Taming the Protagonist

Volume 3

Chapter 12 : The Village Girl's Friendly Rules of Making Friends

There were a total of three large adventurer guilds stationed in Strife Fortress.

They were Queen Bee, Yapo Samael’s [Hive]; Black Omen Kabosa Pent’s [Executioner]; and the Lord of Strife Fortress crowned with the name “Whistling Strife”, Bayebop Leos’s [Whistling Legion].

Whether they were permanent residents of Strife Fortress or people who came here for some purpose, everyone knew a consensus of Strife Fortress, which was that no matter what, one must absolutely not provoke the adventurers from these three guilds.

Even if it was some famous hereditary noble, as long as their strength was insufficient, they would still have to lower their heads and behave when they came here.

But today, someone had the audacity to slap the faces of two of these guilds at the same time.

And what was even more inconceivable was that this perpetrator had actually... left a “handle”.

Queen Bee Yapo arrived at Dream Island at the first opportunity; this best brothel in Strife Fortress currently had not a single guest, and the air was filled with a chilling aura of danger.

“Is it her?”

Yapo turned her head to look at the woman beside her who had a tall and thin figure with slightly sunken cheeks, her brows knitting slightly: “You said that guy killed two people and suddenly ran away... but left his own servant behind?”

She stared at this biggest brothel keeper in Strife Fortress before her, her eyes narrowing slightly: “Attendant Snake Sister, are you serious?”

Yapo hated this woman and had always wanted to find a chance to kill her.

This fellow who called herself Attendant Snake arrived in Strife Fortress about half a year ago, and in just two months, she monopolized the brothel market of Strife Fortress... this piece of the cake was originally [Hive]’s reserved territory.

The profits of the erotic industry far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people, and high-class brothels had many added values more beneficial than money, yet [Hive] was utterly defeated by Attendant Snake while fighting on their home ground.

Bayebop also did not express his stance, mostly because Attendant Snake simply paid too much.

Attendant Snake, breathing out smoke, glanced at Yapo: “Where is Stinger? Wouldn’t it be fine to let him identify?”

“He needs to rest for a while.”

Yapo sneered, then cast her gaze back to the thin and weak adventurer sitting on the sofa, calmly drinking tea.

She could tell at a glance that this kid was a woman, and at the same time, she could also see at a glance her absolute calmness and composure.

“He killed people on your turf, and you still entertain his servant like this?”

This indifference made the corner of Yapo’s eye twitch slightly; she stared fixedly at the young girl dressed as a tomboy before her, a dangerous and ferocious arc gradually appearing on her face.

“You are being too polite, Attendant Snake Sister.”

“Because before he left, he said to let this little girl wait here.”

Attendant Snake indifferently exhaled a mouthful of thick white smoke and said in a husky voice: “He dared to kill your people, could it be that he wouldn’t dare to kill me?”

“Ms. Attendant Snake is right.”

The young girl placed the teacup on the small table by the sofa and said with a brimming smile: “I hope you can also think calmly, this lady.”

“Calmly... think?”

Yapo froze for two seconds, then laughed loudly; she pointed at Marina, then turned to look at Attendant Snake, a look of being unable to control her amusement appearing on her face:

“Look, look... Attendant Snake Sister, we were admonished by a mortal, admonished by a mortal to be ‘calmer’.”

Queen Bee walked up to Marina, scanning her back and forth as if sizing up some extremely rare treasure, and said with great emotion: “This is really... an unprecedented experience.”

Attendant Snake expressionlessly shook her smoking pipe: “If you want to do something to her, do it quickly, don’t waste my time.”

“I didn’t ask you to stay.”

“But Ms. Attendant Snake must guarantee that it was you who made the move on me, otherwise how would she explain it to Mr. Faust?”

Marina revealed a smile; the simple neutral adventurer attire could not conceal the charming amorous feelings of this smile.

“……”

Yapo’s movement of pressing toward the top of Marina’s head paused slightly, but only for an instant, before continuing to press down.

However, she did not do anything to Marina’s head, but instead took off the beret on her head.

“Truly enviable beautiful hair.” Yapo, stroking Marina’s hair strands, lamented thus, and smiled at the same time, “How should I address you, cute miss?”

“Ma Ganlei Brandt.”

“Good, then I will call you Miss Ma Ganlei.”

The mature beautiful woman sat next to Marina, snuggling up to her very intimately, as enthusiastic as an old friend not seen for many years.

“Miss Ma Ganlei, you seem... very confident.”

Yapo carelessly wound Marina’s hair around her own fingertips: “Is it that you don’t know me, or are you simply not too smart?”

Marina did not answer, but only pulled out a revolver from the holster at her waist, then took out a silk handkerchief from her pocket and carefully wiped this pistol.

“This... Pfft, hahahahaha—”

After Queen Bee was stunned for an instant, she laughed until she leaned back and forth; she gently pushed Marina’s shoulder, laughing with incomparable cheerfulness:

“Miss Ma Ganlei, this is your answer? This is your confidence? An ether firearm?”

