Chapter 157: Revenge
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 157: Revenge
“…So that’s what happened yesterday.”
Grind.
“S-Sara?”
“…What is it?”
No, this is terrifying.
Guwon was reporting last night’s events to Sara.
Although I’d taken the lead on almost everything after we decided to follow my plan, this was Sara’s revenge. Naturally, she needed to know every detail of the process.
So, after Diana woke up, I’d left the room first to tell Sara that I’d slept with another woman… but the look on Sara’s face was terrifying.
Those were eyes that could kill with a single glance.
Grind.
And an ominous sound was escaping between her lovely lips.
“Sara? You know this is all part of the plan, right? You’re the one who told me to do it.”
At Guwon’s words, Sara’s vicious expression instantly turned sad.
Ah, that was a cowardly thing to say. It wasn’t as though Sara had chosen this method because she wanted it, either.
“I know. I know, but…”
“Sorry.”
Guwon embraced her and gently patted her head.
“Still, you don’t need to look like that. I was honestly surprised by how little I felt for Kate yesterday. I’m only doing this with her because it’s necessary. You girls are the only ones for me.”
“…At a time like this, shouldn’t you say ‘you’re the only one,’ rather than ‘you girls’?”
“N-No, that’s…”
Her unexpected words left Guwon a little flustered.
She was being so direct.
Before, Sara had seemed to be hiding her own feelings for some reason, but lately she seemed to have become much more forward.
“…Well, fine.”
Sara said that and pulled out of Guwon’s embrace.
Her face had returned to its usual cool expression.
“Anyway, thank you for telling me. Let me know if anything else happens.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Of course I will. Leave it to me.”
Guwon went down to the dining room with Sara, and Diana and Leia joined them soon afterward.
As soon as Diana entered, she looked around with nervous little movements. Once she confirmed that Kate wasn’t there, she hurried over, apparently relieved, and glared at Guwon.
I said I was sorry.
The instant he’d woken up that morning, Guwon had received a thorough scolding from Diana.
Opening the door while they were still joined, despite knowing Diana’s fetish, had definitely been my fault, so Guwon had accepted her criticism. However…
“And to move your hips while we were like that! Are you out of your mind?! Do you know how difficult it was for me to hold back…?”
He couldn’t stand being criticized with a distorted version of the facts.
“No, you were the one moving your hips, you exhibitionist. You lost your head and started grinding the moment someone was watching. And what do you mean, holding back? You were making every possible… I’m sorry. It was all my fault.”
When Guwon attacked with facts, tears began gathering in Diana’s large eyes. In the end, he could only apologize again.
Wasn’t it unfair to do that whenever she was losing? How was I supposed to win?
“Indeed! It was entirely your fault!”
Diana had continued berating him for quite a while.
And judging by her current expression, she still wasn’t entirely over it.
Still, this was better than yesterday, when she’d refused even to look him in the face.
For all her complaints, yesterday’s conversation seemed to be having an effect, and Guwon was pleased.
“Don’t worry. Kate didn’t see your face, so she won’t know who it was. How could she recognize you from moans that high?”
“I-I did not moan that high! And even if she doesn’t know it was me, she will assume it was one of the three of us!”
“So what? We can show off how close we are…”
“Must you choose that of all ways to show it?!”
A perfectly reasonable point.
“Guwon? What do you mean? Moaning? Showing off?”
Leia, who had been listening quietly, finally asked, apparently unable to contain her curiosity.
“N-No, it’s nothing. Just something last night…”
At his answer, Leia looked a little sulky.
Cute.
“Hmm. Are you leaving me out again today? Yesterday it was Sara, and today it’s Diana…”
Actually, if we’re talking about intensity, it’s always the wildest with you, Leia.
You remain conscious these days, so you know, don’t you? You know how incredible you are in your Gumiho form.
