||T/N:
•Italics for thoughts (+apostrophes for the first one) and sound effects.
•Multiple "-" represents flashbacks and memories (unless dependant on time signatures like "* * *").
Enjoy reading!||1
. . .
The end of Kalia's skirt swept past the wooden deck.
The mercenary group, who were making a fuss earlier like it was just any refreshing walk in the park, suddenly went quiet. Shock could be seen on their face when they saw Kalia come close to them.
"What? Who are you?"
As the woman dressed in a shabby high-class dress with a wide-brimmed hat approached, the mercenaries looked at her with sharp gazes.
Though the dress wasn't fancy-looking, it definitely looked like one that someone of nobility would wear.
Thinking that it would be a hassle to make enemies with the higher nobles, the mercenaries made an effort to speak in a menacing tone in order to try to kick her out before anything out of hand could happen.
"Ha, this bitch came from nowhere without knowing she should actually be scared of these old guys. Why, will we please be a little gracious?"
Kalia ignored the man who was shouting out obscene words, not bothering to look at him at all. Instead, she walked towards the employee whose wrist was being held some by another member of the mercenary group.
Then, in one sweep motion, she lowered her fork, stabbing the back of the man's hand.3
Pak!1
". . . !"
"Ahhhhh!"
The man shrieked as the fork broke through his bone, the cracking sounds heard distinctly. The fork struck with so much force that it was stuck in the spot of the man's palm, rooted with no sign of it ever sliding out.2
Strangely enough, hardly any blood splattered.
Startled, the man quickly retracted his hand before backing away and frantically shouting at his men, his wrist flopping around as he waved his hand.
"Fuck, fuck! Kill her! Kill her!"
The men surrounding the two women made a grim expression and started to attack Kalia.
'I can't believe the security is this bad. I'll have to check the guards later. We need to increase the number of patrols. I have a lot to do before I can leave.'
Thinking they were too slow, Kalia raised the fan she had in her other hand.
It was a waste to use swords on these people.
As the mercenaries approached, she struck the men's heads one by one with her fan.6
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Hit by the fan, the men fell down, crashing to the ground one after another, as if thrashed by a hammer rather than a fan.2
Their bubbling mouths and scrunched-up eyes showed how hard the attacks were from the fan.
'They are weak, even compared to a normal foot soldier. How lame . . .'
Kalia stared coldly at the men lying on the ground and then turned to the last one.
She deliberately left that man untouched.
This man could not be forgiven with just a blow to the head.
•Editor 1: Heheh… I sense a face slapping3
He was the one who slapped the waitress on the cheek and laughed.
Still, Kalia, who looked at the man, lifted her fan and beat the man's cheek.
Slap!
"Ugh!"
The place hit was obviously the cheek, but the sound of broken bones could be heard.
"When you slap others in the face, you should be ready to be slapped yourself. "
•Editor 2: LOL, love Kalia7
Without any mercy or hesitation left, Kalia slapped the man on the other side of his face.
"Like this."
Slap!
"Ahhhh!"
Kalia's hand hit the other side of the man's cheek once again before his scream ended.
"Like this."
Slap!
". . . . . . Like this."
Slap!
". . . And like this."
Slap!
One more time, and another . . .4
". . . C'mon, you slob!"
The man fell down screaming his soul out, both sides of his cheeks were swollen hard.
The man looked up at Kalia, shivering to his core.
Kalia didn't even bother to look at a man such as him and hit the top of his head with a fan.
Bam, the man fell back with a crash.
•Editor 1: How satisfying12
The man with the fork pierced in his hand, shouted as he watched the scene.
"You, you, you, you, you little bitch . . . ! It's you! You're the girl from the Headwind Mercenary! Sir, Sir X! Go and call the guards!"
"Well."
Kalia, who answered gently, approached the man and smiled.
"Do you think it's faster for the guards to come, or do you think it's faster for me to stand here and crush you?"
She smiled again and repeated the words that the man had said a while ago.
"Just run away."
The troublesome guy's lips trembled, and he began to crawl back.
Soon, Kalia watched as he sprung up on his feet and quickly ran to the door while she picked up a bottle of beer from a nearby table.
"I'm not gonna let you just run away, but . . ."
With a rattling sound, the door opened, and the man was about to run out, but suddenly . . .
Pok!
The beer bottle that Kalia was holding struck the back of the man's head.
Surprisingly, because of Kalia's impressive strength control, only the back of his head was broken but not the bottle.12
"Ugh!" Shouting, the man rolled over the deck.
"But it's a bit of a gory scene in the presence of a child."
Kalia clicked her tongue, and a small shadow appeared from next to her.
"Mom!"
"Oh, baby!"
As soon as the threat disappeared, the child who watched blankly then ran to his mother's arms and cried.
Despite his mother being the one who got hurt, the child cried pitifully, wailing as if he was the injured.
"Mom, Mom. Does it hurt? Mom. Here, here, here, it's red. Mom, are you hurt?"
"No. Mom's not hurt at all. It doesn't matter. You were scared, weren't you, my son?"
"Uh-huh, Mama!"
