41 Ch-41: Imperial Social Banquet (3)

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02

"Damn it!"

"Kuuck..!"

After being kicked in her stomach, Neria let out a short moan. It felt harder to breathe. She clasped onto her stomach and tried hard to breathe.

But Neria's pain was not in Gis' consideration.

He kicked, trampled and kicked Neria again.

A heartfelt beating by a Hero who's level was approaching in its late 40s.

As a level 30, all Neria could do was to be heedful so that his attacks won't break her bones or damage her inner organs.

"Sh!t! F**k! F**k! F**k!"

One kick, one vulgarity.

Neria's body was getting more and more battered.

"Stop it! She will really die!"

Ophelia, who couldn't stand it anymore, grabbed Gis by his arm and tried to pull him away.

"Let go, you slut!"

"Damn it!"

As Gis swung his arm, she couldn't stand his strength and was flung away. Thud! She was powerlessly thrown out, her back slamming against the table.

"Ouch…"

"Ophelia!"

"Where are you going, you damn b!tch?!"

Gis grabbed Neria by her hair as she tried to run to Ophelia.

Gis pulled Neria's hair, making her look straight into his face.

His expression was horribly contorted with anger.

"Hey. Why the hell was that bastard able to change so much? What did I do to end up being beaten by a bastard like that?! Huh? Tell me, did you help that bastard without my knowledge? Come on, tell me, did you steal my item and gave it to him, huh?"

"Leave me..!"

Puck. Gis didn't dodge to Neria's punch. He ran his thumb over the area he was punched by Neria. His lips were slightly parted, and there was blood on his fingers.

"Ha… Haha… Cloud-! After that bastard, the likes of you are going to make a mockery of me? The bugs like you two?! Haha, haha, hahhaha. Your maidenhood was planned to be saved until I did it in front of Cloud, but you know what? I'm just going to pluck it right now. I'll explain the details to that bastard later."

Gis grabbed onto Neria's hair and started walking.

Neria resisted, but there was an overwhelming difference in strength between her and Gis.

She was dragged along like a mop sweeping the floor.

Just when Gis opened the door to head out.

"That… Hero…?"

Outside the room stood a real member of Gis' Party. Gis frowned as he spoke in displeasure.

"What?"

"No, that… Until now, I have only healed the skin and muscle injuries of the Hero. The injuries of the internal organs are yet to be treated… I need to look into it a bit more."

"Wasn't it already treated before?"

"That… it was still in treatment stage, but the Hero suddenly ran out…"

"Hah, f**k it!"

Gis scratched his head fiercely. He warned Neria while throwing her away.

"Wait here. I'll be coming soon. Don't even think about running away. If you get caught, you know what will happen."

Gis ignored Neria and Ophelia, and left the room with his party member.

"Neria… are you all right…?"

Ophelia ignored the throbbing pain on her back and approached Neria with her head bowed.

She was about to put her hand on Neria's shoulder for treatment.

Neria grabbed onto Ophelia's hand.

"Ophelia, let's run away."

"…uh? Run away? But, where..?"

"Let's go back to Cloud. Things will go back to the way they were."

"Neria…"

Ophelia felt sorry for Neria, and her trembling voice that was laced with hope.

That day.

It was from that day, from when Cloud and the girls completely separated.

Gis' attitude towards them changed completely.

At first, he started by harassing them lightly, but the intensity slowly grew stronger. Later, even if he felt a little offended, he started beating them.

Occasionally he threw things like food waste and even instructed them to lie down and eat like a dog.

Beatings and insults.

It has become their daily routine.

It was natural to leave the party in face of such situation, but it was impossible.

Because Gis had no intention of letting them go.

When they would go to bed after such a painful day, Neria would often talk to Ophelia about her childhood.

She would recall the memories she had made with Cloud.

Neria's face literally glowed when she talked about her memories with him. In the middle of which, she would not have a dull face like normal times, but an expression full of longing, sadness, and joy.

Whenever she was in a good mood, she would pull out items containing her memories with Cloud and show them to Ophelia.

