Chương 75: Say It

Pavel and Mateusz were hidden behind a tree, waiting for the girls to go to bed. Why fight when you can ambush them in their sleep? It was a lot less effort that way.

"I can't believe it's that easy," Mateusz laughed.

"They have no idea we're here. Soon we'll be rich."

"Keep your voice down," Pavel hissed.

"Lighten up, man, they're just a bunch of girls."

"Yeah, with a one million gold bounty on them, so don't fuck this up."

"What are you gonna do with your part of the money?"

"I'm gonna—wait, something is happening," Pavel whispered.

"There's another woman there now." Pavel started giggling. Mateusz pulled on Pavel's shirt.

"What's going on, man? Tell me!"

"She's naked."

"Who? Who's naked?" P Pavel shoved Mateusz off him.

"The new lady, now stop fucking grabbing at me and let me look." Mateusz pushed Pavel back.

"I say we go over there right now." Pavel started getting annoyed. Fucking Mateusz lost all ability for rational thought whenever he thought he'd get the chance to see some tits. Every damn time.

"No. We stick to the plan."

"But I want to see!"

"I'm sure she'll still be naked when we get there."

"But what if she isn't?" Pavel slapped Mateusz on the back of his head.

"Shut the fuck up." Mateusz rubbed the sore spot and pouted, then almost immediately remembered the one million gold bounty and perked back up.

"I still can't believe she'd disguise her class as something so obvious." Pavel turned to Mateusz and grinned.

"I told you [Identify] and [Piercing Insight] would make us rich. Waste of a slot, my ass!" he scoffed. Pavel shook his head. People generally didn't take skills like [Identify], because there wasn't much use for them. Why would anyone care what anyone's class was? The skill was even relatively rare among inquisitors, who'd get the most out of it, being witch hunters and all. Even they'd rather use their skill points on a "real" utility skill or something offensive.

They just lacked vision, which was perfectly fine for Pavel, who'd made a good amount of money selling out people with illegal classes to the Church of Stvora. He had a real knack for sniffing them out, and his skillset helped him out immensely. Soon, none of that would matter, though, because soon, he'd be rich. After Mateusz chopped off the girl's head, he'd stab him in the back and the million would be for him, and him alone.

They'd been "friends" for years, but the truth was Mateusz was annoying, and Pavel would rather have one million than five hundred thousand gold.

"I still can't believe how stupid that bitch is," Mateusz laughed.

"She is pretty god damn stupid," Pavel agreed.

"That's a bit rude, don't you think?" Hecate said.

Both men whipped their heads around and stared at me with wide eyes. I guessed they hadn't seen me blinking in. Maybe they couldn't actually see through objects, or maybe they'd been distracted. Not that it mattered, because now they were dead. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Normally I'd just have shot them and been done with it, but insulting my intelligence like they had required justice. Justice for my ego. And for that, they'd have to suffer.

After that, they were allowed to die.

"Wha—" the one with the brown shirt started to say, but I raised my finger and waggled it, cutting him off.

"Say I'm smart." Brown-shirt and Blue-shirt looked at me with their mouths hanging open. Brown-shirt's hand slowly moved toward the dagger on his hip. I shook my head.

"I would advise against that. Might cost you an arm." Blue-shirt's eyes flicked to Brown-shirt.

"She doesn't have any weapons," he whispered.

"You know I can hear you, right? There's like, four feet between us. Now, I'll tell you again: say I'm smart." Brown-shirt grinned and grabbed the dagger. In the blink of an eye, I summoned my revolver, activated [Clean Entry] (just in case he had a barrier), and shot his arm off at the elbow. As he howled in pain, flames started dancing across my arm and a flame serpent uncoiled itself and launched at the screaming man. The serpent coiled around his neck and started choking him.

The man caught fire and I could see the skin on his face start to bubble.

