Thump-
Elsie rushed into Han Doyun’s house and collapsed. Her long silver hair cascaded down, scattering messily on the floor.
“Huff-”
Exhausted, Elsie took a deep breath and thought.
The infamous, mysterious monster she’d only heard rumors about had appeared in front of her house.
Even the monster’s characteristics, which she had assumed were exaggerated, matched perfectly.
‘Why did something like that have to be in front of my house…’
If it was because the area was secluded and sparsely populated, it was certainly a suitable place.
Still, she felt the timing was incredibly unfair.
To be caught up in this when her powers were restricted.
‘It could have appeared a day later…’
At least in a day, her power would have recovered enough to be able to use her energy.
“Sigh.”
Elsie, shaking, got up, put Gambanteinn away, and turned to look at Han Doyun, who was standing blankly at the door.
“What are you doing at the door?”
“Oh, it’s just…”
Han Doyun trailed off, scratching his head, his face slightly flushed.
‘Does he really have a fever…’
Just as Elsie was starting to worry about Han Doyun’s health, he opened his mouth.
“More importantly, Elsie. Tell me in detail. Is it true that the rumored monster appeared at your house?”
“It’s true. Why else would I have run away like crazy? I was really surprised. Everything Thrud said was true.”
“No way… that ridiculous rumor was real?”
Han Doyun asked in disbelief, and Elsie crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes shut.
The shocking and chilling moment still flashed vividly in her mind.
A large bird that definitely didn’t look like a chicken was breathing fire from its mouth. Next to it was a shirtless silver-haired man.
Except for the fact that the large bird didn’t seem like a chicken, it matched the rumors exactly.
And there was also a talking hawk that wasn’t mentioned in the rumors.
Elsie instinctively shuddered.
What would have happened if she hadn’t run away immediately?
She would have definitely been subdued and had her panties stolen, just like the rumors said.
Elsie stealthily reached down and pulled down her skirt, instinctively crossing her legs.
“Unbelievable… a chicken breathing fire and a shirtless monster really existed…”
“I’m telling you.”
“And you happened to run into them in front of your house?”
“Yes! I’m usually not scared of anything, but you know, because the rumors were so ridiculous… Anyway, I was really surprised! People are the scariest!”
Elsie had ended up experiencing the situation she had feared.
Doyun, who had secretly followed and watched her, clenched his fist tightly.
He felt bad for Thrud, who had asked him to look after Elsie, but he was more worried about Elsie’s feelings after encountering the monster.
‘A monster really existed, and Elsie ran into it… Then…’
Doyun’s gaze naturally drifted towards Elsie’s lower body as she pulled down her skirt and fidgeted with her legs.
Was she doing that because she felt empty? He blushed at the unnecessary thought.
“Um…”
Elsie’s eyes narrowed at Han Doyun’s inability to speak and his gaze drifting lower.
The location of his blatant gaze. What it meant was clear.
“Hey. I ran away immediately, so my panties weren’t stolen, okay? Do you know how hard I ran because I was afraid I’d end up like the rumors?!”
Hmph-
Elsie snorted dismissively and put her hands on her hips.
“I really didn’t get them stolen, okay? If you want, I’ll show you… No. I’m too embarrassed for that. Anyway, they weren’t stolen, you idiot!”
“Oh… okay.”
“Anyway… thanks. I was able to hide thanks to you. I thought that guy was going to chase me.”
Elsie smiled slightly and approached Han Doyun. She raised her hand and lightly tapped his shoulder, giving him a thumbs up.
The scent she emitted as she got closer.
“I’m glad you’re okay. Really.”
Feeling his face flush, Doyun subtly moved away from Elsie.
He desperately clung to his reason and went inside the house.
It felt very strange to have Elsie, who had an unreal appearance, in his very realistic house.
“Sit down on the chair for now. You look tired, so calm down a bit. I’ll get you something to drink.”
Elsie nodded and finally had a chance to look around Han Doyun’s house.
The staircase structure leading to the second floor was the same as her house, but the size was twice as large.
‘I heard he lives alone, but it’s huge.’
Is he quite rich? Or does being a mercenary pay well? To live alone in such a big house.
While waiting idly, Han Doyun brought water and drinks on a tray.
“Drink this and calm down for now. Then let’s think about what to do.”
“Thanks.”
Elsie took a sip of the purple liquid and felt a bit of strength returning to her body.
“Phew- Han Doyun, you’re a really good guy.”
“G-good? Me…?”
“Yeah. To help without hesitation in this situation… you’re really a good-”
Elsie took another sip of the sweet drink. She really liked the fizzy carbonation.
“This is delicious! Anyway, you’re a loyal and good guy. You are…”
Elsie nodded, sipping her drink.
You’re a really good guy…
Really good guy…
Really good…
Good…
Bang!
Startled, Doyun emptied the water glass in front of him in one gulp.
This wasn’t the time to be dominated by instinct and fantasy, but a situation where he had to respond rationally. Hadn’t the perverted monster appeared?
