The thug continued to threaten Emily with his sword.
But seeing her trembling appearance, he understood she didn’t have the courage to resist him.
He was about to reach out and grab Emily’s wrist, intending to take her home and have some fun with his buddies.
But the next second, an object flew across his field of vision.
The thug slowly moved his gaze to his arm—the arm that should have been attached to his body had vanished into thin air.
“AAAAH!”
With the thug’s heart-rending scream, blood gushed from the severed arm.
Under the intense pain, the thug collapsed to the ground, using his remaining hand to press desperately against the spot where his arm used to be, trying to stop the bleeding.
But how could a wound like that stop bleeding just from that?
“Boss, what happened!”
“What the hell did you do, human!”
Seeing their leader suddenly reduced to such a miserable state, the two underlings blocking the rear questioned Emily with fear.
After all, from their perspective, their boss had only reached his hand toward Emily, and then the hand flew off.
It had to be Emily’s doing.
Emily herself was also startled by the bloody scene and instinctively stepped back.
Though caught off guard by the sudden development, Emily understood that this was definitely Natalie’s doing—Natalie must have saved her from danger.
Even though Natalie was also the one who put Emily in this dangerous situation in the first place.
Taking a deep breath, Emily mustered her courage, stepped over the still-screaming man, and went straight into the depths of the alley.
The underlings wanted to chase after Emily, but their leader’s horrific fate left them with no courage to follow.
They could only watch Emily escape.
Meanwhile, Natalie, hidden in the shadows using her invisibility magic, silently followed Emily.
Natalie admitted that her actions were completely like fishing for enforcement.
If she hadn’t left Emily’s side, those thugs wouldn’t have dared to attack her.
But in Natalie’s view, even if she were fishing for enforcement, it was still those thugs who bit the hook that were at fault.
Of course, that was why Natalie only cut off one of the thug’s hands and let him go.
Otherwise, anyone who tried to touch her woman—how could they appease Natalie’s anger with just one hand?
Natalie would have utterly annihilated that person, reducing them to ashes in the most literal sense.
*
“Should… I be safe now?”
After running for who knows how long, Emily finally exhausted her stamina.
She was panting heavily while looking back to confirm whether those thugs had followed.
After confirming they hadn’t, Emily let out a sigh of relief.
If those thugs were still chasing her, Emily really wouldn’t have known what to do.
“But where is this place…?”
Emily looked around; everywhere were corners and alleys.
The alleyways were intricate and confusing.
Having been focused only on escape, Emily naturally couldn’t recognize the way back.
However, the fact that Natalie had just saved her made Emily realize that even though she couldn’t see her, Natalie must be right by her side.
That thought reassured her a lot.
If she were truly alone and wandering aimlessly in a demon town, Emily would have been so panicked she’d cry.
Though it complicated her feelings that she felt safe because the demon king who kidnapped her was nearby.
After all, Natalie the Demon King was supposed to be the enemy she should worry about the most.
But Emily also understood that Natalie had probably come up with some new way to scare her and had suddenly disappeared.
Once Natalie’s prank was over, she should be able to go back.
Of course, without a map, Emily could only move through the alleys like a headless fly.
Crying?
After walking for a while, a child’s sobbing suddenly reached Emily’s ears.
Hearing the crying, Emily instinctively stopped.
Should I go and check?
Listening to the faint cries, Emily fell into deep thought, worried that this might be another prank by Natalie.
If she went over, she might be attacked by someone suddenly appearing.
Aware of this risk, Emily turned around to move away from the crying, but after a few steps, she turned back and headed toward the sound.
After all, Emily really couldn’t bear to leave a crying girl behind.
If it was fake, she’d just be the victim of another prank by Natalie.
Emily knew that Natalie was still interested in her for now and probably wouldn’t kill her suddenly.
If it was real, she would definitely regret abandoning a crying little girl.
As Emily approached, the crying grew louder.
Reaching a corner, Emily understood that the sound came from this spot.
To suppress her fear, Emily swallowed and then mustered the courage to peek around the corner.
A girl was squatting in the corner, hugging her knees and crying.
Her clothes and skirt were tattered.
Her body was dirty, clearly indicating she hadn’t bathed in a long time.
Of course, what caught Emily’s attention the most were her long fox ears and tail.
Is this a fox-eared girl?
Since this was a demon town, it would actually be stranger if the little girl were human.
The crying fox-eared girl naturally noticed Emily.
“Human!”
Realizing Emily was a human, she fell backward in fright.
“Um, I’m not a bad person…”
The girl ignored Emily’s words.
She looked around for something to throw at her.
Finally, finding nothing, she quickly took off both her shoes.
No way!
Just as Emily expected, the girl threw her shoes straight at Emily’s face.
Emily immediately pulled back, avoiding being hit by the shoes.
As Emily dodged, the barefoot fox-eared girl dashed out from the corner and ran straight in another direction.
Being so hated by such a cute little girl inexplicably hurt Emily.
After all, back in the human town, Emily was a revered saintess.
“Wait!”
Of course, Emily knew this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
If she let a barefoot little girl run around like that, her feet would definitely get hurt.
So Emily quickly picked up the shoes the girl had thrown and chased after her.
And Natalie, hiding in the shadows, silently continued following behind.