The girl collapsed to the ground from a single swing of the man’s hand.

Her pale cheek swelled up instantly.

“You little thief! Where did you hide my wallet?! Hand it over right now!”

He was already drawing his leg back to kick her.

“N no... ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) don’t!”

Tie didn’t even understand how she did it. She tore her hand out of Grandma’s palm and rushed forward, putting herself between them.

Grandma told her to stay close, but her feet moved on their own.

Trembling, Tie looked up at the man.

“You can’t hit...?”

A face flashed before her eyes. The lady from 203, who sometimes bought her ice cream.

The day after loud screaming upstairs, that lady always looked sick.

And Tie vaguely understood why.

“Hitting is bad!”

At her tearstained face, the man bared his teeth.

“And what’s this snot nosed brat?”

“Enough already!”

“Hey, knock it off! She said she didn’t steal!”

The merchants watching from the side cut in.

Passersby began to gather too.

The man’s brow twitched with anger.

“Do you even know who I—!”

At that moment, someone shielded Tie.

Tie lifted her eyes.

It was the innkeeper.

“Listen, young man.”

Grandma looked at him quietly, but hard.

“Think carefully. Outside the gate, in the alleys, live people who have nothing left to lose.”

“What?”

“Whether you’re an aristocrat or a rich man, it doesn’t mean anything here.”

“......”

“Aren’t you afraid to walk through dark alleys at night?”

There was something icy in her voice.

The man flinched.

He looked around.

The merchants and passersby were staring at him coldly.

“Ahem!”

Clearing his throat, he stepped back.

And soon disappeared into the crowd.

Grandma slowly turned to the girl still sitting on the ground.

“A room on the second floor, at the end. Right?”

Tie’s eyes went round.

“You haven’t been around for a while. What are you doing here?”

It turned out the girl was a lodger at the same inn as Tie and Basto.

But she answered coldly.

“Mind your own business.”

“What manners. Have you seen your face?”

The girl froze, then stood up.

She walked to a stall with goods and looked in a mirror.

She saw her swollen cheek and swore.

“Damn...”

Tie swallowed.

Grandma sighed.

“Come on.”

Tick tock.

The first floor was quiet.

Tie sat there, picking at her fingers.

She tried not to look, but she still kept sneaking glances at the kid next to her.

‘Looks like this older sister doesn’t like talking.’

Since then, she’d been silent.

Even when Grandpa went to the market, she didn’t say a word.

And also...

‘She looked at Mister Basto like that.’

When he went out, she stared at him with contempt.

She even muttered,

“He looks like a beast.”

“Hey, the room at the end! Take this.”

Grandma came out of the kitchen with a cloth smeared with something green.

The kid’s face twisted.

“No. Who asked you—”

“I’ll stick it right on your face!”

After being snapped at, she went quiet.

Tie watched in secret as she pressed the cloth to her cheek.

Grandma looked at Tie.

“And you eat first. Or Basto will scold me later.”

Basto had gone back to the gate to look for a way to restore the number.

“I’ll cook an amazing carrot soup...”

“N no!”

Tie surprised herself with her own words.

“I ate a lot of carrot soup... in the forest...”

Grandma blinked.

“Then spinach.”

“Spinach—!”

But Grandma had already left.

“Pff.”

A laugh came from beside her.

The kid, resting her head on her hand, was looking at Tie.

“Serves you right. Eat what you’re given. You’re so small and you’re already picky.”

Tie was shocked.

She clenched her fists.

“You... are bad.”

The kid’s brow twitched.

“If you’re bad, a tiger will carry you off!”

Her swollen lip twisted.

“What?”

“A tiger will carry you off!”

“What older sister, who are you calling older sister?!”

She yanked her hood down.

Thick eyebrows showed above red eyes.

“Why does everyone take me for a girl?”

Tie blinked.

“I’m a boy. Got it? A boy.”

He drew in, like a turtle.

His skin was pale, his eyelashes were long... but if he said he was a boy, then he was a boy.

“...Tie first time.”

“First time what?”

“Seeing someone like... an older sister looking older brother.”

“You little brat!”

He leaned closer.

“Do you know who I am?”

Tie tilted her head.

“A boy who looks like a girl?”

“You—!”

He gave her a light shove on the forehead.

“I’m an assassin. Do you know what an assassin is?”

Tie got serious.

Assa... lion?

Before, there was an uncle who thought he was a mouse.

He ran from cats.

Grandma 107 said he was just hurting inside.

So this older brother too...

“Scared? Feel like you’d better not mess around?”

“Uh huh...”

He lifted his chin, satisfied.

“That’s better. And I let that guy hit me on purpose.”

He pulled something out.

A wallet.

That very one.

“You really stole it?!”

“Yeah. I stole it. Even though it’s my money.”

“......”

“He promised he’d find two people for the squad, took the payment, and disappeared.”

“A squad...?”

“Of course. If you want to kill Magical Beasts and earn money, you have to become a mercenary. I’m not getting a knight title.”

A thought flashed in Tie’s head.

“If you become a mercenary, they give you a number?”

“Yeah. If you pass the exam.”

“Then let’s go together!”

He froze.

“What?”

“With me and Mister Basto! He has a hammer, and Tie...”

Tie wasn’t that strong.

But she had a legendary Puppetmon.

And Kkamani.