"No! No! Bad snake! Not the head! Not the head! I need that!" I quickly activated [Clean Entry] again, and blew his chest out. [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] After the man died, the flame serpent turned to ash. I quickly ran over and slapped out the flames.

"Whew," I said.

"Sorry about that. There's only a five percent chance of that happening. Caught me a little bit off guard." I turned to Blue-shirt and spun the revolver in my hand.

"I do have a weapon. Two, actually." Blue-shirt put his hands up.

"I wasn't gonna hurt you."

"I thought you were going to cut my head off." He grimaced.

"Not in a painful way. And I was, yes, but not now."

"Oh. You're not going to cut my head off anymore?" He quickly shook his head.

"No, no. I'm not."

"Oh, alright, we're cool then. I guess I'll let you go."

"Really?"

"No." I stared at him for a long moment.

"Well?" He frowned.

"What?"

"Are you going to say it?"

"Are you going to shoot me right after I say it?" I blew some air out my nose.

"Well, yeah. Obviously."

"But I don't want to die." I rolled my eyes.

"Should have thought about that before trying to cut my head off." He raised his hands higher.

"But I didn't! I didn't do anything." I pointed the revolver at him.

"Look, Blue-shirt Guy, are you going to say it, or do you want me to shoot your dick off? It kind of feels like you're trying to buy time here or something, and it's totally uncool. Not only were you going to cut my head off, you also insulted my intelligence. You made your bed, now you lie in it." He crossed his arms.

"No." I poked him with my revolver.

"Say it." He looked away from me.

"No. I'm not saying it."

"So, you stand by what you said? You think I'm stupid?" He glanced back at me.

"I'm not saying you're stupid. I don't think you're stupid. I just…" I leaned in closer.

"So you think I'm smart?" He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I see what you're trying to do." Damn it. Almost got him. He tried to smile through his fear.

"Look, I could join you. I could protect you. I have good skills!" I snorted.

"Why would I want that, Blue-shirt Guy? You suck! You can't even protect yourself!"

"My name is Pavel, and—""I don't care!" I cut him off.

"It doesn't matter what your name is, BLUE-SHIRT GUY, because you're going to die anyway. The only question is: do you want to die with or without your dick?" He looked down at his crotch, then sighed. He looked back at me.

"You're smart." I tapped my chin.

"I don't know, man. It didn't sound like you meant it. It kind of sounded like you were just saying it because I asked you to say it, you know." The man scowled at me.

"Are you fucking serious." I waved my hands around.

"Woohoohoo, someone is a bit grumpy!"

"Fuck you!" he spat.

"Fuck! You!" I leaned in again.

"But how, Blue-shirt Guy? How?!" I pointed my pistol at his crotch.

"How are you going to do that without your dick?" He quickly covered his crotch with his hands.

"You're fucking smart, alright? The smartest person I've ever met. Real fucking smart. A genius." I pulled my gun back into my palm and put my hands on my hips.

"Well, gee, Blue-shirt Guy. I think you're exaggerating a bit now. I'm flattered, I really am, but smartest ever?" I giggled.

"You're going to make me blush." His expression soured further.

"Just fucking kill me." So I did.

I walked back into the clearing with two new shrunken heads.

"Look at me!" I said, laughing as I held one up to each ear.

"Found a new pair of earrings." The viwa wrinkled her nose.

"What the hell is that?"

"Just two unsavory guys. And no blood or dicks in the circle." The viwa shrugged. She'd probably seen stranger things, being a type of forest nymph and all. If they were anything like the ones back in Graecia, they got up to some wild stuff of their own. Vasil pointed at Brown-shirt's head.

"What happened to that one?"

"Oh this guy? Flame serpent got him, so now he looks a bit crispy." He nodded.

"I see. Good job getting them in one piece. Mostly." I dangled it in front of him.

"I'm sure it still works. I mean, the skill activated, so it must work, right?"

"You didn't check them out yet?" I shook my head.

"I wanted to share the joy with you guys."