It was the start of a usual day, the usual morning. I woke up with Diana in my hands, received my morning kiss, dressed and we both went downstairs to the kitchen to make breakfast. I started a fire, Diana, as usual, made breakfast. We ate, chatting about anything that we wanted, I was called a clueless 'Dragon' more than once, she was called 'my love'.
After finishing our breakfast, we, as usual, went to the guild to meet up with the others. The guild was unusually crowded today, there was a circle of people in the middle and I heard someone shouting from within the circle. "I don't care who you are, you can be the king, for all I care, we're not giving you our equipment!" It was Sara.
Diana Looked tense, so I reassured her that with me there, nothing bad could happen. We made our way to the center of the circle. There, on one side, stood our party members and, on the other side, stood a group of nine men in expensive looking equipment.
"Do I need to repeat myself? We are the 'mithril' party - 'Blood roar' - the second ranked party in the kingdom!" The obvious leader of the group stated proudly. "And if you had already forgotten my face, I am the current heir of the Bladeheart family - Zaiger Bladeheart." Bladeheart? That's Diana's ex family, what is one of those bastards doing here?
The man continued. "There's no way that trash like you, who were thrown out of the family, could obtain such equipment by fair means. You obviously stole it somehow. Give it to us, it would suit a real 'mithril' party such as the 'Blood roar' far more than some wanabies like you."
My party members looked furious. I was about to step in, but Diana held onto my hand, preventing me from doing so. Clive spoke. "You can't prove that the equipment is stolen, now can you? And even if it is, what right do you have to just take it from us?"
Zaiger spoke with a malicious smile addressing everyone in the room. "These people, these peasants claim that they, somehow, managed to afford equipment made from 'Greater dragon' and 'Owl bear" parts? Do you all believe that?" He turned around as he spoke. "We, the 'Blood Roar' - a party that has spent so much time fighting the demons at the border, sacrificing so much sweat and tears for this nation, don't we deserve this equipment more than these thieves?"
"We didn't steal it, nor did we buy it, it was given to us by someone." Sara said.
"Right, as if there's someone in the world stupid enough to give out treasures of such magnitude to a bunch of nobodies…" He started laughing, the rest of the people in the room started murmuring, most taking the side of the 'Blood roar'. "Tell us then, who is this incredibly rich and magnanimous bastard that shits gold? I'd love to meet him."
I finally stepped in. "It's me, while I'm pretty sure that my poop isn't that valuable, getting this equipment wasn't hard."
Zaiger turned to me, looked me up and down, noticing that I wasn't wearing any expensive equipment, and with a snare started laughing. "You? You, a guy that looks dirt poor, got this equipment? Then why aren't you wearing any? Don't make me laugh, kid. Shoo, shoo get out of here, the adults are talking now." His party members started laughing.
Sara smiled. "It was him, alright… Don't let appearances fool you, my brother in law has collected the materials in the 'Great labyrinth' with his own two hands. He's the strongest dra-person in this room."
Zaiger looked takken it back, then his eyes landed on Diana, she lowered her eyes, he smiled. "Well, if it isn't the disappointment of the Bladeheart family… Congrats, not only did you tie the knot with a commoner, he's a lying imbecile as well." The adventurers surrounding us went silent, as if knowing what would happen next. "And you, commoner, tell me how you found these materials in the dungeon if there are no 'owl bears' or 'dragons' in it? Even if there were, are you saying that you can defeat them? Kid, I don't want to be rude, since we're family now, but even the 'Blood Roar' would have difficulty dispatching such foes as a party and you claim to have defeated them alone?"
I smiled internally, already knowing what I was going to do to this pompous noble's face in a minute or two for insulting me and my pretios Diana. "First of all, they do exist in the labyrinth, you just have to look deeper. You can find 'Owl bears' on the 80th floor and there lived a 'True dragon' on the 101st. If you guys are too weak to deal with small fry like them, it's no problem of mine."
I was interrupted with obnoxious laughter. "This kid needs a reality check. You claim that you've cleared the whole labyrinth yourself? You cleared the 'Great labyrinth' that has 100 floors and which was stuck on the 48th for decades now to the 101st floor?" Zaiger turned to Diana, shaking his head in disappointment he continued. "You really know how to pick men I see. Don't worry, since we were once a part of the same family, I'll give your man a reality check in the form of a beating." He raised his fist, ready to strike me.
