Chapter 211: Ending an Ill-fated Connection (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 211: Ending an Ill-fated Connection (2)
Cloud made a shocking declaration: he would make the Empress the new Emperor.
It was an absurd notion, to enthrone a female emperor for the first time in the Empire's history, but the imperial nobles had no choice but to comply.
After all, these were the words of Cloud—the hero who had saved the Empire from the brink of ruin and the last remaining Hero on the continent.
But they were still displeased.
The nobles had hoped that Duke Ferdiac, who was to become Cloud’s father-in-law, would step in and talk him out of it. Unexpectedly, however, the Duke did not intervene.
Was it out of pure respect for the Imperial Family?
Or was it to gain even more glory by riding on his son-in-law's coattails?
Opinions were divided, but with Duke Ferdiac remaining silent, no one knew the truth.
In the end, with the Duke’s tacit approval, there was no one left to stop Cloud. He entrusted the various tedious administrative procedures to Duke Ferdiac and left the Empire with his companions.
He left them with a warning: if he found out they’d pulled any funny business when he returned, they were dead.
A few weeks later, in Neria’s hometown.
Neria’s body was laid to rest in a pit beside the cabin where Cloud’s family had once lived.
Ophelia wept as she recited a heartfelt prayer, while Cloud and his companions bowed their heads in solemn silence.
With only Cloud and his party members as mourners, the funeral was far too simple for a member of the Hero's party.
He’d wondered if he should at least bring her parents, but something Neria had once said held him back.
-If I die, please make my funeral as simple as possible. It’s fine if you don’t have one at all.
To not hold a funeral for a companion? The idea was preposterous. But he couldn't ignore her wishes, which was why they were holding such a modest ceremony.
Gazing at her peaceful-looking body, Cloud’s heart was heavy with complex emotions.
He had thought of the game Hero's Party as a prophecy of this world's future.
A future that would have unfolded had Han Jisu not intervened.
But seeing Neria in her final days had changed his mind.
I can't imagine someone like you completely falling for Gis.
Neria, who had genuinely mourned Cloud's death, blaming herself to the point where she eventually lost the will to live.
It was hard to see her as the same person depicted in the game.
She was not the kind of woman who would abandon the man she had loved her entire life for mere base pleasure.
Cloud sensed the game creator's vicious malice.
...What a truly disgusting hobby.
Because of the game's plot, he had always viewed Neria through a biased lens. His attitude must have unknowingly hurt her a great deal.
He sighed in self-reproach and muttered softly, "I'm sorry."
*
On the outskirts of the Alitia Kingdom.
In a tavern in a small village of only about thirty households, a suspicious, hooded man sat alone at a table.
"Hoo..."
He slammed the cup down on the table after a single sip, and a cascade of lustrous blond hair swayed from beneath his hood. His name was Gis. Having barely escaped the capital that day, he had, after a great deal of trouble, managed to reach the Alitia Kingdom.
Frankly, the fact that he had made it here at all was a miracle.
Poisoned as he was, the monsters of the continent were a significant threat to his life. With his body aching at every step, fighting them would have been impossible. It was fortunate that he had been able to pay extra to join a large merchant caravan.
...Though even that didn't last. As his condition worsened by the day, he couldn't keep up with the caravan's pace and was abandoned.
"Fucking bastards. After taking all that fucking money, the least they could have done was let me ride in a wagon!"
Their eyes had lit up at the sight of his glittering gold coins, but as soon as he started to falter, they began to keep their distance as if he had some contagious disease. Eventually, they abandoned him outright.
The feeling of waking up in the morning to find himself all alone at the campsite!
He wanted to charge them with the crime of insulting a Hero, but it was impossible. Having thrown his lot in with the vampires' cause, he was no longer treated as the Hero he once was.
I should have twisted that fat merchant's neck the moment I sensed something was off!
Gis trembled, gripping his cup so tightly that the other patrons watched him with wary eyes.
His suspicious appearance made him a person of interest to the villagers.
But Gis didn't think he looked suspicious at all.
