On the dock, a group of burly men surrounded Luluvi and Kiyomi. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

They might be running this kind of racket—but they weren’t idiots.

They could tell Luluvi wasn’t someone to take lightly. None of them rushed in recklessly. Instead, the one leading them—a massive rhinoceros beastman clad in silver armor—stepped forward and growled:

"He didn’t provoke you. Why did you kill him?"

Luluvi tilted her head.

"That’s strange... I don’t know either."

"I don’t know why he suddenly ran into my arrow."

She put on an innocent expression, longbow still in hand, a faintly playful smile curling at her lips.

...Oh?

This side of Luluvi was completely different from her usual self.

If this were a novel, even Rei might suspect her character had suddenly broken.

But this was reality.

All Rei could sense was—

She was enjoying herself.

Kiyomi, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised at all.

Come to think of it, she had once mentioned that Luluvi had a habit of holding back during their fights.

Is this... another side of her?

"He ran into your arrow... by himself?"

The rhinoceros beastman glanced at the corpse on the ground.

What remained of the pompadour man had already melted into a near-unrecognizable mess, almost fused with the floor.

A poison user. A poison archer.

They needed to be careful.

At this point, nearly everyone’s attention was focused on Luluvi.

As for Kiyomi—

She had already vanished after her initial strike, blending seamlessly into the crowd.

"Our Fallen Moon Island port may be chaotic..."

"But it’s not a place where people just kill each other openly."

"For all these years, no one has ever started a fight right here on the docks."

A long, echoing voice rang out.

Luluvi looked up.

A man holding a white staff was descending slowly from the sky.

"A direct killing like this... is a bit hard to justify, don’t you think?"

"Do you even know who stands behind us?"

"Oh~ Not really," Luluvi replied lightly.

Meanwhile, within the crowd—

Shumi had already arrived.

The dock was now packed with people—local forces from Fallen Moon Island, along with adventurers who had come here seeking opportunity.

"Eh? She actually clashed with those guys?"

"They’re not easy to deal with..."

The red-haired woman beside Shumi scratched her head.

Luluvi stood alone at the edge of the shore, her back to the vast sea—

As if she were facing the hostility of the entire island by herself.

"This doesn’t make sense... If she’s this strong, she shouldn’t have been targeted in the first place."

"If she showed her strength, they would’ve just taken the money and let her go politely."

Even Level 6 class-holders had to pay a fee to enter the island.

It was called the entry fee.

The weaker you were, the more you were extorted.

Over time, this had simply become an unspoken rule.

But today—

Someone had shown up with an unusually hard head.

For the sake of a few coins...

She was challenging the long-established rulers of this place.

The mage in the sky was a Level 6 Root Mage.

At that level, the chances of a mage not mastering Root Magic were actually quite low.

The mage and Luluvi locked eyes.

For a moment, neither spoke—

Each silently gauging the other.

Finally, the mage spoke again:

"I’ve gathered some information. It does seem he provoked you first."

"Out here, life and death are part of the game."

"But his death can’t just be ignored."

"50,000 gold coins. Pay for his burial—and we’ll consider the matter settled."

Fifty thousand gold.

Expensive—but not impossible for a Level 6 class-holder to afford.

Luluvi’s faint smile didn’t fade as she looked up at him.

"And what if I refuse?"

Inside the noodle shop, Rei watched everything through his perception.

She’s really just picking a fight...

"Refuse?"

The mage paused.

This situation was... tricky.

Luluvi’s confidence suggested she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

But if they backed down now, they’d look like pushovers.

What if...

She was actually a disguised Level 7 powerhouse?

Still, he gritted his teeth and pressed on:

"The man who died was my subordinate."

"I owe him an explanation."

BUZZ—!

A brilliant, daylight-like radiance erupted in the sky!

But before he could fully act—

An arrow had already reached him!

CLANG!

A loud impact rang out.

A massive invisible shield wall manifested in front of him, blocking Luluvi’s sudden attack.

She had moved faster than him.

She struck before he even finished casting.

And in the next instant—

Luluvi was already airborne, rising high above the Moonsea!

Without further words—

A torrential rain of arrows descended!

"...Is Luluvi craving a fight?"

Rei frowned slightly.

Today’s Luluvi felt... unfamiliar.

Almost as if she’d been replaced.

But during their time in Atlan City, she had always been within his perception.

She hadn’t ventured out alone.

The only time they were separated—

Was for a few hours on April 1st.

And briefly during the Saint One incident.

That was it.

What could have happened?

She hadn’t touched anything suspicious.

And when Rei had last made contact with her—

Everything had been normal.

Hundreds of streams of arrows formed into massive, serpentine torrents—

Encircling the mage from all directions as they poured down!

But then—

Tens of thousands of pure white eyes opened in the sky.

「Sixth-Tier Sky Magic: Thousand-Eyed Weave」

From each eye, beams of blazing white light shot forth—

Sweeping across the arrows and turning many to ash.

Even so—

A portion of Luluvi’s stronger arrows pierced through the light—

And blasted toward the mage below!

BOOM!

The invisible shield wall held firm.

A heavily-built Defender stepped in, absorbing the entire barrage in the mage’s place.

At the same time—

Rei detected a fast-moving Assassin, hidden in the shadows, closing in on Luluvi.

From the front—

A warrior clad in pitch-black heavy armor charged straight at her!

A Level 6 Mage.A Level 6 Defender.A Level 6 Assassin.A Level 6 Warrior.

An entire Level 6 adventurer party.

And yet—

They were all mobilized against a single Level 5 Archer.

Meanwhile—

Rei’s perception picked up even stronger presences entering his range.

Level 7 class-holders—

Returning from outside the port.

As expected.

Fallen Moon Island couldn’t possibly be guarded by only a handful of Level 6s.

—Flash!

Luluvi’s figure flickered at incredible speed.

Her movements resembled a high-frequency darting hornet—

Leaving countless afterimages in the air.

Each time she appeared—

Wings of light-like arrows spread out behind her!

A storm of arrows crashed down toward the advancing warrior!

She had already moved beyond the mage’s casting range.

His spells couldn’t even reach her anymore.

Her attack range—

Was simply too vast.

Rei estimated—

Defeating this group would take her some effort...

But it shouldn’t be a real problem.

Still—

What bothered him more was this strange sense of dissonance.

"Ansu."

"What do you think about Luluvi?"

Ansu replied:

"You mean her figure? Absolutely flawless. Back in my youth, I—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

Sensing Rei’s mood was off—

He quickly corrected himself.

"Of course, your little childhood friend—Yuna—has her own charm too. She just hasn’t fully developed yet."

"That’s not what I meant."

Ansu grumbled inwardly:

I’m not a mind reader. You can read my thoughts, but I can’t read yours.

Rei continued:

"I mean her personality. These past few days... it’s been different."

"Could something be wrong?"

Ansu snorted.

"What could be wrong? Women having mood swings isn’t exactly rare."

"Happy yesterday, not today—that’s all."

"You say you trust her, yet the moment she acts a little different, you start getting suspicious."

"In this world, there are countless ways for a person’s personality to change."

"Possession. Mind control. Thought implantation. Psychological suggestion—those are just the obvious ones."

"Even something as simple as struggling with one’s own beliefs, or failing to align with one’s principles, can change a person."

"And don’t forget..."

"Spiritual contamination."

"You’re asking me why she feels different—what kind of answer do you expect me to give?"