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Chapter 123: Appetite (1)
“Wow…”
All eyes, regardless of age or gender, were fixated on one point.
Each person couldn’t help but let out exclamations of admiration.
“She’s really cute! Is she from a noble family?”
“But why is she wandering around alone? Doesn’t she have a guardian?”
“She doesn’t seem lost, though…”
With her rare pink hair and adorable, clear eyes, a cute girl who appeared to be around ten or eleven years old was freely roaming the streets of Brenu.
Her adorable appearance made it impossible for anyone to look away.
However, the girl was completely unaware of the attention she was receiving and was busy looking around.
‘Hehehe!’
Everything around her was fascinating and surprising.
While Cyan occasionally took her out, most of the ti they went to desolate places like wilderness or mountains, so she rarely experienced the lively atmosphere of a city.
This was her second city outing since the Imperial Ball, but it was her first ti going out without Cyan, making the experience even more morable.
“…!”
Amidst all this, a sweet aroma that stimulated her appetite wafted over.
Nana imdiately ran towards it.
“Oh my! Little miss, co here! Would you like one?”
“Yes, please! Mister!”
With a satisfied smile, the shop owner handed her a crepe filled with fruit.
Nana thanked him and paid with a single coin.
With anticipation, she finally took a bite of the crepe, and her face lit up with delight.
“It’s delicious!”
Although it was her first outing without a guardian, she had no problems.
She had learned basic economic principles—such as needing money to buy things (the money was stolen from emily)—as well as the importance of avoiding attention-grabbing behavior from books.
“I wonder what Papa is doing?”
Enjoying the tasty treat, thoughts of Cyan naturally ca to her mind as a bonus.
Cyan had once said that she should stay indoors if there was nothing interesting outside, and that when she grew up a bit more, he would let her go out freely.
Nana didn’t mind his words; after all, they ca from her beloved Papa.
But today was different.
While peacefully napping, she was awakened by a strange voice calling her in her dream.
Unlike usual, she felt a sense of lancholy she had never experienced before.
The frustration she had never felt before changed her mind, and eventually, between Brian and Emily’s absence, she decided to sneak out.
Of course, she intended to return in ti, but lost track of ti while enjoying her crepes, and before they knew it, the sun was setting in the western sky.
“Oh no! Brian and Emily are supposed to co back now!”
With the remaining crepe hastily devoured, Nana hurried ho.
Thinking it was a perfect outing without any accidents, and boasting to herself about it as she ran,
“…!”
Suddenly, two burly n blocked her path.
They had rough appearances and belonged to the type that didn’t give off a good vibe at first glance.
For Nana, they were completely unfamiliar faces she had never seen before in her life.
Whether she sensed a negative vibe from them or not, the lively expression on Nana’s face froze for a mont.
At the corner of the street, hidden in the shadows of the setting sun, she briefly escaped the gaze of the surrounding crowd.
Two n were smiling aningfully as they looked at Nana.
“Sniff, sniff!”
As Nana leaned forward to sll them,
*Swoosh!*
Another man appeared from behind and put a mask over her face.
Imdiately, the two n who had appeared first grabbed Nana’s body as if they had been waiting and swiftly ran off towards the alleyway.
All that remained in Nana’s place was lonely dust swirling in the air.
* * *
“Wow, jackpot! We really hit the jackpot today!”
Exclaid the n as they entered their hideout, unable to contain their excitent.
anwhile, the companions who saw her for the first ti couldn’t hide their astonishnt and confusion.
“Huh? What’s this? Did we just kidnap a nobleman’s daughter?”
Though she didn’t have the appearance of nobility written on her face, her refined features were enough to make anyone think she was of noble descent.
“You know what? Once we clean up her background, nobody will even know who she is! Haha!”
“Don’t worry! We already confird that there were no nobles among the recent arrivals in Brenu, so she’s probably the daughter of so wealthy rchant!”
Soon, other n who were elsewhere gathered around, examining Nana with curious eyes.
“Hey! This will cover all our losses and then so, huh? Those rich, bald old guys will especially love her!”
Amidst the indecent conversation and profanity, Nana watched them with a blank expression, not reacting at all.
“Why is she so out of it? Did the shock make her lose her mind?”
They waved their hands in front of her face, poked her chin, trying to get a reaction, but she remained unresponsive.
“Just leave her be! A blank slate like her might even be more popular!”
“The more I look at her, the more intriguing she becos. I’ve seen plenty of slaves, but a girl with pink hair? That’s a first. She doesn’t seem like she’s from the Empire, though.”
Despite the curiosity and interest, that was as far as it went.
Ultimately, to them, Nana was nothing more than a top-grade commodity that would fill their pockets.
“Hey, little lady! You don’t need to be afraid! We’re not bad guys! We’re just trying to help you live a better life!”
As if she knew she shouldn’t believe a word of it, Nana remained unresponsive, watching them with a blank stare.
However, her gaze was sharply focused on the man in front of her.
“Co on, at least smile a bit! Our custors like it! Like this? No? How about this?”
