MA: 107. Why You Bully Me?

Rockie, who was also present, tilted its head as another party member, who looked like a girl wrapped in rags, spoke up.

“Yeah… T-Thrum. You should b-be figuring out how to shovel d-dirt.”

Red blankly blinked. Their words went from one ear and out the other as she took an interest in their dog tags.

“Silver? What does that mean?”

“Heh. Plebian. Who doesn’t know what being a Silver Ranked Adventure means.” Another party member said.

“Me. That’s why I’m asking.” Red mimicked Rockie’s head tilt. “Snow. Is that an obvious question.”

Silver was third Adventurer Rank out eight ranks. It went from Tin, Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Radiant to finally Unbound where one could qualify to acquire one of the coveted Color Incandescent titles, or simply remain strong enough to contend with current Colors.

“Not really. They’re just being rude.” Snow sighed. “It doesn’t say there’s a participant limit. Apparently, the town’s administration’s looking to clear out the north-eastern part of the outskirts. Weird, because looking at the other posters, there’s more of an emphasis on the western side given the blockade.”

Unlike Red, the Adventurers had an off feeling about Snow. The way her expression failed to change despite their open animosity was one of the ‘ten signs’ of a high-classed Adventurer…

… Which was something Red made up on the spot, since there shouldn’t be a reason why they feared Snow more than herself.

“Woah…” Red hummed before slapping Snow on the back. “You know a lot! But yeah, you’re right. That is weird…”

Suddenly, Red also went into deep thought and filtered out the Adventurers. Prior to entering Aire, she had performed a sweeping look at their surroundings. The north-eastern mouth of the forest seemed rather tranquil at first glance.

Then again, it was a passing look. But Red’s instincts were also honed. Snow, however, was able to explain why it felt off.

“I guess they want it to be more tranquil, huh.” Red nodded to herself. She could have sworn she heard Three Paw bark from within her shadow. “Hmm… Oh! Green Rangers~”

Five Huntsmen escorted one of the children who had been at the procession last night. It was Arin, a young boy who had a copper sticker of what looked like a coin on the back of his right hand.

Adventurers began talking amongst themselves.

“Another kid being taken to ‘Paradise.’”

“So they found people to take him in. Good for him.”

“Aren’t the Green Rangers such a breath of fresh air compared to the Syndicates that run amok outside?”

“Couldn’t imagine Aire being run by a Syndicate.”

Snow brought a hand to Red’s head and said: “Let’s hope he finds someone nice. All children deserve parents.”

“… Do they?”

For a moment, as Red was still staring at the offending party, their leader broke their gaze and scowled.

“Tch. Blockade my ass. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay here reddies. That’s your little sister yeah? Knife, no knife, doesn’t make a difference.”

“You don’t believe in the blockades?” Snow’s eyes narrowed.

Mass hysteria would have everyone on the same page. But to their surprise, there were people who suspected that something was off.

“I don’t believe in half the shit on the posters. Anyway…” The lady growled as she passed them. “Just live off what you have now. The more eyes on her, the dangerous it’ll be for you.”

“Because of my eyes?”

“Son of a bitch. Yes. Your eyes. They’re hideous.” The lady spat venom, leaving them behind.

Red felt a sting in her chest. She never would have thought that words could hurt. She clutched her chest and looked down at herself with an annoyed expression. If it were up to Red, she’d put them in their place.

But Snow held tightly onto her arm, whispering:

“You’ll cripple them. Think about it. Their livelihood relies on their ability to hunt monsters. That’s another way of killing another human being. And look, don’t mind them too much. Despite their words, they mean well. Really.”

But her words of assurance did little. Red was already burning hot.

The reason however… was not because they called her eyes hideous or underestimated her.

Rather…

“I’m not even a dog. Or a guy. And she called me the son of a dog. Dogs are like wolves…”

“Bwa…?”

“I’m gonna ‘redacted’ up, and I’ll ‘redacted’ her and her team.”

Red vowed as she brought a hand to the hilt of her hunting knife.

“He… Heh… hehehehe…” She began giggling, causing people to whisper.

“R-Red. Redacted as in…” Then, in a whisper: “level?”

“Hehehehehe.”

“… Oh for the love of… Haaaaah.”

Snow took her hand and began walking in the direction of the northern gate. In the meantime, Red was planning her revenge. To be equated to a wolf was a death sentence. But because her targets were human, Red had to get her revenge in another way.

