Chapter 22: How Can It Be Considered Stealing When It Is Related to the Hero?

[Weapon: Soft Black Lace Underwear]

[Quality: Artifact]

[Effect: Strength +3000, Constitution +3000, Speed +3000, Mind +7000, Control +7000, Mana +7000]

[Additional Effect:

Mana Cancellation (Passive Skill. You will not be affected by offensive magic);

Absolute Defense (Passive Skill. You will not be hurt by physical attacks);

Destruction Grip (Active Skill. Upon use, releases a hand of darkness that can crumble the target's soul.)]

As I thought, even though the system recognizes all panties as Artifacts, the panties' effects and additional effects are dependent on their styles, Alice thought to herself as she looked at the bundle of swaying mist wrapped around her right hand. Then, when she loosened her right hand and let the black lace panties she held fall to the ground, the black mist wrapped around her hand also gradually vanished.

In terms of special effects, the black mist was similar to the holy light generated when Alice held white panties in her right hand. Both had an excellent bluffing effect. At the very least, when Alice saw the black mist spreading out from her right hand, she felt that it should be something a Demon King would emit. Moreover, if she hadn't released the lace panties, the black mist would've continued spreading until it reached the street outside.

Of course, it went without saying that Alice did not conduct her experiment with the black panties inside Rosa's house. Instead, Alice had Rosa take out all of her black panties from the closet and bag them.

Fortunately, when Alice grabbed the pouch holding three pairs of black underwear, her right hand didn't recognize the bundle as an Artifact. Instead, the system had evaluated it as a Garbage-quality weapon. To be precise, the system only recognized the pouch as a weapon; it did not recognize the panties stored inside the pouch. This outcome also proved that she could not stack the quality and level of weapons. And even if she directly held several pairs of panties in her right hand, the most likely outcome would be that the system only treated one of them as a weapon.

Initially, Alice had thought to sequestrate Rosa's other colored panties apart from the white ones. She wanted to test out the effects of different colored panties, such as blue, red, green, etc. Unfortunately, despite being a thief, Rosa owned mostly white panties. Even the black panties she owned numbered only three, of which Alice had looted all three of them.

Correction. Perhaps that couldn't be considered looting. After all, how could the Hero's actions be considered looting? As a resident of the human realm, Rosa should feel honored that she could contribute to defeating the Demon King.

However, recalling the strange expression Rosa gave her when she left, Alice guessed that the fact that "the Hero is a panty-loving pervert" must've given the thief girl a great shock. Rosa had shown hardly any concern even when someone had just taken three pairs of underwear from her.

Of course, Alice wasn't afraid that Rosa would expose this matter to the public. If Rosa dared to speak up, Alice only needed to submit a LINK as the Hero to make the girl understand the consequences of running her mouth.

Meanwhile, after leaving Rosa's house with three pairs of Rosa's panties, Alice hid in a small deserted alley in Mana City. Then, after making sure that there were no surveillance cameras in the vicinity, she began experimenting with the black lace panties she held before.

There was no helping it. The magic technology of this world had already instilled deep-seated fear into Alice. Typically, when novels brought up magic technology, most referred to magic-operated weapons and flying ships. Never had Alice seen a novel describing an otherworld filled with magic having substitutes for phones, computers, and even nuclear bombs. The fact that Alice got caught drawing the Hero's Sword by the church's surveillance cameras would forever remain her biggest trauma in this world.

It would be great if the special effects didn't exist… Alice thought as she crouched down, picked up the lace panties, and swiftly stuffed it into the pouch tied around her waist. When she saw the black mist that had appeared during the brief moment her right hand touched the lace panties, she couldn't help but feel frustrated. I wonder if the special effects of transparent panties would be transparent as well? Though, I don't even know if this world has transparent panties…

After packing up, Alice left the alley and made her way back to the Gryffin Church. She had already decided on a few goals in her heart. So long as she could achieve these goals, she should have ample time to study the magic and technology of this world. Then, she could find out if there were any means similar to otherworld summonings or otherworld teleportations and find a way back home.

