After spending the night in the land of the elves, we left at sunrise before they managed to recover from their wounds and pursue us. It didn’t take too long, and we had already set camp close to a town, and then went in to explore as well as gather supplies for the trip.

“I thought the other races had holed themselves up in hiding…? Did we…just live in a really shut-off place?”

Magnus looked around him with a helpless look on his face. The city was bustling with life, looking extremely busy, unlike the elven city, with merchants trying desperately to sell goods and even stopping people on the streets. There were also lots of shops and pubs. 

But, most importantly, the people hurriedly walking along were all from various different races, including humans, and it didn’t look like they minded it at all. Seeing man shaped beings with the head of grey wolves, pig faced ogres, even some elves, among the many other races, we were all left dumbstruck.

“Ah, look. A troll. Go say hi, Felyn. Maybe he will ask you to be his wife.”

A hideous being with dead greyish skin and only a few strands of disgustingly oily hair sticking out from his head passed by, so I pointed at him and informed Felyn. However, she didn’t look pleased at all, and a calmly smiling Ezekiel had to hold her back as she turned into a rabid dog after my throat.

“Now, now. You’re still not ready to challenge my dear angel. Hahaha!”

Felyn suddenly calmed down as a building caught her attention, “Hey, there is a really nice hotel here! Why did we set up camp? A hotel is much better.”

Tilting my head back, I spoke condescendingly, “And pay for something we can get for free? Are you stupid?”

Once more, Ezekiel laughed care-freely as he held back the rabid dog Felyn. I didn’t bother much, as a sign in front of a store caught my attention. T-This is… I could feel my eyes sparkling.

“Anyway, let’s stop fighting and gather supplies- huh? Where did Ellie go?”

Magnus sighed as he shook his head and spoke. However, suddenly missing my presence, he looked around confused.

“Ah, there she is.”

Angie pointed towards the store as I came out, holding a bag lovingly in my hands as I stared inside at the contents, smiling and giggling quite happily to myself.

“…Why is she smiling so creepily while looking inside?”

“Huhu…Huhuhu….”

They all looked at me helplessly, while Magnus’ expression remained blank. Quickly looking away, he started walking towards a store like a man with a mission, “Quick, ignore. Pretend you don’t know her.”

Ezekiel had to practically be dragged along by the collar by Felyn, his tongue sticking out like a dog as his heart eyes started in my direction, so that they could all follow Magnus and shop for supplies.

“Ever since we got back…she has been laughing creepily as she stares inside that bag. Just what is inside…?”

Everyone was huddled together as they looked in my direction. Angie voiced everyone’s thoughts with knitted eyebrows, and they all stared harder as they tried to figure out what I had bought. Felly nodded seriously, “Yes, very creepy indeed! Even for Ellie.”

“To think she wouldn’t even get mad over not having a say in bargaining for supply prices…just what is that? Too suspicious…”

Magnus was particularly suspicious as he looked at my happy smile. I have no idea why they called it ‘creepy’ though.

Felyn scoffed, “What are you all wondering about? She’s just a creep.”

And Ezekiel was practically drooling, “My angel looks so innocent today…hehe…”

“…”

They could all only look at him helplessly in reply, with expressions that said ‘are you stupid?’

“Ah! She went inside!”

As I happily hummed while entering my tent, I could hear Felly’s shocked cry from outside. Magnus quickly yelled, “Hey~ where are you going? Don’t you want to go over the receipts and make sure we didn’t lose any money?”

Opening the bag and preparing the contents, I practically sang, “No thanks~! I’ll trust your judgment.”

I heard various gasps from beyond the tent, and then hushed whispered that were actually quite loud.

“W-What happened?!”

“Is she…sick?”

“No way…did someone poison her in the store?”

“Hypnosis…?”

“Is she even really Ellie?!”

The last shocked scream-whisper was undoubtedly Felly. However, I didn’t give them much thought as I went on with my business. And then…

Opening the tent door with one hand, I gave my brightest smile as I greeted everyone gracefully, “Good evening.”

They had all been sitting around the fire while Ezekiel prepared dinner. He must have hunted some meat, because large chunks were spinning over the fire and slowly being cooked. I had warned them to not buy any meat, since it could easily be hunted. Good. It seems like they all followed my advice.

As soon as they saw me, everyone’s mouth gaped as they stared at me with wide eyes. Some even let things fall to the ground as they lost power in their hands.

“Y-your hair…”

Felly muttered quietly as she stared at me with a dazed look.

“Hm?”

