Chapter 14
“You do know that talking to someone face to face is proper etiquette that must be realized no matter what the circumstances are, don't you? That’s also taught among humans, I believe?”
Rain heard and was confused. He turned his eyes, slightly in doubt and looks straight at her.
Why is he being scolded all of a sudden?
Did he do something to her?
She, who was still smiling, as usual, have this strange glint of weirdness in her eyes, and even the countless small snakes at the top of her head had all turned at him, their gazes boring at him for some strange reason, he could never understand.
“That’s right, and I do apologize for that… but, sadly I don’t think that’s a good idea, in the situation given. Depending on the current circumstances. A proper introduction can be done, after this ordeal…is what I also believe, yes?”
“You’re looking at me!”
She cried out, the moment her eyes met his. She saw Rain never averting his eyes, and indeed truly looking at her straight without any aversion or disgust. In fact, rather than those negative emotions that she was used to receiving, his eyes appeared somewhat confused. But no one can blame him, anyone would be in this kind of situation.
“I’m sorry, but yes… I am indeed looking at you…” Rain furrowed his brows.
What’s wrong with this woman?
“Do I look ugly? Monstrously ugly that you never wanted to look at, one you can vomit out of nausea…?” she asked, somewhat strangely.
“Eh? No, I don’t think so. Though this is embarrassing to admit, you are quite a beauty… though, not as beautiful as my Lafetti, yes…”
“As beautiful as Lafetti, was it?” she asked, her lips curling upwards.
“Ye—no, I said, just not as beautiful as my Lafetti—wait, what are you even trying to do? Do you even understand what is happening right now?” Rain gnashed his teeth in frustration as the three women all stared at him, dumbfounded. And with those eyes that seemed to look at a monkey in a zoo doing climbing tricks, he was somewhat embarrassed.
Worst is that the Killer Ants couldn’t seem to wait anymore and started attacking.
Gritting his teeth, Rain clenched his fist and prepared to intercept one, while the others, well they should be able to manage it. Is what he thought but before he could rush at the Killer Ant, that was a bit injured than the others, with still bleeding wounds in the color of yellow, a slender hand grabbed his arm and pulled him with force enough that Rain almost got worried if ever his arm would be broken or not.
“Drova, Stagna, deal with them immediately,” a stern order.
Although her features never changed, the Medusa-like Lamian's tantalizing red eyes shone with excitement and passion that could never be concealed any longer. As for reason, it eluded Rain at all.
“As you command, Chief…”
“Just Killer Ants, huh… well, this will end early,”
The silver-haired one replied with a soft voice, pulling the string of her longbow. While the golden one grabbed the sword on her waist, a double-edged sword that look like a Claymore and slashed at the incoming Killer Ant.
Blood spurted as the sword cut through the thick carapace that even Rain could hardly penetrate. Then, after giving Rain one last glance of doubt and confusion, which he could not understand nor decipher even with his incredible Sherlockian intelligence, they turned their attention towards the group of monsters and pounced like wolves amidst the flock of sheep.
Rain stared; this time was his turn to be dumbfounded. Strong… with a swing of their tails, a Killer Ant would be pummeled down, their carapace unable to protect them from the onslaught of these thin, and slender women. Their sword and arrows penetrate through their defense as easy as a hot knife into bread. Truly strong…!
“Now then, there should be nothing that could rattle your heart, was there, Rain?” the snake-haired woman who was still holding Rain’s arm muttered with a faint smile.
Her voice held no harshness, no bitter undertone, and no aura of hidden malice. It was sweet, innocent, naïve, and as pretty as anyone could ever hope for. However, Rain just can't get this doubt that was bugging him that there is something wrong with this beautiful woman.
“…now, we could chat for a good while, as they have their fill of violence, of battle which you and I should take no part with,”
Despite what she said, Rain felt something underlying beneath that beautiful voice.
“Do you, do you need anything from me?” he asked, somewhat unsettled.
“Oh, yes, yes I do… I indeed have something I want from you,” she spoke, her long snake's tail coiling around them.
“I, I don’t think so…” Rain shook his head, reason unknown to him, he was somewhat terrified. One must know, the more beautiful the flower is, the sharper the thorns hiding beneath. “I’ve already pledged my love to Lafetti…and I shall, by no means, betray the oath I spoken.”
