The woman named Harlan laughed happily.
The white-haired girl’s excited expression filled her little face, and after a quick hug with her teacher, she eagerly looked at Shami.
"Shami, this is my teacher who guided me on the path of swordsmanship during my adventures outside!"
Upon hearing this, Shami became interested in Harlan.
"Hello, are you Lina’s friend?"
Harlan greeted Shami with a smile.
Shami nodded lightly.
"No, just a villager."
The unexpected profession left her momentarily speechless.
As Harlan’s gaze swept over Shami, Shami sensed this woman’s abilities were definitely strong.
To be Lina’s teacher, she was likely an exceptionally skilled swordsman.
Harlan maintained her smile and looked back at Lina.
"By the way, Lina, my seat is over there. Do you have time to chat with me? It’s been so long since we’ve met; I really miss you~"
"Uh-huh. Please wait for five minutes. I came here with two friends, and I want to inform them."
"No problem. I’ll be waiting over there."
The woman waved goodbye.
"Hey, Lina met her teacher while conquering the Demon King?"
Everyone was curious. Elze, who had been quietly listening, also looked over with interest.
She always thought this white-haired girl was just an ordinary little swordsman. Did she actually participate in defeating the Demon King?
"Then she must be an officially recognized swordsman, right?"
The magical girl asked while eating chocolate-flavored shaved ice.
Lina nodded excitedly.
"And Harlan’s strength is incredible! She also participated in conquering the Demon King, giving me the opportunity to meet her."
Shami felt his pressure increasing.
Conquering the Demon King... does that mean he’ll have to face such formidable individuals in the future too...?
Lureya was still a bit skeptical.
"Uh-huh! By the way, let me tell you a secret. Harlan once secretly told me that her husband is the first hero of Fess Kingdom, Shukas."
"Huh!" The three girls present were familiar with this name.
"Isn’t that the Sword Hero?" Elze exclaimed in surprise.
Wait, this isn’t right! Isn’t Shukas the one who got mocked by Luwaka, with grasslands on his head? So, that woman was his wife!
"Did she make any war contributions during the battle against the Demon King?"
The elf maiden asked.
"Not really. I spent half a year by Harlan’s side training with her. During that time, we encountered three battles, and she would take me to slay small monsters at the edge of the battlefield, leaving the main combat to other adventure parties. But once, a battle saw the appearance of the Demon King."
The girls watched tensely.
"Then, Harlan ventured alone into the enemy camp, fought fiercely overnight, and eventually repelled the Demon King with her strength alone..."
"This is what’s called the backbone, leaving the ordinary demon army to the juniors to let them train, while challenging the strongest Demon King herself."
What nonsense! It was totally a solo escapade! The words ’fought fiercely’ can’t be taken seriously anymore!
"That’s how it happened. Everyone, I’m going to catch up with my teacher for a bit, so you don’t need to wait for me. I’ll return straight to the villa later."
The white-haired girl waved, stood up, and left the booth.
"Shami, your expression is so strange..."
Lureya noticed Shami’s eyebrows were twitching.
"I’m just hoping this teacher doesn’t teach Lina some weird stuff."
Too late, it’s already taught!
The heroic maiden now directly became a demon envoy craving the Demon King’s body!
"I remembered I have something to do, I’ll take my leave first."
But, not allowing Shami to continue pondering, it was already the second day of their journey in the city, there was work to be done, and he rose to leave the booth.
Before long, the magical girl decided to purchase some local specialty magic items, took a stroll around, and left on her own as well.
Lureya sighed in boredom.
Playing alone is no fun at all.
"Elze, do you have the ability to follow someone without being noticed, and even if you’re noticed, they can’t tell who you are?"
The purple-haired girl started to sweat a little.
Hey. Has her identity been discovered?
She actually does have that ability...
"No, no... Miss Lureya..."
"Then let’s return to the villa."
