Chapter 21: Why are your knees weak?

Realizing that Skull was likely in this city too, a fleeting thought crossed Suna’s mind.

[Should I sneak a glance at Skull before I leave?]

But she quickly dismissed the idea.

“Forget it. I should follow Pepas’s advice. Contacting him is too risky. I’d better leave this city immediately.”

Muttering these words, Suna slightly released her perception magic to avoid running into Skull and the others by chance.

As she pulled a hooded cloak from her satchel and put it on, weaving through alleys to avoid main roads, her perception magic picked up misdeeds like extortion and assault.

Though these acts annoyed her, Suna didn’t let them delay her departure from the city.

She wasn’t the type to intervene in every wrong she saw.

But as she reached a crossroad formed by two alleys, a ragged orange-haired boy of fifteen or sixteen, pulling an even younger orange-haired girl in tattered clothes, dashed past her desperately.

After they ran by, Suna noticed a feverish child, about three or four years old, strapped to the boy’s back with a cloth, his face flushed red.

Watching their desperate flight, as if chased by wolves, Suna’s pupils narrowed slightly.

Continuing her original path, she walked a dozen steps past the crossroad when she heard the vulgar curses of three pursuing thugs behind her.

“That little sh*t! When I catch him, I’ll beat him to death!”

“He dared to escape and steal our money! Break his legs and sell him to those magic-crazed experimenters…”

“No, beat him half-dead and make him watch his sister…”

Though their voices faded with distance, Suna’s steps came to a halt.

At that moment, in a nearby alley, a high brick wall blocked the ragged orange-haired boy’s path.

He quickly cleared debris and garbage at the wall’s base, revealing a half-meter-high hole.

Untying the cloth, he handed the sick orange-haired child to his sister, pushing her toward the hole and shouting.

“Get out of here, now!”

“Too late to run! Mud Seal!”

One of the pursuing thugs used earth magic, half-filling the exposed hole.

The other two thugs approached slowly, cracking their knuckles, while the despairing orange-haired boy grabbed a rough iron rod from the debris for a final stand.

“You’re dead, kid! I keep my promises.”

As the lead thug sneered viciously, footsteps echoed behind them, followed by a gentle voice.

“Three grown men bullying a few kids—isn’t that a bit much?”

Suna, cloaked in a plain hooded cape and veiled, appeared suddenly, prompting the lead thug to turn and retort arrogantly without a second thought.

“Who the hell are you, meddling in my business? Do you know who our boss is? His name alone would make you kneel!”

One of the other thugs, eyeing Suna, grinned wickedly and suggested to the leader, Robert.

“Robert, she looks pretty fine. Why not take her back with us?”

But before he could finish, all three thugs dropped to their knees on the debris-strewn ground with a thud.

“Oh? Weren’t you going to make me kneel? You haven’t even said your boss’s name, and your knees gave out already?”

Suna taunted them with a mocking tone, approaching at a leisurely pace.

“How is this possible? Why can’t I stand? Who the hell are you?”

“Could she be some big shot?”

While his two underlings panicked over their sudden collapse, the lead thug, Robert, though previously arrogant, wasn’t slow-witted.

Used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, he quickly assessed the situation, bowing low to Suna and groveling in apology.

“Boss, we were blind and offended you. Please forgive us! If it’s money you want, we’ll pay up…”

But Suna only let out a cold snort in response to his near-begging words.

“Shut up.”

As she walked past them, blood gushed from the noses and mouths of Robert’s two underlings, their eyes rolling back as their bodies slumped lifelessly to the ground within seconds.

Robert, still kneeling, didn’t need to look to know his two men were dead.

“Are you okay?”

Suna crouched down to ask, but the orange-haired boy, trembling, shielded his sister and the sick child behind him.

“Stay back.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. In fact, I can heal him.”

With those words, Suna cast a healing spell on the sick child.

As golden light shimmered in the alley, the child’s feverish flush faded, his temperature normalized, and his breathing steadied.

“Oh, thank goodness! Brother, he’s not burning up anymore, and he’s sleeping so peacefully. Miss, you’re really kind!”

While the sister expressed her gratitude earnestly, the orange-haired boy remained wary, eyeing Suna cautiously.

“What do you want? We don’t have money or anything valuable.”

“Hmph, what would I want from kids like you? The ones I’m after for value are those bad guys over there.”

Suna playfully ruffled the hair of the still-wary orange-haired boy.

Then, she turned to face the still-kneeling thug, Robert.

“Oh, you two, close your eyes. Your big sister has some business to take care of.”