Chapter 228
Chapter 228
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 228
Chapter Title: Prepare Thoroughly, Travel Lightly #2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Um, uh, Antiope—.”
“Um, Sir Hassan—.”
Our words overlapped.
I gulped down a few sips from the ice-filled glass I’d grabbed to hide my fluster. My teeth ached from the cold.
“What? Something you want to say?”
“I heard, uh, that you met Weiss Bain… right?”
Weiss Bain?
The name brought to mind Baccus’s executor, the heretic inquisitor Weiss Bain. That eccentric guy who bathed in expensive wine.
“He’s got a real nose for cultists. He was singing your praises, Sir Hassan. Just what, what kind of method did you use to win him over…?”
“Really? I didn’t do much.”
All I could recall was trash-talking cultists with him and downing some vicious grain liquor in one go.
Hearing from someone else that he’d praised me like that made it clear the guy had taken a real liking to me.
“I heard you’re getting invited soon, soon to the subjugation of that named monster. So, so then you plan to take out Weiss Bain then, right?”
“Take out what?”
“You’re planning to bring down that guy, the temple knight order, aren’t you? That’s why I came up with a great scheme to deal with him—.”
“No, what.”
“He loves booze, so slip venom into his drinks the night before. Hydra venom or something. That’ll kill him, and you’ll get a fine corpse out of it, right?”
Antiope was spinning a tale straight out of a cultist’s playbook.
Had the heat fried her brain?
But what came next was even more outrageous.
“So I went ahead and got some hydra venom ready in advance.”
Zzzip—.
Antiope unzipped something like a zipper running up to her neck, pulling it down to her chest.
Her sweat-drenched collarbone and nape came into view, followed by her massively full breasts jiggling as if about to burst free. From between them, she pulled out a tiny glass vial.
Inside the thumb-sized vial floated a single droplet glowing fluorescent green.
“There’s a skilled witch in Sodmora, so I bought it for 3 gold. This much would kill even Weiss Bain.”
“Uh….”
Kill a temple knight?
If that happened, my peaceful daily life would vanish in an instant.
“What do you think? Acting first before getting orders—that’s your policy, Sir Hassan, or so Paranoy told me. Did I do good?”
Information came flooding out like a dam bursting.
I could say it with certainty.
Antiope was broken.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, plummeting to the floor.
Like a grasshopper gripped in a child’s hand, picked apart.
Antiope had finally shattered.
And the one who’d broken her was probably me.
She hadn’t been this bad last time we met. Had I given her too much of a shock?
As I pondered what to do, Antiope spoke up.
“So, can I get a reward too?”
“A reward?”
“You said you’d give rewards for good work. For mine, I’d like, like you to massage my shoulders again….”
Zzzip.
She pulled down the leather suit covering her shoulders and sprawled face-down on the bed before me. She wanted a shoulder rub, obviously.
Her straight back and shoulders, now exposed, were covered in childish doodles of flowers and clouds straight out of a kid’s sketchbook. Of course, I’d drawn them.
Her left arm even had a Charmander, her right a Pikachu.
The sweat-soaked look of the Pikachu and Charmander under that leather suit made them look downright pitiful.
I slowly moved the hand holding the cold iced glass and grasped her shoulder.
“Ah…. It’s cooold….”
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, it’s nice and cool. Nice and cool in all sorts of ways…. Hnnghaa…. Thank you so much for the reward, Sir Hassan. Hn, ah—.”
Sure enough, her body felt scorching hot to the touch, like a lump of fire. Hippolyte ran hot too, and it seemed her sister Antiope was the same.
No wonder her brain had melted, wrapped neck to ankle in that leather suit to hide her tattoos.
“Um, my back too, press my back tooo, haa, hnng—. Like, like last time, hard, with that crack, I looove that….”
Crack—.
“Eeeek—!”
I shoved my palm flat against her back, and she let out a scream like she’d been stabbed. At the same moment, sparks crackled— from her right palm.
“What the—?!”
I damn near jumped out of my skin. Could static from a person’s hand really spark that strong? As I panicked, the prone Antiope giggled.
“Oh, this? Pretty neat, huh?”
Crackle-crackle—.
Blue lightning flickered around her right hand. No mistaking it—that was Raigeki’s S-rank secret art, Thunderclap.
“You could use magic too?”
