She followed behind Velly and Lin while taking in the sights of people for the first time in ten days.

Before long, they entered a shabby building situated in a corner of an alley.

With a clear ringing sound, the door opened.

“Welcome, customers.”

At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary tavern.

A woman who seemed to be the bartender, sitting at the bar, greeted them with a smile.

“Do you have any preferred drinks?”

“Five bottles of recovery potion, one mandrake root. And…”

Lin and Velly naturally ordered unidentifiable items.

The bartender also nodded her head without any particular signs of suspicion and took their order.

To think there were stores like this in the world.

As Delphine was looking around the store with displayed liquor bottles in amazement, Velly added one last thing.

“…And two hair dyes.”

At that moment, a sharp look flashed across the face of the bartender who had been smiling kindly.

However, it was only for a brief instant.

The experienced bartender, who had been through thick and thin, smiled with crinkled eyes and replied.

“Order received. Please wait a moment until the items are prepared. And in the meantime…”

She took out the liquor bottles displayed at the bar and skillfully mixed them in a shaker.

Then she soon presented a drink with a subtle pink hue in a small glass.

“It’s a light liquor that ladies enjoy. At least wet your throat… then.”

She smiled at Delphine and disappeared through the back door.

‘It really is a place that sells alcohol as well.’

Thinking that, as Delphine thoughtlessly picked up the glass the woman had offered, Velly and Lin shouted simultaneously.

“Don’t drink it!”

“Don’t eat it.”

Blinking her eyes at the unexpected intense reaction, Delphine bashfully put the glass back down.

“…I was just looking at it.”

Before long, the bartender who had disappeared through the back door returned.

In her hand were only the five bottles of potion that Lin had ordered.

“Mandrake roots are hard to come by these days… Could you wait a little longer, customers?”

“Mandrake roots? …We can’t stay long. Then it’s not urgent, so excluding that…”

“No, no!”

The bartender hurriedly exclaimed, and as if thinking she had shouted too loudly, she quickly smiled with the corners of her eyes turned up.

“It will be ready soon. The peddler is due to come by any moment now.”

“…I see.”

Then Velly answered quietly, and while slightly lifting the cloak covering her face, she asked.

“Your name… was it Mally? Haven’t you been working here for quite some time?”

“Oh my, were you a regular? That’s right. I think it’s been… about five years now.”

“To do business in this Ranchis for five years without getting a hole in your head or heart.”

Velly praised her with an angelic, beautiful smile.

“Impressive.”

At that, the woman shrugged her shoulders as if proud and replied.

“Of course. Above all, it’s the result of valuing trust with customers.”

“I see. Then why…”

Velly spoke with a smile still on her lips, but with the coldest eyes.

“Are you trying to hold us back and buy time?”

The woman was startled.

This time, it was big and clear enough that she couldn’t hide it.

“Damn it. How…”

“First, avoid it! We’re going to where Marianne is, Lin!”

The peaceful atmosphere was instantly reversed.

Lin hurriedly grabbed Delphine’s hand with the hand holding the potion.

Velly also promptly placed her hand on Lin’s arm without delay.

To teleport together, their bodies had to be touching.

“Where are you running!”

Seeing this, the woman screamed like a shriek and threw a dagger that she had been holding at some point.

The sharp blade grazed past the knot of the cloak exquisitely, and soon, flowing red hair and a pale face were revealed.

The woman shouted with a face full of ecstasy.

“I knew it! There was a reason you were looking for hair dye!”

“Teleporting now!”

Lin immediately activated the teleportation magic.

As white light soon filled their surroundings, the woman rushed at them, screaming.

“Where are you going! My life’s reversal card!”

Feeling her body being sucked somewhere, Delphine momentarily squeezed her eyes shut.

And when she opened her eyes again, they were inside an inn’s restaurant.

This time, it seemed to be a place that truly sold food, as people eating at wooden tables caught her eye.

Those holding spoons in their hands blankly stared at them who had suddenly appeared with a white light, looking puzzled.

Without the cloak, it was only a matter of time before their identities were exposed.

So they had to quickly find Marianne and teleport, but…

The problem was, no matter how much she looked around, Marianne was nowhere to be seen.

“Where the hell did this woman go!”

