Elena Overturns the Guild
Elena headed to the Adventurer's Guild to find Eck and checked his usual seat, but it was rare for him to be absent at this hour.
"E-Elena, you're here?"
Jeina's greeting felt somehow awkward. Unlike the exaggerated smile on her lips, her eyes darted aimlessly through the air.
"Uncle didn't come today?"
At Elena's question, Jeina flinched, her shoulders jerking up.
"Eck is... well..."
Jeina trailed off. Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her apron. She looked strange, like someone who'd committed a crime.
"Hey! Kid!"
At that moment, a man occupying the center of the dining hall shot his hand up. He was a mercenary with a flushed-red face, beer foam caked all over his chin beard.
"What're you standing around for! You're in deep shit now! What about your master! Kahaha!"
Elena's brows furrowed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Haha! You haven't heard yet! That hotshot Eck you trail after like a puppy!"
The chin-bearded adventurer slammed his mug down on the table with a rough thunk. The group around him couldn't bring themselves to tell him to stop and let out awkward laughs.
"What's with you guys! You all saw it, right? Eck that bastard got doped up and passed out cold!"
"What?"
Elena's steps halted abruptly. Her gaze snapped reflexively to Jeina. Jeina had her head bowed low, trying to hide behind the counter. Her trembling shoulders proved the chin-bearded adventurer's words true.
"Kahaha! He chugged the drink that wench handed him, slammed his face into the table, and got dragged out by the guild bastards! Funniest shit ever!"
The chin-bearded adventurer mimed collapsing with exaggerated gestures. Then he burst into roaring laughter.
Dragged away. Drugged, no less.
Elena couldn't imagine Eck falling so defenselessly. Anyone who'd trained under him knew how meticulous and sharp he was. From monster weak points that took hundreds of fights to pinpoint, to advice like suspecting your party members and taking responsibility for your actions.
Those lessons flashed through Elena's mind in an instant.
'Uncle got drugged and collapsed?'
No way. There had to be a misunderstanding or some reason behind it.
But to the chin-bearded adventurer, the truth didn't matter. All he cared about was mocking the almighty king who'd wielded absolute power, now tumbling down in ridiculous fashion—for gossip fodder.
"See! Told ya he's washed up! Anyone seen that guy in the hunting grounds lately?! Nah! During the Red Moon, fuck, he just guzzles booze and lets his skills rust! Jeina! Another round here!"
"Y-yes!"
"If you slip me a sleeping pill, I won't go easy like Eck! You'll croak in your bed that night!! Kahahaha! I'll smash that pretty face into bloody pulp! Ahh, Elena, you should've seen it!"
Before long, the guild dining hall was dominated by the chin-bearded adventurer's voice.
"Couldn't even handle one sleeping pill from the wench and drops! He's done for! Jeina!"
The chin-bearded adventurer grabbed Jeina's arm and yanked her onto his thigh.
"Where you think you're going? You drug an adventurer as guild staff and just walk away?"
"I-I have work..."
"Oh ho! If you'd poisoned him, he'd be dead in the afterlife by now—work's the issue? This bitch ain't got no basics! In this biz, that's a death sentence, but we can't touch guild folk."
With that, the chin-bearded adventurer seized Jeina's clothes and tore them. Her underwear exposed, he groped her breast. His brutish grip crushed and kneaded without mercy, ignoring her pain, but Jeina clamped her mouth shut, refusing to scream.
"But betraying our trust comes at a price! Strip down to nothing and dance! Beg forgiveness from all of us!"
Jeina, flung from his hand, collapsed in the middle of the dining hall amid eyes filled with mockery, jeers, distrust, and betrayal.
Tears welled in Jeina's eyes as she searched for someone to help, but even when her gaze reached Elena, Elena's own eyes brimmed with betrayal. Elena had never thought all that highly of her anyway—the woman who'd never had a kind word for Uncle.
"Hey, you all agree, right? Jeina, what're you waiting for! Everyone's waiting!"
The heavily intoxicated chin-bearded adventurer staggered to his feet. He unbuckled his belt at the waist with a lecherous grin.
"This bitch doesn't even know her own fuckup, mind all fucked? Lost her edge. Eck spoiled her rotten, now she treats us like cocks too?"
His mocking tone dripped with sticky intent.
"Kahaha. You guys think the same, right? Remember how Eck screwed us over! We gotta watch that bastard's mood now?! Forgive if he forgives?! Eh?!?!"
Some of the adventurers in the dining hall echoed his shouts in agreement.
But most still held back, gauging the mood. Eck's influence, etched into them, wouldn't vanish after a single incident. Even those chiming in were just drunk ramblings.
