Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: Those Martial Arts Guys
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Principles are important.
That principle is none other than the core of Fusion Confucianism.
Kill if you have to kill. Retaliate if you're attacked. Repay what you're given. Keep your promises. Never scam. Always show courtesy first.
Submit utterly to the strong, and never yield to the weak.
This whole mess was just revenge in line with those principles.
—They stole the condolence money I gave, so it became my business.
Of course, if they'd been stronger than me, there would've been no revenge or bullshit like that—I'd have just said a few kind words to Lina and sent her on her way. But these murderers were pathetic weaklings not even worth comparing to me.
How dare worthless trash like them hold a knife to my throat?
—I'll carve them up.
Even if the heavens themselves shatter, I won't forgive them.
This is my ironclad principle for surviving in this other world. When the weak get cocky, no matter what it takes, they face retribution, compensation... and divine punishment.
That's how all the countless bandits who've come at me ended up as monster chow. Naturally, if I'd been weaker than them, I'd have been the one getting eaten.
The law of the jungle. Dogs fighting in the fields.
Kin battling for supremacy. Bloody life-or-death struggles.
—This is the other world.
If I broke my principles and let those murdering bandits live?
It'd be the same as handing grudge-holders hiding in the shadows their final shot at assassinating me.
Showing mercy to those who deserve death is the dumbest thing you can do.
You can't survive if you're dumb.
To survive, you need cruelty combined with cold, clear judgment.
That's why you submit to the strong.
If your opponent's clearly superior, beg for your life, flatter them, lick their boots. Self-respect? Feed it to the dogs. You can't win against the strong and live.
Bowing to the strong isn't shameful to begin with.
It's just natural.
—This sure as hell isn't modern Earth.
It's a harsh, brutal other world.
Break your principles, and you'll rot away dead. That's why killing a few like those today doesn't feel wrong to me at all.
Fusion Confucianism has no teachings about mourning the deaths of vicious criminals.
And those guys—weaklings—tried to kill me.
Organized ones, at that.
If I don't wipe them all out, who knows what they'll pull next.
If I don't hit back mercilessly, they'll swarm me like bees someday, trying to devour me alive. The moment I slip on my principles even once, that's exactly what happens.
"Lina. If you wanna live, make yourself some survival principles. Honestly, if there hadn't been that compensation for your pickpocketing, you'd be dead right now."
The only reason I spared Lina back then was the compensation.
No compensation? No mercy, even if she's a minor.
That's the meaning I packed into my cold words to her. If her head gets twisted enough to see me as some good guy, she'll end up spilling blood someday.
"...Got it."
"Then let's rummage for anything valuable and get the hell out."
I searched the corpses alongside Lina.
It was a waste of effort—these utter broke-ass losers only yielded a handful of copper coins. Well, no surprise they were weak; trash like that never gets strong.
I split the 12 coppers we got half-and-half with Lina, stayed alert for any surprise attacks, and headed up to the third floor. The spot where Mershin had come stumbling down... maybe something there?
"Doesn't seem like anything's here."
"Barren bastards."
The third floor was empty.
A quick search turned up nothing worth taking, so we got out right away. It was bright out. Warm temperatures. A vibrant midday full of life.
Even after all that carnage, the sun blazed brilliantly.
—We made it out!
—Now's our chance!
—Run!
The moment we burst out of the building, slum dwellers who'd been lurking nearby charged at it like wild beasts.
Word must've spread that the gang got wrecked.
"Outta the way! Move it!"
"Gaaahhh!!"
"Don't trample meee!!!"
They were in such a frenzy they trampled and shoved each other just to get inside first. It was prime time to grab anything sellable, so no wonder.
"They hustle hard."
Those guys hustle too.
"...Yeah. But there's nothing left worth taking anyway."
She was right—we'd already cleared out anything valuable.
Still, we left behind bloody shoes, pants, hand axes... they'd snatch those up. Junk like that was treasure to beggars.
"Ah, bro... over there."
Lina pointed to a dark alley corner.
"Kyson... so this is where you ended up."
—Kyson lay dead in the alley's darkest nook, beaten to a pulp.
