Before dawn, before even the mansion’s owner had risen.
A silhouette soaked in shadows slowly stepped outside the mansion.
This made it the tenth day already.
“What the heck am I doing…”
Only after quietly closing the door did Abel speak, having tiptoed barefoot.
The late spring dawn was still chilly, and the surroundings were dim.
Yes—dim enough that no one would notice if someone disappeared.
“Hurry up and show yourself already, seriously.”
Her well-kept hair, tied into two pigtails, shook vigorously.
From afar, her simple outfit made her look like an ordinary neighborhood girl.
‘Surely the location hasn’t changed?’
A small hand pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from a trouser pocket.
The worn-out paper bore a crude portrait, charges, precautions, and a bounty listed below it.
‘Yeah. How’s Dad supposed to take an advance on his salary… What nonsense.’
The salary of a knight from a common background was nothing impressive.
And more than anything, explaining why she needed an advance would only lead to more lies.
The thing she wanted wasn’t something a child should be able to buy with pocket money.
In that case, she had no choice—she’d have to earn it herself.
When in need, take matters into your own hands.
Abel clenched and unclenched her small fist repeatedly, bracing herself.
“Heh, pfft! Haha!”
She burst out laughing just thinking about the bounty amount printed at the bottom of the flyer.
The kind of laugh that would scare away any criminal who got near, though she stopped herself quickly.
“Please show up soon. My wallet—no, that criminal scumbag.”
Her quick steps brought her to the lower part of the river.
The dark blue water flowed quietly downstream. The flyer shimmered faintly under the bluish light.
Name: Duke
Age: Estimated to be in his 40s
Charge: Child trafficking
Precautions: Targets children under 13 near the slums. Crimes typically occur at dawn, assumed location is the riverside near the slums.
“Trash belongs in the trash can.”
She folded the old paper with careless hands.
Sitting by the riverside, Abel glanced around swiftly.
Ten days had passed since she made herself bait, but the scumbag selling off children hadn’t even shown a shadow.
“Hurry up already…”
She wore oversized clothes to make herself look smaller and more vulnerable.
If her body shape showed, it would reveal she was healthy, well-fed, and capable of moving well.
‘Anyone targeting slum kids without guardians… That says it all.’
If he assumed she came from a decent household and backed off, it would be a disaster.
Abel kept clenching her small fists, waiting for the wanted man to show up.
This wasn’t a nervous habit—it was born of anticipation.
‘Is it a bust again today?’
The blue dawn began to pry open the sky.
The dark surroundings gradually revealed their outlines.
Step. Step.
Then it happened.
“Child, what are you doing here all alone?”
A low, kind voice.
Plump lips stretched into a smile.
‘He’s here.’
Duke the middleman had been having a rough few days.
“Hey, are you going to keep doing business like this? You’re making things difficult…”
“N-no! I’ll get the numbers together soon. Yes, of course.”
“All you do is flap your smooth tongue. What else do you even do besides eat and crap?”
“Eek. J-just a little more time, please. T-the patrols have gotten tougher lately…”
“That’s your lack of skill. Am I supposed to account for that too?”
“N-no! Of course not!”
The middle-aged man bowed repeatedly to the elderly man before hurriedly leaving.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!’
Fuming, he stomped his feet outside the building.
“I’m the one feeding you with the brats I bring, and this is the thanks I get?!”
He had contributed so much to the business—how could he be treated like trash?
Muttering curses, Duke bit his lip in frustration.
“Where the hell did all those brats disappear to?”
After hitting the same spots a few times, a bounty was placed on him.
His face was now recognizable, which limited his movement. But the old man had no mercy.
“Where’s a hungry little street rat when you need one…”
He scratched his stiff scalp, brainstorming.
The downstream side of the slum’s river was perfect for finding kids like that.
Kids too abandoned to even hold themselves up. Kids chased out of even the slums, wandering alone.
Duke had made a clean business out of collecting them.
‘A few days laying low is enough. If things go wrong, I’ll just bolt.’
With that carefree conclusion, he started walking.
It had already been several days since his last “job.”
‘The stray brats must have wandered back here by now.’
He didn’t need to see it to know.
He might have been nervous the first couple times, but by now, Duke was a seasoned expert in the trade.
‘Would you look at that?’
Right there—wasn’t that an innocent little meal just sitting out in the open?
But grabbing her outright would be amateurish.
She might be a child, but one loud scream could bring someone running.
‘Ten? Eleven?’
He crept closer quietly, assessing the prey.
Young enough, and importantly—a girl. Even in the dim dawn light, her pink hair stood out vividly.
‘She’ll fetch a decent price.’
Duke suppressed a grin and put on a friendly tone.
“Child, what are you doing here alone?”
“Waiting for someone.”
“Ah, but it seems they didn’t show up, huh.”
Kids like her all had the same story.
And Duke had no patience to listen to boring sob stories.
“You must be hungry. Here, take this bread.”
A starving child wouldn’t care what was in the bread—she’d gobble it down. And then it’d be over.
All he had to do was carry her off.
But this target didn’t take the bait so easily.
She simply stared, black eyes unreadable, at Duke and the bread.
Still, wary kids weren’t uncommon.
“Hmm? It’s just bread left over from yesterday. If you don’t trust me, I’ll eat some first. But that’ll mean less for you…”
“Stuff it.”
“W-what?”
“So many tricks up your sleeve…”
Her voice was clear, unnervingly so.
Thwack!
A sharp blow landed on his chin.
Kneeling to meet her eye level, Duke fell right on his butt.
“I’ve been waiting. For my wallet—no, my money—well, whatever.”
“W-what…?”
“I waited so long for this.”
He blinked, checking if someone else was nearby.
But the only one in front of him was this tiny girl who barely reached his chest.
Unfortunately, Duke’s thoughts didn’t last long.
‘W-what strength…?’
Spitting out blood, he saw one of his front teeth fly out.
“M-my tooth! Y-you little…!”
Having lost a tooth he’d lived with for 35 years, Duke saw red.
He decided he’d snatch up this brat and give her a good lesson.
“What’s with those baby punches—ugh!”
Swoosh—his left arm bent like a twig.
Unlike tree branches, human muscles weren’t meant to be flexible.
“Y-you little brat!”
Whoosh!
He reached with his right hand for the dagger at his waist. His left hand trembled like a newborn calf.
The girl stepped back. That was the scene Duke had been waiting for.
A kid only half the size of an adult, easy to handle.
And now the brat had realized she was no match, shrinking back!
“Shut it. That mouth! Stay quiet and I won’t hurt you too badly.”
“Oh?”
“You mess with a grown man’s business, you pay the price, got it?”
“How ridiculous.”
What flew at him was cold ridicule.
The girl, who’d just stepped back, now leapt like a bear—
Pow!
—and struck like a bee.
A dull ache hit his abdomen.
Landing squarely on Duke’s chest, she smiled brightly.
“Y-you…!”
His desperate slash only caught a few strands of her long hair, and then she disarmed him.
Confidently in control, the girl swept her half-cut hair behind her ear and said softly:
“Think of it this way.”
“W-what…?”
“If human trafficking were a simple business, then prison would be a simple room.”
With the rising sun at her back, sweat-glazed cheeks glowed brightly.
A plump hand—better suited for sweets and flowers—rose high into the air.
That was the last thing Duke, the wanted criminal, remembered.
