'I am going to die! I am going to die! Someone save me! I don't want to die!'

The second kidnapper from the night ran out as fast as he could. But it still did not feel safe for him. Somehow, he could feel the presence of someone running after him.

At this rate, he was going to get killed.

But when he turned around to look behind him, there was no one.

"W-Where are you? Come out right now and speak up! I won't tolerate this for long. Y-Y-You don't know what kind of danger I can bring you-"

A cold knife slit his throat, and the second kidnapper was dead within seconds.

As soon as his body fell, Mary's form appeared out of the black smoke. But in the darkness of the night, it was not visible.

Even the silver knife she held did not shine on this moonless night. This was the perfect murder, and now she needed to disguise it as an accident.

*whistle*

Mary's whistle brought a lot of wolves hiding in anticipation of getting the reward of the hunt.

These wolves were demon wolves loyal to her, and they followed her every command.

"Go and feast on the remains of this man. Make sure you do not leave a single bite behind. I will come to bring you all more soon."

Mary promised before she disappeared into the smoke. She had a young miss to look after, so she could not spend too much time outside.

...

Layla looked down at the man who had all but passed out because of her potion. She managed to do it in time before her potion wore off and her body shrunk back to its original size.

The clothes she had been wearing at this time were magical ones that changed with her size. (it had not been cheap to commission)

"Great, I secured one slave trader. I will hand him to Mary to interrogate. But first, I must drag him into our room so no one discovers him. Ugh, this will require some effort."

The main problem was not that Layla did not have enough magic. She had more than enough to drag this man.

But she was too short to do much and entirely reliant on magic. Besides, she did not know how to explain what happened to anyone.

Layla made the man float with the help of her magic, and she began to drag his body toward the door of her room.

Just as she reached the door, she heard footsteps. It made her cringe, and she tried to hurry up and open the door.

But her hurry caused her to drop the body floating behind her.

It never touched the ground because someone reached out and caught it before it hit.

"My young miss seemed to have done a remarkable job catching a rat. Please leave everything up to me now, and have a good night's sleep. We do need to get up early tomorrow."

Mary's voice spoke, and Layla finally turned to see that her maid was back.

Mary looked fresh, and her smile was radiant. The blood splattered on her face spoke volumes about what she had been doing and how much she enjoyed it.

Layla handed the matter over to Mary and quickly went to sleep.

Her maid woke her up the next morning, causing Layla's body to protest.

Despite the eight hours of sleep she could get, Layla still felt exhausted. Mary helped her out during most of what needed to be done and guided Mary downstairs.

As soon as Layla reached outside, she heard the hustle and bustle of the crowd, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Mary, did you tell everyone when we were leaving?"

Layla asked as she looked at the small crowd in the common room. They all looked at the stairs, not even hiding their curiosity about what would happen and what new look Layla would have today.

It made her feel like a child celebrity, but it also scared her at the same time.

"Please don't worry about it too much, miss. If you feel uncomfortable, you just need to tell me. I will take care of these people for you."

Mary's face was smiling, but her eyes looked interested. It was clear that she had deliberately done this to test Layla out.

Layla remained calm and decided not to think about it. Mary told her there was no need to worry about what was happening.

"Have a good time at the competition, and I hope you win the grand prize."

The cook spoke suddenly as Layla was about to exit the door. People gasped at the cook's mishap.

Layla did not see what was wrong until Mary nudged and whispered it.

"It is said that calling out to someone leaving will cause them to face trouble. That is why everyone looks too tense all of a sudden."

Mary informed her, and Layla sighed.

This backward world had magic, but it still believed in superstitions. Maybe that was not as farfetched as she thought.

This could be a curse or something in this world. And since this world had cursed, she could have waited a bit…

"Miss, let's head out. Since I am here to protect you, nothing will happen to you. I am sure the competition will be no problem for you."

Mary promised as she led Layla outside. She sounded confident, and it made Layla feel confident as well.

The carriage and outside were surrounded by even more people compared to before. They all looked awed once they saw Layla's shiny hair and outer appearance.

She did not doubt that everyone inside the inn would be questioned about her and where she came from.

This would make the news of her upcoming business spread faster. Things were working in the direction Layla wanted them to.

Once they were in the safety of the carriage, Mary decided to tell Layla about what she had found out.