NOVEL NEXT Book 2: Chapter 17: Since You Can’t Rely on Good Look, You Must Rely on Acting
“Seriously… do you really think this will work?”
Carol gave me a thumbs-up, her eyes that were visible between the gaps of the printed cloth had already changed into the shape of a crescent, “Of course, who do you think this lady is? This operation will be 100% successful.”
“I hope so.”
I stopped looking at Carol’s quirky expression and turned my head to watch the intersection.
It’s completely dark now, and we —who are about to enact our plan— have naturally come early. It’s just that I can’t beat Carol’s uncontrolled outburst skills, so I can only help her to implement the plan with that beautiful (ugly) makeup. As for success, it depends on luck and the taste of the person responsible for capturing the slaves.
Hmm… if the person’s taste is odd, then Carol might work wonders as she is.
“Wow, Lilith, can I take this cloth off my head, it’s so hot.”
“No.” Before leaving, Carol had to cover her head with a printed cloth under my strong coercion. Now she looked like a Japanese ninja with only a pair of eyes exposed, and the rest of her face covered with the floral-printed cloth she was using to hold things.
Although this look is funny and she gets a lot of looks from people in the streets, it is at least better than the monkey butt makeup she put on herself.
It’s already dark at this point, but it’s not too late that there were no civilians on the street. As a Dragon Princess, I can’t be seen going around with someone who looks like a clown.“Carol, are you sure you’ll run into those people here?” At this time, I was hiding on a large tree near a remote intersection, observing the surrounding area through the dense foliage.
“I don’t know~” Carol crouched on the branch next to me, tearing the leaves in her hand out of boredom.
“I don’t know how those people act, but I’ve heard women crying around here. So it’s probably from the slavers.”
“What if we miss them tonight and have to wait for tomorrow? I’m afraid we won’t be able to save many slaves even if the plan goes perfectly tomorrow.”
There are three auctions starting from today until the day after tomorrow. If Carol is caught tomorrow, then I’ll have to wait for the day after tomorrow to buy her. At that time, I am afraid that all the slaves in the auction will be sold out.
“Then we just have to wait for the next batch of slaves to be transported and save them. No matter what, I will do my best to save the people I can save,” I was not able to make out her expression since her face was hidden from view, but Carol said with an extremely resolved tone.
“Next batch?”
“Yes. The auction in Harbor City can be said to be the largest slave-trading market, but the real source of slaves are the elves, beastmen, succubi, and the like that are captured by mercenaries hired by rich merchants. Another thing they do is reach out to those small villages in the border areas and forcefully plunder the beautiful young girls. Even if small places like that just up and disappear directly it’s easy to just push the blame to Demon Beasts and no one will bother to investigate.”
“At most, the auction house has a relatively strong background and can directly eat some other slave shops. The real source of evil is the greedy merchants and the disgusting nobles who start the cycle.”
“It is really a complete industrial chain.” I couldn’t help but sigh.
Most people with inferiority complexes are like this. They are dominated by greed and desire in their hearts, and act heinous towards others, but will take pity on those of lower standing than them.
“When would the next batch come?”
“Hmm…” Carol paused to think, “it shouldn’t take too long, maybe another two months. After all, smuggling people from other areas isn’t easy.”
Two months? If I wait around here for two months then won’t I miss my entrance for St.Caroline’s Academy?
No way, nuh-uh, I’m not here to be a philanthropist.
“Carol, if you don’t get captured soon then I’ll directly sell you to the Auction House,” I threatened, intentionally stressing the word ‘sell’.
“Waaa… Lilith, why are you suddenly so severe?”
“It’s to motivate you. Besides, didn’t you say that you would be 100% successful? Do you have stage fright?”
“Of course not!! Just watch my performance! I’ll definitely make those people fall head over heels for me,” Carol said, puffing out her chest.
Squatting and trying to push her chest out at the same time, now she just looks like a duck laying eggs.
But instead of mocking her, I turned my attention back to the intersection.
“It’s up to you then.”
At this point, we can only hope for the pity of the gods.
Although I don’t give a crap about gods.
………
With the passing of time, civilians on the road became scarce.
Perhaps due to the madness of the recent kidnappings, the pedestrians — especially women— have begun to rush home in haste since night fell.
Now there is no one visible on the road and the area turned frighteningly quiet. The only thing I can hear are the distant barking of dogs and the sound of our breathing.
This was a place known to be blessed by the Goddess, but the people here didn’t even dare to come out at night. It was hard to tell if the corruption stemmed from the goddess or human nature.
“Are you ready? They should be coming soon.” I motioned to Carol next to me to get her ready.
“I… I… Of course I’m ready…”
“What are you trembling for, it’s too late to back out now. Besides, didn’t you always say you have a card up your sleeve?”
Carol tried to wipe the sweat from her face but only managed to scratch the cloth that wrapped her head, “Of course, this lady has a plan, but it’s unavoidable that I’m nervous since this is my first time doing undercover things.”
“You’re not going undercover,” I corrected, “You deliberately became a slave by your own will to make me buy you out. It has nothing to do with going undercover.”
“Wao! Lilith, can’t you just let me… boo hoo hoo”
“Shh.” I covered Carol’s mouth and whispered, “Don’t talk, someone’s here.”
The sound of rustling footsteps is very minor, but it is extremely clear in such a quiet environment.
‘It’s your turn.’ I gestured to Carol with my eyes.
Carol nodded, and slowly unwrapped the cloth on her head.
After that…. well, I was so frightened by Carol’s appearance that I almost fell off the tree.
After being wrapped up for so long, the original monkey butt makeup had become smeared beyond recognition by her sweat. It now resembled… a monkey butt that had fallen off the top of a twenty meter tall tree and was close to breaking apart.
Carol notices my twitching face and shoots a questioning look at me.
I suppressed the thought of wanting to kick Carol’s face, barely flashing her a shaky smile.
There is nothing to be done as the footsteps were getting closer. Judging from the fast and stable footsteps, it should have come from a trained person. This was most likely our target.
There’s no time for Carol to redo her makeup, and I can only hope for that person’s taste to be strange.
Maybe he might like this type of Carol.
As I gently pushed Carol, she jumped out of the tree and walked towards the center of the intersection.
Looking at the red figure floating away, I don’t know why I have a burning feeling in my heart. It was as if I was watching an urban inspirational drama of an ugly woman’s counterattack.
Let’s go! Pikarol!1 Since you can’t be a beauty, make up for it with your acting skills!
- Apparently pikachu + carol = pikarol