Swashbuckling

Patricia’s abusive party dropped her deep into the dungeon, like a housecat knocking glass off the table in everyday cruelty. They did so hoping she would shatter.

Abandoned and unable to get out, cornered and about to be eaten by a Dire Wolf, the girl bared her fangs to survive.

She came out on top, but the insinuating Vampiric urges forced her to blind and rid herself of one eye. The urges relied on more than sight, but this was the only remedy that did the trick for now.

The Dire Wolf transformed into her familiar. The wolf pup was cute and gave her licks. She cried, as this was the first ever loving contact, human or non-human, that she had felt in ages. Even the green plants she ran her fingers through, her only friends, couldn’t interact with her like this.

That was right. She had forgotten. The temperature of life was so warm.

That was why she loved hot baths, as a surrogate for companionship.

To see the greenery again and wash herself with her newfound puppy, she exited the dungeon.

Patricia’s party stuck around the dungeon entrance because the Healer of her team thought it would be bad to leave. The Healer wanted to collect Patricia’s Bloodthirst tongue for a reward. It was imperative to return to where they had abandoned her after a while, or otherwise ambush Patricia should she successfully drag her broken body out of that hellish landscape.

They couldn’t believe it when she appeared without Bloodthirst-state and carrying a puppy.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Berated the Healer. “If the Guild inspector sees us with that wild monster, they’ll pull our badges and lock us in a cell! Kill it now, or we leave you in this dungeon!”

“‘An abandoned pup from another party,’ ya prick? What kind of story is that? Not even abandoned creatures would love you. Get a grip, ya prick!”

Thus, her bullies killed the puppy.

“Oh, my god. You’re actually crying, ya prick? You thought it loved you, ya prick? That abomination is just like you! That’s why it showed you love! You Vamps think you’re all smart by playing all weak, well, we’re smarter! We kept it from bringing you misery, ya prick! Show some gratitude!”

“What, you’re gonna fight back? Baring your fangs, see what happens! You’ve already broken the law, right?! You’re hiding your tongue, aren’t you?! It’s our magnanimity keeping you alive! How dare you cry like that, after we cleaned your mess for you?!”

A haze fell over Patricia’s expression. She stayed silent. And followed the orders of this diktat relationship.

I will obey them until I am strong enough to destroy this system.

Her Bloodthirst urges went up. Her level stayed the same.

The party went to the Bounty Pub, the retreat for all adventurers.

Patricia’s hands were dirty after giving the puppy a private, hidden burial. She hadn’t scrubbed herself fully and was receiving an earful from her adventuring bullies. They had ordered her to carry food to their table.

What was she doing, walking trays around? If her dignity was going to be reduced to this extent, then maidhood would have been right from the start.

She could have been holding the puppy again, in another world.

No, that’s wrong. Being a pack mule was wrong from the start. 

The party leader threw scalding water at her.

She was a Vampire. Was there any need to change the New Laws or herself? She would kill—

Her schedule held on by a thread.

“Whoa! You could’ve burned me! Sheesh. What an ugly party leader.”

A newcomer called out. He was an ugly man with low-level posture.

“Oh, but you’re a looker. You should stick with me if you want a safer man.”

Corin was talking to the Healer of the team, the one who had nothing against the bullying but didn’t care to stop it either. Her retort was lost to her partner’s loudness.

“See what you made me do, ya prick?!” The snide leader snarled. “Clean him off.”

“C’mon, don’t butt in,” he deflected Patricia’s assistance. “My problem’s with you.”

“What, ya prick? I’ll have you know, I’m level 50!” He bragged, which was normally no cause for concern, except he drew weapons with intimidation.

Patricia considered stopping him, but she was reminded of their difference in levels, as well as it being disallowed to actually fight in the Bounty Pub, and thought, “You know what? I can’t take it anymore. I’ll let him bully another victim.” She decided to go all-in on being the sufferer instead.

The newcomer was taken aback by the deadly implements. Surely, he would apologize for being so foolish. He struck one as the boot-licking type.

“Gimme a break. Fighting a level 1 is your idea of sobering up? If you’re going to point those at my face, this isn’t the time to take it easy. I’ll have to grow fast!” Corin took the fighting stance of a noble. It was recognized by the Healer of the party.

Throwing caution to the wind, Corin relaxed this stance and went for a sucker jab.

