Chapter 49

That night, Xiaoman arrived at the gate of the City Lord's Mansion and sat in the luxurious carriage arranged by Bernardus and went straight into the side gate.

The guards outside the City Lord's Mansion checked the invitation and found it was correct. After seeing that there were only guests of the City Lord who had been informed in advance in the carriage, they let the guests pass while secretly envying the young man who could become the City Lord's guest.

The driver stayed behind, and Xiaoman followed the maid in front and walked towards the garden.

...It is much easier to meet the female city lord than I thought at first. Xiao Man thought. But she still didn't know why the female city lord wanted to see her.

Xiaoman met the female contestant from the Elephant Tribe who came in third at sunset earlier. She had no idea about the invitation to watch the Late Night Blossom Show and was kind enough to tell Xiaoman that Lord Flora would host a banquet for the top 30 contestants after the awards ceremony. Xiaoman could then take the opportunity to build good relationships with the forces they had their eyes on.

The answer lies at the end of the increasingly quiet garden path.

"Please take a seat, 'Pan.'"

Mayor Flora had already finished her business and arrived here ahead of time while her maid was taking Xiaoman on a detour. This time she was wearing a simple, thin long skirt. One could even see the outline of her forearms and shoulders through one or two layers of fabric. The folds of her clothes were gleaming with pearls because of the small lights hanging around. The upper part of her long, pink, petal-like curly hair was braided into a braid with floral jewellery, and the rest of her hair was draped over her head. She was beautiful, mysterious, and fresh, like a fairy queen in the forest.

She looked at Xiaoman sincerely and gently, and greeted him in a slightly playful and intimate tone, also with that "Effie" face.

The well-trained maid had quietly retreated, not worrying at all that the city lord would not be able to tame these rough and dangerous contestants.

Xiaoman walked silently to the table with exquisite wine vessels, but did not sit down. It was an undisguised attitude of resistance and defense.

"Are you mad at me? I didn't know you were in my city... Because of the pseudonym, I only found out it was you when I came across a betting document produced by an illegal casino not long ago. In the end, I was much later than the civilians."

"Her expression, tone and body language were perfect, and she seemed completely genuine," said Elliott.

"I'm not angry." Xiaoman lowered his eyes slightly and looked at her and answered.

Then she said the second half of the sentence directly: "——I just wonder why you are so special to me."

"Oh..." The pampered city lord seemed surprised by this way of communication, which was contrary to tacit understanding and had no idea what euphemism was. He covered his lips with his fingers a little shyly.

But her wrist was immediately grabbed by Xiaoman and pulled apart. The action was not heavy, but still seemed cold and rough.

At some point, Xiaoman, who had already walked around the table and stood beside her, pressed the city lord's delicate finger joints with his fingertips, almost clamping her upper limb.

This blue-black outfit is designed to resemble a lone swordsman, so it is equipped with protective gear of good quality. The rounded and smooth edge of Eliretna's nails is pressed against the hard dark-colored wear-resistant fabric in the customer's palm.

"You used this hand to hold me for help." Xiao Man said in her usual statement tone. At the same time, the pair of eyes, which seemed darker in the night environment and more clear and eye-catching, stared directly at her.

Ever since Xiaoman used foreign magic and her own style to increase her chances of winning, Bernaldus noticed that she had a certain advantage in conversation that could be considered a natural talent, so he gave her some guidance before coming, telling her how to better utilize her abilities, at least to avoid losing out in front of the ruthless female city lord.

"Yes." Ellyretna was slightly stunned, but she just responded in a good mood without any panic.

"You remember it so clearly. Do you like me too?" she asked, smiling and looking up a little.

"No. Your preferences are different from what I think." Xiaoman shook her head.

"Really? What's the difference? I don't think there's anything wrong with my love. It's easy to get bored when I'm busy alone. I feel happy when I see you, so of course I love you. I know you are a special soul and you won't settle for just any ordinary love. And you make me feel very..."

As she spoke, Ellyretna raised her other hand to touch Xiaoman's cheek, her movements as cautious as a young girl. She was not stopped again, so she smiled even more brightly.

"…cute." She said the word.

"Whether you stay or not, I will treat you well and give you a lot, and those have already been prepared. This is what I like."

Eli Ratna concluded.

Xiaoman thought for a moment, but was not swayed by her words. Based on her experience and intuition, Ellyretna guessed that her thoughts seemed to be wavering between grabbing the slender neck in front of her and sitting down first, but she finally let go of her wrist and chose the latter.

"You have great power, wealth, and beauty." Xiao Man did not hide her objective affirmation of Eleriatna. From the distance just now, even in the night environment, she could see that Eleriatna had no makeup on her face, just like when she came to ask her as Effie. But her bare face only made her beauty more vivid and changeable. She was panic-stricken and pitiful in the previous moment, cunning and smart in the next moment, and vaguely dangerous. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful.

"Compared to us, you have nothing to lack, so you have been giving and playing. I think that love should be very important. Add a person into your life and do anything for her."

Xiaoman spoke slowly and seriously.

