Upon entering the slums, Takeru could easily sense the heavy air and atmosphere, and the residents here were also watching him and Emilia warily. Takeru even felt an aura of utter despair emanating from them.
"Excuse me, could you tell me where Felt lives?" Suddenly, Takeru encountered a man whose eyes didn't hold hostility towards them, and he directly inquired.
"Felt's place? Go inside from that intersection, two alleys in." Hearing Takeru's words, the man spoke calmly.
"Thank you. That's a great help!" Hearing his words, Takeru said with a light laugh.
"Don't mention it, young man. Did Felt steal your stuff? Well, if you talk to them calmly, you might be able to buy it back. Stay strong and live on!" Hearing Takeru's words, the man continued.
"To retrieve stolen goods, why would we need to spend money?" After bidding farewell to the man, Emilia said, extremely puzzled.
"Don't worry. Let's assess the situation first." Seeing this, Takeru gently reassured her.
Then, following the man's directions, Takeru and Emilia headed straight for the destination.
Along the way, Takeru also encountered the client, Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter. Though Takeru knew she was the one who had commissioned Felt, he pretended not to know and calmly walked forward with Emilia.
After the three passed each other, Elsa's eyes turned deep. She naturally didn't know Takeru, but she was very clear about Emilia, the target of her mission.
However, out of caution, Elsa didn't act rashly but planned to bide her time.
Compared to the oblivious Emilia, Puck vaguely felt the woman from earlier wasn't simple.
Soon, Takeru and Emilia arrived at the location indicated by the man. What greeted them was a dilapidated dwelling.
"Is this a place where people live?" Looking at the broken-down spot before her, Emilia covered her small mouth in surprise.
"It seems she's not having it easy either. Emilia, I have a request, okay?" Hearing Emilia's words, Takeru spoke softly.
"Hmm? Nara-san, what is it?" Hearing Takeru, Emilia asked, puzzled.
"That is, if it was indeed Felt who stole it, please don't harm her after retrieving the insignia." Takeru directly stated.
"Don't worry. As long as she's willing to return the insignia to me, I won't blame her." Hearing Takeru's words, Emilia directly replied.
"Is that so? Indeed, Emilia, you really are kind-hearted." Hearing her words, Takeru, who had already expected this, said with a smile.
Hearing Takeru's affirmation, Emilia's face turned slightly flushed.
"By the way, can I call you Lia? And you can just call me Takeru." Then, Takeru continued.
"Eh?!" Hearing Takeru wanting to call her with just Lia, Emilia was flustered.
"Was I too presumptuous? I'm really sorry." Seeing her reaction, Takeru pretended to be dejected.
"N-No, it's not that. It's just... we haven't known each other long, so..." Seeing Takeru's reaction, Emilia became nervous.
Puck squinted its eyes at Takeru but, upon confirming Takeru held no hostility and didn't seem to be trying to use Emilia or anything like that, didn't say anything more.
"Eh, is that so? I thought we were friends." Hearing her words, Takeru said in surprise.
"Friends!" Hearing Takeru say this, Emilia was stunned. To be honest, this word was very unfamiliar to her, yet she longed for it immensely.
"Right. Or do you, Emilia, think I'm not worthy of being your friend?" Seeing her expression, Takeru sighed.
"N-No, that's not it. But... but... you... you don't mind that I'm a silver-haired half-elf?" Hearing Takeru's words, Emilia bit her lip lightly.
"So what?" Hearing her words, Takeru spoke calmly.
"So..." Hearing Takeru, Emilia couldn't find words for a moment.
"Satella is Satella. Emilia is Emilia. In my eyes, though your appearances are similar, you are definitely different. After all, Emilia is so gentle and kind." Hearing her words, Takeru spoke sincerely.
Hearing Takeru's words, Emilia felt a pang in her heart, and her eyes felt like they wanted to cry.
Over the years, due to being a half-elf and her appearance, she had suffered countless cold shoulders, even the little girl earlier was somewhat afraid of her because of it.
Looking at Takeru's sincere eyes and gentle smile, Emilia felt overwhelmed and could only squat down, hugging her head, her cheeks burning red.
"Oh hey, Meow Meow Fist!" Puck directly threw a light punch at Takeru's face.
"Why hit me?" Looking at Puck, Takeru asked, puzzled.
"Just wanted to relieve an itchy feeling." Hearing Takeru's words, Puck said, its body trembling slightly.
"I see. I'll forgive you since your fist was soft." Hearing its words, Takeru said with a light laugh.
"I didn't hit you because I was angry, but because I was happy!" Hearing Takeru's words, Puck quickly added.
"What are you doing in front of someone's house?" At that moment, Felt, having returned home, naturally saw Takeru and Emilia, two unfamiliar guests.
Hearing her words, Takeru and Emilia looked directly at Felt.
"It's you!" Seeing Takeru and Emilia, Felt exclaimed.
Emilia, of course, she had just stolen the insignia from her. As for Takeru, they had briefly crossed paths when Takeru saved Subaru earlier. Due to Takeru's exceptional looks, Felt recognized him immediately.
"So it was you after all. Give me back the insignia!" Seeing Felt's reaction, Emilia realized and directly spoke to Felt.
"What insignia?" Hearing her words, Felt replied defiantly.
"Don't deny it. It must have been you who stole my insignia. Other things are one matter, but that absolutely cannot be lost!" Hearing Felt's words, Emilia spoke again.
"Darn it, such a persistent woman. Why won't you give up?" Seeing Emilia's determined look, Felt gritted her teeth.
"I'm sorry, but I can't give up on that item. Hand it over honestly, and I won't harm you." Hearing this, Emilia spoke calmly.
As her words fell, shimmering crystals appeared in the air. As special light coalesced, it quickly formed several ice spikes. Takeru, looking at this technique, felt it was very similar to his own White Ice Shards, just with differences in power and quantity.
Seeing the gleaming ice spikes, Felt clenched her fists, biting her lip as she looked at Emilia.
"Lia, can I handle this?" Seeing her expression, Takeru lightly sighed and said to Lia.
"But, Takeru, she..." Hearing Takeru's words, Emilia hesitated.
"Trust me." Seeing her hesitation, Takeru said with a light smile.
"Mm-hmm, I understand." Hearing Takeru's words, Emilia took a deep look at Felt and canceled the magic in the air.
Noticing the disappearance of the ice spikes, Felt sighed in relief, then immediately fixed her gaze tightly on Takeru, her eyes full of wariness.
"Felt, the situation is quite clear now. So I advise you to hand over the insignia." Looking at Felt, Takeru spoke softly.
"No way! I stole this fair and square. Why should I give it back?" Hearing Takeru's words, Felt said righteously.
"Well, really. I get it. In that case, how about we buy it?" Hearing her righteous words, Takeru wasn't angry. Instead, he directly took out a large bag of holy gold coins and showed it to her.
As for where the holy gold coins came from, naturally, when he controlled Aina earlier, she had given him all the gold coins she had on her.
Though not a huge amount, it was over two hundred coins, which is a considerable sum.
He hadn't asked for more, as over two hundred holy gold coins were more than enough for an extravagant life for two or three months.
Hearing the crisp sound of the holy gold coins, Felt's eyes filled with delight, but then she frowned and looked at Takeru.