“Th-Then we can be so intense tonight that tomorrow I’ll be having this kind of conversation with Leia! Problem solved…”
“That is nothing but problems!” “Are you an idiot?!”
The objections came simultaneously.
But Leia seemed satisfied with Guwon’s answer. She smiled and silently moved her lips.
He read the words she mouthed.
“Is that a promise?”
Of course, Big Sister Leia! I love you!
“…Do you have a moment?”
As they were bantering like that, someone suddenly spoke from behind him.
When he turned, Kate was standing there with a complicated expression.
The moment Diana saw her, she flinched and burrowed into Guwon’s arms, hiding her face.
No, that just makes it more obvious that it was you last night.
Guwon patted the Diana nestled against him and answered.
“No. I’m having breakfast with my girls. Sorry, but there’s no room for another woman…”
“Stop getting ahead of yourself! I’m eating with Pots! I just have something to discuss with you alone for a moment!”
Kate answered irritably.
Apparently, now that her arousal had subsided, she was feeling quite a bit better.
But that was fine.
In fact, I also had something to say to her.
“Alone?”
“Y-Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Fine. I’ll be back after a quick chat.”
Kate took Guwon to a corner of the inn.
“So, what did you want to say?”
“…Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“Hm? Where did that come from?”
“I was drunk and out of my mind yesterday. So don’t misunderstand. I don’t have any feelings for you. Everything I said yesterday was drunken nonsense. Forget all of it. Nothing happened between us yesterday.”
I see. She intended to blame everything on the alcohol.
Whatever she’d done last night, her feelings for Pots did seem sincere.
But how long would those feelings last?
I realized it was time to move the plan to its next stage.
“I’d rather you didn’t get the wrong idea, either.”
“…What?”
“Why would I make that mistake? Do you think I have feelings for you?”
Guwon’s cold words made Kate look flustered.
“B-But you were the one who…”
“I told you. Because of my class, I can see people’s sexual frustration whether I want to or not. I saw someone in that state and helped. Think about it. If someone was drowning in front of you and you could easily save them just by reaching out, you’d do it, wouldn’t you? It’s the same thing. Sorry, but I don’t have any feelings for you.”
Kate’s expression became difficult to read.
Guwon had given exactly the answer she wanted, but being told so plainly that he wasn’t interested must have hurt her pride as a woman.
Honestly, it wasn’t as though I felt no guilt.
How could I not? Pots was our target. Kate had merely been caught up in it.
But drawing a clear line like this would also help with the plan ahead.
“Th-That’s good, then. Nothing really happened between us yesterday. Do you understand?”
“That was my intention from the beginning. We both have our own partners, don’t we? Let’s forget yesterday and take good care of them. Though I’m not sure your partner deserves it.”
“What?! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“A rapist and a murderer. I’m questioning whether a man like that deserves your devotion.”
“…Wait. What are you saying?”
Unlike before, Kate looked serious as she questioned my muttered remark.
That reaction confirmed it. She knew nothing about what Pots had done in the past.
Well, Pots would hardly have told her himself. It was only natural she wouldn’t know otherwise.
The problem would be if she learned the truth and still insisted that she loved him…
Honestly, that possibility had troubled me a great deal.
Wouldn’t continuing the plan without telling Kate anything be more certain?
To be honest, I was confident that my Saint abilities alone were enough to make her fall for me.
But the thought that Kate was another victim stopped me.
I might be scum, but I couldn’t be that much of a scumbag.
You might wonder what nonsense I was spouting after already trapping Kate into sleeping with me once. Even so, I wasn’t yet prepared to sink any further.
If Kate learned everything and still defended Pots, then so be it. First, I would tell her the truth and let her decide. That was the decision I’d made.
“So you really were dating him without knowing. He accepted a request, went to a village of helpless slash-and-burn farmers, and raped the women indiscriminately. Then he brutally murdered the villagers who tried to stop him and fled to this dungeon city, where nobody knew him. Pots did all of that. He hasn’t been in this city very long, has he?”