"Kyson made a ton of enemies... that's why it came to this."
"Figures."
Kyson had barely escaped the building, but he was weaker than the poor folks he'd been extorting all this time. No shock that the enraged slums unleashed a brutal lynching on his weakened ass.
—Woof! Woof!
—Woof! Woof!
And now the stray dogs had caught the blood scent and swarmed in. That made Kyson's end all the more pathetic. He'd fled sobbing and begging for his life, but his piled-up evil deeds caught up in one go.
Unlike me, he couldn't finish off the marks he shook down for protection money.
And the result? Dog chow for the strays.
—This is the slum back alley.
Just as brutal as the world beyond the walls.
"Serves him right... I knew it'd end like this, so I just watched him run."
"That so?"
Lina clearly had a mountain of grudges against Kyson. The girl stared coldly at his corpse as the dogs tore into it.
What a shithole.
Bad for the mental health.
I wanna see Claudy, Winia, and Karin's faces already. Without those girls warmly embracing me through this horrific world with all their heart, I'd still be living like a total loser.
Anyway, business and revenge are done.
Time to head back.
—No.
One thing left.
Find Lisette.
Need an honest talk with her about all this.
"Let's go, Lina."
"B-but bro. You good going out looking like that?"
"Ah."
I'm drenched head to toe in blood right now.
Even for the slums, this is overkill. The second we leave, city guards grab us, and we've got no defense.
Way too blatant.
Maybe swing by Lisha's for a bit.
Borrow her shower.
"Eh, it'll be fine. Come with anyway."
"With you?"
"If you go alone and get robbed again, I'd be pissed."
"...Okay."
So I walked the twisting slum streets with Lina. Quick detour to Lisha's black magic shop to wash up, then we're good.
"Gangnam or?"
"Huh?"
"Myeongdong~?"
"B-bro?"
"How 'bout Cheongnyangni~?"
—Flinch.
Singing like that as we walked, the slum folk we passed freaked out in terror.
"M-murderer!!!"
"Monster!!!!"
"Blood-mad savage!!!"
—Kyaaaaah!!!!
"Murder bard!!!!"
Then they bolted screaming. Murder bard? Well, yeah, I probably look the part.
Didn't take long to reach Lisha's shop.
"Let's go in."
"C-can I wait outside?"
"What're you scared of?"
"Still, a witch lives there..."
"You came last time too."
"I waited outside then."
She really didn't wanna go in.
Couldn't just leave her out there, so I grabbed her hand.
"Just come on in. If you're spooked by shit like this, you won't run from real scary stuff later and you'll die."
"Still..."
I went to knock, but—creak—the door swung open right away.
We stepped inside.
—Flash.
"...You're pretty late, huh? I told you to come back as fast as possible. Don't tell me you forgot."
"L-Lisha?"
Glowing red eyes pierced the darkness; for a second I thought it was some beast. Then Lisha in her gothic dress loli mode slowly approached.
"W-witch...!"
"Who's the kid?"
"Uh, that's..."
Lina took one look at Lisha and started shaking like a vibrator salesman. Lisha fixed me with a piercing witch's glare, then spotted Lina and flashed a grin.
"Don't be scared, dearie. I won't hurt you."
"Ah... okay."
"Sit over there. And you—follow me."
Lina awkwardly shuffled to the sofa and sat.
Wait, Lisha, you pissed? I wondered to myself, but she just kept smiling as she took my hand and led me upstairs.
"Lisha? How've you been?"
"You're asking me that now?"
"H-have I made you mad?"
"Yeah. Pretty mad."
"Gasp!"
Looked like she was upset I hadn't visited once since winter. She dragged me to her room and flung me onto the bed.
No! My clothes are soaked in blood—the sheets! The sheets are gonna be ruined!!
"Didn't I tell you to come back quick?"
Her voice turned terrifying as she climbed on top of me.
"Y-yeah... but..."
"But?"
"Sorry... Lisha..."
"What am I gonna do with you."
It was straight-up criminal with her in loli mode, but her eyes staring down were so damn scary I could only tremble in fear.
"Anyway, you're covered in blood head to toe. What happened?"
"Uh... well."
