“Gyaaaah!? My arm—my arm!?”
“Calm down! We’ll stop the bleeding with this!”
“Damn it, why did this happen…!? You bastard—who the hell are you!?”
All of a sudden, a woman fell from the sky.
The instant she landed, she severed one of their companion’s arms at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Faced with a situation they couldn’t comprehend, the thugs fell into panic.
They drew their weapons and hurled angry shouts, threatening Sofia.
Sofia, however, completely ignored them and quickly tucked Licorice into her pocket to get her to safety.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Y-Yeah! Seriously, we were this close to being in real trouble…! If something had happened to Licorice-chan, it would’ve been a loss for the entire world, you know!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Uuu… but thank goodnessssss…”
Licorice was crying—apparently she’d been utterly terrified.
Having faced a real threat to her life, she clearly couldn’t act like her usual self.
“It’s all right now.”
“Mm… thanks.”
“By the way…”
“If it’s Aisha and Snow, they’re probably fine. I acted as a decoy and drew them away from the safe house… Ah, but there’s no guarantee they weren’t seen by someone else, so we should hurry.”
“I understand.”
“Hey, you bastard!!!”
One of the thugs shouted angrily, cutting into their conversation.
“You really did a number on our guy! Are you with the lord too!?”
“You trying to get in our way!?”
“……”
Sofia glanced at the thugs.
Her eyes were cold.
A gaze like absolute zero.
Under it, the thugs faltered, words failing them.
“You’ve got some nerve… That line is my line, you know?”
“W-What did you say…?”
“You tried to kill her. You can’t complain if you’re killed in return, can you?”
Sofia was angry.
Truly, deeply angry.
Licorice had been crying.
Crying in fear for her life, terrified she might be killed.
Seeing her so completely unlike her usual self…
Realizing just how overwhelming that fear had been…
Sofia had completely snapped.
“What the hell are you talking about!?”
“If you interfere, that makes you one of the lord’s dogs too!”
“We’ll kill you right he—huh?”
Suddenly, Sofia vanished.
As if she’d been a mirage, she simply disappeared.
Unable to understand what had happened, the thugs were left bewildered.
“Huh?”
A stupid-sounding voice slipped out again.
It came from one of the thugs—and before anyone realized it,
His left arm had been cleanly severed.
Blood poured out…
And then the pain arrived.
“W-What!? Ah—AAAAAAH!?”
“Hey! Are you okay!?”
“W-Who the hell did this—”
“I did.”
Sofia had silently moved behind them.
She pressed her sword against their backs and spoke in a cold voice to the panicking men.
“I know you rose up to resist the lord’s tyranny… but that doesn’t excuse ignoring casualties or not caring about collateral damage.”
“Y-You bastard…”
“Please don’t move. I might slip and stab you by accident.”
Sofia smiled sweetly as she spoke.
That smile alone was enough to turn their faces pale with fear.
“I’d really like to kill you… but since you’re not entirely evil, I’ll spare your lives. However…”
“Hii—”
The sword lightly nicked one man’s back.
“Would you mind backing off? You’re nothing but an obstacle.”
“T-That’s—”
“If you refuse… I’ll kill all of you.”
Killing intent erupted forth.
It was so sharp and heavy it felt almost physical—
And the thugs’ resolve shattered instantly. One by one, they collapsed to the ground.
Seeing this, Sofia sheathed her sword and let out an exasperated sigh.
“Honestly… with resolve that flimsy, how pathetic.”
She pulled a potion from somewhere other than the pocket holding Licorice and tossed it to them.
“Use that to treat yourselves. Otherwise, you’ll bleed to death.”
“Th-Thank you…”
“Though you should give up on the arm. Consider it tuition for thinking anything is permissible in pursuit of your goal.”
“……Ugh…”
“Well then… be gone.”
“““UAAAAAAH!?”””
As if on cue, the thugs grabbed the potion and fled all at once.
Watching their retreating backs—
“Heh-heh! That’s what you get for messing with the world-heritage-class, ultimate cutest girl, Licorice-chan! Come back the day before yesterday!!!”
“Licorice… don’t you think you recovered a little too fast?”
Sofia sighed again—this time in a very different sense of exasperation.
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