Pretending I didn’t hear, I smiled even more brightly and began speaking, “But…it really is such a nice day today, isn’t it? The sun is shining so brightly, birds are singing…Ah, just too perfect! Right?”

When I finished, I turned towards everyone with a questioning smile, and a few heads nodded back. Felyn had recovered by now, and scoffed as she spoke to herself, “What? So she just bought hair dye.”

I have no idea what she meant by hair dye, but my hair was indeed shining brightly and golden today and I felt quite bright and refreshed. Taking a seat by the fire with everyone, my smile was practically spread across my face gracefully.

“Hey…”

Leaning towards Felyn, he elbowed her as he held a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered while looking my way, “…is that pink powder on her cheeks?”

“…”

I simply continued smiling and decided not to let them ruin my mood. I had realized my temper had gotten quite bad these last few days, which wasn’t like me at all.

“Yeah, and she put so much on. It sort of pisses me off how it still manages to look good on her though…”

A vein was popping on Felyn’s forehead, her arms crossed over her chest as she commented in an irritated tone, her smile twitching.

“B-But…You’re really in a good mood today, Ellie. Haha…”

Sweat trickled down Angie forehead as she tried ignoring the conversation of the two, who weren’t as quiet as they thought they were.

Felly, on the other hand, somehow didn’t seem to notice. Very seriously and cutely, she nodded her head in agreement, “That’s right! You look really happy right now, Ellie.”

I smiled, “Yeah, I realize I have been quite rage-full and brute lately, and regret it deeply. I must act like a proper graceful lady, is that not so?”

“Hey…did her speech just get more elaborate?”

It was Felyn’s turn to place a hand to the side of her mouth as she leaned towards Magnus and whispered. He nodded in response as the two intently stared my way.

“But wow~ You dyed your hair, huh?” 

Felyn commented with a smile. I smiled back, “I have no idea what you mean.”

“But…”

She was now pouting a bit, “I think it still looked better before?”

Angie chimed in, agreeing thoughtfully as she examined my hair with a finger on her lips, “Yeah…It does look nice now, but…I think it suited you better when it was whiter- Umf!!!”

Like a gust of wind, Magnus flew towards the two ignorant girls, quickly placing a hand over Angie’s mouth before dragging the two to the side. Placing a finger over his mouth, he whispered, “Shh!! Don’t be noisy. Don’t you know not so say the words ‘white’ or ‘silver’ near Ellie by now?”

He looked really serious and a bit scared, occasionally glancing my way as I ignored them.

“Huuuh?”

Angie haughtily put her hands to her hips, “Why can’t I say those words? Huh?”

“Y-Yeah…why not?”

Looking shy and a bit shocked at suddenly being kidnapped, Felly fiddled with her fingers before looking up with big eyes and asking shyly.

With a hand to his forehead, Magnus sighed dramatically, “Listen here, you two. Your dear friend Ellie is deeply scared of losing her golden hair and becoming ugly. Any words that remind her of her new hair color are out of the question. Understand?”

He finished with a lecturing finger, asking them seriously. But Felly just tilted her head to the side and asked in a confused tone, “…But she looks pretty with silver white hair?”

Sighing dramatically once more, he explained, “Since when does Ellie make sense, anyway?”

At this, the two honestly nodded their heads in agreement…Hey, you traitors! I do make sense! And I can hear it all, you know?!

My expression was still a smiling once, but the corner of my lips were slightly twitching as I struggled to maintain my smile while the rage built up. I must be a calm and elegant young lady…

Anyway, I decided to ignore them as I calmly and elegantly drank a cup of tea provided by Ezekiel, also making sure not to look at his disgusting expression as he kneeled beside me. Taking in the delicious sent with crossed legs, I closed my eyes blissfully, “My, what lovely tea…”

Felyn, who was also drinking a cup a little distance away, commented, “Yeah…it really is nice. Good job.”

She finished by emotionlessly giving Ezekiel a thumbs up. No one asked you!

However, something caught her attention and she looked my way curiously, “Hey…haven’t I seen that necklace before?”

I looked down at the necklace glinting in the sunlight, perfectly fitting around my sleek neck. It was pure gold, with a beautiful aqua jewel hanging from it delicately.

“Hm? I don’t think so.”

Even though I answered like that, Magnus seemed to notice it too and his expression turned pensive as he approached, a hand on his chin as she stared at it intently.

“No…I think I’ve seen it too…Ah! Wasn’t that elf that first greeted us wearing that?”

“You mean the one Ellie cruelly almost beat to death even though he was in love with her?”

