The cloaked mysterious men standing in front of Jacosta did not say a word and stood there menacingly, blocking her way. While the man slowly stepped forward, approaching from behind them dressed in a fancy robe. His robe was bright gold and orange in colour, with various patterns sown into it. ‘It looked expensive.’
While under the robe, I caught a glance at a gilded jacket that also looked rather exotic compared to what I had seen all day, even from the more wealthy people. I was starting to get the impression of whoever this man was. He was an important man within Geroleo. The fat little man also had on fancy pure white gloves on each one of his hands. Though his clothes were fancy, he wore normal brown pants, I noticed. The fat man also was wearing a sort of armoured style of boot. That was the only real sign I could see on him of any ‘real’ armour. Even with all his fancy clothes, the fat man did not look beautiful. He reminded me of a pig king in a suit with all the gems and jewels from a book I read.
I knew nothing good was to come once he walked to the front, and as he grinned in our direction, he walked towards Jacosta; I waited for them to make a move. Just then, as I expected, the short fat man began to turn back briefly to speak towards the four masked men, barely being able to be seen in the shadows now I heard him say,
“So that bar keeper’s information was right. They were with a Demon today; I guess he’s earned his gold. Good thing I brought you boy’s along.”
After he finished, I saw them all giving a sadistic look at the small, timid Jacosta while they began to lick their lips; just then, I heard the fat man speak again, this time addressing her,
”Hello Jacosta and Reena, I see you girls have some extra income to spend on armour. So, might I ask you now for our 50,000 gold. You see, that loan for the class teachers we provided does not pay itself.”
Jacosta turned quickly around with a scared look on her face; the sweat ran down her forehead as she tried her best to run away from the men. But before she could, I heard the short fat man yell out an order at one of the four men, “Stop her.”
I stood there watching Reena and Maria as Jacosta ran towards us. The fat man quickly started snapping his fingers. I could hear the snaps echo. Once they were ordered to stop her, I noticed the man on the far right now begin to raise his hand in what looked like a prayer; as the air became thin around us, I could feel a large gust pickup as the man stood firmly planted, with his hands clasped together, then he suddenly activated a spell. This was the first time I saw magic in this world, and I noticed it was a lot like the game this world reminded me of. The magic circle appeared under the user, and he said while pointing towards her as the magic circle transferred to his hands, chanting an unknown language. Finally, I heard him say, “Bend.”
It happened so fast I did not see the magic circle appear before her feet like it did in-game. Everything on the street happened so fast, leaving no trail of a magical effect for me to follow like in-game. Then as I looked down towards Jacosta within a moment's notice, I saw Jacosta prostrated down on her hands and knees under the force of the magic. I could tell this spell was some restrain magic like my fighting skill: “First-strike.” Like my skill, this one was where the user would cast a kind of magical band around the target to prevent them from running, but unlike theirs, mine was a visible band acting like a bolas tripping the target.
I could see the force of the spell was putting a lot of pressure on the cat-girl as the road below her began to crack and bend to her figure. I noticed before I zoned out she was on her knees, and now she was lying on her stomach. She was lying on the ground and unable to move, and I could see the man continuing to cast the spell over and over again. But before I could react, Reena let go of my arm and ran forward, getting in my way. Next, I watched as she ran over to her sister, crying. Next, I could hear as she began begging the four men pleading for them to stop, saying while she balled, “Stop, please don’t hurt her.”
I felt Maria, who hadn’t said a word, quickly jump up a little when she grasped the situation she was in and saw who the man was. I saw her hair was now on edge, and I started to look at her in the eyes, confused as so much was happening so fast. I could tell she clearly recognized who the fat man was instant. I did not know the relationship between them, but she started shaking when her friend approached the group of men. Finally, Maria began to utter the words under her breath, “Marluiseo.” I could barely hear the name “Marluiseo” leave her lips.
