༺ Cultist Nymph and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth (4) ༻
“P-Please, spare …”
Barnes murmured in a weak, almost fading tone… as though he was about to die at any mont now.
Seeing the veteran adventurer in this pitiful state, far from the overwhelming confidence he had been exuding just monts ago, I was finally able to calm down slightly.
“P-Please, spare …”
“No can do, motherfucker!”
That, however, didn’t an that I would forgive him for the things he said to . So, I punched him in the jaw once again with all my might which resulted in him imdiately losing consciousness.
And thus… he now beca a quiet person who could no longer cuss at soone’s parents or plead for their life anymore. The mont the noisy guy stopped chattering, I finally felt a sense of peace washing over my heart.
This Barnes bastard had beco a good boy during the last monts of our duel.
I suddenly realized sothing. Everyone beca a nice person once they got punched enough tis.
Didn’t that basically an that thick fists and long and hard clubs made for excellent moral teachers for the people of this barbaric world?
Anyway, after confirming that Barnes was down for the count and would not be able to utter any more of his nonsense, I got up and threw a question at the authorities standing outside the ring.
“Does this count as a win for ?”
“Yes, it is without a doubt your flawless victory. And… as per the guild’s customs, Barnes Rodelheim will be expelled from the guild and imprisoned in the city jail! Guards!”
Clang— Thud—
At Hippolyte’s calling, the guild guards, clad in full body armor, appeared one after another with quick strides. They lifted Barnes’s body, sprawled on the sandy ground of the ring, and dragged him away to who knows where.
Losing in a duel not only resulted in being expelled from the guild but also being thrown into prison. When I think about it… this was really an insane rule they had going there and was an absolute fit for this barbaric world. Damn it! Luckily, I was able to win sohow.
I, however, didn’t feel particularly happy or excited about winning the duel.
Instead, I began to calm down like soone who had just narrowly escaped the clutches of danger. This allowed to start hearing the surrounding noises and the people’s voices and breathing more vividly.
“That Barnes guy… actually got beaten up like so back alley trash…”
“However, that punk… wasn’t he still a promising guy with great potential?”
“You have to be careful not to insult a Samaritan’s parents in front of them.”
“Goddamn! Aren’t punks like him practically swarming all over the Dark Wilderness that’s located across the continent? It’s fucking terrifying. I’m glad that the Samaritans, in general, are afraid of sailing across the seas to travel to new lands and like living in seclusion in their holand.”
The spectators of the fight whispered to each other in soft about the fight they had just witnessed, as though they found the duel very exciting and exhilarating and couldn’t wait to gossip about it. It seed like they were trying to whisper their feelings to the others in hushed voices so that their words wouldn’t reach my ears.
After the duel, my concentration oddly heightened to the extre, and all sorts of noises beca clearer than ever in my ears, including the sounds of the people swallowing their saliva, their exhaling breaths, and every other noise imaginable that was contained in the surroundings. It was a suffocating feeling; as if soone had ramped up the volu of the world to the maximum and only allowed to experience the full brunt of that action.
“Samaritan—”
“Even the Mars Guild has such talented individuals—”
“A formidable foreign indigenous race with unimaginable strength and power—”
As those voices grew louder and louder in my ears, to the point where I could feel a throbbing headache starting to erge from within…
“Holy shh! Hassan! I won money! I bet 50 coppers on you winning the match! I earned two silvers after betting only 50 coppers! Holy shh!!!”
And suddenly, as soon as I heard Luna’s voice and saw her jumping all over the area outside the arena, I felt that the odd, almost eerie, phenona of the sudden increase in my hearing vanished into thin air like a lie.
“Luna, did you bet money on ?”
“If I had more money on , then I would have bet so more. Anyway, I won four tis the amount I had gambled with!”
“Hmm, okay then. That’s good enough.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After the duel ended in my unilateral victory, we returned to the small cabin that belonged to Luna.
The living space on the second floor of the cabin was currently filled with the groaning sounds of the pain I felt all over.