The elf maiden dejectedly ordered three different flavors of shaved ice.
"I guess I’ll just go back and lie on the deck chair. After all, with the Elf Race’s long lifespan, lying down for a day occasionally doesn’t matter."
Shami and the Magical Girl returned fifteen minutes apart.
"Hello, today’s newspaper delivery, please check and receive~"
The dedicated Senmai postman placed a newspaper in the villa’s mailbox.
Elze, in the living room, retrieved the newspaper.
In the small garden, the elf maiden lay motionless on the deck chair.
"Elze, can you tell me about something interesting that happened today?"
Elze headed to the garden, where Shami and Saili were also present.
She opened the newspaper, and the headline was about the Senmai Bank vault robbery, alongside the citywide bounty for the ’Phantom Thief,’ which made her slightly raised lips freeze.
"Uh, the Senmai Bank was robbed, and the newspaper says a total of 200,000 gold coins were stolen."
While drinking water, Shami suddenly spat it all out.
The purple-haired girl’s heart was filled with sullenness, nodding dejectedly.
That 200,000 was almost hers!
Bullshit, he only got a little over 50,000 gold coins in total.
Damn, those bank executives are using this chance to cover up some of the embezzled funds they’ve been pocketing all along, huh.
Lureya and Saili looked at Shami.
Shami coughed. In front of Elze, there was no good way to explain, only finding another opportunity to clarify.
"Is there anything else?"
"There’s one more thing."
Elze continued reading, frowning with confusion.
Because she saw her name again.
"This morning, Senmai City’s three major libraries were all burglarized for different types of books, totaling more than a thousand volumes. Among them were science books, travel books, cookbooks, adult magazines... A card left by the thief claimed it was the work of the ’Phantom Thief.’
Wait, why does she have to bear such a charge too! She didn’t do any of this stuff this morning! Someone’s framing her, using her name to steal books! And who the hell is stealing adult magazines?!
The purple-haired girl looked at the three in shock.
Shami continued to drink water unnaturally.
"This Phantom Thief is quite indescribable... But maybe there’s a reason the Phantom Thief steals books..."
The purple-haired girl was so angry she wanted to explain, but in fact, she didn’t have such a wide range of targets and basically had never stolen books, always borrowing from the library properly.
And even if she were stealing books, she wouldn’t be taking ones like magazines, but the next moment, she saw her alias in the newspaper again.
"This noon, in the Senmai Zoo, a group of Flame-necked Birds was suddenly frozen into ice. In the pavilion, a card stating ’Phantom Thief Hates Long-necked Birds’ was left. It can be confirmed that this incident was likely also the work of the ’Phantom Thief.’"
"Wow, that Phantom Thief sure is active."
The elf maiden sighed.
"This must be a setup, right! Why would the Phantom Thief freeze the long-necked birds without reason! The person is a thief, not a mage!"
The purple-haired girl’s mouth twitched, trying to speak in a calm tone.
Who are those two bastards borrowing her name and using it everywhere! This newspaper could use some thorough thinking! Stop pinning everything on the Phantom Thief’s name! Hurting zoo animals and stealing are two different matters!
Beside the pool, the Magical Girl’s body stiffened for a moment, quickly returning to normal.
"Maybe the Phantom Thief had a sudden idea to see if the Flame-necked Birds could melt the ice with their own flames."
Shami looked straight at the Magical Girl.
No need to explain, the Phantom Thief in the zoo is you, right, Magical Girl! If you’re going to take someone else’s name, at least do something meaningful! If the real Phantom Thief finds out about such boring things, they’ll probably want to tear the newspaper apart!
Just as the words fell.
"Sorry, sorry, I made a mistake when turning the page."
The purple-haired girl hurriedly gathered the half-torn newspaper, her eyebrows twitching uncontrollably.
Don’t let her catch those two bastards, or she’ll surely strip them of their underwear and stroll the streets wearing their faces!