"Die scum!"

Evelyn delivered a quick jab as soon as she finished her words.

Widening my eyes in surprise, I tried to dodge it but to no avail.

'Fuck! She's holding my collar!'

As such, I could only grit my teeth as I endured her attack. Her attack... it was weaker than I thought. However, it didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

"Gurghhh! Why are you hitting me!?" 

Removing her fist from my face, Evelyn scowled. 

"Are you really asking because you don't know? You definitely did something to me, scum!"

Evelyn then agglomerated Earth mana into her fist, so much so that the wagon was dimly illuminated by the glow of her Mana.

I narrowed my eyes at this. <C-> ranked or not, at the very least my nose would break if her attack connected. Thus, I could only hope that I could agglomerate Mana faster than her first could hit me.

Unaware of what I was planning, Evelyn finished concentrating her Mana and punched me in the face. Before she could hit me, however, she broke my sunglasses first. 

It was then that I finished agglomerating my Mana. Smirking and staring straight into her golden eyes with my dull gray eyes, I activated my Skill.

<[Authority of fear]: Death>

Evelyn's eyes went blank as soon as I used my Skill. Taking advantage of this, I quickly yanked her left arm off me and pinned her to the ground.

After a few seconds, Evelyn came back to her senses. The first thing she did wasn't struggling to break free, however. Instead, she was shaking in fear while stuttering nonsense.

"Y- You— How!? Knights?! Monarch...? Wh- What!? Dragon?"

"What are you talking about?" I frowned as I squeezed her hands which were bent behind her back. 

This seemed to work, as Evelyn recovered from whatever that was after letting out a short squeal of pain. Catching her ragged breathing, she uttered with fright apparent in her eyes.

"You... was that an Illusion?"

"Illusion? No, that wasn't."

"Good to know. Because that felt too real to be an illusion. Now do you mind letting me go?" Evelyn said with a nonchalant tone as if she wasn't just trying to kill me earlier.

Not being stupid like Arthur, I squeezed her hands together even tighter and spoke with a cold voice.

"No. Not until you tell me why you were trying to kill me earlier."

"Are you seriously asking because you don't know?"

"Yes. I was sleeping so how should I know?"

Gnashing her teeth in anger, Evelyn shouted. "My clothes are disheveled, my blouse had signs of being taken off, and I'm in this dark space alone with you! I tried to be merciful and let you off to weep alone by myself... but now you've done it! Do you have anything to say for yourself!?"

'Isn't she too direct? Confessing that she's going to cry alone after this...?' I sighed. '...And why do I feel like I'm getting entangled in increasingly more misunderstandings?'

"Okay. First, calm down and listen to me—"

"Calm down!? You... You fucking raped me and you dare to tell me to calm down!?"

"Let's not get too hasty here—" But my sentence was interrupted by Evelyn struggling to break free even more violently. "—Woah there, just calm down!"

But she didn't listen to my words. Biting, scratching, even using Magic! She did everything she could to get away from my restraints. But alas, a <D-> ranker like her couldn't overpower me. Realizing the futility of her resistance, Evelyn ceased all resistance and repeatedly slammed her forehead on the ground while sobbing.

"Hic..."

She slammed her forehead on the ground.

"Sorry mom..."

And again.

"E- Even when you sacrificed yourself..."

Her forehead bled heavily, but she didn't stop.

"...I couldn't give my purity to the one I love..."

As she was about to cave her skull in with her next slam, I used one of my hands to shield her forehead, softening her slam. It hurts... It hurts like hell! Arghhhhhh! I should have knocked her out instead of trying to stop her like this!

'So she was going to kill herself after all! Crazy bitch!'

Unaware of the pain I had to go through to stop her from doing something she'd regret in the afterlife, Evelyn sobbed even louder.

"Why! Why can't you let me die!? Is that too much to ask—"

"Shut up." Frustrated, I covered her mouth with my hurt hand to shut her up. Although she tried to bite my hand to get it off her, I didn't care. Pressing my knee down on her back, I whispered. "Now have you calmed down?"

Evelyn struggled for a few more seconds before stopping completely and meekly nodded her head with teary and swollen eyes.

"Good. Now listen to me. You suddenly fainted, so I brought you here because I didn't want to see you becoming monster food... or worse, be killed by a <G+> ranked Elf when you're defenseless."

Evelyn nodded in understanding. Though her eyes were still narrowed, showing that she didn't trust me completely.

'Whatever, it's good enough that she's listening to me.'

Then, I slowly lifted her body up. After a few seconds, we were in a new position. I was leaning against the wooden wall of the enclosed wagon, and Evelyn's back was leaning against my chest. Although we were in a new position, I was still restraining her by the same method: Using my left hand to cover her mouth and my right to squeeze her hands which were bent behind her back.

Seeing that she was also more comfortable with this, I removed my left hand from her mouth and slowly unbuttoned her blouse.