A wooden dolphin figurine.

An object that Cloud's father had made for her and him before his disappearance. A figurine that only two people in the world shared. She regarded it as an irreplaceable treasure.

And that figurine was soon discovered by Gis and shattered by his foot.

Ophelia would never forget the expression Neria made that day.

Although she somehow joined it together with some adhesive, she didn't get out of the gloom for a while.

Whenever she saw Neria like that, Ophelia would often fall in her own thinking.

Although she is a messenger of the Goddess, it is natural that she shall be punished for failing to overcome the temptation and desire.

But what about Neria?

What did she do to deserve this punishment, this suffering?

Is this reasonable?

She did not doubt the existence of the Goddess.

The existence of the Goddess has already been revealed and verified through various happenings.

However, is it really like the church says, is Goddess really just, and does she really gives retribution to the evil?

If not, is she just… throwing a tragic fate on nice people, for her own fun and enjoying it?

Such a blasphemous thought often arose in her mind.

"Ophelia, you saw it too. How Cloud beat Gis. Now we don't have to worry anymore. Now, we can go back to the old days..!"

Saying that, Neria had a desperately hopeful expression on her face.

Ophelia understood her feelings. But she was skeptical of what Neria said.

'Is it really possible?'

As Neria said, Ophelia also saw Cloud at the imperial banquet.

Even though it was a surprise attack and there were no weapons involved, Cloud overwhelmed Gis.

While armed, Gis may lead. Still, Gis won't be able to bully Cloud as blatantly as he used to.

Because now, Cloud is also capable of resistance.

But there is one thing more important than that.

'Will Hero really accept us?'

If it was the Cloud Neria knew, then he would accept them unconditionally.

Without thinking about the wounds they inflicted?

The Cloud they knew was such a person.

Yet like it or not, Cloud has changed.

She could tell it just by looking at his brief appearance at the Imperial Social Banquet.

'Because I've never seen Hero with such a scary expression…'

Cloud is a human, so, of course, he also gets angry.

Especially when innocent people were eaten by monsters or killed by bandits, he would get particularly enraged.

On the other hand, the behavior he showed at the imperial banquet was completely different from before. He must have been angry, but it wasn't like hot fire. Rather, it was like a sharpened sword.

A razor-sharp sword that felt like it will split his opponent in two halves at any moment.

It was an emotion that they hadn't seen in the past him.

'Even if the Hero forgives us and accepts us…'

Can we really go back to the way we were before..?

Cloud of the past liked Neria.

Anyone who was by Cloud's side would know, unless they were an idiot. Because he would change his judgment at every single word from Neria.

In fact, one could even say that he took Neria as the actual leader of the party.

So how about the Cloud at the banquet?

Aside from ignoring Neria's earnest plea, didn't he completely treated her like a stranger?

But the same person, when he heard Frillite's voice, stopped at once.

Neria, who was screaming desperately next to him, was ignored while he warmly greeted Frillite.

After which, he was led away by her. Unlike Neria, when he was led by Frillite, he did not resist at all.

This meant that Neria was no longer the top priority in Cloud's mind.

'I don't know what happened between the two of them…'

It was certain that Frillite would take the former place of Neria.

And there's no way that Neria didn't notice that, she knew it even better than Ophelia. She was just ignoring it.

Ignoring the cruel reality.

"…okay. Let's go, Neria."

Ophelia decided to follow Neria, even if she suffered retaliation from Gis later.

To comfort her by her side when she was desperate, when she had to face the reality.

…to make her avoid making extreme choices.

* * *

Cloud didn't stay in the Imperial Palace.

So, it took quite a while to find him. Because the only lead they had was to depend on the poor memory of some drunkards.

Still, they were finally able to find him.

He was staying at a shabby inn, far away from the Imperial Palace.

It was totally inconceivable that he chose to stay in a place like this instead of the Imperial Palace, but that wasn't the point.

The important thing was that they found Cloud.

Neria's nervous heart was pounding.

