"Is that light-fingered child here?" Emilia's expression quickly turned serious.
"But I only sense the life aura of one elderly person here," Puck said.
"Who cares about them? The Holy Son's ability is never wrong." Tendo Kisara lifted her foot and kicked the wooden door, and with a crack, the wooden door was shattered.
Crack!
"Wait—" Emilia was dumbfounded.
"What's going on?! My door!"
A deep, rough voice came, filled with resentment and anger.
An old man with white eyebrows, over two meters tall and particularly large in physique, rushed out angrily, holding a wooden mallet. When he saw four young girls at the doorway and their clothes, his eyes narrowed.
"Who are you four little girls? Are you specifically here to cause trouble for this old man?"
"Don't think that just because you're nobles, this old man won't dare to lay a hand on you."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we didn't mean to break your door, we actually…" Emilia quickly apologized.
Before Emilia could finish speaking, a bulging money bag appeared in Sima Wei Zhi's hand. The money bag wasn't closed, and golden coins spilled out.
"Let me ask you something, old man. If you answer truthfully, these will be yours."
As someone whose divinity was 'commerce,' she lacked nothing but 'money.' The definition of 'money' to her wasn't just simple gold coins, but rather any targeted item used for transaction.
Gold and silver, no matter what world they were in, served as currency.
"Gold coins!"
Upon seeing this, Grandpa Rom's expression instantly changed. After thinking for a moment, his face was full of a shrewd smile: "Oh, so you're guests. Then come in and talk."
Sima Wei Zhi smilingly tossed the money bag over, and Grandpa Rom fumbled to catch it.
Grandpa Rom watched the four noble girls walk in, thinking to himself, they don't look like ordinary nobles. Are they mages or something?
When he saw Emilia, his eyebrows twitched. Silver hair, purple eyes, elf ears—it couldn't be, could it?
He lowered his head, looking at the heavy gold coins in his hand. To toss so many gold coins over so easily, were they very confident in their own strength?
"Four guests, what would you like to inquire about? In this slum, this old man's information is still relatively well-informed." Grandpa Rom poured four cups of milk in front of them.
Facing such a big patron, this time he didn't skimp by diluting the milk with water.
None of the four touched the milk.
"Excuse me, do you know a girl with faded blonde short hair and red eyes? About this tall." Emilia gestured with her hand.
"May I ask what the young lady is looking for her for? Did something go missing?" Grandpa Rom asked in a low voice, wiping the wooden cups on the counter.
It seemed Felt had failed this time, and the owner had come looking for her.
However, he didn't blame Felt. This was Felt's way of survival; with Felt's abilities, there was simply no other means of survival besides being a thief and stealing things.
And Felt was particularly stubborn, wanting to save money to leave the slum.
Felt was someone favored by the world; she would leave the slum sooner or later. This old man was, instead, a burden to her staying here.
Before that, this old man had to protect Felt.
"Old man, you do know the thief lady, don't you? I hope you can have the thief lady return the item," Sima Wei Zhi said with a smile.
As someone born in the apocalypse, she had no prejudice against petty thieves. After all, to survive, one was often helpless. Those who could live without worrying about food and drink were only a very small minority.
Most people were already putting all their effort into just surviving.
"This old man does know Felt, but this old man cannot interfere with Felt's decision. However, this old man can act as an intermediary to let you communicate," Grandpa Rom said in a deep voice.
Felt was very stubborn; once she made up her mind, she wouldn't listen even to him.
"Then when will that thief lady arrive here?" Tendo Kisara asked.
"Soon. She will definitely be here before dark," Grandpa Rom said.
"Then let's sit here for a while."
Evening quickly arrived.
"? What's going on? How did the front door get broken?" A petite figure walked in through the damaged warehouse entrance.
As soon as she walked in, she saw four pairs of eyes staring straight at her.
"Ah! You, you actually chased me back! You're really relentless!" Felt's expression changed drastically when she saw Emilia. She pointed at Emilia and yelled, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
The owner had actually found her, and brought helpers.
This meant they were the ones who broke Grandpa Rom's warehouse door.
"Grandpa Rom! What did you do to Grandpa Rom?!" Felt drew a curved knife from the leather sheath at her waist and pointed it at Emilia, gritting her teeth.
"Felt, do you wish for this old man to be in trouble so much?"
Grandpa Rom lifted his head from under the bar, rubbing his head: "Getting old makes you drowsy. I waited so long I almost fell asleep."
"You should have said so earlier, Grandpa Rom! I almost thought they had killed you," Felt sighed in relief.
"You can't escape. Give me back the insignia." Emilia's eyes sharpened slightly. She extended her hand and said coldly.
"You really are a persistent one. It's just an insignia. Is that thing really so valuable that you'd chase me all the way here?" Felt glared at Emilia, gritting her teeth, tightening her grip on the insignia in her hand.
"It's not a very valuable item, it's just very important to me. Give it back quickly, if you don't want to suffer a bit," Emilia continued.
"Hmph, I stole it by my own skill. Why should I give it back?" Felt pouted.
With the owner showing up, she was now in a difficult position.
The woman who commissioned her to steal the insignia was also very dangerous.
And she had already paid a deposit. Who knew what she would do if she didn't get the insignia?
"Besides, even if you brought helpers, you might not succeed in getting the insignia back." Felt was very confident in her speed.
"Are you very confident in yourself, Felt?"
A voice came from beside her ear. Felt's scalp instantly tingled, as if her whole body had been electrocuted, and her neck felt cold.
A cold blade was pressed against her neck.
Felt roared internally, when did she appear?
Tendo Kisara pressed the back of her blade against Felt's neck and smiled: "Light-fingered child, you should honestly give it back."
"I know you steal things to survive, so I'll let bygones be bygones. And I'll give you a gold coin to fill your stomach."
"Felt!" Grandpa Rom picked up the wooden mallet next to him, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"Don't move, old man. As long as you're obedient, we won't hurt you." Sima Wei Zhi appeared beside Grandpa Rom, the cold back of a blade pressed against his throat.
Although she didn't have powerful combat skills, she had learned a lot of swordsmanship and the like. Dealing with people inferior to her was still very easy.
"…" Grandpa Rom broke out in a cold sweat, looking at Felt with a complex expression: "Felt, you should still return the insignia to this young lady."
"Gold coins are not worth paying with your life."