Chapter 46
Chapter 46: The Lizard and my Nemesis
The moment when the guards strengthened their eyes . Everyone felt hopeless . These people thought that they couldn’t do anything against these brutal guards .
This moment . Yes, a short moment . It was a small frame where a blue light blended with a silvery light . Strangely, no sound was heard .
No one spoke and no one made a noise . Everyone was shocked upon realizing the impossible scenario that unfolded right in front of their eyes .
The sword, whose blade was supposed to cut the young girl’s arm, was thrown away by something mysterious . It was as if the wind took the sword away . The sword looked like it danced in the mid-air . And then, amidst the silence of the area, we heard a metallic sound when the sword fell on the ground .
It was a short moment . Yet, too sudden for everybody’s eyes . The wind of sand came without warning and “blew” everybody’s minds .
「It’s okay now, young miss . But, you should stop betting your life on something like this . 」
It was Lugis’ voice . Lugis was wearing a green garment . Next to him, stood the young girl that was about to lose an arm .
Sereal’s mouth relaxed for a brief moment . However, her expression turned into something unsatisfactory afterwards . “Why did he help me?”, she thought . Sereal felt a little wary and puzzled about everything that had just happened .
“How did this man appear here anyway?” Sereal’s eyes swayed a little, and her heart was relieved but, at the same time, conflicted .
No one would’ve been capable of interceding in this situation . It was a perilous situation for the young girl . Indeed . Her arm was supposed to pay the price for her sin . It was supposed to be cut and separated from her upper body . Yet, this man appeared out of nowhere . He tried to avoid this horrible scenario from happening . He even had rusty knives . What could those old knives do against swords? It was impossible . This probably happened with the power of witchcraft .
In the blink of an eye, this man appeared amidst the dusty horizon in order to save the day .
「…Who the hell are you? Do you understand the weight of your actions? 」
The guards were stunned by the actions of this man called Lugis and the mysterious way that he rescued the young girl . The guards strengthened their eyes so much that their pupils resembled those of reptiles . Yes, almost identical to those of their Vice Commander who began to fret over this entire situation .
「There’s no reason to fret, Lizard . What I did wasn’t that extraordinary . I just blew away the sword that was going to fall on the arm of my acquaintance’s sister . So, what’s wrong?」
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I knew that disgusting man because of his peculiar eyebrows .
I didn’t know that special guard’s name but he had reptile eyes . I saw him once before . His figure was quite familiar . Yes . I clearly remembered this man, the Vice Commander, from one time when I went to Garoua Maria .
Selfish and authoritarian . His nickname was Lizard . It was weird why his subordinates called him such a strange nickname . But, it made sense once one looked closely at his image . There was no doubt about it . His eyes were like the eyes of reptiles . Of lizards .
「…This girl is a fellow of a thief . It is our role as guards to punish the sinners . If you get in our way, you’ll receive the same treatment as a sinner . 」
The Lizard spoke to me . He narrowed his eyes and didn’t even try to hide his unpleasant tone when he spoke to me . His eyes and tone didn’t give a very good feeling . Actually, I felt that nothing good would come from my interference on his “act of justice” .
The Lizard continued to speak . He explained that a thief stole some goods from a merchant who visited Garoua Maria . This thief managed to escape and hid on the Poor People’s cave because it was easy to hide from the guards . Besides, he had help to hide away from justice, and that this help came from a young girl who was his informant .
「I see . You really have your hands full, huh . That’s why you were trying to cut the arm of a harmless young girl . 」
「Hmm . If you keep provoking me, I’ll cut your useless tongue . If you understand it, just hand over the girl to us . 」
Maybe he was aware that I was that thief’s fellow as well . After all, he was holding his scabbard in order to strike me back . There was no turning back now .
I moved my eyes slowly so that I could fully grasp the seriousness of the situation . I carefully evaluated my surroundings .
They were five guards including the Lizard . One could say they were just a few . But, for some reason, the people of the Poor People’s cave were kind of unreliable in this situation .
