The silver-gray leopard came stepping across the clouds, then stepped off into empty air before finally landing in the courtyard—it was Mr. Smith's home... Because the town was so remote, even the houses of ordinary families stood far apart from one another.
After landing, Nero opened her mouth and threw Joe straight onto the ground.
She was, of course, incapable of being gentle, so Joe unfortunately hit the ground hard enough to feel pain... He climbed to his feet, rubbing his faintly aching rear and spitting out the bits of grass he had inhaled.
Nero then transformed into a mass of black mist before returning to her original form—she was still holding a bottle of beer in her hand. She bit the cap off with her teeth and began drinking.
Clearly, when she had left Mr. Smith's restaurant, she had casually taken something with her.
"Oh, this place looks pretty nice." Nero gazed around and commented, "If something happened here, it really wouldn't be easy for anyone to notice."
Joe asked curiously, "What kind of thing?"
Nero narrowed her eyes and grinned. "For example, the house catching fire. Or a couple of robbers suddenly breaking in and killing everyone inside. Or a crocodile that's been hungry for ten days crawling in!"
"You're so funny, big sister!" Joe looked at her innocently. Children clearly had no idea what fear was.
Nero crouched down and stretched out both hands, pinching one of Joe's cheeks with each hand and pulling gently. The collagen in a child's cheeks was practically invincible. Once she let go, the stretched skin bounced right back into place.
Nero couldn't seem to stop herself. She pulled his cheeks several times, only stopping after Joe's eyes had reddened slightly. "All right, call out that Mr. Death you mentioned."
Joe shook