This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 189 [A Century-Old Brand] (Curio)

on the 9th, rita realized it had been ten days since she stole those books from moonfox city. she wanted to return to lania kaia—not just for apache's lessons, which were a minor reason—but to gather information about the moonfox clan's situation and, more importantly, to relocate her teleportation array to a place only she knew about for her peace of mind.

before doing that, she decided to ask shadow.q about the current situation in lania kaia.

**[rita]:** have the people captured in lania kaia been rescued?

**[shadow.q]:** if you're planning to go to lania kaia soon, you could wait a couple of days and join our special affairs bureau group from la.

**[rita]:** oh? another raid? is this a nationwide operation or just your la branch?

**[shadow.q]:** it's just the la branch. each branch manages its own affairs.

**[shadow.q]:** we've established a new base underwater in lania kaia, near a seabed volcano.

**[rita]:** seabed? isn't that the territory of the sea siren clan? isn't their main city underwater?

**[shadow.q]:** the base is near an underwater volcano, a dead zone with no magical energy. it's a barren land for the tribes, so the sirens don't go there. the nearest major city is two hours away, moonforest city on land. if you can breathe underwater, you can reach the underwater city, yas city, within an hour.

**[rita]:** the special affairs bureau is my best friend! ∠(°ゝ°)

**[shadow.q]:** are you paying your fare upfront or settling it later?

**[rita]:** (°ゝ°)

**[shadow.q]:** what's that supposed to mean? no respect?

**[rita]:** huh? i was just scratching my head, no salute! who's saluting?

**[shadow.q]:** haha, it's free! are you coming or not?nôv(el)b\\jnn

**[rita]:** ∠(°ゝ°) anytime, anywhere, i'm always ready!

**[shadow.q]:** (°ゝ°)

**[rita]:** so how do you deal with the dark city's vice-mayor, who can see a person's last 30 days of memories with his divine gift?

why did it feel like the house had been robbed?

why was rita acting so guilty?

suspicious, nivalis put her ice cream back into her storage space, flapped her wings, and flew upstairs. she arrived just in time to hear the study door lock.

nivalis: !

she quickly circled around, shrank down, and shrank even more until she was the size of a coin. then she slipped in through the second-floor balcony door.

silent as ever, the tiny dragon hugged the corner of the balcony, pressing herself against the wall as she inched closer to the floor-length window. finally, she peeked around the corner to spy inside.

rita had cleared off the desk and was pulling various cooking tools and ingredients out of her game inventory, setting them all in place. she then took out the wooden plaque, took a deep breath, and raised it high above her head, shouting, "this is a century-old brand!"

nivalis: "..."

nivalis: "pfft."

rita: "..." she slowly turned her head, scanning the room, and finally spotted a tiny head peeking out from the corner of the balcony window.

nivalis bolted.

rita rolled up her sleeves and charged after her. "if i don't beat the ice cream out of you today, i'll take your surname!"

nivalis zipped around, flying back and forth. "i~ am~ a~ century-old~ brand~!"

rita: "..." you're dead.

the two of them ended up fighting for two hours, with rita's **magic missiles** constantly targeting nivalis' behind.

nivalis wised up quickly, refraining from using big spells and instead opting for quick-casting skills. but even so, they all missed. the moment nivalis' attack launched, rita would teleport away.

even when nivalis rewound time to predict rita's movements, it didn't help. rita's escape skills were unparalleled. even when her teleport landed her in the path of an incoming attack, she could lean back just enough to buy herself half a second to dodge again.

nivalis: so shameless!