Chapter 39
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Escape (2)
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Let me make one thing clear right off the bat.
I am not a masochist who enjoys getting beaten.
Quite the opposite. I'm the kind of warm-hearted guy who wants to pay back tenfold for every single blow I take, and make damn sure to repay any favors.
Smack!
"That hurts, you brute."
"Then use the proper title."
"You brute of an employer?"
Thwack!
So why does this woman let Byakrin smack her upside the head or kick her shins at the drop of a hat without so much as a peep?
Simple reason. She can't win.
"......Hoo."
I looked down at the guards sprawled all over the ground.
Exactly six of them.
We'd just turned a corner in the alley when we ran into these patrol bastards.
[Hey, you lot, come here a sec...]
Come here a sec.
You guys free? Wanna hop into some Eternal X-Turn right now? Join. The. Server. ♥
Before those words could even fully escape his throat,
all six of them went down without a single scream—either knocked out cold or dead.
Whose handiwork?
The one over there casually filing her nails.
I just stood there dumbfounded, piggybacking Noy who was mumbling in his sleep.
Like a slave sucking his thumb and watching his master's one-woman show.
'......What a monster.'
Honestly, I underestimated her at first.
The day we first met, when I pounced and groped her chest, she just lay there meekly under me.
So I figured she was about my level, maybe a notch below...
Just a decent swordswoman, nothing special.
But that was a massive misjudgment.
She cleared out that scorpion den like it was nothing,
and even that rickety prison wall crumbled like tofu from one kick.
But above all, the way she slices their throats.
If old Kain was like a massive bear or a dump truck,
Byakrin's like a soft-bodied creature, or a snake.
Kain crushes with brute force,
while Byakrin slips in like flowing water,
slicing between joints and tapping only the vital spots.
Truth be told, I can't even track her with my eyes, let alone keep up.
"Hey, employer."
"What."
"You... don't happen to use aura or something, do you?"
Byakrin tilted her head at my out-of-left-field question.
"What's that?"
"......Ha, you brute."
A sword-for-hire who doesn't know what aura is?
Frustrated, I thumped my chest and gestured wildly to explain.
"You know, that thing the knight wannabes use."
"......?"
"Like, a bluish glow humming around their swords,
slicing rocks like tofu... that kind of deal."
Truth is, I don't know much myself.
I'd have to experience it to know.
I've only eyeballed it from Kain or the scorpions, so my explanation's bound to suck.
But Byakrin nodded like she got it from my half-assed description.
"Oh, yeah, I've seen it."
"No shit?"
"They call it sword qi in the East, by the way."
"I didn't ask."
I just wanted to know if you can use it or not, damn it.
Byakrin yawned lazily and answered.
"Dunno. Can't use it."
"......Useless brute."
"But I've killed people who could."
......Come again?
"You? Aura users? How many?"
"Never bothered counting, so who knows."
From the sound of it, it's not like she lucked into one or two.
She's prickly, but not the type to bullshit about her exploits.
So she must mean too many to count on fingers, more than she can recall.
"......How'd you kill them?"
"Why don't you believe me? I spared your ass back then too."
"Not ambushes, straight-up fair fights face-to-face."
Finally getting my drift,
"Oh, head-on?"
"Yeah. If you've fought them, you know what aura does..."
"Breaks your weapon. Sword or club, doesn't matter. Gets tricky."
Byakrin nodded in agreement.
But then,
"So dodge and stab. Problem solved."
Her response was so absurdly out there, I couldn't relate at all.
I shot back in disbelief.
"You crazy bitch. Aura users are at least high-rank knights even on a bad day.
Do they just swing sloppily for you to dodge easy?"
"I dodged fine."
She tilted her head at my question,
with a look like 'Why ask something so obvious?'
"...So they just stick their necks out for easy kills?"
"They died easy."
"......"
We're not communicating.
Her brain's clearly running on a simple algorithm: 'Dodge -> Stab -> Dead.'
"Why wouldn't that work? They have arms and legs attached— are they idiots?"
Byakrin asked with genuine puzzlement,
pure curiosity without a hint of malice.
Which pissed me off even more.
"It doesn't! Normally it doesn't work, you lunatic!"
I pounded my chest in frustration.
"You saw what happened when I fought the scorpions!"
"Yeah. Got your ass handed to you. That's why you're dogshit."
"Fuck you! Without aura, you normally lose!"
I gestured wildly at my own body, ranting.
That's how it usually goes.
The problem is, 'normal' doesn't apply to her.
I always fight with my life on the line, rolling, slashing, tearing.
Real brawls end with wounds even in victory—that's daily life.
But her?
She handled plenty of thugs in the scorpion den,
then while fleeing, cut down way more guards and money-grubbing vagrants.
Just like sending those six guards to hell in seconds.
"......Ha."
I scanned Byakrin's body.
Her frayed gray cloak had just a bit of dirt at the hem. That's it.
Not a drop of blood splattered, no scratches.
From the first time I saw her to now,
not a single minor wound.
She dodges incoming attacks, lands hers perfectly.
Her words and actions match up.
So to her, I'm the one who doesn't make sense.
"......Must be a goddamn talent, you bitch."
I'd hoped to learn aura if she knew it, or at least countermeasures if not.
All for naught.
Nothing to leech from pure physical prowess.
The world's so fucking unfair.
"Hurry and loot the cash, you worthless slave."
"Got it, you dog of a master."
"Once done, drag these to that blind spot over there."
"......Sigh."
I sighed and started rifling through the sprawled bodies without complaint.
We get spotted and fight so often now,
even this scut work's second nature.
Wonder when I'll finally grab enough power and cash that no one can ignore,
bang every chick I want,
and live that fun, full-bellied life day after day.
