## Chapter 340 – Those Martial Artist Bastards
“Kuh…!”
With each breath, I felt like my spirit was flying away. This was my limit. I couldn’t push any further. I felt like I was about to pass out any second. Did Lisette get up? She was still lying next to me.
From what I could see, her bare skin was almost entirely covered in blood, with patches of dark bruises. It looked like she’d taken a few hits while supporting me from behind.
Still, we survived because we cooperated.
If we were alone, we would have been 100% dead.
—Thud, thud.
The passersby glanced at us sprawled out on the ground before going their separate ways. A few of them were staring intently at us, probably thugs aiming to pickpocket me while I was unconscious or eyeing Lisette’s chest.
Or maybe both.
There were even a few rapists who looked like they were planning to drag the unconscious Lisette into a dark alley and plant their seed.
“You bastards… Get lost…?”
Lisette managed to say with difficulty, noticing their gazes. Her tone was a bit fierce, and a few of the onlookers disappeared. But some persistent ones remained.
“Ah… shit.”
Even so, it was clear that lying here was incredibly dangerous. The moment I lost consciousness, I’d be pickpocketed for sure.
That kind of crime was so commonplace that it happened even outside the slums.
The city guards, who were nominally responsible for maintaining order, would even pickpocket drunkards passed out on the streets.
To prevent that, I had to get up and move to a safe place… but I couldn’t move anymore. After all that effort, I couldn’t bear the thought of passing out here and getting robbed.
“De, dejaaa…”
I desperately tried to raise my upper body, but it felt like my body was sinking into quicksand, merging with the ground. Was I going to be dragged down to hell like this? I wondered how Bulverza was doing.
The more I tried to get up, the more my consciousness faded.
Even my eyelids felt as heavy as lead.
Just then,
“Oh, oh! Instructor Lisette!”
I heard a somewhat familiar voice.
It was Mariel.
…So Lisette survived.
“What on earth…!”
“Ugh… ah… Mariel…”
“Wh-What happened! What is this!”
Her panicked voice was incredibly annoying. From the sound of it, she was trying to help Lisette up.
“Shut up… Kuh…! Get me to the Relief Monastery… Cough… Ugh…”
“Huh? Huh? Instructor Lisette! Stay with me…! And next to her is Cheonma?!?!”
—So noisy.
Was this bitch going to take advantage of my weakness and smash my head in? Honestly, our grudges had already been settled. Please have some manners.
“Cheonma! Answer me! What happened to Instructor Lisette!”
How could she ask such a question after seeing this?
Lisette’s voice disappeared, so she must have passed out.
“Do you… want to know the truth…”
“I want to know!”
But I couldn’t tell her right now.
“Ugh…”
“Snap out of it!”
My consciousness couldn’t keep up with the flow of time.
Everything became a mess in my distorted vision.
—And so, I was dragged into a dream.
“Oppa…! Are you okay…!”
In a hazy space where I couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality, I heard Lina’s voice. You’re going to carry me? Don’t even think about it. You’ll break your back.
***
My skin had turned blue.
Because Lisette, that bitch, had beaten me so badly that my whole body was covered in bruises. Right now, my entire body was so blue that if they made Avatar 2, I could be specially cast as a Na’vi without any explanation.
James Cameron would praise my makeup!
Was I some kind of Blue Man?
“It fucking hurts, shit.”
I woke up in the group treatment room of the Relief Monastery.
About a day had passed since I passed out. I vaguely remembered Lina carrying me here and the nuns treating my injuries. I also remembered Mariel shouting something.
—Buzz, buzz.
Because it was a group treatment room, it wasn’t a quiet place.
I raised my head and looked around, seeing busy nuns and people being carried in. There were also a few people leaving on their own two feet.
Where was Lisette?
“…”
She was lying on the bed next to me.
Her body was covered by a blanket, so I couldn’t see it well, but her face was also blue from the bruises, so it looked like we could both star in Avatar together.
You be Neytiri, you bitch.
I’ll be Jake Sully.
Anyway, she was fast asleep.
“Ugh…!”
I vaguely remembered being treated by the nuns’ healing magic, but Lisette’s punches must have been no joke, because the impact had reached my insides.
It fucking hurt to move even a little.
It was hard to even check my condition.
I ignored it during the fight because it was an emergency, but I really got my ass kicked. It was an incredibly severe injury. The last time I felt this much pain was when I used the Crotch Ripper and suffered from a mental injury.
The difference was that this time, it was painful because of physical trauma.
I couldn’t get out of bed.
I could move if I endured it, though.
Damn, Kim Kat, you really live a hard life.
“Oh, Oppa. Are you feeling better now?”
“Oh… were you here? I’m okay thanks to you.”
Lina was sitting next to me.
She carried me here, dragging me with her small body. Maybe she felt indebted to me for various reasons. I should thank her.
“Thank you, Lina.”
“Ah, no. It’s just… you helped me too…”
This little rascal.
“I’ll give you a reward.”
“R-Really!”
“Look for my clothes on that shelf over there.”
“This?”
The nuns had taken off my top for treatment.
They had removed my quilted armor and broken equipment and piled them on a small shelf next to me. I didn’t have a knife among my belongings, shit.
“Yeah, that quilted armor. Is there a money pouch inside?”
Lina rummaged around for a moment.
“Ah… there is.”
Fortunately, the money was still there. Lina took out the pouch.
Well, unlike ordinary people in this world, priests and nuns who worship God never touch other people’s belongings. Ah, by “other people,” I mean “people.”
