Chapter 71
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Gold-Rank Adventurer
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Like a rabbit that had encountered a beast, all I could do was freeze.
Strong.
I could feel it instinctively.
A master far above Shan.
This was just like that gold-rank adventurer who had shown up back then to subjugate the Blood Giant.
Her overwhelming presence weighed down on me so heavily that I couldn't move a muscle.
My legs nearly buckled.
But I couldn't let her see me cower in fear.
I had to somehow get through this situation.
I hadn't done anything wrong to begin with.
Rather than letting panic make me stammer, I steadied my breath inwardly to keep my words steady.
"Hey. Why'd you run away?"
The words from the monster before me weren't a simple question.
I could feel her grasping for something to latch onto.
The reason she'd chased me down wasn't normal to begin with.
Who just bolts after someone in the middle of a tournament like this?
Dripping blood that hadn't even cooled yet, radiating a ferocious aura—she had the people on the street giving us a wide berth.
I could tell at a glance that calling for help from anyone wouldn't be a smart move.
"...It's not like I had to stick around for the whole tournament, right?"
Rather than making excuses or dressing things up, I chose to state the obvious with confidence.
I tried not to let my voice shake, but forcing it out made it sound weird even to my own ears.
Was my reaction unexpected?
The woman parted her lips slightly as she looked down at me, then soon flashed a soft smile.
The woman's appearance was beautiful.
Her silver hair shimmered, showing off its luster, and her skin was so pale it seemed soft and delicate.
Her sharp eyes might have come off as merely frightening at first glance, but they felt alluring.
However, her red irises weren't beautiful.
The closer you looked, the creepier they seemed.
If my eyes evoked disgust in people, this woman's eyes amplified pure terror.
The woman reached out her hand.
The blood on it wasn't hers, and it still held body heat—you could see it with the naked eye.
Her outstretched hand soon caressed my cheek.
The sticky blood smearing across my face was disgusting, but my confusion outweighed that, and my fear outweighed even the confusion.
I nearly staggered back without thinking, but I gritted my teeth—literally biting my tongue—and held firm.
I couldn't claim to know every type of person out there.
But at the very least, I knew I couldn't show weakness to the woman in front of me.
I'd realized it on instinct.
She was a predator.
A monster that would pounce the moment I showed any vulnerability.
I was terrified, but because I was terrified, I widened my eyes and stared her down.
My sunglasses hid the trembling in my gaze.
I swallowed dryly and carefully moved my hand toward the sword at my waist.
"Pull that, and you'll die."
"Then maybe you shouldn't threaten me."
I countered her innocent warning with simple logic.
I knew I wasn't a match for this woman.
I could sense she was stronger than Shan.
But even so, if things went south, I didn't want to die without putting up any fight at all.
"Threaten you...? I was just curious."
"Curious?"
"I just got back yesterday, and I hear Shan's gone and taken on some disciples."
Was she an acquaintance of Shan's?
If so, I could relax a little—but not enough to let my guard down completely.
I swallowed dryly for a moment before opening my mouth.
"That stoic guy's taken on a disciple? And the second he sees me, he bolts? Of course I got curious."
"...Are you sure I'm Shan's disciple?"
At my question, the woman looked genuinely taken aback for once.
Her mouth hung slightly open in disbelief, and for a split second, her eyes wavered, making me wonder if I'd said something weird—but I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question.
We were strangers, so wasn't it natural to wonder how she'd pegged me right away?
"Outfits as weird as yours aren't that common...?"
"This is pretty normal..."
"Not at all."
Her firm denial made me shrink back for no reason.
Even though this was a huge improvement over my old getup, hearing that still stung.
Was the outfit the saint gave me really that strange?
Well, come to think of it, even if it was from the saint, it was something Rie had made—so it matched her tastes... and yeah, it was pretty revealing.
Still, though.
Wasn't this fairly normal by this world's standards?
"...Isn't this normal enough?"
"Is your idea of 'normal' a prostitute?"
"...You're awfully rude."
I grumbled softly under my breath, and her eyes sharpened, making me quickly clap a hand over my mouth.
I gauged her reaction and hurriedly changed the subject.
"...Did Shan say something about me?"
