At the age of thirteen, Emilia embarked on quest tasks alongside Oleg. Inheriting her parents’ talents, she soon awakened to her combat occupation as a mage.
However, when faced with the life-threatening trials of the level 20 advancement bottleneck, Emilia chose to abandon her pursuit.
Oleg could surmise the reasons: her parents’ departure had cast a long shadow over Emilia. Her fear of perilous battles and death was understandable.
As it happened, Oleg had just retired from the frontlines to become the branch chief of The Quest Guild, so Emilia decided to follow him and take up a position as a receptionist.
At that time, the bounty hunters were somewhat hostile towards Emilia’s demi-human identity, but under Oleg’s protection, no one dared to harm her.
Eventually, through her outstanding professional skills and increasingly alluring appearance, Emilia not only dissolved others’ hostility but also gained the support of Sunny Town’s bounty hunters.
To this day, if an outsider sought to trouble Emilia, the guild members would stand up to protect her.
This is the story of Emilia.
In the end, Oleg casually reminded Tyler of something he still remembers vividly:
-“There’s a young man named Nassar, who is ardently pursuing Emilia.”
Tyler knew that Oleg was hinting at something.
(Both Granny Kana and Oleg were so sensitive about matters of the heart…)
.
As work hours came to an end under the moonlight, Tyler spotted Emilia’s figure emerging from the entrance of The Quest Guild.
He hurried downstairs to follow her, watching her fluffy tail sway back and forth as she walked, his heart slightly stirred.
If he could hold that tail, stroke it, and nuzzle against it, it must be quite comforting!–such thoughts definitely DID NOT cross Tyler’s mind.
Afterward, Tyler trailed Emilia as she went grocery shopping, chatted with elderly folks, watered a wilting flower on the roadside, and finally returned home.
This round of surveillance yielded Tyler two crucial pieces of information:
Emilia was accustomed to cooking for herself.
Emilia’s home address.
As for what Emilia did at home, that was beyond Tyler’s purview.
.
Having concluded the surveillance, Tyler took advantage of the night and ventured to the outskirts of Sunny Town to hunt.
Relying on his appraisal ability, he bagged a floral rat and a wolverine within three hours, earning 160 points of production occupation experience and returning with a bounty.
Production Occupation: Hunter_Lv3
Experience: 50+160↑/800
The next morning, as per his routine, Tyler used some of his magic power to level up his “Deceiver” skill to level 9.
Intelligence Attribute: 86+10
Magic Power Maximum Value: 860+100
Tyler had a premonition that something different might happen when the skill reached level 10.
However, for now, he needed to hurry to Emilia’s house, as he planned to start tailing her from the moment she left home.
It is worth mentioning that Master Tyler did not endorse such shadowing methods, for they were neither ethical nor entirely legal.
If it weren’t for the pressing time constraints, he would have been reluctant to resort to such extreme measures.
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━━━━━━━━━
〖Prison Star Calendar〗
〖Year 187, June 13〗
〖6:13 AM〗
〖Countdown to Confession Death: 7 days〗
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Tyler believed he had arrived quite early, yet Emilia had set out even earlier than he had anticipated.
Fortunately, he caught sight of her figure on the street and promptly followed her.
At the crack of dawn, Emilia first visited a tailor’s shop, where she stayed for about half an hour.
When she emerged again, Tyler noticed that her tail had lost a significant amount of its fluffy fur; the tailor then handed her a bag of money at the door. Ah, she had sold the fur from her tail.
Having received the money, Emilia proceeded to the market and purchased a generous amount of long-lasting foods.
She then walked alone to a remote residential area.
As Emilia arrived, Tyler observed women and children emerging from the houses in the neighborhood.
From their tattered clothing and gaunt appearances, it was easy to deduce that these people were living hand to mouth.
Tyler even overheard a child telling an adult that they had seen plump rats at night, suggesting they could catch and eat them.
Emilia’s intention, however, was to distribute the foods she had just bought among these people.
“Thank you, Sister Emilia!”
“Sister Emilia, can you pat my head?”
“Me too, me too!”
The children were all very fond of Emilia, and she smiled, hugging them.
Indeed, Emilia smiled—a sight Tyler had never seen before. He realized that her smile was her most beautiful expression.
(…She’s just like I was before, her true “heart” hasn’t died.)
Tyler cautiously moved closer, just far enough to confirm the identities of these impoverished people using his identification ability.
As he had suspected, they were all demi-humans disguised as ordinary humans. Among them were deer-kin, cat-kin, snake-kin , and others, who appeared to have banded together to help each other through adversity.
(The branch chief probably doesn’t know about this, does he…?) 𝒐𝔳𝒍xt.𝐂𝒪𝑀
(If they sought the branch chief’s help, perhaps these people could find stable employment and support themselves… Why doesn’t Emilia do that?)
With lingering questions, Tyler continued to follow Emilia.
After providing aid to the impoverished demi-humans, she went to The Quest Guild as scheduled, and Tyler returned to the inn to observe and refine his skills, also affixing a second little fox to the window.
.
When Emilia finished work, Tyler resumed his surveillance.
Her day unfolded just like yesterday: shopping for groceries, engaging in casual conversations, and returning home to cook.
(Silly Nissen: My goodness, doesn’t-o she have any hobbies or interests? Surely she doesn’t spend-o every day like this?)
The stupid loli was dumbfounded, and Tyler found Emilia’s monotonous daily routine somewhat perplexing.
However, Tyler believed that no one could live without hobbies, and that if he kept observing, he would eventually discover something different.
The problem was… time was growing increasingly scarce.
.
That night, Tyler visited the Cat Girl Restaurant as usual, already well-acquainted with the place.
As he was about to sit down, someone called out to him from behind.
“Banning!”
(This voice is…)
Tyler turned around, and it was Marik, the leader of the Traveling Merchant Caravan!
“Mr. Marik! When did you arrive?”
“We just arrived tonight. I didn’t expect to run into you so soon!”
As the two conversed, a dark shadow suddenly descended from above, exclaiming “Wuwa~!” and latching onto Tyler’s head!
“Big brother!”
“Big brother! Big brother! Big brother!!!”
Recognizing the soft sensation and the sweet, milky scent, Tyler instantly knew it was Tocchini.
Only Tocchini’s “flying head hug” would not trigger an attack judgment from his Divine Eye of Transcendence.
“Hehe~ Tocchini, you’re such a child… Banning, it seems we’re fated to meet again.”
Then, Granny Kasi approached with a smile. Seeing everyone, Tyler felt a warm sense of familiarity.
However, upon discerning Granny Kasi’s inner thoughts, his heart instantly chilled.
–(I’ve finally found you, Banning. “Earth Ghost” is waiting for me to report your coordinates.)