The fuck are those bastards staring at?
He just didn't like the way they were looking at him.
He was already in a shitty mood. His temper flared, and he wanted to flip everything over, but Gis held himself back.
He knew all too well that he wasn't in a position to do so.
Gis gritted his teeth and tried to ignore them.
"Hey, did you hear about the commotion in the Empire? The one where a swarm of vampires went on a rampage!"
If only some drunkard hadn't mentioned the very incident that was Gis's sorest spot. Gis's hand, which was lifting his cup, flinched.
The drunkards' conversation continued.
"Come on, man. Who here doesn't know about that?"
"Huh? Everyone knows? I just heard about it this morning from a traveling merchant."
"You're slow on the news. We heard it from a hunter who came to sell some hides the other day."
"Is that so? Damn, I was hoping to get a free drink out of it. What a shame."
"No one's buying today. We're splitting the bill. I bought a round last time without thinking and got an earful from my wife."
"You're the richest one among us, and you're being so cheap... Fine, I'll pay for my own damn drink! Anyway, back to what we were talking about. What balls did those vampires have to mess with the Empire? Wasn't this one kingdom enough for them?"
"They're just stupid. That's why they charged in without even gauging if they were in the same weight class, right?"
"Yeah, no matter how strong they think they are, they're just a bunch of dumbass bats."
The three drunkards cackled.
"..."
Crack.
The handle of the cup Gis was holding shattered. He relaxed his grip and tried to calm himself.
Endure it.
I have to endure it.
I can't do anything that draws attention...
"Come to think of it, wasn't there another guy involved besides the vampires? That degenerate Hero who was only interested in women!"
"Ah, I heard about him too. They say he sided with the vampires and was brutally defeated by the Hero from the neighboring country, right? I heard he hasn't shown his face since that day..."
"A womanizing son of a bitch. I hope he just drops dead."
"You said it. Hahaha!"
Goddammit.
Gis's patience ran out.
He threw his cup, shot to his feet, and strode over to one of the drunkards who was running his mouth, grabbing him by the back of the head.
CRASH!
He slammed the man's head into the table.
"Wh-What?!"
"What the hell are you doing, you bastard!"
The other two drunkards, startled, jumped up from their chairs.
"Shut up."
Gis's fierce fist slammed into the face of a middle-aged man with memorable yellow teeth. The man's face crumpled, and he hit the floor with a pathetic scream. Gis turned to deal with the remaining one.
The last drunkard swung a chair at him.
SMACK—!
Gis staggered, taking the blow squarely in the face. The poison had dulled his senses considerably, so he hadn't been able to dodge.
He winced at the stinging pain, his brow furrowing.
"Wh-What the fuck? Why aren't you going down?!"
The drunkard was stunned that Gis hadn't fallen after being hit squarely with a chair. Seeing Gis's scowl, he panicked and began swinging the chair wildly.
"D-Die!"
Even with his body ravaged by poison, he wasn't so slow as to be hit by a chair swung randomly by an ordinary person.
Gis caught the leg of the chair as it swung down. He wrenched it from the man's grasp, threw it to the floor, and clenched his fist.
Just as he was about to punch the drunkard, a dull pain shot through his side.
"Gah...!"
Feeling his muscles ache and his bones throb, he turned his head.
"Has this bastard lost his fucking mind? If you come to someone else's village, you should drink quietly and leave."
A sturdy young man said menacingly, tapping a wooden plank that he had presumably used to hit Gis's side. A woman who appeared to be his girlfriend tried to stop him, but he gently pushed her away and looked around at the other patrons.
"Isn't that right?"
At his words, the drunkards in the tavern began to gather around Gis one by one.
Every one of them was holding something heavy.
The atmosphere was clear: they were going to teach this arrogant outsider a lesson.
"Ha..."
Gis let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha... Hahaha!!"
The hollow laugh soon turned into a roar of laughter.
The young man's face contorted.
"You're laughing? You think this is funny?"
