Walking down the streets, Marika and Ladybug continued to look for a inn where they could stay. But because the two of them were not particularly familiar with the city, they wandered around for a while, but they were not in a hurry, so they continued to wander around the town at the leisurely speed.
As they walked, Ladybug's intuition as a seasoned assassin told him that they were being followed. He looked around discreetly and soon spotted five men that were following the two of them. Their stalking skills were amateur at best in Ladybug's eyes but the stalkers seemed to sense that they were found. So they hurriedly disperse into the crowd and disappear.
"Boss, we are being followed." Ladybug quietly informs Marika as they continue to walk. Marika nodded in response. Both of them were now discreetly vigilant about their surroundings.
''What the hell are they trying to do? Could it be the mayor's spy? That would certainly make sense, after all, any lord of a town would be curious about the appearance of an eight-foot-tall woman.', Marika thought.
Not long after, as the duo walked, suddenly five men dressed like gangsters came out from an alley on the right side of the street. Ladybug is sure that they are the ones who were following her just now.
"Yo~ baby, are you interested in having a drink with us boys?" One of the gangsters said in a frivolous tone, his eyes glanced lustfully at Marika.
"Don't be afraid lady, we won't do anything to you, we just want to take you to have some fun, hehehe~!" Another gangster jested with a lewd smile on his face, sharing the same obscene look of his companions. The goal of these gangsters is more than obvious.
"Um, bro, calm down. Listen buddy, just let us leave. We don't want to cause trouble." Ladybug stepped forward to shield Marika, trying to persuade them.
"Okay, the lady stays here, and as for your bum ass, get lost before we beat you to a pulp!", a gangster yelled. Ladybug was furious. It's not that he has never been called out for dressing like a homeless man, but being jeered at by such scum still makes his blood boil.
"If you're looking for trouble, my crotch is full of them! Hahahaha!" Another gangster jeered.
"Hey! What are you bastards doing!" Suddenly, a girl's voice with a heroic tone sounded from the left side of the two opposing sides. Both parties looked towards the source of the voice. Standing there was a young girl who looked like an archer type adventurer, and she was indeed carrying a longbow and quiver on her back. She has long fiery red hair, a childish and cute oval face, and big blue eyes as bright as gemstones. Her pointed ears indicate that she is an elf. The young girl looked furious, and she intervened between the two parties angrily. She glared at the thugs with angry eyes, but she was not at all threatening with her delicate girlish face.
"I won't let you bastards continue to harass this lady!" the girl shouted angrily.
Although the girl was considered a first-class beauty, comparing her beauty with Marika's fairness was like comparing an ordinary sparrow with a noble swan. Comparing her barren chest and Malika's towering breasts, the gangsters are now even more uninterested.
"Tch, piss off, we are busy picking up girls, we don't have time for some pointy-eared bitch!" The gangster waved away the elf girl in disgust.
"How dare you!" The girl pointed at the gangsters angrily, and her face, which was already flushed with anger, became even redder. She has always been very confident in her appearance, so she has never been disgraced like this, not to mention by a bunch of no good gangsters!
She was just about to give them a piece of her mind, when Marika suddenly stepped up, and said with a look of disgust:
"Is this all you got for a pickup line?Are you some sort of old fossil?"
Everyone present was stunned by Marika's sharp jab, but Marika only felt complete embarrassment. As a seasoned anime fan, how could she not know what is going on? This is clearly the trope in Japanese light novels where gangsters molests the heroine, and then the hero jumps out to save the damsel in distress. But Marika didn't want to be that damsel who needed someone to rescue her. Ladybug also step up to jab at the gangsters:
"Man, to be honest, you guys really lost me there. What were you thinking? No way that a pick up line would work. No lady in their right mind will fall for that if you look like a hooligan. I suggest you tidy up your appearance first!"
"That's right, and look at what you are saying. 'My crotch is full of trouble', is this a pick up line that someone in their right mind can come up with? People who don't know would think there is something wrong with you down there." Malika continued her diss on the gangsters.
"Pfft! x2", both Ladybug and the elf girl couldn't help but laugh out loud at her words.
"You! Shut up, you bitch!" The gangster who was targeted couldn't bear embarrassment, and in fit of rage threw his fist at Marika.
"Be careful!", "Boss!" Ladybug and the elf girl exclaimed in horror at the same time.
The gangster's fist hit Marika's abdomen with all his might, but Marika didn't move an inch, not even frowning. On the contrary, the gangster's hand felt as if he had hit a solid wall, and his palm was shattered on impact, causing him to roll on the ground in pain.