The child's small hand stroked his mother's swollen red cheeks before wrapping them around her neck, hugging her.1
A spark flashed into Kalia's eyes as she watched the scene.
'Do you think I'll just kill him here? I'll take him to the back alley, and then he'll be quiet.'
•Editor 2: Lol, his luck wasn't up to the game xD….2
As she was thinking that, Hemming, who ran to the kitchen, shook her head, grabbing Kalia by the wrist.
"Well, we came out secretly. We shouldn't make a bigger scene of the situation."
Hemming was right.
Then I have to step in again before I go out.
As she was soothing herself with such thoughts, the woman, the mother and the child, approached her and offered their thanks to Kalia.
"I don't know who you are, but thank you."
". . . No. On the contrary, I'm sorry for breaking things and causing trouble."
"What did this lady do? It's those fucking drunkards' fault. Don't worry. I can apply to the security guard for a restraining order. This has never happened before!"
Hugging the child tightly, the woman smiled as if it was nothing.
Kalia somehow felt bitter and couldn't simply return the smile and laugh it everything off casually.
". . . I'm more embarrassed about the fact that he fainted."
The woman, Karen, smiled awkwardly, pointing to the black-haired man in the back.2
"Because the doctor was the first to faint."
". . . A doctor?"
"Oh, yes. He has been here for a while to meet his teacher's lady, but he was caught up in this."
"Have you ever heard his name?"
"It's Dr. Allen McEcker. You just came here . . . Oh, do you know him?"
Kalia held her forehead as if embarrassed by her words.
I never thought I'd run into the doctor who came to see me.
She looked at Allen, who fainted finely, shook her head, and approached him.
She grabbed him, stunned, and lifted him up before asking Hemming to get a carriage.1
Soon the carriage arrived, and Kalia, who had put Allen on board first, came back into the store as if she had thought of something.
Karen and her child, who stood there staring at the girl leaving, opened their eyes in surprise when she came back.1
"I left something behind."
Kalia, who said so, picked up the painting that the child had given her at the table where she sat a little while ago.
"I bought this . . ."
The little child blushed at the sight of her taking the picture with a slight smile.
As she was about to go out, she turned around again and approached the little boy.
"You said your name is Clark, didn't you?"
". . . Yes."
"If you want to protect your loved ones, you have to be very smart or very strong, Clark."
•Editor 1: This child is gonna be the next Superman xD
•Editor 2: Lol, Kalia version 2.05
". . ."
"I don't know how to become smart, but I can teach you how to be strong enough not to be beaten up by a bully. Do you want to learn?"1
The child opened his eyes wide and soon nodded his head strongly to her offer.
Kalia, who was smiling, stroked the child's head and said, "Go to the Tacskate Knights Academy and give the name of Josiah Terevan. Then he'll guide you through the curriculum for children of your age who are similar to you. But, it will take a lot of time, so you can't come and see when your mother works. Would that be okay?"
Tacskate Knights Academy!
It was a private knight academy run by General Kalia.
Unlike the Imperial Academy, it was not large in scale, but if it wasn't for having so many people of talent and skill, it would not be considered a place of honour and integrity.
Of course, there are aristocrats who refuse to take the same class as the common people. However, since the owner of the academy was also from the common people, she did not exert much energy into coercing the aristocrats to attend classes with commoners.
Also, just because you want to go, doesn't mean that you can go there.
'. . . Who the hell is this?'
Karen was dumbfounded.
Clark pulled at his mother's skirt.
"Mom, can I go?"
The child's eyes sparkled, showing feverish excitement.
The child wanted to go there, but he didn't bother his mother because he was afraid it would be a burden.
"I did ask you nicely."
Karen felt sorry for it, and even though she was sorry, she smiled and asked in a soft voice.
"Do you want to go?"
The child, who was reading his mother's expression, nodded weakly.
Then Karen spoke, stroking Clark's head, ". . . Go ahead, and I'll pick you up at the end of the day. "
Karen, who was looking at the brightened face of her child for a while, looked up and met with Kalia's eyes.
Reluctantly, she approached Kalia and embraced her.
"I don't know who you are, but I really appreciate it. I've always felt sorry for bringing him to work because I had nowhere to leave him."
Kalia slightly flinched at the intimate contact and appreciation of the stranger.
As she stood in a stiff posture, not knowing what to do, Karen smiled and let go of Kalia.
"If you give me your name, I will send you a thank you letter later."
"Oh, no. You don't have to . . ."
"Please, can't you tell me?"
The hesitating Kalia shook her head again.
"If Clark doesn't get along well with the kids, I'll tell them to let him go without hesitation, so just let him go as well."
When she said so, she hurriedly turned around and got inside the carriage.
Her cheeks were burning hot.
She coughed in embarrassment and told the rider to set off the carriage.
"Older sister! See you again!" Clark shouted with a big wave of his hands.
Just in time, the guards arrived, and Kalia clutched the mother's hand from the carriage, waving shyly as she watched Clark entering the store.
. . .
||T/N:
Chapter 16 will be up in a bit.+
Chapter 15 – Finished||