Chapter 44 – Unbelievable Betrayal (1)
The sky, which had been covered with thick clouds, suddenly turned pitch black.
I said it felt a bit chilly, but I guess it was because the sun was setting.
I boarded the shaking carriage and looked meaninglessly at the outside scenery, which was neither clear nor cloudy.
And right in front of me, the coachman I had hired for this trip was diligently whipping the horse.
“We’ll be arriving soon~.”
The coachman, who was concentrating on driving, turned his head towards me and said this in a friendly voice.
Since I was now in disguise, the coachman treated me comfortably without any difficulty.
“But why would a well-behaved gentleman like you go to a place like that?”
Since the destination I was currently heading to was a destination, the coachman seemed secretly curious as to why I was going there.
“I have someone to meet…”
I answered briefly and removed the palm-sized bandage that was stuck to my cheek.
And as I looked at my face reflected in the carriage window, I saw that my cheek, where I had been hit by Athena that day during social gathering, had sunken.
I realized once again that unlike my mind, my body was as strong as a warrior, and I let out a sigh so low that the driver could not hear it.
It was quite painful and shocking when I got hit, but now that I think about it, it was a very cheap decision to end it with just a slap.
Richard, who was in the same room, probably would have had a funeral that day if I hadn’t stopped him.
The confusing past few days kept flashing through my mind.
I still haven’t forgotten the sight of Athena kicking down the living room door and leaving the mansion, expressing her anger and disappointment at me.
“Okay, we’ve arrived~.”
At a time when I was caught up in an indescribable sense of self-destruction, the horse, which had been stomping its hooves vigorously, stopped and the driver announced that they had reached their destination.
I got off the carriage, leaving behind the thoughts that were disturbing my mind.
Then, the entrance to the city, with its inexplicable squalor and backwardness clearly visible, came into view.
Aronsheed, a mercenary city located in the northwest of the continent, still seemed to be slow in development.
“Then I’ll just go. “I wish you good luck~.”
The driver who brought me safely to my destination said that and then immediately pulled on the reins and headed back the way he came.
After seeing the carriage disappear from sight, kicking up dust, I walked straight down that road and entered Aronsheed.
And soon after entering the city, a scenery that is difficult to describe in a good way no matter how much I look at it caught my eye.
Shabby houses with holes patched up with wooden planks,
Children wearing dirty clothes and chewing unknown food,
Even homeless people sleeping uncomfortably on the street with a can of food in front of them.
Perhaps because I had just stayed in a bustling magic city, the shabby appearance of the mercenary city felt even more evident.
This place, with trash big and small lying around from the beginning, did not look like a city where a goddess would stay.
The dark slum scenery of Krezel looked better.
Here, Aaron Sheed was the unfortunate city that was the first to be invaded by the devil’s army when the devil came during the Great War of the Holy Music.
Therefore, the damage caused by the war was greater and more terrible than anywhere else on the continent.
Although restoration was underway, the pace was very slow and it was expected that it would take a long time to restore it to its former appearance.
As it was such a city, security was unstable and lawless areas were everywhere.
I heard that the number of people who avoid the law and engage in inhumane underground economic activities is also significant.
As I was walking down the street and occasionally looking around, a large, brightly lit restaurant right in front suddenly caught my eye.
It was late before we met her, but it seemed like a good place to grab a quick meal.
Since I couldn’t see any other restaurants around, I went straight into the restaurant without any hesitation.
Perhaps because it was evening time, the spacious restaurant was bustling with customers.
Most of the people sitting at the table eating in groups of twos or threes looked rough and dirty.
In all likelihood, they seemed like mercenaries or people belonging to a similarly dangerous occupation.
I walked through the crowded restaurant and took a seat at a small, quiet table in the corner.
Then we ordered some food and filled our hungry stomachs after the long carriage ride.
“Drink as much as you want! “I’m shooting today!!”
As I was chewing on the mediocre food, a loud shout suddenly came from a nearby table.
When I slowly turned my head to check, I saw three men, presumed to be mercenaries, sitting around a table, drinking beer and giggling loudly.
“Hey, what good happened today~?”
