Chapter 80: Lion’s Territory? A Fly’s Sewer!

At this moment, Eric seemed to find sitting here too boring, so he stood up and wandered around the shop.

Like a fierce lion patrolling his own territory.

He was in a good mood.

A few days ago, because a brown-haired girl from the countryside looked down on him, he brought people to bully her.

But unexpectedly, Liyakade suddenly appeared, rubbed his dignity into the ground, and even made him swear not to bully his classmates again.

At that time, Eric had no choice but to back down.

After returning, even the girls who used to admire him stopped following him, and he lost some of his little brothers as well.

Faced with such humiliation, how could Eric just let it go?

Though he wasn’t as strong as Liyakade in terms of force, he was sure that his reputation and public image were far better than hers.

So, he investigated the activities Liyakade had reported during the Cultural Festival.

Although the list included a Princess, which surprised Eric, he thought that a righteous Princess couldn’t possibly be associated with someone like Liyakade.

It must have been a random assignment within the class that landed the Princess with Liyakade.

However, Eric also found Alice on the list, which made him secretly pleased.

In the eyes of a Noble like Eric, commoners were unclean, inherently low-born.

He felt Alice didn’t even deserve to attend the Academy.

If he just stirred up a little trouble, the reputation of Liyakade’s shop would naturally suffer.

To further suppress them, Eric chose a shop of the same type—a bakery—to directly steal all of Liyakade and her friends’ customers.

And the facts proved Eric’s rumor tactics were effective; his little brothers had already reported that their shop had very few customers left.

Thinking about their distress over the lack of customers brought Eric joy.

But as he patrolled, he sensed something was off.

He noticed that the shop now had very few customers inside; people came and went at the entrance, but no one entered, and the bread on the shelves had already gone cold.

Confused, he stepped outside and faintly heard people around him talking.

“This shop’s bread isn’t clean at all. The kitchen staff don’t even wear work uniforms or gloves.”

“Seriously? I just bought some.”

“It’s true. See for yourself.”

“Bring it here!”

Eric stepped forward, snatched the item from a passerby, and found it was a photo.

The photo showed Eric’s kitchen staff, none of whom were wearing work uniforms.

“What!”

Eric stared at the photo in disbelief.

Before he could react, another commotion erupted nearby.

“Ugh…”

A customer who had just bought bread made a dry retching sound, still holding a half-eaten loaf.

Seeing Eric come out, the customer walked straight up to him.

“Is this how you make bread?”

He held the bread up to Eric’s face.

Inside, a strand of hair was embedded, clearly not planted by the customer but mixed in during production.

“I’ve had enough!”

The customer threw the bread on the ground and walked away.

“As a Noble, you can’t even maintain basic hygiene? I’m going to report you to the Academy!”

With this outburst, the surrounding voices of discontent grew louder.

Eric rushed back into the kitchen, only to find that, indeed, none of his staff were wearing work uniforms.

“Lord Eric? Why aren’t you outside?”

“Idiots!”

Ignoring his little brother’s greeting, Eric slapped him hard across the face.

“How dare you work without wearing uniforms?”

“…Uh.”

The little brother, stunned by the sudden slap, felt his face burning with pain and anger.

Even if Eric was a high Noble and there was a status gap, they were still classmates in the Academy.

Combined with the previous incident, Eric’s ugly behavior had made them lose respect for him.

“It’s so hot in here. Why don’t you try working yourself?”

The words seemed to ignite the anger of the other little brothers, and they began to verbally attack Eric as well.

“Yeah, it’s easy for you to stand outside and talk while it’s cool!”

“You—you all!”

Eric glared at them in fury.

Not only had the girls deserted him, but now even his little brothers dared defy him.

It was all Liyakade’s fault!

All because of that woman!

Eric’s expression twisted, and he crushed the photo in his hand.

He ran out of the shop to the back, trying to find the person who took the photo based on the angle, but there was no one in the trees.

Eric returned to the shop, feeling like a fly trapped in circles.

But then, something even more humiliating happened.

“Mouse! There’s a mouse!”

The last remaining customer screamed and ran out of the shop.

