Chapter 7: An Alley’s Shadow and a Sudden Encounter

Rena pressed herself tightly against Bai Zhi, both of them feeling a sense of bewilderment at that moment.

“I’m sensing an evil aura…”

Bai Zhi lightly patted her.

“Ahaha, Rena, are you a cat? Your fur is standing on end!”

Rena struggled to steady her breathing, her voice trembling as she responded to Bai Zhi.

“Don’t interrupt, I’m serious. We really should be careful.”

Seeing Rena with her muscles taut, words squeezed out from between her teeth, Bai Zhi found herself rather amused.

“Relax, relax! What could possibly go wrong with me around? But then again, I never knew San葉 City had a place like this. It’s quite an eye-opener…”

Bai Zhi, Rena, and Xia Ranxin were currently in a dimly lit alley.

Though it was still daytime, the towering buildings on either side cast deep shadows, plunging the alley into a gloom as profound as night.

Xia Ranxin led the trio, her posture timid and cautious, constantly peering about as if wary of something unseen.

Behind her, Rena also wore an expression of intense vigilance.

Of the three, only Bai Zhi appeared completely at ease, showing no signs of tension whatsoever.

“P-please, you two, keep your voices down! Even though it’s daytime, it wouldn’t be good if we accidentally woke ‘it’ up…” Xia Ranxin whispered, cautioning them.

Bai Zhi and Rena exchanged a glance, a silent understanding passing between them as they both fell silent.

Not long before, Xia Ranxin had intercepted Bai Zhi and Rena at the school gate, and then…

“There’s a monster… in the alley where I live!”

“Please, you must help us!”

Following that, Bai Zhi and Rena had accompanied Xia Ranxin into the dark, shadowy alley.

“Speaking of which, you agreed quite readily, didn’t you? Is it because you simply can’t refuse your girlfriend’s request?”

Rena deliberately lowered her voice, speaking only loud enough for Bai Zhi and herself to hear.

Bai Zhi, however, felt no joy at all, casting a resentful glare at her.

“What girlfriend?! That was all your doing… I just found it a bit odd.”

“Are you referring to… the monster?”

“I’m talking about Xia Ranxin!”

Bai Zhi gestured with her chin towards Xia Ranxin, who was walking ahead of them.

“In her memories, I shouldn’t have displayed any unusual powers.”

Rena hummed in acknowledgment.

“Well, aside from suddenly barging into her classroom to declare your love, then running around the school with her in your arms as if eloping, no, not really.”

Bai Zhi fell silent.

“…But under these circumstances, after learning there’s a ‘monster in the alley,’ her reaction was to come to us for help. Don’t you find that strange? Why would she think that two ‘ordinary’ girls like us would have a way to deal with a so-called monster?”

“Perhaps ‘monster’ is a metaphor,” Rena mused, voicing her speculation.

“Maybe the reality is something like delinquents, or abusive, alcoholic parents?”

“Even so, why would it be *our* place to help?”

Rena answered earnestly.

“Why wouldn’t it? Aren’t you her girlfriend?”

Bai Zhi fell silent once more.

“…If you bring that up again, I’m genuinely going to get angry, alright?! I’ll tear you to shreds!”

Rena chuckled, watching Bai Zhi’s silent, clawing protest, then continued in a low voice:

“Alright, it’s time to get serious. This girl named Xia Ranxin, what do you know about her?”

“Hmm… most of my time at school is spent sleeping. Aside from my classmates, I don’t really know anyone else.”

Bai Zhi made an effort to recall.

“I only know that… she’s a rather well-known top student, consistently ranking in the top three of her grade. She’s also the current student council president… Beyond that, I know nothing.”

“Student council president? What’s that? Like, the boss of the students?”

Having only recently arrived, Rena was still unfamiliar with some of the specific terms used in this world.

“It’s not as exaggerated as you’re imagining, Rena. While the name sounds impressive, it’s actually a thankless task.”

Bai Zhi waved her hand dismissively.

“Teachers force all sorts of strange tasks on them, and as president, they can’t let their studies slip. As a result, they have virtually no free time. Not only that, but some students see them as the teachers’ lackeys, so they’re unpopular with both groups.”

As a proper knight, Rena found herself feeling a degree of sympathy for the members of this “student council” organization.

“I see, that sounds quite difficult…”

Bai Zhi nodded, then continued:

“What’s more, it seems our school’s student council is essentially just her. So all the various duties are practically shouldered by her alone. If it were me, I would have quit long ago.”

