Chapter 3 – Hardened. Xg. (One)

”So. Do you think there is some progress?”

“Ah…Leo. It’s the first time I’ve seen a curse like this, so I think it’ll take some time. But I can definitely lift it. That’s how it feels.”

“Fat. That means no progress.”

“Shut up Rick. Don’t even talk to me if you keep behaving like that.”

“Ah, yes. You’ll be fine.”

“Bobby should have woken up soon. The priest who was supposed to heal the wounds was really hurt the most.”

“Fortunately, I think Uncle Bobby will wake up soon. The priests of the Ennessic Church are blessed with healing, so the physical damage will be wiped out quickly.”

“It’s fortunate. Now, let’s all eat. Shouldn’t we get our bodies back to normal as soon as possible?”

“Ehh. Yes. Yes. Who was on duty today?”

“It’s me…Hey, Nadia. Are you hurt somewhere?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just. I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but I think my eyes are a little swollen.”

“It looks like fatigue has accumulated. Last night was particularly stressful. I need to hurry up and finish my meal and go to rest.”

“Is it so…”

“What is it Rick. Why are you laughing? Are you in a good mood?”

“Huh? No Leo. Just what…Just.”

Their conversations linger in my ears. The only way to tell how much time has passed is to watch their conversation.

A voice that turns around without context. Curiosity-stimulating noises and unidentified screams. Sometimes I wonder if this might be hallucinations. In fact, I’m already dead, and I wonder if this is an illusion shown by demons.

However, every time that happens, various sensations vividly shake the whole body. The feeling of the cold wind blowing through your hair. The wings of flies hovering around my ears and the smell of blood that keeps permeating. Traces of the battle that could not be washed away are still left all over the body.

Even if it’s filth, I wish I could wash this filthy body with something. However, the party members didn’t allow me to even drop a drop of water, as if they couldn’t come up with such an idea.

Or please make it rain. I desperately turn my eyes upside down and try to look up at the sky, but my hardened body cannot face upward. Am I going to stop like this? The fear of living hardened like this dominates my brain.

Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Any liquid is fine. I wish the flies hovering around my ears would pee.

Give me water the water. Oh God. If you are listening

Anything but blood will do, so satisfy the thirst of this cursed body.

After the petrifying spell, I fell asleep during the day and woke up at night. I don’t know why. It might be because mana is more powerful at night when the moon rises.

Thanks to that, all I can see is the party members standing vigil. Yesterday, Ellie and Sarah. The next day, Rick and Leo. The next day is Ellie and Nadia. Nadia, Ellie, and Leo sometimes kept watch two nights in a row, and Sarah only came in once every three days.

And Rick. Rick kept vigils at a frequency similar to the others, but each time he dozed off or wentofing around. Then, when one of the party members was absent for a while, he would spit on the floor or mutter swear words at me.

Another singularity was that after that day, Rick hadn’t been on watch with Nadia. Did you even have a fight? Even when I tried to get my head around the brief morning conversation, they didn’t say a word to each other.

However, on that day, the two of them stayed vigil together for the first time in a long time. As usual, when I woke up in the middle of the night, Nadia was standing there, staring straight ahead in silence, while Rick was lying on the floor and smoking, as usual.

Nadia, who had been staring straight ahead for a long time, glanced sideways at Rick, who was lying on the floor, as if being pulled by gravity. The displeasure was obvious, and when Rick closed his eyes and went to sleep, he threw a word as if he couldn’t stand it.

“Rick. Open your eyes.”

“Stay awake.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re sleeping or not, it’s important to keep your eyes open. Because with your eyes closed, you won’t be able to respond when a threat comes.”

“You are a genius, very.”

Rick smirked, still closing his eyes. Then, a crack formed in Nadia’s expression.

“There is a limit to listening to your whining. Stand up when he says something nice.”

“Even now, it’s not a nice word. A noble knight, don’t you know what it means to say a nice word?”

“You guys are really…”

Nadia clenched her fists as if she couldn’t take it any longer and approached Rick. But then a thud came from behind her.