“I-it would be good to report it to the guard.”
“I guess so? I want to solve it with my own strength, but… tsk.”
Elsie frowned, remembering the moment when her head had spun. If she ignored the warnings her body was sending, her future would become uncertain.
‘At least a day…If this problem wasn’t resolved within that time, she would blow the monster away herself.
‘Disturbing my peaceful time at home? I’ll never forgive you.’
After chatting lightly while drinking their beverages, Elsie and Doyun headed to the nearby guard station.
“I-is this the guard station? It’s like a military camp…”
Elsie, feeling the gazes directed at her, hesitated and looked around.
She scurried behind Han Doyun, glancing sideways at the various weapons and armed guards on display.
Doyun glanced back at Elsie, who was clinging tightly behind him.
It probably wasn’t his imagination that the surrounding guards’ gazes were focused on Elsie.
‘If Thrud isn’t around, she sticks to me…’
He didn’t dislike it for some reason. It was rare to see Elsie relying on someone unless it was a special situation like this.
Doyun, feeling a bit of strength in his shoulders, headed straight to the reception desk.
Since it was an issue related to an academy student, it wouldn’t be something that could be ignored.
“You’re here to report a molester…? You?”
The academy student in front of him, Doyun, a black-haired male, was of a sturdy build and didn’t seem like he would be involved in a molestation case no matter how you looked at him. The person in charge of receiving complaints looked at him with a slightly dumbfounded expression.
Besides, a molester. It wasn’t a frequent occurrence in this area, which was one of the most peaceful places in the massive Glitnir.
Just as the receptionist was looking at Doyun with a disbelieving expression, Elsie tugged on Doyun’s sleeve.
“Hey, hey, why are you reporting it as a molester? That makes it sound like I’ve already been victimized! I wasn’t!”
Doyun tilted his head slightly at Elsie’s frustrated whisper.
“Isn’t what that monster is doing just molestation no matter how you look at it? And this way, it’ll be handled faster.”
“Keuk…”
Doyun turned back to the receptionist. He could only make a puzzled expression because he couldn’t see the hidden Elsie.
“The message has probably been delivered to the guard station near the academy. That… strange monster who targets female students.”
“The crazy person who carries around a big chicken? I heard about it a few hours ago, but… I heard he only targets female students… His modus operandi…”
‘Has his modus operandi evolved in the meantime, and he’s become a maniac who targets male students too?’
Doyun, understanding the meaning of the receptionist’s bewildered expression, subtly moved aside.
“I didn’t meet the molester myself, but this girl is the one who was harmed.”
Elsie, suddenly facing a stranger, froze slightly.
“Oh… Ah, hello.”
“What-?!”
A beautiful and pitiful girl shyly revealed herself.
Her dazzling silver hair, especially rare in Midgard, stretched out like a silk curtain, and her round, blue eyes, like the sea, were moist with tears.
Her hesitant appearance, as if she was surprised, had something that stimulated the protective instincts of the nearby guards.
The case was quickly filed.
Elsie spent a considerable amount of mental energy dealing with the gazes that clung to her persistently throughout the reception.
Gazes that looked at her with endless pity, gazes that burned with an unknown determination, and so on.
It wasn’t as embarrassing as her first day at the academy, but it was quite a suffocating time.
Elsie let out a deep sigh as she left the guard station.
“Ugh… this kind of thing isn’t really my style…”
“What can you do? Elsie, you’re not just not using your power right now, you can’t use it, right?”
“Oh, how did you know that?”
“There’s no way you would have just run away from the scene with your personality, so I thought that the only reason you would have left the scene was that.”
“Keuk…”
Elsie lowered her head and suddenly thought.
‘But what do I do now? Going back home in this situation is crazy.’
“…I just have to endure for one day. Even if I have to sleep outside…”Unless the rumored monster was caught, there was no guarantee that her house would be safe just because the guard had strengthened patrols and started an investigation.”
‘Why did they have to target my house with such pinpoint accuracy…’
The day had become too bothersome.
Elsie was building up anger towards the monster and the chicken?
Early evening, as the sun began to set.
Elsie looked up at Han Doyun with a rather apologetic expression.
Elsie’s white skin, dyed red by the sunset, looked as if it was flushed, making Doyun nervous.
“Are you really okay with this? I’m really okay with sleeping outside for a day or so.”
“Sleeping outside is not okay! It’s as dangerous as going back home alone in this situation!”
Doyun shouted at Elsie’s lack of a sense of crisis. Even so, the current situation was not good.
‘It’s not good for my reason… No, it’s dangerous.’
“Still, staying at your house so suddenly is a bit… I feel like I’m putting too much of a burden on you.”
“No, I’m really okay… No, actually, I might not be okay, but no, I’m okay.”
Doyun’s mind was spinning wildly. There was no need to think about how things had turned out this way.
Elsie had nowhere to go right now, and the closest and most suitable place for her to spend the night safely was his house.
