A hard "snap" sound dispersed in the air, as the base of the mazer full of booze hit the wooden table.
In a shabby house, two men were heavily drinking—Alfredo and Mado.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! That brat." Alfredo, who was already drunk, furiously clasped his cup.
"I'm furious at him too. But calm down, he might hear us. It'll be trouble." Mado appeased him.
"I know, alright? I never thought he just broke Marco's arm that easily. Marco's pretty strong, you know?" Alfredo began to loosen up a little.
"Yeah, no one in this village has ever beaten Marco. However, he looked like a kid in front of him."
"I'm mad at him, but he's so cool, you know? I even heard that some girls in the village have begun to like him after they saw the incident this morning. That jerk Marco has had a habit of suddenly groping on young women. They were thankful of him for teaching that pervert a lesson." He voraciously gulped the booze. "Anyway, I never thought he was hiding his true nature all this time." Upon recalling his memory, a chill ran down on his spine.
"Yeah. He's so cool. But that's not the reason why he's so frightening."
"O-Of course. The reason why he's a monster is because of his cunningness."
"Yeah. We've witnessed it. I think that was one of the weirdest nights in my life."
Actually a few days ago.
.....
…..
…
The two of them planned to peek at Belle while bathing. They knew that it'd always be at every 8 o'clock in the evening. They secretly sneaked at the rear side of their house, trying to find a good view. However, someone called them out—.
"Oh, who do we have here? Mado and Alfredo, what are you doing in the middle of the night?" A young man spoke gently with a smile.
"Ci-Ci-Cimmerian!?? Oh, we're just looking for something." Alfredo frantically replied.
"Yeah, we're just passing by. We're going now. Please forget that you see us tonight. See you—." Mado hurriedly grabbed Alfredo to flee.
"You fools! You think you can get away after planning to do something despicable to my sister? Huh? Normally, I wouldn't interfere on men's hobbies—." It was no longer in soft voice.
"Ha-ha-ha, so you understand us after all. Right? Right? You're a man after all. So we're going now—."
When the two looked at Cimmerian again, it was already different. The gentle face was no more. They had detected that the color of his eyes changed into something ominously yellow-colored. His smile was so wicked. They knew that they were in trouble.
"No. You're not even apologizing? Fine. Normally, I'd let you off the hook. But," he locked his monstrous eyes at them, "my sister is different. I'll kill you!"
The moment Cimmerian uttered this, the two already started running. Nonetheless, it was useless. In a split second pace, two simultaneous blows landed on each on their backs. Those were too heavy, yet silent, that the two directly fell into the ground.
"Ow! Y-You bastard, you'll pay for this." Alfredo balled his fist.
"You idiot, we didn't do anything." Mado added who was kissing on the ground.
"Shut up!"
The two were insistent. It didn't matter. They were still beaten so badly. They spat blood and received severe wounds in the face. When Cimmerian noticed that they were about to die, he stopped.
"Now, listen to me, you idiots. Don't ever do it again, okay?" His normally effeminate voice came back.
"Y-yes. Whhhalt nhot ghhoonna ddo it aghhain."
"…"
"Good."
Alberto's mouth couldn't speak the words properly anymore due to extreme swelling and bleeding of the lips and gums. On the other hand, Mado was unconscious.
"I want you to do something for me."
"Whhhalt ishh it???"
"Listen carefully to the details. This is what you're gonna do…"
They began to understand everything now.
All after connecting the dots, they realized that they were beaten for a purpose. He manipulated them perfectly to do his bidding.
"Alberto, I never thought he made us lie in the front of everybody that there were bandits. Ha-ha-ha. There were never bandits."
"Yeah. He never broke a single member bone in our body because he planned to use us all along. After all, how can we manage to do his bidding if we are unable to walk?"
"His plans are perfect. Because of it, the merchants were afraid to traverse the forest. And as a result, our livestock were bought instead." Mado wore a smug face.
"Yeah. Now we can drink. I think he has also foreseen that a merciful merchant like Old Nicholas would give a healing potion to us. So now, our bodies are back to normal. Lastly, he arranged the plan during the day when merchants usually pass through the forest."
The two were recalling every detail of their dirty job given to them by Cimmerian.
"I've decided now, Mado." Alberto became serious.
"What is it?"
"I'm gonna ask him to be my teacher. I want to learn martial arts too. And he's good at it. I want to fulfil my dreams through his help."
"Th-Th-That's a good idea. But will he accept us? You know, we planned something bad on Belle, right?
"Ahhhh. Idiot, don't make me remember it. What choice did we have? His sister is so damn cute, beautiful, and busty too. She's also kind and reliable. She's perfect. I don't think he'll kill us just because we fell in love, no? It's just normal, right?" His cheek was blushing a bit.
"Yeah. But speaking of the most beautiful in this village, Beatrice or Rayha would be the only answer."
"Mado, so you like Beatrice rather than Belle? For me, it's still Belle."
"Beatrice is the best. She's not here though. I'd go for Rayha for now. He-he-he! Anyway, Cimmerian told us to keep what happened as a secret; let's be careful."
"I agree. Now, we have another job from him. I hope this will work."
"Same."
The two raised their mazers while smiling.
""Cheers!!!"