Chapter 265 - No, No, I'm Not Here To Conquer You, Promise

As my vision cleared a bit more, I could see better.

My half-baked smile kind of vanished. 

The background noise dulled slightly but the horns and all that were still a nuisance. 

"What… the… hell?"

We weren't just anywhere. We were in the middle of the bloody road and a four-way intersection no less. 

Every car had stopped, and people were staring, glaring, yelling, this and that and that.

The distinct smell of gasoline and maybe a bit of smoke irritated my nostrils. 

'Why still use primitive stuff like these?'

"What the hell indeed, kid, what the hell, indeed." The old man laughed.

Judging by the looks and the signs and all that- we were in the Southeast Asian region. 

I couldn't quite tell which country though.

"I'm pretty much exhausted, so it'd be hard for me to teleport. Let's get off the road and search for a place to stay in the meantime." 

Marg was in the Lieutenant's arms. He was carrying her like a princess. Now that's how people should carry girls!

Not like a frigging potato sack!

"Is she gonna be okay?" I asked, a bit concerned. 

"She seems to be sleeping. I'm not medical expert but I think she'll be fine."

I felt slightly at ease. I really hope she was just sleeping and there wasn't any more to that. 

It was hard for me to stand but I could feel my body slowly readjusting and that was good. "You coming, geezer?"

"Don't know this world. So, guess I'll tag along for a day." He grinned. "Besides, you owe me for those stones." His grin widened.

"Well, we got you out of there so that's that. We're even. Though I wouldn't mind treating you a drink or two at our place once we get back or something."

He snorted but didn't seem to decline outright. 

Besides, I still didn't know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. 

***

Anyway- we got off the road. 

The locals were yelling stuff. 

I had no idea what they were saying- to me, it only sounded like 'sung, ciing , fring , din tin and all that. I did get the general conscience though- basically, they wanted us to get off the place. Very logical, I guess. 

And just as we got out of the road and reached the footpath- people in suits were headed this way. Looks like we were going to have to deal with the police of this place.

"This seems like Korea, not quite sure if it's the south or the north. But let's just say, they won't be pleased to see us disturbing their city," Lieutenant said, looking straight ahead. 

"Don't worry, right now you're just the accomplice of Helio Romswell Jintel." I grinned and pointed my finger forward. "Anyone who wants to die, come forth!" Obviously, I was bluffing. 

Still felt embarrassing though.

"He-Helio?" The old man mumbled.

"Oh yeah, didn't exchange names, did we?"

He gulped but then almost like giving up- "I suppose so."

He didn't say anything else. 

Anyway, the police were pointing their guns at us. They probably didn't understand English.

There were a lot of people around us; some were just walking by while others were staring at us like we were the circus or something. 

But just when I thought I needed a translator- one of the police officers took a step forward. "Ro-Romswell? You from Romswell?" His English was kind of broken and he was sweating like crazy. But at least he understood me. 

Or more like I understood him. 

"Cursed Mask, sure you've heard of me." I almost bowed like a noble. Apparently, that was the tradition of our family before we went on a rampage. 

Obviously, this was the first time I tried it out. It felt embarrassing and I already wanted to get rid of this shitty memory. 

'Do-don't look at me like that…'

Let's just say, I just wanted to run.

It took them a second but- eventually, they said some words among themselves, dropped their weapons on the ground, and dropped on the floor shaking like crazy.

The few bystanders and other people around us did the same.

Screams ran across the whole place. 

"Are we really that famous?" I wondered.

Even the cars stopped and people were really afraid of us- or me, to be more specific. 

"Infamous would be a better word but currently you are perhaps one of the most known Romswell across the world for getting rid of Hyora."

"Wait, getting rid of Hyo-" The old man looked at me with a bit of awkwardness, then breathed out. "Might I ask your parent's name kid?"

"Norin Romswell Siane and Albert Battlesuin."

This was probably the only time in my life I spoke mom's full name. She kind of forbade me to call her by anything other than 'mom'. 

'Forgive me, Mom, I won't say it again, promise.'

The old man still stared at me. "So- you are the grandson of the ugly bastard?"

What the hell was with people and calling gramps an ugly bastard!

Wait, what?

"You know him?"

Small world, I guess?

"Can we please get out of here, first?" Lieutenant said. "And I've been meaning to ask but- what is this language you're speaking?"

I kind of stopped- more like froze. Wait, I was speaking another language?

The geezer was from Neil, and I could speak that language just slightly but I never really thought I was speaking another language or something and- My eyes darted at the Lieutenant and the girl in his arms.

But as I saw Marg and her sleeping face- I decided to put everything on hold. "You're right. Let's find a hotel and rest for the time being. We'll figure out the rest once we're there."

"Right!"

With that said, we started going forward.

Two blocks, three blocks, and then five.

No matter where we went, people just paled and moved aside. Some ran from us like wild animals. Others dropped on the floor and wetted themselves. 

No matter how I looked at this, this was an overexaggerated response. The people who were around us at the time were understandable but even people who were this far away?

Even just moments ago, this wasn't the case. 'Wait, what are these shadows?'

There were moving shadows on the ground, large shadows. I had a bad feeling.

And- and I looked up and my soul kind of died when I saw things up in the sky. There were screens- very nice screens floating in the sky. All read- 'Cursed Mask Romswell has come to conquer South Korea.'  And it was written in various languages, one of them was English. 

"Wow." I couldn't believe my own friggin eyes.

The geezer laughed hard. "Would ya look at that!?"

"You can read that?"

"'Course I can!" He grinned and slapped his chest with pride. 

'Then why the hell ain't you speaking English, ya damn geezer!'

Oops, almost spoke like the geezer. 

Anyway- hotel!

Yup, I needed a hotel. For Marg, not for distracting my mind, okay!

Definitely for Marg!

***

We located an international hotel and went in. 

Everyone but the girl in the reception ran away. 

Normally when people realized I was a Romswell, I got mixed responses. There were always people who were afraid but, in most cases, people just avoided eye contact and tried to distance themselves from me. This time, this time it was really weird. I never thought people would react to me like this. Even Uncle never got this kind of reaction: and he was a world-renowned super villain for crying out loud!

I almost felt bad for myself. 

But oh well.

The girl behind the reception was no exception. She was also trying to run away but seeing we were approaching her- she had to stay put. Her sweats and makeup were all over the place though.

"We'd like to book a room," I spoke in English and I hoped she'd understand. This was an international hotel after all!

"Le-let me ge-get the manager, Sir!" her accent was actually pretty good. It would have been better if she wasn't shivering like we were in Russia with just underwear on though.

She was using the intercom. 

Anyway, I tried to fiddle with my Holo and with the Wi-Fi from the Hotel- I could finally access the internet. 

As the stuff in the sky suggested- the world knew I was here. 

And they assumed that I was here to conquer Korea.

Like why the hell would I even bother?

What did Korea ever do to me?

Anyway- the Manger ran this way, almost tripping three times. 

She said things in another language- probably Korean. 

The receptionist translated. "We have secured the best room of this hotel, Sir. The manager would lead you." This time she didn't stutter as much.

I guess she was glad we were getting out of her hair. 

But I felt bad for the poor manager. The poor lady couldn't understand us and she'd just turned pale. But now she had to lead us to the hotel room. 

Also, secured? That meant, they probably just kicked someone from the room, right?

Anyway-

It was a quiet tour.

Both the place and the manager: quiet.

Whenever one of us made even the slightest of sounds, she'd flinch. So, we'd refrained from talking. 

Once we reached one of the top floors, she gave me a key, said some things in Korean, bowed once, and left. 

I had no idea what that was about but oh well.