“No. Daughters of Mars can’t handle magic. But one day, it just happened. Like this, lightning from my right hand, and my left—.”
Whoosh—.
A small fireball soon formed in her left hand.
“It must be the blessing you bestowed on me, Sir Hassan.”
“Blessing…?”
“These, these weird tattoos.”
Antiope extinguished the fire and lightning in her hands. She sat up.
Her huge breasts jiggled vividly right in front of my eyes. But what she pointed to with her finger was the Pikachu and Charmander.
“With this power, I can get stronger than before. I’ll smash this world that tormented me. Sir Hassan, let’s turn the world into hell together!”
“Ugh, shit….”
Was it really because of those drawings?
Come to think of it, she’d said something about absorbing karma from the weird ink she ate that I drew on her body.
So it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Resigned, I swiped my finger over the Charmander on her shoulder, erasing it.
“Wha, why?!”
But Antiope shrieked as if I’d tried to erase her tattoo on purpose. Ignoring her reaction, I wiped away the Pikachu too.
Swipe, swiiipe—.
“Wha, why!?”
For good measure, I cleanly erased the sealing incantation on her belly.
If something like the Nine-Tails’ power suddenly burst out from her stomach, the world might really be in danger.
Antiope, though, seemed utterly shocked at the funny tattoos vanishing.
“…Are you discarding me? Was I useless?”
“Sorry, Antiope. Looks like I did this to you. You don’t need to cover your body anymore.”
“Wha, why….”
“Wearing leather clothes in summer to hide your body would be hot, right? You can draw whatever you want on yourself again.”
“Th-then….”
Antiope raised her index finger. Soon, strange black ink like tears dripped from it. She wrote “Hassan” on her lower belly.
“I, I wrote what I wanted! No, wait.”
To the “Hassan” letters, she added “’s Holy Warrior” with a ssscribble.
Antiope’s state was worse than I’d thought.
“Um, Antiope.”
“Yes? Something to say? Oh, right, you were trying to tell me something earlier?”
She spoke with crystalline clarity, but her eyes were half-dead.
I didn’t want things escalating further, like talk of poisoning temple knights leaking out. So I finally voiced what I’d been holding back.
“Truth is, uh…. I’m not a god.”
“Huh…?”
“I lied to you. I’m just human.”
Before things got worse, it was time to own up to my lie.
The die was cast; all that remained was Antiope’s reaction.
“…A lie. That’s a lie too, right? Why, why tell me such a lie…?”
“It’s not a lie.”
“Ah, I get it. Another test? If I fail, do I get punished again? You’ll mess with me however you want…?”
I was at a loss for words.
Whatever I said bounced off like hitting a wall.
On a hunch, I grabbed her wrist, and text appeared.
『Name: Antiope Picture Keeper lv. ?? 34
Status: Irregular Menstruation》 Heatstroke》 Despair》』
New status effects: Heatstroke and Despair. I checked the glowing acupoints on her body.
A red blotch shimmered above her elbow.
What was that? Cooling Meridian?
The emergency acupoint for acute heatstroke, disoriented breathing.
Pressing it firmly, Antiope screamed, “Gyaaaah—!” She collapsed onto the bed, her huge breasts heaving as she panted wildly.
“Hnnghaa—.”
I kept pressing her elbow, and text floated before me.
Ding—.
Cured Heatstroke》and Despair》simultaneously. Current Karma Value: 275.
“Hnngh….”
“Better now? Calmer?”
“…”
But Antiope said nothing. She just slowly rezipped her suit.
“Antiope, I—”
“…Not even giving me time to dream, huh.”
“What?”
“…I kinda knew already. That you’re not a god. Or a cultist.”
“Really?”
“I’m not an idiot. There’s no such thing as clumsy cultists like you guys. Or clumsy gods.”
Antiope lay on the bed, staring silently at the ceiling. Her once-hazy eyes sparkled with the clear brown from our first meeting.
Swipe.
She sat up, leaning her back against the wall.
She picked up the pipe on the floor, lit it with a flick-tick of her fingers, sparking a flame.
“Fuu—.”
She inhaled deeply and exhaled smoke into the air.
“But if you made me dream, you gotta take responsibility. For that one moment, I could use magic. I don’t know what happened, but I swear, fire and lightning shot from my hands.”
Antiope spat a curse.
“Lightning from my hands. Me. I must’ve lost it. Damn, was it really heatstroke?”
