Chapter 152: A Massacre Starting From Dawn (1/2)
It was the morning of their second day on the journey. Lapis was watching the sunrise and got totally mesmerized by it. In front of her was the bonfire, which surprisingly had not gone out and was still blazing brightly, beneath her buttocks was a tightly-wrapped Gula.
“The morning feels so refreshing…”
“I don’t feel refreshed at all…”
“Please consider this a lesson. I’m starting to wonder if you’re actually Lust and not Gluttony…”
Of course, there was a reason for Gula’s current state. The Evil God had sneakily slipped into Loren’s tent just before his watch shift was about to end, yet was caught by Lapis. She said she wanted to see how comfortable a high-quality sleeping bag was, but Lapis was certain that her goals were somewhat different. She then immediately properly tied her up with a rope, so that she couldn’t move.
“Don’t lump me with that guy…”
“Aren’t you two the same?”
“Not at all?! I’m being like that with Loren, not with anyone else! But Luxuria is indiscriminate!”
The one Gula mentioned was the Evil Gold of Lust, whom they had encountered in a previous job. Recalling what she had witnessed back then, Lapis could feel the refreshing effect of the morning disappearing, and a spectacular frown appeared on her face. Despite his title, the Evil God of Lust was, for some reason, a macho queen. He had betrayed a lot of Lapis’ expectations for Lust, and the trauma, he had burned deep into her mind, was still present.
“Is that so?”
As long as Gula’s target was Loren, Lapis didn’t care if she was indiscriminate in her taste or not. Lapis could never overlook such a thing, and she would stop whoever went after Loren, be it Gula or Luxuria. Just that in Luxuria’s case, Loren probably would also receive some mental damage, so she guessed Gula was somewhat better.
Loren and Tizona woke up a short while later, and after exchanging morning greetings with them, Lapis immediately started to prepare both breakfast and lunch. It’d be troublesome to get the cookware and such ready on the road, so it was better to make lunch now. They could munch on it later while walking.
Lapis first made a simple stew with salted meat and vegetables. She served it with some bread and with this breakfast was done. After that, she lightly toasted some bacon and vegetables, and sandwiched them between two slices of hard, crunchy bread for lunch.
When Lapis was wrapping the sandwiches in cloth and putting them into her luggage, Gula, who was still tightly tied up, spoke unhappily:
“Lapis-chan, that much is not enough at all.”
“You really want to eat up all of our supply, don’t you?!”
Lapis had made ten sandwiches. Loren, Tizona and her would have two each, and the rest was for Gula. But from Gula’s point of view, even if all of them were for her, it still wouldn’t be enough.
Lapis wanted to save some of the food considering what was left of their supply, but she had a hunch that Gula wouldn’t listen if she told her to tolerate her hunger. With no other choices, she prepared the remaining ingredients and made twice the amount of sandwiches she had planned. Gula was still unsatisfied, but reluctantly gave in after being told there was nothing left.
“I feel like I’ll have heartburn right from the morning.”
“There’s no other way but to get used to it, I think.”
Lapis gave Loren and Tizona their servings of stew and bread, got her own and then shoving the rest to Gula, who had been untied by now. Gula greedily wolfed it all down directly from the pot. Manner wise, it was an appalling sight, enough to make one lose their appetite. The other three ate while trying to avoid seeing her as much as possible, and breakfast ended like that.
They broke camp and started the second day of their journey.
From this point on, security on the highway began to worsen little by little. There weren’t any big towns nearby, and the place their party was heading to was on the very edge of Vargenburg’s territory. Naturally, there were not many patrols or workers in this area, and so the chance of encountering thieves, bandits or monsters increased.
“Normally, we should proceed with caution.”
Lapis muttered in an exasperated tone when a man burst into flames in front of her eyes.
A startling scream rose up, and people tremblingly watched the burning figure. But the flame continued to lick at its victim with no concerns, until the man became ashes and scattered in the wind.
“You thought your number would be enough for an ordinary group of four travelers, didn’t you?”
Loren swung his greatsword with a roar. The blade cleanly cut into a man’s torso, leaving his lower-half body standing on the ground while sending his upper body flying into the sky. Looking up at the shabbily-dressed body, Lapis sent out some magic bullets. They pierced the heads of the men surrounding her, leaving red, white and pink pieces of flesh and bone scattered magnificently in the air. Lapis looked at them with pity.
“Tizona, can you do something about how you kill them? If everything is burned to ashes, I won’t be able to scavenge their pockets.”
They were attacked by ten or so bandits, at a spot where the trees along the road were thick enough to hide in. They had noticed the bandits beforehand, but everyone believed finishing them off would be better than taking a detour. Right now, the bandits were having the bitter experience of being demolished right during their attack.
“Scavenging these bandits? You must really need money.”
“Whatever sum I found will lessen the burden on your own pocket, won’t it?”
“…How about this?”
Tizona seemed to agree with Lapis’ argument. She waved her hand lightly, and the flame enveloped a bandit’s head. The fire didn’t spread to his body, and only his head turned into ashes. The headless corpse fell to the ground, the cross-section at the neck burned black. Compared to the corpses slashed by Loren and head-blown by Gula’s magic, it looked much prettier.