I embellished Pots’s actions a little as I told her.
I didn’t feel the slightest guilt about that.
He had done that sort of thing in Sara’s village. There was no guarantee he hadn’t done it elsewhere, too. Even if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have felt a scrap of guilt.
“…”
Kate’s eyes began to tremble, as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Good. Judging by that reaction, she didn’t seem likely to defend him.
“I-I don’t believe it! How… how do you know that?!”
Contrary to my expectations, though, her first response was to reject my words.
Well, of course.
A stranger she’d slept with once, or her boyfriend. Perhaps it was obvious whom she would trust.
“I know someone he raped and whose family he killed. In fact, I came here at her request to deal with him.”
“Wh-What?! Th-Then last night, were you…?!”
“No, that wasn’t it. As I said, sleeping with you was simply helping someone. Even if you’re his girlfriend, you have nothing to do with his crimes. I’m not scum enough to drag innocent people into this. Unlike him.”
“…”
Kate’s eyes trembled, as though she didn’t know how to respond.
“Anyway, that’s the end of our conversation, isn’t it? See you.”
“W-Wait!”
“What now?”
“…Are you really planning to deal with Pots?”
“Yes. Are you going to stop me? Then I won’t have a choice. Protecting a criminal makes you involved in his crimes, too. I’d have to deal with you as well.”
“Ugh…! Th-That’s…! Who would protect a rapist and a murderer?! I’ll break up with him right now!”
As I kept pressing her, Kate shouted those words in anger.
Good. Pressuring her without giving her much time to think had paid off.
She now seemed to believe me completely.
Honestly, I’d have been in trouble if she’d demanded evidence.
Because I didn’t have any.
If I had to provide proof, I could take her to Sara’s village… but that would take far too long.
And taking Kate all the way there and back without Pots noticing was impossible.
“I see.”
“Yes. I have nothing to do with that piece of trash anymore! To think he was that kind of criminal! I thought he was a decent person, even if he was a bit lustful…!”
I watched Kate’s face as she shouted, then finally spoke the words that would move things to the next stage.
“Don’t you want revenge?”
“Wh-What?”
“He hid all of his crimes and his true nature, pretending to be a good man in front of you. You might even have married him. Then you could have spent your whole life with a vile criminal without knowing anything. Your life almost went straight to hell. Don’t you want revenge?”
“Th-That’s… But how…?”
“It’s simple. Make him suffer the same pain. The pain of betrayal by someone he loves. At least it seems true that he’s in love with you now.”
“…In other words… you want me to keep pretending to be that scumbag’s girlfriend and help you?”
After thinking about my words for a moment, Kate looked at me with somewhat calmer eyes.
Tsk. So she wasn’t foolish enough to be persuaded that easily.
“…To be honest, yes. He and I are both adventurers. I can’t deal with him directly. But simply throwing him in prison would go against my client’s wishes. It’s difficult to do anything alone. I’d like your help.”
“So you did approach me to use me!”
“You’re free to believe me or not, but I can say with certainty that wasn’t it. How could I have known you’d be suffering such sexual frustration there? Are you claiming I caused it?”
“Th-That’s… Ugh… Anyway, no. I’m not going to keep pretending to date that trash. I’ll break up with him immediately.”
Apparently unable to answer my question, Kate glared at me for a moment before saying that.
“Of course, I’m not asking you to help for nothing. I know it’s a difficult request. If you help me, I’ll give you something appropriate in return.”
“Something appropriate?! What could possibly make up for staying with that scumbag…?!”
“I’ll give you pleasure beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. Pleasure that won’t even compare with yesterday.”
Yes. This was why I’d slept with Kate once before telling her the truth.
Whether she liked it or not, yesterday’s pleasure would be firmly etched into her body.
Having experienced that, could she really refuse an offer of something even greater?
“Ugh…!”
