Chapter 95 - 93: This Is a Woman

Chapter 95: Chapter 93: This Is a Woman

"A Combat Skill!!"

"You actually know a Combat Skill!!"

The Dagger’s short blade flashed with a sharp light as it sliced down from mid-air, tracing a silvery semi-circle.

Amidst the man’s cry of alarm, Bai Ya had unleashed [Jump Slash] purely on instinct.

And completely missed.

It turned out that [Jump Slash] really wasn’t a Combat Skill suited for a Dagger.

While it was fast, a Dagger’s attack range was just too short. Combined with its rather long "Casting wind-up," it was nearly impossible to hit an enemy unless they were a fool or you were in an extremely narrow space.

Neither of which was the case here.

Thus, the man easily dodged the attack by simply taking a few steps back.

Well... that being said, Bai Ya’s Desperate Struggle wasn’t entirely useless.

She hadn’t hit him, but she had certainly given him a psychological shock.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, that was a genuine Combat Skill.

"I-I’ll let you off this time!"

Looking at Bai Ya, her hair disheveled as if she was ready to fight him to the death, the man retreated a few more steps. He spat out a harsh line and prepared to flee.

The soft are afraid of the firm, the firm are afraid of the fierce, and the fierce are afraid of the desperate.

He had originally thought Bai Ya was one of the "soft" ones, but she turned out to be one of the "desperate" ones. All he wanted now was to get away quickly.

He had already scammed the money, anyway. There was no point in tangling with her any further.

It wouldn’t be worth it if the cornered rabbit actually managed to kick him.

’Not a loss!’

After a brief moment of panic, the man shot Bai Ya one last look, then turned and ran, quickly disappearing around the corner of the alley.

Bai Ya, meanwhile, pressed her back tightly against the wall, clutching the Dagger with both hands as she stared motionlessly at his retreating figure.

Only after she was certain he had run away did she slowly put away her Dagger and let out a sigh of relief, the fear hitting her only after the fact.

’Phew, that was close...’

’I almost hit him...’

’Thank goodness he dodged...’

’If I had actually hurt him, or even killed him, I would’ve been thrown in prison...’

’But I’m really not a Swindler...’

’Even if he didn’t believe me, he shouldn’t have made such an outrageous demand...’

Huddled in the corner, Bai Ya stared blankly and muttered to herself nonstop. Her breathing slowed from rapid pants, and it took a long while before she finally managed to calm down.

From these mutterings, it wasn’t hard to tell that even now, she still didn’t seem to realize she’d been scammed.

No wonder she’d be tricked by Lu Wei and still help him count the money.

’The money’s gone, I didn’t learn any Skills, and I almost got into huge trouble...’

’I was hoping to give the Captain and Furen a surprise...’

’I can’t tell them about this. They’d laugh me to death...’

BUMP~

Suddenly, because she was looking down and not watching where she was going, Bai Ya accidentally bumped into someone.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry!"

Clutching her forehead, she hurriedly bowed again and again in apology.

Immediately after, she looked up.

"Ah? C-Captain..."

...

...

That’s right, the person Bai Ya had bumped into was Lu Wei.

And it was, of course, no accident.

After spotting Bai Ya in the small plaza, Lu Wei had followed her and the man into the alley. He figured out what was happening when the man suddenly drew his Sword and started swinging it around wildly.

It was obvious: Bai Ya wanted to find someone to learn Skills from.

Her initiative was commendable.

Unfortunately, she was just too stupid. As expected, she’d been scammed again.

The man’s moves had no Magic Power fluctuations or any extra effects. They were fake at a glance.

But Bai Ya didn’t seem to notice at all, foolishly watching him ten times.

When she finally realized she hadn’t learned it, she even had the wild idea to ask for her money back.

Lu Wei almost burst out laughing at the sight.

But even though he saw everything, he hadn’t planned on intervening at the time.

For one, he wanted Bai Ya to learn a lesson.

For another, he wanted to use the man to complete a "fund transfer."

If he stepped in right away, the recovered money would still be Bai Ya’s.

But if he waited for the man to leave before recovering the stolen goods, then the money would be his.

And he could even extort a hefty sum from the man on top of that.

With this calculation in mind, Lu Wei decided to bide his time and wait for the man to be alone.

But the man, probably thinking it was fun to bully an idiot, decided to try and take advantage of her after he was done scamming her money.

That was going a bit too far.

Whether as a companion or a friend, Lu Wei couldn’t just let Bai Ya be bullied like this. At this point, he had to step in, no matter what.

But who would have thought that just as he was about to take a step, he saw Bai Ya suddenly leap into the air...

’She’s dumb, but at least she has some backbone.’

Looking at the flustered Bai Ya before him, Lu Wei muttered to himself before feigning a confused expression and asking:

"Hm? What are you doing here?"

"I..."

Bai Ya was at a loss. The whole incident had been so embarrassing that she wanted to come up with an excuse to gloss it over.

But she had too little time to invent a lie and couldn’t think of anything. In the end, she could only stammer out the truth.

"I came here for Learning Skills..."

"Learning Skills?"

Lu Wei put on a baffled look. "How?"

