You Must Not Follow People You Don’t Know
“Thief! Someone, catch him!”
When Filia turned towards such shrill when walking around the market, she saw a woman in her forties and a middle-aged man with a large build who stole her bag.
“Get out of my way, get out!”
The escaping man pushed the people out of his way while yelling such. And the direction he ran into was precisely towards Filia.
Everyone scattered in all directions and opened a path so they wouldn’t get knocked down, but only Filia stayed in place with oblivious expression while asking “Everyone, what happened~?”.
“You are in my way, brat!”
“……?」
“””Watch out!”””
The man plunges into Filia without slowing down. His body weight is likely to be several folds higher. Everyone unconsciously turned away, imagining the scene of the little girl getting blown away.
“Ei.”
“Bugoo!?”
And yet, the man’s scream resounded in the next moment.
Filia has stopped the man with her right hand. Her delicate arm sunk into the man’s stomach, making the gastric juices jump out of his mouth.
“Ah…… guo……”
The man crouched in place.
The unbelievable scene stupified everyone, but
“””Ooooh!”””
Excited cheering resounded before long.
“Incredible! What a child!”
“She has stopped the tackle of an adult man with one hand, ya know?”
“What a little girl! Moreover, so cute!”
Unanimous praises of Filia could be heard around the market.
The peace officer who heard the ruckus came over, restricted the man and took him away.
The woman who regained her bag expresses her gratitude to Filia.
“Thank you. Thanks for your help.”
“……? Ehehe~”
Filia who doesn’t really understand the situation gets happy for being praised.
“Although it’s not much for thanks, I will give you this if you’d like.”
Saying such, the woman hands Filia a chocolate-coated cookie.
In fact, it was bought in Melshia’s famous candy store, it’s one of their popular items.
“Sweets! You are giving it to me? Thank you~!”
Following an apple, Filia obtained a cookie.
“This town, there are so many good people!” while thinking such, Filia resumed her exploration.
The cookie is already in her stomach.
“Now then, is there no other challenger!? Then gold coins if you win against me! The challenging fee is only five silvers!”
Filia turned her gaze towards the sudden loud voice.
A rather big crowd has formed there.
Filia approaches, curious about what’s going on.
“It’s already the sixth match. It’s about time fatigue collected in my arm, ya know?”
A young man is stirring up things in the middle of the crowd.
“Alright, I will do it.”
A muscular giant man stepped up while rolling up his sleeves.
The young man and the giant man face each other and link their hands around a table.
Filia immediately realized.
“I have done this with Papa!”
It’s the arm wrestling.
And apparently, that young man is giving a prize to anyone who defeats him.
However, if anything, he looks delicate. He doesn’t look like he could win against the giant man.
But, the end was unexpected.
The young man immediately defeated the giant man.
“Bad luck, it’s my victory.”
“Shit, how do you have so much strength with such thin arms!”
The giant man leaves while cursing.
“Is there not anyone who can defeat me!? The next match is the seventh match, as expected, my arm is reaching the limit.”
He tried to stir up the crowd again, but there wasn’t anyone who stepped up this time.
Then, the young man looks around the unwilling men and sneers.
“Oi, oi, are the adventurers of Melshia only like this? Hahaha, just like I heard, it’s full of cowards.”
“What did you say?”
There’s an Adventurer’s Guild nearby, and the majority of people here are muscular men. They are all easy to agitate, hot-blooded people.
Then, five men challenged the young man in succession, but all lost horribly.
(Hehehe, I have earned quite a good amount of pocket money again)
Lucas who dismissed the eleventh person’s challenge was laughing vulgarly in his mind.
He has now obtained 55 silver coins.
(Nevertheless, these adventurers are really stupid. They don’t realize I’m cheating them. Although I say that, it’s impossible to notice. No matter what, this plan is truly elaborate)
Lucas looks down at his own right hand.
No, in fact, it’s not a real arm.
It’s an artificial arm.
Moreover, it’s not an ordinary one, but most likely a kind of a magic tool. At any rate, it moves as he want it to and it’s not distinguishable from the real thing.
In addition, it exhibits tremendous superhuman strength. And naturally, it doesn’t tire out.
(I was horrified when I found a human arm in the mansion of the noble I have crept in, but I was correct to bring it with me)
He has intended to sell it at first, but he noticed that people with no arms could wear it. Thus he decided to use it in this way.
“Who is the next challenger! Is there no one who wants ten gold coins!”
Lucas vigorously shouts.
But, people in this place were generally defeated.
Just when he was thinking of closing down the business,
“Filia will do it too~!”
A lovely voice resounded from within the crowd of dirty men.
When he looks, he saw a young girl with sparkling eyes holding her hand high.
(Well, just right for the last side show)
Thinking so, Lucas smiled at the little girl.
“Hahaha, if the opponent is Ojouchan, I won’t need the challenger fee.”
“Really? Ya~y!”
Seeing the lovely girl bouncing up and down like a rabbit, the cheeks of the men who lost to Lucas unconsciously relaxed.
“Can’t reach~”
Because she couldn’t reach on the table, they put a nearby wooden box under her.
(Her hand is so small. I will have to hold back quite a lot, or this artificial hand may break it)
Lucas grasps the little girl’s hand while making a wry smile in his mind.
“Onii~chan or Papa, who is stronger~?”
“Ojouchan’s Papa is strong?”
“Yea! Filia you see, I won at first, but when Papa got serious, he easily defeated me!”
“He, hee……”
Father who’s not acting mature even against his child, Lucas tsukkomi’d.
“However, I think I’m probably much stronger.”
“Really!? Then, Filia will go all out!”
Fun, the little girl fires herself up.
“Alright, then let’s start.”
And then, receiving the usual signal, Lucas carefully put strength into his artificial arm――
“Ei.”
Begi!!!
——The artificial arm got pulverized.
“!? Didn’t he just make a dangerous sound!?”
“Oi, Niichan, you okay!?”
His artificial arm has been completely destroyed under the overwhelming grip.
The surrounding men rush over.
But, what they saw were metal parts of the artificial arm under his skin.
“W, what the hell is this!?”
“No way, an artificial arm?”
“Shit! He was cheating!”
“C, crap……”
Having his machine exposed, Lucas stepped back. His whole body sweating.
However, there was no escape. The robust adventurers immediately seized him and his arm hiding in the clothes was discovered.
“Money for before!”
Filia handed a gold coin to the uncle from the fruit stall who gave her an apple a while ago.
After the arm wrestling challenge, she somehow managed to obtain ten gold coins without knowing how. Therefore, she decided to pay for the apple she received before. By the way, the price of one apple is one copper coin.
“Ha? Hey, why do you have a gold coin on you, Jouchan!?Huh she’s not here anymore?”
Before the fruit stall uncle could finish shouting, Filia already disappeared into the crowd of people.
“Didn’t she say that she has no money……?”
Four eyes were chasing after her.
They were two men.
“Did you see? That brat had so much money on her, ya know?”
“Yeah. She must be a daughter of a noble or some wealthy merchant.”
“Kukuku, we are in luck.”
They follow after her, then call out to her in a place with little pedestrian traffic.
“Ojouchan, would you like candies?”
“Really!?”
“Follow us then.”
“Okay, I understand!”
Filia was kidnapped with a very classic technique.