“Ara Ara, you say strange words Rain… however; it’s not something I dislike. But first of all, there is something I want to know, how are you able to speak our language? Although unrefined and somewhat influent, with a mixture of human language, which is for some reason, cunningly patching up the slightly messy words of Gorgonian… nevertheless, how are you able to speak our language with no problem whatsoever? You can even understand us with no issue. Did Lafetti teach you?”
“What? What are you talking about? What Language?” Rain furrowed his brows.
“You’re not aware of it…?” The snake-haired woman’s eyes widened in realization. “Did you think you are speaking the language of your own kind, right now?”
“Was I not?” replied Rain with an inexplicable feeling of apprehension.
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She's speaking English, right? Though, indeed when he had met Lafetti for the first time, the gorgeous Lamian's french-like accent gave him quite a hard time to adjust to, but it was certainly English. So what is she talking about?
“… … Strange, but interesting. If you are able to understand our language, as miraculous as this… you are a blessing holder, aren’t you?”
The slits on each of her pupils turned into straight lines as she gazes at Rain with predator-like expression.
Rain gulped. His throat seemingly dried up under the scrutinizing gaze of the snake-haired woman before him. His body stiffened in shock as if he was petrified. He even felt his heart seemingly stopping—though, fortunately, such a strange occurrence immediately passed as Rain’s body slowly regained its strength.
“Ah, my mistake… I lost control of myself,” she said, somewhat apologetic.
“W, what was that?”
“It’s an innate ability of those who possess the blood of our ancestor like me. As dense as muddy water, we have innate abilities to evoke fear to those who laid their eyes upon us. It was reminiscent of an ability to turn everything to stones with a glare, or so the Legend says. Starting from the feeling as if you’re being sucked into a whirlpool, like your losing strength and your blood will freeze, heart stop… some even died, unfortunately. But you able to withstand it to some degree, which is quite praiseworthy. Even if it’s was just momentarily, that’s quite incredible.”
“…is that something like a petrifying ability? Are you really Medusa?”
“Oh?” The snake-haired woman seemed surprised at Rain’s question. Her beautiful ruby eyes widened slightly and her bewitching rude lips turned into a faint smile.
“You can speak our tongue and you even know the name of our ancestor… what a surprise… really a surprise…it seems like Lafetti had found such an incredible treasure,” she grinned. She hadn't had this much fun talking with someone, especially a man, in years.
Rain opened and shut his mouth, but no words came out, so he looked rather like a fish. An adorable fish. He seemed to be at a loss of words, or in confusion to say the least. Fortunately, he was able to composed himself immediately.
“C,can you please stop treating people as things? Just so you know, the love Lafetti and I shared is as pure as spring water, and with blistering luster as gold. I may not look like it, but I am a loyal man, and my heart is as strong as steel and would never bend against any kind of temptation. Even if you are beautiful, I can only apologize as my heart is already taken…” Rain showed a polite smile and slowly took a step back. The charm the Medusa-like Lamian in front of him was releasing was making his head a mess, loosening the screws in him.
“Pure, he says… well, I hardly believe it. I’m starting to wonder if the Lafetti he knows is a different person than the one we know of…”
As Rain was feeling a bit crept out and just a slight danger, wanting to escape from those eyes that were just slightly bit different than wolves that were eyeing their prey, his back hit something. Before he knew it, behind him, the Silver-haired Gorgon had been standing with narrowed eyes.
“But was there even another Lafetti in this place? Furthermore, Lafetti’s strange behavior these past few days, I’m not the only one who had noticed it, for sure. We took no attention to it because it’s not the first time the youngest was doing odd things. But to think that the reason for it this time would be… a human, that’s hardly something I’m capable of imagining. How did a human appear in this deep of the Lair… did she kidnap a human outside the Lair? This could be trouble…”
The golden-haired woman muttered as she slowly walked over. Though, looking behind it, it seems like the battle had already ended before Rain noticed anything.
Fast and quick… to instantly kill all of the Killer Ants that should have numbered above dozen.
How strong are they…?
Rain furrowed his brows, somewhat worried. If these people turned hostile, it’s not something he could run from, even with Sylphy’s help.
