Chapter 25
Realizing that I had missed an entire day of work for Big Mom, I immediately began to rush Indiana to quickly pack up his part of the camp and we, saddling a horse, galloped into town.
We returned to the tavern after selling the extra meat at the exchange only at noon and were met from the doorway by a menacing look from Marymi , from which my knees shook slightly, and I involuntarily went behind Jones, which seemed to only anger her even more.
- Girl! Came to me quickly! - from the full of rage scream of Big Mom even the walls vibrated slightly.
- H-hello, Marymi . - I greeted her timidly, coming closer.
- Where have you been? Do you even know how much meat was lost because of your absence?! - She asked, leaning towards my face, from which my whole body began to shake except for my knees, and memories of how she stood opposite me began to flash in my head... Lona in the main arena Noera dressed in armor made of demonic flesh and holding a huge katana in her hands, and I, unconsciously, without even taking out my staff, began to prepare a water spell to throw off a potential threat.
And just as suddenly, those images disappeared as her hand came to rest on my shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly, and the mana that was about to burst out dissipated harmlessly into the air.
- Let's go. - the woman said more calmly and led me to my room. Indiana wanted to go with us, but after just one menacing look from this woman, he changed his mind.
Soon I was already sitting on my bed, and Marymi , sitting on a chair, was opposite me.
"So, tell me," she said, looking into my eyes with the utmost seriousness.
- W-what should I tell you? - I tried to evade the question, involuntarily breaking eye contact.
- Don't play with me girl! It's only been 4 days and you're back looking like a war casualty. And I'm warning you, either you tell me everything now or you become nothing more than any other refugee in this tavern to me, and believe me, they are nothing more than trash that belongs in the gutter, do you understand? - She grabbed my face roughly, forcing me to look her in the eyes.
-…- I don't know why it was so easy for me to tell Indiana everything, but now it's like there's a lump in my throat, preventing me from making a sound.
- As you wish. - She let me go and stood up from her chair heading towards the exit. - You better not forget to pay for your stay, girl.
- Wait... I... I'll tell you. - I jumped up. Not at all afraid of having to pay. But because of the feeling that if she left it would be an irreparable loss for me.
- Okay. - Releasing the door handle, she returned and sat down opposite me again. - I'm listening.
- …
- Girl, don't test my patience.
- I just don't know where to start. It's all very complicated.
- ...- sighing heavily, suppressing her irritation, she nevertheless gave me time to collect my thoughts.
And I started talking. Unlike when I told Indiana, I was no longer overwhelmed by emotions. And I quite calmly, at least it seemed that way to me, told her almost everything except one detail. I didn't tell her that I was a time traveler. Perhaps it wasn't quite right, but it seemed to me that it was better not to do that.
"So that's how it is," the woman said thoughtfully, licking her lips.
- Okay. I know what you need. - She slapped her hands on her knees and stood up.
- Is it true?
- Yes. You are tormented by fear, which means you must face it, - she said.
- Huh? You mean?
- Yes, we'll go hunting.
- And we will hunt?
- On everyone.
On this day, for the first time in many years, the strongest mercenary Noera came to the guild counter to take a quest. The poor administrator was so shocked that he couldn't even object to her when she took a whole bunch of quests for our squad at once, and as soon as we handed over the boar skins to get a reward for the quest we took earlier, she dragged me and Indiana to hunt.
And the first on the list of our victims were those whom I personally did not expect at all, because given the information I know, Noer's crime is supported by the city's mayor. And we found ourselves in front of the local black market, which was located inside a huge, slightly shabby wooden hangar, which by its very appearance, to put it mildly, evoked unpleasant details of Lona's memories, from which I was shaking from fear inside, then awakened an animal rage and only the fact that I tried to keep my emotions in check saved me now.
" You go and destroy all the filth inside. That should help with your fear of the slavers," Marymi said .
- Wait. What about you? - I looked at her and the tense Jones.
- We'll be there as backup. Go. - She pushed me towards the hangar.
I was, to put it mildly, in shock.
"Single-handedly slaughter an entire slave traders' den? Is she kidding?" flashed through my mind.
"If you don't go yourself, I'll just throw you inside," threatened the big mommy, coming closer to me, apparently planning to carry out her threat.
- I'm coming! - I jumped away from her in horror and turned to the doors of the Hangar, swallowing the saliva that had become viscous, I approached them. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I opened the door just enough to slip through a small gap.
I knew that as soon as I took the next step there would be no way back and I involuntarily froze again in front of this very door. Memories of how my predecessor got here seemed to flash before my eyes. The faces of the bastards who had mocked Lona flashed before me , as well as the same faces, but on heads separated from their bodies, after the retribution of a seemingly fragile 14-year-old girl. And I grabbed the last memory like a straw and finally squeezed into a small crack.
My gaze immediately fell upon two men with spears in their hands, standing guard, leaning their backs against the wooden beams.
- Hey Scott, is it just me or did the goods just come into our hands? - one of them spoke up when he saw who had visited them.
- He-he, sometimes luck favors us too, - the second one answered with a nasty smile, starting to walk towards me.
Meanwhile, I was in a strange, almost emotionless state. The only thing I had in my thoughts was the path to achieving my goal. I slowly approached them to meet them, completely unarmed.
- Don't worry girl, we'll take good care of you. - I was already so close that the sickening smell from the speaker's mouth reached my nose. He was about to put his hand on my shoulder, when suddenly a silver crescent flashed and I was doused with a fountain of blood that spurted from a decapitated body.
