Alice didn’t consider herself a kind child. After all, when Nisha crushed the body of an enemy, all she felt was unbelievable shock and a bit of luck, there was no compassion, no guilt. Because of that, she thought she could already consider herself a ruthless killer, with a pile of blood debts…

  Even if she didn’t fully understand the meaning of those words yet, she felt it wasn’t wrong to use them to describe herself.

  So, if she wasn’t a “good person,” did that mean she could hurt innocents to gain an advantage?

  “Come to think of it, maybe not being a good person isn’t such a bad thing, right, Nisha? In that case, I could take the important medicine without a guilty conscience. My shoulder hurts so much…”

  Feeling the throbbing pain from the wound, feeling the cutting cold of the dark night, the girl began, without realizing it, to make up her mind.

  Yes, she needed food, clothes, medicine, money... Before, when reading books about times of famine when humans turned to cannibalism, Alice couldn’t understand how wild instinct could overcome precious wisdom and humanity.

  But now, having felt the pain of being on the brink of death herself, she was beginning to understand, even if vaguely, the despair of the “savage” and the suffering of “wisdom.”

  Humanity is sometimes a burden, and thinking is often a real prison. However, abandoning that burden and those soul-bound chains might be much harder than most people imagine.

  That’s why, perhaps in this world… only someone like Nisha, truly free of worries, could experience perfect happiness.

  “……”

  “Nisha, listen, Nisha… I’m thinking of doing something. I need your help.”

  With no more room for hesitation, Alice clenched her teeth; she felt as if her very blood was slowly freezing.

  She shook her head, resigned, and turned abruptly to give her little ghost some instructions. After all, she only wanted to take supplies from the store, there was no need for Nisha to cause a scene or kill innocents.

  But… just when Alice was about to reveal her “looting” plan, a sound from deep within the alley cut her words short.

  It was the voice of a woman calling for help between sobs and the aggressive threats of several men.

  “Help! Someone… someone help me, please!”

  “Shut up! We don’t want to kill anyone, so you’d better stay quiet and let the three of us have some fun. Otherwise, I’ll rip your eyes out!”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Stop saying crap! A pretty girl like this gets even hotter when she resists. Let’s finish this quick. If any busybody sees this, we could have trouble.”

  “Busybody? If someone sticks their nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll kill them on the spot!”

  “……”

  “Is this… one of those absurd scenes from cliché movies?”

  Turning silently to look into the dark alley, Alice, who had heard everything, stood somewhat stunned.

  It was obvious that what was happening at that moment was the classic scene from movies where delinquents harass an innocent girl. But, unlike the almost comical tone of the movies, what was happening in that alley was a true, pure, and cruel abuse.

  The three thugs were armed with knives and showed clear aggression. After the threat to gouge out her eyes, the young woman who had been crying for help no longer seemed to be resisting.

  All Alice could hear now was the victim’s stifled sobs and the cruel laughter of the aggressors.

  It seemed that if no one acted, the alley of Flaren would witness yet another despicable crime. And a young girl might suffer unimaginable abuse.

  “At times like this, usually a ‘prince charming’ shows up to save the damsel, right? If I go help, would it be a ‘damsel saves damsel’ story? Doesn’t even rhyme, doesn’t sound right. And it must be past midnight… would any sensible girl still be walking alone in such an obviously dangerous alley?”

  Tilting her head in confusion, Alice didn’t even realize that she herself was, in fact, a “girl wandering through a dangerous alley in the middle of the night.”

  But at that moment, her thoughts were turning toward something much crueler than the classic tale of a hero saving the maiden.

  Suddenly, she remembered a conversation between older students at school. One of them bragged that street delinquents always carried a lot of money, wore brand-name clothes, and carried special medicine to treat wounds after fights.

  Most importantly, they said, those delinquents followed a “code of honor”! Even if a companion died, they couldn’t call the guards! It was just the fault of those who “didn’t know how to defend themselves properly.”

  Okay, that theory might have sounded a little weird, but Alice thought that, just this once, it might be worth believing the seniors.

  After all, compared to the innocent convenience store clerk, those cruel delinquents were certainly true “villains,” and if she could get money from them, buying medicine and food wouldn’t be a problem.

  “According to the logic of criminals, if they die, it’s just because they ‘didn’t study properly,’ right? Though I have no idea what they study, or if they take college entrance exams… If their buddies can’t call the guards… then we can be a little more daring, Nisha.”

  Talking to herself as she looked at the small ghost floating in the air, Alice had already made her “perfect” decision.

  She had to admit: since learning from her father’s notebooks that the Empire had special methods for dealing with “ghosts,” Alice still feared the imperial guard.

  At least until she better understood what the “Idealist Limiter” was, she intended to act discreetly.

  Undoubtedly, robbing a store would be something “flashy.” After all, in the movies she had seen, criminals who tried to rob convenience stores almost never got away, sometimes even less than those who robbed banks.

  But killing a few thugs…

  Well, in any movie, delinquents are the most disposable extras, right? That’s what it means to be discreet!

  Yes, exactly: kill!!

  “To deal with villains, they must be completely exterminated.”

  It was the favorite phrase of the news reporters in the kingdom of Astralis.

  Before, Alice had always thought the idea of “extermination” was barbaric and senseless. But after everything that had happened that night…

  She had to admit, she was really tired. Very, very tired.