Kaguya-sama: Love Is War wants me to turn myself in.

After a pause, Natsuki Amamiya turned to look at her senior: "Speaking of which, there are two megaphones in the game inventory..."

"You absolutely must not use that kind of thing!"

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Senior Sister Yanzi's forehead as she couldn't help but complain, "This is a game instance! Using a megaphone to call people out is just too much!"

"There are likely mushroom people in the village as well. If we shout through the loudspeaker, it would be terrible if they all came out."

Senior Sister Yanzi, with a clear mind, said in a low voice:

"Now that we've confirmed that Qianhua is in the village, and the village isn't very big, we can search house by house."

Amamiya Natsuki said:

"Wouldn't it be dangerous to go in and search?"

“It’s definitely not as dangerous as shouting through a loudspeaker,” Zian Yan said quickly. “Besides, if we’re lucky, we might find Qianhua right away.”

After saying that, Senior Sister Yanzi extended her right hand and whispered:

"Natsuki-kun, give me a flashlight."

"Ah."

Amamiya Natsuki nodded, put down the little red hat she was holding, took out a flashlight and handed it to her senior, saying:

"In that case, let's start looking in the house in front of us."

"..."

In the dungeon, the productivity of the Fairy Tale Kingdom is quite low, and the first impression of the villages is probably that they are short, dilapidated, and small.

Many homes don't even have courtyard walls, only simple bamboo fences.

"I'll go knock on the door."

Natsuki Amamiya arrived at the first house, raised her hand to knock on the door, and her senior, wearing a little red hat, stood behind her.

Who knew that the room, which had been filled with rustling voices, would fall silent the moment Amamiya Natsuki knocked on the door.

Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow and shouted:

"Please open the door."

"..."

There was no response from inside the house; only deathly silence.

"Grandpa, open the door and bring us warmth."

"..."

Little Red Riding Hood called out from the side, "Grandma Mary, open the door quickly! It's the hero, not a bad guy!"

According to information gathered from conversations along the way, mushrooms don't grow overnight; they grow gradually.

During this period, people who grow mushrooms on their heads will gradually undergo a drastic change in temperament, falling into evil and darkness, and gaining some incredible powers.

Therefore, if a mushroom is found growing on someone's head, they are usually driven out of the village for the safety of the village.

Of course, there are also some people who, for the safety of their families, will choose to leave and exile themselves.

The little girl continued to call out, "Grandma Mary, open the door!"

"..."

Unfortunately, no one responded.

"This is troublesome," Natsuki Amamiya sighed, saying quietly, "The door is so dilapidated, it'll break if you step on it."

"It's so cold outside. If we didn't have a door to keep warm, we might freeze to death."

Zian Yan: "..."

If someone refuses to open the door, they'll kick it down and break it. What kind of robber and hero is that?

However, it must be said that Natsuki Amamiya's rhetoric was quite effective.

Even the native inhabitants of the fairy tale world are afraid of evil forces. If polite words are useless, they will threaten to open the door immediately.

"Please, please wait a moment."

An old, flustered voice quickly responded from inside the house.

Before long, a faint light appeared in the room, and then an old woman opened the door and looked nervously at the three people outside.

"Grandma Mary!"

Little Red Riding Hood broke free from her senior's hand and stepped forward, calling out happily.

"You are……?"

The sky grew increasingly dark, and the old lady's eyesight was clearly poor; she squinted as she looked over.

Upon seeing Little Red Riding Hood clearly, he immediately tensed up and stepped back, his face full of vigilance.

"Grandma Mary, don't be afraid, the mushrooms are all gone!"

The little girl happily took off her red hat, revealing her clean little head.

Upon seeing this, the old lady was immediately shocked. She pulled Little Red Riding Hood over and checked repeatedly, finally confirming that the mushrooms had disappeared.

"It was the hero who saved me." Little Red Riding Hood pointed. "When we came out of the forest, the hero even took the mushroom off Grandma's head."

