…
《Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!》
Cycelia runs down the inn's stairs, then out towards the bridge, clenching her fists. The bearded innkeeper raises his eyebrows as she runs past. She runs through the thin trickle of people outside on the main street, almost bumping into some, before she makes it onto the arching bridge.
Cycelia walks up to the bridge's stone fence and leans onto it. She reaches into one of her pockets, and pulls out a small copper plate. She glances at it for a second, before her gaze returns to the water murmuring below. She grips onto it, squeezing it in her fist as she cocks her arm back to throw it.
She stands on the bridge, slightly oblique, her arm held up and bent, with her hand behind her head in a fist. Frozen, she stands there. Some people walk past, looking at her with furrowed brows. Her pink lips stretch into a scowling, downward-turned frown, revealing her clenched teeth.
Cycelia's gaze, and then her head start to lower, as she begins sobbing quietly. Her raised arm follows soon after, and slowly drops as well. Tears start to flow down her pale, faintly rosy cheeks as she brings her fist up in front of her, and opens it to look inside again.
Katastrof Vindict
Straf
DOB - 2E 217 | POB - | DCA -
The runaway princess struggles to read the text on the stamped copper plate through her blurry, teary vision. She clutches onto the plate again, this time with despondence. Tears flow down her chin onto the stone below, and the noise of the water masks her sobs.
《I was stupid… I have no right to be mad at him. I once again assumed, and I once again was wrong. Why did I even think I would be his first? Stupid. You knew he had a girlfriend.》
She puts the copper plate back into her pocket, and leans further onto the stone fence. The flowing water takes her tears away.
《…But it still hurts. I should have known he'd be loose with women. I should have known he has some way to cope with the pain of loss. But…》
Cycelia lifts her head and looks at the sky. She breathes in deep, then exhales slowly. She wipes her eyes on her shirt sleeve, then starts walking back to the inn.
《You stupid, silly little girl. The perfect men you thought he was only exist in your fantasy books.》
「Hmm… Miss, is everything alright?」
The innkeeper asks Cycelia, she walks up the stairs with her head hanging down, ignoring him.
She returns to her room, and lays down on her bed. When she hears the golden-haired woman moan from Straf's room through the wall, she closes her eyes and covers her ears. Cycelia starts quietly sobbing again as she curls up into a ball…
…
「Will you-! Do you not have enough!?」
Athea shouts at Straf, still fighting his arm.
「Hm. I guess that's it for the day. Shoo.」
Straf lets go and moves his forearm out of the way. The disgraced goddess immediately scoots away from him towards the foot-end of the bed, and slides off onto her knees, panting heavily as she covers herself with her arms.
「You… Absolute bastard. I'll remember this…」
「Oh, that's good. I hope you do. By the way…」
Straf says as he opens his [Portable Storage]. He pulls out a tangle of white, silk straps and shows it to the flushed Athea as she kneels on the floor, propping herself up on the bed with her elbow.
「…You're going to wear this.」
「Haa… What is that? Haaa…」
「It's elven clothes I got from the troll. Guess elves here have no sense of decency or any idea what exhibitionism means. Perfect fit for you.」
Straf throws the skimpy set of barely clothes within Athea's reach. She takes them into her hands, and as she lifts them, she realizes it doesn't amount to more than just two overlapping straps for the chest, and a tiny veil of a skirt, woven just thick enough to most likely protect the wearer's decency.
「Wha- Ahhh… I'd rather die than wear that!」
「Well if you're not wearing that the next time I call you, I'll be really sad that my first harem member won't even dress how I want her to. You should be thanking me. They're magical, and have pretty decent stat bonuses. If you turn them down, I'll have a real moment of depression and angst.」
Straf says with an exaggerated, fake sad frown. It slowly twists into a smug grin.
「Do you know what people tend to do when they're angsty? They call on god-」
「Fine! Fine! Shut up! Ahhh… You rotten scumbag. I'm supposed to be working. I'm supposed to handle a man whose time is about to run out… I can't show myself like this to him… Haaa…」
Athea clutches onto the clothes she was given angrily, but she has to frequently loosen her clenched teeth to let out a heavy breath.
「Huh? Another poor guy like me who got offed by a sewer-」
「No, you idiot! Haa… He's going to die peacefully in his bed, holding onto his wife's hand! Ahh…」
「That sounds like it could have been me.」
「Will you get over it already?! Haa… What troll are you even talking about?」
「Well, there was a quest for one. I killed it in like three hits. Hope you like the clothes, because I broke Lia- Cycelia's sword doing that.」
「Ahhh…. What? You killed a troll? This is your first day here. That can't be right…」
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She waves her hand. A trail of runes appear, and a small screen similar to Straf's status screen opens in front of her. She moves her extended fingers in the air below the screen, and watches it with furrowed brows.
「What- What!? This isn't supposed to happen! Trolls require entire parties of veteran warriors!」
She can't believe her eyes as she watches a fragment of Straf's day on the screen. She winds the footage back further.
