The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Naturally, there was no way Kurse's sword could hit Alice's Dark Guard so easily. The Dark Guards summoned by It's So Short were all talents carefully selected by the last Demon King that owned the weapon. Except for the busty demoness pretending to be a diviner, the three other Dark Guards were all powerhouses with superb combat capabilities.

Upon sensing Kurse's attack, the sledgehammer loli immediately lifted her sledgehammer with both hands and swung it, the blunt weapon meeting the oncoming longsword head-on.

The terrifying strength carried by the sledgehammer instantly knocked Kurse's longsword away. The sound waves that were generated from the collision even cracked the walls of the room and forced Lilith to cover her ears lest she wanted to go deaf.

After his attack got blocked, Kurse frowned as he looked at the sledgehammer loli's sledgehammer. The fact that the sound waves generated from their weapons colliding were strong enough to crack the room's walls, it was obvious that the sledgehammer loli hadn't been using her full strength when striking Lilith just now. It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that the sledgehammer loli had used less than one-tenth of her strength.

Had the sledgehammer used her full strength when attacking Lilith, her missed attack definitely wouldn't have stopped at just cracking the concrete floor underneath the wooden tiles. Based on his understanding of his own strength, Kurser was confident he could slice the entire apartment building apart like a block of tofu if he went all out. So, if sledgehammer loli, who was most likely stronger than him, attacked with all her strength, she could have easily demolished the entire building.

Not to mention, the speed at which the sledgehammer loli swung her weapon would have also been faster had she been going all-out, which meant she would have most likely struck Lilith and killed her. So, the fact that the sledgehammer loli had held back so much of her strength most likely meant that she didn't have any intentions of killing Lilith. In that case, why would the sledgehammer loli attack Lilith? Could it be to capture Lilith alive? But why?

Thinking up to this point, Kurse suddenly remembered something Lilith had told him about two days ago. Combining that information with the investigation results they had acquired on the sledgehammer loli, a demon warrior who was supposedly active thousands of years ago, Kurse came to a realization.

"Be careful, Your Highness! This person might be Gunst's subordinate! Gunst must have allied with the demons already!" Kurse shouted.

What?

Alice, who was about to make her escape amidst the chaos, suddenly paused to look at Kurse in surprise. She didn't think the Dark Guard she summoned to create a commotion would lead to Gunst being accused of allying with the demons.

However, after thinking it over, Alice quickly understood how Kurse came to such a conclusion. If Gunst truly was secretly trying to ally with the demons to usurp the throne, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities for him to be able to order around a demon warrior. As luck would have it, the sledgehammer loli was a demon warrior from thousands of years ago.

Adding on Lilith's recent investigation of Gunst and Gunst's sudden disappearance, Kurse must have been led to think that Gunst had already discovered Lilith's actions. In response, Gunst had chosen to go into hiding while simultaneously sending a demon warrior to attack Lilith.

As for why Gunst didn't order his demon warrior to kill Lilith, it should be because Gunst knew of the consequences of killing a member of the royal family. Lilith's murder would immediately shake the royal family and provoke an all-out investigation. If that happened, there was a chance his plans might get exposed. Hence, he decided to abduct Lilith and figure out a way to stop her from investigating him.

Although these were all scenarios Alice had come up with, she felt that since Kurse could conclude that "the sledgehammer loli is Gunst's subordinate," the man should be harboring similar thoughts in his mind.

"That is indeed a possibility… It seems we were right in the direction of our investigation," Lilith said after hiding behind Kurse with a shocked look. Then, in a serious tone, she continued, "If that's the case, we have even more reason to make things difficult for him... Kurse, get rid of this girl!"

It would seem that Gunst's name would remain sullied for the foreseeable future. Perhaps Lilith would only learn of Gunst's role in all of this after King Haydn's actions were brought to light.

As for the true identity of the sledgehammer loli's superior, Lilith would most likely never learn about it.

After seeing Lilith's and Kurse's responses to the sledgehammer loli's abrupt appearance, Alice apologized to Lilith in her mind and got ready to leave. Although the chaos this time did not cause Lilith any injuries or actual damage to the apartment complex, some renovation costs were unavoidable. Of course, the cost of renovating a room and fixing a few doors wouldn't be a problem for Lilith.

While Lilith and Kurse had a stare-off with the sledgehammer loli, Alice quietly opened the door Kurse had broken through and slipped out of the room.

However, despite Alice's attempt at being silent, Lilith still noticed the door behind her moving. Fortunately, even after she turned around and saw the open door, she didn't think too much about it. She simply assumed that Kurse's action of crashing through the door had broken the doorknob.

Like so, Alice managed to slip out of Lilith's room unnoticed. As for the damages caused to Lilith's apartment, all of the blame had already been pushed onto Gunst in Lilith's mind.

"I see you still like pushing the blame onto others," Andusia said in a mocking tone.

After Alice put some distance between herself and Lilith's house, the duration of her magic robe's Mana Concealment skill finally ran out. Now, it would enter a cooldown period before it could be used again. At this time, Andusia had also found herself back on Alice's familiar shoulder.

"Less yapping. I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble if it weren't for you," Alice said, the corner of her eyes twitching a little when she heard Andusia's ridiculing comment. Everything she did this time was so that she could rescue Andusia from Lilith's evil clutches.

"Hey, it's you who sold me. If you never sold me to that little fellow, you wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble in the first place, right?" Andusia responded with a snort as she sat down on Alice's shoulder and patted Alice on the cheek. After getting familiar with Alice, her actions have become less and less reserved. If it was when her mana was sealed, she would have never dared to take such an action against Alice.

"In any case, I need your help with some of the encounters I've had recently," Alice said, sighing. While nobody around was paying attention to her, she slipped her right hand into her pouch and held onto It's So Short's hilt. Then, after canceling the Chaos General skill, she said, "I've come across so many problems lately that I don't even know what to do anymore."

Whether it was the "Demon King's Shadow" incident or the "Pollution Roulette" incident, Alice urgently needed Andusia's advice on both matters.