"Are you ready?" A middle-aged man was sitting on an emergency exit while putting out his smoke.
"Yes, sir." Several people were standing in front of him, fully armed.
"What we will do today will be condemned, but our target remains the same. According to our information, the mule is inside the mall today. Find that bastard and kill him before the police arrive."
…
Meanwhile, Kanaria and Clovis were enjoying themselves inside the mall.
They had been hopping from one store to another. At first, it was about restocking their supplies for the next exploration, but it soon changed to normal shopping.
"What do you think?" Kanaria was trying new clothes: a light brown sweatshirt and plaid skirt. She tried on a lot of clothes that suited her.
Kanaria wanted to know Clovis’s reaction to the clothes. At the same time, she also started dragging Clovis to a clothing store for men.
The reason she bought some clothes for herself was so that Clovis didn’t feel bad buying some clothes for himself.
However, she surely didn’t hesitate to feast her eyes. Clovis’s face was above average, but he looked plain because he didn’t have a lot of clothes that suited him.
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When Kanaria bought him some clothes, his aura changed. His new shirt barely covered his muscles. His muscles might not be that big, but it still made him more pleasant to the eyes.
After what felt like hours, they finally stopped and took some rest.
"Ha… I think we have bought everything here…" Clovis sat down while putting down everything they had bought so far. Both of them were holding the same amount, yet Kanaria still looked pretty energetic.
"We still need a few more items and supplies. Also, we have to rent another car. I want to buy a car for our group, but I think it’s better to wait until we have secured a bit more funds. After all, it’s better to customize the car for exploration," said Kanaria while handing him a bubble tea.
"How do you have all that energy to buy all this stuff?" Clovis sighed.
"What’s wrong? As a Tier 1 human, you shouldn’t feel exhausted after all that, right?"
"No, but I’m mentally tired." Clovis shook his head. When he was going to Another World Mall, he was mentally tired because of the expensive price. But in this mall, he was tired because Kanaria kept asking him to change from one outfit to another.
In the Another World Mall, he didn’t bother to choose after all. As long as the effect was good, he would buy it. But the real world was different.
"Shopping is a guilty pleasure." Kanaria shrugged.
"Hmm…" Clovis looked around once again. He couldn’t help but have a lot of thoughts regarding the future stores that would come to Another World Mall. In fact, this was the reason why he accompanied Kanaria; he wanted to see all kinds of stores this mall could offer.
He muttered inwardly, ’Now that I think about it, there was supposed to be a bookstore in this mall. But because most of the stuff is now digital, the book store is gone. What about the Another World Mall?
’If it has a bookstore, won’t it show a lot of weird books? Wait a minute, there are elves and the like, right? Will I be able to learn magic from those books? But… I think that this magic will bring me a lot of trouble and I don’t know if I have the aptitude or not. Instead, martial arts are probably better.
’Or maybe a guide to creating weapons by a dwarf? Either way, it seems that the bookstore is something that I want to have in the future.’
"What’s wrong? You look so serious." Kanaria had returned, trying to assure him with a smile.
"Ah!" Clovis smiled wryly. "It’s nothing. I’m just thinking what kind of place will be visited the most in a mall…"
"The most visited place?" Kanaria didn’t seem to expect this question. When she thought about it, there was only one place that came to her mind. And she couldn’t help but think this was Clovis’s hint.
In her mind, the most visited place in the mall wasn’t a store. It was a movie theater.
As expected, this was truly a date. While they were at it, it would be fine if they had some fun together like watching movies and eating together, right?
"Do you want to visit that place?" Kanaria asked.
"Yeah." Clovis nodded.
"In that case, let’s go." Kanaria smiled. "What kind of movie would you like to watch? I haven’t checked which movies they have today."
"Oh?!" Clovis forgot that this was indeed the most visited place in the mall. When he heard movies, his imagination went wild.