“…”

Everyone turned quiet as they looked my way, their faces darkening and practically screaming ‘she stole it!’

Laughing care freely, I dismissed the accusatory looks with the wave of my hand, “Haha! What are you guys talking about? When could I have had time to take it? You all saw me leave.”

“…Is that a drop of blood on the pendant?”

Angie was staring quite intently at it and commented. Everyone’s faces soon turned full of horror. With my smile twitching, I repeated, “I didn’t take it.”

I really didn’t! My pet dragon did! …On my orders.

Looking down at the pendant, I couldn’t help but think. But…he really did have good taste. This was the best piece of all! Hehe…

“Now her expression looks extremely disgusting.”

“Is she drooling?”

“…I honestly don’t know if I prefer her bright smile since its fake, or this creepy one since its real…”

“…As expected of Ellie…haha…”

*

The day had darkened by now as the sun began to set in the distance. I could faintly feel it fading from within my tent.

“Hey, the others told me to tell you the food is ready. You coming?”

Pushing the tent door to the side, Magnus came in and informed me in a bored tone. 

“Hey…”

“Yes?”

“My hair…it’s silver right?”

I saw Magnus’ expression in the mirror as I stood with my back to him. It  looked like he was struggling a bit as his face contorted, but he finally managed to answer in a forced natural tone, “…Yeah…haha…Did you wash the dye off?”

“…I didn’t.”

Swallowing dry, Magnus looked like he didn’t quite understand the situation. I was actually unusually calmly too, not smiling or angry.

“And it looks even whiter than before, right?”

“Haha…Maybe a bit?”

He sheepishly answered while scratching his head, lowering his guard a bit.

“Why the hell is this happening?! Huh?!

I suddenly twirled, facing him as I yelled at the top of my lungs, “I didn’t wash it off! I put the freaking dye on just a few hours ago, didn’t let even a drop of water come in contact, and yet it looks even whiter than before?!! What the hell is this?!” 

Magnus’ face paled as his jaw dropped in shock. He obviously hadn’t expected the sudden change in attitude. Then, anger seemed to boil up inside him as his face reddened, “And why do I always have to come call you?! Someone else is doing it next time, dammit!”

He looked really frustrated as he yelled with closed eyes…But, I didn’t care. My fists balled up to my side and I no longer saw him. I felt a devious smile pulling up the corners of my lips, and eerie laughter started pouring out, “Huhuhu…don’t think I’ll just let this go! I want a refund, dammit!”

Screaming, I gathered the dark element on my feet and ran at the speed of light, zooming past Magnus and everyone in a gust of wind.

“…Eh? What just happened…?”

Magnus mouth trembled as he stood frozen in shock, completely left behind. Meanwhile, I had managed to reach town at record speed, twisting and turning in the streets like a pro racer, never slowing down, before I crashed into the store I had bought the hair dye and pink powder in earlier.

“Give me back my money, dammit! You swindler!”

I had gone straight through the store, over the counter, and was now on top with my right hand tightly bound around the store clerk’s neck.

“W-What…happened…?”

The store clerk barely managed to speak through my hold, so I answered, “This stupid hair dye came off in only 2 hours, is what happened!”

“D-Did…you keep…it away from water?”

“I did! Now give me back my money!”

As I finished speaking, I let go of the clerk’s throat and practically threw him aside, then added, “Now!”

“Y-Yes!”

Without even recovering properly, he hurried to his counter, his hands trembling furiously as he tried counting the exact amount of money to pay back. He struggled a lot, and money kept falling to the ground.

“Actually, double it! No, triple it! Do you know the pain I had to go through?! Huh?”

“Y-Yes!”

Answering automatically out of fear, his hands begun acting fast, taking out a sack and filling it with not three times what I paid, but all the money he had…It was filling up quite a bit. Wow, this guy sure is fast! Should I hire him to take care of my money? Nah…That would be a waste of money.

I was quite content, smiling as I watched him get to work desperately. This guy knows how to please! Hahaha! 

“Hey! Just what do you think you are doing?! Stealing is wrong, you know?”

A very stern and righteous sounding voice filled with dignity resounded behind me. Slightly curious, I coldly turned back a bit to see what was going on, “Hm?”

The expression that stared back at me was equally stern and serious, a cold kind of righteous anger adorning the man’s angelic features as his brows knitted together. It was a very pretty man with very shiny golden hair, very shiny azure eyes, very fair rosy skin, and even shinier golden armor that gave off a noble knightly feel. It was a truly shiny man.

“…”