"What a shame. Isn't charity good?" Ellyratna changed her sitting posture slightly, showing a sense of arrogance. "I worked hard to gain power, so of course I can talk big and manipulate the people at the lower level easily. This is fair, isn't it?"

"Just like the contestants you saw - because of the competitions I've been holding, those people no longer have to fight in the underworld. They can sign a cheaper loan agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and take their route to Flora City to receive complete institutional protection. Isn't it better than rotting by the drainage ditch in their hometown? If it weren't for the benefits of my charity, their ending would be ten thousand times worse. So it seems that I love my residents, and I mean it sincerely."

"But your residents have always only included beastmen." Xiaoman skipped the useless argument.

"...Is that so? Is it not possible?" Ellyretna blinked. After all, those who were born as abandoned tribes were too weak and useless, which led to the fact that the mindset of the beastmen had been completely solidified over the past 600 years. They did not think that there was any problem with the marginal treatment of the abandoned tribes. Looking at Ellyretna's expression, Xiaoman had already thought that she probably sincerely believed that Flora City was a good place for the abandoned tribes under her rule.

In fact, although she had been assassinated once, Ellyretna had no idea of ​​Su Mei's identity. Because many abandoned tribes could not survive in the town and wandered around all year round, including the group that her brother had brutally killed by releasing hunting dogs, so no matter how hard she tried, she could not trace Su Mei back to a young abandoned tribe boy who had not yet awakened his bloodline.

Perhaps to avoid angering his peers, Su Mei did not say anything to reveal his identity when he took action. This made Elerytna and others believe that he was an assassin sent by a certain force, who was young and reckless and therefore acted without hesitation, and also possessed good strength and equipment.

"I'm not a beastman." Xiaoman said.

Ellyretna watched helplessly as the lifelike wolf ears and tail turned into tiny flames and dissipated in the rising night wind, drawing attention to her gray-black hair.

No matter how scheming she was, Elliotta had never anticipated this step. She finally opened her eyes wide with a look of shock and fright.

"You are an incomplete? You... I never knew you could use exosystems..." she murmured.

"Yes. And it will be in the future."

After Xiaoman finished speaking, he seemed to hesitate for a moment, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The surroundings instantly fell into darkness.

With Xiaoman's personality, she actually prefers not to chat with Eleritna, but as Bernaludus expected, the city lord's mansion was equipped with defensive measures that prohibited spellcasting. After evaluation, she estimated that it would take a while to dismantle it, so she used the method instructed by the Dragon King to pretend to have the personality and behavior that the other party preferred, cater to her preferences to attract her interest, and then lead her to talk about topics of interest to delay time.

Her teacher seemed to be worried that Xiaoman would be picked on by his peers because of her status as his disciple, so he spent several days training Xiaoman on how to destroy the other party's finished product in the most efficient way. Of course, the elements of the outer system are better at this. Water, wind, wood, earth and stone can also cause damage, but they are not as sharp as darkness and light.

The magic she used after completing the destruction was also obtained from Bernaludos.

"The teacher also used this when he picked me up." Xiaoman told him.

Because it was a spell used by her teacher and she had seen it with her own eyes, she was even more certain that she could not do it. The magic power she could mobilize was no match for that of her teacher.

"They are used to clearing away debris when doing experiments to avoid hidden dangers. The area covered is so large that there will be such an additional effect."

Bernardus sent Lielie away with a message in advance: "The kebabs and flatbreads at the other end of the street are delicious together. Go buy some." He said firmly: "You only need to clear the area of ​​a room. Two breaths are enough to cut off her head and take it away."

It's enough indeed, Xiao Man thought. The detour she took on the way here had already given her a rough idea of ​​the terrain and direction, and the thin blade formed by the dark element would be easier to cut the throat bone than an ordinary sword.

Then let's do it.

Since Su Mei did not express her hatred at that time, she must have considered it as meaningless, so she did not need to explain the reason before killing.

"It's really powerful. I saw the protagonist of the boys' comic killing people." Yuan Qian drove the No. 3 and observed from a distance. With his strength, he was of course not affected by this spell and could see the progress.

Even though he participated in the whole process, he still felt some shock when he saw Xiaoman with his own eyes raise his knife, put away the city lord's head, turn around and disappear into the darkness.

"Then you can help her pick a pink box to neutralize it." The adjutant said calmly, and it seemed that Yuan Qian was the only one who was surprised.

...How could I forget that this guy is the real dangerous person. Even if Yuan Qian believes that he will not kill innocent people, it is certain that Mr. Adjutant is still not a cute and kind devil with a contrasting cuteness setting.

[But can't the protagonist of a shonen manga kill people? I don't think so.]

"Indeed, there are many that have killings. It would be better to say that those that insist on not killing at all would make the story difficult to tell. Either the logic of a medium or short story would collapse, or it would be forced to use mechanical methods..." Yuan Qian said, recalling the works he had read, some of which were well-known or submerged between the pages.

It seems that Xiaoman doesn't need to be picked up, so he is relieved. While Bernaludus is still there to back him up, let the child develop the ability to make decisions. After all, the next No. 4 and No. 5 will not be normal people... The qualification to be carefully protected as a cub is about to expire. After all, the protagonist will be a teenager forever, but not a child forever.