CH 88

I approached Brandon, who was hanging his head, with a bottle of alcohol in one hand. Since he was facing the floor, downcast, I could only see his face in profile, but it looked like he had aged a lot. Judging by his state, he looked considerably depressed.

Well, that was to be expected. Just a few weeks ago, he was a domineering figure in the Healer’s Guild, and now all he could do was drink to escape reality in a crappy bar where only bottom-feeders gathered. Kukuku. You’re only getting your just desserts.

“Oh! To think I would chance upon you in this place. Can I sit next to you?” I said nonchalantly to Brandon while approaching him. He slowly raised his head to look at me.

When he realized that the person who called out to him was me, his eyes widened in surprise, and he stumbled as he backed away from me in a terrible panic.

“I-Irene! You son of a b*tch, why the hell are you here?” (Brandon)

“Ah, you don’t need to raise your voice so much. Like I said earlier, it was a coincidence. What are you doing here, Brandon?” (Irene)

When I tossed the question back at him, his hand clenched into a fist as his face colored with resentment. Just the other day when I met him, he was acting all cocky and pompous, but now… just look at this miserable, wretched appearance. Kukuku. I couldn’t stop myself from breaking out into a smile.

“You prob’ly came here knowing everything already!! DAMN IT ALL!! F*CK YOU!!!” Brandon roared as he lost control of his anger, kicking the chair he was sitting on earlier in explosive rage. He must have stubbed his toe just then, because he started jumping around in pain while clutching his foot.

This display was ridiculously comical in my eyes, and I almost couldn’t hold back my laughter. I really wished Lewin could have seen this spectacle with his own eyes.

“Well, I guess so. There were lots of rumors going around, so of course I heard of what had happened to you. It was truly an unfortunate disaster,” I said mockingly with a smirk on my face. Brandon glared at me with conspicuous bloodthirst. Kukuku. From the looks of it, he still hadn’t learned his lesson even after being fired and losing his social status. As I said earlier, it wouldn’t have been entertaining if he was just depressed, so it was actually a good thing that he was a scummy piece of trash down to his very core.

“A finished person like you who’s half a step into her grave– what the f*ck would you know about me?” (Brandon)

Brandon would often call me a “finished person”. But no matter how you looked at it, the only “finished person” here was him. It seemed that, in Brandon’s mind, he thought he could still regain his former social status.

""

“Stop screaming your head off. I can hear you just fine without you raising your voice like that. You’re just attracting all sorts of weird looks, you know?” (Irene)

When I told him this, he snorted and readjusted his chair that he kicked over earlier with a loud bang. He proceeded to take a swig of the liquor on the table and then slammed the table as hard as he could. Once again, he clutched his hand in pain.

Kukuku. Watching this idiotic goblin is so entertaining.

“…It’s all that guy’s fault! When that little brat left, he must have done something…” (Brandon)

Ignoring me, he started grumbling and complaining under his breath.

Well, well, well. It seemed that his anger shifted from me to someone else. If he had tried to kick me instead of that chair, I would’ve given him a good ol’ smacking.

But… ‘that little brat’? The words that Brandon uttered, regarding that ‘little brat’ who left… I didn’t have any clue who he was referring to. No, wait… could it be?

“Brandon, that ‘little brat’ you were talking about, is it a young boy named Lewin?” (Irene)

I didn’t think it was possible, but I had to check just in case. From the rumors I had heard, Lewin had been used by Brandon and then was discarded and fired. If that rumor was true, his anger should by no means be directed towards Lewin.

…Is what I thought, but Brandon opened his eyes wide in anger and looked at me, his face turning bright red as he screamed at me.

“IRENE!! You bastard, do you know Lewin? Where the f*ck is that brat?! I need to catch him and beat some information out of him!” (Brandon)

“Of course I would know him, he’s a valued regular at my shop. So… what did you say Lewin did to you?” (Irene)

“That kid! When he left the Guild, he tampered with the new potion!! That son of a b*tch, biting the hand that feeds him!” (Brandon)

“……Do you have any evidence for that?” (Irene)

“Evidence? Even without any of that sh*t, anyone would be able to tell!! Everything started to go wrong after he left! That kid must’ve mixed in some kind of poison or something when he quit! Definitely! I swear I will find that brat and kill him!!” (Brandon)

…This guy is completely insane.

He wasn’t even owning up to his own mistakes, and he was the one who personally made the decision to fire him… and yet, he was venting his anger on a kid. Up until now, it was fun watching him, but… now I was just starting to get annoyed instead.