Metal gouged and licked a hole through the hand of the party leader.

Bloodlet, he cursed the indiscriminate maverick.

“What of intimidation? Weapons are drawn, and you drew first.” Corin was going to kill him without a care.

“Ya prick!”

They, naturally, arrested Corin for violence and dragged Patricia with him, as a minority involved in the incident. Her bullies accused her of ordering the attack.

Corin asked the jailers to let him pay for his bail. If not, they would regret it.

They found that Corin didn’t have money.

Was this the freedom he was droning about? Was this what Corin was belly-laughing at?

This was recklessness.

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“I have to achieve greatness.” Patricia glared squarely at him with her single eye. “I have to be like Aira. It isn’t a matter of if I can, I have to. I can’t imagine living like you. It infuriates me to see you lollygagging when your skills are better than any. You don’t belong behind bars, and I most certainly don’t!”

“Hey, careful now. You can’t even sit straight with your bangs untidy. If you’re never able to relax, you’ll never find time to care for yourself. I wouldn’t toil with the Miss’s wishes like that either. You’re stretching the interpretation of the miracle she gave you into a self-made curse. When’s the last time you allowed yourself a break, really?”

“You say that, but you have a lot more energy than most.”

“I’m told that a lot! A job like this doesn’t come with a long shelf life. So I decided to have fun while I can!” Corin was concealing the whole truth. The Emerald had turned him into a pseudo-half-blood Vampire, so he went around the kingdom’s animal farms when he was hungry.

Even so, he exuded victory.

Unlike Patricia, he maximized his shortcomings to further his fortunes on his ongoing search for the Witch. If nothing else, best if nothing else, Patricia felt she could learn from this one trait of his.

“I don’t get it. You let a woman put a collar around you. And you call that freedom?”

“I call it mine. That’s the part you’re stuck on? There’s freedom in picking your captor.”

“That would be ownership. It’s no different from servanthood.”

“Could be. But such devotion is charming, you’ve said. Most of all, devotion to others starts at freeing yourself from devotion to you, no?”

There was a commotion at the jailer’s gate.

“Well, I’ll be! Miss!”

Aira is– Aira is the Miss?!

Wha- Wha- What?! And why is she so lovey-dovey?!! Did this happen within a year of traveling together?!

“How unpleasant. My Hound, arrested, would drag mine name through the dirt. So? Bless mine ears with the results of your investigation.”

“I sensed traces of the Witch in the dungeon.”

“Did you, too? Now then, how shall we corner her?”

“That’s the thing, Miss. The trail runs through the girl behind you.” Corin looked past her to the Vampire. “I stabbed her bullies, who were, y’know, her only friends. If I can, I want her walking free too.”

“And why should I? Mine kennel is not so open.”

“Mine always is. You ain’t so cruel as to let one suffer alone, are you, Miss?”

“You cannot help but feel the pain of others? Your empathy will be your downfall. I am Aira. Name yourself.”

“Patricia.”

“Mine Hound does speak for others too often, even if it is for their benefit. What is it you want?”

“I…” She wanted her autograph. “I want to be free.”

“The world is always eager to leave others derelict. Freedom doesn’t provide anything without proper community. If you have no community, Patricia, you may have mine at your behest tomorrow.”

She passed Patricia a calling card.

Patricia was touched by her kind heart.

This was what Patricia had always wanted… Had she initially joined the party of a real respectable hero like Aira, then would all this suffering have been needed? Why hadn’t she reached out at that moment in the past?

Patricia asked a deep-seated question at the crux, clearly conveying her own intentions and pointing out their present circumstances.

“That color. On your tongue. You have it too?”

It was no exaggeration to say that one good look at the Emerald between Corin’s wide grin told her everything. His tongue was turning a Bloodthirst neon green. His tongue was a parallel neon intensity to Patricia’s, as hers had always secretly been, including the time when Aira had saved her.

“Heh. Yeah. Ugly awesome, right?”

“Corin does collect peculiar things. A chartreuse tongue is merely the latest.”

Everyone had their own circumstances.

I see, Patricia thought, as the companions shared more with each other. He isn’t letting any handicap stop him. This sophist of a serf was most certainly living this wrong life in the rightest way.

The Miss and the King-Eating Hound had drunk deeply from the neck of life.

Perhaps Patricia had many more things to learn from them.