“…I think I just heard something. Knight.”

“Probably a rabbit or something. It’s no big deal.”

“But shouldn’t we look just in case? Don’t we?”

“Damn you son of a bitch.”

Nadia stared at Rick for a long while and then left her seat as if it had nothing to do with it. Rick let out a groan-like sound as she disappeared and threw her limbs to the ground.

“Ahh. Fuck. What a fucking dog. What is this?”

The lamentation will begin. I wanted to cover my ears, but unfortunately I couldn’t.

“The Demon King’s bastards said it was no big deal. It’s not at all. They’re so hard on the Four Heavenly Kings, but how are they supposed to catch the Demon King? Damn. Isn’t this really going to end?”

Why the hell did we hire the author?

It wasn’t like that when I first met him. At the time, it was rather a pleasant feeling. Knights of the empire and warriors of the prophecies all day long. And in particular, they would talk excitedly about being at the same party as the famous Leo.

At first, you might have thought that with such famous people, you could bury yourself without much to do. However, as he said, the Demon King’s army was stronger than we thought and was in danger of being annihilated several times. Each time Rick grumbled that he wasn’t what he thought.

Thanks to that, it wasn’t just once or twice that the atmosphere subsided. Motherfucker. Maybe from the beginning you…

“…You’ve been a problem from the start, Luca.”

When I woke up in surprise, Rick was right in front of me. He looked at me almost gnashing his teeth.

“In the first place, even if you didn’t set out to catch the demon king, you wouldn’t have come this far. You should have just returned when you killed that bastard, the Minotaur. “

Do not be ridiculous. Originally, our goal was to defeat the Demon King.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Well, yes. You can’t blame everything on yourself. But you ruined everything in the end. Then why would you fall under such a fucking curse…”

Rick continued to swear, then suddenly saw my finger extended forward and shut his mouth. Then he suddenly smiled and opened his mouth again.

“By the way, Luka. You’ve really turned to stone, right? Then…If something like this breaks. Can’t you put it back together?”

What?

I looked away and saw that he was fiddling with one of my fingers.

“No, I don’t mean anything. But it’s a little unfair that I’m the only one who suffers like this. After all, it’s because of you. So, as an apology…Wouldn’t it be okay if I broke one of these?”

This crazy dog!

He wiggled his fingers desperately, but he didn’t move at all. Rick started to exert his strength with such a force that he could really break my finger.

Damn this. Crazy. Damn it a dog

Please. Please. In action. In action.

I screamed with all my heart, but my body wouldn’t listen. Soon, there was an ominous sound of fingers cracking.

A crackling sound echoed through the air.

“Rick!!!!!”

“Oooh!”

Rick’s fingers slipped away with a scream of pain. When he looked away, Nadia appeared and was looking down at Rick with her furious eyes.

“What are you doing here!”

“Ouch… Mr…”

“What were you going to do? Say it right!”

It was an expression of anger like never before. Rick spat the blood in his mouth and stood up with a stagger.

“I just touched it, but why the fuck? All of a sudden. Are you getting bloody bitch?”

“What?”

“I don’t know what kind of idiot he was thinking, but he only touched it once. But are you going to start punching?”

He got even more angry and moved closer to Nadia.

“I don’t know what’s so frustrating about it, but leave me alone. Or are you interested in me? Then tell me directly. I’ll deal with you. Otherwise, fuck off. There’s a limit to holding back the fuck.”

“…Ha.”

Nadia listened to Rick, then she looked up at the sky and let out her sigh.

“Yes. In fact, I was also at my limit.”

Then, he spat it out with a cold expression.

“Anyway, how many of you must be beaten.”

“What… Ugh!”

Her hand gripped Rick’s collar. And she started dragging herself somewhere.

“I won’t let this go… Such a crazy bitch…”

“I know a guy like you well. Bullshit who only understands words. It should have been like this from the beginning.”