“I’ll say this just so you know, but Lewin is not that sort of child. If everything started going wrong when Lewin left… wouldn’t that mean that Lewin was actually useful?” (Irene)

“Hah! That dirty little peasant, useful? You’re such a useless idiot for saying that.” (Brandon)

“At the very least, I think he’s many times more useful than you, who’s sitting here in a dirty bar trying to drink away your frustrations. I’ve heard that you’ve been stripped of your noble court ranking, too. Ahahaha!! You’ve fallen to the same level as the commoners that you’ve been so vehemently denouncing!!” (Irene)

“HEY!! Say that one more time. I don’t care if you’re a legendary Medicine Master or whatever, I’m going to kill you if you keep spouting sh*t.” (Brandon)

“Hm? Which part do you want me to repeat? The part where I said Lewin is hundreds of times more useful than you? Or the part where I said that you’re a garbage piece of sh*t who lost his status and is no better than a commoner now? …And you can stop trying to act all pretentious and put on airs in front of an elderly person, it’s just disgraceful. Just looking at you makes me embarrassed.” (Irene)

When I told him that while facing him with a sarcastic smile, Brandon’s face flushed with anger as he stood up and started slowly staggering towards me unsteadily. He was totally drunk, but there was also the fact that his body’s movements were no good. How could such an amateur dare to say that he would kill me, of all people?

With unbridled anger, Brandon came right up to me and threw a wide, swinging punch.

Such a big swing… you’ve never been in a fight before, have you?

I could have killed Brandon 10 times during this incredibly wide swing of his, but I decided to get hit first on purpose so I could establish an alibi for myself later. I postured myself to catch his fist as it was flying at me, and the moment Brandon’s fist collided with my cheek, I pretended to fly backwards from the impact.

When I pretended to get blown away by the punch, the people who were watching our quarrel went wild. For a moment, I felt bad for what was about to become of this bar, but when I saw that the master of the place was also cheering, that feeling vanished instantly.

“Keep clinging onto your former glory, you sh*tty old hag!! I’ll make you regret ever looking down on me!” Brandon gloated triumphantly as he saw me fly backwards from his fist’s impact.

…Strange. The moment his fist touched me, I pretended to go flying backwards, so Brandon’s fist should have felt no response. Even if it did hit perfectly, the fact that this guy was so full of himself for hitting an elderly person made me wonder how he wasn’t ashamed to be alive.

……Now then, he must’ve been feeling great, thinking that he managed to punch me. But now it was my turn to feel great.

He was the first one to resort to punches after all. Making a fool out of me was fine, but… I had to make sure to give Brandon a good beating so he wouldn’t dare to lay his hands on Lewin after this.

I slowly stood up, brushing the dust off my clothes. With a smile on my face, I walked in a straight line towards Brandon. He had a cocky, boastful look on his face, but when he saw my face as I approached him without injury, his face froze. I unhurriedly walked up to Brandon with my cane in hand.

Now, let me show you what real violence looks like.

Without transforming my cane, I drove a sharp, piercing thrust into Brandon’s stomach. He had naturally no way of reacting in time, and his body folded into a く shape as he took the full brunt of the blow. With my cane lodged firmly into his solar plexus, his mouth was gaping open like a fish, opening and closing as he gasped for air. This blow might have destroyed his will to fight, but my hands didn’t stop. I continued my series of blows with a cane thrust to both of his shoulders, dislocating them, and then followed up with a thrust to both of his thighs. Brandon collapsed to his knees as both of his legs were disabled by the impact. As he fell, my cane connected with his jaw in a firm uppercut. His face collided with the hard ground, nose bleeding profusely as he lay there, twitching.

Phew. Beating the crap out of scumbags is the best feeling.

As for me, I was content seeing Brandon lying unconscious, stock-still with his face on the ground like a corpse, but I still had to properly tell him not to get close to Lewin. After turning the fainted Brandon onto his back, I took a bucket of water from the owner, who was standing there frozen in bewilderment, and sloshed the contents of the bucket all over Brandon’s face.

""

“―Puuuhaaah!! Gahh… Hyiiiih!! HYIIIIIIH!!” (Brandon)

The moment he was shocked back into consciousness and saw my face, he started shrieking and backpedaling in fear, trying to escape. However, he couldn’t use his arms since they were both dislocated earlier, and he couldn’t use his legs either, so all he could do was drag his butt across the floor in an unsightly attempt to escape. Just as I was aiming for, he couldn’t get up.

“Brandon. You awake? I could’ve let you keep sleeping like that if you wanted… But there’s one thing I gotta tell you that you must never forget― if you try to do anything to Lewin, I will kill you.” (Irene)

When I told him that with a big smile on my face, Brandon nodded his head frantically.

Mm, yes. His pupils were completely dyed with fear, this’ll be good enough for now.

“It’s fine as long as you understand. Personally, I don’t care what you do from here on. But you better take care to never show up in front of Lewin. If you do, I’ll make sure you know the true definition of ‘pain’.” (Irene)

Because I smashed his jaw earlier, he could only wordlessly nod in response. As always, violence was the easiest way to make people understand. Brandon was acting all arrogant and pretentious just a few minutes ago, but now he was grovelling in front of me, pleading for mercy with puppy eyes.

Now that I had done what needed to be done, it was about time to head back. It’d been a long time since I felt this satisfied. I flicked 1 gold coin to the owner to apologize for making a mess of the place before leaving the battered and broken Brandon behind as I left the bar.

A short while after that, I heard from an adventurer party that frequented my store that Brandon had left Grezesta. I never told him to leave the city, but… I guess I might’ve been too harsh on a regular person. Well in my opinion, it was better for Brandon to leave Grezesta, for both his sake and Lewin’s sake.