The rising coin caught the attention of all three people present.
Their facial expressions told different stories: Priscilla radiated confidence, Adam maintained his calm, and Natsuki fidgeted nervously.
The coin hit the floor.
Unlike before when it fell straight down and stuck to the stone slab, this time it finally produced a reactive force — Newton's third law in action!
Newton rises from his grave!
The coin tumbled across the stone slab, flashing between heads and tails, spinning wildly.
At last, it wobbled to a stop.
And there it stood — perfectly balanced on its edge!
"Eh?" For once, even the supremely confident Priscilla was stunned.
Impossible! This defied everything she knew!
She who saw herself as the world's center had never encountered such an anomaly!
But Adam smiled with satisfaction.
"Just as I expected." He pulled out his adventurer card and examined it carefully, finding a new skill displayed.
〘Divine Protection of the Sun〙
After nine rounds of the coin toss game, he had finally succeeded in analyzing and replicating Priscilla's Divine Protection.
The proof stood before them — a coin balanced impossibly on its edge!
His replicated〘Divine Protection of the Sun〙matched Priscilla's original in every way!
Adam knew with certainty that no future coin tosses could defeat him. Victory might be elusive, but defeat was impossible!
"What exactly did you do?" Priscilla's menacing glare bore into him, her upturned eyes dangerous.
Though she lacked proof, she knew he must have employed some trick. With her 〘Divine Protection of the Sun〙, defeat should have been impossible!
"I didn't do anything at all." Adam spread his hands in a show of innocence.
Priscilla studied him suspiciously but found no trace of deception.
"Well then, it seems Lady Priscilla has lost."
"Hmph, mere trickery! And the coin isn't even tails up, I haven't lost!... Well, I suppose I didn't consider this possibility, it was an oversight on my part. You win, what are your terms? Let's hear them."
She looked quite displeased, initially refusing to admit defeat before finally acknowledging her loss.
After all, her victory condition had been to win ALL the apples — not getting this last one meant defeat.
"The terms... I can't say right now."
"You won't even tell me after beating me?"
"Fine! I won't go back on this bet. When you want me to do something, come find me! But... as you said, I have the right to refuse, correct?"
"Of course, that's fine." Adam hadn't planned to make her agree to anything unreasonable anyway, "By the way, carrying all these apples must be inconvenient. Please use this bag, Lady Priscilla."
He handed Natsuki's bag to Priscilla for her to store the apples she was holding.
"Oh? So you can be quite gentlemanly after all." She had begun to think this handsome man wasn't so discourteous and actually showed consideration for others.
That is, until she saw two apples still remaining in the paper bag, and her impression of him instantly changed.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! Believing she had miscounted earlier, Priscilla counted the apples in her arms again.
That's when she realized there hadn't been 10 apples in the bag to begin with — but 11!
Adam had tricked her!
The game rules were to play 10 rounds, winning one apple for each correct guess, and her victory condition was to win ALL the apples in the bag. In other words, even if she had guessed correctly 10 times in a row, victory would have been impossible!
"You... you dare to fool me , how audacious..." This novel experience left Priscilla intrigued.
Incredibly intriguing! The man before her was becoming more and more fascinating!
Just as she was about to speak again, the three thugs regained consciousness.
"Ow—! What's going on?"
The three held their heads as they shakily got to their feet.
As they came to their senses and looked around, the moment they saw Adam, their legs gave out and they collapsed again.
Their voices trembled with fear.
"Oh, so you remember me." Adam was slightly surprised, then threatened, "You three, if you clear out now, I won't make things difficult for you. Disappear quickly."
"D-damn you! Don't get cocky! Just you wait!"
Though their words were defiant, they scrambled to their feet and fled pathetically.
"Well, that's about their level."
Priscilla, Adam, and Natsuki all disparaged the thugs' undignified retreat.
Yet barely three minutes later, the three thugs returned — with at least thirty people behind them!
All of them wore malicious expressions, clearly thugs of the same low caliber.
Though these pests couldn't cause any real harm and could be swatted easily, their persistence was annoying.
How could there be so many thugs in the capital, which was supposed to have the best public security? Was the guard force merely collecting paychecks without doing their jobs?
Or had the country's security truly deteriorated since losing its King?
"Subaru-kun, can you handle this?"
Turning to see Natsuki looking completely at ease, Adam thought the boy might have a way to deal with these small fry.
But then he heard: "No, I can't do it."
Then why do you look so relaxed?
"No choice then, I'll have to do it."
Just as Adam stepped forward to drive them back, Priscilla stopped him.
"What now, arrogant lady?"
"Arrogant... you're truly discourteous!" Priscilla lightly waved her fan and said with puzzlement, "A Knight Guard cannot harm others without their master's permission. As a Knight Guard to a Royal Selection Candidate, don't tell me you didn't even know this?"
"Ah... eh? There's such a rule?"
Please excuse Adam's ignorance. Though he was nominally Emilia's Knight Guard, he really knew nothing about the principles and rules of being one.
"Then what should we do?"
"What to do... we'll have to run. That butler next to you is useless, and you can't fight, so running is our only option."
Priscilla walked to Adam's side.
"Come, carry me and run quickly."
"Hm?" He was a bit stunned.
"I'm tired. Consider it punishment for fooling me... no, perhaps it's a reward? Never mind, just hurry up and carry me away from here."
"What kind of reward is this?" Adam frowned, "If you don't tell anyone—"
"Are you an idiot?! Don't make me think less of you with such foolish actions that would give others leverage!"
What a sharp-tongued lady!
Well, better just listen to her and run. He hoisted her onto his left shoulder!
Please note — onto his shoulder!
"Eh?" Priscilla was speechless again.
This man beneath her was unlike all others who feared and respected her — he kept doing unexpected things that left her at a loss.
"You... you truly are discourteous!" She could only repeat this familiar phrase to express her dissatisfaction with the man below her.
"Just bear with it, arrogant lady."
As Adam spoke, he also hoisted Natsuki onto his right arm like a sack of potatoes, then used〘Yin Magic〙to soar into the sky and escape.
He headed toward the bustling streets. Surely those thugs wouldn't dare cause trouble in a crowd of pedestrians, no matter how brazen they were.
Thinking this, Adam landed on the street.
Just as he touched down, familiar and unfamiliar voices called out nearby.
"My lady, what are you doing?"
Oh boy! Caught in the act?!
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