章 8: Distorted - Part 1
In an abandoned mansion, far from where Athena was, Urk was laughing like a child in a candy store because he had Fotiá in his hands, half of his goal was complete.
"Boss, don't you think Mijir is taking a while?" asked Lahar, the knight with the big red nose as if he always had a cold.
"As long as he does his job, he can take as long as he wants." Urk responded by admiring Fotiá's necklace.
Fotiá was crying, but because she was gagged, her voice was not audible.
"Isn't it better to go look for him? Something might have happened..." Rui, the tallest knight, said.
"Oooaah! S-stop this omen!"
It had been an hour since Athena had bewitched Mijir, and since then she had bewitched him another six times when it was just over a minute for the spell to wear off.
Athena was sitting on the floor beside the bewitched man and was learning one spell and learning one spell after another.
When she was on her fiftieth parchment, Athena heard Fotia's frightened voice again. However, this time Athena was focused and realized it was some kind of telepathy.
Athena took a deep breath and thinking of some way to talk to the girl, she closed her eyes, thinking and thinking, until suddenly she felt a connection between them.
""Fotiá, can you tell me where they took you?"
""Athena? Where are you? Fotiá is afraid... Athena, come get me?""
""Calm down Fotiá, I'll go get you, but first I need to know where you are."
""Fotiá doesn't know... Athena, the men didn't take the necklace Athena gave to Fotiá."
""It's okay, I'll get him back. Wait a little longer, I'm coming!""
""Athena, n..."" Before Fotiá finished speaking, the telepathic link was cut, but this was due to Athena's concentration being broken due to a noise.
Athena opened her eyes and saw a club descending on her.
While Athena was talking to Fotiá, the effect of the magic invoked on Mijir passed.
The man, taking advantage of the fact that Athena had her eyes closed and no longer wanting to be bewitched, put all his strength into her sneak attack, however, he was denounced by dry leaves on the ground.
Athena rolled away from Mijir, painting her white dress with dirt.
"Well I need you moving anyway." Athena said as she drew her sword. "But that doesn't mean I need you in one piece."
Mijir's eyes widened in fear. Despite being a knight, he was just a guard dog who had never fought anyone with the intent to kill or die.
Until a month ago he was just a farm boy, who only became a knight to help pay for his younger sister's tuition, but that wasn't something Athena would know.
"W-wait! Please wait!" Mijir begged while defending Athena's first attack.
Athena smiled at the man's hesitation and attacked harder. She felt the same excitement as in the game time, when she slaughtered villages and heard the cry for pity from NPCs and weaker players.
*Author's Note: Athena was a psychopath in the game, but I think she's becoming one in her new life... I hope not.*
Thanks to his training, Mijir was able to defend most of Athena's attacks, but it seemed that as Athena brandished the sword, more skillful she became. And with it the wounds on his body appeared.
"I d-don't want to die! Wait!" Mijir begged.
Athena stopped and smiled amiably. "And I don't want to kill you." and then she cut the air from top to bottom with her sword towards the knight.
Mijir jumped back, making space between them and saw where he was, a thin red line in the air.
Athena's eyes gleamed hypnotically and then from the knight's body, the left arm dangled.
"What?" Mijir didn't understand what happened until he saw on the ground a fat arm covered by an avocado green cloth and holding a wooden mace.
As soon as he understood what had happened, Mijir felt the hot blood drain from his stump of arm to the ground, he bent his knees in pain and hugged his arm, screaming and crying.
Athena had a bored expression on her face and took a deep breath, blowing her bangs. "Sorry, I didn't think it would work... Because of that, now I'm pretty tired. If only you hadn't kidnapped Fotiá..."
"I... M-my arm..."
Athena sighed and then kicked the man who didn't move. The iron odor of blood and the man's crying began to irritate her.
"Where did you take her?"
"M-my arm...!" Mijir said, with less force, over a pool of blood.
With the eyes of a dead fish, Athena looked at that scene, the scene of a man dying. This scene would stay in her mind forever.
"The first human I actually killed..." Athena said and raised her sword for a final blow.
With bleary eyes, Mijir could understand what was about to happen. "My... Sister..." Mijir said and closed his eyes forever.
In a single blow, Athena pierced Mijir's skull and in the same instant an energy came out of the man's body and invaded Athena's body.
At that moment, Athena felt a whirlwind inside her and then a lull as if she had achieved something. It was a unique yet familiar feeling of warmth and relaxation after a day's work.
Athena hated that feeling. It reminded her of when she was Arthur and the days she spent with Luana and then betrayal she suffered.
Athena kicked Mijir's lifeless body and complained. "Damn..."
At the corner, Lahar watched Mijir's last moments as he shivered and seriously considered running away and leaving it all behind.
But he knew that Athena had seen her face and feared she would seek him out, and thinking about it, he threw the sword from his waist to the ground and began walking towards Athena with his arms outstretched.
When Athena saw Lahar, she twisted her head wondering what the man was doing.
"I am not your enemy." Lahar said with a smirk.
"But you seemed to be my enemy when you kidnapped Fotiá..."
"Th-that wasn't my idea."
Athena tightened her grip on the sword and closed her eyes briefly, trying to control her anger, and Lahar shivered.
"I don't want to know about that. Where's Fotia?" Athena said as she swallowed her anger.
"I'll take you there... hehehe..."
"Why are you laughing?"
Lahar was laughing nervously, he was afraid to turn his back and get stabbed and regretted having got rid of his sword.
"Th-that reminds me, you didn't say who you are at the gate. May I ask who you were?"
"....I'm someone you should have stayed away from." Athena said and the conversation ended there.
Lahar guided Athena to the abandoned mansion, past dead gardens and cluttered alleys.
Occasionally voices could be heard from inside the houses they passed, and Lahar advised Athena not to look.
"They are poltergeist or re-emerged from the 'tragedy of the south' era."
"Southern tragedy?"
"Forty years ago, a string of deaths happened one after another and no one ever knew what caused it." Lahar explained, and they fell silent again.
And in silence they stayed until they reached Urk's hideout.
"We have arrived." Lahar said.
The mansion had twenty windows, ten on the ground floor and ten on the first floor, and there was light coming from inside the mansion, through the last three windows on the right side of the ground floor.
"You stay here."
"Huh? Wh-"
"{Sleep}" Before Lahar could say or do anything, Athena bewitched him and he fell onto the lawn in a deep sleep. "Be grateful that I won't kill you…yet."
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