My Strange Savior - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Are you headed to Morreta?”

Despite their rough appearance, they asked politely. 

Gia furrowed her brow. It seemed that troublemakers could be found anywhere.

She wondered if it was because of the two men who had wrapped themselves in rags before leaving the burnt-out village.

A group of ruffians approached them, but they seemed more like a band of thieves than troublemakers, especially when compared to Gia and Kalion, who both looked like knights.

“And?”

Gia retorted sharply, and a burly man with a scruffy beard stepped forward.

“If you want to pass through this road, you’ll need to pay a toll. So, you’ll have to cooperate.”

As if her mood wasn’t bad enough already. Gia turned her head to avoid eye contact, and a thud sounded.

Gia clenched her fist and loosened her hand, then was about to step forward when Kalion moved ahead of her.

“Daring to brazenly seize Imperial property.”

“What’s with this old man?”

Six men laughed and looked at Kalion, who had stepped forward.

They felt an imposing presence in him as if he wasn’t just any ordinary fellow. He was built like a giant. 

The man who had been talking trash earlier suddenly fell silent. But they still had their pride, and they couldn’t back down without getting anything in return.

He cleared his throat.

“Hey, buddy. Don’t make a fuss in front of a lady. Just pay the toll and go on your way comfortably. Okay?”

With one punch, peace could be found, so Gia couldn’t understand why they were getting into this confrontation. She looked at Kalion, wondering why he was bothering with this, and he returned her gaze.

“What should we do?”

“It must be enforced under Imperial law.”

“Law? You’re talking about the law to these lowlifes?”

Gia was all too familiar with these third-rate ruffians and thugs, so when she heard them mention the law, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter. She felt like she wanted to deal with them to the point where they’d need wheelchairs for a month.

Since it was Kalion’s world, it seemed more appropriate to let him handle this situation, so Gia chuckled and stepped back.

“Give me Rey.”

Kalion handed the child over to Gia and then turned his body with a threatening demeanor.

“For the crimes of extortion, coercion, and unauthorized occupation of Imperial property.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We should probably go to the guard together.”

Kalion’s calm words seemed to amuse them, and the burly men who had approached them laughed and surrounded them.

“Hey, buddy, we could have parted on good terms, you know. Did you have to come out like this?”

The smallest one spoke, grumbling and tapping Kalion’s ragged attire with his hand. He paused.

Normally, he should have been pushed away easily. The bewildered man knocked on Kalion’s chest once more as if knocking on a door.

The sensation of something solid where there should be flesh. Realizing that Kalion was wearing armor, the man slowly stepped back.

“What are you?”

“A knight.”

“Wow. We’ve got some luck.”

Of all things, they had to pick on a knight. The man furrowed his brow and approached the massive man behind him.

“Brother, what should we do?”

“What’s there to do? Just a woman and a child.”

“Even so, it feels wrong to mess with a knight…”

“You scared? There’s nobody around, we can just kill them… No, let the woman and the child live.”

The man with the sinister smile looked at Gia, who was holding the child in her arms. 

Gia didn’t understand the details, but the way he was looking at her made her feel dirty, and her expression began to sour.

Thinking they would back off when the big man cleared his throat, the thugs approached Kalion once more.

“It would have been nice if you had just gone quietly, right? Huh? Don’t hold a grudge.”

“Are you refusing to be taken into custody right now?”

“Still haven’t figured out the situation? Ugh… I don’t know how you’ve survived with this attitude. We’re going to let this woman live, so be grateful.”

As a large axe approached Kalion’s head as if it were going to chop it off, he didn’t even flinch. He casually twisted his body to avoid the attack, then kicked the thug in the knee, causing his body to crumple inelegantly.

“Ugh.”

“This guy…”

The thug’s face turned red and contorted as he fell to the ground as if he hadn’t expected to be subdued so easily.

Looking down at the fallen man with emotionless eyes, Kalion quickly reached out his hand, redirecting the sharp blade away.

Gia, who was cheering Kalion on as he efficiently took down the thugs one by one, shouted out when she saw something behind him.

“Behind you!”

It seems like Gia knows even without saying, as Kalion, who had bent his waist like water flowing and sent his sword, stood up and punched the man in the solar plexus without hesitation.

Thud.

The man groaned as he was pushed back, shocked by the impact on his abdomen. He admitted that Kalion had stronger unarmed combat skills than he had expected, so he didn’t recklessly attack as he had earlier.

Gia, who was holding Rey, suddenly looked at Kalion, who had just fought more agilely than she had thought, with bright eyes. It seemed like her hot blood was boiling.

Kalion, who fought purely with well-honed combat skills, looked impressive compared to her, who had become an enhanced human. He smoothly dodged the sharp weapons swinging at him, and even calmly punched his opponents.

“Kwaaah.”

“Ugh.”

In an instant, the man who had been watching his subordinates lying on the ground realized that it was his turn to step up. He moved his heavy body, tensing his thigh muscles to prepare to attack Kalion’s solar plexus.

However, Kalion, who was about to strike at any moment, stopped his hand when he heard a voice.

“If you move, the woman and the child will die.”

A small-statured man approached Gia from behind and thrust a knife against her throat. Although she already sensed his presence, a sigh escaped her lips, and she held still.

Why do thugs always do the same things?

Fearing that Rey, who was sleeping in her arms, might get hurt, Gia turned her body towards the blade. While Kalion hesitated, looking at Gia and Rey as hostages, the leader-like man among the thugs made his move.