“Wow…”

Just as the two of them were whispering, Xia Ranxin, who had been leading the way, suddenly halted.

“Student Bai Zhi, and, uh…”

“Just call me Rena.”

Rena offered a friendly smile, while Xia Ranxin displayed a look of confusion.

“That name… is Student Bai Zhi’s older sister a foreigner? A-anyway! We’re here.” She quickly changed the subject in a fluster, pointing somewhere ahead.

“Th-this is…”

Xia Ranxin’s words were cut short as an invisible pressure suddenly permeated the air, causing both Bai Zhi and Rena’s expressions to change simultaneously.

“Huh? This feeling, it’s?!”

“Look out!!!”

Rena suddenly roared, dashing to the forefront of the trio in the blink of an eye.

She raised her arm, and a heavy, silver-white shield, more than half her height, instantly materialized, which she then slammed forcefully onto the ground.

Almost simultaneously, a black, rod-like object appeared from thin air, whistling as it cut through the wind, striking Rena’s shield dead-on.

Thud—

The sound of the blunt impact was muffled and heavy.

Under the force of the powerful blow, Rena’s slender body swayed violently, and she nearly lost her footing.

She grunted, twisting her waist and putting her strength into a wide sweep of her shield, aiming to knock her opponent unconscious with a single strike.

However, Rena felt no impact, no sensation of striking anything.

The enemy, who should have been right before her, had suddenly vanished.

“Wh-what is this!?”

Rena was stunned, but before she could react, the sound of something tearing through the air came again.

This time, it was directly beneath her!

The black, rod-like object seemed to sprout from the ground, shooting straight up towards the momentarily bewildered Rena.

Unable to dodge in time, Rena could only cross her arms and brace herself for the blow.

Although the attack came from a tricky angle, its force was considerably diminished due to it being a surprise strike.

Despite not wearing the standard armor of the Knights, Rena still managed to block the attack with her own body.

Yet, before she could even launch a counterattack, a peculiar numb sensation suddenly spread through her abdomen.

Immediately afterward, an immense force sent her flying.

Whoosh!

After sliding back over ten meters, Rena finally managed to regain her balance.

Amidst the dissipating dust, Rena got her first clear look at her assailant.

It was a tall, ice-faced woman with a stern countenance.

She wore the cloth armor most commonly used by new warriors of ‘Granzenias,’ though it appeared tattered and worn, suggesting it had seen many years of use.

In the ice-faced woman’s hand was the very weapon that had attacked Rena and her companions: an unsheathed longsword.

Rena surmised that the strange black, rod-like object she had seen earlier must have been this longsword’s black scabbard.

The woman clearly had no intention of letting Rena go.

With a flick of the longsword in her hand, the blade and its scabbard together emitted a sharp, urgent whistle.

Immediately afterward, she vanished from her spot, striking towards Rena like a bullet.

‘This is bad!’

In but a flash of thought, Rena reacted almost purely on instinct.

Her shield once again materialized before her, yet this time, she lacked the confidence to block the impending strike.

Whoosh!

“……?”

However, the anticipated impact never came.

Rena looked up, puzzled, to find Bai Zhi standing before her, having appeared at some unknown moment.

With a remarkably casual demeanor, Bai Zhi had caught the mysterious woman’s black scabbard with a single hand.

“Wow, your blade is really tough. It didn’t even shatter…”

Bai Zhi muttered something under her breath.

Clearly, the woman before them had not anticipated her strike being parried so effortlessly by her opponent.

After a moment of disorientation, she decisively abandoned the longsword in her hand.

Leaping high into the air, she spun rapidly like a top, unleashing a powerful, heavy flying kick towards Bai Zhi, who appeared physically delicate.

However, Bai Zhi was clearly a step faster.

Almost the instant the woman leaped, Bai Zhi appeared behind her.

With a casual flick of her hand, she seized the airborne woman and tossed her to the ground.

The farce quickly concluded.

Bai Zhi gazed down at the woman sprawled on the ground, a milky-white magic bullet forming in her hand.

“I never expected to catch a straggler even at a time like this. I have some questions for you later, so for now, please get some rest.”

As Bai Zhi spoke, she slowly descended to the ground.

She strode purposefully towards the woman, preparing to unleash the magic bullet in her hand.

Just as Bai Zhi was about to release her grip, her movement suddenly froze because of a figure.

Xia Ranxin, who had been unaccounted for until now, suddenly stood before Bai Zhi.

Her face was filled with poorly concealed panic, yet she resolutely shielded the woman lying on the ground.

“P-please! Don’t hurt Lin!!!”