However, what she needed to do now was notify Father Kasandora and Zauna of her plans. After all, only a few people in this world knew of her identity as the Hero. Moreover, she had already promised Father Kasandora to meet the kings of the five human kingdoms and get acquainted with them. The old priest's request was reasonable since these kingdoms were actively helping Alice safeguard her identity. The least she could do in return was meet them.

Though, one concern Alice had was that the kings would find it hard to believe that a little girl like herself could be the Hero. In that case, they might ask her to put on the rumored holy light show, and things would get awkward quickly. After all, she couldn't possibly take off her panties right in front of the kings, right? Even if she kept an extra pair of panties in her pocket, no matter how intense the "holy light" was, there was a high possibility that the kings would notice the panties in her hand. And once the kings realized that the light coming from her right hand originated from a pair of panties, what awaited Alice would be her social death.

While pondering how she should deal with the human kings, Alice arrived before the Gryffin Church's entrance. When she pushed apart the large wooden doors, she found that her diversion had indeed succeeded. When she left the church with Zauna before, there had been over a dozen people pestering Father Kasandora on the first floor. Now, there were less than a handful of people "interrogating" Father Kasandora.

"Miss Alice, you're back."

Father Kasandora loudly greeted Alice when he saw her coming in through the main entrance. Seeing that he wasn't surprised to see her coming in from outside the church, Alice guessed that Zauna had already told him about her little adventure. In addition, Father Kasandora had also wisely avoided behaving too politely toward Alice in front of the reporters.

It looks like Father Kasandora is quite the actor, Alice inwardly praised. She then nodded in response to the elderly priest's greeting. Truthfully, Alice had a very favorable impression of this old priest who had sheltered her in the church. If it wasn't for the fact that it was this same old man who had forced her to become the Hero, Alice would've given him a perfect score for his customer service.

However, it was a different story for the reporters who were still pestering Father Kasandora. Alice didn't have any patience when dealing with these people.

Unfortunately, Alice couldn't punch these reporters in the gut, either. If she exhibited strength beyond what an ordinary girl like herself should possess, they might suspect her identity. Alice knew full well about the paparazzis' bad habits. For the sake of attracting attention and increasing sales, they wouldn't mind casting suspicion on even the most absurd of matters.

Hence, after giving the matter some thought, Alice released the Milu Rabbit hanging on her waist and set it down on the floor. Then, she nudged it using the tip of her foot, trying to wake it.

The Milu Rabbit quickly regained consciousness and stood itself up. Then, when it turned its head around and saw Alice, it reacted just like Alice expected—it immediately turned its head away and dashed forward, trying to use the object in front of it to knock itself unconscious. Meanwhile, Alice had previously oriented the Milu Rabbit so that its head faced the reporters pestering Father Kasandora.

Bang!

In the blink of an eye, the Milu Rabbit sent one of the reporters falling forward. Although the Milu Rabbit didn't possess the Penetration effect because Alice wasn't using it as a weapon, it had already trained its "headbutt arts" to a point where it could dent even large trees.

The reporter that got struck might have attended some compulsory courses for magic and physical combat, thereby granting him a slightly better physique than ordinary people. However, his physique still wasn't that much stronger than the average person. Hence, when the Milu Rabbit rammed its head into his butt, the reporter got knocked half a meter forward and fell to the ground groaning in pain.

Unfortunately for the Milu Rabbit, it seemed that it had been too successful in its training, and the reporter's keister was too soft to satisfy its needs. Even though the Milu Rabbit had sent the reporter flying, it remained conscious. Thus, after shaking the mild dizziness out of its head, the Milu Rabbit set its sight onto the other frightened reporters.

"Tsk, tsk, serves you right."

Alice sat down on one of the benches in the hall and watched as the reporters desperately tried to flee from the rampaging Milu Rabbit.