“Eugh, ahhhh, does this really have an effect?”
“Yes, I have told you already, haven’t I? It’s good for bruises once you apply it to the swollen area. I bought it with the two silvers I had earned from betting today.”
“Hmm, thank you. Ah, ouch…”
Luna attached a leaf, shaped like a human hand, to my bruised chest and gently stroked it with her slender hands. Normally, it would have felt very itchy to have this sticky material latched onto . However, as my chest was throbbing due to the pain I felt from my wounds, I was only able to feel increasingly more pain even though Luna was being so gentle in applying the dicinal patch to . I hadn’t realized the magnitude of my injuries back then as my head was filled with adrenaline due to the anger and excitent that was boiling inside throughout the duration of the fight.
Now that I was in a safe place and could finally breathe a sigh of relief, the pain that had been building up inside was like a dam that had finally found the chance to burst, wreaking havoc on my body with its overwhelming might. It was probably happening because the adrenaline rush had already subsided and my body was now back in its normal state.
Did he say that his na was Barnes? Fucking damn it! He was a bastard with a an punch. No wonder he had the balls to challenge to a duel with such confidence even after knowing who I was. It made think that if I hadn’t gotten agitated enough to ignore everything except for the rage and hatred I felt for the guy, I probably might have been knocked out by his fierce punches and lost the duel.
Fuck! Now that I think about it, how the hell did I even win? Could I win if we fought again? Of course, since he was locked up in jail already, there was no chance for to ever see him again.
As I reminisced about the duel that had just taken place, Luna suddenly spoke.
“Okay, I’ve applied everything to your chest! Are there any other painful spots?”
“O-On my flank…”
“Your flank? But the leaf patches have all run out now. Hmm…”
Luna looked a bit troubled after she realized that she had run out of all her miraculous pain-reducing leaves.
“Let’s just put so saliva on it. That should do the trick!”
Then, befitting soone belonging to this barbaric and superstitious world, Luna made a nonsensical remark and proceeded to lower her head toward my flank.
Lick— Lick— Lick—
And soon after, she suddenly ran her tongue along the reddish spot on my left flank, licking it with all she had.
“Heh, heh.”
But it felt so ticklish that I couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter.
“How do you feel? Any better?”
“I think I do? B-But it hurts in other places too. Can you put your saliva in there too?”
“Where?”
Luna looked up and glanced at my face. The look she gave was cute in its own way, so I couldn’t help but want to play a prank with her.
“M-My, my lips too…”
“I-It seems like you didn’t get beaten enough back there! I-I’m going to start preparations for tomorrow’s expedition!”
After saying that, Luna slapped my back with her palm and stood up. As Luna had already said, we needed to make adequate preparations for tomorrow’s expedition.
Moreover, I also had an important role to play in said expedition. Maybe it was because of the duel earlier, but I didn’t feel like doing anything and thus decided to lie down on the deerskin carpet.
It was fortunate that I was able to win the duel.
But what was this feeling of loss that I was washing over my mind right now?
Clang— Thump—
A loud noise of sothing like a wide tal plate falling on the wooden floor was suddenly heard. When I turned my head, I saw the sight of Luna picking up an old breastplate from the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying on these armor pieces that we took from that punk, Barnes, but they aren’t fitting well.”
“Well, they were made for n, after all.”
Of course, the loot I picked up wasn’t sothing I could wear either. I would have to sell them secondhand at the armor shop later and get a breastplate or sothing for myself.
Even if it was secondhand, including the gauntlets made of steel, I could get around 30 silver for them, right? When I thought about it, it seed like the duel hadn’t been all that fruitless as I thought of it to be.
No, wait a minute.
If I could make 30 silvers with just one fight, wouldn’t it be quite profitable to request a duel against weaker-looking guys and plunder their belongings indiscriminately? While I was thinking along those lines…
…
I realized that Luna was eerily quiet right now which was so uncharacteristic of her. Thinking that sothing was wrong, I pushed myself up from the carpet that I had laid on and turned my head… only to see the sight of her curled up in the corner of the room, squinting intently at sothing.
