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A Cheap, OP Brawler - Chapter 157

Published at 29th of March 2022 06:39:04 AM


Chapter 157

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{Jinma}

After hearing Obina’s last words, I felt the same weird feeling of something getting sucked out of me like when we came in, but in reverse. Soon after that, the white blindness died down and I was met with a comfortable darkness, realizing my eyes were closed before slowly opening them. The familiar ground of the church’s secret cavern was below me.

“Goodness, that took quite a bit. You must have been up there for a while. And I see you came back with some souvenirs?” Winny, the Arch Imp Priestess, asked.

I looked up and checked my surroundings. On top of the Immortals’ Monument towering over us, Sue and Winny were in the same positions as when we started the chant, two different-colored ribbons sat in front of me, Ume was back in her Lizardman form, and Ren had the collar and silver armlet on when we left Obina’s room. Nyra wasn’t behind me, and when I patted myself, I felt the tanto holstered where it should be. Looks like we really did come back.

“How long were we out?” I asked as the others were wiping the brightness out of their eyes.

Winny looked up in thought, “About … 10 seconds, maybe? These things are usually done less than that. You must have spoken with Goddess Obina for quite some time.”

A couple seconds, huh? With how long it felt there, though, I’m not sure if I want to make those trips a regular thing, especially with the time and effort it takes just getting to the secret cavern here.

“Have you found what you needed after speaking with Goddess Obina?” Winny then asked.

I looked at Sue again, who was shifting glances between me and Ren in surprise. Now that I think about it, Sue could probably see the changes in our statuses from our visit with whatever appraisal-type skill she has on her. She seems to know what I have hidden with my [Status Sorting] skill, too. 

I probably should have asked Obina if I could buy anything that would hide my identity and location like Sue can. Then again, I went over quite a bit of the list when I was shopping for Ren’s equipment and didn’t find anything that fit that criteria. It was mentioned before that more stuff will be available for me to buy when I’m higher ranked as an adventurer, and I was black-ranked, so maybe I wasn’t qualified for the top-tier quality items just yet. Those may be available when I reach bronze, silver, and gold-rank in the adventurer’s guild.

Putting that aside, even if I was able to buy something like that, Sue—as well as the Demon King—already knows my identity as a Champion and a D-Human, and what I can do as a Brawler, anyway. The only things that changed were my abilities, my new title as a [Kotori Family Lieutenant], and the [D-Subordination] skill that came with it. Though Sue already sees what we have now, I should still make an effort to hide what I can with my [Status Sorting] skill. This Devil-turned-Arch Imp is just the exception of who or what can see through my efforts of hiding my identity when that really shouldn’t be the case. Now that I learned that much about her through my meeting with Obina, though I should still be wary, I didn’t have to worry about the possibility of facing many potential enemies that are just as dangerous as Sue can be.

“... Yeah, I think I learned enough to be satisfied for now,” I answered honestly to Winny’s question about fulfilling my objective from meeting Obina.

~~

With our business finished, I pocketed my Familiars’ ribbons before Winny led us out of the Champion’s Confessionary and back into the office where the secret passage began. On the way over, I used my [Status Sorting] skill to hide the new stuff I didn’t want most other people to find. Ume and Ren walked in silence, but Sue seemed the most tense out of us all. Once Winny took the necessary measures to hide the secret passage again, she turned her attention back to us while we stood around in the office.

“Is there anything else you need from the church while you are here, Master Jinma?” Winny asked.

I shook my head, “Nah, you’ve done more than enough going through the trouble for us. I really appreciate it.”

“It is no trouble at all. For you, I will do everything in my power as one of Dondegarm’s Holy Bishops to support you,” Winna said before giving an angelic smile.

“Uh, there is one thing I’d like to request,” Sue said unexpectedly, “Could we borrow this room to have a quick private chat? We won’t touch anything, of course.”

Winny nodded, “I have no problems with that. There are some chores I must get back to, but if there is nothing else you need from me, I wish you the best of luck in your quest, Master Jinma.”

“Thanks for everything, Winny,” I said before giving her a hug. She was surprised by the gesture at first, but quickly warmed up to the gesture as she returned it.

After requesting us to close the door on our way out, the Arch Imp Priestess left the room, leaving the four of us behind. To ensure our privacy, I cast the [Soundproof] Null Spell to cover the room.

“So, what did you want to talk about, Sue?” I asked.

“Well … I was wondering if there was anything you learned from your talk with Goddess Obina that you want to confirm with me about? I’ll try to answer whatever I can, of course,” Sue said, but she didn’t look confident as she was looking down and fidgeting in place.

I sighed and scratched my head, “There are things I want to confirm, but … I’m under an oath set by Obina that I cannot say anything of what I learned from our talk.” I then went on with the conditions she set with everyone in the room listening in.

When I was done, Sue looked up to me with widened eyes, “So, unless I come out to you or anyone in your party, you and Nyra can’t say anything to us, but after seven days from around this time today, you’ll be free to confront me, alone, on what you’ve learned?”

