Counterfeit Puchi Eli Appeared

After confirming Teti’s race and spirit, we returned from the forest.

We walked along the main boulevard of the Royal Capital in the afternoon.

Teti and I held hands, and behind us walked Cheryl, the elf beauty.

Cheryl and Teti were so striking—beauty and cute beauty—that passersby kept doing double takes.

I worried a little that people might think they were mother and daughter.

Liricia probably wouldn’t care, though.

—Then.

As we turned off the main road into a back street toward the shop, I spotted a strange stall.

In front of a closed shop, two thug-like men were in the middle of assembling a makeshift stand from boards and posts.

Beside them sat a wooden crate filled with small bottles.

Teti gasped in her cute voice.

“Huh!? Puchi Eli!?”

She was right.

The sign read: “Puchi Eli—Big Sale!”

On a price board not yet displayed, it said 10,000 Gort.

I stared, dumbfounded.

This was faster than I imagined. What should I do?

Letting it slide was out of the question.

One of the thugs grinned and called out.

“Hey, buy some! A miracle drug that brings you back even if you die. I’ll cut you a deal!”

“What are you saying—this is fake!”

“What the hell!? Of course it’s real Puchi Eli!”

“Half price is impossible!”

“It’s cheap ’cause it got rejected during production. But it still heals, see?”

“No way—mmph!”

I covered Teti’s mouth and pulled her away.

The thugs watched, grinning.

—Do they know who we are?

Teti frowned up at me.

“What do we do, Alec-sama?”

“We handle it normally… but I need a bit of setup.”

I raised the sub-device to my ear.

“Kou, did you remake them?”

“Yes, Master. Shop stock and storage—everything has the crown mark now.”

“Thanks. Is the shop busy right now?”

“It’s always empty, you know?”

“So you’re free. Tell Liricia to bring about five bottles here. Location is—”

Before I could explain, Kou cut in.

“I can track the sub-device. I’ll tell her.”

“Alright, please do.”

I ended the call and spoke to Teti and Cheryl.

“Teti, run to the Adventurer Guild and tell Edgar to come here immediately. Cheryl, go call the guards.”

“Yes, Alec-sama!”

“Understood!”

The two elves dashed off.

The shop was closer than the guild.

Liricia would arrive first.

And setting up a stall on the same back street was blatant obstruction.

—Alright, then.

I needed them to throw the first punch and turn it into a fight.

Let people witness it and testify.

Thanks to Teti making a scene earlier, people were already watching.

I walked slowly toward the stall.

I studied the two men.

Both looked over thirty. Messy hair, unshaven, dirty clothes.

They didn’t feel like masterminds—more like underlings following orders.

And at their age, still underlings… they looked like worn-out men with no prospects, about my own kind of “stuck.”

So, to provoke them, I recalled the things said to me in the past.

“Trying to get rich selling fake Puchi Eli, huh.”

“Hah? Where’s your proof it’s fake? I told you—damaged goods.”

“Damaged goods don’t exist with this method. Honestly… ‘At your age, this is the only work you can do?’”

“Hey.”

Their grins froze.

I snorted and continued.

“Is this kind of petty job fun? ‘All you’ve ever done is boring work—what have you even been living for?’”

“You picking a fight, bastard?”

One stepped out and stood in front of me, face flushing with rage.

“A fight? You’re not worth it, so stop. ‘You’ll fail again anyway. You’ve never accomplished anything big in your life.’”

“I’ll kill you!”

He drew a knife and lunged.

I backstepped and avoided it.

He swung wildly again and again, but he was so sloppy it was easy to dodge.

—Those were all things people said when I failed as a hero.

Maybe I deserved credit for not snapping back then.

Back then, I still thought I’d already killed it and simply couldn’t find it.

“Hmph, this is it? ‘You’re trying, sure, but this doesn’t even count as working.’”

“Dammit!”

He came at me even harder, red-faced.

I kept dodging while scanning the surroundings.

A crowd had gathered—good, witnesses.

“What’s going on?”

“Isn’t that Alec-sama?”

“He attacked out of nowhere!”

“Puchi Eli… did they get caught and snap?”

In the distance, Liricia came running, her white habit fluttering.

Behind her ran Cheryl, and several guards.

—Good. That’s enough.

I poured Holy Wave into my fist.

“Let’s end this—haa!”

I slipped past the knife and punched him hard in the solar plexus.

“Guh—!”

He flew back and slammed into the wall, then collapsed clutching his stomach.

A “heal punch”—no bruises left behind.

A perfect excuse: I didn’t strike him, he just fell.

Seeing him go down in one blow, the other man tried to run.

“Damn it—remember this!”

But a tall man with messy hair appeared and blocked the route.

“Road’s closed, yeah?”

“W-who are you!? Move—ow!”

Edgar twisted the man’s arm and pinned him to the wall.

Liricia arrived first.

“Master!”

She handed me a small bottle.

I raised it overhead so everyone could see.

“They did what must never be done! Look! Real Puchi Eli is a Royal Warrant—marked with the crown emblem! The King’s endorsement! These men tried to counterfeit it—they’re criminals!”

The crowd erupted.

“How could they!”

“So the King approved Puchi Eli!”

“That’s insane!”

“They crossed the line!”

“As expected of Alec-sama!”

I even heard a clear child’s voice.

Glancing over, I saw Edgar’s child party—apparently they’d joined the chanting without me asking.

I’d need to thank them later.

Then the guards Cheryl brought arrived.

Their captain stepped forward.

“What’s all this commotion!”

“Captain, those two were trying to sell counterfeits of crown-marked Puchi Eli. When I warned them, they attacked me…”

I handed the real bottle to the captain.

He examined it closely.

“It’s true!? Let me see… th-this is an official crown emblem! Men—seize them!”

“Yes, sir!”

The guards tied the thugs up.

They protested desperately.

“No, it’s real!”

“Nobody told us about a crown emblem!”

But the guards questioned the crowd.

“They attacked first.”

“Alec-sama wouldn’t do wrong.”

“He’s kind enough to deliver relics for people.”

“He didn’t even hit him when attacked—real men are different.”

All testimony favored me.

The men were dragged off, cursing.

The captain looked at me.

“You’re… Hero Alec, aren’t you?”

“Former hero. Need me for a statement?”

“That would help.”

“Alright.”

I turned my face toward Liricia and Cheryl.

“Thanks, Liricia. Thanks, Cheryl.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I only did what was natural.”

“And Edgar, thanks. You saved me.”

“No big deal… but I’ve got something I wanna tell you.”

“Wait for me at the shop—huh? Liricia, where’s Teti?”

“She seems to still be at the Adventurer Guild.”

“I see. Being alone is dangerous—so I’ll go pick her up—”

A child from Edgar’s party stepped closer, wearing a cap pulled low.

And that white blouse and black skirt…

In a cute voice, the child said:

“I’m right here.”

“Teti—you blended in?”

“Yep! I came with them.”

She lifted her face with a grin, dimples showing.

Liricia giggled softly.

“Even in that short time, it seems the children got along.”

“Something about them feels similar—”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Edgar’s kids were orphans.

And after losing her parents, Teti had lived alone for a long time.

In that sense, they were alike.

Edgar, perhaps worried, watched Teti quietly from beneath his messy hair.

—Then.

The guard captain came over again.

“Come with us. I’ll take you to the station.”

“Alright—Liricia, take Teti and head back first.”

“Yes, Master. …Let’s go, Teti-chan.”

“Okay!”

Teti and Liricia left.

I separated from them and headed to the station.