“What are you doing?”
“Aren’t we going to enter a maze tomorrow? I’m painting a protective spell with so dye.”
Feeling curious about the ‘protective spell’ she was making, I took a closer look at her. I imdiately found out that Luna was painting her toes with a dye that was inside a little glass bottle or sothing.
So, she was doing a pedicure, huh? The light pink dye actually matched quite well with Luna’s pinkish hair.
But her current actions felt more like doing makeup rather than the voodoo arts that she had claid to be doing.
Of course, I didn’t say that out loud.
Just watching Luna’s cute toes being painted with pink nail polish made feel a little less pain and a bit more relief in my body.
“W-Why are you staring at soone else’s feet like that? Do you want to paint your toenails too?”
“No.”
I silently watched Luna paint her nails and toes with dye for so ti.
Slide— Slide—
Maybe because she was feeling embarrassed by my blatant stare or maybe because she couldn’t stand the silence anymore, Luna opened her mouth to speak.
“Hey, Hassan, I never thought you’d have a second na.”
“My second na?”
“I an Zagreus… Why didn’t you tell ? I didn’t know you had a last na like that…”
Luna frowned deeply, looking like she was really upset for so reason. Was she sulking because I had kept a secret from her? But this ti, I also felt that it was unfair for to get treated as such by her.
“I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t know I had that na either. It’s a na that ca out of the blue.”
It was the first ti I had heard of that long-ass title— Jupiter’s descendant or sothing. To be honest, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being teased and harassed with that title.
“If you also don’t know about it, then it must have been a new second na given by the guild which acts as a last na or a surna.”
“The guild could also give us a last na or surna?”
“Yeah, since in the guilds like Mars and Minerva, which also serves as a temple for their respective gods, we have so temple duties to perform alongside the usual adventuring. For example, Hippolyte works both as an adventurer and a priestess simultaneously. The priests or priestesses in the temple sotis also bestow a second na to exceptional adventurers like an oracle from the gods that they can use as their surnas.”
My mind then once again wandered on to the thoughts of Hippolyte, who was wearing a red robe during the duel. I didn’t notice it when she was wearing armor or comfortable clothing, but she looked fit to be a priestess after putting on the sacred red robe.
“Hmm, I see.”
“Anyway, it’s good news to have a second na as a surna since it’s one of the ways for imperfect beings like humans to get closer to the gods who reside on the high mountains of Olympus. It raises one’s dignity!”
Raising one’s dignity? Does it an improving one’s physical attributes? I had a hard ti understanding Luna’s words. They were not written in the encyclopedias of this world after all.
I wasn’t able to understand what the connection was between having a last na and being close to the gods.
Honestly, I wasn’t interested in the whole thing about getting a last na or how it would raise one’s dignity, but Luna kept chattering on as if she had been waiting for a topic like this which she was an expert in to co up in our conversations.
“Most of the gods have two nas. One is a na that creatures like us can easily call them with, and the other is the grand na holding their divinity, known as the True Na.”
Her babbling reminded of a drenched sparrow that couldn’t stop chattering even if its life depended on it. It looked sowhat ridiculous to but I still pretended to be interested in her speech. Maybe this was what being in a relationship actually felt like.
“What is this True Na exactly?”
“Well, the true nas of the gods aren’t sothing that creatures like us can call out lightly. So they bestowed upon us humans with their first na so that we can freely use that na to call them.”
I couldn’t quite grasp the aning of “bestowed with their na” that she spoke of so I asked Luna a question from what I understood on my own to clarify this whole matter.
“If we use Mars, as an example, does that an Mars is the god of war’s fake na, and there is a separate True Na which is his real na?”
“That’s right! Anyway, a na and a last na or a second na… Having two nas like this is a sign that we, as creatures, are getting closer to the gods— the creators of this world and everything contained within it. So nobles or famous adventurers alike all have a second na.”
“Ah, I see. So that’s how it is, huh?”