At that moment, a mouse was standing stupidly on the bread rack.

“Enough!”

Eric drew his sword, not caring if blood splattered in the shop or on the bread.

He just wanted to vent, even if it was on a mouse.

However, although the mouse looked dumb, it dodged Eric’s swings with ease each time.

Then it lightly leaped, stepped on Eric’s head, landed on the floor, and ran into the small woods behind the shop.

“You…”

Eric felt his lips twitch.

When luck is bad, even a mouse can trample you.

He bared his teeth and chased after it.

Why care about the shop now?

Today, Eric was going to kill this mouse first.

“Haaah!”

He chased for a while, and the mouse stopped.

Eric swung his sword heavily, but still missed.

The mouse jumped aside and then darted away at an incredible speed.

“Don’t run!”

Eric tried to give chase, but the moment he stepped forward, something heavy crashed onto his back.

“Thud—”

Eric fell face-first into the dirt.

“Who!?”

Furious at being ambushed, Eric was even angrier now.

No matter who it was, he’d beat them up.

“It’s me. What’s wrong?”

A chilling voice came from ahead.

“You!”

Eric propped himself up slightly, looked forward, and saw a figure every Noble would recognize—the Kingdom’s Third Princess, Field.

“……Good day, Your Highness.”

It was as if something stuck in Eric’s throat.

His anger was instantly extinguished.

He awkwardly greeted Field from the ground.

Suddenly, he felt an even greater force pressing down on his back.

His barely propped-up body collapsed onto the ground again.

“Two or three days without seeing you, and you’re already itching for trouble, huh.”

Liyakade stood above Eric, smiling as she stepped on his back.

“You—you two? Could it be—?”

Only then did Eric realize that the shop’s ruined reputation and the series of strange events were all caused by Liyakade and Field.

And Field really was working with Liyakade.

“What? Only you are allowed to play dirty, but we can’t fight back?”

As Liyakade spoke, she twisted her heel on Eric’s back with added force.

“Hiss…”

“If you dared target us, you should have expected this outcome.”

Field looked down at Eric coldly, as if he were trash.

She turned to leave.

“Liyakade, he’s all yours.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Liyakade saluted Field playfully, then jumped off Eric and walked in front of him.

Of course, she pinned him to the ground with wind pressure, not allowing him to get up.

“Didn’t you say commoners knead flour with their feet?”

Eric looked at the small shoe before him, feeling a bad premonition.

“I was going to let you taste the sole, but that feels like a reward, so I’ll pass.”

Liyakade shrugged helplessly, indicating she wouldn’t do it.

“So…”

Eric breathed a sigh of relief.

However—

The next second, he suddenly felt something furry burrow into his mouth.

Just as he was exhaling, he instantly became short of breath, and the furry thing writhed wildly inside.

“Go, Mouse Mouse! Punish this villain for me!”

“Uuuuaaah—”

Realizing it was a mouse in his mouth, Eric struggled even more desperately.

But pinned down, he couldn’t resist, and soon rolled his eyes and fainted.

“Alright, Mouse Mouse, thank you for your hard work.”

With that, Mouse Mouse jumped out of Eric’s mouth, looking dazedly left and right, then stomped on Eric’s head and ran off.

“Whew—”

Liyakade wiped the sweat from her forehead, complaining with some dissatisfaction.

“Hey, I’m really scared of mice, you know! Yet you insisted I control it!”

Liyakade truly feared mice—their creepy appearance, thin short limbs, and twitchy movements were horrifying.

When Field asked her to try controlling the mouse, Liyakade’s first reaction was to refuse.

She not only feared mice but had never tried this before.

She knew the original Liyakade had this skill, but she hadn’t used it herself.

Now she had to control a mouse and stare into its eyes.

She was terrified it would jump onto her face.

But for Alice, and to punish Eric, Liyakade still went through with it.

She stared at the mouse for a full minute before successfully controlling it.

Luckily, it worked out in the end.

They had completely crushed Eric’s bakery.

Now they could go back.

However, this crisis wasn’t fully resolved yet.

They had only eliminated the source of the rumors and their competitor, but hadn’t reversed the impact the rumors had caused.