Chapter 55: A Greasy Encounter

“Oh, little sister, drinking alone here?”

Just as she feared, trouble arrived. Lucia had thought nothing else would happen, but the greasy voice of the man’s pickup line told her otherwise.

Lucia looked up to see a greasy, middle-aged man with yellowed teeth, a receding hairline, and a prominent beer belly. He held a rolled cigarette between his fingers, blowing smoke rings in her direction.

His clothes were opulent but mismatched, far from stylish. They merely screamed wealth, suggesting he was either a merchant or a newly rich parvenu.

Lucia ignored the greasy man’s advances. Rather than retreating, he took her silence as an invitation, making himself comfortable in the seat beside her as if they were old acquaintances.

“It seems you’re in a bad mood, little sister, drinking alone like this. Hahaha, you don’t look like a regular. Did you have a fight with your family?”

The greasy man chuckled loudly, interrogating her as if conducting a census. He genuinely believed he understood the troubles of young maidens.

“Uncle here, I’ve met quite a few girls like you, drinking alone in their sorrows. So I truly understand your troubles. Why don’t you tell Uncle what’s bothering you?”

“Is it about money? Unable to meet your family’s unreasonable demands, perhaps they’ve cut off your allowance? Or is it something else that’s got you down? If it’s money, Uncle has plenty. Why don’t we go to a room upstairs and have a proper chat?”

From her corner, Lovelenica’s nerves tightened the moment the greasy man approached Lucia. She pulled her hood lower.

Beneath it, her crimson eyes fixated intently on the man.

Should he dare to lay a hand on Lucia, Lovelenica would instantly flash forward and sever his lecherous paw.

As for Lucia, currently entangled with the greasy man, his words filled her with nothing but profound annoyance.

“Uncle, I have no troubles. Please don’t sit next to me.”

Lucia shot an impatient glance at the man beside her, subtly shifting away. However, her wary demeanor only seemed to pique his interest further.

“What’s the harm? Drinking alone is so dull.”

Even after Lucia moved back, the greasy man shamelessly shuffled closer, all while beckoning a server.

“Hey, lad, bring us a few more bottles of strong liquor!”

“You!”

Seeing that the greasy man not only refused to leave but had also ordered more drinks for himself, Lucia’s fury intensified. She had never encountered such brazen impudence.

“Oh, come now.”

Catching Lucia’s furious gaze, the greasy man merely chuckled, boasting with an air of excessive wealth.

“It’s fine. Consider those new drinks my treat. Just drinking fruit wine is no fun, is it?”

‘It wasn’t about the money at all; it was about whether she could successfully eliminate the Fantasy Creatures!’

Watching the greasy man act as if he perfectly understood a young girl’s heart, Lucia felt an overwhelming urge to slap him right then and there.

She had dressed this way and wandered about precisely to lure out the Bloodkin within the city. This greasy man before her offered no help; in fact, he was actively hindering her mission to eradicate the creature.

It made Lucia feel incredibly stifled.

Though he was oblivious to her true objective, Lucia couldn’t shake the feeling that he was deliberately obstructing her.

Compared to her lofty goal, the obese man before her, resembling a pig, spewed words as vile as excrement.

“Heh heh…”

Lucia, now laughing in her rage, gazed at the relentlessly encroaching greasy man before slowly speaking.

“Uncle, I do indeed have a trouble right now.”

“Haha, what is it? Uncle can help you solve it, as long as you come upstairs with me…”

Before the greasy man could finish, Lucia cut him off with a chilling tone.

“My trouble is being accosted by a greasy pig here.”

‘A greasy pig? Where?’

The greasy man froze for a moment, even scanning the surroundings. He saw no one else nearby… except himself.

“You, you!?”

Only then did the greasy man realize she was referring to him as the pig. Usually, women dressed like Lucia, drinking in such a tavern late at night, were either rebellious teenagers at odds with their families, or harlots looking to snare men.

The greasy man was indeed a parvenu. Ever since he struck it rich, merely flashing his wealth and acting somewhat friendly in these taverns was enough to have women flocking to him.

Even rebellious young girls would become docile under his coercion, enticement, or even after being drugged.

To be so openly rejected and even insulted—this was the first time the greasy man had encountered such disrespect since his rise to wealth.

“You little b*tch! Dressed like that, running around here in the middle of the night, and you dare pretend to be pure? Come on, upstairs with me! I’ll ‘inspect’ you and teach you how to speak to an adult, you little whore!”

The enraged greasy man immediately rose, intending to drag Lucia upstairs by force. Lovelenica, seeing this, moved to draw her gunblade.

But in the next instant, she paused.

Someone had already intervened on her behalf.

Smack—

A hush fell over the entire tavern. The greasy man was slapped back into his seat, the stinging pain on his face only fueling his rage.

He scrambled up, glaring at the person who had struck him.

“Which bastard dares hit me!?”

However, the words had barely left the greasy man’s mouth when he instantly regretted them. Standing before him was a female mage, clad in a magic robe and adorned with a mage’s emblem.

“Who are you calling a bastard?”

The female mage looked down on the greasy man, her voice utterly devoid of warmth, replaced only by ice.

“M-mage, Milady! I was wrong! I was blind, I didn’t see it was a mage, Milady!”

Upon realizing that his assailant was a mage, the greasy man immediately cowered. Within the Kingdom of Arcadia, mages, nuns, and knights held significantly higher status than demon hunters and commoners.

Furthermore, those who achieved these three professions were typically nobles, far beyond the reach of a parvenu like the greasy man.

“Where did you go wrong?”

“Wrong, wrong in speaking so wildly to you!”

“Wrong.”

Smack—!

Another slap landed squarely on the greasy man’s bloated face.

“You’re wrong for harassing young women so casually. Now get out!”

“Y-yes, yes!”

Having been slapped twice, the greasy man dared not utter another word. He scrambled out of the tavern, practically tripping over himself in his haste.

He simply couldn’t fathom why a mage would be present in such a tavern so late at night.

After the greasy man fled with his tail between his legs, the tavern slowly resumed its previous ambiance. The female mage then took a seat opposite Lucia.

“Miss, why are you drinking alone here?”