Chapter 146: Is it funny that someone put a collar on you?

Elsa was pinned against the wall, her throat gripped tightly by the Ice Wolf man. She felt as though her neck was about to snap, and even breathing became a luxury she couldn’t afford.

Her strength drained rapidly from her body. Due to the height difference, her feet were suspended half a meter off the ground. Dangling there, unable to find purchase, a look of unforgettable despair surfaced in her eyes.

‘Is this the power of the Ice Wolf Clan?’

She had researched this race in books, but experiencing it first-hand was a terror of another kind.

Yet, most of the terror probably stemmed from her own helplessness.

Elsa couldn’t believe that she was unable to use any magic, as if her witch license had been revoked.

She had never experienced anything like this before. Caught in a panic, she had been brutally beaten by the superior strength of the Ice Wolf.

‘Crap, if this continues, I’ll eventually be killed by this guy.’

‘I don’t want to die so soon! There are still so many delicacies I haven’t tasted, so many interesting things I haven’t experienced!’

‘I haven’t even won against that girl once!’

Elsa despairingly closed her eyes.

However, just then…

“Wait a minute!” The voice of the black catgirl from earlier suddenly rang out.

The Ice Wolf man turned to look at Miya, who was standing beside him, and asked with displeasure:

“What is it?”

“We are short-handed right now. If you kill her, Master, we probably won’t be able to finish our mission on time!”

Although she was trembling under the Ice Wolf’s intimidation, Miya gathered her courage to save the catgirl she had just met. She didn’t want a fellow clanswoman to die in a foreign land.

“If you don’t finish the mission on time, I’ll kill you all!”

“Even if you kill us all, the mission still needs someone to do it. This matter should be very important to you, Master; you wouldn’t want this mission to be a total failure, would you?”

The Ice Wolf man stared intently at Miya. His dull gaze made Miya shudder.

Seeming to find some logic in Miya’s words, the Ice Wolf man released Elsa’s neck, tossing her aside like trash. Without caring whether Elsa was dead or alive, he turned to leave.

“Hmph, I’ll give you one last chance. If you don’t complete the task I assigned by tonight, you’re all dead! Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Master, we understand,” Miki quickly responded. “I will make sure they finish the mission quickly. Please rest assured, Master!”

Lying on the ground, Elsa began to gasp for fresh air, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes due to the prolonged strangulation.

“Are you alright?” Miya quickly ran to Elsa’s side, gently patting her back to help her breathe.

However, the Ice Wolf man, who was about to leave, suddenly noticed that Elsa wasn’t wearing the collar he had prepared.

“Wait, why is the collar missing from your neck?”

The Ice Wolf man turned back and interrogated Elsa, but Elsa was currently unable to make any sound, let alone respond.

This posture would surely enrage the Ice Wolf man again. Seeing this, Miya hurriedly explained.

“She accidentally hit her head on the way here. Her mind is a bit foggy. The collar probably broke when she fell. I’m very sorry, Master!”

“Hmph, no wonder this girl dared to challenge me with a broken stick. Since the collar is damaged, I’ll give you a new one!”

The Ice Wolf man pulled out a collar and waved his hand. The collar automatically locked around Elsa’s neck.

He didn’t seem to notice that Elsa wasn’t one of the catgirls he had brought. Like a pet owner who can’t remember what his pets look like, he didn’t care about their individual appearances.

“If you dare to disobey my orders again, this collar will immediately strangle you to death!”

Following that, the Ice Wolf man walked up to Miki. Compared to the other catgirls, Miki was very obedient.

“I won’t be appearing before you for long, but I won’t let you stay here peacefully either.”

“I can’t stay in sunny areas for long. While I’m away, you will take my place and teach them what to do! If you don’t finish everything I’ve assigned by tonight, you’ll all die!”

Leaving those words, the Ice Wolf man stepped into the shadows of a corner with a look of resentment. Then, his entire form merged into the shadows like mud.

Noticing that the Ice Wolf man’s presence had completely vanished from the alley, Miki quickly climbed up from the ground and ran to Miya and Elsa.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but she…” Miya shook her head slightly, looking at Elsa who was still paralyzed by fear. Her condition didn’t look optimistic. It was as if her soul were still being tightly gripped by the Ice Wolf man’s hand.

Elsa stared in panic at the dark, damp ground.

‘I… am I alive?’

‘What just happened? Why am I still alive?’

As her breathing stabilized, her panic gradually faded, replaced by a cold logic. The sounds around her began to register clearly through her eardrums, and her frozen brain finally began to function again.

“Hey, are you okay?” Miya stared at her with worry.

Elsa nodded blankly, her eyes unfocused. Then, she suddenly snapped out of it and scanned her surroundings.

“Eh? Where’s that guy?”

This action startled Miya, who quickly raised her hand and covered Elsa’s mouth.

“Shh! Be quiet! Don’t make the Master angry again! You’ve just managed to get your life back; do you want to provoke him and be killed?”

Hearing this, Elsa finally pieced everything together.

Things were exactly as she had deduced: the Ice Wolf Clan had infiltrated the city.

Although she didn’t know why she suddenly couldn’t use magic, from her current situation, she was no different from a common weakling without magic and was no match for the Ice Wolf Clan.

The only thing she could do now was to return immediately to the Starsea Magic Academy and report this to Master Mashiro.

Even though Charlotte might mock her for the rest of her life for being in this state.

But this was undeniably the safest way to deal with the Ice Wolf Clan’s arrival.

‘Wait, no. As the Second Queen of the Kingdom of York and the only magical genius of the Starsea Magic Academy, retreating to the academy would be too cowardly. I should take responsibility.’

Now was the critical time to figure out what the Ice Wolf Clan was after. Time was tight; if she left now, she might never have another chance to understand.

To completely resolve this crisis and save the city from the brink of disaster, Elsa, after weighing the pros and cons, decisively decided to follow the catgirls and do the so-called “mission.”

The Ice Wolf Clan’s scheme likely lay within this mission that required the catgirls’ cooperation.

“I’m sorry for worrying you. I’m fine now. Alright, since time is tight, let’s hurry and finish the mission!”

Elsa pretended she was fine and took the lead as the vanguard.

“But the next location is in the opposite direction!” Miya said, pointing the other way.

“Uh… sorry, I remembered it wrong! My head’s a bit fuzzy, don’t mind me!”

Elsa returned to Miya’s side, letting Miya lead her to the next mission location.

“By the way, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I’m Haji Miki, and she’s Haji Miya. We’re both catgirls from Hajimide Village. You can just call us Miki and Miya. What’s your name?”

“My name is El—” Elsa almost blurted out her real name. Since that obviously wasn’t a name for a catgirl, she quickly thought for a moment and gave herself a name from the “Mi” generation. “Misha. You can just call me Misha!”

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