I could not help but feel Maria then tightened her grip on my arm; looking at her; I could see she was scared to death. I could feel her vibrating, and she was visibly shaken, which sickened me to my core. The short fat man called 'Marluiseo' I could see had his attention directly on Reena licking his lips as she walked forward, but once he spotted Maria by my side, he began to get excited and clap a little. At first, I saw him licking his fat lips while looking at the cat-girl, which I found disgusting, then when he started to jump like a kid when he saw Maria was disgusting. Next, I heard him say to her from across the street, “Oh my sweet Maria, Why are you with a Demon. I was thinking of stopping by tonight. Do be a doll and do wash up. I can't have you linger of wretched Demon.”
I could not help be see Maria started to cover her eyes after he said that looking away from me, she began to cry a little into my shoulder. I could not believe what I just heard come from his mouth. I can't have you linger of a demon; was he serious?
I was standing there in disbelief, not sure how I should act as the short fat man named Marluiseo was surrounded by men, one with magic I’ve never seen. I noticed him then shoot a smile towards me after saying that before turning his attention back to Reena, and then continued talking towards her, alone once again going on about some nonsense. I could tell from the minute this begun the ladies I was with got a little in over their heads with whoever these people were. That much was clear.
From what I could tell, these guys were just a bunch of loan sharks, and they were taking advantage of the poor girls' situation because of their good looks; ‘that much was obvious. Money usually talks.‘
Whenever the fat man spoke, he did so loudly as I could hear him from across the street, knowing it bugged me by the look on my face I was giving him. Then, finally, I heard him say next to Reena, “Well, We did not want it to come to this, you see, but I have heard a little whisper you two have been recently spending a lot of gold lately. Well, the problem with that is, you see, I thought every cent you guys made was suppose to go towards paying us back. You even said whatever the cost was, you would pay for a class teacher, remember?”
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‘I don’t like where this is going.’
I could see Reena begin to start shaking in the distance after he said that; I saw her slowly starting to reach behind her back with her right hand, now grabbing a small brown purse from a little pocket. ‘I could tell this was what I had given her from the colour of the gold pouch.’
Next, Reena' then proceeded to throw him the bag of gold I had given them for saving my life earlier. When the bag hit the floor, it made a metal noise hitting the ground as a few coins rolled out of it. I watched in disappointment, holding my forehead as looking at what was happening made me very angry. The man also looked unimpressed when I saw his face, which was offensive, and he kicked it before saying back to her, “Such a small bag. What's inside?”
Reena was still crying, and she was holding her sister Jacosta by the hand. I could picture the tears in both of their eyes in my head, and then I could hear from the distance Reena's reply. “All the money we have to spare is 4500 gold. Take it, please don’t hurt her.”
This was the single act that pushed their luck in my books. As far as I was concerned, enough was enough. I was unwilling to allow this to go on any further, no matter what happened to me. When the fat man began nodding to one of the men, I let go of Maria placing my hand on the hilt of my sword, as they started to walk over and check the inside of the bag contents, giving a thumbs-up back to their boss. I heard the fat man Marluiseo go on to say back towards Reena,” Well, this won't even cover the interest, silly girl; you still owe us 50,000 gold. But perhaps I can extend your loan period or even forgive it if you’ll agree to accompany me to my home later. Your sister can stay here with that wretched Demon. I've already had my fun with her; she is no longer an interest to me. I don’t like girls with no assets. Better idea, how about you and Maria can come home with me.”
Unable to contain myself any longer, I needed to be silent as I approached them. The problem being a gamer and having so many characters; you forget skills...Focusing mentally, what appeared was a stat card full of skills available. 'I wonder do I have my Hotbar?'
PICTURE INSERT: AUTHOR NOTE:
Mentally I began to drag down my skill ‘Night-walk,’ but that did not work; then, thinking to myself, “Do I just say or think its name?” Finally, unable to contain my emotions, I whispered to Maria,” Has this man hurt you?” To which Maria shook her head as to say ‘Yes.’