Still, I couldn’t let Filaret come here and face them directly . It wouldn’t do any good . Everything would be useless if these people were to find out about her identity . The meaning to hide her face would be lost . That’s why I had to bring myself to this kind of tough condition . A lone wolf with an old knife against five enemies with swords .
As expected, it wasn’t a good move . It was actually quite reckless . Only those who were powerful could use some unreasonable recklessness, because their power and status would protect them at any costs . Even amidst surprises and ambushes . If anything went wrong, they would have a certain back up . They wouldn’t have to deal with unnecessary troubles unlike the poor people .
Indeed . Powerful human beings just like Caria .
「You want me to give you the girl? If we were on that walled city, I would probably reconsider it . But, you know what? We’re in the Poor People’s cave . This place is not Garoua Maria as far as I can see . 」
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The Lizard’s eyebrow raised slightly upon hearing my words . His body hardened even more .
Well, I felt frustrated by how aggressive he were with me since the very beginning . I tried to reason with him while lubricating my tongue . This Lizard man was smart . He wasn’t any fool . He certainly knew what I was talking about . No doubt about it . Actually, he tried to be a fool by pretending he didn’t know what I meant . But, I knew perfectly well how his cleverness worked . He won’t be able to fool me .
「…What are you implying, bastard . 」
「Yeah, you know what I mean . There is no law nor the authority of guards within the Poor People’s cave . So, if my information is correct, why are you causing such ruckus around here? You have no reason nor excuse to interfere with our lives . 」
Yes . The walled city-state of Garoua Maria had the legal jurisdiction only within the walls .
The inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave were not citizens of the walled city-state nor were they wanderers . They were just poor people that camped outside of Garoua Maria .
It seemed like an inconvenience at first glance . But, actually, it was pretty convenient for Garoua Maria . If the city-state were to recognize the Poor People’s cave as its own jurisdiction, then these poor inhabitants would become legal citizens .
And, that was a big problem . There was no way that people like these were to be recognized as part of the high-class populace of Garoua Maria . Even if the law said otherwise, the high-class people would never allow it . They would never accept a blend between them and the inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave .
In addition, if such recognition did happen, a large dissatisfaction would erupt from the guilds that used to treat the inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave as if they were livestock . It’s been a long time since the local guilds of Garoua Maria began to exploit these poor people, either by physical labor or prostitution .
Cheap manual labor was not a problem because it was part of the foundation of Garoua Maria as a trade city . This injustice happened quite frequently, even if the city itself was thriving economically . I heard people say that “the more you have, greater economy you’ll have and more prosperous the city will become” .
Therefore, the city-state enjoyed great prosperity because of their exploitation on the Poor People’s cave . If they recognized them as citizens, the city wouldn’t prosper in the first place . What a distorted city-state that Garoua Maria had become .
On this moment, the Lizard man spoke as if he didn’t comprehend what I said . Actually, he probably didn’t even care that much .
「…Of course, I have the authority on everybody here . The reason why? Because you people are inferior beings . 」
I involuntarily rounded my eyes upon hearing his words . There was no understanding nor compassion coming from that man’s words . This incomprehensible scene crossed several times on my brain .
I felt a sense of superior confidence coming from that man’s muscle and limbs .
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「Your tongue seems to be wild, spitting words as you please . But, did you really think that I would be persuaded by your sweet talk? Your reasoning is senseless . Who do you think it’s going to rule the poor folk that are inferior to animals? We are, the legal citizens . 」
The Lizard man spoke as if he was having fun with his twisted words . His wicked and superior personality made him like a complete tyrant . He was no longer speaking only to me, but to all of the poor people around him .
「Who cares about the law or the supposed freedom of you inferior people…We, as the glory of Garoua Maria, have utmost authority . We can do whatever we want with the likes of you . 」
His words, which were spoken as if he truly believed in them, didn’t hide his cold person . The lack of empathy towards others was quite evident .
