The man was in the process of removing his black mask. His pupils were dilated and bloodshot, as if quite agitated.

Moreover, he held a kitchen knife in his hand.

Glancing inside the grocery store, I saw a couple, likely the owners, trembling face-down on the floor.

It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion.

‘It’s a robbery.’

The wide-open cash register and the bulging sack the man carried made it even more certain.

The man, seemingly trying to escape, stumbled out while swinging his knife at people on the sidewalk.

“Get lost! Won’t you get out of the way?!”

Just then, a van stopped near me. The door opened urgently, and a man wearing an identical mask shouted.

“Over here!”

An accomplice.

Including the driver of the van, there were three. It was a three-man robbery gang.

And unfortunately, the man who robbed the grocery store was running towards me to get into the van.

The man aggressively swung his knife in the air.

As if he would stab anyone who got in his way.

Ah, just a few days ago, I was overjoyed at obtaining a 20 million won magic stone. Is this how life becomes a rollercoaster? Suddenly encountering a grocery store robbery gang in the middle of a busy street?

But in a way, it might have been fortunate.

That I was here instead of an innocent, unarmed citizen.

I quickly called up my inventory and reached into the subspace. Speed was crucial as the man was approaching close enough to be within striking distance.

Just as I was about to pull out a gun from my inventory and aim it at the man.

Screech―!

A chilling sound like metal scraping against a blade rang loudly in my ears.

At the same time, a shadow fell in front of me. Someone had stepped in to block me.

I widened my eyes and looked at the man’s back.

Finely woven muscles were visible through the thin t-shirt, and above that was short gray hair.

I cried out in surprise.

“Victor!”

What shocked me even more was the scene of Victor grasping the man’s blade with one hand.

For a moment, my blood ran cold, but soon I could see the status window floating in front of Victor.

If I didn’t have the ability to see others’ status windows as a possession benefit, I would have fainted at the sight of him grabbing a blade with his bare hand.

Victor’s ‘Stand Firm (S)’ skill was effective against not only magical beasts but also human attacks.

Due to the skill effect, Victor’s skin hardened, allowing him to grasp the blade without shedding a drop of blood.

“Th-this…”

The robber on the other side was just as shocked at Victor grabbing the blade with his bare hand.

“He’s a monster!”

“I’m not a monster.”

Victor, who sharply retorted to the robber, turned his gaze over his shoulder.

“What are you doing, Glasses? It’s dangerous, quickly step back…”

And Victor’s face turned pale as he looked back at me.

Thud.

Just then, the man who had been brandishing the blade at Victor collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Victor, not even paying attention to the fallen robber, immediately turned to me and grabbed my shoulders.

“Hey, Squirrel! How could you shoot a person?!”

In my hand was a magic bullet revolver, and I had just shot the man square in the forehead.

Victor was horrified as if he had seen a ghost, having witnessed me shoot someone right before his eyes.

“Why are you overreacting?”

“How is this overreacting? Squirrel just shot a person?!”

Victor, uncharacteristically, raised his voice and fidgeted anxiously.

Such a big guy.

But no matter how angry I was at having a blade swung at me, would I shoot live ammunition at a person?

It wasn’t even the magic bullet used for catching magical beasts.

I looked at Victor with a face that said, ‘Why are you making such a fuss?’

“These are tranquilizer bullets.”

“…What? Tranquilizer bullets?”

“Yes. I received them for potential suppression and they can be used on people. Benjamin said they were made from dungeon by-products by the military.”

As if to prove it, I also shot tranquilizer bullets at the two robbers in the van who were wearing dumbfounded expressions.

Checking under the noses of the robbers who fell unconscious without resistance, they were breathing just fine.

“See?”

Victor, who had suddenly come close enough to stick to my side, checked the fallen robbers with his own hands.

He even rolled back their eyes, checked their breathing, and took their pulse.

…Does he think I could actually kill people?

After confirming that all three robbers were still breathing, Victor let out a sigh of relief. Just then, a police car arrived, responding to a bystander’s report.

The police successfully took away the three robbers, and we received several thank-you’s from the grocery store owner couple.

As the commotion settled down, it was nearly 10 PM.

“Really, what a mess because of you. I thought my heart was going to jump out.”

Victor sighed and said after the incident was resolved.

I didn’t do much, but somehow I felt like a daughter who had worried her parents.

‘Still, thanks to Victor, there was no dangerous situation, so that’s fortunate.’

Victor trudged over and got on his bike parked by the roadside. Then he nodded at me.