episode_0117

A Story Zeke Doesn’t Know

“Ugh… seriously… this hill is so steep… Why is it so hard…”

As Zeke and Aria explored the Magrion region, they arrived at a village. The moment Zeke entered the inn room, he collapsed onto the bed, utterly exhausted from the steep hill they had crossed to reach the village. Aria sat beside him and began to wipe the sweat from his face with a handkerchief.

“You worked hard, Zeke-nim. With this, you’ve explored half of the Magrion region.”

“Haaah… It’s already been that long. But I don’t know why the Magrion region has so many steep hills… Aren’t you tired, Aria?”

“Hmm? Not at all. I have good stamina, so I’m fine. Hehehe… I guess it would have been better if I had carried you, Zeke-nim, part of the way?”

“…I’ll decline that… If we ran into someone, it could cause misunderstandings…”

Zeke cringed at the thought of what misunderstandings might arise if Aria carried him up the hill and they encountered people. He then took a deep breath, stood up, and said,

“Alright… Let’s leave all our belongings here… How about we explore the village?”

“Hehehe… Exploring the village with Zeke-nim… Hehehe… That time has finally come… Holding Zeke-nim’s hand, eating together, having fun together… Ehehehehehe…”

“…”

As Aria gave a sinister smile at the thought of all the things she could do with Zeke on the village streets, Zeke broke out in a cold sweat and deliberately turned his head away from her. Once ready to leave, Aria and Zeke headed out to the bustling street. Then Aria suddenly realized something and covered Zeke with her whole body.

“I almost forgot, Zeke-nim. There are many women here. So I’ll cover you with my whole body to prevent any foxy women trying to tempt you from seeing you.”

“I told you, I don’t need that kind of consideration… Let me look around too…”

As Aria continued with her unnecessary gestures, Zeke sighed deeply in exasperation and complained. At that moment, a woman with pink bobbed hair and two men behind her slowly approached Zeke. The woman asked him,

“Are you new here? Have you come from outside?”

“Oh, yes… I came from outsid—”

“Don’t speak to Zeke-nim. Go on your way.”

“…?! Hey, Aria…!!”

Zeke was greatly flustered as Aria glared at the woman, who was politely bowing and asking if he was from out of town, with an intensely wary look. The men, who seemed to be part of the woman’s group, also flinched, seemingly not expecting Aria’s reaction.

“Ah… Ahaha… A scary Saintess-nim… you are… Anyway, have you come from outside?”

“Aria, I’m fine… Ah… Yes. I came from another region.”

“Oh my! That’s wonderful news! It’s said that a magnificent gem called ‘Rude’s Claw’ will be up for auction at around 1 PM tomorrow at the auction house…!!”

“Rude’s Claw…? Really?!”

At the news that Rude’s Claw was going up for auction, Zeke’s eyes began to sparkle. Named “Rude’s Claw” because it resembled the claw of a beast called Rude from legends, the gem was an extremely rare ore, rare enough to make Zeke’s eyes gleam like this. Knowing this, Zeke was filled with excitement.

“Oh. It seems you know Rude’s Claw well! If you’re interested, why don’t you go to the auction tomorrow?”

“Hmm… Alright. Thank you for the good information.”

“Of course~ Have a good trip~”

The woman and men who had delivered the unexpected news of Rude’s Claw being up for auction leisurely left the spot. Time passed, and night fell. Zeke, lighting a lamp in the inn and writing down his notes in his exploration journal, realized that Aria was sitting on the bed behind him, constantly watching him. He turned his head to look at her and said,

“Ah! You couldn’t sleep because I had the lamp on, right? My bad.”

“No~ I was just staying awake because I wanted to watch you work, Zeke-nim~ By the way, are you thinking of participating in that auction?”

“Hmm… Still, Rude’s Claw is an item that’s hard to get. So I think it would be good to go once. I plan to pack up before 1 PM tomorrow.”

“Hmm~ Since we have enough money, we might be able to buy it.”

“Indeed… Kkngh… I’m excited.”

Overjoyed at the thought of being able to buy Rude’s Claw tomorrow, Zeke twitched with excitement and began writing in his exploration journal again. Time passed once more, and it was 2 AM. The woman and men who had given Zeke information about Rude’s Claw during the late lunch were now chatting in an underground passage.

“Didn’t that Saintess-nim seem to have a lot of money?”

“Exactly~ It’s a good thing that porter-like fellow was swayed by our words, isn’t it? Hehehe… It feels good to sweep up all the money thanks to Rude’s Claw.”

“But the important thing, isn’t it, is that we can duplicate Rude’s Claw? The ability to copy the real thing… Indeed, Big Sis, you’re amazing!”

One of the two men admired the pink-haired woman’s duplication ability. The pink-haired woman then took Rude’s Claw out of her pocket, spread her left hand, which held an ordinary stone, and began to chant a spell. The stone in her left hand started to glow and change shape, and in an instant, a replica identical to Rude’s Claw was created.

