Giant Subjugation Quest #9
Giant Subjugation Quest #9
'Form a Fixed Party with me?'
Was this haughty blonde nun actually saying she'd take me on as a party member?
The first words out of her mouth caught me completely off guard.
After all, it was incredibly rare for a nun to propose a Fixed Party to adventurers.
But what followed was even more shocking.
"Without Lady Rebecca. Just the two of us."
What the hell was this blonde spouting now?
Why cut Rebecca out? The girl fighting right beside me.
I stared at Kate, my expression one of utter incomprehension.
"It's surprising you're suggesting a Fixed Party, I'll give you that..."
"Yes, Mongma-nim."
"What do you mean, cut Rebecca out? She's already my party member. She's quick on her feet, has a good sense for battle, a damn solid dealer. Didn't you see her shoving that hermit crab away with her shield yesterday?"
"I saw it too. I won't deny Lady Rebecca's skill is decent. She's still a newbie, but I can see her potential for growth. And it looks like she got her hands on an expensive shield from somewhere. I'd welcome any dealer who invests in their gear so generously."
"Then why? Why do you want to cut Rebecca out?"
"......Do I really have to say it with my own mouth?"
Kate clutched the hem of her nun's habit and looked up at me.
For some reason, her cheeks were flushed.
"Is there a reason you shouldn't? Go on, get it off your chest."
"Hah. Fine!"
Kate opened her mouth, a frustrated look on her face, and then shouted loud enough to startle me.
"Because watching you two pisses me off...!!"
"Hey, if you yell that loud...!"
"Sh-shut up! Do you have any idea how much it makes my blood boil, watching the two of you? The way you chat with that sweet, couple-y atmosphere—just hearing it drives me insane with jealousy!!"
Hearing that, I could only stand there, dumbfounded.
Jealousy?
She wanted to cut Rebecca out over something that petty?
"Why would you be jealous of us?"
"Be quiet! You filthy couple!"
"F-filthy? You mean, like... The Love?"
"Gyaaah!"
Kate shrieked like an enraged badger at my carefully aimed gag.
"Do you have any idea how much splash damage your affectionate little exchanges inflict on everyone around you...?! Even a monster's breath attack wouldn't hurt this much!! For someone like me, who has no one special, it's pure poison—poison!! It drives me insane with jealousy! You think I don't want a boyfriend?!"
Kate was yelling in a high-pitched voice that echoed all around.
Her voice was thick with a hatred for every couple in the world. I couldn't bring myself to make a snide remark.
After all, I'd been the same—a lifelong virgin chanting "singles' paradise, couples' hell." In my past life, I'd even once cut contact with a friend who went off to play with his girlfriend on Christmas.
"It's not like I don't get it."
"How could you possibly understand how I feel?!"
"Couples are best off just being shot dead, anyway."
"Aren't you part of a couple? Why would you shoot couples?"
I opened my mouth and spoke with a dead-serious expression.
"Because the only good couple is a dead couple."
"Ooooh."
Kate whipped out a memo pad and started scribbling down my words, then looked up at me with a face that said she'd just realized she'd been had. She crumpled the note up and tossed it aside.
"Don't pretend you understand a single person's heart just to look cool. I'll kill you!"
"Pretending? Rebecca and I aren't even really going out. I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you're under..."
"I've got enough sense to pick up on that, you know? It's that fresh, just-about-to-start-dating vibe that's so unbearably agonizing!! That's even more lethal, dammit!! Are you two trying to kill every single person alive?!"
I should have been pissed off, hearing her screech like that.
But a fresh, just-about-to-start-dating vibe?
For some reason, those words put me in a good mood.
Didn't that mean Rebecca and I looked close enough for outsiders to get that kind of idea?
Just like when I talked to Old Man Nickel, hearing that people thought Rebecca and I were close wasn't half bad.
Though, I had no clue what Rebecca would think about it...
"Hey, then just get yourself a lover too. You've got the looks—if you just kept your mouth shut, guys would line up to ask you out."
"Excuse me? Plenty of guys ask me out even when I don't keep my mouth shut. But I have high standards, you see. In all this time, there hasn't been a single man that suited my taste."
