Piggy

"Hero, are you praying to me?" Ayla asked, noticing that his eyes were shut behind the narrow openings of his helmet, and he was praying with his hands.

Opening his eyes, Marius glanced at the goddess as they started moving in the line. "Sure," he responded. He was too tired to care. His body was depleted of energy.

The constant attention was becoming exhausting for him, to the extent that he wished he could hide from it by burying his head in the ground.

'Why in the living fuck would they keep a fireplace burning when it's scorching hot outside!?' Marius yelled inside his head.

Sweating once more within his armor, he couldn't help but keep stealing glances in the fireplace's direction. He really wanted to put it out.

"Hey gorgeous, why don't you come and join our Piggy Party?"

"Yeah, leave that loser and come join us!"

"Oh~ she would definitely spice up the party, don't you think?"

"No shit, we only have men in our party! I want females!"

Approaching Marius and Ayla, there were four short, obese, identical men, each clad in different types of armor, some heavily armored and others less so. They all carried weapons such as spears, knives, and bows.

Upon seeing this, the individuals in the line immediately scattered, as the strong odor was detectable from a significant distance.

"Um, who are you?" Marius, barely paying attention to them, asked while feeling dead inside. This is what he meant when he said they were inviting trouble.

He glanced over at the goddess, wanting to pimp slap her. He once again desired to abandon her, but he understood it would be pointless, as she would inevitably locate him through his soul.

'Curse my life…' Marius cried inside. He wanted to go back home…

"You don't know who we are!?" In a voice filled with doubt, one of the men asked.

Another stepped forward, "you fool! We're the Piggy Party! A C-Rank Party!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it… can you give me some space?" Marius stepped back and waved his hand in the air, attempting to dispel the odor.

The man who had stepped forward started laughing, patting his enormous stomach, capturing the attention of everyone in the Adventurer's Guild.

He thought it was humorous that someone didn't know about their party. As everyone in Aetheria knew of them! Especially the brothels!

'He must be a country bumkin.' He brushed away the tears that came from him, laughing so hard.

Marius's irritation grew clear by the veins popping on his forehead and his teeth grinding together. He was about to lose his sanity.

With a sneering smile, the third man asked, "what's your adventurer's rank?" In his pursuit of the beauty, he wanted to tear down this person.

"Me? I don't have an adventurer's rank yet," Marius responded. 'That's why we're waiting in line, so leave us alone, you fat fuck.'

He had the intention of stating this, but he recognized it would only escalate the situation. Though he doubted they would start anything in here, as many eyes were on them.

"Wait, a moment. You're not even ranked as an adventurer, and yet you're dressed in armor like that?"

Caught off guard, the man sneered, his chubby face visible through his opened helmet. Hearing this, he knew it was a perfect opportunity.

"I challenge you to a duel!" He shouted, ensuring that his voice was loud so that everyone could hear.

Onlookers, who at this point were fully engaged, eagerly began hyping up the duel, as they all had a passion for watching and taking part in fights.

"Place your bets, people! Who's taking this one? I've got my coins on Portia!"

"Fuck it! I'm feeling risky. I'm putting my coins on the rookie!"

"Idiot! Obviously Portia is gonna sweep this kid. He's undefeated!"

"I'm too broke to bet…"

Marius, upon hearing the surrounding voices, wanted to collapse on the spot. As veins started to pop out on his neck, he looked right at Portia and said, "no."

"Huh…?" Portia was taken aback while he energetically waved his hands in the air, further boosting the onlookers to be hyped. "What did you just say?"

Did he hear him wrong?

"I said—no!" Marius repeated, ensuring that his voice was audible to all the onlookers present.

His only intention was to quickly register and then make his way to the E-Rank Dungeon to fulfill his daily quest and try out his new passive skill.

That's all!

Marius was feeling overwhelmed by the immense amount of difficulties he was currently dealing with, and his own sense of powerlessness made it even harder to handle.

Silence fell upon the entire adventurer's guild.

Despite his best attempts, Marius found it challenging to stay composed as he started grinding his teeth.

Out of nowhere, he felt a sudden grip on his hand, and when he looked, he saw the goddess holding onto him, shaking her head.

"It's not worth it, hero," Ayla whispered, low enough where only he could hear it.

Taking a small breath, Marius relaxed himself. He came to the realization that it wasn't worth getting so worked up about, especially since the man challenging him to a duel probably has health issues such as a liver disease.

Portia, noticing the sudden silence, was displeased with losing the attention, so he raised his voice, "you coward! You aspire to be an adventurer, but you don't want to fight? What type of man are you!?"

He spit his saliva onto the floor right in front of Marius's feet.

This action drove the entire Adventurer's Guild into a frenzy, as they all really wanted this duel to happen now.

However, in the blink of an eye, Marius attacked Portia, throwing a punch at his exposed face.

The sudden impact made him lose his balance and fall backwards, landing with a loud thud.

Marius seized the opportunity, got on top of him, and ruthlessly attacked his face with strikes.

"You. Stupid. Fat. Fuck. Don't. Ever. Disrespect. Me!"