What happens when a person's thinking speed exceeds their physical reaction speed?
That is, watching oneself about to be attacked yet being unable to make the body react—a certain unnamed Mr. Bucciarati knew this feeling all too well.
Gong Qiying's current body also inherited the original stats, and the increase in his intelligence attribute had improved his thinking speed quite a bit, but his frail body failed to keep up with his brain's commands.
"Thud—"
With a muffled sound—people were probably starting to imagine a suggestive trope right now, weren't they? An unfamiliar young girl knocked down a young man, and a wonderful romantic encounter unfolded from there.
Yet Elsa did not knock him down; she steadily anchored her stance, while Gong Qiying was startled instead and tripped over himself.
He had completely lost face.
He was just about to fly into a rage when he caught sight of the greatsword strapped to her back.
To call that thing a sword would be putting it far too mildly—he had already appreciated it enough, so let's put it away quickly.
"Er, what can I do for you, hero?" He decided to play it safe for the moment.
"I'm sorry," Elsa bent down and reached out a hand toward him with an apologetic expression.
"?"
What kind of move was this?
Gong Qiying chose to take the young girl's hand; it was not soft at all, and her palms had calluses left from earnest training, making it feel like she could crush his fingers with a little effort.
He originally thought Elsa would gently pull him up, but things took another unexpected turn.
Elsa suddenly exerted force, yanking him violently right in front of her so that their faces almost collided!
Damn it, I'm actually angry now. Gong Qiying glared at her. There's a limit to teasing people like this, and even if I get beaten into a pulp by that greatsword, I'm still going to curse your entire family.
Unfortunately, he did not know that Elsa shared a harmonious family background identical to Batman's.
"Sniff, sniff."
"What are you doing?"
Elsa suddenly leaned in closer, standing on tiptoe as she sniffed around Gong Qiying's neck. Her black hair brushed against his skin from time to time, bringing a tingling sensation. Her warm breath was very suggestive, but it made Gong Qiying feel as though a caterpillar were crawling all over him, making him extremely uncomfortable.
She still wanted to explore scents higher up, but no matter how she stood on tiptoe, she could not reach the area above his neck, creating an awkward scene for a moment.
Gong Qiying grabbed her shoulders, shoved her away in one go, and said, "Keep your distance, miss. Hugging and touching in broad daylight, what kind of behavior is this? If you're really that starved, I know a great dungeon where the monsters are all super interesting."
Elsa stared at him and said:
"Monster scent."
"What?"
Gong Qiying's gaze shifted slightly, and he asked with a smile, "I'm an adventurer, so it's completely normal to have the scent of monsters on me, right?"
That was strange. Clearly, his current body had not touched any monsters for several days.
"Not that kind," Elsa shook her head, an expression of confusion returning to her face as if she did not know how to describe it properly.
She felt that the monster scent on Gong Qiying was not the usual musk or anything like that, but an aura that penetrated much deeper into the soul—one could not possibly have this scent without spending a long time with monsters or even living with them.
She had once seen people who raised demon-type beasts, and those people had a similar scent, but.
The scent on Gong Qiying was much richer. To use an analogy, it was the difference between Cantonese spicy and Sichuan-Chongqing spicy.
Moreover, the monster scent he carried was far more dangerous!
Up until now, Elsa only knew that she had the ability to sniff out the unique "scent" of the Demon Race and monsters. Sometimes, this special ability was more useful than magic.
This was the first time she had seen someone coexist with dangerous monsters, and her curiosity had driven her to take an irrational action.
Gong Qiying looked at the young girl before him, feeling a faint sense of repulsion in his heart, and wanted nothing more than to get away from her quickly.
Just as he was about to ask what kind of scent it actually was, a voice interrupted them.
"Elsa, what are you doing?" Sali chased after them, panting. It really wasn't easy for his puny frame to keep up with Elsa.
"Sali, I."
Sali came before Gong Qiying, bowed slightly, and said, "Terribly sorry, sir. This child frightened you."
This was the third young master of the House of Bede? He was actually this polite?
Gong Qiying had heard of the name Sali before, and he'd heard that the other party was a pretty boy. Looking at him now, wasn't this the exact type of trap that old man Miyazaki loved most?
No, no, I can't judge a book by its cover, what if the guy can turn into a hulking muscle-bound giant in his second phase?
He shook his head and said with a smile, "It's fine, it's fine. Only being lively gives off that youthful maiden vibe. I'll get going now, you two go ahead and do your thing."
With that, he walked away in a hurry.
Sali watched Gong Qiying leave, his head turning back toward Elsa with a series of mechanical jerks. His face darkened as he asked, "What were you doing just now?"
Feeling the murderous aura, Elsa silently retreated two steps and said, "He has the scent of dangerous monsters on him."
"That would just be something he picked up in the dungeon. I looked at his file, he's an adventurer, and adventurers who hang out in dungeons year-round all have a bit of a smell to them more or less. Don't be so high-strung either, I'll have someone look into his background, alright?"
As Sali spoke, he suddenly froze.
He had only given Gong Qiying's background a cursory glance, and the guards had also gathered that information in a short period of time, so it wasn't very detailed—not even half a page was filled.
Yet upon recalling it at this moment, one piece of information stood out conspicuously.
[Mareda, Bronze Rank adventurer, registration date]
The registration date was... four days ago!
Something was a little odd.
After pondering for a moment, he decided it would still be best to have the guards investigate thoroughly.
When Gong Qiying returned to White Whale Street, the workers were sitting in front of his shop, every single one of them wearing a gloomy expression.
"Why aren't you guys continuing to work?" He walked over and asked.
"Bo-bo-bo-boss!?"
The workers wore the expressions of people who had seen a ghost, and said, "We heard you were taken away by the guards, and we thought you'd gotten into some trouble. It had us all worried sick."
"You were worried the work would be half-done and no one would pay your wages, right?" Gong Qiying rubbed his neck, still feeling as though there were strands of hair resting against it, which felt quite itchy. "Don't worry, I was just called in to be questioned about something. You guys just work as usual, your wages won't be short."
After offering the workers a brief consolation, he didn't stay to watch over the inside of the shop, choosing instead to stroll around outside while pondering what the monster scent Elsa mentioned actually meant.
Could it be that staying with monsters for too long left some kind of characteristic behind? That couldn't be right; those veteran adventurers didn't have any strange musk on them either.
Furthermore, the urge to stay away from Elsa that had welled up inside him also puzzled him. This feeling seemed to stem from instinct—an instinct telling him not to get close to her.
I should keep my distance from her in the future, Gong Qiying muttered to himself.
A few days later, a piece of news was published in the newspaper.
"The Mareda Magic Item Shop officially opens its doors today! Specializing in dungeon specialties, we have everything you could possibly want. Welcome to the shop!"
Gong Qiying's shop was finally finished with renovations.
Thanks for the monthly tickets, thanks for the tips, thanks for reading along!
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