Even though he knew what was coming, Kalion’s handsome face contorted in pain as the leader’s hand reached him.

“Complain again.”

What caught Gia’s eye, however, was Kalion’s face. 

“Hey, that face… That… face…”

Gia clenched her fist with determination. While she didn’t exactly owe him for his looks, she couldn’t help but tremble as she squeezed her hand tightly.

The leader, who noticed Gia mumbling to herself, raised an eyebrow. 

“Take off her hood. Let’s see what she looks like underneath.”

The man roughly removed Gia’s hood, revealing her face. 

“Hmm… Not bad, I guess?”

Kalion, who had a more attractive appearance than expected, glared at the leader. 

“Cowardly. Holding a child and a woman hostage for your deeds…”

“This guy hasn’t been hit enough yet.”

The leader retorted, delivering another punch to Kalion’s face.

Thud. Gia’s rationality also turned when she saw Kalion’s face in pain. That guy…

Despite Kalion’s inflexibility, his face had a magical quality to it; one moment it flared with anger, and the next, it sank into submission when faced with the leader’s face. 

How could he hit that face so ruthlessly?

Snip, snip.

In response to the teeth-chattering scream from Gia’s mouth, the leader chuckled, tossing the axe handle he held up and down.

“Why? You have some kind of relationship with this guy?”

“What?”

“If I spare him, there has to be a price. Hmm… the price could be… your body.”

Where did he learn to spout such cheap lines? 

Gangsters, thugs, were they all from the same school, irrespective of this world or another? Along with the baseless manner of speaking, Gia received the lecherous glances, and her frustration began to rise.

Having saved people as her mission and encountering these scoundrels a time or two, Gia’s laughter grew stronger.

“Boss, she’s laughing.”

“She’s laughing? Is she crazy?”

With a doll-like smile, Gia revealed her teeth and laughed openly, her gaze piercing through the man’s face.

“You’ve got nothing going for you except your face… If I hit it… would Big Brother get angry, or not?”

“What are you saying, this crazy woman… Ugh.”

In an instant, the arm of the man who had been thrusting a knife close to Gia’s throat bent at a ninety-degree angle in the opposite direction.

A severely bent arm in a place where it should never bend. Crunch. With the sound of bones breaking, the man screamed in disbelief and collapsed, clutching his arm.

“Where’s the knife? I’m just getting started.”

With one hand holding Rey and the other gripping the man’s wrist tightly, Gia swung her leg around, using her knee to accurately strike his face.

Thud.

The sound of someone falling made the thugs freeze in their tracks. That sound… was it coming from the woman whose knees seemed like she couldn’t even use a knife?

With even darker expressions, the thugs watched as their comrades collapsed without screaming, clutching their bent bodies. 

They looked at the woman with newfound respect and swallowed their saliva.

“You’re all down. Especially you! You, the ugly and big one.”

Pointing at the guy who appeared to be the leader with her finger, the thugs shuddered.

“M-Me?”

Seeing Gia’s hostile gaze, even the leader involuntarily started speaking respectfully.

“Yes, you. You’re down. How dare you hit his face?”

As Gia approached, the leader’s body jumped in response.

“Wh-why?”

‘Getting closer!’

With Rey in her arms, Gia continued to advance step by step, and the leader kept moving backward. Shaking hands trembled as he looked at the woman who had hit his comrade, and foam formed at the corners of his mouth.

‘What’s wrong with this crazy woman?’

The leader’s face became contemplative as he tried to understand the inexplicable power of the woman before him.

“Huh? Huh? You’re not coming? If I go after you, you’re dead, seriously. Come before I chase you down and finish you off.”

The leader, who had been slowly retreating, stopped his steps as if he couldn’t ignore the woman who had easily broken his comrade’s arm with a single hand.

‘She’s crazier than I thought.’

He laughed into the air, feeling a sense of unease about contradicting the words of the woman who had broken the arm of his subordinate.

As the woman approached, laughing at thin air, she seemed even scarier up close. 

A woman who was just about as tall as his chin, yet her laughter carried a weight that sent shivers down his spine. It was as if an illusion of a grim reaper was overlaid onto the woman who was calling somewhere with a taste for revenge.

“One, two, two and a half. If I say three, you’re done. It’s the final warning. Two and a half.”

For some reason, when he saw her gaze that had a hint of something undefinable, his retreating steps involuntarily returned to where they started.

“Hey, does it hurt?”

Without even looking at the leader, who was slowly crawling back with his big body, Gia grabbed Kalion’s jaw and twisted it.

“Why are you taking hits like a blockhead?”

When Gia and the child were threatened, he also involuntarily froze, worried that Gia and the child might get hurt. However, along with the words questioning why he was taking hits like a blockhead, a concerned expression settled on his face.

“You’ve got nothing going for you except your face!”

Smack. 

Gia, who had been yelling in frustration, grabbed Kalion’s jaw and pinched it. Her gaze became fiercely intense as she saw the bruises on his forehead and the torn wound near his lips.

Of course, it suited her perfectly.

“Hold him.”

Even at this moment, Rey continued to sleep soundly, undisturbed by the commotion. 

Kalion cradled the child in his arms, now somewhat more accustomed to it. It seemed that Rey was about to wake up due to the noise, and Kalion glanced at Gia.

“Sis hates it when you go around getting beaten up, you know?”