Evelyn's pupils constricted in shock upon seeing this. Knowing that she couldn't resist me, she could only keep her eyes shut while begging with tears flowing down her cheeks which were red with a mixture of anger, shame, and... a bit of excitement. Just a tiny bit though.

'I think I've awakened something strange in her... nah, what am I thinking? It's probably nothing.'

Unaware of my thoughts, Evelyn begged.

"P- Please! Haven't you sullied me enough already?"

I ignored her pleas and continued with what I was doing.

"I'm begging you! I don't want to h—"

"Done. Now look."

Hearing my cold voice, Evelyn slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her chest. Since there were tears in her eyes, it took a few seconds for her vision to unblur itself. And when it did, she couldn't help but to stutter in confusion.

"I- I'm not naked?"

"That's right." I sighed. "I didn't spend 20 minutes bandaging you just for you to call me a rapist and try to kill me. With your... peculiar tendency to not listen to what I say and harm yourself, I figured that this would be the fastest way to convince you."

Staying in silence for a while, Evelyn muttered.

"ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᵒʳʳʸ"

"What was that?"

"I'ᴍ sᴏʀʀʏ."

"My ears must have some problems today. I can't seem to hear what you're saying."

"I'm sorry alright! Sorry for trying to kill you." Evelyn growled. Her voice softened as she said her next words however. "And... thank you for saving me."

I chuckled. "You finally apologized. Is it that hard? Anyway, have you changed your mind now?"

"...?"

"You know, your view on humans and stuff. Have you acknowledged now that even we can be nice?"

Evelyn thought for a moment before smiling. However, her smile was chilling cold for some reason.

"No. All Humans should still be eradicated. And the fact that you saved me earlier? That's just the characteristic of your Dragon side. But I have to admit, you're not bad for a half-disgusting person."

'Well, it was worth a shot anyway...' I sighed.

Though not even close to the way I had expected, I had just achieved my goal of making her at least not kill me in my sleep. As such, I wasn't that concerned.

"So... can I go now? My hands are starting to hurt... and I need to button up my blouse again."

'Oh right, I forgot.'

"Sure. Just let me—"

But before I could finish my sentence, the wagon's door opened. As my eyes adjusted themselves to the sudden brightness, I could see Glenn and Ethan staring at me and Evelyn with their mouths hung open.

"Oh, it looks like I'm interrupting something important. Please excuse me." Glenn chuckled.

Ethan, on the other hand, clenched his fists and cheered. "Hah! I knew it! The wolf really wasn't enough for you!"

"Wait! It's not what it looks like—"

Glenn interrupted me yet again with another chuckle. "Ah, we get it. You don't need to be embarrassed. A maiden repaying you with her body for saving her is nothing new in this line of work. Oh, but be quick. Boss Keith is fuming because you skipped your shift to sleep... well, I'm not even sure if you were sleeping now."

And with those words, Glenn slammed the door shut. He then laughed with Ethan outside of the wagon; His laughter so loud that I could hear it all the way from inside here.

Baffled by this whole situation, I sat in silence, my body frozen on the spot. I was so shocked that I didn't even notice Evelyn slipping out of my restraints and buttoning her blouse back up. Only when she got out of the wagon and closed the door did I come to my senses. The first thing I did was to kick the wall closest to me in anger.

"I fucking hate misunderstandings! Surely, I won't get involved in any misunderstandings worse than this!"

...

Calming down, I stepped outside of the wagon. And of course as soon as I did, everyone started laughing at me.

"Hah! I told you to finish quickly, but I didn't expect you to only take a few seconds!" Glenn laughed.

"Hmm... welcome to the 'quick shooter' club, brother." Ethan chimed in with a smile.

I promptly ignored both of these idiots and scanned around to look for Evelyn.

"Oh, you're looking for that cat girl?" Glenn suddenly asked as if he could read my mind. "She's with the female members over there."

Though weirded out, I gave him a thumbs up and looked at where he pointed. When I did, however, I couldn't help but to shudder as a chill was sent down my spine.

'Wh- What...? Why are they glaring at me like that?'

The female members were, in fact, looking at me as if I was the biggest trash. Straining my eyes even harder, I could see Evelyn being pampered by the same members. 

Noticing my gaze, Evelyn turned around to meet my eyes. Her tongue stuck out as if to say 'heh, serve you right'.

'I'm starting to regret ever letting her go free...'

However, my thoughts were interrupted by my instincts screaming for me to dodge out of the way. Entrusting myself to my instincts, I quickly took a step to the side. My eyes stung by the air stirred up by a big fist that was brought down to where I was just a split second ago with great speed.

Quickly turning around, my pupils constricted in shock upon seeing that the one who tried to attack me was... boss Keith.

"Boss Keith! What are you doing?"

In response, boss Keith brought his fist back close to his body, got into a fighting stance, and spoke in a rough voice.

"Disciplining you. You dare ignore my orders just to satisfy your lust?!"

"Wh- What? I didn't do it! And I'm not even in your unit!"

"Doesn't matter." Boss Keith said as he agglomerated Mana in his hands. "Freelancer Adventurer or not, as long as you're traveling with Unit 44, you have to listen to my orders."