"Of course it is. How could it not be? Now I'm even getting looked down on by fucking nobodies like you."
Wiping away a tear, he muttered in a hollow voice.
"Fuck... how did I end up like this..."
His laughter died down, and his expression twisted into a snarl. He lashed out, hitting the jaw of the young man who had been taunting him with the plank.
"Gack..."
The young man, caught by the surprise hook, staggered with vacant eyes before collapsing to the floor. Gis raised his knee and stomped viciously on the fallen man's body.
"You! Fucking! Bastard! Do I! Look like! A fucking joke to you?!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each time his foot came down, the gruesome sound of breaking bones echoed through the tavern.
Thwack!
This time, the sound came from behind Gis's head.
He turned around.
A skinny young man, his face pale as a sheet, stammered, "S-Stop..."
"Stop what, you son of a bitch!"
BAM!
The young man's body bent into an L-shape as he flew through the air.
"Sh-Shit! Everyone, get him!"
The village men, having regained their senses, rushed at Gis.
*
An elbow to the temple.
As a balding, middle-aged man fell, the last of the attacking drunkards was down.
Ptoo. He spat in annoyance. The saliva was tinged with blood.
It wasn't just the inside of his mouth that was injured. Gis's body was battered and bruised from being hit with planks and chairs.
"Damn it, if it weren't for the poison...!"
He wouldn't have been wounded by scum like this!
In fact, if his senses had been sharp, they wouldn't have even been able to touch him.
He could have finished off these worthless fools in seconds.
The thought made his anger surge again. Gis placed his foot on the neck of the young man who had taunted him with the plank.
"Gggaaack..."
The man struggled to breathe under the weight.
If he pressed down now, the man's neck would snap, and he would die.
Gis slowly began to apply pressure with the sole of his foot.
The man's neck was on the verge of breaking.
"Stop that right now!"
A sharp voice came from behind him.
When he turned, he saw the young man's girlfriend glaring at him, holding a rusty sickle.
And she wasn't alone.
It seemed the entire village had gathered. The entrance to the tavern was blocked by men and women armed with hoes, shovels, and other tools.
Gis glanced at the farming tools in their hands.
Even simple tools were sharp enough to tear human flesh.
And they would tear through muscles softened by poison even more easily.
An old man who looked like the village chief spoke up.
"Young man, I don't care who you are. It doesn't look like anyone's dead, so let's end it here and you can be on your way. We don't want to see any unnecessary bloodshed either."
"...A threat? Are you threatening me? You people? To me?"
"That was not my intention, but if that's how you feel, then I suppose it is."
"You insolent bastard..."
Grinding his teeth, Gis finally pulled a dagger from his coat. The villagers flinched, clearly not expecting him to have a proper weapon.
Idiots. You finally realize your place?
Too late, you fuckers.
I'll kill them all—
—Don't let me hear any rumors that get on my nerves. Not unless you want your mother to suffer a terrible fate.
In that instant, Cloud's words put a halt to Gis's actions.
His eyes wavered violently.
Mother...
What exactly was the "terrible fate" Cloud had spoken of?
All sorts of scenarios played out in Gis's mind. They were varied, but they all had one thing in common: none of them were good.
...This is a backwater village on the frontier. Not a city.
Would Cloud even find out about something that happened in a remote village in the kingdom?
The probability was likely very low.
...But despite that, Gis took his foot off the man's neck.
He couldn't gamble with his beloved mother's safety.
Putting away the dagger he had drawn, Gis walked toward the tavern entrance. As he approached, the villagers parted to either side, clearing a path for him.
Just as he stepped outside unopposed, someone shouted at him.
"Y-You monster! Don't you ever come back to our village!!"
It was, of course, the young man's lover.
Gis spat on the ground and casually flipped her his middle finger.
...I hope Mother is doing well.
This incident shouldn't be enough to get on Cloud's nerves. All he did was beat up a few guys who were asking for it.
Reassuring himself that it would be fine, Gis began to walk, using the dim moonlight and the cries of monsters as his guide.
He had no particular destination in mind.