she felt clueless at the girl’s motives.

*THUMP THUMP THUMP*

The sound of someone hitting the door of the building resonated in the basement, the girl’s eyes suddenly regained their initial coldness and remained imperturbable.

“Brat, hurry your ass over! The boss want to see ya!”

A hint of fury and madness floated in the girl’s eyes as she sneakily exited her hideout and became one with the shadow, slowly crawling toward the man who didn’t stop banging on the door.

With a tricky movement of her hand, she suddenly took out a seemingly rusted yet sharpened dagger while using her other hand and one leg to trip the man. Even though the difference in strength between a grown up man and an eight years old girl, by using his own weight she managed to throw him down.

“Wha-!”

His words were abruptly cut off as the dagger plunged just a few millimeters away from killing him, simply making a little cut on his cheek.

“Shhhhh~ Stay nice… Otherwise, you might ‘hurt yourself’...”

The man’s initial struggle suddenly stopped as saw some of his blood runs down his cheek, the girl’s dagger had slowly moved closer and closer of his cheek, making the cut deeper and deeper.

“Y-You! Unhand me, if you kill me the boss will definitely track you down to your death!”

“Pwahaha!”

A cold laughter resonated as the girl looked down on the man with amusement.

“Bloskin didn’t warn you did he? Never make unnecessary trouble with anyone…”

As she coldly glared at the man with predator-like eyes she used her second hand to search around the man’s waist, snatching away a hidden dagger which looked far better than the one she owned.

“Hoho~ Look at what I’ve found… You won’t mind if I borrow this? Thank you very much, mister!”

A few grumble came out of the man’s mouth and his expression looked hideous like he wanted to say something but didn’t dare to in front of this psycho girl.

Looking for another concealed weapon, the girl only managed to find the man’s purse hidden in his shirt. Her smile only lasted a few instants as she only found three silverish coins which made her glare at him.

“Man, you are really so poor? What a pity…”

“You crazy brat, don’t think the boss will forgive you if you don’t give up at least one arm.”

“Yeah… Right, right… Now let’s get to the main business, what are you here for?”

Killing intent filled her body as she asked the question. It was hard to believe she was only an eight years old girl, yet, no matter how childish her body was her cold eyes belonged to someone who had between life and death for many years.

“T-The boss want to talk to you about a certain matter.”

While stressfully trying to conceal the hesitation in his voice, the man tried to avoid any direct contact with the girl’s eyes, fearing he might anger her. At this point, he was certain she would kill her without the slightest hesitation should he say anything inappropriate.

“Is that all?... I was worried for a moment, I thought for a moment had some ill intentions toward me.”

“N-no, of course not! He simply wants to talk about a few matters.”

“Ahh, what a relief…”

The man sighed out for a moment, waiting for the girl to stand up.

*Pshhh*

“Mmmmmh?!”

A scream almost came out of the man’s mouth, but the girl suddenly forced him to close his mouth, making him only emit a muffled sound.

The man looked at her, terrified as he glanced at his own dagger piercing his shoulder. His heartbeat was beating at full speed and his breathing was so fast that it could be heard several meters around.

He dubiously looked at her both filled with terror and incomprehension, his brain was unable to process what was happening.

“Don’t think that because I am a kid I am as stupid as you… I know the underworld as much as you do since I was born in it. Today is the day when we are supposed to pay the protection’s tax. If he can’t even wait until tonight to see me, I guess something fishy must have made him look for me.”

“I-I don’t know, I swear!”

“Well… You probably don’t, but you still might have an idea of what’s going on, right?...”

“I truly have no idea-Mmmmmh!”

The dagger once again pierced his body, cutting one of his fingers away.

“Come on stop screaming… What if you attract someone? I might as well break your jaw… But then you wouldn’t be able to speak, how troublesome…”

The girl appeared like a normal girl as she talked, making the man absolutely shaken. Never in his life had he been this terrified even when he encountered his boss for the first time. He couldn’t help but assume that the girl in front of him was actually a demon clothed in a human skin.

Her new dagger slowly rose in the air. This time, it was resting at the top of one of the man’s ear.

“W-Wait wait wait! I’ll talk!”

“Oh… So you truly knew something after all?”

A surprised expression showed on her face, terrifying the man even more.

‘So she actually believed I knew nothing and still…?’

“It’s because of that n-new guy. He was supposed to collect the taxes from the shops and stalls, but he came back along with his friend, his jaw was utterly shattered and his friend was half dead.”

“And so?”

The girl wore a serious expression as she listened to him, making sure she heard each and every word coming out of his mouth, trying to discover if he was lying.

“Even though his jaw was shattered, we still managed to more or less understand what he said. According to him, a young girl stole the purse which contained almost one hundred gold coins and another one she was working with actually used some tricks to beat them up.”

Lost in her thoughts for a while, the girl quickly managed to connect all the piece of the puzzle. She never expected the young four years old girl to actually beat them up to such a state, but in a way she did a favor to her.

Since the men’s jaw were both broken, they couldn’t manage to properly describe her features and probably called all the young pickpocket of the turf to look for the thief. Had they knew it was her, she would have already been visited by more than twenty men.

‘I need to flee toward another turf! I can’t lose any time.’

She glanced at the man still lying on the ground with unwavering eyes, at this point, she knew he hadn’t lied. No one else than the people present on the marketplace knew it was her, but if they managed to find someone who saw the scene then they’ll instantly come after her.

As long as she flew toward another’s gang territory, they should stop pursuing her if they don’t want to start a war. Furthermore, one of the gang close by is actually the enemy of the one who would pursue her, as long as she safely arrives they wouldn’t let her die in order to humiliate them.

“Will you let me go now?”

The man still looked at her with hesitation as he spoke, he looked pitiful, yet behind this facade was already thinking about his next course of action for revenge.

“Sure, here you go.”

No more sound came out from the man as the girl slowly stood up, her previous dagger was now residing in the man’s throat.

“Now I’ve let you go… to the otherworld.”

Not even an ounce of pity or guilt could be seen in her eyes, she was already aware that if she’d let him go then he would get his revenge. Never showing any mercy is the rule number one of the underworld.

‘Let’s get the money out of the stash and flee now. By the time someone notices his death I’ll already have left.’

The girl walked toward the building, thinking about how annoying it will be to look for another hideout. A sudden thought suddenly entered her mind.

‘I wonder how that girl is doing?’

End of Chapter 2