Chapter 33: Is it funny to get cornered by thugs?

With the clue provided by the fruit stall uncle, little Charlotte and the red-haired girl whose name she still didn’t know walked into the narrow alleyway.

“By the way, what is your name, big sister?” Along the way, little Charlotte couldn’t help but ask for the other girl’s name.

After all, they had been searching together for so long; they couldn’t just keep calling each other “you.”

“Me? My name is Alice.” The red-haired girl said a name that completely mismatched her image.

“Alice?” Hearing the red-haired girl introduce herself, little Charlotte paused slightly.

In her memory, girls named Alice were usually cute little girls with long blonde hair, wearing blue and white clothes. As for a red-haired big sister like the one before her…

She actually did have an impression of someone like that.

“What’s wrong? Is there something strange about my name?” Noticing the surprised look on little Charlotte’s face, Alice asked in confusion.

“No, I was just surprised that your name is so beautiful,” little Charlotte quickly deflected with a random excuse.

“Is that so? It’s alright! What’s your name, then?”

“My name is Charlo—” Little Charlotte was about to say her name, but she suddenly paused as if a thought had occurred to her. She quickly changed to a different name. “Shaula, my name is Shaula! Just call me Shaula, Sister Alice!”

“So your name is Shaula too? That’s a lovely name.”

“Too?” Hearing that keyword, little Charlotte instantly became vigilant.

‘Does this Sister Alice know my sister?’

‘No, that can’t be right.’

‘This is Snow Lotus City, located at the border of the Kingdom of the Red Rose and the Kingdom of the White Rose. It’s tens of thousands of miles away from my village.’

‘The world shouldn’t be that small.’

‘No, the Shaula that this Sister Alice knows must be another child.’

‘After all, the name Shaula is quite common in the other world.’

Thinking this, little Charlotte slightly relaxed.

She had given a fake name to avoid her whereabouts being discovered by others.

With her Master not around, if she ran into any trouble, she wouldn’t be able to handle it alone.

Although even with Master Chloe around, the daily troubles wouldn’t necessarily be any fewer.

The most pressing matter was to quickly find Master Chloe.

Little Charlotte took out the magic compass from her pocket and checked it. The compass was pointing towards the end of the alley.

Did that mean Master Chloe was in that direction?

“It looks like the person you’re looking for, little sister Shaula, shouldn’t be far from us now. Let’s hurry up.”

“Mhm!”

Alice and little Charlotte quickened their pace. However, they hadn’t walked far before three thugs emerged from a side alley, blocking their way.

“R-r-r-r-robbery!” one of them, a chubby guy who looked like an idiot, stammered out.

But he was quickly pulled aside by one of his teammates.

Another guy, who looked mild-mannered and squinted, stepped up to communicate with them.

“We sincerely apologize! Our second-in-command here isn’t very articulate, we hope we didn’t startle you! But you don’t need to worry. We’re not like other robbers; we only seek wealth, not lives! Just hand over all your valuables, and we guarantee you’ll walk out of this alley alive,” saying this, the squinty-eyed guy opened his eyes, which were full of malice. “Of course, if you don’t have any money, another form of payment is also acceptable.”

Seeing a trio of talkative robbers suddenly appear before her, little Charlotte was filled with contempt.

In this world full of magic, thugs roaming the alleys with daggers were quite rare.

Didn’t they worry about running into a wall?

Well, they had definitely run into a wall now—her.

She had been learning magic with Master Chloe for almost a year. Forget three thugs; even if thirty thugs attacked her at once, they wouldn’t touch a single hair on her head.

However, just as little Charlotte was about to raise her hand and use magic to deal with the verbose thugs, Alice suddenly stepped in front of her and winked.

“Don’t worry, little sister Shaula, I’ll protect you.”

Hearing this, little Charlotte was stunned.

‘What? You’re going to protect me? Do I look like the kind of frail little sister who breaks if you touch her?’

“We sincerely apologize! We won’t be giving you anything!”

Alice announced this with conviction.

“Because neither of us brought any money with us.”

“That last part was unnecessary, you idiot!” little Charlotte complained under her breath.

“What? You didn’t bring any money? Are there really people who dare to leave the house without money these days? Don’t try to lie to us! I can tell you’re hiding a lot of money on you! Hand over all the cash, or we’ll get rough!”

The thugs pulled out sharp daggers and looked like they were not to be trifled with.

Alice, however, was unfazed.

“You’re going out to rob people with just a few pieces of junk metal? The public security here must be truly terrible. Well, I guess I’ll play the role of the righteous hero and clean up the vermin in this city!”

Saying this, Alice summoned a dimensional space and pulled out a longsword that was longer than she was.

Seeing Alice suddenly pull out such a huge weapon, the three thugs panicked.

But the leader quickly calmed his teammates’ nerves.

“Don’t panic! The terrain here is so narrow, her sword won’t have room to swing! Besides, there are three of us. Three against one, the advantage is ours!”

Encouraged by his words, the three thugs didn’t run. Instead, they moved closer to Alice.

“You truly have a death wish.”

Alice sighed softly and then took a deep breath, instantly adopting an exceptionally serious look in her eyes.

She charged straight towards the three thugs.

“Sword Skill—Heaven-Soaring Dragon Slash!”

As the words left her mouth, the longsword swung from below Alice’s body in an upward arc, instantly sending all three thugs, who hadn’t even had time to react, flying and knocking them unconscious on the ground.

This sight stunned little Charlotte.

She couldn’t believe Alice was so powerful. She took down those three guys in the blink of an eye. That swordsmanship was incredibly cool!

Seeing the three thugs lying unconscious on the ground, Alice frowned.

“What? You all went down before I even used any strength? You guys are so pathetic. Seriously, why is it so hard to find an opponent that makes me fight with all my might?”

Sighing, Alice turned to little Charlotte and called out, “It’s alright, little sister Shaula. It’s safe now.”

However, the moment the words left her mouth, a large ice ball grazed past her face, accurately striking the face of the chubby thug who had just climbed back up, ready to ambush Alice.

“Eh?” Alice looked surprised when she saw the thug knocked back down by the ice ball. “Little sister Shaula, was that… you?”

“Who else could it be?” little Charlotte complained, clearly annoyed. “Sister Alice, you’re too careless! How could you not even check if your opponent was truly incapacitated? If I hadn’t been here, that guy would have knocked you out, tied you up, and dragged you into a dark room to be brutally violated by them!”

“Little sister Shaula, you know a lot of things!”