[Master, I think this is not a good situation. They are high-level Monsters. They are Monsters completely on the opposite side of humanity. Top predators of the food chain. Being with them is a danger of itself! I suggest escaping—]
But how – Rain was eager to know the answer to that question. If he can move... if he can fight, would he still stay here and stand here, foolishly admiring their beauty and be a pig waiting to be butchered?
He’s not an idiot who thought everything and everyone has a heart of gold.
An optimistic person who expects everyone would give him bread if he was hungry.
If a human can devour their kin, how could monsters such as them not devour those of their enemies—?
However, if he still thinks that he can escape from their hands, then that is already beyond foolishness and optimism.
Even pigs can struggle for a short time. Completely unlike him; his life is already hanging by a thread. And this thread is the relationship between him and Lafetti. And this was what he could only cling to. At least for now.
“Ahm, you’re, you’re friends with Lafetti, right? A family perhaps?” Rain fought back his fear and tried to calm his nerves.
“Oh, indeed, we are.” The snake-haired woman replied with her usual warm smile that seemed to be devoid of any malice. A voice like the whispers of angels and bewitching as devils… what a natural born seductress!
“E, ehem… anyway, as I said, I, I am Lafetti’s lover. My name is Rain, Rain Revert. And also, one thing, he didn’t kidnap me, rather, he found me, saved me…anyway, our relationship is extremely close with no barrier whatsoever…”
They actually haven’t had a ceremony yet, if there was such a custom in this world. But Rain already treated Lafetti as his wife and lover, despite the latter not actually declaring it, since they were already like animals in heat every night. And furthermore, Lafetti’s attitude towards him had somewhat mellowed down, far beyond usual intimacy, so, they should truly be lovers and the closest couple in thousand of worlds.
Sex = Love = Marriage… simple words recorded in his dictionary. They are extremely convenient when things went down to an ambiguous situation. Like this.
“Ara Ara, you are really? Not kidnapped or forcefully brought here? Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised. There were far many places to wander, aside from this one.” The snaked haired woman flashed an enigmatic smile that can cause any living being to feel a chill. “You being here with no ties and force whatsoever, even an idiotic person would think twice to believe it,”
“Chief, I think it’s better for this human to die! The youngest is still ignorant of the ways of men, stubborn and naïve, her being fooled is but an easy matter.”
The golden-haired woman standing behind the snake-haired woman muttered while glaring at Rain as if he had assaulted her last night. Her fierce gray serpentine eyes narrowed into a slit and her fork tongue hissed loudly as she grasped the hilt of her sword.
The tone of her voice and her expression stayed true to her words as if she would immediately cut down Rain where he was standing, without any remorse and hesitation.
“That’s right! Humans cannot be trusted! Men would just speak out flowery words and beautiful phrases to fool any women to do their bidding. After that, they would throw them away like used rags, lower than dogs, with a heart of cold as a stone and wicked as heartless devils—the youngest can still be redeemed. Before she could walk a path of no redemption, prevent her from doing foolish things, by the death of this man…!”
The silver-haired woman snarled angrily as she raised her bow and pointed the tip of the arrow at Rain.
Rain’s brows furrowed. “I’m sorry to disturb your beautiful emotional speeches, but if possible, can you please act servile?” he almost cried those words out loudly, angry for their accusations and threat of his life, his mind blanked out and his emotions run rampant; “… We are not beasts and barbarians here. Can you put those dangerous things away from me, and let’s just talk politely and calmly as much as possible. Furthermore, can you please not spit in my eyes? What speaks out flowery words and beautiful phrases to fool women…? Don’t place such accusations on me, when you don’ even know me. In the first place. I can sue you for slander, and I can assure you, you would rot in hell, for accusing and tainting a humble man’s name with nothing but muddy water that I didn’t deserve.”
“… …” Rain’s outbursts shut the three women up and even made them felt quite bad due to the emotion backing on his voice that somehow struck their hearts.
They suddenly hesitated and felt they had done something wrong.
This was what you call Charm. Able to influence or affect someone else just using words and actions, and make black tiles into white. They can induce reactions and emotions from the listeners with but words and gaze, like witchcraft.
Nevertheless, Rain was angered, truly angered.
It’s fine for people to ignore a humble man’s heart, but placing dirt on it and even stepped on it so cruelly without hearing any explanation, it’s something only wicked people would do.