"Actually, I'm a professional hero. I came here to solve the mushroom syndrome." Amamiya Natsuki smiled, lying without hesitation, and pointed to the upperclassman next to her, "This is my partner, the beautiful girl paladin."

Zi'an Yan felt her face burning and couldn't help but look away.

Compared to Natsuki Amamiya, she still had some self-respect and was too embarrassed to fool an old woman.

It would be too embarrassing for a female knight not to be shivering from the cold!

After exchanging a few more words, the old lady quickly welcomed Amamiya Natsuki and the other two into the house.

Inside the house, there was a little child, who looked even smaller than Little Red Riding Hood. The grandmother and grandson were lucky; they didn't become mushroom people.

The room was dimly lit, with barely any light, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

Amidst the gasps of surprise from the grandfather and grandson, Natsuki Amamiya immediately turned on her flashlight and began searching the house.

The house was small, and we searched it inside and out quickly, but unfortunately we couldn't find any trace of Fujiwara Chika. She was obviously not in the house.

However, it wasn't entirely without gains.

The old woman clearly knew more about the village than Little Red Riding Hood, after all, the little girl had been in self-imposed exile for some time.

After inquiring about the situation in the village, Amamiya Natsuki and her senior did not linger and continued their mission.

Once you've had your first success, the rest is easy.

When Natsuki Amamiya arrived at the door, he threatened her with harsh words, and most of the villagers would open the door in fear.

Unfortunately, after searching several places, we still couldn't find the Secretary.

"The big house in front was Karen's house, but unfortunately Karen moved to the city later."

The little girl continues to be a loyal guide.

“It’s even more convenient if no one’s around.” Amamiya Natsuki turned her head. “Senpai, do you know what it feels like to break into a house?”

Zi'an Yan's lips twitched slightly: "I don't know."

"Then you'll find out soon enough."

"..."

The house is quite large, and it is surrounded by a low courtyard wall.

Amamiya Natsuki stretched out her hand and leaped over the wall, then said:

"Senior, come in."

Zian Yan followed suit, jumped over the wall, landed steadily, and let out a soft breath.

"Senior, how does it feel to break into someone's home illegally?"

Amamiya Natsuki inquired.

"Stop saying trespassing, it sounds weird," Zi'an Yan scolded. "We're not going to steal anything... Anyway, let's hurry up and find Qianhua."

Holding flashlights, the two walked into the house, their footsteps crunching through the snow.

The house had clearly been uninhabited for a long time; a faint musty smell lingered in the air. When a flashlight swept across it, tiny specks of dust could be clearly seen floating in the air.

The two men, armed with flashlights, quickly finished checking the first floor and were about to go upstairs when they suddenly heard a clicking sound.

“Natsuki-kun, there are footsteps.”

Zi An Yan looked wary and said in a low voice, "It sounds...like high heels."

The sound of footsteps suddenly heard in an abandoned, uninhabited old house would naturally raise suspicion.

To make movement easier, Chika Fujiwara wore flat sneakers, so her footsteps definitely didn't make that kind of noise.

"I heard."

Natsuki Amamiya moved her flashlight and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Little Red Riding Hood followed behind the two and asked curiously:

“Some people in the village have heard this sound, and they say it sounds like a pair of shoes.”

"It sounds familiar..."

Zi'an Yan frowned slightly, a flash of inspiration passing through her mind, and she felt as if she had heard this fairy tale before.

"Appeared."

Natsuki Amamiya shone her flashlight upwards, and suddenly a pair of dancing shoes appeared at the turn of the stairs on the second floor.

A pair of red ballet shoes.

Under the bright white lights, only a pair of red dance shoes lay forlornly on the steps, the shoes empty, indicating that no one was there at all.

"They're the Red Shoes!"

Senior Sister Yanzi blurted out her name.

The hazy memories in my mind quickly became clear. It was an Andersen fairy tale I read in my childhood. A girl loved red dancing shoes so much that she would wear them even to church to pray. In the end, she was punished and the red dancing shoes kept dancing until the executioner cut off her feet, finally freeing her.