Chapter 80 - Reaper (2) (1/2)
Having a preconceived idea of Elves as pretentious beings who hated filth, Gedril was having a hard time realizing that one of them was humble enough to want to shake his hand.
”Uh... are you aware that soap and water doesn't exist in Hell?” He asked Fimafeng while scratching his head with an embarrassed face to make him understand that, unlike him, his hands and the rest of his body weren't perfectly clean.
”*Snort*, I may be damn old but my nose and eyes are still working perfectly, I don't need you to tell me to notice that you're gross.” He answered him tactlessly with his distinguished voice that wasn't at all in tune with his statement, which was certainly true but still very insulting.
”Come on! Don't be shy!” He added before grabbing Gedril's right hand to force a handshake, ”My work often leads me to get my hands dirty, so I'm almost glad that for once I'm doing it for a friendly gesture.”
Gedril overlooked his curiosity about what Fimafeng meant precisely by 'my work often leads me to get my hands dirty', as well as the fact that he mentioned his advanced age when he seemed bȧrėly older than him, and even the insulting nature of what he had just said to him...
Why?
Because he was enjoying that handshake.
It might sound like a weird reason, but for Gedril it was one of the best things that had happened to him since he had ended up in Hell.
After years of torture and humiliation, receiving a little consideration meant so much to him that it was enough to make him let his guard down a bit.
When he looked at it he thought he was hallucinating, and once he understood that he wasn't, he restated the stereotypes he had regarding the Elves.
'I would have preferred him to abstain if it was to do that.' He thought with a bit of vexation when he saw that Fimafeng had made a glove appear on his right hand for their handshake.
Seeing that Gedril had noticed his glove, Fimafeng hastened to make it disappear, after of course removing his hand from the one of Gedril...
”*Cough*, *cough*, sorry if this appeared rude to you, it's that because of my age I have fragile health, I have to be careful with mycrobes.” He justified himself before pretending to cough with such lousy acting that Gedril was hoping that he was only doing it out of politeness and wasn't seriously thinking that he was stupid enough to be convinced by his shitty performance.
Thinking it was the right time to get back to business, Fimafeng tried to find a way to change the subject and he figured it out by recalling the chains on Gedril's wrists and ankles, ”That must hurt, right?” He asked in a serious tone for once, pointing to the chain wrapped around Gedril's right wrist.