Chapter 25 - Friends. (Patreon)

As soon as I heard Rui’s voice, the men looked in the same direction. I had thought they were about Rui’s height, but they were actually shorter. Rui was glaring at them in an extremely menacing way.

His eyes were what stood out the most.

The pale, silvery color of his eyes made us feel somewhat uneasy. Right now, they were gleaming. A shiver ran down my spine. The men, who knew Rui, took a step back.

I seized the opportunity to move away.

I thought about running home, but I decided to stay and watch.

“What do you want? We’re busy,” one of the men said. He looked rough and spat as he spoke. Rui clicked his tongue and then looked at me. I averted my gaze.

“What do you think you’re doing with Bella? Who do you think you are? I’ve never seen you before,” Rui said in a serious, threatening tone.

“Huh? Bella? I don’t know who that is.”

“I’m talking about her.” The men looked at me, and I took a step back.

“So her name is Bella. But I don’t care about her name; I only care about her face. Just look at how cute she is.” The man grinned and licked his lips. It gave me the creeps.

Then Rui said, “So you were after her because of her looks. Where were you taking her?”

Judging by his tone, Rui knew exactly what these guys wanted to do, but he wanted to hear it from their own mouths before acting. I started to shudder just imagining what these guys might do to me.

But of course, I wouldn't let that happen.

I’d rather kill myself than let something like that happen.

“Hahahahaha!” The men laughed in unison.

They laughed so hard they started to drool. Slurp~~

They noisily sucked their saliva back into their mouths and licked their lips while staring at me. “Do I really need to say what I’d do to her?” Their gazes were terrifying.

Rui sighed and then looked at me.

He asked calmly.

“What do you want me to do with these guys?” He smiled and continued. “I could break both their arms and legs. Or I could snap their spines in half and leave them crippled. Well, at least temporarily, since they can be healed.”

Rui said this without a care for the consequences.

These men might belong to a powerful Familia, but he didn't care.

“What did you just say?” one of the men asked, glaring at Rui like a predator. His anger was steadily rising; he was holding himself back from attacking Rui because he knew Rui was strong.

‘But I don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to hold back.’

“You heard me perfectly well. I told her to choose what I should do with you lot. Come on, Bella, answer me. I’m giving you the honor of choosing.”

Rui said this in a tone so calm it was chilling.

I looked around; there were a few adventurers watching, but they completely ignored the situation.

“Listen here, you moron. Who do you think you are? Just because you’re handsome, you think you can talk to us like that?”

“Oh? So you think I’m handsome. I’m flattered. Thanks for the compliment.” Hearing Rui’s words, I almost laughed.

And his words made the man even angrier.

“You!” The man’s face turned red and he snorted. Then, without thinking much about the consequences, he tried to punch Rui.

The man’s punch was incredibly fast, so I was worried.

However, contrary to my expectations, Rui easily dodged the punch and grabbed the man’s wrist. “Since Bella didn’t make a choice, I’ll do whatever I see fit.”

After saying that, Rui twisted the man’s wrist, and I heard a sickening crunch.

It was the sound of the man’s bone shattering.

The man screamed in pain, and his friend shouted, “What do you think you’re doing?!” He tried to strike Rui, but Rui delivered a full-force kick straight to his stomach.

The man was sent flying several meters away; he slammed into a shop wall and immediately began vomiting up everything in his stomach.

It was a disgusting sight.

I just stood there watching, not knowing what to do.

Should I ask him to stop?

What should I do?

The bystanders didn't look like they were going to intervene, either.

And... Rui showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Those two might actually end up dead!

Rui’s gaze was cold; he didn't care about the consequences!

####

POV: Rui

As soon as the man went flying and retched, I let go of his arm and spun around, kicking him away as well. He landed on the ground near Bella and started vomiting too.

I got the impression he was throwing up blood.

Their eyes darted toward me in fear, and then they started to flee. As they ran, one of the men shouted, "You're going to regret this." Those words didn't scare me in the slightest.

I smiled at Bella and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Thank you so much." Bella bowed her head to me.

"No need to thank me; I just did what was necessary."

I looked around, and the onlookers averted their eyes and walked away.

No one had tried to help Bella. People in this world lack any sense of decency, don't they?

"Rui, what happened here!?" Tiona approached, with Ais and Tione right behind her.

They saw the vomit on the ground and then looked at Bella. "That girl again?" Tione said.

"Some men were bothering her, so I decided to help out. She is my friend, after all."

"Yeah, friends..." Bella gave a nervous laugh.

Does the presence of Ais, Tiona, and Tione make her that nervous?