Chapter 11

“Argh!”

The fleeing Brian fell helplessly on his rump as his neck was grabbed from behind. Clutching his butt, he looked up. His captor was a beautiful boy with pitch-black hair; the boy he saw inside the Behemoth’s building, who was now staring at him apathetically.

“W-What are you doing?!”

With a hammer in hand, Lana came up from behind and stood before Brian with a shadow clouding her face.

“W-What did I do to deserve this treatment?!”

“Guess crazy bastards really do speak before they think.”

“C-Crazy bastard? You! How is a violent woman like you going to get married, huh?!”

“Even if I get married, it won’t be to you, so butt out. What the hell’s up with you?”

“What?!”

“I’m asking why you keep peeking on us, you bastard!”

Lana slammed her hammer onto the ground. A crack fractured the ground following a booming sound. Brian edged backwards on his butt, then let out a snort.

“Peeking? Me? At you? Someone like you?”

“Someone like you?! Look how this son of a bitch talks. I should just—”

Lana made a feint with a light swing of her hammer, causing Brian to groan and cower before she smashed the ground with the hammer again and let out a sigh of disbelief at his unsightly appearance.

“Hey, Pervert. Listen well. These breasts are not here for you to leer at, okay? And those windows aren’t there for you to peek into either. But why do you keep coming here and ogling us like that? It’s revolting.”

She twirled the handle of the hammer, her tone bleak. The head of the hammer affixed to the ground oozed out the Aura she was exerting. Brian gulped. Somehow, people had started to surround the two in a circle and talk loudly among themselves. His eyes darted here and there before he straightened his back.

“When did I?”

“Wheeenn? When did youuuu?”

Brian scowled at her sarcastic question.

“Y-You’re doing this to me to extort money from me, aren’t you?”

“What?”

Lana’s face crumpled desperately. ‘Money? I caught him red-handed when he was peeping, but why is he suddenly bringing up money?’ She ran her hand through her hair, at a complete loss for words.

“What’s up with this bastard.”

“Aren’t you doing this right now to extort money from me since you haven’t been getting any business these days?!”

“Excuse me, what?! I’ve been going easy on you all along— Why would I do that even if our store isn’t doing so well?!”

When she lifted up her hammer, short shrieks ensued from all sides. She bit her lip as she stopped waving her hammer midair. ‘Endure it. You have to endure it.’ And right at that moment—

“Was it really because of money?”

“Of course, how can they eat and survive without receiving any commission?”

She started to hear whispers revolving around money.

“…?!”

‘What’s everyone doing?!’ She glanced behind. Someone right behind her whispered to the surrounding crowd.

“Doesn’t that mean she also lied about getting assaulted by Brian previously to extort money?”

Her mouth was agape in disbelief. Eian was simply lounging off to the side with an air of indifference, and the others were all residents of this area. Brian regained his vigour and smirked.

“Despicable bitch. You would even falsely accuse someone of being a pervert for coins?”

“You asshole! Why would I falsely accuse you of being a pervert just to make money?!”

“Do you have proof?”

“What?”

“I’m asking whether you have proof or not. Proof that I peeped at you!”

“Everyone inside Behemoth saw you and you still dare to feign innocence?”

“Ha! You’re all probably conspiring after my wealth, how can we be sure of that?”

‘This son of a bitch and his mouth…!’

“Well, do you have proof that I’m after your money? Is that why you’re doing this?”

Brian just laughed at her rebuttal. As if he didn’t need to answer that.

“…?”

Lana ran her eyes over the gathering uneasily. They had swallowed the story of her conspiracy to gain riches hook line and sinker as if it was a highly contagious disease plaguing them. She clenched her fist, feeling suffocated and nauseated. No matter how much money they lacked, she had no reason whatsoever to resort to such machinations. But to these people, the false allegations that she was out for money was far more credible than the fact Brian was carrying out perverse acts.

The people of this neighbourhood should’ve all known how this jerk’s eyes unfailingly roamed around in the presence of women. That even if he weren’t around, perverts were prevalent in this neighbourhood which had alarmingly low levels of security. Even so, the gazes levelled on Lana were cold. Although her words were most likely valid given the odds and circumstance, it was as if they were obliged to suspect her. Lana gripped onto her hammer.

‘This asshole who can’t even take a hit…!’

Right. This pervert who couldn’t even withstand a hit. In a twinkling, she applied strength to the hand holding the hammer.

‘This bastard, should I just kill him?’ It was a mouth-watering thought, but reality stood in the way of her hammer. ‘Kill him? In front of all these onlookers? Kill the son of the village chief?’

‘Even though this jackass’s family held no peerage, they were quasi-nobles. If I kill such a person, what will happen to me and Sayre Unnie*?’

*T/N: older female relative/friend.

Lana welcomed a sense of soul-crushing despair, and feeling horrible, turned away, but suddenly—

“See. You have nothing to say because I uncovered your intentions, huh?”

“…What?” Don’t be a shit like Brian

Brian grinned like a Cheshire cat.

“Your sister is in on this too, right? She doesn’t look too bad herself. Did you two come here to earn money together by means of your bodies?”

“You…!” read on dsnovels.art.blog

He began bringing up Sayre’s name.

“Leave my sister out of this…”

She spoke through clenched teeth as her hands trembled. Brian’s gaze glued onto her body once again like a bug.

‘Sayre, is there any value in letting something like that live?’

Her hand holding onto the hammer now felt damp.

“Wow, it’s so scary now that I reflect on it. So you sisters have cooked this scheme together, eh? No wonder two women suddenly opened a smithy that doesn’t even suit a rural area like ours. Turns out you came here to earn money by selling your bodies. Ah, could it be that you made a good haul somewhere before coming here?”

She heard people agreeing, echoing ‘Right, right.’

She thought she and her sister were stoutly immune to the prejudice that it was unbecoming of them to lift hammers considering they had started from an early age. The reason they settled in such a rural area was also due to the impression that making weapons was just as unbecoming for women. Since none would commission them to make weapons, it was hard for them to sustain their livelihood.

“I thought it strange too. Why would two women suddenly open a smithy? And in the backwoods at that…”

The people, swept up in his instigation, spat out insults after insults. And Brian, feeling as euphoric as if he now owned the world, said,

“You or that bitch, making a quick buck—”

“Shut up.” i don’t need alcohol

Lana changed the handle of her hammer, then wiped the sweat off her hands.

“…?” to make bad decisions~*

“Just shut up and die.”

Lana lifted her hammer high up in the air, her Aura a deadly spectacle as it enveloped her hammer. But then—

“Alright, Pervert. Tell me. How much money do you have?”

The voice of a small girl cut in.