So, the devout religious people at the Relief Monastery would never steal money from patients.
“Give it here.”
I was very grateful that I hadn’t been robbed thanks to Lina carrying me.
I took the money pouch and took out two silver coins, handing them to Lina. Two silver should be enough of a reward.
“Take it.”
“Th-Thank you…! Oppa!”
Lina smiled brightly as she received the silver coins.
I wondered if Lina had been expecting this when she carried me here. It was amazing that she didn’t steal my money. She probably didn’t have the guts to do it.
“Don’t you have some money now?”
I said to the delighted Lina.
“…Yes.”
“Then buy some new clothes with it. Live in a decent place. Eat well. As for work… well, it’ll be hard to find anything other than being an adventurer. Work hard.”
It would be better for Lina to work as a waitress at an inn or restaurant, but there were no business owners in this world who would hire a barbarian orphan girl. If you had no foundation, skills, or age, you had no choice but to live as an adventurer, a city handyman.
Lina could work as a porter, gather herbs, or clean sewers. Of course, it would be dangerous and difficult.
Since she wasn’t an adult yet, it would be even more difficult.
But you have to live, Lina!
You have to survive…!
“I understand.”
“Then go now. Thank you for helping me.”
“…Yes.”
Lina hesitated and stood up, about to say something, so I waited quietly. It seemed like she had something to say.
“…Will we be able to see each other again?”
“If I have something for you to do.”
With those words, Lina bowed and left. I always wanted to tell her to live strong in the mountains. I always felt the urge to say that to Lina.
Thank you, Lina.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, I had stayed out overnight again.
I didn’t know what to say to Claudia and Winia. Claudia would probably be happy if I said I had a fight, but Winia would be angry.
She had been sensitive since the jungle ordeal.
So, even though I was in a lot of pain, I had to go back right away. How could I endure Winia’s nagging?
I put on my clothes, and a nun nearby approached me.
“Are you trying to leave? Well, your condition isn’t good, so it would be better to stay for another day… The healing didn’t work as well as I thought.”
“I have people waiting for me. I’ll come back if there’s a problem.”
“Then please do. Although it would be better if you didn’t have to come back.”
“Hehe, that’s true. How much is it?”
“It’s 1 silver.”
Still expensive.
“Here you go.”
“I hope you don’t get hurt in the future!”
“Yes, you too, Sister.”
I took out 1 silver from my pouch and handed it to the nun. She took the money, wrote something on the clipboard, and said goodbye, telling me to take care of myself.
So, should I go now?
“Ugh, shiiiiibal….”
Lisette, who had been tossing and turning, groaned in pain and slowly opened her eyes. This bitch woke up too. She blinked at me, then frowned and said.
“…Who’s this blue guy?”
“What? You’re the same, you Smurf.”
Lisette’s red hair and blue face made her look like the Taegeuk Lisette. This bitch was going to get hit with the trigrams.
—Rustle.
She lifted the blanket and checked her body.
Almost everything except her chest was blue.
I thought they would have taken off her tube top, but since she was a woman, they had just left it on.
“Ah, shit… Hey. I have scars on my body now, you bastard.”
“You have them on your face too, so what? It’s cool and nice.”
“Ugh, you gangster. Is that something you say to a woman?”
The scars on her exposed arms, shoulders, and abs suited Lisette’s fierce image. Scars were proof of a warrior.
“Woman, my ass. Did you even realize that?”
“Hey, can’t you tell by looking at my boobs? You bastard, how dare you scar a woman’s body.”
No, shit.
“…You hit me too, you know. Can’t you see I’m blue too?”
“…”
A brief awkward silence fell.
Although Lisette had done some shitty things and destroyed all my equipment, we would have both been screwed if it hadn’t been for our combined efforts in the end. If that were the case, filming Avatar 2 would have been out of the question.
In the first place, Lisette was the cause of everything.
But even if she was a bitch, a comrade was a comrade… My anger didn’t boil over.
I didn’t really think anything.
“You bastard. Anyway, what about my armor and sword, you bitch?”
“Ah, shit, what about it. You ruined my claws and body too, you fucking gangster.”
Lisette retorted, pointing to the pile of scrap metal that used to be armor. Ugh, shit. I couldn’t kill her.
I couldn’t do that in terms of skill or social standing.
As I looked down at Lisette, she avoided my gaze and said.
“Well… you can come with me to the slums.”
“The slums?”
“If you’re pissed, let’s go rob them together. Those bastards have to pay for messing with us.”
That’s right.
“If you and I go together, we can get double the money. How about it?”
Now, almost everyone in the slums had turned against us. The only way to heal these deep wounds was to pour cold metal coins filled with the resentment and screams of humanity.
Having put on all my clothes, I turned my back to her and said.
“Sounds good! Shiii-bal!”
It was just a matter of making up for the losses by joining forces with Lisette!
“Let’s take all the money from those bastards!”
“You’re not so bad after all.”
There was no need to mention the escape.
We were already united by a common goal. We would forget the grudges of the past for the sake of more money in the future. If Lisette and I joined forces, robbing the slums would be a piece of cake.
So, was this a primitive form of friendship?
Like a primitive guild.
“Hey! You over there! You can’t swear in the monastery!”
“Ah. I’m sorry!”
And so, I made a promise to meet up with Lisette, that bitch, and headed back to the inn, clutching my aching body.
No, shit.
It really fucking hurt every time I moved.
Should I ask Claudia and Winia to give me a massage?