「Yeah? Sorry, didn't know.」
「What!? Why did you do this!? Do you even realize damage you have caused to the local ecosystem by killing all those field rabbits!?」
Athea shouts at Straf, who is looking at her with bored eyes, his head propped up on his fist as he lays on his side.
「Huh? What's the big deal? They'll respawn anyway.」
Straf says nonchalantly with a slanted mouth.
「Were you not listening to a word I said before I sent you here!?」
「Honestly, no. I kind of tuned out after I realized you're incompetent. I always had a problem with paying attention to what women are saying, and you just made it worse.」
「You complete-- Ack! He's there! He's there, staring at the empty throne, and I still haven't calmed down- I hate you!」
Fwoom.
She slams her fist on the bed with fury as she shouts at Straf, and disappears upward into a stream of light.
「Heh. Well, that improved my mood a little. Time to sleep.」
Straf puts his hands underneath his head again, and closes his eyes.
…
Straf rolls about onto his side, and folds his arm under his head.
…
Straf rolls onto his stomach and hugs his pillow to get more comfortable.
…
「…Why the shit can't I fall asleep?」
Straf pats his pocket, he pulls out the object that seems to cause him some very tiny, miniscule discomfort as it sits there.
「Ah. I guess I still need to return this. I hope this improves her mood, too- I should wash it first.」
Straf thinks out loud, as he looks at the bloodied handkerchief hanging from his hand.
…
「Ah! Everything alright with the girl you came here with, sir?」
The innkeeper asks Straf as he walks down the inn stairs. Straf raises his eyebrows.
「Huh? Yeah, everything's great. Why?」
「She stormed out of here some time back, then came back looking kind of gloomy. I thought something happened.」
「Oh no, she has severe mood swings. Don't worry about it.」
The innkeeper furrows his brows and crosses his arms, looking onto Straf with pity.
「Man… You too? Hang in there, buddy.」
「Hey, I've had worse things happen to me.」
Straf shrugs and grins as he heads for the baths. He opens one of the empty bathrooms, and heads in. He dunks the handkerchief in the tub of water, and starts scrubbing the blood with his hands… Almost an hour later, the handkerchief isn't any cleaner. Straf curses under his breath.
「Son of a bitch! How do the criminals in all those stories clean their clothes and the crime scenes up!? Fuck this, I'm going back to sleep.」
Straf throws the wet handkerchief into the [Portable Storage] in rage, and heads back to his room. He lays down on his bed, closes his eyes and waits until he falls asleep… Despite waiting for a long time, the awaited sleep doesn't visit him.
《What the fuck is going on… Wait. Could it be? Oh fuck.》
Straf's eyes snap wide open when he realizes he has cursed himself by his own volition.
《[Regeneration]… This is fucking bullshit! I'm so OP I can't even sleep anymore!?》
He grinds his teeth as he stares at the ceiling blankly. He gets up, and leaves his room.
《I need to find something to do. Something to do. Something on my backlog…》
Somewhere, elsewhere, mere hours ago…
Large and heavy wooden throne room doors swing wide open as a blonde, twin-tailed young girl storms into the room, pushing them effortlessly out of the way. She walks to the center of the room, then turns around on her heel and walks back. She stops, turns around again, then walks forward.
《That bastard… That bastard! Such a disgrace! How dare he humiliate me like this!》
She keeps stomping back and forth on the dusty and old red carpet with her boots, her ornate black dress lagging behind her each time she turns around. She stops, and walks up to one of the dirty tall windows. She cautiously watches the setting sun, mostly hidden behind the wall.
《…But how did he know? My exact age, down to my years of life as a human… Who is he? What is he? I was meant to feed then, he was meant to be my prey… How did he become the predator!?》
She looks at the walled city in the distance, well below the mountain, far away from the abandoned castle. She clutches onto her dress, and her hand slowly drifts up to her throat. She then takes her hand to her mouth and viciously bites into her wrist.
《Ahh! And this hunger! It was already intolerable yesterday! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! But...》
She pulls her fangs out of her hand, the punctures close nigh-instantly the moment the teeth leave her flesh. She pants heavily as her slit, red eyes observe something in middle of the city…
《But he could have killed me. Someone as powerful as him… Why didn't he? He knew what I am, yet he chose to spare me? I hunger… I hunger! But at this point, only his blood will satisfy me…》
She pulls the faded curtain over the window with force, and heads towards a massive luxurious bed, seemingly out of place, occupying the space where normally the throne would be. The 1012 year old vampire turns around, and jumps onto the bed with her back and an accompanying sigh. She lays splayed on the bed, arms spread wide apart.
《I will have his blood. Either by his consent, or without it. I'm going to find out what he really is. And if possible, if he is as powerful as I think… Make him my king to walk the day with.》
She crawls up towards the pillows and throws the blanket aside, then covers herself with it. She yawns, and hugs into the pillow…