CH 5

Between the Bookshelves

“D-did you just call me stupid…?” The woman muttered in a daze, and anger slowly crept into her expression.

“How rude!” she exclaimed, lifting her travel bag and slamming it down forcefully on top of my left foot.

A sharp, intense pain shot through the top of my foot like I had been hit with a blunt object. It was an unusual weight for a bag. What on earth was inside it?

Moaning in agony, I glared at the woman. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted.

The woman stared back at me firmly. “What kind of fool would dare address a lady in such a manner on a first meeting?”

A lady? I couldn’t help but retort. “Where in the world is there a lady who claps a man’s hand away on their first meeting?”

“I was simply teaching a lesson to an ignorant man who didn’t know when to show respect where it’s due. You should be grateful.”

Her haughty words caused my blood to boil. I couldn’t stay silent.

“Grateful? You hit your benefactor with a bag while he was kindly explaining things to you. It’s no wonder you can say such things with a straight face.”

“You were the one who spoke disrespectful words first. My response was justified retaliation.”

“Well, if that’s justified, then my words can also be seen as justified retaliation. Who could stay silent when their kindness is thrown back in their face?”

“Despicable people who use their kindness as a cover deserve to be thrown back. They deserve nothing less.”

It was clear that we were going back and forth with no end in sight. Other customers peered out from the shadows of the bookshelves, wondering what was going on. At this point, I didn’t care about anyone else. If I didn’t shut this woman up soon, my anger would continue to grow.

“Don’t use such dangerous words, woman. Maybe you should go to a convent and learn how to be more ladylike?”

“If you want to espouse male superiority and female inferiority, you should have been born half a century earlier. You’re a pitiful man who doesn’t realize he’s been left behind by the times.”

“Women like you always resort to excuses like that when you’re hit with the truth. You think you can win an argument by using complicated words.”

“Do you know the words of the playwright Lancequake? ‘No poison tongue can hurt the idiot.’ Do you understand?”

Our gazes clashed fiercely as we spoke. The tension in the air was about to boil over when an elderly man’s voice suddenly broke through.

“What’s going on, Sword? You’re causing a commotion in my store…” The old Paul, walked over from the entrance behind the woman.

I think the reason my attention was drawn over there was because of that. The person didn’t miss the momentary opening I gave them. It wasn’t the woman in front of me. It was a black shadow that had dashed past me.

“Ahh…!”

The unexpected attack by a third party caused the woman to fall on her butt. By the time she realized that one of the customers in the shop was the thief, they had grabbed her bag and rushed towards the exit. I shouted in the direction he was going.

“Paul!”

“What the… Argh!”

The pickpocket who rushed past me shoved Paul aside and darted outside the store.

“My bag!” The woman cried out desperately. As I tried to rush over to Paul who had been pushed aside, but he shouted at me. “Go chase after that bastard, Sword!”

“Huh?”

“You’re not going to let the bastard get away with stealing in my store, are you?”

His shout reverberated in the air and before I could think, I kicked off the ground. I ran through the narrow path that was trapped between the bookshelves and jumped out into the back alley.

“My bag!” The woman exclaimed.

“Shut up. I’ll get it back for you while I’m at it.” I clicked my tongue at the woman’s voice coming from behind me and started running after the thief.