- What the ... - before the second guard could finish speaking, his throat was pierced by the tip of a straight saber.
He dropped his spear in shock, and with one sharp movement to the side, I cut off half of his head, freed the blade and, not paying attention to the fall of the already fallen corpse, moved on, and instead of a saber, a staff appeared in my hands.
I walked with a calm, slow step, as if I was just strolling through a familiar, like the back of my hand, room, ignoring the long-broken slaves sitting in cages, who no longer imagined any other life except in captivity.
When I pushed the doors and entered, I was met by a dozen pairs of eyes. In which various emotions flashed from bewilderment to wariness. They were sitting at a large table, on which stacks of coins of different denominations were scattered, which were most likely used as a bet, and 2 more half-naked sleeping in the corner
Without saying a word, I waved my left hand and released the prepared spell at them, which manifested itself as a giant ball of water that fell right between them and swept them off their chairs, flooding the floor. And then, using the increased magical conductivity of the staff, I charged the nearest bastard with a lightning spell, which was transmitted along the chain to everyone.
3 seconds. 100 mana. 10 corpses. Such is the legacy of the god-slayer Lona Falldin.
Naturally, after something like this, the remaining two bald guys could no longer ignore what was happening and, quickly pulling up their pants, they grabbed the first weapon they came across and rushed towards me.
As they approached, I knew I had many options to get rid of them without letting them get close. I could shoot a fireball at them that would blow them apart. I could use earth magic to impale them on stone spears that would easily pass through the wooden floor, I could even pick up a bow and I was more than sure that I would not miss. But instead, a saber appeared in my hand, and a bloodthirsty grin involuntarily crawled onto my face. I knew that in pure brute force I would be inferior to them, but I did not need to measure strength.
While the first one lunged with his spear, intending to impale me on him, I, taking just one seemingly lazy step to the side, avoided the spear tip before jerking closer to him and piercing the attacker's throat with one precise movement, after which I grabbed him by the clothes, turned him around and pushed him towards the second bandit armed with a short sword as a distraction.
He quickly pushed the corpse of his former colleague away from himself and with a swing of his blade barely managed to parry my thrust aimed at his side. Using the momentum of our collision, I spun on the toe of my right foot in a squat, slashed my saber across his right thigh and immediately jumped back from his awkward attempt to counterattack.
- Bitch , - the man hissed, grabbing the profusely bleeding wound with his free hand and looking at me with hatred.
- Yes, that's exactly the look I wanted to see, - I said, getting some strange sadistic pleasure from his look. - Do you hate me? Yes? He-he.
"Don't be afraid," I said softly after a short laugh, coming closer.
"But I hate you too!" I screamed, knocking the weapon out of the man's hands, weakened from loss of blood.
- I hate all of you, pathetic, vile bastards. - I kicked him in the face with a roundhouse kick, sending him crashing to the floor, while putting the saber back in my inventory.
- Ugh . - The fall knocked the wind out of him, but unfortunately for him the torment was not over yet, it was he who was unlucky enough to take on the emotions that were bursting out.
I sat on his stomach and grabbed his jaw with my left hand, not allowing him to move his head, I brought the thumb of my right hand to his left eye socket and began to slowly press.
- Aaaaah ! - He roared, trying to throw me off himself with his hands, but he didn't have enough strength and soon his eyeball burst with a squelching sound, accompanied by a squeal reminiscent of a pig.
- I don't remember letting you touch me with your dirty hands. - I said when I got tired of his desperate attempts to throw me off. And I pulled out two arrows and nailed his hands to the floor under another roar of pain.
- What is it? Are you in pain? - I asked maliciously , grabbing his jaw with my right hand and digging my left claws into his skin near his other eye.
- Did you think that by becoming a slave trader you would have an easy life full of money and women? - the claws of my right hand dug into his cheeks until they bled.
- Please ... please ... - the bastard begged, bursting into tears from his only whole eye, but instead of pity he achieved the opposite effect.
- Don't you dare beg me! - I rose up from him abruptly, then turned him over onto his stomach and placed my palm on his thigh, stopping the blood with the help of healing. And then, tearing the fabric off his back, with two sharp blows of the saber I chopped off part of his ribs on both sides of the spine.
- AAA! - a roar full of pain was heard, but it was far from the end of his torment. Putting my hands through the cuts, I grabbed the severed ribs and pulled them to the sides from the spine, spreading them like wings. Ignoring the splashes of blood that fell on my face and clothes. When I finished, there were only 2 sounds left in the room, my heavy breathing from adrenaline, and the slave who was afraid to move. The man fell silent halfway through the bloody action.
"Am I going crazy?" I asked, slightly stunned, looking at my arms, covered in blood up to the elbows, while realizing that I felt only a strange satisfaction.
"Top-Top" - came the well-known sound of big mommy's heavy steps.
- Lona? - Indiana, who had entered after Marymi , called me cautiously .
- Yes? - I looked back at him.
"Are you smiling?" Indiana asked, shocked.
- M? - I ran my bloody fingers over my lips, which were curved in an obvious shape.
"Yes, I'm smiling," I nodded, acknowledging the obvious. Which probably looked extremely creepy considering I was on the lower back of a corpse that had partially undergone one of the most brutal executions known to human history.
- Well , at least she's not afraid now, - Marymi said optimistically.