Chapter 49: Retribution
When he fully turned his head, he saw a person covered in bandages from hands to toe. The bandages were too tightly wrapped around the body that even the shape of the armor the person was wearing could be seen.
Like a mummy, he was totally covered in bandages, no wonder it was the rumored bandage maniac which hunted every person that wore bandages.
But...
This idiot...a mummy?
"Brother, so it was you."
It was Alphonse. The person rumored to be the bandage maniac that actually beat the crap out of everyone who was found to wear the bandages for fun was actually this idiot? Oslo couldn't believe his eyes and had to clean his eyes before seeing in front again.
But the figure didn't disappear and was still in front of him. So, it wasn't an illusion.
"So, it was you?" Oslo exclaimed, "Idiot...? Alphonse...?"
But Alphonse immediately turned his head seeing Oslo and didn't meet his gaze. He looked at another direction with both of his arms resting on the back of his head as he whistled awkwardly,
"You've got the wrong person. Who's Alphonse? I'm Jack!"
Oslo squinted his eyes before kicking the armor Alphonse was wearing down,
"Don't pretend! You can't fool me. What runs through your head? Is it really blood or grass?"
He then suddenly realized something. Was it because of that time? He then again looked at Alphonse' mummified body which was at the ground and concluded that it was really because of that time.
"Don't tell me... you're wearing these bandages to become courageous as well?"
"Um," Alphonse silently nodded, "The more the bandage, the more the courage. Isn't that how it worked?"
"What? What sort of logic is that?" Oslo then noticed that more and more people were staring at him, so he directly whispered in Alphonse's ear, "You know what...Just pretend that you don't know me."
"But..." Alphonse wanted to say something but Oslo cut in,
"That thing about the bandage giving the courage was a lie that I made on a whim. The bandages don't give you courage and don't help you mustering courage so don't make a fool out of yourself."
"But brother...when you told me that it really gave you courage, you didn't lie. If you had then I would have known in but a moment." Alphonse said in a low voice.
"That..." Although Oslo said that, he knew that he hadn't lied at that time either. He then gritted his teeth and chose his words, "Don't follow the way you're following right now."
Oslo said this because he didn't want someone to just make an idiot out of himself just because of a lie that he made on a whim. He didn't want to see others who believed him deemed as fools in the eyes of others.
"Wearing a bandage doesn't give you courage, neither does it help you muster it. What gives you courage is your belief. Follow the path you believe in and you'll start seeing that you're becoming more and more courageous!" Oslo said.
"And you're not lying right now either...these things are just making me confused. If the bandages really don't give courage then I wouldn't have worn them. Had I known it sooner then I wouldn't have beat every person down who wore those cool bandages." Alphonse said.
"And thank you, brother. If you hadn't told me right now, I would have made fool out of myself even more."
"Well, you don't have to thank me." Oslo said, "And what's so cool about becoming a rainbow with those bandages? Like I said, just follow your belief and you'll be courageous and bold to do many things."
"Like you hugged Miss Anna?" Alphonse said.
"No, that's not the sort of bold I'm talking about. If you do that as well to other girls then I'll have to attend your funeral." Oslo shouted,
"But well, I've said what I wanted to say. So Long...."
The crowd seeing Alphonse beaten with just a single kick was dazed. Bandage Maniac lost just like that? He, who beat the crap out of many A-rank adventurers was beaten just like that? With just a single kick, he was beaten? Who was the monstrous person that did it? How powerful was he?
The crowd was guessing Oslo's strength who was able to beat Bandage Maniac with a kick, a man wearing bandages got out of the crowd and said,
"Hey, it seems you beat the maniac with just a single move. But you don't look strong...so how were you able to defeat him. And because of that, you stole my spotlight as well."
"I so wanted to beat this dude when he would come for my bandages and be seen as a hero who defeated the evil but you got to my prey first. If I beat you then it means that I can beat Bandage Maniac, isn't it? So, for stealing my spotlight..."
Fwip-
The man then took off one of his gloves he was wearing and threw it at the ground in front of Oslo.
Oslo seeing the person suddenly throw a glove before him in the ground was, however, confused. He then squatted and picked the glove and looked at the man who was as well looking at him but he seemed smug.
"Do you not want this glove?" Oslo asked.
"Eh...?" The man then realized what Oslo had meant and shouted, "I'm challenging you to a duel and not just giving you my glove, you idiot."