"I-I just asked someone to demonstrate their Skills for me..."

Bai Ya stammered quietly, "I thought that if I was willing to pay, someone would be willing to do it..."

"Huh? You know, that idea might actually work!"

Lu Wei’s expression was one of surprise, and his tone was dead serious. It didn’t sound like Yin-Yang Strange Qi at all.

And this instantly transformed Bai Ya’s apprehension into a pleasant surprise.

"Really?"

"Of course! So, did you find someone?"

"I found one!"

"Then what Skills did you learn?"

"Er..."

Bai Ya froze, then mumbled sheepishly, "I didn’t learn it. I probably wasn’t watching carefully enough and missed something."

"Ahem... ahem, well, that’s a real shame."

Lu Wei struggled to hold back his laughter and offered some very "sincere" comfort. "It’s fine, just be more careful next time."

"There aren’t that many Adventurers in Heitai Town who know Skills, but there should still be eighty or a hundred of them. You’ll have plenty of chances."

"As long as you got your money back, it’s all good."

"Ah..."

Bai Ya had been quite happy, but at his last sentence, she immediately deflated, her expression turning awkward.

"The m-money... I didn’t get it back..."

"Why not? Didn’t you say you failed to learn it?" Lu Wei asked, feigning confusion.

"I didn’t learn it, but since it was my fault, so..."

Bai Ya fiddled with her fingers and stammered, "I... I felt like I had no reason to ask for the money back..."

"Hmm, that makes sense. If it was your fault, then you really don’t have a reason to ask for a refund."

Lu Wei nodded, then said thoughtfully, "But that brings up a problem."

"What if—and I’m just saying what if—someone who doesn’t actually know any Skills lies and says they do, then just messes around a bit to fool you? What would you do in that situation?"

"For example, what if he just spun in a circle with a Sword and called it Tornado Slash? You wouldn’t know the difference, so wouldn’t you get scammed?"

"I..."

Bai Ya’s eyes went wide, and she stood there, stunned.

After all, she had never even considered such a possibility.

She thought it over for a long time before finally offering a weak attempt at reassuring herself:

"That probably wouldn’t happen, right...?"

"Why not? Haven’t you been scammed enough times already?"

Lu Wei’s tone grew stern. "You were almost tricked to your death once, and you still haven’t learned your lesson? Have you already forgotten what it was like when you couldn’t afford to eat?"

"Yes, your Perception is low, so you’re easily deceived."

"But if you know you’re easily deceived, why would you give others such an easy opportunity to deceive you?"

"Even if you really wanted to learn Skills, couldn’t you have told me? Did you have to run out here and mess around on your own?"

"Losing money is one thing, but what if you ran into some lawless villain? They might just tie you up and sell you as a slave!"

"Will you have time for regrets then?!"

"You have absolutely no sense of organization or discipline!"

"I’ve repeatedly emphasized the issue of discipline so many times! But it just goes in one ear and out the other!"

Staring at Bai Ya, Lu Wei finally dropped the act and launched into a merciless lecture, harshly criticizing her "refusal to learn from her mistakes."

Bai Ya, on the other hand, just stared at him dumbly. She was completely bewildered, with no idea why he was so angry.

It wasn’t until Lu Wei had rattled off his long tirade that he pulled out two silver coins from somewhere and tossed them over irritably.

"Hurry up and take them!"

"If there’s a next time, I’m not helping you!"

...

...

"Captain, how did you know it was two silver coins..."

"Figure it out yourself."

"Then why were you so sure I was scammed..."

"Figure it out."

"I-I feel like you know everything..."

"Think."

"Oh, oh..."

Ten minutes later, on the way back to the small wooden cabin, Bai Ya followed closely behind Lu Wei with her head lowered, looking both ashamed and bewildered.

The shame was, of course, because Lu Wei’s scathing lecture had struck a deep chord with her.

The bewilderment was because...

’Could it be that the Captain didn’t just happen to be here, but had spotted me a long time ago?’

’After he saw I was scammed, did he chase down that man and get my money back for me?’

’Ah! That must be it!’

’Otherwise, the Captain wouldn’t have said, "If there’s a next time, I’m not helping you"!’

’Since he said "not helping next time," that must mean "helped this time"!’

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of contemplation, Bai Ya managed to deduce the "truth" from the various "clues."

Immediately, her jaw dropped as she looked at Lu Wei.

"I know! You’ve been secretly spying on me!"

???

’What is she talking about?!’

"Do you even know how to talk?! Who has the time to spy on you! I was turning in a quest with Mirana and just happened to see you on my way out!"

"I had a feeling you might be getting scammed, so I quietly followed to see what was going on."

"Hmph, I was originally going to let you learn a lesson, but you looked so pathetic that I decided to teach that guy a lesson and get your money back for you."

Lu Wei glanced sideways at Bai Ya, his voice loud and his expression full of dissatisfaction.

But unexpectedly, Bai Ya seemed even more dissatisfied than he was. After a moment’s pause, she suddenly stopped walking and cried out aggrievedly in an even louder voice:

"Then you saw he was about to bully me! And you didn’t come out to help me!"

"..."

Lu Wei: ???