"I wanna hear all about it."
Just like she asked, I gave her a quick rundown of everything while she sat on me, cradling my face in both hands, locking eyes, murmuring "Hmm..." and "Oh?" as she listened intently.
"Ahh, right—those kids. They'd been a real nuisance. You handled them perfectly. Good job."
Story over, and surprisingly, I got praise.
"...So this actually helped?"
"In all sorts of ways... Kids like that are trouble. Don't ask more?"
"Okay."
Lisha kept stroking my face, then let out a deep sigh.
"Haa."
A heavy sigh.
"Do you even know how much I was looking forward to this?"
"..."
"Haven't slept right since that day... and you don't visit... don't even come sell stuff like usual... no word at all..."
Looks like she'd been waiting a ton for me.
Guilt hit hard, chest tightening.
"And just when I thought you'd finally shown up, I got all excited... only for you to bring a kid? What were you thinking?"
"Ah, uh... job just wrapped, thought it might be dangerous for her alone..."
"Haa."
Another sigh.
"Came midday, so I figured maybe not till night... calming my pounding heart was torture... now we can't even spend time together."
Lisha's face turned regretful as she blushed, gazing down at me with dewy eyes. Regret seeped from her dainty little hands fiddling with my face.
Should've come sooner.
Suddenly, Lisha closed her eyes and leaned her face close to mine.
"L-Lisha?"
—Mwah.
She planted a kiss on my forehead. Mwah. Then another mwah. Kissing my forehead and cheeks nonstop, she slowly worked her way down toward my lips.
"L-Lisha, that's a crime if you go there..."
She shot me a glare, then black smoke enveloped her. Ah, true Lisha mode. Smoke cleared—to reveal not loli Lisha, but her utterly alluring adult form.
"Better now?"
The tone and manner had shifted completely.
"..."
No one leading, we dove into a fierce kiss.
"Hah..."
"Mm..."
Like we'd both starved for ages, Lisha tangled her tongue passionately with mine, sharing saliva. She pulled my head in tight, kissing endlessly.
This went on for a good while.
After thoroughly ravaging my mouth forever, she finally pulled away.
"Really... really... you set my heart ablaze and act so cold. Do you know how tough this winter was for me?"
"Sorry..."
The kiss had me rock-hard now.
"Made so much medicine for you..."
"M-medicine?"
The breast milk kind...
"Yes... and now we can't use it again. Was it that you didn't want to drink? I'd be sad if so."
"N-no, not that. Just... no time, y'know..."
"How much 'no time'?"
Her eyes narrowed to axes as she spoke sharply.
"So busy you couldn't even show your face?"
"..."
"Well, you're here now, so fine. Just be more careful from now on."
"...Got it."
Too sorry for words.
As I looked down, Lisha spoke first.
"So, you wanna borrow the shower, right."
"Yes. Came for that mostly. I'm covered in blood... but the sheets?"
"Don't worry about it."
—Rustle.
"Go wash up. I'll be downstairs."
Back to loli mode, Lisha headed down. I calmed my racing heart, stripped, and hopped in the shower to scrub off the gore.
—Splash.
Cold water hit my body, settling me down a bit.
Damn it all... I'd left Lisha hanging all this time.
Scrubbed quick, got out, and headed to the first floor.
Lisha was chatting with a still-shivering Lina, all smiles.
"All clean?"
"Yeah... thanks."
"Phew, so you're heading out now."
"That's the plan."
Got stuff to do.
"One promise?"
"Anything."
No bullshit—current Kim Katt could promise the world.
"Make time this week to come early morning. Then I'll forgive this."
Guess I gotta carve out time.
"Definitely coming back."
"See ya."
Stepped out of the shop.
"Y-you're real close with the witch, bro."
"Business means we meet often. Pretty tight now."
"I see..."
"Anyway, let's go."
"Okay."
Washed myself and got most of the blood off my gear too. Still looked blood-splattered as hell, but not quite criminal territory anymore.
We were chatting as we left the slums when—
"Hey."
A familiar voice from behind.
—Red hair came to mind.
"...Lisette."
I turned and called her name.
It was Lisette.