"What nonsense are you talking about? Don't mess with us!"
Speaking arrogantly, the big guy of the trio threw a punch at me; I dodged it and grabbed his massive arm firmly, throwing him to the side and slamming his bulky figure into a wall.
"Holy crap!" I exclaimed, surprised by my own power, which was a bit anticlimactic. "I knew prana flow training would do wonders for my body, but this feels better than I imagined."
I shouldn't be proud of being stronger than civilians, but for me, this was quite a feat. At least this time, I was the one doing the beating.
I caught the dwarf, who tried to run away, and easily lifted him up with my hand.
"Please don't kill me!"
"I won't." I said seriously, not liking the idea of unnecessary killing. "But I would love to steal your Divine Protection."
The envy I felt made me unconsciously squeeze his small neck a little. He coughed and thrashed desperately like a fish out of water. When I realized what I was doing, I immediately let go of the dwarf and bowed to Priscilla.
"I'm sorry for having to show you this sorry spectacle, miss. You don't have to dirty your hands with this scum anymore."
I headed for the alley exit without waiting for a reply, as I was afraid of getting caught in some kind of commitment with the unpredictable Priscilla. I was satisfied with just making a good impression.
"Wait, commoner." She opened her fan and held it in front of her face as she glanced at me. "I remember hearing you say something about robbing me, so you can't just leave without an explanation."
Fortunately there was no threatening tone in his voice, but what he said made me feel ashamed.
"No, that... That was a spur of the moment phrase, I just wanted to look cool."
"What a strange habit you have. But I understand: there are few who exude natural charisma and don't need to force it. You are obviously not part of them."
That comment was pretty demeaning. Next time, I'm not going to say anything when I make my entrance unless I have a good line thought out beforehand.
"Well, I'm leaving now..."
"Not so fast!"
This time it wasn't the red-haired princess who stopped me, but a gang member accompanied by a large group, including the guy with the knives. Apparently, he fled while I was fighting with his two companions and went to look for reinforcements.
"Oh, forget it, I'm not in the mood for this anymore."
I turned toward the alley exit, but found it too was covered by gang members.
"You guys really want this to get wild, huh..."
"Go get him! Then we'll have fun with the red-haired bitch!"
The leader's orders were obeyed instantly. Seeing myself surrounded, I had no choice but to fight.
I dodged a punch coming from my left. I grabbed the attacker's arm and threw it to the right, using its momentum to turn it into a human bat.
I don't know how many of them I knocked down with that move, as I received a kick to the ribs followed by an elbow to the cheek on the opposite side. Furious, I grabbed both attackers' heads and slammed them together.
Two more joined in, lunging from the front. I blocked one's leg and managed to slam him against the wall. The other feinted me and connected with an uppercut that made me bite my tongue.
I ran at him and slammed my foot violently into his chest. I barely had time to rejoice because a moment later I was stabbed by one of the members of the original trio of thieves.
"Arrrghhh!"
The blade sank into my side, causing more anger than pain due to the adrenaline rush. When I turned to the bastard of the trio, he looked at me, terrified by my lack of reaction.
A second later, my fists mercilessly smashed into his face. I might have killed him without realizing it, but I didn't. The rest of the group literally threw themselves at me.
Pressed to the ground, unable to get away, I realized I'd been cornered. The blows were immediate: punches and kicks rained down on my body incessantly.
"FUCKING MOTHERFUCKERS!" My scream echoed in the alley over the sound of the blows. "SHAAAMAAAAAAAK!"
I summoned a cloud of darkness that enveloped all of my enemies. Due to the unexpectedness of the situation, those who were trying to restrict my movements faltered for a second.
I took advantage of that window of opportunity to free myself, pull out the knife that was still stuck in my body, and use it as a weapon.
"Sniff, sniff..."
Despite being surrounded by darkness, with no sight or sound to guide me, I could smell the body scent of every person around me, allowing me to know where everyone was.
I have a theory that the Doppelganger I killed was an expert hunter. Perhaps it's because he used a crossbow to attack discreetly from a distance and carried knives for butchering, or perhaps it's because when I killed him, my sense of smell and general skills improved significantly.
I twirled the knife in my hand and launched myself at the remaining bandits. Some resisted, but they all fell in the end. By the time I finished with the last one, Shamak had vanished.
My body was badly bruised, and my clothes were torn in places. I spat out the blood I'd accumulated from biting my tongue and fell to my knees, exhausted from the fight.
"Haa... Shit, why am I so unlucky today?"
Priscilla came over and spoke to me in an approving tone.
"Good work, commoner. Although you're clearly not strong, you managed to defeat those vermin. I'm willing to reward you for your worth, so tell me, what do you wish for?"
Between moans of pain and struggles to catch my breath, I couldn't answer Priscilla right away. I struggled to my feet and tried to think of an intelligent wish.
However, as I was about to say it, a distorted male voice interrupted me.
"Princess!"
There was the antagonist of arc 9: Aldebaran.
He was just as I remembered him, except for how agitated he was. If I recall correctly, he acted quite casually in his first appearance; after all, Aldebaran knew Priscilla could easily handle the low-level threats of the royal capital.
