Bad move. Selen just had to go and say the s-word. Fran had dedicated her life to bettering the living conditions of Black Cats everywhere. The Blue Cat had crossed the line.
“Eeek!”
Fran’s intent to kill was at its peak. Especially since Dias had told her about Kiara. Well, we tried. This girl was a lost cause. We might have to annihilate Blue Pride altogether. I felt bad for Zehmet, but his crew seemed to be stereotypical Blue Cat scum. Better to wipe them off the map in case the survivors tried to take revenge on us.
Selen screamed in fear, her face growing pale at Fran’s murderous aura. She fell on her rear and trembled, not even noticing the fluid pooling on the ground around her.
“Aaah…!”
Her pathetic cry was barely intelligible, but Fran was past the point of sympathy. She drew me without a word and swung, her eyes brimming with cold fury. It was overkill, but Selen brought it on herself.
However, the blow never landed. A figure bolted out to cover her with the speed of a bullet.
“Urfh…!”
“B-brother!”
Zehmet took the blade that was meant for his sister. It went through his ribs and into his left lung. Selen glared at Fran, but Zehmet turned on his sister.
“Why…must you have such an unruly mouth…?!”
“Brother, are you all right?! Black Cat…! How dare you—?!”
“Stop…!”
“Yah!”
Zehmet slapped Selen. He was weakened by the injury, but the force of the strike was still enough to knock the girl back, marking her cheek with red fury. She sat in stunned silence, not understanding what was happening.
Meanwhile, Zehmet proceeded to fall on his face, apologizing to Fran for his sister’s wrongdoing. Blood seeped from his open wound.
“I apologize…for my foolish sister…”
“I’m sorry.” But Fran refused to back down. Her murderous thoughts had already overwhelmed her.
“I won’t…let them say anything so foolish ever again…! I’ll retrain them…anyone who refuses will be let go… no… I’ll sell them into slavery myself!” Zehmet declared, making clear that this policy would even apply to his sister.
He knew this was the only hope of quelling Fran’s rage. Their fight in the tournament told him that she was vastly superior to his entire crew. She would have no problem annihilating them all.
“Brother, what are you saying? Why are you apologizing to that—ah!”
“Quiet…”
He batted his own sister away as she crawled towards him. Quite hard, too. She hurtled several meters away before she stopped, unconscious.
“I am sorry…please forgive me.”
Zehmet might die mid-apology. His strength was steadily draining away. The commotion hadn’t gone unnoticed, and I sensed the other Blue Cats peeking out to see what was going on.
Fran? The rest of Blue Pride is moving in.
“I am so…so sorry,” he said.
“Ugh.”
Do what you think is right. I’m with you all the way.
“Greater Heal.”
Although she hesitated, Fran healed Zehmet’s wounds. She still hated their whole tribe, but she wasn’t going to take it out on the one Blue Cat she could actually get along with.
“I’m leaving. If you haven’t changed your ways the next time I see you, your crew is done.”
“Thank you so much!” Zehmet fell on his face again, knowing he had evaded the full weight of Fran’s wrath by inches. Fran didn’t answer, but turned around and ran. Conflicting emotions raged inside her.
Are you sure you should’ve let them go?
“I didn’t. I just delayed the inevitable.”
Well, as long as you’re okay with it.
Fran ran with no destination in mind. The only thing she wanted was to sort out her jumbled-up feelings. People stared at her as she zipped past, but it couldn’t be helped. She could run all she wanted if it meant she felt better.
A few minutes later, she was finally settled down. She walked slowly, her raging emotions suppressed by exhaustion. Some thugs set their eyes on her, but I did them a favor and dealt with them using Telekinesis. If they’d tried anything funny, Fran would have vented her rage. Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to mess with a girl emitting such a dangerous aura.
“…”
Of course she was in a bad mood. She had finally entertained the possibility of a friendship with Zehmet. Maybe he wasn’t the only decent member of his tribe, but in the end, Blue Cats will be Blue Cats. Zehmet was the exception.
I didn’t know if we could fix our relationship with him. Fran certainly wanted to be friends, but if we ran into his crew again, we would probably end up fighting. Worse, she might end up killing him. She certainly couldn’t forgive Selen, who’d pissed me off too, to be honest. She talked about selling people into slavery like selling a piece of armor. If Zehmet hadn’t protected her, she would be dead.
Fran walked around town in a storm of emotions. About twenty minutes later, she stopped and turned around.
This aura…
“Beast King?”
The explosion of mana and aggression came from the direction of the Blue Pride encampment. Even from this great distance, we could feel it.
“…!”
Fran panicked, and ran back the way she had come. There was no mistaking the Beast King’s mana. It didn’t feel like he was merely stretching his legs, either. As confused as Fran was, she channeled all her energy into speed—her camaraderie with Zehmet mixed with her fear of the Beast King.
Are you sure, Fran? The Beast King is there!
“Hm!”
I couldn’t tell whether she was prepared to face the consequences of her actions, but Fran knew there was no going back. She sprinted the whole way back to the encampment, and we reached it not five minutes later.
“Huff…huff…!”
It’s him!
The encampment was engulfed in flames. The Beast King stood in the center of the holocaust, wreathed in golden fire. The scene looked like an illustration straight from a tyrant’s repertoire. His silence loomed over the encampment.
Zehmet was on the ground, seemingly burnt to a crisp. His armor was heated to the point that it looked like hard candy, while the leather had turned to ash.