That was right. What kind of movies could the Another World Mall offer? Would it be just a normal movie? Would it be a movie about another world? Or would it be a movie that allowed him to gain an understanding or abilities?
This just made him realize that there were still a lot more things that Another World Mall could offer.
Clovis thought for a moment. Since he had agreed to her invitation, he thought it would be fine to spend the day leisurely. It was important to rest after all.
"Sure. Let’s go, shall we?" Clovis smiled.
"Yep." Kanaria looked happy, but this happiness was short-lived.
All of a sudden, a big explosion occurred.
*Boom!*
"!!!" Kanaria and Clovis couldn’t help but stand up while raising their heads. They certainly heard the explosions coming from the other side of the building.
"Kyaaa!"
"Ahhhh!"
The people were screaming as they frantically ran toward the other side, away from the explosion site.
"What is going on?" Kanaria’s expression turned serious.
Clovis couldn’t help but press his chest, specifically the necklace hidden underneath his t-shirt. He wondered if this necklace was effective or not. At the same time, not getting caught in the explosion was probably considered lucky.
However, the terror in front of his eyes had just gone one step further.
The building suddenly collapsed.
"!!!" Clovis hurriedly grabbed Kanaria and pushed her down. "Get down!"
Clovis even flipped the bench to protect themselves from rubble. Some of the smaller ones ended up flying toward them. A few people got hit and their status was unknown.
Clovis gritted his teeth while saying, "A gas explosion? It doesn’t seem like it. Is the mall under attack?"
"A terrorist attack?" Kanaria turned her head but couldn’t see anything due to the bench.
"I don’t know. However, if this is true, then this entire mall will soon become a battlefield." Clovis’s expression turned grim. He didn’t have his weapon or special clothes with him. The only thing that accompanied him today was the lucky necklace. He hadn’t even bought anything related to recovery from Another World Mall.
There was one more thing he was concerned about. It was Melody. He didn’t know whether Melody was still in this mall or not. If she ended up dying in that explosion, it would be a great loss to his group.
"What are we going to do, Clovis?" Kanaria asked.
"We have to join hands with others and save as many people as we can. We’ll have to evacuate the people, but I don’t know where to go. The other side of the building must have been compromised as well. The best way to go is…"
"Should we find a cafe or a store that has windows to the outside?"
"Yes. However, we have to be careful. There is a chance that the enemy is lurking inside this mall as well." Clovis looked at Kanaria with a solemn face. "Promise me. Don’t do anything too reckless. If there is a chance not to stand out, make sure you use it and assess whether there is a hidden terrorist or not."
"Got it. What about you?"
"I’m going to look around. There will probably be a lot of people trapped here, so I will be looking for Melody. She might be the only one who can locate all those people." Clovis thought for a moment. Although it was a shame, he immediately took off the necklace and put it on her hand. "I hope this necklace can keep you safe."
"This is…" Kanaria was stunned as this was the necklace that Clovis bought earlier. But she didn’t remember that Clovis did something to the necklace.
Still, it didn’t matter. Clovis entrusted the necklace to her. Although she didn’t know what the necklace could do, she trusted Clovis.
What both of them didn’t know was that the necklace had once again been working at full power. The explosion this time had actually angered several people.
"Are you serious?" Melody gritted her teeth while looking at the empty cashier. "I haven’t paid for my game yet… And I’m not a thief. Who in the world ruins my chance to buy this game?"
"What’s going on?" Vina gasped while her master, who had been disguising himself as a store employee, couldn’t help but look at the situation with a cold face. "To think that something like this would happen while I’m inside this place."
There were two more people annoyed by this explosion. They were the two assassins that were assigned to monitor Clovis and eliminate him if it was possible.
"Oi, oi. You bastards. What the hell are you doing here? If you’re gonna kill someone, we will be the ones getting eliminated."
"I don’t care what the terrorists do, but how dare they do it when that Hacfield bastard is inside?"
Both of them looked like they were raring to kill some people.