But now he looked really disturbed, like a mother searching for her lost child.
"I'm afraid you're late, Al." Priscilla told him. "You missed the whole show."
Reinforcing my impression that he was behaving abnormally, Aldebaran stood between Priscilla and me.
"What happened here?" The question could have been for Priscilla, but he never took his eyes off me as he spoke.
"Bandits." I explained, trying not to betray my nervousness. If I wasn't careful, this guy could seal me up and no one would know what happened to me.
"Did you beat them?" He pressed me with more questions.
"Wait, Al. You interrupted my conversation with this commoner. I told you you can ask me anything, so give me an answer." Priscilla demanded.
Suddenly, I had a thought that changed my mind. I smiled arrogantly before giving my answer.
"I'll save it for later."
"That?"
I held my side in pain, but kept my smile.
"It doesn't have to be now, right? I'll accept the reward, but I can't think of anything right now, so I'll tell you what I want another time."
"I certainly don't mind, so I approve."
I nodded, happy to have come to an agreement with Priscilla. I'd definitely wait until the ideal moment to call in the favor.
"Then I'll go now. See you later."
***
Aldebaran watched the butler's figure as he walked away. His mistress had already left the alley, and when she noticed he wasn't following her, she decided to get his attention.
"What's wrong? Do you want to befriend those vermin? Fine, I don't care if you'd rather be part of the plague."
"Ah, wait for me, princess!"
As he ran to catch up with Priscilla, Aldebaran's thoughts raced, calculating possibilities and visualizing all kinds of scenarios.
"Why did this happen? How did I come back this far? Also, who the hell is that guy? Where's Natsuki Subaru?"
***
Not wanting to draw attention to myself with my injuries, I decided to return to the inn using the alleys. I truly believed it would be the most convenient option, but again I made a mistake in judgment.
I had completely forgotten what was happening here during the event of meeting Priscilla.
"Brat! I'm going to crush you and feed you to the rats!"
I ran into an angry giant on the road. Yes, the same giant I separated from his adoptive granddaughter without bothering to properly explain my reasons for doing so.
So he just assumed I was a piece of shit and charged at me as soon as he saw me.
"Shit! Why didn't I think a little instead of rushing forward so impulsively?!"
Between the fear of meeting Aldebaran and the urgency I felt to heal these wounds, I ignored all the precautionary measures I had planned to employ throughout the third arc.
Rom's blows were terrifying: each punch sank into the walls as if they were made of cotton. If he hit me with one of those, my bones would be crushed.
"If I weren't so hurt, I might try to escape. I can't even run, so using Shamak is no longer an option."
I stepped back clumsily, evading another devastating attack.
"WAIT, OLD MAN! LET ME EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO YOU!"
"Silence! You sold Felt out, and you're going to pay dearly for it!"
"If I sold her, why would I have to pay? Damn, man! This isn't the time for jokes!"
Suddenly, I tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground. That was my last mistake.
Rom grabbed me by the neck with his huge hand and began to crush me, just as he had promised.
I tried to scream, but my mouth couldn't make a sound. The pressure was hellish. I felt like my body was breaking apart, slowly causing me to die.
Finally, I remembered the knife I'd snatched from the gang members. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, plunging it hard into Rom's hand.
"Uuoooogghhhh!" The old giant let out a groan of pain and let go of me.
I wanted to immediately shout at him that I didn't sell Felt out, but that I was trying to protect her from Elsa and at the same time help her meet Reinhard, since her destiny was to be a royal candidate.
But due to the suffocation I'd suffered, all I could do was back away and gasp for air. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far, because Rom overcame the pain and threw another punch.
The moment I saw the attack, I knew I couldn't avoid it. I would die when that fist hit my head.
Then it appeared, like a silver serpent swooping through the air. A chain wrapped around my body and in less than a second dragged me away from danger.
"I knew you'd get into trouble." A girl said in an annoyed tone.
I turned my head to look up, finding the figure of a blue-haired maid. I did my best to offer her a few words for saving my life. My voice sounded rather raspy.
"Rem, you're an angel. Dude, she's literally the opposite of an angel. Couldn't you think of a less contradictory compliment?"
She stood in front of me to protect me from Rom's attacks.
"Stay still, I'll take care of this quickly."
"No... Shit, why didn't I use the little breath I had to tell her to leave? The last thing I need is these two trying to kill each other!"
Even if Rem activated her horn, I wasn't sure what the outcome would be if she faced the old giant. If I had to be honest, I'd rather die than see Rem die.
The fight began with a brutal exchange of blows. I forced myself to breathe deeper, even though my chest felt like it was tearing at me.
"I have to finish this before one of those two gets hurt or dies..."
Rem had already manifested her horn to match Rom. The giant's wounded hand evened things out despite the vast size difference. In fact, Rem had a bit of an advantage.
Just as she was about to use her Morning Star to tear off Rom's arm, my voice came out loud.
"WAIT!"
My scream stopped them both for a moment, just long enough to say what I needed to say.
"FELT IS A ROYAL CANDIDATE PROTECTED BY REINHARD! I didn't sell her out..."
Inconveniently, just as I was about to clarify the whole matter, my body decided it was a good time to pass out.