...If that day even comes.
Feels hopelessly distant.
"Employer, may this lowly slave ask a word?"
"Speak."
Byakrin nodded graciously, chewing jerky.
After getting my ass kicked pretty hard earlier,
my manners were temporarily buffed to hell and back.
I rubbed my throbbing scalp and spoke politely.
"We can't keep scurrying like rats forever."
"True."
"So I propose..."
I cleared my throat,
"...how about we just bail far away."
"Bail? What do you mean?"
"Bounce. Out of the kingdom."
Byakrin's eyes sparkled. She was hooked.
"To another kingdom?"
"Nah."
I shook my head firmly, gauging her mood.
Buffs don't last forever unless it's some nation-level power fantasy.
Soon we'd be bickering again.
"Even the kingdom next door or the one after—same shit."
Simple reason.
The ones foaming at the mouth to catch me aren't just in Bellua Kingdom.
Even more annoying is the Kaintrea Duke.
This continent's southern economy, trade routes, even the back-alley intel network—
basically his family's turf.
"If that duke wants, slapping wanted posters as far as the neighboring neighbors is child's play.
And none of us have legit IDs. Big problem."
Every kingdom checks papers at the border like buying smokes at a convenience store.
So most bottom-feeder poorfolk rot from birth to grave where they spawned.
No travel pass, faceless drifters, and now wanted posters? Crossing borders on foot?
Suicide—perfect for getting trampled by mounted knights.
"So what then?"
"We leave the continent altogether."
I pointed south to the sky.
"Keep heading straight down, there's a port at the kingdom's southern tip."
"Port?"
"Yeah. We take a ship."
I added gravely, feigning seriousness.
"Straight-laced way's impossible, sure.
That's basically the duke's nutsack split in two."
All southern Central Continent seas and routes are his playground.
So yeah, high suicide odds there too, but...
"Just get afloat on the ocean somehow."
Once on another continent,
they won't chase that far.
Pour troops, fleets, supplies over one escaped death row punk?
I'm no princess killer or regicide.
No reason to go that hard.
So better flee overland, maybe settle in another kingdom by luck.
But living paranoid, hiding forever? Nah.
Might as well cross the sea for peace of mind.
No fucking international cops hopping borders.
"......Hm."
Byakrin pondered, chin in hand, then spoke slowly.
"Fine. But conditions."
Her eyes chilled.
"No East."
"......Huh?"
I tilted my head.
"East—your homeland, right? Eastern Continent."
"Yep."
"Wouldn't that be better? Language barrier none, you know the turf."
Honestly, I secretly wanted East.
As a black-haired East Asian from my past life, it'd feel familiar,
and hell, hordes of pretty Eastern beauties like her waifu material.
But Byakrin shook her head firmly.
"No. Absolutely not."
"What, ran away from home or something?"
"Don't ask. East is off-limits."
Her tone was final—push it and her sword kisses my neck.
Some shady backstory, probably.
'......Whatever, not my business.'
I wasn't prying or curious anyway.
"Shame. That's exactly my type."
I smacked my lips regretfully and shrugged.
"Only one option left then."
I scratched a rough map on the ground with a stick.
Recalling a continent map I'd seen at some noble's place while collecting debt.
"Look. This shitty world's three big chunks."
Scritch scritch.
Three circles.
"This here's Central Continent, where we are.
Hyungans have gobbled it up ages ago."
The biggest central circle ruled by humans.
Empires and kingdoms squabbling over turf,
monsters dwindling into hiding spots,
mercs picking them off for coin—civilized sewer.
Bellua Kingdom's tacked on the southern fringe.
"This side's East. Your hood."
I tapped the right circle.
"The one you're dead set against?"
Byakrin nodded, adding,
"You and the brat couldn't survive there anyway."
"Why?"
"They despise hook-nosed blue-eyed blondes like you."
She pointed at my blue eyes and golden hair.
"You call us Easterners barbarians."
"...Yeah, some assholes do."
"Worse in the East. Barely human to them."
She clicked her tongue.
"Merchants crossing seas get fake smiles for cash,
but once the ship's over the horizon? Spit and salt wards."
"......What's the salt for."
Treating us like demons or some shit.
Makes sense—I heard similar from a sailor in a trade caravan while hunting dogs near the port.
East's a closed-off hermit kingdom type.
Those places are always xenophobic as fuck,
so Byakrin's not entirely wrong.
Exaggerated maybe, but if she doesn't wanna go, fine.
I'm a big-hearted guy, after all.
"Got it. East is out."
I coolly erased one circle.
"Just this one left."
I pointed to the left, the West.
"Western Continent."
"What's there?"
"Hell if I know... more like what's not."
Probably more missing than there.
"For starters, way fewer hyungans."
Undiscovered frontier, barely a century since found.
Like when Europeans hit the Americas.
"Kingdoms? Two that I know of.
But monsters? Infested."
Human civ touches little; untamed wilds everywhere.
Heard monster pops are huge, dangers high—
humans hunt monsters? Nah, monsters hunt humans.
Simple: perilous land.
But that's why
"Perfect for crooks like us or life's losers to flee to."
"I'm no crook."
"Whatever, bitch."
I tossed the stick and stood.
"Decide. Head west...
or hide like rats forever."
Byakrin thought, glanced at Noy on my back, and nodded.
"Whatever. As long as there's meat."
"......Simple bitch."
And so, direction set.
I said,
"Let's go. West."
Kya.
Cool line.
Had me buzzing with thrill, chest pounding, nose tingling,
when
"Port's south, right?"
"......"
This bitch ruins it.
We got up and hurried south to the port.
Will a ship take us,
or worse shit await? Who knows...
For now,
bounce and see.