'Thief! Ely quickly chases after that little bastard before he goes far.' Elena exclaimed at once.
"Hey! That's my waffle and my friend's Space Bag! How dare you, little thief boy." Sylvia shouted while raising her hand high. She got the attention of the many people in the street food.
Unfortunately, the thief boy had already escaped from the crowd and ran into the alley. They could not help this young girl but sympathize.
Well, the sympathy or concern from the stranger was simply ignored by the two girls. While Sylvia didn't really care about the others.
Sylvia wasn't waiting or expecting anyone to offer some help or a word of comfort. She quickly ran after the boy who had just turned into the alley between the buildings. "Ais, let's chase that little thief boy. I'll teach him some lessons."
Hearing the running Sylvia's call, Elysia had no other choice but to chase after the thief boy with the Demon Princess.
Two young girls ran and left the seller lady who was selling waffles. That lady's hand stopped in the mid-air as she was about to say something to the two girls who had just bought her waffles.
By the time the street food people started talking about the two girls and the thief boy, Sylvia and Elysia were already running into the alley.
"I bet the thief boy came this way. We haven't met the alley branch yet, so we'll find it if we follow this path." Sylvia thought for a moment as she ran with her friend through an alley that felt a little dark.
"Ah, that's you, the thief boy. Wait there... Hey! Don't run..." Sylvia shouted once again when she saw the thief boy at the crossroads a little way ahead. "Ais, let's run faster. A little magic will help us catch that thief boy faster."
Her calls to get the thief to stop were pointless and futile. How could that not be justified? What kind of thief would want to stop running away if he was ordered by the person who was chasing him?
"Lys, if we follow that path... We'll get out of the downtown area." Elysia reminded Sylvia when they had just turned past the fork in the alley.
"It's fine, Ais. At most, that brat will direct us to the slum area. Don't worry, I'll protect you hehe..." Sylvia giggled and used her magic to make her steps light and fast. She used light step magic.
Elysia let out a light sigh, then immediately caught up with Sylvia to run faster with a little magic. The thief boy's sudden arrival was the unexpected and random variable. The environment at night never made her feel safe. She simply had to make sure she and this Devil Princess were safe.
After a few minutes of running to catch up with the thief boy, they did come out of the downtown area and into a relatively quiet place.
It was several times that they had seen the thief boy up ahead and turned alley after alley. However, only Elysia and Elena felt that something was amiss. Sylvia was a little careless and kept chasing after the thief without thinking about some strange oddities.
'Sister Elena, isn't this strange? We use light steps to run at speed two to three times faster... But the thief boy is still in front of us, not overtaken yet.' Elysia conferred with Elena for a while as Sylvia seemed unable to hear much advice in the discussion.
'Yes, this is so weird... The boy seemed to be deliberately waiting for us at every intersection of alleyways. He also used magic to speed up his running speed. Or maybe... Is he directing us somewhere? All the places here are foreign to us... Ely, please be careful.' As an observant spectator, it was easy for Elena to notice the odd thing around them.
Shortly after that, they came to a dead-end alley. The thief boy was cornered as if he was looking for the escape way, but there was no other way but to turn around. Elysia and Sylvia were already standing there, so there was no way out for this thief boy unless he could jump over a three-story building wall.
"Haa! Where are you running again, you thief boy? Now, return the white Space Bag to us. It belongs to my friend. If you return it peacefully, we will not report you to the city guards." Sylvia gave a big smile as the boy they were chasing got cornered with no other escape path.
At that moment, She felt as if she was a cat who managed to trap a mouse in a corner with no way out. It was just that she was not a predator willing to prey on it, but only to end the nightly chase as soon as possible and as peacefully as possible.
The thief boy turned around with a surprised, slightly scared, and sweaty face. He slowly retreated and rested his back against the dead-end wall. He was looking for an opening to sneak out of the gap between the two girls blocking his escape.
"Big... Big sisters... Please forgive me, don't send me to the city guards... I'm just starving and penniless. I have no other way... I have to take care of my elderly mother and little sister." The thief boy spoke of excuses for forgiveness.
"Stealing is still stealing. It's always the victim who loses because of loss. There is no reason to justify stealing, and we are the victims here. I don't care about others, but I don't want to be victims." Sylvia said it as if she thought theft was terrible if the victim was herself or the people around her.
Maybe, if the victim of a robbery or thief was someone else like she said... She would close one eye and pretend she didn't know. She just didn't want to feel like the victim and the aggrieved party.
Elysia and Elena became somewhat astonished and smiled wryly at Sylvia's words. This Devil Princess said that even though she knew about her father... Ah, never mind...
The two of them simply put it out of their minds for some apparent reason.
"But don't be afraid. You just need to return my friend's Space Bag, and you can go home. We won't report you to the city guards or give you any meaningful punishment..." Sylvia tried to calm the thief boy.
"If you are really poor and hungry, we can help you with some money and hot food. You can use that for your mother and sister. But, please don't steal anymore. I'm sure there are a lot of various miscellaneous jobs in this city willing to pay wages to minors who have a will." Sylvia did not forget to emphasize the way out.
She smiled a little when she saw the thief boy seemed tempted by her words. Everything she said was not without reason. She just wanted to know how it feels to make people repent.
Elysia was too focused on what was going on in front of her. She didn't pay too much attention to the things further behind her. Just as Sylvia took one step forward to approach the thief boy, suddenly a strange sound broke out from behind them.
*shiu*
*shiu*
'Ely, there's an attack coming from behind! Watch out!' Elena exclaimed in a state of emergency and urgency.
"Aw." Sylvia felt like she was being pricked in the back of her neck. Still, it was nothing more than being bitten by a tiny mosquito and had absolutely no effect on her body.
Elysia's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she quickly dodged the attack from something like needles and turned behind Sylvia. The Devil Princess had been hit by the sneak attack. She decided to protect the Devil Princess's back.
The two strikes that were launched only hit one target out of two. Because of that, immediate follow-up attacks were launched several more times to attack the girl clad in the white adventurer robe.
*shiu* *shiu* *shiu*
The attacks that were coming were clearly visible in Elysia's eyes. She swiftly formed an air shield to deflect all of the extra thin needles.
Her advanced perception helped find out who was attacking them from a hidden alley some distance away. There were two people dressed in black complete with black cloth covering their heads like ninja thieves.
One fat and one skinny, the two of them were the perpetrators of this ambush.
Elysia suspected that all of this had been planned, but there were still many questions that remained. There was already someone who was eyeing Sylvia, was this girl's identity exposed and ended up being targeted by the assassin?
"Ely, are we under attack?" Sylvia asked with an innocent expression as she pulled a small needle from the back of her neck. She didn't feel any effect even though she knew there was poison in that tiny needle.
Such weak poison could not invade her body or cause harm to her. She was a Devil Saint not just simply because of name and gift but the real deal, only without enough experience.
Elysia protected Sylvia right behind him. She focused on the two assassins holding the flute-like weapons. "Yes, we are under attack. Let's ru..."
Unfortunately, her words could not be finished. There was an attack from behind. Even Elena was late to realize the boy behind them was also a perpetrator.
*shiu*
"Uhh..." Elysia felt a needle prick her neck from behind. Suddenly her vision became blurry, and her body went limp... She fell unconscious.
'Ely!' Elena shouted dramatically from within the Soul Realm.