“I am alone, I just want the tiara. If you give it to me, everyone will be happy.”

Luke, who at the time was not yet able to listen to someone’s heartbeat, did not dare to trust that man with the macabre smile.

“Come on, come on. Don’t back down, hehe. I do not wish to hurt you, you know that. I just want the tiara.”

“What’s so great about it?”

“Besides the beauty?”

“Yes, besides the beauty.”

“You must already know…it’s not a normal tiara.”

“What does that mean?”

“It was found in a Dungeon, kid. But do you know what the particularities of Oukiwa Dungeons are? No, no. You must not know. The Dungeons of Oukiwa are predominantly mines.”

“E…? What does that have to do with the tiara?”

“Mine Tier dungeons don’t have relics, and a curious fact about this tiara… it was found on the previously locked floor of one of our dungeons, which means it is a relic.”

Luke felt that the man was telling the truth, but he still refused to believe him because it didn’t make sense that an item that was in a dirty storage room was that valuable.

“Why was it in a vendor’s warehouse then?”

“Because he is a dumb seller, who bought it at an auction and doesn’t know its real value and usefulness.”

“You are willing to trade it for how much?” Luke opened his belt pouch and took out the tiara, which had a faint glow in its shadow.

“Trade it? HAHAHAHA You still don’t understand what’s going on? I’m here buying time, and you’ve fallen like a duckling. I can’t blame you, you’re just a kid.”

At this moment, Luke jumped back and grabbed the dagger hidden in his shin.

Seeing this kind of fearless reaction and the angry look on the half-wolf’s face, the man in armor, could only applaud him. Clap! Clap! “You are a fascinating boy. Who knows, maybe I’ll take you and the tiara, how about that? Hahaha kidding! You’re just a disgusting half-beast. If you eat a gene, you’ll probably die.”

Luke wasn’t afraid of the man, all he had to do was run away from the alley his friends were in, and everything would be fine. The man couldn’t be much faster than him in that armor. Just as he was ready to do just that, he heard:

“Aff! Why do you have to be annoying? You can bring her in.” He gave the order to someone.

And then the half-wolf could see two shadows coming out of the same alley the man had come from. One of the shadows was large, and the other was smaller.

He recognized Sarah’s pink hair, but he didn’t recognize the man who had a knife to the girl’s neck. The Nice One, which was her nickname because she was friendly and sweet to everyone, now had tears in her eyes and a look of fear. If Sarah was alone at the time, Luke already deduced that the worst had happened to Shiro, The Protector.

“Damn him…” The boy, who was always calm and inexpressive, said to the man in armor. “I’ll give him the tiara.”

“Hahaha! I said no negotiation.”

“AAAAAAH!” Booomp! In the blink of an eye, Luke saw in slow motion Shiro appear out of nowhere and crash into the man who was holding Sarah hostage.

“But what?!” The man in armor turned back in surprise.

Luke ducked down quickly, picked up the knife he had dropped on the ground, and threw it against the orange-clad man’s face. John summoned a Sword-type Panspermia Weapon and managed to block the dagger. Tiim! The clank of the blade meeting blade showed the guy that those kids were not messing around.

“AAAAAAH” Shiro shouted as he punched the other man relentlessly. However, his punches soon stopped having any effect.

“Pick her up and run!” The half-wolf shouted at Shiro.

The Protector did not hesitate to follow the commands, pulled Sarah by the arm, and placed her on his back.

To buy a little more time for the two of them, Luke threw his old cloak at the man in armor, who was instantly cut off.

“Kid, give me the tiara.”

Convinced that the thing was worth too much to be handed over like this, Luke began to run. To him, that thing could be worth tens of gold coins, no… hundreds! That tiara could guarantee Sarah’s dream of owning a flower shop and Shiro’s dream of having a stall in the City Market.

And he ran, as did Shiro and Sarah, he ran hard. However, with his keen hearing, he knew that now there were not just two men, but almost ten. ‘They were just playing before.’ Luke thought, enraged.

When the footsteps moved away, Luke knew something was wrong. He groped his own pocket, and there was nothing. He dropped the tiara.

Following his own footprints, he found a spot where they met up with footprints of two other people and headed down a smaller alley.

“Ungh-Ahn…” The half-wolf heard a low moan, and when he saw what he saw, he almost couldn’t believe it. Shiro was crying, with a knife stuck in his shoulder and another in his thigh. When the big man saw Luke, he took his hand out of his mouth and stopped short of tamping down the sound of his own crying. “I couldn’t, Luke. I couldn’t protect her. Ugh…”

“What happened? Where is Sarah?”

“I couldn’t…she saw a blue glow in the alley and knew it was valuable on the spot. It was a beautiful tiara. Relieved, that we had managed to lose the men and also that we had found something, she smiled at me…. But the next second, I saw it fall apart in midair.”

“Fall apart? What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Luke knew she had picked up the tiara he had dropped.

“It turned to a shiny dust, and the wind blew it away, du”

At this moment, Luke hugged him, as he blamed himself internally. “We’ll find her. She’s not dead. That tiara, she’s special…” Luke’s ears twitched the moment he heard footsteps again. “Come on, they’re in the area. We have to go to the alley.”

“No, go first. I’m too weak to walk. Go get Matt’s help to carry me.”

Knowing that he was not strong enough to carry the huge Shiro, Luke obeyed and sneaked silently to the combined alley. However, when Matthew, Meredith, and Luke returned to where Shiro stood, there was only an immense pool of blood.

That day changed the trio’s lives, and after many years of searching, the trio was certain that they were both dead because there was no clue left for them to follow.

‘Then why is Shiro standing right in front of me?’ Even though ten years had passed, Luke would recognize the smell of his childhood friend even if he didn’t have a nose.

——

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