"That bastard's still A-rank? Must be 'cause he fucks the guild master bitch senseless!"
The chin-bearded adventurer closed in on Jeina. With every step, her face drained to blue.
"Eck you bastard, when you get back, I won't let you off."
Flushed red with booze and riding high, he was suddenly sent flying by a kick from someone who charged in.
Thud! A dull bursting sound echoed through the dining hall.
The chin-bearded adventurer, kicked in the back, swept tables aside and crashed into the wall.
"Who the fuck! What asshole!"
"Me."
Elena spoke. She slammed her kicking foot to the floor and glared at him ferociously.
"Little bitch. You wanna die first huh! Before I kill Eck, I'll fuck you firs—"
Before he could finish, Elena's eyes blazed blue as she lunged. She dodged his counter-grab and snapped her foot up into his chin.
"Guhk!"
All eyes locked on Elena.
Elena had only fought once before—in her spar with Darko. How much time had passed since then? Though drunk, this was a B-rank adventurer who couldn't land a single hit as Elena's fists and feet battered him unilaterally.
Elena's heel whipped around in a rapid spin, smashing past the chin-bearded adventurer's jaw.
Drip. Drip.
"Khek... heok..."
The chin-bearded adventurer staggered and dropped to his knees.
Having deliberately turned her back to him, Elena now looked down at him, his eye level lower than hers.
"Say it again."
A low, guttural voice leaked from Elena's lips—not her usual clear, vibrant tone. It was laced with killing intent, close to a beast's growl.
"Your Eck is a dickhea—kuhk!"
The chin-bearded adventurer exploded upward from his bent knees for a lunge. But his momentum only smashed his face straight into Elena's knee, crumbling.
To the fallen man, she said:
"Who's beating who?"
"Kuh, uuh..."
His unfocused eyes filled with terror as he looked up at her.
"Answer."
Elena clenched her fist. A blue glow of mana pulsed through it.
A newbie adventurer girl, not just handling mana but wielding it.
"D-don't fuck around."
Strong.
That thought lodged in the chin-bearded adventurer's mind, and his eyes rolled back.
He charged, but the gap was too vast to bridge.
Crack!
Elena's fist struck true, the sickening crunch of his nasal bone echoing rawly as his final counterattack was utterly crushed.
Blood erupted from his nose in a gush, and he lost consciousness.
"Hek... hek..."
Elena slammed her raised fist into a nearby table. It shattered, and the dining hall fell into dead silence.
"Uncles and aunties."
She turned to the adventurers in the dining hall.
"You don't actually think like this guy, do you?"
Her ice-blue eyes bored into them.
The adventurers couldn't even breathe. They froze in place, crushed by the killing aura radiating from Elena's back.
She'd beaten C-rank Darko. Taken down a B-rank troll. Rumors exaggerated it as "barely with Eck's help." Pure bullshit.
Now, before everyone's eyes, she'd proven every achievement was hers alone.
"My uncle's washed up?"
She ground her teeth.
Elena turned to Jeina, slumped in the middle of the dining hall.
"Don't spout crap without knowing the reason. Right, sis?"
"Y-yeah. N-normal Eck wouldn't go down that easy. M-must be some expensive drug or whatever."
"Bragging about drugging Uncle?"
"N-no way! I-I just..."
The dining hall was deathly quiet. The oppressive tension made even swallowing audible.
Elena helped Jeina to her feet.
"T-thanks."
"Not helping 'cause I like you."
"I-I know..."
"You better shape up from now on. I can't punish you 'cause Uncle didn't. But this is a one-time thing."
She whispered it sharply into Jeina's ear, clear as day.
"Next time, I'll do the same to you. Don't wanna wake up in a monster den? Behave."
"Y-yeah."
"Good."
Elena smiled brightly, just like always.
Jeina's face went stark white at the sight of that smile.
"Haa..."
Elena felt her mind cooling coldly.
This was the first time she'd been this furious. She wanted to smash everything, but deep inside that rage burned a single desire.
'I want to see Uncle.'
She wanted to ask if he was okay.
"You really don't know where Uncle went?"
"D-don't. For real."
Jeina mumbled into her mouth.
"H-but..."
"But?"
"I have a guess where."
Elena heard the place and left the guild.
Only then could the guild finally release its pent-up tension.
"F-for a sec, thought it was Eck."
"Like master, like disciple, huh."
"Fuck. We're screwed, aren't we?"
"Thought she was innocent... how the hell do you handle a girl like that?"
The remaining adventurers never dared utter Elena's name carelessly again.
Elena was no longer the little kid growing in Eck's shadow.
She was already a beast that could threaten them all.