Let’s think about in human terms. Humiliation by proving I’m strong. Yeah. I’ll just kill everything that moves in the forest. Or how about I form a train and bring it their way? Then they’ll beg me to save them! Or, why don’t I pretend I’m an enemy? They’ll understand why they used to call me Vengeful Red. Hehehehehe. Hahaha…

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA–!”

“Shhhh!”

A hand clamped over her mouth.

Along the way, they came across a familiar face.

“I could hear her laughing from across town. Is it worth keeping her around with the trouble she’s already caused?” The voice belonged to Erick.

Judging from the suit of armor he wore, and the longsword by his hip, he would be joining in the Spiked Boar extermination and retrieval quest.

“Erick.” Snow smiled.

“I’m glad you still remember my name. Though, I suppose it would be difficult for you to forget me.”

“Ahaha. It’s hard to forget people from the village.”

“Yes. People from the village. But don’t you think there’s… you know…? Something else? You don’t sense it?”

He leaned against a wooden sign and brushed his hair aside. He was implying something that Red couldn’t put a finger on. Neither could Snow from the look on her face, although Red knew better than anyone that Snow excelled at hiding her emotions.

The silence that followed was awkward at best, and was finally broken when Red called out:

“Hey, weird hair guy. You alright in that amor?” She genuinely asked. “Don’t you have leggings?”

“Enemies tend to target center mass. Teachings from the manuscript of the Red Baron. I purchased it the other day. It’s a good read. As you know, I’m a fond lover of books.”

He said, eyeing Snow’s book by her hip.

“Uhuh. Well cool.” Red dismissed. “But what happens when someone hits your legs?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Ok, but what if it does. You gonna tuck your legs in like a turtle?”

“Again, that won’t happen.” The man placed a hand on his sheathed blade. “I’ll wager you thirty silver if my legs do not receive so much as a scratch today.”

Snow’s face reddened. She pulled her inner robes to cover her face as her shoulders trembled. A stifled laugh came out amidst the silence right before Red broke it again.

“Rockie.”

“Brrrr!”

“Wanna split 50/50?”

“nods”

“Snow, do you really intend to keep this fool by your side!?”

“Sorry, but Red’s my responsibility. Besides, she saved our village. The least we can do is be kind to her.” Snow giggled, and without warning, hugged Red.

Soft…! There it is again! Heh. Wait, why does he look so angry all of a sudden?

“… Disgraceful…” He scorned beneath his breath. “Fine. Very well. I suppose it’s a matter of strength of who can protect… you, the best.”

He was close to uttering her title out loud, and it caused Snow to lock up. The sheer stupidity caused Red’s eyes to emit a faint glow. Even the Adventurers before didn’t make her this furious. If Red’s eyes were bad enough, then what would happen if people caught wind of a Healer?

That almost caused her to take his head right where he stood.

“… Are you really that dumb?”

An intense wave of pressure seized Erick. For a moment, Red appeared ten times larger than she actually was. It was not a figment of his imagination. There was a phenomenon in Elysia known as ‘Presence’ or ‘Aura’. This was perceived by the level of a person’s stats and the quality of a person’s soul, among other things.

His instincts flared, and then, it told him to remain as still as possible – to play dead in the face of imminent death.

A level 20 rat… No, Red. Killing is bad. I can’t kill him. But he’s a rat… still… he’s from Hearth Village. If I kill him, then Snow will be very sad. Ok… He’s human. A person. Not fully bad…

She managed to calm herself down.

As they passed him, Red gave him a stern warning.

“You’re only alive because Snow likes you.”

“… Likes me…?”

“So don’t be stupid.”

“… I see…”

Erick wore an oddly satisfied expression as he clasped his face with a metal gauntlet.

“Ah… So she does…?”

Once they left him behind, and passed the guards through the northern gate, they were greeted by the vast emerald hills leading to the outskirts. Adventurers, gatherers and hunters made their way to the north-eastern forest for the same mission.

“Snow, when levelling, diversifying your targets makes it easier to level up, right? We figured that out in that black forest.”

“Black Forest? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about another forest. We don’t explicitly have to target Spiked Boars. They’re just the preferred target. We have three hours until the Second Night hits, so let’s be quick.”

“But those 15 minutes could be valuable. I can scrounge up a bunch of levels.”

“… It’ll be risky, but the Second Night doesn’t bring the same kind of monsters we saw in the Languid Fault.”

“So poison is a no-go, but this is ok? Snow, what did poison ever do to you?”

“More than you can imagine.”