What should I say? Should I apologize first? What if Cloud resents me? Etc.

Several thoughts galloped in her mind.

'…it's not the moment to waste time.'

After taking a few deep breaths and appeasing her mind, Neria knocked on the door of Cloud's room.

– Knock, knock

Rattle.

The door opened as soon as the knock sounded.

Cloud rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken up from sleep.

Neria was startled by the sudden opening of the door, but she tried to calm her startled emotions and spoke to him.

"Ah, hello, Cloud…"

She said in a tone that felt like a snail's crawling. Cloud tilted his head.

"Neria… Ophelia? What are you guys doing here at this hour?"

A calm tone without any extra emotion.

Ophelia realized that she was right. Just when she wanted to figure out how to later comfort Neria.

"I knew, you would."

Neria and Ophelia hardened at the voice that came from the stairs on the second floor.

Their heads slowly and mechanically, turned to the side.

"I don't understand why you guys are so afraid. I mean, I guess, you could have lived like that for the rest of your life."

Crunch.

He climbed the stairs and smiled at them.

Cloud looked at Neria, Ophelia, and Gis alternately.

He yawned profusely, as he interjected.

"This place is small, let's go out and talk. My room has not much space either."

* * *

I had an inkling that something like this might happen.

I'd seen Eri being treated with a cold shoulder at Lorian's party, and the look on her face I saw briefly at the imperial banquet seemed to say, 'I'm being abused!'

But damn it, there is no way I could have thought that they would come so late at night, and like this!

Maybe it's because they're chad fantasy people, they don't seem to know about manners~

"So, what do you think? I have brought all my equipments to meet you, when you saw me like this, you were scared, right?"

Just ten meters away.

Gis, who was fully armed, "teased" with a giggle.

I was comfortably sleeping, and then I was woken up, is that why you are so happy, you punk?

This is unfair.

At the very least, this bastard, this a**hole, mustn't be happy. Just like me now!

"Tut, you didn't change your habit of holding a b!tch in front of you like a shield? When I see a bastard like you, who has no power and only knows to hide under skirts…"

"Gis, I know, your mother is a prostitute."

"…what?"

In an instant, the smile disappeared from his face.

It didn't last long.

Because he had another smile on his face.

"Ahhh, you have really changed a lot, haven't you? In the past, I would have never imagined you answering with something like that…"

"I also know that you are a real bastard who ran out of the house tired of the fact that your mother was a prostitute."

Little by little, the smile on Gis' face began to disappear.

"Did you grow guts from just what happened in the banquet? Just because you succeeded in a surprise attack doesn't mean you're stronger than me…"

"Your poor mother. Even at this moment, she must be shaking her head and worrying about her only son. Always, for her son who~ Ah, she might forget you on some moments when making love with some maximal c**k."

Now, on Gis' face, there was no sign of a smile. He stared at me with a fiercely distorted expression.

"I'm going to cut off your limbs and throw them away as pig food. When your limbs are torn, and you can't even move…"

"Your mom, how much does she charge for an hour?"

"You motherf**ker!"

Gis unfurled the chain scythe in his hands.

Just as I was about to draw my sword.

Pak!

A large bayonet flew in between me and Gis and stuck on the floor. Thereafter, Frillite landed next with a greatsword, with long spears levitating behind her.

..?

"Frillite? Why are you here?"

"I was waiting around to see if something like this would happen. It was good that I stayed."

She said as she easily pulled out her bayonet, half-studded into the ground.

I asked her carefully.

"…Did you hear that?"

"Well, I did. It appears to me that alcohol has made your mouth low. I didn't know it when I was drinking along with you, but seeing it myself, I know it now."

Nodding her head, she directly looked at me.

"Vulgar language demeans the speaker. I don't want your dignity to be degraded. From now on, drink ale with a lower alcohol content instead of wine."

"No, but…Ale is just so tasteless…"

"Again, I don't want you to demean yourself."

Frillite dangerously narrowed her gaze.

"…alright."

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02