That was probably his real intention . His true colors . The unmistakable spirit of the man nicknamed Lizard . Piercing words that could rip the heart . In a sense, those words were also reality . After all, his “language” was the same as the language spoken by the other citizens of Garoua Maria .
I stroke my chin to think for a moment . The heat of my body increased dramatically as if the lead melted away . My skin was hot and my eyes seemed like they’d melt as well .
Apparently, this man despised everyone here . His eyes told me that he hated the inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave . And now, I was included on his hate . He was that kind of person who wouldn’t care if these people would rot away . He simply didn’t care for their well-being . Actually, he would rather enjoy seeing them suffer . After thinking deeply about that, I felt extremely angry with that man .
That’s right . I felt some similarity . Yes, a similarity with my past timeline . I felt that this kind of situation and absurd reasoning happened before with me .
Yes . Not with this man, but with Filaret .
I knew it . I understood why I felt this way . Even though the situation per se was different, and both my position and age were different as well, there was some similarity . No doubt about it . This man also looked down on me . He treated me as someone lowly .
My guts were boiling with hatred . I finally burst aloud and spilled the words that were stuck on my throat .
「I disagree . You don’t own my conscience nor my will . I have the right to decide for myself . To put it bluntly, I’m the one who decides if I made a sin or not . And not you!」
The eyes of the Lizard stared fixedly at me . Now, he looked like a reptile more than ever .
There was rage and a murdering intent on his eyes . It was as if a student crossed boundaries with his teacher, a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed . An attitude that wasn’t tolerated . No one would like to be stepped on by his own subject .
I felt a shivering pass by my spine when I saw that man grabbing the sword on his waist .
On the other hand, I held my old knives tight . They were well-adjusted, ready for an imminent assault . This felt like a climax . However, this was the moment to act with a cold head . I just wanted to turn my head to the other side and escape through the crowd .
Ah, this was frustrating . I was in the same position as that woman . I was powerless and useless . What could I do against these men? I was just a simple rat .
However, the hatred that I felt was different, far from fear . This emotion devoured my reason as if my heart was bleeding and vomiting at the same time . I distorted my expression as I stared attentively at those men . These raw emotions were sticky and accumulated on my insides like viscera . The feeling was quite strange, but at the same time, it was comfortable . How odd .
It’s been a long while since I’ve felt this way . There was something different in me now . This situation was extremely dangerous . Yet, it felt foreign to me . It was as if it wasn’t that bad to begin with . Actually, probably my emotions clouded my mind and judgement .
The guards noticed my anger . They probably thought that this situation wouldn’t be solved verbally . They clearly knew what kind of attitude I had towards them . I held an offensive stance and icy eyes . The guards touched their swords lightly as if they were waiting for the instructions of their Vice Commander .
A moment of silence . Soon, my blood began to boil even harder than before .
How could I win against all of them at the same time? How could I avoid getting killed? This imminent situation . A perilous situation in fact . And probably without an answer . But, nothing changed within my own heart . I wouldn’t give up . I couldn’t . I didn’t want to forget these new found emotions . A hatred without fear . I didn’t want to abandon these feelings at all .
Something abrupt happened when me, the guards, and the inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave, knew that blood was about to be spilled . I heard a voice amidst the long silence .
「…Vice Commander . I don’t seem to recall that you followed such a dogma so seriously . 」
My earlobes quivered when I heard that voice . I thought that my ears were failing me . I felt that my insides, who were boiling with heat, cooled down rapidly as if they became frozen .
This was impossible . He shouldn’t be here . If I remember correctly, wasn’t this man in the Gharast Kingdom with his uncle during the Gospel War?
Was I wrong? Was I hallucinating? No, I wasn’t . There was no mistake about it .
「Let go of your swords and explain what’s going on here . 」
That famous high-pitched voice . The figure divided the crowd as if he were sanctified . My eyes weren’t wrong . He was unmistakable .
Helot Stanley . My Nemesis arrived .