Perhaps my words had made her hesitate, because her eyes began wavering.
“I-I’m not that kind of woman…”
“I see. So you’re refusing. Understood. Sorry for making such a difficult request.”
“W-Wait! I haven’t said no yet…!”
“Then what?”
“Ugh… G-Give me… a little time to think.”
In the end, Kate said that without reaching a definite conclusion.
“Fine. Tell me when you decide. Whatever your decision is.”
Leaving Kate nodding with trembling eyes, Guwon returned to his seat.
“What did you talk about?”
As soon as he sat down, Leia asked him.
Diana was pretending not to care, but the glances she kept sending his way showed that she was curious, too.
Sara could probably guess what they’d discussed. She wore a slightly troubled expression.
“Nothing much. We were noisy both last night and the night before. She said she could hear everything from next door and told us to keep it down.”
“Ugh!”
At Guwon’s words, Diana silently began hitting him with little pats.
I told you, hitting me like that only hurts your hand.
“I see. Then we’ll have to restrain ourselves tonight.”
No, Big Sister Leia. If you could restrain yourself just by deciding to, we wouldn’t have had so much trouble all this time. Can you really do that?
“No. I won’t bow to outside pressure. Tonight we’ll be intense enough for the next room to hear us again…!”
“Bow to that kind of pressure!”
After their noisy breakfast, the party went hunting and decided to look for a Transcendent Species today.
I’d already laid all the groundwork with Kate. It was time to give hunting some attention again.
Guwon took the teleporter up to the Guild and bought a map of the 2nd Floor. The Guild’s maps marked the locations of Transcendent Species, too.
However, maps of the 2nd Floor apparently weren’t especially useful.
It was a vast desert with few reliable landmarks, so their accuracy was significantly worse than on other floors.
Still, Guwon had his unfairly useful map, so even an approximate location would help considerably.
“Come to think of it, what kind of monster is the Floor Boss here?”
Honestly, the idea of facing a Transcendent Species didn’t make me nervous at all. We’d already fought several transcendent orcs during the orc subjugation.
I intended to keep my Saint skills in reserve whenever possible, but if things really became dangerous, I could use them to disable the enemy. With that in mind, there was nothing to worry about.
“A giant sand worm.”
“Really? How big?”
“Hmm. Let me see. Its circumference should be a little under ten meters.”
That was… disgustingly large.
It could open its mouth and swallow me sideways in one bite.
“How are we supposed to beat something like that?”
“Hmm. Close combat is certainly difficult. Usually, several tanks block it from the front while ranged attacks finish it off. It is hard work for the tanks. Some of its attacks are truly dangerous.”
The strategy itself was little different from our party’s usual approach.
So the tank was important. I’d have to shine again.
But today, our first target was a Transcendent Species.
Using the map, Guwon headed toward the one nearest the settlement.
“But why did it have to be those…?”
“You’re the one who led us here, aren’t you?”
Well, yes. But actually seeing them made me lose the desire to fight.
An enormous black cloud was approaching from far away.
It wasn’t that the cloud contained more mosquitoes.
It was bigger simply because the mosquitoes making it up were bigger.
According to Diana, mosquitoes naturally traveled in swarms, so a Transcendent Species swarm didn’t bring ordinary mosquitoes along with it. That was different from other transcendent monsters, which always had ordinary monsters around them.
Instead, every mosquito in that black cloud was an enhanced, transcendent version of an ordinary mosquito.
“If you find them difficult to face, I shall handle them.”
Seeing Guwon’s unpleasant expression, Diana began preparing her magic.
But he raised a hand to stop her.
“No. Let us try first. Diana, be ready in case something happens.”
We were fighting a Transcendent Species to see how much we’d grown and to raise our class levels further.
That was why I intended to use only Holy Ground Proclamation among my Saint skills, deliberately limiting it to drawing aggro.
I couldn’t rely on Diana already.