Her way

"My lady… that wasn't your plan at all…!"

In the evening, by the table of the newly opened fancy restaurant in Jade's city square, a brown-haired maid lowered the fork with a piece of juicy steak and gasped in disbelief.

"I simply changed my plans. It happens."

Melinda shrugged her shoulders, enjoying her own dish.

"But… But…! My lady! Both of the orphanages I've been to are really nice places with attentive and well-behaved pupils diligently studying and learning new things and, more often than not, getting adopted by respected families…! You would become a beloved person in either of those places without issue! There's no reason to involve yourself with some shady place being targeted by thugs! If you feel bothered about such individuals, just say a word, and I will take care of them for you from the shadows!"

The maid cried out, very much upset about the idea of her lady putting herself in danger - or rather getting involved with the criminal underbelly of the foreign country.

"No. It's something I decided on, and I'm not going to change my mind. Adi, this is a direct order - do not try to deal with the situation yourself to mess up my plans. I love you, but I want to feel useful from time to time, too."

"...my lady…"

The gold-haired girl said with a strict expression, making the maid drop her shoulders and mutter with a troubled look on her face.

"I promise not to destroy the city."

"I wasn't even worried about that! I'm worried about you, not this stupid city!"

Melinda smiled dismissively, lowering her gaze back to her plate, but the maid strongly objected to her statement, actually getting teary-eyed.

"You act as if you can't get hurt! Do you want me to worry to death?! What if you get ambushed? Your defense is far below average for your level, and you have no resistance to status effects! Do you even understand what horrible things can happen to you if you get hit with sleep or concussion spells…?! I don't understand why would you even suggest doing something so dangerous!"

"..."

The maid dropped the cutlery and began to actually cry, giving Melinda quite the shock.

The gold-haired girl ended up taking out her handkerchief and putting it to the maid's face with an apologetic smile.

"C-can I at least go with you? I promise I will not try to solve everything for you, but at least I will be there to keep you safe!"

The maid took the handkerchief and wiped her tears before asking.

"No."

"...!?"

But even so, the gold-haired girl shook her head and flat-out refused the proposition, causing the maid to flinch and stare at her in shock.

"Why not?!"

The maid gasped, unable to understand her lady's behavior.

"Just because I believe this will provide a nice challenge. Or my reason is something else entirely. Who knows?"

"..."

Melinda revealed with a casual shrug, leaving the maid utterly speechless.

"I will most likely stay within the city, so there should be no problem with keeping up the party link between us. Oh, but if you notice something going wrong, I want you to first tell Zane so that he will come to my rescue, okay?"

The gold-haired girl added with a cheerful smile, but none of what she said was a laughing matter for the maid.

"Please, reconsider that decision! Challenging yourself isn't bad, but not like this! This isn't some childsplay, you can get hurt…"

"It's great that you are keeping me grounded like that, but that's still a no~"

The maid pleaded, but the girl rejected her with a hum.

—------

A small pawnshop in the slums of Jade City was being robbed.

Two bandits were taking care of the shopkeeper - one holding him from behind, the other one punching him for information about the location of the money stash and other valuables. Another bandit was wreaking havoc in search of anything worth stealing while destroying everything else, and one more was standing by the door with a thick batton at the ready, just waiting for some brave idiot to walk in and attempt to stop the shakedown.

Although truth be told, no one actually expected to be interrupted. The four belonged to a well-known local gang that had all the nearby guards paid off.

"Hello~! I've heard there is a robbery going on! I have some questions ~!"

"?!?!"

For that exact reason, when the door suddenly opened, and a random girl with brown hair and brown eyes entered the pawnshop with a cheer, it took everyone a second or two to comprehend what was happening.

"...!"

The first one to come to his senses was the bandit waiting by the door in case of that exact scenario.

*WHAM*

"...fugh…!"

He gritted his teeth and slammed his weapon straight into the girl's face with all his might, having her head bounce back as she let out a pained cry while her body started to fall to the floor.

But what came next ended up being out of everyone's expectations.

Instead of actually falling down, the girl with a crushed nose and red imprint across her face took a step back, keeping her balance.

*SQUELCH* *thump* *thump*

The next moment, she raised one hand and lifted her index finger towards the one who attacked her - causing a vertical crevice to appear in the opposite wall while the bandit's head and torso turned into red paste while his limbs flew to the sides.

"Hfeah..."

The gold-haired girl moved her hand, opening her palm towards her face, and mumbled through blood gushing out from the broken nose and crushed lips.

She then pointed her finger at a pair of bandits tormenting the shopkeeper, causing their heads to explode - with the taller one losing his whole head while the shorter one lost only the top half, with the exposed jaw spouting blood while the tongue wiggled from the pressure.

"Ptfu! As per my LAST EMAIL…!"

"I GIVE UP! PLEASE! I SURRENDER!"

The girl spat out the remains of the blood from her healed mouth and scoffed with an annoyed frown but got interrupted by the last bandit dropping on his knees and bawling his eyes out with his hands in the air.