Rarely, Velly shouted angrily.

At that moment, a furious scream echoed through the quieted restaurant.

“Catch this woman!”

It was the bartender who had grabbed Lin’s clothes and followed them here.

“It’s ‘that woman’ from the wanted posters! If we catch this woman alone, it’s an instant escape from this hell!”

The gazes of the people who had been peacefully eating changed in an instant.

For some reason, all the patrons in this restaurant were holding weapons in their hands.

“The report? Report it first!”

“I already did! The Guards will be coming!”

Someone shouted, and the woman replied in a vicious tone.

Earlier, she had gone out the back door of the store under the pretense of finding items, but in reality, she had reported them.

Ioan.

He was coming here. To find her.

Lin, who had pulled the frightened Delphine into her arms, waved her other hand widely.

Soon, the inside of the restaurant was filled with black smoke, making it impossible to see an inch ahead.

“Where, where did they go! I’ll catch her, that woman!”

“Ahhh! Why are you hitting me…!”

Leaving behind the cries that instantly fell into chaos, Lin whispered softly in Delphine’s ear.

“Let’s go.”

Then she scooped her up and ran out of the building.

Fortunately, Marianne was right next door, buying and eating fruit skewers.

“Huh? Lin? Why are you guys already…”

“Hurry up and put that down and grab me, you parasite!”

Thankfully, Marianne immediately changed her expression and ran towards them.

“They went outside!”

“There she is! The red-haired woman!”

Marianne drew the huge sword she had on her back and swung it towards those rushing at them from behind.

At that, people were startled and retreated.

Taking advantage of that opening, Lin quickly shouted.

“Teleporting now!”

White light filling their vision.

The unpleasant feeling of being dragged somewhere.

And when they opened their eyes again, they were in a quiet and dark forest.

Marianne, still with the fruit skewer in her mouth, plopped down.

“What. What happened…?”

“To think we’d see the people of Ranchis working together like this…”

Even Velly had a very defeated look on her face this time.

“That woman was a trustworthy merchant in her own way. What the hell did she fall for?”

Seriously.

Thinking of the people who had rushed towards her with their eyes rolled back, Delphine thought with a heart-wrenching feeling.

Ioan. What the hell are you doing in this empire…?

Once again, they had let her slip away.

In the small tavern of Ranchis where he had teleported using demonic powers as soon as he received the report, there was no one.

Before long, a woman in a bartender’s uniform entered the store, trembling all over.

“It, it was unmistakable. Red hair, emerald eyes. And that beauty…”

“…”

“But a black-haired man used a strange power, so…”

Is it that bastard again?

Pride quietly clenched his fist without a single word in response.

Seeing this, Mally, the owner of this general store, felt her insides burning black.

This store was illegal, of course. She herself was a fugitive who had committed a major crime and fled.

But to have called the ruler of the empire, known for his ruthlessness, with her own hands.

‘I must have gone crazy. I was out of my mind for a moment.’

But the bounty of thirty thousand gold, and central citizenship.

Could anyone in District 3 not lose their mind after seeing that?

As she was trembling and reproaching herself, a chilling voice settled over her head.

“…Right. You said you were the first to report.”

“Yes, yes! But I never intended to deceive you, my lord…”

She kept bowing her head.

Clink.

The clear sound she loved so much rang out.

Mally, who had been looking down, stared at the floor with an unbelieving gaze.

One, two, three, four…

Gold nuggets amounting to a whopping three hundred gold were before her eyes.

This was enough to live on for a year, no, three years.

Color returned to her pale face with a look of shock.

“Th, thank you! Ma, may you live long… Thank you!”

Pride didn’t even spare a glance at her who was constantly bowing in gratitude.

Instead, he recited in a dry voice to Walter beside him.

“Distribute a hundred gold each to the other informants as well.”

“What? But there will be those who made false reports, thinking this was their chance.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

There would be those who were wary, wondering if the unbelievable bounty conditions were a trap.

But once the news of this reward spread, the people of District 3 would become even more bloodthirsty in their search for her.

The more desperate they were to escape hell, the more fervently they would search.

Pride smiled, his face contorting as if he had swallowed a bitter medicine.

‘Just as I had been…’