Suddenly, the man opened his mouth wide and let out a bizarre laugh in front of her.
Watching his behavior, the others didn’t intervene but simply watched with interest.
“Hehe…”
Nana, who had been unresponsive for a long ti, suddenly burst into laughter with her mouth wide open.
Surprised by the unexpected reaction, the man began to doubt his eyes.
“W-What’s this?”
Inside her wide-open mouth, two sharp fangs protruded sharply.
It was so bizarre that it was hard to believe it belonged to a human.
“Sll…”
Nana’s hazy black eyes began to change color to a sharp red.
“Eek!”
As the horrified man staggered back, blood gushed in front of his eyes with a cruel sound.
“Aaah!”
With a suffocating scream, the faces of those who watched froze like stone.
“P-Please… spare …!”
The man collapsed on the ground, clutching what remained of his severed arm, writhing in agony.
“Sll… the sll… I can’t resist… the incredibly delicious sll…”
With eyes half-closed and lips sared with blood, her face alone was eerie enough, but that wasn’t the end of it.
“W-What… What did we bring here?!”
So fell to their knees, while others sat down in shock.
Two horns rising from the sides of her head.
Wings spread out on both sides like stretching.
And even a mysterious tail swaying gently.
It is said that humans feel the greatest fear for the unknown.
Now, to them, she was no longer human.
With no knowledge of where she ca from, why she existed, or what purpose she appeared for,
There was only one predator present.
“Thank you for the food….”
As always, Nana’s face was filled with ecstasy as she finished preparing her al.
* * *
“Yeah. I rember that pink-haired little girl! It’s strange that I can’t rember that cute face!”
Asking around about Nana’s whereabouts wasn’t difficult.
They heard from a rchant who was tidying up his shop that she had bought a crepe.
“But how did this kid get the money to buy that?”
Emily rolled her eyes in disbelief.
It was almost audacious to the point of being comndable.
She hadn’t even considered the possibility of Nana taking money out of her own pocket.
“When did she go?”
“Not long ago. Maybe less than an hour? It was getting late anyway, so I thought I’d go ho.”
They got so small clues, but it wasn’t enough to know where Nana had gone.
With the day almost over, there wasn’t much ti left to gather clues from people.
“Why did the kid who had been quiet suddenly do sothing like this? What are we going to do, Brian? Are we going to keep asking questions like this?”
Searching in this way for a situation that might have happened was a waste of ti.
As Brian pondered, a solution ca to mind, and he manifested mana right there.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to use magic to find her.”
When Cyan and Brian started practicing magic and could control mana to so extent, Cyan taught him a spell.
It was a wind-based spell that suited him very well and could be useful for tracking people sotis.
-Ting!
A small green mana orb floated up and suddenly created a gust of wind, enveloping Brian’s face.
“Sniff.”
Suddenly, like a puppy sniffing food, he closed his eyes and started sniffing with his nose.
Watching him, Emily tilted her head.
While it might seem like a magic that could provide a refreshing change of mood by conjuring a cool breeze, it was actually a kind of perception magic that transmitted the scent of blood lurking in the vicinity through the wind.
It was useful for tracking traces as it indicated if sothing unusual had happened where the sll was coming from.
“…!”
Brian’s eyes flickered for a mont as if he had slled sothing.
“Why? Did you find her?”
“Uh, no. It’s kind of hard to say…”
Brian couldn’t easily continue his words.
The faint scent of blood, carried by the breeze, pricked his nose.
One thing was for sure, the scent of Nana’s blood wasn’t mixed in there.
Instead, there was a chaotic mixture of at least ten different blood scents stimulating his sense of sll.
Brian hurriedly ran towards where the sll was coming from.
“Oh, let’s go together, Brian!”
The place wasn’t far away.
It was a slum just off the main road, where the sun didn’t shine.
Beyond a firmly closed wooden door, a strong sll of blood wafted out.
Taking a deep breath, Brian opened the door.
“Oop!”
With a creaking sound, as the door opened, the suppressed sll of blood suddenly flooded in.
Instinctively covering his nose, Brian cautiously looked inside.
“Squeak…”
Although no people were visible, a faint squeaking sound could be heard from sowhere.
It felt eerily similar to the sound Nana made when eating food.
As Brian, who was getting anxious, stepped into the space,
“…!”
He couldn’t utter a word at the incredible sight before his eyes.
“Why? What’s inside, Brian…?”
And then, as Emily followed in, he hastily covered her eyes.
“W-What’s going on? Why are you doing this?!”
“It’s better for you not to see…”
Even so, Brian’s gaze remained fixed on the presence in front of him.
Whether the owner of the sound realized that soone new had arrived, they finally turned their head.
“Are you here, Brian?”
Brian couldn’t answer.
Since his first eting with Cyan, it felt like a cruel and grotesque mont, but today it felt like a new renewal of that feeling.
“I don’t think I’ll be eating dinner tonight…”
Her eyes, full of satiety, were filled with happiness.
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