女神归来的夏天

Chapter 245: The City of James IV

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I watch Sally closely. She is doing a little better now. She isn\'t hyperventilating and puking anymore. We\'ve been here for about 30 minutes now. I don\'t know if she will be okay after coming back here, but I know she isn\'t going to give up. She stands up on wobbly knees and whips her chin, trying to get the saliva and puke off. "You want my help?" I see her look at me and her eyes are very red. She shakes her head in nervousness and looks away in shame. I\'m not going to force my help, and if she isn\'t comfortable being around me right now, that\'s fine too.

After all she has been through in these areas. It makes sense that her fear of being hurt by men is so strong. I\'m not going to demand that I be put above them, be treated better despite her fears. I\'m not going to ignore her fears cause it makes me feel bad. It does hurt she sees me like that right now, but sometimes things get hard. If she needs to do that, then she has that right. "I\'m sorry you had to see that..." She lifts her head, and her voice is dry and cracking. She\'s lost a lot of fluid from puking and has probably burned her throat a little from stomach acids.

She walks over to me while trying not to stumble. I don\'t reach out as she approaches. She doesn\'t need that fear. "It\'s okay, let\'s get a move on. The City is only a couple of miles ahead of us. We\'ll get some food and water. I\'m betting there are shops run by new people just like Zenith." I try to brighten her mood with the thought of having the same delicious food we had in Zenith made by players. My efforts work a little. She gives a small smile. It quickly fades, and she doesn\'t have a happy expression anymore.

I turn my back to her and start walking towards the city, but before I can get out of arm\'s length. I feel a tug on the bottom of my leather chest piece from behind. I stop and turn to Sally. She looks at me with a depressed look. The most I\'ve seen. "I\'m sorry I did that..." She is referring to her reaction to trying to comfort her. She doesn\'t need to be sorry for that. I don\'t hold anything against her. "C\'mon, say something..." Her voice is cracking up, and I see tears well in the corner of her eyes. She must think I\'m upset with her.

I fully turn my body towards her, and I smile. "It\'s okay, Sally. You\'re okay, and I\'m okay... It was a perfectly acceptable action due to the circumstances." I hate for sounding a little political, but I don\'t want to upset her further. She has a small smile and wipes the forming tears away. She lets go of my leather chest piece. She looks like she wants a hug, but she is hesitating. It\'s from being here, near the worst place she\'s ever been. I step away and turn around. "Let\'s go." My voice is confident and serious. We are here, and it\'s Sally\'s turn for vengeance.

While Cera and Sally walk the little bit of distance to The City of James, the city owners are having a private meeting. The James family is on their private property. There are many males in the James family. Sons of the original torturer and abuser of Sally, the one who took her purity. His spawn are gathered in a room. Some are fat and ugly like the father was, and others inherited beauty from the various concubines he had. The one that is planning to betray her family is here too, and she is wearing the best poker face you\'d ever see.

My brothers are having more and more concerns about a possible visit from Slayer Zern. Just today, a group of men was slaughtered in the street. "Kelly, what are the reports from the guards in the city? Any witnesses to the event come forward." Rener James, my second oldest brother, decides to get right down to the details. If there was anyone I need to be worried about, it\'s him. He is more intelligent and shrewd than any of my other brothers. In the end, all of them will be dead. I\'ll be damned to hell for Fratricide. Some sacrifices need to be made, though.

I clear my throat as I pick up the paper regarding any reports on the earlier incident. It appears that a group of men was harassing a woman, only for all of them to be killed. No description of the woman has been given, only that she had a magical beast with her. "There aren\'t any reports on the description. An individual female killed the group. She was wearing a hood. The only defining characteristic was the magical beast she was traveling with." Many of my brothers snot at the thought of a female doing this to a male. They really are the worst kind of animals.

Some have even tried to do things to me in the past, but lets just a dagger pointed at their manhood made them back off. "Issue a bounty on the woman, only give it to those in the underworld, though. Offer them a slave of their choosing." It takes all the power in my mind to not react when those words are said by my third oldest and ugliest brother—a true spawn between our father and a troll. I\'m lucky I inherited my mother\'s beauty. Many nod their heads in agreement, and the meeting moves forward.

The meeting jumps to another topic, and it\'s regarding funding to the slave market. Once I usurp control, all of this is coming to an end. "We need some financing for bribes at the borders near the eastern border. The Kingdom of Tellior is trying to stop their citizens from being taken here and made slaves. I wouldn\'t be surprised if the capital catches onto our little business here. So the more money for bribes, the better." Rener begins to talk about how Tellior is giving us trouble. That\'s thanks to me. I tipped their knight commander off.

So far, it hasn\'t resulted in much, but some of their citizens have been freed before they could be forever lost. "Kelly, I want to talk to you privately. Everyone else, you\'re dismissed." Rener ends the meeting, and my brothers leave. I look at Rener as he stares at me from across the table. Trying to discern something from my body language and posture. He\'ll get nothing. Out of everyone in our family, I\'m the only one who takes keeping secrets seriously. He\'ll never find out what I\'m up to. "What are your thoughts on the possibility that Slayer Zern is coming here with Saliandra Orvello?" What a strange question.

It\'s completely irrelevant to anything that he might suspect me of. What\'s he playing at... "I think he is coming here, Rener." He raises his eyebrows in surprise and leans back in his chair. "It was going to happen eventually. Something like this. A slave coming back to take revenge." He squints his eyes as he thinks about my words. I threw him a curveball and told him exactly what he wanted to hear. "I\'ll be going now, don\'t be too scared of him, brother. He can\'t kill all of us." I give a sarcastic edge to my voice, and he closes his eyes as I leave.

While the meeting has ended, and Cera and Sally are closing in on the city. Hailey has finished her conversation with Saul. She now has all the information needed to talk to the right people about the James family. Unknown to her, a bounty has been set on her. The only characteristic that is available about her is Emerald. Her magical beast.

I leave the guildhall with all the information that I need. Emerald is now sleeping in my backpack, and I\'m starting to get hungry myself. The food stalls that I passed on the way to the guildhall smelled so good, and I\'m going to go to the first one I see. I start walking down the street, and I notice that lots more people are walking around. This part of the city is upper-class, so the people are dressed better, and the scenery is better. It\'s not even close to the same state that the poor districts are in, and it makes me mad.

I used to be one of those poor people. I know what that\'s like. Before Cera got his fortune back on earth, we were poorer than dirt. I\'m pulled out of my thoughts at the familiar smell of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and syrup. My stomach growls as I take another deep whiff of the amazing food. There is movement in my backpack, and Emerald pops her head out, and drool is comically dripping from her mouth. I chuckle cause I\'d do the same if I could generate that much saliva.