Zaiger flew out of the guild building breaking the door and landed in the street. I, walking with two of his men struggling with their necks in my hands, slowly followed out after him. In an instant I had taken all of them down and now was the time to humiliate them. No one insults the people that I care about.
I approached Zaiger who was trying to get up and kicked him in the chest, shattering his plate armor. He flew back and hit the wall, the two men in my hands lost consciousness, so I threw them to the ground.
"Bastard! Do you know who I am?! I am the heir of the mph…" Zaiger stopped speaking, possibly because my foot was now comfortably placed in his mouth.
"You could be the king himself for all I care, the treatment from me would be the same. You insulted me and insulted what is mine, now how are you going to pay for that?"
He tried speaking, so I took my foot out of his mouth. "You're a dead man! You hear me, you're dead! My family will, mph…" I shoved my foot back in.
"You really don't understand the position that you're in, do you? If I wanted you would already be dead." This shut him up. "I'll ask you again, how are you going to pay for that?"
He stayed silent for a minute then I took my foot out. "W-what do you want?"
I smiled. "You will apologize on your knees to my party members." He was about to protest, but I continued. "If I feel that the apology isn't sincere enough, I'll beat you until you apologize sincerely. Do you understand?"
"You, you're insane!"
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
He lowered his gaze. "Y-yes…"
Zaiger stood up and limped over into the building, I followed. He approached Sara and the others, stood there for a moment just looking at them, then finally went to his knees and said. "Please forgive me for my rudeness, I've learned my lesson."
I looked at Sara, she, catching my gaze, smiled and nodded, then I looked at Clive and Zen, who nodded as well. Finally I turned to Diana, she stayed motionless. I kicked Zaiger in the ass, extracting a loud grunt. That received Diana's nod. The apology was accepted, so I magnanimously allowed Zaiger to wake up his goons and limp out of the adventurers guild.
Sara approached me. "You went overboard, now we have a powerful enemy to contend with. You should have just let it go."
"I'm not the kind of guy to let myself be bullied. Were you going to give your equipment to them?"
"Not a chance, but there could have been a more reasonable way to deal with the situation." She smiled. "It was satisfying though."
"I'm glad that you appreciate my art." I turned to Clive, he was already ready to give me an earful, but before he could speak I silenced him and said. "Something big came up and I need advice. Ale is on me."
"Something big? Huh, fine, but don't think that you won't get scolded for today afterwards. Let's go."
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Clive sipped his favorite fruit ale. "So, what's the problem this time? Is Diana finally ready to throw you out or something? Let me guess, you went to a brothel behind her back? No, you were too lazy and didn't contribute in the house? To be honest, I never expected the two of you to last this long, I'm impressed."
"I see that in your eyes I'm still a scumbag, some friend you are. But it's not it, She's pregnant."
Clive spat out his ale. "Pregnant!? Are you guys sure? Who's the father? Don't tell me that it's you?"
"Who else, do you take Diana for the type of girl to sleep around?"
"Well, now that you mention it, she's definitely not." He sighed. "But still, this is definitely a problem… To think that another one of you will see the light in a few months… I shutter just thinking about it."
"Yeah, I'm a bit worried myself, that's why I said that I have a problem."
"Let's hope that the kid won't be an unhinged loose cannon like the father, or else… The world as we know it might end. Yes, a powerhouse with Diana's soft character would be a nice addition to our party in a few decades."
"You're exaggerating, I might suck as a human, but maybe, just maybe I can pass as a father."
Clive looked at me intently. "No offense, man, but that's impossible." Then he started thinking. "If the child inherits your strength and is raised by you, it will spell disaster, but if a reasonable adult steps in to teach the kid how to act, a reasonable father figure to teach the kid what's wrong and right… It might be possible…"
I smiled. "Good thing that I have the right man for the job." I patted Clive's back.
He sat there for a moment. "You, bastard! You were planning to push the responsibility on to me from the very beginning, weren't you? This whole 'I have a problem' spiel was just an elaborate scheme to make me the godfather."
"What can I say, you said it yourself that if I take a leading role in raising a kid, the world is doomed. You as a resident of this world have a responsibility to prevent its destruction."
"Is this your new scheme to push work on me? It's just that this time the work that you're pushing on me is astronomical. I gotta hand it to you, you're getting smarter by the day, and your people using skills are becoming befitting of your power."
So, what do you say? Are you going to nobly and valiantly sacrifice a few days of your time a week to save this world from impending tragedy or are you too selfish?"