Those with a second na seed to be people from wealthy families or famous adventurers who were bestowed with a last na.
Luna had a second na— Knoxdotty and Hippolyte also had a second na— Heavensinger, which was not often ntioned.
Although Elfriede did not ntion it much, she also had a second na— Desmund.
As for , I was just Hassan.
But now, I had a strange second na attached to as well which acted as a surna of sorts.
Getting another surna, other than the one I had received from my parents, made feel strange… as if I suddenly got another father. How should I describe this feeling? It was almost like, “Huh? I have two fathers now?” or sothing along those lines.
“But why did it have to be Zagreus? Just what the hell is that? It sounds so weird and I honestly don’t like it.”
“Anyway, since the second na is only used during prayers or religious ceremonies, we wouldn’t have to hear it often, so it’s kind of okay, isn’t it?”
If it was a na that would only be used during religious ceremonies, could we think of it as a baptismal na that you would receive from the church in Christian and Jewish religions?
If that were to be the case, I didn’t think I would have to say my surna in front of others.
After all, fucking hell, even Hassan was not my real na.
Actually, my real na is Ha-san.
It’s a na with the family na Ha and a single character which ant Mountain attached to it in the end.
As I wondered how I ca to be called Hassan, the face of soone, who may very well be called the first true friend I made in this world, popped into my mind.
He was a dumb-looking guy for being a barbarian who was notorious for his brutality.
Originally, the na Hassan was a nickna that he gave . What would he say if he knew that I now wielded a cool last na or second na that ca after the na he gave ?
Wouldn’t he probably say, “Damn! You barbarian bastard, you’ve made it big, haven’t you!?” and feel pleased about it?
“Hassan, what are you thinking about?”
Luna stared at my face intently while I was lost in my idle thoughts.
“I have finished painting all my fingers! It looks good, doesn’t it!?”
Luna showed off her nails which were painted in a light pink color, almost akin to cherry blossoms, by wiggling them in front of . And thus, just by looking at her lively appearance, all the worries and negative thoughts that were churning inside of my mind disappeared like smoke in the wind.
“Arrghh, I can’t stand it anymore!”
I pulled Luna’s waist and lay her on the deerskin, burying my face in her soft, fluffy, and supple chest.
“W-What are you doing!?”
Fluffy— Supple—
There was a thing about Luna’s soft and warm skin that lted people’s emotions into a warm and pleasant form. It was the warst and softest thing I have ever encountered in this world.
I felt like I could now understand why n sotis behave like fools when they are dating or are married.
When I buried my face in such a warm and soft place of hers, all my thoughts, including my worries and concerns, were washed away like they were being cleansed by holy water.
I would love to give Luna a peck on her face right now, but I decided to listen to Luna’s heartbeat quietly by putting my ear on the left side of her chest.
Badump— Badump—
It was a steady and rhythmic heartbeat. It was clear that a very healthy heart lay beneath her soft and supple flesh.
“Puft, it tickles! What are you doing, Hassan?”
“I’m listening to the voice of your heart.”
“My voice…?”
“I can also recognize you by your voice, Luna, no matter where you are.”
“R-Really…?”
Luna seed to understand my words and fell silent, lying still and staring at the ceiling like she was thinking of sothing at that mont.
Badump—
Badump—
As I was concentrating on the sound of her lively heart beating in a loud and steady rhythm—
Suddenly, I thought that instead of just rembering her voice, I should also familiarize myself with her softness.
It would be great if I could tell whether soone was Luna or not just by touching her chest with even my eyes closed. I’m indeed a very smart fellow, aren’t I? Should I try touching her right now?
Hehe—
“Hassan, can we do well in Pluto’s labyrinth tomorrow? I’m a little worried about it.”
“Huh, what are you worried about?”
“Um, like… Hassan, Paranoy the Presolyte, Didier the One-legged Dwarf, Velmina the Witch of Frost, and … The five of us are going into the labyrinth, so I’m a little worried that—”
“Hold on, what?”
…Five people?
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