I turned around.
“You bastard!”
That was enough!
I lumbered over and back-slapped the blonde fish.
Snap!
His body lost balance and collapsed to the ground. Did he fall over just from a slap?
What a weakling!
“What the hell…why are you doing this…ugh!”
He groaned and tried to stand up with a frown. I kicked him in the stomach. His waist buckled like a bow. He was so weak that his waist couldn’t even handle it. How did he satisfy a woman with a body like that?
“What, what…why are you doing…ugh! What did I do wrong?!”
“You… you crossed the line. You said words that should never have come out of your dirty mouth.”
“What the fook are you on, bas…ugh!”
Instead of kicking him, I stomped on him with my foot.
“I’m asking you, why did dirty thoughts trained on my colleagues come out of your mouth? Huh? Hey, speak up. Why did you mention my colleagues and smiled a licentious smirk?”
“W-Well, t-this is just my usual smile…”
“Then you need to change it! If it makes others uncomfortable, you need to change it!”
“That’s unreasonable…”
“Your existence is unreasonable!”
“Ugh!”
There was a throaty laugh that sounded like someone crowing.
The Pink Woman Version-2 rolled her eyes to the side, I saw the bald pig smiling knowingly.
“Wanna fight?”
I rammed my clenched fist into the folds of the bald pig’s chin.
“Fight? Fight?? Fight??? You want to fight, you bastard, then fight!”
“Ugh! Ack! Ack! Kuk!”
As I kicked the blond fish with my foot and rattled the bald pig with my fist, Pink Woman Part-2 suddenly regained her composure and yelled out in surprise.
“What, what are you doing? Who are you to hit two people like this?!”
“Me? I’m Mars’ hyung. Who are you?”
“Me? I’m Mars’ girlfriend!”
“Bullshit. I don’t recognize Pink Women as girlfriends!”
“Ahh! What are you doing now? Let go of me!”
“Hyung, let go! Hyung!”
Mars tried to tow me away by putting his arms through my armpits and eventually decided it was futile, crossed his arms together before my neck.
Is this guy crazy?
“Let go! Let go, damn it!”
“There won’t be any problem! There won’t be any problem!!”
Mars’ grip around my neck tightened.
Is this guy really going to…?
“Mars, you can’t do this to me. I went through so much to make you live like a person! I even taught you how to use a sword and sent you money for living expenses! And at my age, I even spout childish lines, riddling my heart with holes, but then, then you—! You—”
“I know! I know you helped me a lot, too! But why are you bringing this up now?! And what do you mean by spouting childish lines?”
“Damn!”
“What are you talking about?! No, this isn’t the time for that. Guards! Don’t just stare blankly, please help me!!”
“Uh..? Oh, yeah. Hero Cloud, please calm down!”
After that, the guards rushed over.
“Ah, let go. I said let go!”
* * *
“I got too excited. I’m sorry.”
He apologized to the three people at the table across from him. The three still had disgruntled expressions.
“Hey, I gave them a potion to heal and even offered them settlement. Can’t you guys at least lighten up?”
Silence.
“I’m not going to offer more settlement because of this.”
While they continued to make narked expressions, the bald pig and the skinny fish lowered their gazes and muttered in hushed whispers.
“I mean, who can say he’s a hero. .. he’s just a thug and acts like one, doesn’t he… even the guards are at his beck and call… isn’t this abuse of power…? A hero abusing his power to oppress ordinary citizens… wouldn’t it be dangerous if rumors like these spread among the public?”
The voice was not meant to confide in each other but rather meant to be heard by others. As proof, he grinned when their eyes met.
“Rumors, huh?”
Cloud jumped up onto the table.
“Yes. Yes. Yes, you pig bastard. They can.”
He grabbed hold of the piggy’s scarce hair strands and smacked him in the face.
“Ouch! Ah! Ah! Ah! Stop it…”
“Ah, hold on, hyung…”
Since Mars intervened, I reluctantly let go of his hair.
“Where did you get the nerve to threaten a hero? You’re asking for trouble.”
“Ugh… ugh…”
The bald piglet nursed the slap he’d received, trembling with fear. When their eyes met again, he lowered his gaze on his own.
“What a pity. If you have glared at me a time more, I could have enjoyed the ‘privilege’ of using my fists a tad bit.” Lounging in his chair, Cloud said to Mars, “It’s nice to see you after so long, but I have some work to do. I’ll introduce you to a decent inn nearby, make yourself comfortable here for now.”
“Isn’t Mars your close brother? Then why not stay at a fancy inn, if not the palace?”
“The palace and the fancy inns are destroyed. With shut mouths that suit affable guests, grace these inns.”
“R-Right.”
The second coming of Pink Woman closed her mouth. She latched onto Mars’ arm, who looked at her with pity, while Cloud conveyed to him the location of the inn.
“Is your brother staying at that inn too?”
“Am I crazy? Staying in the same inn as you bea—”
“Hyung, please don’t say that…”
Mars looked around at his colleagues and spoke. His expression around Pink Women Part-2 reminded Cloud of the boy who used to look around for Isabelle, and he sighed unconsciously.
“After work, I’ll come find you. Don’t wait too long. If you have something to do, go ahead and do it.”
After patting Mars on the shoulder a few times, he left the guardhouse.
Some of the guards stared at him, but when he sneaked his index finger on his lips, they nodded as if they understood.
* * *
“…So, Your Excellency means to say Ophelia heard you proffering Marietta, the Saintess candidate of Lorian’s party, her position in mine. According to the testimony of the clergy, Ophelia’s state when she returned to the inn seemed very unstable, is that correct?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Archbishop Vedic nodded his head with a truly regretful expression. I leaned back in my chair without saying a word. Archbishop Vedic was babbling about something like appointing Marietta as the saint candidate at this point, but I wasn’t listening.
There was only one thing dominating my mind right now.
‘I want to smoke a cigarette.’
Should I ask Leia to bring me one? If I covertly receive it and smoke it secretly, wouldn’t that work somehow?
No, why am I going through all this trouble then? I can’t throw away all the suffering I’ve gone through just for a cigarette.
‘But I really want to smoke…’
Leia, you’re working hard, right?
Surely you aren’t lazing around in my absence, right?
“Oh, my neck.”