They slowly faded from my sight. Only Nadiya’s murderous words remained in my mind like an afterimage.

“If you want to stop, tell me anytime. I’m not sure if they’ll listen.”

Waiting is always boring. Especially since that’s all I can do.

After they disappeared, I focused my attention on hearing as much as possible. Of course, all I could hear was the sound of grass insects crying at night and the gentle noise of the night flowing.

Ha…

Eventually this happens

The sigh that I couldn’t breathe out of my mouth condensed like a cloud and settled in my chest. I wanted to make sure there were no physical clashes between party members.

Like Rick said, maybe it’s all my fault. If I had been more blunt, this wouldn’t have happened.

It was at that moment when I felt such a sense of wonder.

“Ugh…”

A moaning sound came from not far away. It was not clear who it was because it came so suddenly.

“Ugh…”

The sound got closer. Who is it? Rick? Or maybe Nadia?

The sound I heard next cleared my doubts. This time it was not a moan, but a word with a clear meaning.

“Stop…”

Rick.

This is Rick’s voice.

In the end, you got beaten up badly. There was a hint of pain in his voice.

“Stop… A little…”

The voice came closer and closer. That’s why I should have been a bit silly. I felt a complex yet exhilarating feeling. The approaching voice soon passed through the back of the head and passed to the side, and the sound of staggering walking also came clearly. And finally, the figures of the two appeared in front of my eyes, and Rick’s words resonated clearly.

“Stop whining, bitch.”

“Now…Wait a minute…Please…”

“The bitch is real.”

Rick groaned and kicked something hard with his foot. Then, the disfigured face of Nadia was clearly revealed under the moonlight.

She let out her long groan and squeezed her body again and again. The first thing that struck me was her frightened look, like a rat, and the second that she was naked.

Rick caught her breath and tugged wildly at Nadia’s silky hair. Then she let out a shrieking scream and raised her head.

“Kyaheuk…!”

“So, why do you keep getting close to that bitch? Do you think the fuck can be anything?”

“Let go… Let go… Please…”

“Now you can’t even use that fucking tone? Hey. Do you think you’ve been so good that you’ve been saying we’re coming? Fuck you. I just treated you because you were a knight. In case you messed up and got into trouble.”

“I… I…”

“If you don’t have any skills, you can’t do it. To be honest, you’re the most useless in this party. Leo and Luca handle all the close combat, and the pussy bitches and Ajae take care of the back support. To!”

Rick lost his temper and slapped Nadia on the cheek. And when she collapsed helplessly, she laughed maniacally.

“Why, did you think I could win if I was at least? Looking at you, you couldn’t say a word to Leo. But don’t get me wrong. Even if I cut off not one finger, but two, I’m stronger than you.”

“Ugh… Ugh…”

Crying. That Nadia.

My master

Dream.

I’m stuck with that bitch. Crying.

Rick huffed and puffed at her for a while, then suddenly took off his shoe and ran her toe through Nadia’s long hair. Then, even though she was lying down, her breasts that rose up were exposed.

“But you. You don’t have any skills, but you’re good at sucking. Your face is good enough…”

“Wh… What… Oh!”

He stomped her breasts with her feet and gently turned her nipples between her toes. Nadia couldn’t resist and only let out a shallow moan.

“It’s cute bitch. It looks delicious after taking it off.”

“Stop…”

“What? Can’t you hear?”

He cupped his toes, grabbed his nipples, and pulled them long. And as Nadia swayed and bent her waist, he let go without warning.

“Haaang!”

“Your groaning sound is so cute, Knight. I want to torment you.”

“Please stop. Please…”

It was a desperate voice, but that didn’t mean Rick would quit. Suddenly, the unbuttoned pants fell to the floor, revealing a stiffly erect cock.

“After eating this once. Isn’t it a pity that you quit here too?”

“No… Please… At least in front of Luca…”

“I can’t see it, so what?”

Rick sighed cruelly and suddenly looked at me with an evil smile.

“And Luca too. Wouldn’t it be time to take a sip of water?”