"You want me to duel you for this dirty glove?" Oslo again threw it back in the ground and said, "I don't want it."
The man speechlessly looked at Oslo. Was he some kind of idiot that had fallen on his head when he was just a child? The man thought.
But Oslo literally didn't know that the man was challenging him to a duel when he threw his glove. Before this, Oslo had only been challenged to a duel in that weird dream and even in that dream, many people just said it verbally and didn't throw their clothes. Was it some new style of challenge?
But even if he had known it, he wouldn't have been too enthusiastic about it. After all, why waste time on a nonsense fight when he could use the same time doing something productive.
The man then again clenched his fist and said, "I'm not offering these gloves for the duel. If you win then I'll give you the bandages I'm wearing."
"Those dirty bandages? Don't want it." Oslo solemnly said.
Who would want such dirty bandages that were already worn by others for who knew how much time as a winning prize? If it was some weapon then Oslo might have considered since he was missing the dagger and feeling emptiness on his waist, but bandages? Who would agree to that?
Without a word, Oslo ignored the man and standing up, he walked towards the direction of central plaza again.
The man seeing Oslo just ignore him like that was pissed off. He was just about to stop Oslo when a hand grabbed the man's shoulder from behind. The man sweated profusely when he heard the voice coming from behind,
"It seems you want a duel very badly. Let me give you one."
Bam~ Bam~ Bam~
Alphonse after finishing the business, clapped his hands as if satisfied and looked at Oslo who was walking away,
"Brother, wait for me."
Another A-rank adventurer was beaten to a pulp by the maniac just like that...And the crowd could even see that Alphonse wasn't even serious when he was beating up that adventurer. They gulped when they saw the scene.
And the maniac was following that person...how strong was he really? In front of the crowd who had seen the magnificence of Alphonse, they thought too highly of him. And just because of that, the people who were present in the scene gave a nickname to Oslo...
A person who could make a maniac like Alphonse to follow him couldn't be any less in terms of strength. His nickname was a bit different though.
A Freak!
The crowd who saw the entire scene came to know Oslo as a freak! A taming freak actually...who would tame a maniac into following him. Even though it was because of misunderstanding, Oslo was now known to them who witnessed the scene as a freak.
Slowly, the figure of Oslo and Alphonse' disappeared from the crowd's field of vision. Looking back, Oslo saw that Alphonse was actually taking off those bandages of him and undoing his mummification. And It wasn't thrown into the street as well because when the bandage would be taken off of Alphonse' body then it would disappear without a trace.
"So, you aren't going to wear those bandages again, are you?" Oslo asked.
"Nah," Alphonse replied keeping on taking of those bandages from his body, "As you said, I'll follow what I believe in."
"So, what have you decided?" Oslo asked.
"I've decided on following you, brother. I believe in your strength and courage." Alphonse said, "So, when will we be going on in our next quest, brother?"
"I see." Oslo said with a smile, "I think we'll go on our next quest very soon."
"What? You're serious right, Brother?" Alphonse asked as if he was taken in by a surprise, "You aren't just playing with me right?"
"Yeah, I'm serious," Oslo said and like before Alphonse could see that Oslo wasn't lying. He was too delighted upon hearing it and couldn't wait to go on many other adventurers as well.
Oslo had decided to change himself for good and not to make the same mistakes he had made like before. He had decided to start trusting others and he too would follow what Mr. Bryan had said.
Trust no one who doesn't seem trustworthy and that was what he was going to do from now on. Knowing his limits, he had realized that nobody could move forward in a path alone and they would also have to rely on the strength of others. And Alphonse seemed like a person that could be trusted.
"Ok then, I'll tell you when we're going to go next time," Alphonse said.
"Ok!" Oslo nodded.
Just as they were walking, Oslo halted on his feet when he saw a figure which was a bit far and was in front of a burned down house. The figure was crying with the knees resting on the ground.
Following Oslo's gaze, Alphonse too stopped while looking at the scene.
"Brother, if you're wondering why she is crying then it would be because of that elf incident. Her entire family was hanged as a punishment, all except her." Alphonse said making the situation clear to Oslo.
So, it was because of that incident... Although the girl was crying, it didn't make his sway a bit, nor did it make him feel pity towards her. His face was stuffed with a smile and was rather delighted seeing the figure cry in front of the burnt house like that.
'Was this what people meant when they talked about God's retribution?' Oslo thought.
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