Crash!!
Before Mierpasi could answer, the two of them suddenly heard the sound of something shattering outside the door.
“Stay here. I’ll go check it out.”
Franlot frowned slightly, hurried to the door, and pulled it open.
“Huh?” The instant he opened it, a foul stench hit him.
He turned his head and saw broken clay pots scattered on the ground, and the stuff splattered out of them was absolutely nauseating.
“This…”
As he frowned and looked up, a furtive shadow disappeared around the corner of the alley.
[Ding! Quest received: Catch the culprit who threw filth.]
Franlot was caught off guard.
‘If I run out now… the little catgirl inside might be in danger.’
‘But the later I go, the harder this quest will be. If I chase now, I can maximize the rewards…’
Without thinking too much, Franlot treated his earlier vow like a fart and immediately sprinted after the figure!
Just as he expected, with his improved stats, he caught up in only three to five minutes and pressed a small, scrawny figure to the ground!
“Ah… uh… spare me, spare me… I’m sorry!”
But when he caught the guy, the reaction surprised Franlot.
He had expected the guy to curse at him or threaten him like the previous one.
Instead, he begged for mercy.
“Are you… from the gang?”
Looking closely, the short, skinny kid pinned under him was ragged and thin-boned. He seemed to be a minor…
“I’m… I’m not from the gang… I’m just a nearby… beggar…”
A nearby beggar?
Franlot paused, then quickly figured it out.
The gang must have hired this little beggar to use this filth to harass the catgirl.
With that thought, Franlot yanked the little beggar to his feet.
“Fire!!”
“Thick black smoke…”
But before Franlot could question him to confirm his theory, someone shouted from outside the alley the next second!
He turned his head instinctively, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Rolling black smoke surged from the direction of Mierpasi’s house… he didn’t even need to think to know it was the catgirl’s home!
Bastard! So luring me away with this guy was a diversion?
But… why didn’t a quest pop up!?
Franlot felt a bit anxious, but the thought in his mind was… ‘Without Mierpasi, where would I go to grind quests?’
‘No! If the fire isn’t too big… even without a quest, I have to save her!’
Thinking that, he grabbed the little beggar and ran back the way he came.
Fortunately… there was no need for a fire rescue scene.
Because when he returned, he saw the catgirl had already come out of the burning house.
She was sitting blankly in front of it, staring at her home being gradually swallowed by flames.
“Mir? Are you… okay?”
Franlot walked up, let out a slow sigh, and leaned down to ask.
“It’s gone…” Mierpasi murmured instinctively, her dull eyes fixed on the boy in front of her.
“My… home… it’s gone…”
She pointed shakily at the house, which was still burning and radiating waves of heat.
That was her home. It was also the only thing her deceased mother had left her.
But now… that home was gone.
“It’s okay, it’s okay… You… you still have me, don’t you…” Franlot stepped forward and slowly embraced the catgirl.
Even as he said it, he felt a pang of guilt.
After all… he had just thought about abandoning her if the fire got too big.
Saying this now… ‘Sigh… I still need to work on that part of myself.’
As Franlot was thinking this, the catgirl burst into loud sobs in his arms.
She spoke in fits and starts about her mother and herself, about the little garden they had tended together, about their poor but happy life…
But Franlot wasn’t really listening. He was just puzzled why no new quest had appeared.
Shouldn’t he have gotten a quest to comfort the catgirl or find the culprit by now?
Gradually, realizing she wasn’t getting any response, Mierpasi stopped sobbing and muttering to herself.
She just stared at the nearly ruined remains of her home.
Her lips pressed together slightly, as if she had made up her mind.
Then, as the girl slowly turned her head, she saw someone else lying on the ground besides Franlot.
That person was very thin, with a pale face, and was trembling as he looked at her.
“You…” Mierpasi recognized him in an instant. He was the little beggar who often wandered around this block.
She had saved him several times when he got beaten for stealing, and had even compensated the victims on his behalf…
Because they lived nearby, she had often given him food and water.
But she never expected that when she was in trouble, this boy she had pitied, helped, and cared for… would become the first accomplice.
Why?
The little beggar, seeing the disappointment in Mierpasi’s eyes, actually felt relieved.
He didn’t care if she was disappointed in him. After being a beggar for years, he had long stopped caring about his own dignity.
As long as he didn’t get beaten… anything was fine.
Whoosh!—
The next second, something dark came flying from the side!
Franlot, who had been keeping an eye on his surroundings, sidestepped and dodged the not-so-fast attack.
But he dodged it… and the Mierpasi he was holding, still dazed, wasn’t so lucky!
Splat! A rotten egg hit the girl square on the forehead. The sickening smell made Franlot instinctively let go of her trembling body.
“Ah… are you okay?” A flicker of disgust passed through his eyes as he said it.
But Mierpasi didn’t notice. She just looked toward the direction the rotten egg had come from.
That face… was also familiar.
It was the aunt from next door, who had been friendly to her family while her mother was still alive.
Now her face was full of hatred, her hair a mess.
“You jinx! Get out of this street!!”
Huh? Why…
Splat! The next second, a rotten fruit, slightly off-target, hit the ground at the girl’s feet.
Whether it was the sour smell of the rotten fruit or the sight of another neighbor’s face— someone she had helped before— it made the tears she had finally stopped spill out again uncontrollably.
Then some crumpled paper balls were thrown at the two of them, and they finally understood what was going on.
The Gravel Gang had just come by and handed out flyers all over the street.
The gist was: if Mierpasi was still on this street by tomorrow, they would randomly burn down someone’s house.
And the next day… it would double.
So that’s why this was happening.
“Get lost! Just get out! Then everything will be fine for everyone!”
“Mir… for our sakes, help us one last time, Auntie… just… leave!”
“Get out!! Get out now!”
More and more people gathered. Their eyes at Mir held disgust, fear, pity…
But these people—once helped, even saved, by this kind girl—
Now they had turned into knives, stabbing into the girl’s lost heart.
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