He thought for a while. "Sigh, it seems that I have no choice… But every time we go drinking, you're the one picking up the tab, got it, you machiavellistic 'Dragon'?"
"Deal!"
"Hey, what about marriage? In this world, it's a great dishonor for a child to be born out of wedlock."
"Why am I only hearing it now?"
"Diana was probably embarrassed and didn't want to push you, as for Sara… She's Sara."
"Makes sense."
"So, are you going to marry her?"
I sat there for a moment, sipping my ale, then stood up. "I'm going to the capital for a ring, see you."
"What do you mean the capital? You can find a ring in town. Besides, the capital is hundreds of kilometers away and we have a job tomorrow, the round trip in a carriage could take you weeks. And can you, for the first time in your life, pay your portion of the bill!?"
"Don't worry I'll be back by noon. I have fast legs."
"Your bill!!!"
Diana you deserve something more than a simple gold ring, you will wear on your finger a treasure that can't be obtained in this backwater town.
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It was the start of a usual day. I was running from the capital back home with a gift that was supposed to charm Diana and win me one of her gentle smiles. The wind was rattling my hair, I could feel the ground beneath my feet and I already imagined what I was going to say. I arrived at the predetermined meeting spot of our party and, to my horror, I saw them - the corpses of my party members laying around like discarded trash.
My stomach sank, at first I thought that it was just a cruel joke. Zen was laying on the ground, half naked - stripped of his armor and with numerous bruises all over his body, his limbs bent unnaturally. Clive was pinned to a tree with daggers, arrows sticking out of his guts. My eyes searched for Diana and I found her completely naked with her limbs chopped off and body bruised. Blood was leaking from her eyes and mouth. This wasn't the work of monsters, they wouldn't rob or torture their victims, that means that it was… Humans.
Then, when I was about to lose it, I heard a faint breathing. I turned to the side that the sound was coming from to see Sara. Just like Diana, she was completely naked, her legs were severed and her eyes bled.
"Sara, what happened here?" I asked with a strangely calm and collected voice.
"Oh, it's you newbie." She gave a weak smile. "Nothing much, just scum being scum." Her breathing was labored and unstable.
"Where are the health potions? There might still be time for you."
"Ha ha ha hah, very funny, they took them all. On top of that, look at me, they took my legs and my eyes. There's no place for me in this world without those, besides… I'd rather not abandon my friends…"
I stayed silent for a moment. "The others… You know that they…"
"Yeah, cough, cough, they're dead. There's no changing that fact, no matter how many health potions you use.
I stayed silent, then asked again. "What happened here?"
"Sigh, it was the 'Blood Roar' and they were pissed. They ambushed us here. We fought back as best as we could, but they simply overwhelmed us. Zen was knocked out first, when he fell I tried to protect the others, but we were surrounded, so we all fell. They took our loot and killed us cough, cough."
I looked at the bodies around. "This doesn't seem like a simple killing, this is more like a…"
"Listen, there's no need for you to hear the whole story, just get out of here and live on…"
"I'll decide what I need to hear."
She stayed quiet for a moment. "Fine, be my guest. After they knocked us out, took our loot and tied us up, they tortured us until they were satisfied. Zen was beaten mercilessly, then they took heavy rocks and pulverized his limbs one by one. Clive was fixed to the tree and used as an archery target, they bet on who's arrow would be the one to finish him. As for us girls, as you can see, we were raped…"
"They did it in order, every member got a turn, some more than one. They seemed to enjoy me, but Diana's screams tickled their fancy even more, they cut our limbs and gouged out our eyes, so that we couldn't fight back, but burned the wounds, so that they could play with us a little longer cough, cough. It's strange, after losing my eyes, the horror that I felt… I could almost taste it and all I could focus on was pain and Diana's screams." I stayed silent. "If I may ask, where were you this whole time while we were dying here?"
"In the capital… I wanted to buy Diana something special?"
"Did you succeed?"
"Does it matter?"
She smiled. "I guess not…"
We both stayed silent, Sara's breathing getting more and more labor intensive. Finally she asked. "You, don't seem sad, nor do you seem angry nor in despair, did we really mean so little to you that you won't even shed a tear?"
"You're wrong, I'm saving those emotions for a bit later. I'll let all of it go in one fell swoop when the time comes…"
"Cough, cough, and when will that be?"
"While seeing the members of the 'Blood roar' begging me to finally end it."