The raven-haired man sitting near the entrance asked the bald man who had raised the corner of his mouth so much that it caught his ear.
“Uh? “How did you know?”
The bald man wiped the beer foam from the corner of his mouth and exaggeratedly closed his eyes as if he was surprised.
“How do you know, you asshole~. “How can you not know that a guy who doesn’t have any money and even buys you alcohol like this, openly says it makes you happy?”
The crow’s head pretended to swing his fist and hit his bald head.
Then he scratched the back of his head where there was no bald head and smiled slyly as if he was still happy about something.
“Something like that happens.”
“Where did you get some free money?”
The man sitting next to the bald man tapped the bald man with his elbow and asked.
“Foot, if it were just that much, I wouldn’t have given you guys alcohol like this.”
The bald man shook his index finger as he poured the remaining beer into his glass.
“Then what? “Could it be that you ran into a pretty-looking girl while walking down the street again?”
“It’s not like that, bastard~.”
The bald man, with no sign of his smile leaving his face, dismissed the grumpy man’s words.
As the bald man paused vaguely, as if he was going to continue speaking, the black-haired man and the mop-haired man, who seemed to be slightly annoyed, persistently interrogated him on both sides.
“Ana, I really shouldn’t say this~.”
As the two people closely following each other continued to ask persistently, the bald man, who seemed to be itching to talk, opened his mouth as if he had no choice.
“… “Are you the only ones who know this?”
The bald man who said that with a serious face looked around him and created a strange tension, as if he were revealing a state secret.
While eating, I listened to their conversation without thinking about it.
I thought it was a trivial story with no substance that could be heard anywhere.
But the words that came out of the bald man’s mouth the very next moment were far beyond my expectations.
“Am I dating Nemesis?”
The moment I heard that, I was so shocked that I almost had a lump in my throat.
It was a shock, as if someone had hit my stomach with a hammer without warning while I was eating.
Fortunately, I drank the water right out of the cup so I didn’t end up spitting out anything in my mouth, but that wasn’t what I needed to worry about right now.
“What happened to you and with whom… ?”
“I started dating that Nemesis! How is it? “Isn’t it amazing?!”
“Ha…”
The bald head opened her eyes wide and patted her chest proudly, but the reaction of the black and gray haired ones was not very pleasant.
The two people who sighed side by side did not seem to believe what the bald man said.
It was a natural reaction.
“You bastard, you’re drunk… “I see you talking nonsense.”
“I put so much effort into listening to this bullshit…”
The black-haired and messy-haired man who fell next to the bald man without any regret clicked his tongue and did not hide his pitiful expression.
When the two people showed a different reaction than expected, the bald man continued speaking urgently, repeatedly insisting that what he said was true.
“Ana, that’s because it’s real! Well, that’s how it happened… !”
The bald man, who seemed enraged by the two people who did not believe him, started a long story on the spot.
To summarize his story, it was roughly like this.
Not long ago, a bald man with free money stopped by a bar to drink alone, and there he happened to meet Nemesis.
As soon as the bald head saw Nemesis, she was captivated by her superior beauty and started working on it with the mindset that it was worth the money, but surprisingly, Nemesis did not reject the bald head.
So the bald man sat down next to her in her Nemesis and chatted with her over a sip of her heavy rum.
And starting from that relationship with her, we continue to meet her until now…
“Write a novel.”
Dumb-head, who had been listening to Bald-head’s story in silence, frowned and waved his hand as if he couldn’t listen any more.
“I bought you a drink and listened to you quietly, so you can indulge in your own delusions.”
“Why would the goddess of vengeance, whose husband was the warrior who defeated the Demon King, drink with a guy like you?”
The black-haired man, who had the same expression as the bald-headed man, doubted the authenticity of the story told by the bald man.
“I don’t know that. “Maybe she was lonely away from her husband, or maybe her husband had a bad night’s work.”
At the bald man’s words, which seemed to have been said as a joke without much thought, I flinched like a thief’s feet.
“Anyway, it’s real! If you don’t believe me, finish your drink and follow me. “I made an appointment to meet the goddess of vengeance today.”
The glass of water in my hand shook reflexively at the bald man’s confident words that were hard to believe were lies.
