"You little punk! You think you can just bump into me and dirty my clothes and get away with it?"
A tall thug grabbed the boy by the collar, nearly spitting in his face.
But looking at his clothes, so filthy that their original color was indistinguishable, it was evident the stains had been accumulating for years, not the result of a single collision.
"I’m... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I can compensate... I’ll help clean it for you." The boy’s voice trembled as he tried to wipe it with his hand.
"Compensate? Can you afford it? This is high-quality material!" The tall thug swatted the boy’s hand away, then looked down at the books in the boy’s arms, reaching out to snatch them.
"These old books seem like they might be worth a few Copper Coins, hand them over to pay your debt!"
"No! I can’t give them to you! These are loaned to me by Mr. Colt! I have to return them!" Suddenly, the boy burst out with strength, tightly hugging the books in his arms.
But two other thugs simultaneously reached out to pin his arms down.
"Damn it! You dare resist!"
The tall thug cursed and raised his hand, preparing to slap the boy hard.
In the distance, Gauss stopped at the alley entrance, turned, and took a step into the alley.
Just as his muscles tensed, ready to spring into action,
he suddenly sensed something.
He stopped exerting force.
A slender figure emerged like a phantom from the shadows, leaping several steps to reach the thugs, even faster than Gauss.
Arriving beside the thugs, she barely gave them time to react.
"Boom!!"
Her right leg lashed out like a whip in a rapid three-kick combo, each strike landing precisely on the thugs’ abdomen.
The thugs didn’t even have time to fully scream; the next moment, their eyes bulged, their bodies curled up like shrimps, and they flew backward, crashing into the wall and sliding down.
"Ugh..."
The thugs writhed on the ground, holding their stomachs in pain.
From the woman’s appearance to finishing her attack, it happened in the blink of an eye, ending the commotion.
The disparity in strength between the parties was evident.
At the alley entrance, Gauss halted his next step, his muscles gradually relaxing.
Although he was ready to intervene, if someone handled it first, he saw no need to interfere.
However, upon seeing the woman’s face, particularly her black eyes, memories of a night a few days prior flashed through his mind.
"It’s her?!"
The woman looked around her early twenties, with a slightly angular oval face and an air of heroism.
She was tall, likely around 180 cm, with a trim, slender build that wasn’t weak; her fitted clothes highlighted her excellent shoulder, neck line, and straight back.
She exuded an aura of detachment and vigilance, like a hunter constantly assessing her environment.
Seeing her, Gauss immediately linked her to the woman from that night, the "thief" he encountered in the marketplace.
Though she had covered the lower half of her face and worn a cloak that night, exposing only her eyes, his keen memory recalled the tear mole under her left eye; he couldn’t mistake it.
The boy in the alley, hugging his books, looked speechlessly at the three fallen thugs and the celestial figure that descended, overwhelmed.
The woman in the black cloak didn’t glance at the groaning thugs on the ground; she merely turned, her gaze pausing briefly on the well-protected books in the boy’s arms.
"Hurry home."
The boy snapped back to reality, deeply bowing to her, his voice filled with gratitude, "Tha... thank you!"
Upon finishing, he hurriedly ran away with his books.
After handling everything, the woman turned, precisely locking her gaze onto Gauss.
Upon clearly seeing Gauss’s face, she showed a similar expression of surprise but quickly concealed her reaction.
She noted Gauss’s ready stance.
However, for a specific reason, she wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to "assist the righteous."
The two silently exchanged a glance over the still-groaning thugs in the narrow alley.
Then she nodded lightly.
Without any intention of lingering, she flickered, blending into the alley’s wind like a shadow, silently vanishing into another side alley in an instant.
Gauss withdrew his gaze.
"A thief with a sense of justice..."
After that night, he felt that the woman likely did steal the items from those shops, which was why he hadn’t been harsh with the shop attendants.
But based on her recent actions, there might have been more to it at the time.
That night, her speed wasn’t as fast, as if she deliberately slowed down to brazenly escape in front of everyone.
"Forget it, not my concern." Gauss shook his head.
Just a passerby.
Though encountering twice in a row was very coincidental, and she gave him a unique feeling.
But there are plenty of special people in this world; no need to dwell on it.
Can anyone be more special than himself?
He’s not a resident Adventurer of Forest Crown Town and likely won’t meet her again.