CH 41.1

“Damn it!”

“Kuuck..!”

After being kicked in her stomach, Neria let out a short moan. It felt harder to breathe. She clasped onto her stomach and tried hard to breathe.

But Neria’s pain was not in Gis’ consideration.

He kicked, trampled and kicked Neria again.

A heartfelt beating by a Hero who’s level was approaching in its late 40s.

As a level 30, all Neria could do was to be heedful so that his attacks won’t break her bones or damage her inner organs.

“Sh!t! F**k! F**k! F**k!”

One kick, one vulgarity.

Neria’s body was getting more and more battered.

“Stop it! She will really die!”

Ophelia, who couldn’t stand it anymore, grabbed Gis by his arm and tried to pull him away.

“Let go, you slut!”

“Damn it!”

As Gis swung his arm, she couldn’t stand his strength and was flung away. Thud! She was powerlessly thrown out, her back slamming against the table.

“Ouch…”

“Ophelia!”

“Where are you going, you damn b!tch?!”

Gis grabbed Neria by her hair as she tried to run to Ophelia.

Gis pulled Neria’s hair, making her look straight into his face.

His expression was horribly contorted with anger.

“Hey. Why the hell was that bastard able to change so much? What did I do to end up being beaten by a bastard like that?! Huh? Tell me, did you help that bastard without my knowledge? Come on, tell me, did you steal my item and gave it to him, huh?”

“Leave me..!”

Puck. Gis didn’t dodge to Neria’s punch. He ran his thumb over the area he was punched by Neria. His lips were slightly parted, and there was blood on his fingers.

“Ha… Haha… Cloud-! After that bastard, the likes of you are going to make a mockery of me? The bugs like you two?! Haha, haha, hahhaha. Your maidenhood was planned to be saved until I did it in front of Cloud, but you know what? I’m just going to pluck it right now. I’ll explain the details to that bastard later.”

Gis grabbed onto Neria’s hair and started walking.

Neria resisted, but there was an overwhelming difference in strength between her and Gis.

She was dragged along like a mop sweeping the floor.

Just when Gis opened the door to head out.

“That… Hero…?”

Outside the room stood a real member of Gis’ Party. Gis frowned as he spoke in displeasure.

“What?”

“No, that… Until now, I have only healed the skin and muscle injuries of the Hero. The injuries of the internal organs are yet to be treated… I need to look into it a bit more.”

“Wasn’t it already treated before?”

“That… it was still in treatment stage, but the Hero suddenly ran out…”

“Hah, f**k it!”

Gis scratched his head fiercely. He warned Neria while throwing her away.

“Wait here. I’ll be coming soon. Don’t even think about running away. If you get caught, you know what will happen.”

Gis ignored Neria and Ophelia, and left the room with his party member.

“Neria… are you all right…?”

Ophelia ignored the throbbing pain on her back and approached Neria with her head bowed.

She was about to put her hand on Neria’s shoulder for treatment.

Neria grabbed onto Ophelia’s hand.

“Ophelia, let’s run away.”

“…uh? Run away? But, where..?”

“Let’s go back to Cloud. Things will go back to the way they were.”

“Neria…”

Ophelia felt sorry for Neria, and her trembling voice that was laced with hope.

That day.

It was from that day, from when Cloud and the girls completely separated.

Gis’ attitude towards them changed completely.

At first, he started by harassing them lightly, but the intensity slowly grew stronger. Later, even if he felt a little offended, he started beating them.

Occasionally he threw things like food waste and even instructed them to lie down and eat like a dog.

Beatings and insults.

It has become their daily routine.

It was natural to leave the party in face of such situation, but it was impossible.

Because Gis had no intention of letting them go.

When they would go to bed after such a painful day, Neria would often talk to Ophelia about her childhood.

She would recall the memories she had made with Cloud.

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Neria’s face literally glowed when she talked about her memories with him. In the middle of which, she would not have a dull face like normal times, but an expression full of longing, sadness, and joy.

Whenever she was in a good mood, she would pull out items containing her memories with Cloud and show them to Ophelia.

A wooden dolphin figurine.

An object that Cloud’s father had made for her and him before his disappearance. A figurine that only two people in the world shared. She regarded it as an irreplaceable treasure.

And that figurine was soon discovered by Gis and shattered by his foot.

Ophelia would never forget the expression Neria made that day.

Although she somehow joined it together with some adhesive, she didn’t get out of the gloom for a while.

Whenever she saw Neria like that, Ophelia would often fall in her own thinking.

Although she is a messenger of the Goddess, it is natural that she shall be punished for failing to overcome the temptation and desire.

But what about Neria?

What did she do to deserve this punishment, this suffering?

Is this reasonable?

She did not doubt the existence of the Goddess.

The existence of the Goddess has already been revealed and verified through various happenings.

However, is it really like the church says, is Goddess really just, and does she really gives retribution to the evil?

If not, is she just… throwing a tragic fate on nice people, for her own fun and enjoying it?

Such a blasphemous thought often arose in her mind.

“Ophelia, you saw it too. How Cloud beat Gis. Now we don’t have to worry anymore. Now, we can go back to the old days..!”

Saying that, Neria had a desperately hopeful expression on her face.

Ophelia understood her feelings. But she was skeptical of what Neria said.

‘Is it really possible?’

As Neria said, Ophelia also saw Cloud at the imperial banquet.

Even though it was a surprise attack and there were no weapons involved, Cloud overwhelmed Gis.

While armed, Gis may lead. Still, Gis won’t be able to bully Cloud as blatantly as he used to.

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Because now, Cloud is also capable of resistance.

But there is one thing more important than that.

‘Will Hero really accept us?’

If it was the Cloud Neria knew, then he would accept them unconditionally.

Without thinking about the wounds they inflicted?

The Cloud they knew was such a person.

Yet like it or not, Cloud has changed.

She could tell it just by looking at his brief appearance at the Imperial Social Banquet.

‘Because I’ve never seen Hero with such a scary expression…’

Cloud is a human, so, of course, he also gets angry.

Especially when innocent people were eaten by monsters or killed by bandits, he would get particularly enraged.

On the other hand, the behavior he showed at the imperial banquet was completely different from before. He must have been angry, but it wasn’t like hot fire. Rather, it was like a sharpened sword.

A razor-sharp sword that felt like it will split his opponent in two halves at any moment.

It was an emotion that they hadn’t seen in the past him.

‘Even if the Hero forgives us and accepts us…’

Can we really go back to the way we were before..?