“Probably. It’s no normal heat.”
“Now that I’m thinking clearly, I’m pissed. Sure, I was wrong to attack you guys first. But now my head’s clear, and I’m ashamed of what I did.”
Antiope ruffled and scratched her ashen hair wildly. The depth of her embarrassment hit home.
I said,
“That’s how it goes…. Anyway, now that the misunderstandings are cleared up, let’s just get along casually. Keep the fact that you lost to us and what we did secret, okay? Wouldn’t want rumors messing up anyone’s future.”
“Of course it’s a secret. Who’d want their life ruined? Haa—. Why’d I do that? Though back then, you really did look terrifying. Ugh, so embarrassing.”
She pounded the blanket with her soles, pa-pang, kicking up dust.
On my end, things had resolved smoothly, lifting a weight off my mind. Luna had said I seemed different lately, and this mess with Antiope must’ve been a big part of it.
What a relief.
“But nah, can’t have me as the only one with an embarrassing memory.”
Swipe.
Antiope extended her sole toward me. Soft and arched— a fine foot.
“…What?”
“…Show some sincerity on my foot.”
“What?”
“…Gotta leave you with an embarrassing memory too. That way, we’ll both keep the secret. Right? So, kiss my foo…, foot.”
Was she serious? Kiss her foot?
Even that vicious Elfride never ordered that. Kissing a person’s foot—what could be more humiliating?
“Hurry.”
Wiggle, wiggle.
Antiope flexed her toes impatiently. Her resolve was firm.
Had I briefly worried about fighting her if I revealed the truth?
Her level now: 27.
Mine: 25, with a solid Karma Value stored. If push came to shove, I’d considered overpowering her by force.
If we could end this bloodlessly by me bending my pride, what could be better?
I steadied my breath, grabbed that small, soft, warm sole with my hand.
Smoosh.
It was right then.
Clang—.
The door flew open, and sweat-drenched Hippolyte burst in. Her brown eyes swept over me and her sister Antiope.
“Why, why are you touching my little sister’s f-foot…? Antiope, why? Aren’t you sworn to chastity?”
Hippolyte closed the distance to me at speed that made her knees invisible.
Knots of goosebumps on my nape made me instinctively jerk my head back, and by a hair’s breadth, her hand grazed past my throat.
Shreeeek—!
Holy shit, could a human hand slicing air make that sound? Imagining getting caught by that was horrifying.
She’d tried to grab my throat.
How’d I dodge? Training paying off?
Antiope, meanwhile, was firmly gripped by the ankle by Hippolyte.
“S-sis, sis, hear me out. Sis, this is, uh, sis—! Siiiis! SIIIIS!”
“…Hassan, you dodged my hand, so I’ll let you off for now. Get out. Unless you want to die.”
“Thank you.”
No sooner had I shut the door than chaotic thwacks and flaps—like chickens flapping wings—erupted from inside.
“Ngyaaa, mooom, siiiiis—!”
“I raised you to—!”
Words filtered through, but drowned in the noise. A few minutes passed.
“Hassan, you can come in now.”
At Hippolyte’s permission, I opened the door. Antiope, swollen in spots all over, huddled shivering on the bed.
“I heard you gave her a massage?”
“…Yes.”
Under Hippolyte’s half-lidded glare, I felt like a mouse before a hawk. As I shivered too, she sighed.
“Antiope’s still a kid. You need to protect her.”
“…Sis treats me like a kid every day. I’m an adult too. Let me do what I wa—.”
“Quiet, not done with your punishment?”
Sisterly spat? I’d fought plenty with my own sister, so I got it somewhat.
But intruding on family time felt awkward, my nape itching, when Hippolyte spoke.
“Hassan, no training today.”
“A rest day?”
“Tomorrow, we start real combat experience. We’re closing an Abyss Rift.”
What’s that?
As I wondered, bed-huddled Antiope, glaring at her sister, yelped in shock.
“You mean going to the valley’s lowest level? For real? Sis, you get heatstroke too?”
[Author's Note]
Today, the indoor temperature hit 32 degrees...
Breathing felt muggy, and the fan blew lukewarm air—total shock...!!
This heat ㅠㅠ.. Really felt how it can wreck a person, so I added heatstroke Antiope...
Making her wear latex-rubber clothes from neck to ankle in midsummer—kinda feel bad now...