“That’s why, the time we were supposed to have dinner at Elsie’s house and ended up staying the night? L-let’s just say that repays the debt from then…”
“Really?”
Doyun nodded vigorously as Elsie’s face lit up.
“There’s no need to feel burdened. Rather, my conscience wouldn’t be able to handle it if you slept on the streets.”
“Thank you! You’re a really good friend!”
Elsie tapped Doyun’s shoulder lightly.
A good friend.
He was helping Elsie, who thought of him as a good friend. Doyun steeled his heart, thinking that way.
Han Doyun, who was a bit quirky and foolish, was such a loyal guy.
Elsie was sincerely touched by his kindness.
‘I considered going to the dorm where Thrud is, but… I can’t do that. No, I can’t.’
Even if they let her in, since she wasn’t a registered student, she couldn’t possibly sleep in the same room and bed as Thrud.
‘Knowing her personality, she’d probably barge in and want to shower together…’
Elsie shook her head, trying to shake off the thought as the terrifying situation came to mind.
Clenching her fist, Elsie looked at Han Doyun and shouted energetically.
“Then, I’ll impose on you for just one day! Tell me if you don’t feel like it, even now! I’m really okay with it!”
“No, no, really, there’s no need to think that way and feel burdened. I’m living alone in this big house anyway.”
“Why do you live in this big house in the first place?”
Doyun gave a bitter smile at Elsie’s question.
“It’s the house my deceased parents left me. So, even though it’s lonely living alone, I can’t bring myself to leave.”
“Ah… sorry…”
“That was all in my childhood. There’s no need to worry about it. More importantly, make yourself comfortable. That crazy monster probably won’t come to my house.”
“Y-you’re probably right…”
***
Dane and Vedrfolnir were standing in front of a house.
To be exact, Dane, with Vedrfolnir in the form of a hawk on his shoulder, was standing there.
“Hey, Vedr. Are you sure?”
[I’m sure. She’s even more noticeable than you, do you think I would have missed her?]
Vedrfolnir, who had been searching for Elsie by flying over the city, was able to spot Elsie entering this house.
“Did Elsie prepare two houses? Personally, I feel more at ease living in a residential area like this than in that remote forest…”
Vedrfolnir, who had been watching Dane speculate to himself, hesitated for a moment whether to tell him exactly what he had witnessed.
‘I have no idea how this guy, who is so crazy about his sister, will react…’
“We need to be a little more careful since Vedr you might have seen wrong. We’ll take a look inside and go in when Elsie is confirmed.”
[That idea itself is already a crime. Dane. Are you going to be branded as a weirdo again like at the academy? This house is definitely-]
“How many times do you think I’ve been in trouble because of your vague memories?”
Ignoring Vedrfolnir’s words, Dane began to suppress his presence to the point where he was almost unrecognizable even though he was standing right in front of him.
And just as he was about to put his ear to the door of the house where Elsie was presumed to be.
Thud.
Someone grabbed his shoulder.
“Who?! H-how did you find me?!”
“Because I’ve been watching you. I’m a guard.”
“Huh?!”
Two armed guards looked at Dane with suspicious eyes.
“We received a report of a very malicious molester. A kind and pretty student has suffered a great emotional wound.”
“You match the description of the molester to some extent, sir. Silver hair… You don’t seem to have a fire-breathing chicken… A hawk?As the situation took a strange turn, Vedrfolnir, who was sitting on Dane’s shoulder, flapped his wings appropriately to act like a real hawk.
“We’re not suspecting you, sir… but would you mind cooperating for a moment for the sake of the city’s security?”
“W-wait a minute… I’m just here to find my younger sister…”
Dane couldn’t cause any more trouble than necessary in Glitnir, given his position.
And so, he was pitifully led away by the guards.
Elsie might be beyond that door.
His sorrowful cry never reached Elsie.
“Elsieee!”!!”
***
Elsie, who had taken off her blazer and neatly arranged it, suddenly felt a chill and shivered.
“Ugh- what was that all of a sudden. I got goosebumps.”
Tilting her head, she hurried to find Han Doyun.
“Han Doyun… um, sorry, but can I borrow the bathroom?”
“W-what?! The bathroom?!”
Doyun, who had returned from lightly swinging his sword and was drinking water, asked, spitting out the water he had been holding in his mouth in embarrassment.
Elsie wiggled her fingers at his extreme reaction.
“Sorry. It’s a bit much to ask for the bathroom when I’m already imposing on you for the day, isn’t it? I shouldn’t have asked.”
Thump!
Doyun put down the water glass and squeezed his eyes shut.
“No, it’s not that… No. You really don’t have to worry about being impolite or anything. We’re friends… Use it as much as you want. You must feel uncomfortable after all the trouble you went through today.”
Elsie, with a slightly touched expression, widened her eyes and nodded, holding out her fist.
It was the moment when their friendship became even stronger as Doyun awkwardly bumped fists with her small fist.
Probably.