Chapter 44: Feeling Awkward
“I was born,” Medusa said.
It was the crime she’d committed, according to her. She’d said it in such a flat way that there was no telling exactly what she meant by that. One thing was certain—she couldn’t have been imprisoned because of her race.
The Mythverios Kingdom respected other races and condemned any form of racism.
Nith scoffed at her words.
That short, barely audible reaction didn’t elude Medusa, who turned around and glared at him with dilated eyes. As they stood in a dark spot, her slit eyes exuded a threatening glint.
Anyone weaker than her would have been petrified, even though Medusa hadn’t been able to use her petrification gaze for two thousand years.
Nith remained still, his back hunched and his hands in his pockets.
He tilted his head and asked, “What? You expected me to feel some weak sympathy toward you? You think it was easy to be a top player, living in both worlds? Nah, I ran away from my world, but it kept coming back to fuck me over again and again.
“I don’t know why you’re slyly opening up to me like this, but I look down on bitches like you, who can only lament and blame everyone, including themselves. Someone like you has plenty of ways to fight or change her life.”
“Yes… what came over me? Nothing but my eyes draws your sole attention. Fair. I committed the crime of going against a duke of The Royal Crest. That should be enough to satisfy your curiosity,” Medusa said, turning around and walking away from the hunched bastard.
Nith shouted after her, “It’s not just your eyes. Your round ass and tits appeal to me as well.”
He didn’t get a reply to that.
Ten minutes later, Nith was walking on the first inhabited level of the mountain, where wooden houses perched on poles climbed up along with the main staircase.
The houses had been poorly built, containing only a single floor, and their roofs were covered with straw.
Many houses hid their ceilings beneath the trees’ canopies. Their dimly lit interiors used cheap oil lamps, which cast huge shadows on the walls.
Only a few houses had the privilege of windows. The rest relied on etched, rectangular holes, which didn’t help with privacy at all. Loud smacks, yells, grunts, and other noises easily reached everyone’s ears, as if on purpose.
Medusa turned a deaf ear to all the sounds as she walked between the houses toward the mouth of a cave, its entrance glowing from afar due to the long, thick torches lighting it up.
Upon crossing its threshold, Nith walked for a few minutes in a warm, more comfortable environment compared to the cold night outside until a city carved into the mountain unfolded before him.
Aside from the houses cut into the earth, Nith noticed facilities similar to mines. He could see an advanced rail system, enabling criminals to ride wagons deeper underground. Many wagons had been taken off the rails, their interiors filled with precious ores and coal.
A set of warehouses sat across from the mine’s facilities. There was also something resembling a shopping street, where criminals exchanged goods they no longer wanted.
What shocked Nith, however, was the sight of kids running along the streets, kicking a ball and having fun. Some bastard children held wooden swords or other weapons, straining their muscles from a very young age.
‘They’re fucking around too much,’ Nith thought.
Medusa kept walking without pause. She received a few stares from other criminals—some glazed in lust, others in fear, and some in respect.
She paid no attention to any of them, as usual, and led Nith to the part of the underground city where her kin lived.
“You’ll protect my kin from now on,” Medusa said. “Try anything suspicious, and I’ll murder you.”
Nith smirked. “Yeah, I know. Do I have to register somewhere, though?”
“No,” Medusa replied. “I’ll inform the other leaders that I scouted you and that you’re under me. This is where we part.”
Leaving him at the foot of her apartment block, Medusa headed toward the staircase reserved for people holding prominent positions.
Once Medusa disappeared into the crowd, Nith became the subject of countless stares, all of which came from the apartment block. The block itself wasn’t impressive, consisting of simple one-room houses carved into the rock.
There were at least eight floors, each holding about ten houses.
From all those floors, snake people peeked at Nith. He stared back at them, noticing the first signs of cruelty they had endured.
Many of them had scars across their eyes. Fortune had deemed that most of them would become one-eyed warriors, though some had lost both. Those who were fully blind wore black scarves over their heads but still sensed Nith with the receptors in their forked tongues.
As snake women leaned on the windowsills, Nith also noticed some of them had had their breasts cut off—some of whom were amazons. Out of all the snake people, their Queen possessed the perfect appearance, while the rest had suffered to some extent.
Nith’s face twisted, frightening a few weak-minded snakes.
He inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming himself down.
He clenched his hands and forced a curt introduction from his lips, “I’m Nightshade. I’m in your care.”
A silence blossomed over the scene. Not even in their wildest dreams had the snake people imagined a human with such a devilish countenance introducing himself with so much effort.
But Nith… didn’t want to see these people through his usual lens. He quickly connected the dots, realizing that these people had suffered greatly because of The Sanctuary’s Blessing.
People with weaknesses were so easily bullied.
He knew that all too well.
With his major blunder two thousand years ago and the past catching up to him after so many years, Nith, for the first time ever, genuinely wanted to help someone without expecting anything in return.
‘Is this the humanity you wish to nurture, Kyouka?’ Nith thought. ‘I miss that bitch.’
He didn’t know how to proceed.
‘Shit feels awkward.’