"Nah? I just got back, remember? Pure curiosity. I've answered your questions... so why'd you run? And don't think about lying."
When she warned me not to lie, her eyes gleamed ominously for an instant.
I let out a sigh.
I realized brushing this off wasn't an option anymore, so straightforward honesty was my only play left.
I adjusted my sunglasses and slowly spoke my true feelings.
"...You scared me."
"Me?"
"I felt pure terror."
"From me?"
"Yes..."
"Doesn't sound like a lie... I'm scary?"
"...You're not about to say you're not scary, are you?"
"Of course not. Where else are you gonna find a beauty like me?"
Her expression soured in earnest, dragging mine down with it.
"Looks aren't everything when it comes to beauty."
"...What’s that supposed to mean?"
I regretted saying it for a second, but someone dripping blood while spouting nonsense like that needed a reality check at some point.
It didn't have to be me, but if I could free this pitiful monster from her delusions, gladly taking on that noble mission didn't sound half bad.
Besides, she was seriously pissing me off right now.
"You're dripping blood everywhere, and your aura's terrifying. If you're gonna say stuff like that, at least wipe it off first."
"Oh, this?"
Surprisingly, the woman seemed to take my words in stride.
She scraped off some of the now-slightly-congealed blood from her hand with her finger, examined it briefly, then smeared it right back on my cheek.
I flinched but couldn't dodge, though she just smiled with her eyes like it was no big deal.
"I usually prefer to clean up properly. But you ran off, so I was too busy chasing you to bother."
Her tone made it sound utterly mundane, like she didn't see anything off about it.
It seemed perfectly natural to her.
"You seem awfully desensitized to killing people..."
"Gotta be, if you're gonna make it as an adventurer, right? And you're hardly one to talk... after slaughtering over a hundred innocent people."
"...What?"
"Oh, don't worry. I have access to all sorts of info, so I just took a peek."
Her gaze raked over me like she wanted to devour me whole, and I bit my lip to hide my fear.
"More importantly... you got here faster than I thought. Guess he does care about you."
"...What?"
"Helen. Didn't expect you back so soon."
"I'm not some weakling like him. Finished up quick and came right back."
The woman—no.
Helen winked with one eye at Shan and greeted him, but Shan hurriedly stepped in front of me, putting himself between Helen and me.
"Oh? What's this? Now?"
"It's only natural to protect people from a pleasure killer."
"Me?"
Her voice sounded innocently puzzled, without a trace of pretense.
Like she genuinely wondered if that's how she came across.
"You butchered five silver-rank adventurers just because they rubbed you the wrong way during a commission, and now you're playing innocent?"
"You're as prickly as ever. But I let you live, didn't I? And you know how pathetic and disgusting they were."
Helen's words dripped with contempt, laced with a sly grin.
"Even so, that doesn't give you the right to kill them on a whim. They weren't devil worshippers, and even if they screwed up, they should've faced punishment by law."
"Such a stickler. In this world, anyone with power dodges punishment or gets off light, right? You really think those so-called 'silver-rank adventurers' would've gotten real justice under that fancy 'law' of yours? It's all for show in the end. You know that."
Helen pointed at herself with a slender finger, her smile pure and unblemished.
"Look at me. I killed five silver-rank adventurers on my own terms, and my punishment was just a 'demotion' and a few rough commissions. Time to face reality."
"If the law can't punish the wicked, then obviously someone strong has to clean up the trash instead. Why can't you accept something so obvious?"
Helen let out an exaggerated sigh before continuing.
"Whatever. I didn't come here to fight anyway."
Helen said that as she looked down at me.
"I heard some clueless, talentless idiot took on a girl as a disciple, so I came to check her out. But get this."
Helen sneered.
"That girl? She's more my type than yours. How about handing her over to me instead?"
"...What?"
The words slipped out of me unbidden, drawing both their gazes.
In that moment, Helen cleared her throat with a hem-hem, then flashed a smile that was more chilling than beautiful before speaking.
"Shall I reintroduce myself? Helen, former gold-rank adventurer—even if it was at the bottom of the list."
Gold-rank adventurer Helen.
"I can teach her more than this blockhead ever could, and make her way stronger. What do you say?"
Her offer was like the whisper of a devil.