"And what exactly is your taste? Out with it."
"A prince on a white horse!"
"Oh, for the love of."
I clutched my head and just had to sigh.
So that's why you can't get a boyfriend, you greedy blonde.
As I stared at her as if she were pathetic, Kate coughed awkwardly, seeming to realize she'd been spouting nonsense herself.
"Anyway, dating is strictly forbidden in my Fixed Party! Absolutely no creating an atmosphere that even resembles romance! If you want to form a Fixed Party with me, Mongma-nim, you absolutely cannot bring Lady Rebecca along. It makes my blood boil so much I think I'll go mad. Please, just you come, Mongma-nim. Only you!"
Kate held her hand out to me as if expecting an answer.
It seemed like an offer to shake on it.
"So, you'll accept my offer, right? A Fixed Party proposed by a nun, of all people! Let's work hard and grow together, and make some excellent Holy Water. Surely you wouldn't refuse when I'm begging you this earnestly?"
Her attitude made it seem like my acceptance was a foregone conclusion.
"Hmm, interesting."
As annoying as that shameless attitude was.
Kate's offer was certainly tempting.
Forming a Fixed Party with a nun was the dream of every adventurer—the ultimate spec, surpassing even top-tier equipment, talent, or years of experience. A dealer tied to a nun became, in essence, an aristocrat.
If I formed a Fixed Party with Kate, I'd get to cherry-pick the sweetest quests and rocket ahead in the adventuring world.
With a party composed of a mage and a nun, there'd be no one to stand in our way.
"Hmmmmm..."
But I couldn't bring myself to take Kate's hand.
Because the image of my party member, the red-haired swordswoman, kept flickering before my eyes.
Ditching Rebecca to form a party with a nun would be a filthy betrayal.
The moment I took that hand, I'd truly become the kind of incubus people always talk about.
A horned piece of trash who stabs people in the back like it's a meal.
And so, I reached my hand out toward Kate.
"I knew you'd accept. In the end, even you, Mongma-nim, can't help—"
"Guess again."
Smack—!
With that hand, I slapped hers away.
As cleanly and satisfyingly as possible.
The sound rang out, and Kate's arm swept through empty air.
I looked straight into her dazed face.
To make sure my words got through to her clearly.
"Wh-What do you think you're doing right now?"
"In my party—"
It's a line I'd always wanted to say someday.
I grinned and spoke.
"I don't need some healer who throws their weight around."
I'd finally gotten those words off my chest, and it felt liberating.
I'd keep a dealer's integrity.
I'd live as the last dealer of this age who refuses to grovel to a support class.
"━━!"
Kate stared at me, her eyes wide open.
I put my mouth close to her ear and whispered softly.
"Because my party member is better than you. Remember that."
"Hah!"
Kate shoved me away as if I were absurd.
Using the momentum of her push, I turned my body and walked toward the carriage. With a swaggering, delinquent stride, hands shoved deep in my pockets.
"You'll regret this! I'm telling you, you'll regret it!! Do you know how precious a nun like me is?!"
Kate's voice shouted after me.
I ignored it completely and returned to the carriage.
*
The break ended, and soon it was time for the carriage to depart.
Ever since returning to the carriage, I'd been lost in thought.
About what I'd said to Kate.
It sure felt refreshing to put that blonde nun in her place.
But honestly, looking at it objectively, it was no different than burning a bridge.
Even I thought it wouldn't be strange for Kate to cut me off for good now.
'Has the time finally come for that blonde to drop me? Am I finally free?'
Yet, I felt oddly satisfied, and a smile crept onto my face.
Because even if this meant parting ways with Kate, an ending like this didn't leave anything to be desired.
When I thought about it, I'd basically hurled everything I wanted to say right at her and bailed.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as cussing someone out on a whim and then making a quick exit.
Like running your mouth off with sick burns in the League lobby chat and then dodging.
"Heh heh."
As I was quietly laughing to myself, Rebecca, sitting next to me, looked my way. She'd just returned to the carriage after finishing her patrol duty.
"What? What are you laughing at?"
"It's nothing."