Boss Keith immediately delivered a quick jab to me as soon as he finished his words. His fist akin to a big mountain splitting the air apart to knock my head cleanly off my shoulders.

Gritting my teeth, I quickly created a sword made of blood from the wound Evelyn gave me earlier. As his fist was just inches away from me, I raised my blood sword up to redirect his strike to the ground. 

A cloud of dust rose as boss Keith's fist struck the ground. Using this chance, I kicked on his face and used it as a foothold to jump away. Although I successfully redirected his attack, it still hurts a lot. My hands were in so much pain that I would not have been surprised if his attack shook my bones to their cores.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" I shouted. "I'm only an <E-> rank! One graze from your <B+> ranked attack would kill me!"

Removing his hand from the ground, boss Keith sighed.

"Look, Theodore, I know that you're not <E-> ranked. Did you really think that I'd let a kid like you travel with us even just temporarily if you were weak like that?"

"Wh- What? Why would you think that I'm stronger than <E-> rank?"

"I have my ways." he chuckled. "And besides, you just redirected my attack earlier. No <E-> ranked trash can do that."

'He got me there...'

I shouldn't have entrusted myself to my instincts too much. Now my secret was exposed. But... what was done had been done. All I could do right now was to make him shut his mouth.

"Boss Keith, I'd really appreciate it if you kept this a secret from the others."

"No worries. I'd gain nothing from exposing your little secret—"

'Huh? That was easy... too easy...'

"—However, I'll only keep my mouth shut under one condition."

'Ah, there it is.'

"And what might that be?" I eyed in warily.

Smirking, boss Keith answered. "Join Unit 44."

'Just that?' I heaved a sigh of relief. 'I'm intending to join the Unit anyway. But... this is not the time.'

"I accept your condition."

"Huh?" Now it was his turn to get surprised. "K- Kid, are you sure you want to decide that quickly? You know the reason why we are nicknamed 'the suicide unit', right?"

"I do, and I'm still willing to join regardless. But... can I delay joining for about 3 years? I still need to finish my education at Avaron."

Though weirded out, he still continued to speak. "I don't care. Either join now or never." 

As I was about to seriously consider dropping out of Avaron, Keith spoke up again with a mischievous smirk.

"But I suppose we can figure something out if you can entertain me."

"Do I have any other choices?"

"No you don't."

"Tch, fine then."

Stopping hands that were trembling with excitement down, I took a deep breath and fell into a state of absolute concentration. Or... at least I tried to.

-"Wooooh! Boss Keith's fighting the newbie!"

-"What? Really?"

With the chattering crowd of soldiers and Adventurers forming around us, I couldn't concentrate on the battle at all.

'Shit! I'm fighting for my life here!'

Everyone was so excited for this battle that even Evelyn couldn't contain her curiosity and willingly pushed through the crowds of men to watch. Though, I was fairly certain that she only did that to see me get beaten up.

'But how can I fight like this? They will surely know of my secret if I could hold out against boss.'

As if understanding my concerns, boss Keith shouted on the top of his lungs.

"ATTENTION! USING MY POWER AS THE VICE-CAPTAIN OF UNIT 44, I HEREBY DECLARE AN ADMISSION DUEL TO ADVENTURER THEODORE GRAY!"

-"A- An admission duel?"

-"Oi vice-commander! Are you trying to kill that kid?"

Murmurs of excitement and concerns alike could be heard from the crowd. Crossing his arm together, boss Keith shouted once more.

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS!"

Seeing that everyone had now kept their mouths shut, Keith nodded in satisfaction and continued with his speech. This time, he was much less loud.

"Anything goes. If you die, you die. The duel only end when one side is incapacitated or dead. It will also end if the newbie can perform to my satisfaction. To make it fair, I'll limit my power to <E-> rank."

While his last sentence might have sounded reliable, I actually knew that he was going to fight at full power judging by the wink he gave me as soon as he finished his speech.

'Fuck... at least limit your power to <C> rank or something!'

Unaware of my thoughts, boss Keith turned toward Glenn and ordered.

"Glenn, do your thing."

Nodding, Glenn took out a bottle of Magic ink and dipped his finger into it. He then drew a big circle around me and boss Keith. Finishing the circle, he placed both of his hands down to the ground and chanted.

<[Dragon barrier]>

Layers upon layers of thick translucent white barriers manifested in a dome around us. With this, no attacks from boss Keith nor me could get out, nor could any attack below <A> rank from outside get in.

With the spectators' safety now assured, boss Keith uncrossed his arms and took a fighting stance.

"We'll start as soon as you attack me."

Nodding, I sheathed my blood sword inside [Distorias] and took out Dragonslayer sword from [Alternate storage].

"Nice artifact." Boss Keith smiled amusedly. "But will it be truly enough to take me down?"

"You're right, it's not enough." 

Gripping Dragonslayer sword hard with both of my hands, I muttered. 

<[S - Monarch of the storms]>