“What happens if you break that oath?” Ume asked.

“... I can’t say,” I said while averting my gaze.

I read as much as I could in the contract before signing it, and I confirmed some things with Obina on some instances before bringing Ume and Ren back in her bedchambers, too. I was allowed to bring up that much of the oath to those who know most of the circumstances, Ume, Ren, my Familiars, and especially Sue. If I brought up the consequences of breaking the oath, which is me, Nyra, and my Familiars forfeiting our lives to the Immortals, it could add enough pressure to Sue to confess by force, which I believe was something Palonitus wanted to avoid. At the same time, just staying quiet about what I learned may also cause Sue enough stress to do the same thing. Putting this much out on the table will be enough for Sue to be kept in the loop, as well as giving her a choice of revealing everything sooner. Keeping her in the dark of my penalty would also add just enough pressure of how serious these circumstances are. I assumed that was what this so-called ‘God of the World’ had in mind when setting up this middle-ground, but I wasn’t sure how fair this arrangement really was.

Moreover, what does ‘forfeiting one’s life to another’ really mean? The worst-case would be me, Nyra, and my Familiars dropping dead right there. Interpreted in another way, we may be held as the Immortals’ prisoners, maybe falling to the same fate as the God of Time who screwed everyone over with his pranks. It was hard to say what that vague statement really meant, and it was that uncertainty that would add as much pressure to the four of us under the oath as it would for Sue.

After hearing of me keeping quiet about my penalty, it looked like Sue’s thought process on this arrangement was mutual to mine as she stared down pale and breaking into cold sweat.

Nyra said in my mind. Incidentally, it seemed she retained the mature, exotic voice from her new Arch Pixie body into her telepathy. That was going to be a little weird getting used to.

I agreed.

I answered.

I was aware that the Sue we’re talking to is a clone, but other than retaining the knowledge of being one, it seems they hold as much independence and personality as the original. Moreover, once those clones merge back with the original, the latter will acquire all the memories and experiences the former learned as if they were right there. That means until they merge back, the original has no idea what their clone is going through. The only exception would be if there was some means of communication to report what’s happening between each other’s ends, and recalling what I’ve seen in the recording, I have a feeling Sue already has that covered. That aside, even if this is a clone in front of us, we can assume this is what the original Sue’s really feeling at the moment. The question is where the original Sue is. She could either be watching in from a distance or someplace else taking care of a mission we’re unaware of. Either way, since the original and the clone have the same thing that’s keeping their identities and locations hidden, there’s no way I can find them normally.

Not bearing the stress of the unknown anymore, Sue reached into her knapsack and took out the pain-relief pills she gave me before and swallowed a few, along with whatever other negative emotions she had in her mind. The disguised Devil sighed in exhaustion, “Right, well … thank you for sharing that much with me, Jinma. I’ll definitely take some time to think about this.”

I nodded in understanding, “Sure.”

“It also looks like you all got some new stuff during your time in the Immortals’ Realm. Especially you, Ren, I could already tell you’ve gained a great power. You have my congratulations,” Sue then said.

“... Yes, thank you,” the Werewolf answered. It looked like she had more to say, but restrained herself after remembering her outburst in Palocaesy’s junkyard.

The disguised Devil then turned to me, “I just have one thing I want to ask of you before we put this matter aside for now, Jinma.”

“I’m listening,” I said calmly.

“Whatever you learned through your talk with Obina, whatever you learned about me during that time … from now to even after I reveal everything to you, I’d like for you to still see and treat me as you have been up to this point,” Sue said.

I raised a brow in confusion.

“I know … it’s both totally weird and a lot to ask of you,” Sue continued, “And yes, I admit that my actions that led to these circumstances were not only hasty in my judgement, but also insensitive and unfair to you and Nyra. I … grew up with complicated circumstances that I admit may have bent and twisted what I know as common sense, as well as what’s right and wrong. That proves well enough that I’m not perfect, and I should be viewed as imperfect.

“That’s why I want you to treat and behave around me as natural as you would for any other person, regardless of kin, social status, or gender. I want you to be the prime example of why I’m not perfect and don’t deserve special treatment. The fact that no matter what I turn out to be, I’m still Sue, a messed up, misguided girl who honestly has no experience of truly connecting with another individual outside of family …” Sue trailed off before looking down, “Then again, I wonder if I still even have a family at this point.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

Sue then held up one of the necklaces around her neck, “Despite how much I cherished Father, going so far as to carry one of the necklaces he gave me wherever I go, I’ve recently started to question his true character as of late and why he’s raised me the way he did. Moreover, Mother has started seeing someone else, something I never imagined she’d do despite how much she loved Father, as far as I've seen out of the few times the three of us were together.”

Sue’s mom and dad, and the ‘few times’ the three of them were together? Does that mean most of the time they were never together for an extended period?

Nyra pointed out,





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