Asking For It

There are rules that everyone knows but never spoken out loud. Some rules are limited in scope. They only apply in a certain place, a country, a community, or a group of people sharing a secret. Some others apply wherever you go. One of these rules is that an adventurer is higher than a thug in the hierarchy at the streets.

Harley didn't seem to care about this rule. One of the audience, which gathered like sharks smelled blood, finished whatever he was drinking in one go and broke the glass bottle, throwing it on the ground.

''Oh mighty Harley of the Hooks, we didn't know you have such bed fantasies,'' he said and threw up what he just drank back. Frankly, I was surprised that he could speak without spluttering in such a state. Other men beside him laughed together. They all were carrying the same shark tattoo.

''If you're interested in ladies with whips I know a nice place,'' said one of the shark tattooed men.

Harley was crimson red and out of breath at this point. He closed his eyes to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his arm. It'd a fatal mistake, if I were trying to kill. ''Shut up! I swear on the name of the Hooks that I'm going to make this whore scream all night. If not, it'd better call me a hooker.''

Holding his dagger, Harley tried to leap forward but he had to retreat because of the whip that cracking right in front of his eyes. I think this was the sixth time the same thing happened. I heard a whistle coming from the audience circling us. ''Get him, healer lady! Man, I can't wait to tell everyone in the guild about this.''

''Damn. How do they know who I am?'' I murmured.

The fox sighed in my head. It already had disappeared the moment the sparring began. ''Who cares? Finish this and let's go. The smell of alcohol from these men is even more annoying than the light of believers.''

''I can't. The poison of the whip would kill the man before I have time to heal him.'' I swung the whip wide to keep the crowd away. They were too close. However, they must have thought it was fun, as some whistled. ''No matter how rotten the prostitutes street is, it is not yet a place where you can murder in broad daylight in front of so many witnesses. Or moonlight.''

''The poison didn't kill the redhead right away,'' said the fox. Its voice seemed genuinely curious.

''All demons, no matter how weak, are born immune to poison. In our dimension, there is no poison strong enough to kill a demon right away. In seconds? Yes, there is, but not right away.'' I looked around in despair. Everyone was having too much fun to help to end the fight. The precious durability of my whip was wasting for nothing.

''You know interesting stuff,'' said the fox.

''I'm a healer after all.''

I focused my skill that made me feel people's desires on Harley, hoping he might give up. It was not an easy task in the chaos of so many people's desires, but I had just been fed and leveled. Trying wouldn't hurt, probably.

''That... that bitch... I'll destroy that whore whatever it takes... bitches all the same...''

With a sigh, I deactivated the skill. ''There's no way this fool will admit that he's lost.'' I blocked another attack and sighed. ''My poor whip... hmm, maybe?'' I grabbed the man's dagger with the whip and pulled it from his hand. I sent the whip back to its space ring and held the dagger from a part that the whip did not contact.

''Can we go now and never meet again, please?''

Harley gritted his teeth. ''No, bitch. Nobody goes anywhere until you're under me.''

Suddenly, the people around us started to move to clear the path for someone. My astonishment at seeing two women who caused the bandits and petty gangsters to get out of the way made me drop my guard, luckily, Harley wasn't made to be a fighter.

One of the women was Adele. She was a prostitute who was my next door neighbor during my stay at the hostel. Adele, who was timid and spent her life worrying about being beaten by her pimp, was walking more confidently than I'd ever seen her, and she was dressed in luxurious clothes I'd never seen her wearing. Next to her was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.

''Didn't I say I don't want any fight at this street?'' said the beauty. The crowd, including Harley, disappeared in seconds. I looked at the beautiful woman. More precisely, I couldn't stop looking at her.

If someone said her skin was made of obsidian, I'd believe them. She was like a statue made of black glass. Her deep black skin was as smooth and bright as the surface of still water of a lake at night, glowing in the moonlight.

I was staring at her, fascinated, thinking that to carve her curves and features from obsidian the best sculptors who ever lived must have collaborated. Her hair was braided, adorned with feathers and hair rings. She was like an ancient princess.

Then, she smiled at me. ''Did you like your gift?'' I looked around, not being sure she was talking to me. Her light laughter stroked my ears and made me tremble with pleasure. ''Your green sapphire ring, I helped to make it.''

''Ah,'' I said and touched the ring reflexively, ''Ah!'' I opened my eyes wide with surprise when I remembered what Ender said. ''You are the seer bestowed by the element of time!''