Chapter 31: The Witch is Saved by You

The girl clutched the knife in both hands, her only source of security, and the overly fat, even pants that dragged down to the ground, dark green wide pants, bulged and rattled from the constant shaking of her legs.

Clearly a mugger in his own right.

But the unease, the fear, was more like that of a tormented victim who looks unintimidating.

“Stop …… give me the bread!”

The girl realized her shortcomings.

Trying to put on a menacing face, she turned the sharp tip of her blade on Xu System, like a young animal with its new teeth bared, while shouting loudly and hysterically for Xu System to stop approaching her.

Her gaze was filled with longing, firmly locked on the white bread covered with teeth marks and half bitten in Xu’s hand.

Can’t help it.

A voice that has long been dry and devoid of moisture.

Swallowed hard.

To be honest, the atmosphere of the scene was weird, one might even say dramatically grotesque and ridiculous.

In the early morning hours, the great steam engines of the city of Ellenson were roaring to life, and the mighty, vast vapor, which covered the dome with a miraculous gesture, now and then a mage figure flew through it.

In a remote alleyway where no one has noticed, the half-demon girl, a human-demon hybrid, armed with a ridiculous-as-hell knife, tries to rob the windbag of Ellenson City.

The Xu line that claimed to be a full-fledged mage to the outside world, but was in fact an elite mage by name.

Things like that.

More illogical than the mythological epics sung by wandering poets.

Even putting aside Xu’s status as a mage, the physical qualities of an adult male alone could easily subdue this weak demon girl.

But the Hsu system didn’t do that.

“Hungry?” , without releasing a spell to punish this demonic maiden who had been so disrespectful to him, or making a harsh reprimand, the Xu system merely looked at her calmly and asked.

The girl paused slightly in her movements and nodded softly.

“Here.”

Xu Xiang tore off the topmost bitten portion and handed the remaining bread to the girl, who didn’t catch it right away but looked at Xu Xiang warily from afar.

Dazed and confused eyes flashed.

She never seemed to think that she would get food so easily.

One step.

Two steps.

The girl carefully moved her feet, holding the knife in one hand and grasping towards the bread with the other, approaching the Xu system a little bit with an extremely cautious stance.

After grabbing the bread, he fled back into the depths of the alley with speed.

Hunkered down on a rotting wooden crate in the corner of the alley wall.

Feet in yellow, greasy, muddy puddles.

Under the watchful eye of Xu Department, he first tasted it in small bites, and after confirming that there was no problem, he immediately swallowed it in big gulps.

……

“I’ve heard that true pure-blooded Demons have extraordinarily strong body organs that can endure up to a year of starvation, in which they can survive normally on magic power alone.”

“According to this, a half-demon race with a human-demon hybrid should also inherit part of the ability to endure hunger.”

Look at the girl who wolfed it down.

The Xu system shook its head.

He couldn’t imagine how long the girl had been in exile, and what kind of experiences she had had, to become this miserable mess of filth and bruises all over her body.

After a while, the demon girl finished the white bread in her hand.

She once again looked at Xu Xiang, or more accurately, stared with those empty, lifeless eyes at the crumbly piece of bread with Xu Xiang’s bite mark on it that she had just torn out of his hand.

Only at this time.

The sight of food brought only a slight craving to her eyes.

“Can ……… give …… to me…?”

Perhaps it was the act of giving food by the Xu system that had boosted some of her goodwill, and instead of threatening with a knife this time, the girl stuttered and inquired.

Unconscious.

With so much as a hint of ingratiation and begging.

The skinny, bony body rose from the rotting wooden crate, stumbling toward the Xu system with its bare paws in the muddy water and dirt and sand.

Trying to grab the breadcrumb slice in the Xu system’s hand.

However–

Xu System simply ignored the girl, directly throwing the crumbly piece of bread into his mouth, and then, without looking back, left the alley, leaving the girl with a distant back.

“For …… why ……”

The girl froze.

The eyes that had been flooded with a bit of brightness once again turned back to listlessness and dullness.

With an off-balance foot, the whole person fell to the ground, landing on the slippery and stinky alleyway, pain coming on, and even bright red blood coming out from his forehead.

The girl did not wail, for she had long been accustomed to it.

She didn’t get up either, remaining in the position she fell in, lost in the muddy water.

“Mom…did I do it wrong again ……”

“Mom ……”

“Why is this happening …… I’m so hungry…I’m so hungry, mom ……”

The hunger struck again, and the fatal convulsions that twisted her abdomen, far more intense than the pain of a bleeding forehead, caused the girl to wail all at once.

She curled up, her hands over her belly, and kept tossing and turning in the muddy water.

As if that would make it less painful.

Wanted to cry, but that emotion had been lost long ago, completely damaged in one desperate attempt.

In the end, he could only end up with a crumbling look, eyes lifeless and dull, lying in the muddy water looking up at the sky, quietly waiting for death to come.

Die so you don’t starve ……

Such pristine thoughts flashed through her mind.

But just then, a sound of footsteps came from a short distance away, getting closer and closer until they came up to the demonic girl.

Large, warm, strong hands pulled the young girl to her feet, and she saw that the owner of the hands was the young man from before, who had not only returned, but had brought back new bread.

“Eat.”

“The previous bread was not very clean as I had bitten into it, so you eat these new ones.”

The Xu system said.

Didn’t care about the stench of the girl’s body and the muddy water dripping from all over her body.

Stretching out his palm, he released level 5 life magic, utilizing the massive life magic to restore the girl’s wounds.

Then he lifted the girl off the ground again.

Let her sit in a cleaner spot and eat her bread.

“……”, the girl was bewildered throughout, seemingly unable to comprehend the developments.

Until the Xu system handed her the bread.

It took her a moment to respond, taking one bite after another, mechanically biting into the bread to eat.

The bag of bread was quickly wiped out.

Using water magic again, the Xu system summoned a large ball of water, which was used to rehydrate the girl as well as clean the dirt off her body.

Finally.

The Xu system half crouched down so that her eyes were level with the girl’s.

Do your best to appear mild-mannered.

Reaching out to the girl who was also flesh and blood, who really existed, in a foul-smelling alleyway filled with filth and chaos that even rats didn’t want to inhabit.

Send a simple invitation like this:

“Come with me.”

The girl, who had been as quiet as a doll, looked at Department Xu with lifeless eyes, like a puppet doll to be manipulated, not a trace of self visible on her face.

She still hadn’t comprehended what was happening, but there was that inner urge that drove her, that told her.

So she did as she was told.

Hands slowly clasped the palms of the man in front of her.

“Good ……”

The voice trembled.