"Hey, what's so funny? Let me in on the joke too."
Was it okay to talk about what just happened?
Part of me wanted to proudly brag about how I'd insulted the nun, but I decided against it, afraid it might stir up trouble. If I explained what that shameless blonde nun had said, I figured it would just cause pointless friction between Rebecca and Kate.
She'd been on the verge of being kicked out of a Fixed Party without even knowing it.
Who could just sit still after hearing that?
Knowing Rebecca's temper, it wouldn't be strange at all if she slapped Kate across the face right then. For the sake of the subjugation squad's peace, I simply kept my silence. Even though my mouth was itching to spill it all.
"Ahem...! The nun...! That fucking... bitch...! Ahem...!"
"What the hell are you mumbling, you bastard."
"To you...! Ahem...! She made a move...!!"
I was coughing and just starting to let it slip out without realizing it.
Suddenly, Kate appeared at the carriage entrance, and I hastily shut my mouth.
Kate was staring at me, her fist clenched in frustration. Well, yeah, she'd have every right to be pissed.
I'd just dumped a burst of damage on her and bailed.
Right now, Kate's mental state was probably in tatters.
"Hoo."
Kate took a deep breath and climbed onto the carriage.
Once again, she sat in the seat directly across from me, grinding her teeth and glaring.
'The fuck is this bitch's problem?'
Was she seriously planning to try something against me?
I was suspicious, but Kate didn't make any particular move. She just sat there, glaring daggers at me. Her eyes looked ready to devour me whole, but I wasn't scared.
'A heal-slut throwing a tantrum is still just a heal-slut.'
What, was she going to try and beat me up with a healing spell?
That'd be a massive win for me.
Still, as the one sitting right in front of her, it pissed me off. I considered throwing up the hand sign language for "mountain" like I did yesterday, but then I thought of an even better method.
Since Kate said she hated the affectionate atmosphere between me and Rebecca.
So what if I deliberately forced that kind of mood?
Watching it right in front of her, Kate would have no choice but to have her guts twist in knots.
I wanted to deliver some justice to this foul-tempered blonde.
"Hey, Rebecca."
"What."
"Gonna do it. The hand!"
I casually laid my hand on Rebecca's shoulder.
Since she was sitting right next to me.
"P-people are watching... Are you crazy?"
"It's just skinship. Can't party members even do this much?"
"...You crazy bastard."
Rebecca blushed and tried to shake my hand off.
The more she did, the more I put strength into my arm, forcing my hand to stay on her shoulder.
Rebecca kept glancing around, looking mortified.
"Wh-what's gotten into you all of a sudden? Did you forget to take your meds today?"
"What meds would I be taking, fuck off."
"Anyway, quit doing something so embarrassing."
"Is that a request, or an order?"
"Uh..."
"Spit it out."
"...A request?"
The moment Rebecca answered with a little smile—
"Ah, aaaaaaah."
A groan full of agony suddenly reached my ears. It was a voice coming from Kate's mouth.
She was staring at Rebecca and me, her mouth wide open as if screaming.
"You, you sons of bitches..."
Kate put her hands on her knees and began to sob.
We had no choice but to stop what we were doing and stare at her.
Because actual tears, small as they were, had welled up in Kate's eyes.
"Me too, me too!"
Kate opened her mouth, her shoulders heaving.
"I want to be in love too. You sons of bitches...!"
There was a genuine resonance in her voice, one that couldn't be faked. I was suddenly hit with an overwhelming sense of guilt. Because that part, about wanting to be in love, at least, seemed truly sincere. For once, she wasn't bullshitting.
"That blonde's state is a bit weird. Did she not take her meds either?"
"I-I don't know anything about that..."
A long silence settled over the carriage after that.
Feeling awkward, I just turned my gaze out the window.
...
.....
I don't know how much time passed.
Looking out the window, I eventually saw a white sandy beach, its waters shimmering in the light.
The adventurers in the carriage began chattering excitedly.
They were all looking at the same scenery as me.
"It's Corpu Beach."
"Time to go beat the shit out of some giants."
That place was none other than Corpu Beach.
The site of the giants' hideout.