“Good~ The replica is complete! I’ve already shown the auction house owner the real one, so they won’t suspect anything if I show them this. Listen carefully. One of you…”

“Keep raising the bid, right?”

“Good~ Then where…”

“Hee~ So that was your scheme?”

“?!”

The moment the duplication scammer group was about to put their plan into action, someone’s voice echoed from the dark underground passage. At that voice, all the scammers were greatly flustered, and they were even more bewildered when a woman in black priestly robes appeared from behind a pillar in front of them. Because she was…

“Huh…? You’re the Saint… we saw at lunch…!!”

The moment the pink-haired woman, realizing that the appearing woman was none other than the Saintess they had seen at lunch, was greatly flustered by the unexpected appearance, Aria swung her staff and struck the hand of the woman holding Rude’s Claw. Rude’s Claw fell to the floor from the woman’s hand, and the woman began to cry out in pain from Aria’s blow.

“Aaaaaahk!!”

“Big… Big Sis!!”

“Hmm… So this is the gem that Zeke-nim found so interesting, is it?… How annoying. How dare it monopolize Zeke-nim’s attention…”

Aria, observing Rude’s Claw that had fallen to the floor, seemed displeased that the gem had monopolized Zeke’s attention, and lightly stomped on Rude’s Claw. Rude’s Claw then began to shatter horribly, and one of the male scammers, seeing this, screamed at Aria in surprise.

“How much is that worth, how dare you…!!”

The man, furious that Aria had destroyed Rude’s Claw, immediately charged at Aria. Aria then swung her staff and struck the man’s side, and the man, hit by the staff, was flung weakly against the nearby wall before he could even feel the pain.

“Cough…!!”

“Wh-What?! Why is the Saintess so strong?!”

“Ugh… Ughh… My side… huh?”

The moment the pink-haired woman was bewildered by Aria easily sending a burly man — a muscular man at that — flying, the man who had been hit by Aria’s staff and flung against the wall slowly looked up. He saw Aria holding her staff high, looking down at him with a murderous gaze. And Aria then…

“…!!! A… Argh… Agh…”

“…Huh?”

…mercilessly struck the man again and again with her staff. The man’s blood began to splatter in many places, and along with the blood, his flesh also started to fly. Finally, when his intestines burst out, the pink-haired woman, who had been dumbfounded by Aria’s brutal killing of the man, snapped out of it and immediately began to scream.

“Kyyyaaaaaahk!!!”

“Wh-What… Why are you doing this to us…!!”

A man, watching his comrade brutally murdered without even letting out a scream, was about to demand why Aria was doing this to them. At that moment, Aria thrust her staff and struck the man’s head. She then swung her staff sideways, continuing to strike his head. The pink-haired woman, seeing the man’s blood and flesh splatter behind her, collapsed on the spot in terror. Then, as Aria completely ended the man’s life, she smiled and said,

“Why am I doing this, you ask? The sin of trying to deceive the pure Zeke-nim… it’s truly heavy, isn’t it? Even though I’m jealous, he wanted that gem so badly… Who are you to deceive Zeke-nim? So… I decided I would never let you live~”

“A… Aaaah…”

“I knew there was something disgusting about you since I first met you~”

At Aria’s declaration that she would never let her live, the pink-haired woman was paralyzed with fear, unable to speak. At that moment, Aria began to explain with a smile that she had felt something disgusting from the woman from the start. Then, her facial expression suddenly turned cold, and she glared at the woman, saying,

“How dare you try to deceive Zeke-nim.”

“A… Aaah… Agh…”

After the woman’s faint groan, the sound of meat being ground echoed through the underground passage. Aria, having left the place, used her ability to cleanly purify the blood splattered on her clothes, then emerged above ground and smiled as she looked at the moonlight.

‘Just like those people in Robdom~ I’ve killed people who dared to disrespect Zeke-nim this time too~ Don’t worry, Zeke-nim. Anyone who tries to lay a dirty hand on Zeke-nim… this Aria will take care of them all~’

Aria looked at the moonlight, reaffirmed her vow to protect Zeke, and then returned to the inn. The next day, Zeke couldn’t buy Rude’s Claw because the auction house was closed due to the discovery of a pulverized corpse. And now…

“Aria? Are you listening?”

“Huh? Ah… Yes.”

“What on earth are you thinking about that you’re so distracted, Aria? You must have lost yourself in thoughts of Zeke again, right?”

In Dio V Runner’s workshop, while chatting, Aria snapped out of her reminiscence when Zeke called her. She grinned broadly as she answered Dio V Runner’s question about whether she had been thinking about Zeke.

“Ah… Yes! Hehehe…”

“You’re truly something… Anyway, Dio V Runner-nim. The plants that Aria and I discovered in the Magrion region were…”

Zeke, hearing Aria’s reply, chuckled at the thought that she had been lost in thoughts of him, and then began to explain the plants he and Aria had discovered to Dio V Runner. Aria then turned around, gave a deeply shaded smile, and whispered to us.

“Shhh. You know this has to be a secret, right? Hehe…”