"Mission triggered: Defeat or kill the gangsters x5. Task difficulty: Easy. Reward: 1000 runes, multiverse lottery pull x1.", the system suddenly announced.
[Suggested BGM: God of War 4 theme song]
'If you say this, I won't be tired! ' Marika initially didn't even bother to teach these bastards a lesson, but she immediately became interested when she heard that there was a mission reward. So she raised her right foot and kicked a football at the punk who fell on the ground, sending him flying. At the same time, another gangster reacted and rushed towards Malika while swinging his fists. But Marika's fist was faster, she directly backhanded him and sent him flying into a building on the side, where he got lodged in the wall from the powerful impact. The third gangster saw the miserable condition of his first two companions and knew that the woman in front of him was not to be taken lightly, so he drew out his short sword and slashed at Marika. Marika quickly goes to block it with her left arm.
'Hmph, idiot! ', the gangster laughed secretly, how could an arm without armor be able to block the blade? But what happened next left him stunned. The gangster's short sword hit Marika's delicate arm, and surprisingly shattered into pieces on impact.
"My turn", Marika clenched her fist and retracted it to her side. With her readied right fist, she gave the gangster an uppercut at a speed that no ordinary person could react to, thus the gangster was sent flying like his companion.
In just a short moment, three out of the five gangsters were knocked out by Marika. Of course Marika tried not to kill them, after all, she felt that these gangsters just needed a good beating. During the fight, Marika felt that whenever she made a move, it felt completely natural to her, as if she always knew how to fight. She thought it must be one of the benefits given by the system.
Seeing Marika showing off, Ladybug and the elf girl would not stand idly by, and each rushed towards the remaining two gangsters. The elf girl kicked the gangster unconscious with a whirlwind kick. And Ladybug was even more ruthless, he kicked the gangster directly in the nuts, to teach a lesson to the punk who dared to molest his employer. The gangster quickly passed out from the pain.
Looking at the punks who fell unconscious on the ground, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Ladybug glanced at the bastard who just insulted him for being a homeless person, and said with contempt: "You are the homeless bum, asshole.". Then he turned to Marika, worried about her left arm that just got slashed by a sword.
"Boss! Are your arms alright?" he asked worriedly.
Malika smiled and showed her left arm, which didn't even have a single red mark.
"I'm fine, their attacks are like cotton. They can't hurt me"
"Cool! Boss, you are like Superman, you are not afraid of guns and bullets!" Ladybug exclaimed. Malika smiled shyly and twirled her hair timidly.
"Wow! I've never seen someone whose skin can directly block the slash of a blade!" At this moment, the elf girl walked up to Marika curiously.
"Probably because I'm a numen. Thank you for your help just now." Marika thanked the girl with a gentle smile.
The elf girl was slightly taken aback by Marika's beauty, so much so she was dazed for a brief moment, but soon realized that she was a little rude, and immediately came back to her senses and said:
"Ah, don't thank me, after all, I haven't been of much help. It's mainly you and your partner who defeated these hooligans. Oh, by the way, my name is Fran, and I'm an adventurer, how about you?"
"I'm Marika, and this is my, uh, bodyguard, just call him Ladybug", Marika said as she gestured towards her companion.
"Hello." The ladybug gave a slight bow.
"Ladybug?" Fran asked, confused by the odd name.
"Ladybug is my code name, I use it when I am on the job." Ladybug explained.
"Oh, okay." Fran expressed her understanding without further questioning, thinking to herself, 'Maybe it has something to do with his work? It's not easy being a bodyguard these days! '. She then proceeded to suggest, "But let's get out of here first! Or we'll have to waste our time beating them up again when these bastards wake up."
Malika and Ladybug had no objection, so the three left the scene together.
On the way, Fran began to observe this strange duo. Needless to say, Marika's perfect goddess-like figure and face, her seemingly innate noble temperament, and her mysterious identity made Fran feel a huge gap between herself and the tall woman. As for the man who called himself Ladybug, Fran could tell that although he was dressed discreetly, he was actually an outstandingly handsome guy.
"By the way, Miss Marika, did you just say that you are a numen? I have never heard of this race of people." Recalling what Malika said earlier, Fran asked.
"Well... here is how it is. The numen people are a rare race scattered all over the place. Though there is not much to us, we are just taller and a bit stronger than normal humans." Marika explained, but she thinks that the existence of gods was too far-fetched for Fran, so she concealed part of the truth from her.
"I see..." Fran listened thoughtfully.
"Oh, by the way, do you know if there are inns nearby?" Marika asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, I know a good one, come with me."