Killing the Possessor - Chapter 121

Dahlia walked up to the woman and tapped her on the shoulder. Normally, touching someone without permission would be outrageously rude, but the woman hadn’t responded to her repeated calls, so she didn’t have much choice.

“You know, you really shouldn’t steal so much.”

Honestly, it wasn’t even Dahlia’s business—this wasn’t her shop, and she couldn’t care less about petty thieves.

The real reason she stopped the woman was simple: the stranger was making off with all the new chocolates Dahlia had her eye on.

“I need some of those too, you know?”

The woman in the red bonnet frowned and glared at her. Her lips—painted as red as her hat—parted, and she shot back in a prim, chilly voice,

“Did you just call me a thief?”

“Yeah, a thief. You’re stealing the sweets right now, aren’t you?”

“S-Stealing? I was going to pay for them, obviously! What are you talking about?”

Her long sentence made her foreign accent even more obvious. Dahlia clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes.

“What, do they not have anything as good as Resjul where you’re from? That’s too bad, but still, you can’t just steal. I was here first, so put the chocolate down.”

“I told you, I wasn’t planning to steal—”

“Princess.”

At that moment, someone else stepped between them. Dahlia turned her head to see a new arrival.

The woman with half-up lavender hair and an elaborate butterfly hairpiece instantly gave off a haughty vibe. Her clothes were all soft pastels, but there was a sharpness to her presence that she couldn’t hide.

Dahlia privately thought she looked like a bird of prey.

The ‘thief,’ on the other hand—small and fierce—was more like a feisty cat. Wait, had that woman just called her ‘princess’? Was this woman really a princess? What kind of princess shoplifts?

“Is there a problem here?”

“That woman—oh, never mind.”

With the newcomer’s arrival, the would-be thief’s spirits instantly wilted. Judging by their tone, there was definitely a hierarchy at play, but in practice, the real authority seemed to lie with the newcomer.

“Let’s save those for next time. For now, let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

The woman in the bonnet gave Dahlia one last glare before scurrying out of the shop. The lavender-haired woman, meanwhile, didn’t spare her so much as a glance.

“Somehow, that’s even more annoying…”

Dahlia couldn’t quite say why, but the silent treatment from the other woman felt worse than the ‘thief’s’ attitude.

Still, she quickly forgot about it—because as soon as the thief left, she put all the new chocolates back on the counter.

“These! Bag all of them up for me, please!”

She’d swiped some from Camilli’s gift last time and they’d been delicious. Camilli liked chocolate too, so she’d probably enjoy these.

Humming again, Dahlia set off in high spirits. It really was a great day.

Chapter 8. Do You Like Bachelor Kimchi?

Before I went to meet the new possessor, I met up with Hawk first. He’d leave the main job of confirming the target to me, but insisted on escorting me to the site himself.

I’d gotten a bit better with artifacts, but to him I still probably looked like a rookie agent. He seemed genuinely worried, refusing to let me go alone in case it was a trap.

It struck me, we hadn’t known each other all that long or spent that much time together—so when did we get so attached? I suddenly remembered the first time he’d drawn his sword on me, and couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s so funny? Have you lost all sense of fear now?”

“I’m just trying to keep things positive! Geez, you’re such a grump sometimes.”

Hawk might have a boyish face, but he was actually quite a bit older than he looked. Talking to him felt a lot like chatting with a much older brother, or maybe a young uncle.

“Remember—if you even suspect it’s a trap, tear up the scroll. There’s no need to risk yourself for results, you hear me?”

“You’ve told me that a hundred times already! Don’t worry, I’ve survived plenty since I got here.”

And it was true. I’d dealt with more than my fair share of evil spirits by now—sure, it had all happened in the ‘playfield’, but for any ordinary person, it would have been the stuff of nightmares.