Under my breath, I quietly said now, “Night-Walk.” then I listened to their conversation again as I slowly approached them now in silence. I was walking silently unnoticed by everyone, including Maria. Looking back at her, she was holding onto a lamppost I swapped out for myself moments ago. I heard him order the man who had Jacosta bound to release her once Reena was in front of him. Marluiseo waited for her to respond, and I could see a nasty look form. The fat man had sweat beginning to form on his face and chin in anticipation, grinning while tapping his fingers together as he waited for her to answer. But before she could say anything as she opened her mouth, I had enough and interrupted her. I was disgusted with this vile man.
I had enough. Beside her now, I cut her off and said, “Wait, Reena, don't say another word. How often do you pay this man? A 1000 gold was not a lot of gold. However, I doubt you haven’t paid them anything in the past before, so please, don't be so quick to prostitute yourself, you too, Maria." Crying while she looked up towards me while under the moonlight. She ran to see how her sister was recovering on the floor. Reena shook her head in agreeance with me and said, “You are right.” Now she then looked over towards the fat man and his goons and screamed. “Get away from us!” Marluiseo, I could see, looked appalled by me interrupting them. I could tell they were also confused about how I got so close to them unnoticed. Looking at the cloaked men now expecting an answer, I heard Marluiseo was beginning to get angry with them as he was stomping around his feet in the distance. I heard him start yelling as he ran away at them all in a high-pitched voice,” Kill that man!”
As all four men began to run at me, I stepped back a bit and prepared myself and said, “Defensive posture.” I then ran forward, not even batting an eye, not caring there were four of them. I could tell they wanted a fight, and well, I was going to give them one. The masked men ran right for me with their weapons and bows in hand-drawn ready for the fight.
As I ran past Reena, the words left my mouth, "Good." I smiled back briefly at Reena, who held Jacosta by the hand. They were still on their knees, getting up. Looking over my shoulder at them both now, I said out loud. “Distance close” As my body shot forward like I was inside of a rocket ship taking off, I could see the blurry images of everything I passed. I had never felt this kind of force before; even when I used this ability in the World Of Gepot, it was all virtual. This new magical dash contorted my body as I sprinted forward. It extended past the 3 seconds it would be in-game. ‘How do I turn this off?’
I did not know how I would make it end. Reena, I could see during the blur, sat there watching the image of myself smiling. It was still visible for her to see. Now with her hand, she reached forward for it to see if what she was seeing was actually there.
With my attention back on the fight. The first man charging was met with my full-on ‘Distance-close,’ which surprisingly stopped me thankfully, but the force of my body when I checked him sent him flying back. That in turn, when we connected, I noticed the others narrowly dodged his flying body as they did not even look back to see if he was alright.
They continued running forward, now all within striking distance of me as they began to swing at me. All three men began to slash left and right at various angles as I performed miracles dodging their strikes, forming a circle around me next. I had to give them props; they did have some strategy; they tried enclosing me inside their trap which I allowed. Then, trapping me inside, they continued their onslaught. However, all those fast-paced games I played paid off as I began to dodge each strike effortlessly. Weaving and ducking many of the swings effortlessly, they aimed a few times for a fatal head strike, and I decided not to use my weapon as inside the city was probably prohibited like in-game. Then bobbing left and then right as another was masked man's sword was about to hit. Finally, I lunged forward and caused the sword to land right before me. I began to follow up with a jump after I lunged forward over the blade.
Somersaulting into the air. Now above them in mid-air, I saw a strike heading for my shins by another man. But I was too fast twisting my body. I kicked him once in the upper body and sent him flying back several metres into the air. When I landed, I could see another cloaked man flew in the air after me, and when he finally landed, I punched him down into the floor hard, creating a crater beside me. I could tell he was next to death in it from my eyes of detect. One of my ‘eyes of detection’ abilities was I was able to scan people's levels and health. As he laid still in, a pool of blood smashed into the floor by the wall of a house. With two people remaining, I began to think to myself, 'This is actually really easy. I see everything move so slowly. They are fucked.'
The fat man Marluiseo began to get worried at this time, and I could see him from the corner of my eye. He was panicking. I imagine he never met a Demon and now in front of him was me, this unknown Demon who was effortlessly dispatching his henchmen one by one, and if provoked by him afterwards, I may kill him, I felt.