“Mr. Faust thought that, of course, he couldn’t really let me stay here with nothing.”

Marina smiled shyly: “One must always have something to rely on.”

She popped the cylinder out and observed the internal structure with great curiosity, appearing as if she had never used this thing before.

“So... hahahaha... this thing is your reliance?”

Yapo held Marina’s hand and, unable to control her amusement, pressed the muzzle against her own head, still unable to stop laughing: “Come, shoot, Miss Ma Ganlei, let me see just how hard and hot the firearm bestowed by that Mr. Faust is.”

“What are you saying, this lady?”

Marina said rather helplessly, “I haven’t loaded the bullets yet.”

“Oh, that’s true, then you should hurry up and load the bullets, cute Miss Ma Ganlei.”

Queen Bee held the gun barrel while laughing playfully, seeming to look forward very much to Marina firing a shot directly at her head.

“Even if I loaded the bullets, I wouldn’t shoot you, this lady.”

Marina blinked her eyes: “I have no reason to do so, do I? Just like...”

She smiled and reached out her hand, prying open Yapo’s fingers holding the gun barrel bit by bit:

“Just like you also have no reason to make a move on me.”

The smile on Yapo’s face gradually disappeared.

She pinched Marina’s wrist, her five fingers slowly closing; the sound of friction from bones being squeezed came from the palm, and even the faint sound of cracking.

“Confidence is a good thing, Miss Ma Ganlei.”

The woman who did not use transcendent power, and who simply disdained using transcendent power, looked at this beautiful young girl whose face was gradually turning pale before her, revealing an even more cruel and tyrannical smile.

“I have no reason to make a move on you, hmm?”

She licked her lips, not crushing Marina’s wrist directly, but applying pressure bit by bit, enjoying the process of torturing the other party.

“Guess, can you keep your hand?”

“...You might as well guess too.” Marina, whose face had turned somewhat pale and blue due to the pain, revealed a somewhat forced smile.

“After Mr. Faust returns, will what you lose be your left hand or right hand, or perhaps... this beautiful and exquisite head of yours?”

Meeting that gaze full of violence and ferocity, Marina did not retreat in the slightest, but instead smiled even more brilliantly: “Just a small gamble. Ms. Attendant Snake is not a gambler, so she chose to watch. Then what about you, lady? Do you want to come to the table?”

“...Using a chip worth ten thousand to gamble for this rusty copper coin of mine?”

Queen Bee narrowed her eyes slightly; she temporarily stopped the movement of her hands and turned to look at Attendant Snake: “That Faust, is he worth being so vigilant about?”

“Perhaps not worth it.” Attendant Snake answered expressionlessly, “As long as you try, I will know.”

“Good, then I’ll change the question...”

Yapo’s eyes also became a bit colder, appearing dissatisfied with Attendant Snake’s perfunctory answer: “Why did Mr. Faust want to kill people?”

Such a thing as killing people, in Strife Fortress... or rather in the entire West Kingdom, could be big or small.

As long as the one killing was much stronger than the one being killed, and likewise in background, then killing was not considered a big deal.

“Those two people wanted to insult me.” Marina smiled, “So Mr. Faust sent down punishment, that is all.”

“Oh... if it is Miss Ma Ganlei, it is not impossible.”

Yapo nodded in sudden realization: “It seems that they died for nothing.”

As she said this, the grim coldness on her face became a few points more obvious.

In a brothel like Dream Island, how could such a thing happen? Originally coming here to find women for fun, who would be stupid enough to provoke a guy who looked very troublesome just for lower-body impulses that could have been easily resolved?

Yapo trusted Stinger’s judgment; after the brothel market was occupied by Attendant Snake, she established relationships with high-level Transcendents coming to Strife Fortress at the first opportunity through these “guides”.

There were quite a few people like Stinger distributed at the various teleportation points of Strife Fortress; their task was to seek out powerful Transcendents like “Faust” and integrate them into [Hive]’s social network.

Therefore, their vision and sense of smell were beyond doubt, and according to Stinger’s description, that “Faust” did not look like someone who liked to hide his clumsiness; he was powerful and flamboyant... how could there be an idiot who would provoke such a person in a brothel because of a woman?

This was definitely not the reason, which meant... he did it on purpose.

And if he did it on purpose—

Marina’s smile seemed completely unaffected by the severe pain in her wrist.

Then that meant... My stay here was also on purpose.

After all, it was inherently very abnormal for a mortal to be “taken care of” like this, very abnormal, wasn’t it?

What exactly did Faust want to do?

Why kill people from [Whistling Legion] and [Hive] respectively in a brothel?

What was the value of my staying here?

Was it bait?

Was it a trap?

Could you... think it through clearly?

In a situation shrouded in mist, do you want to try and see what the consequences of torturing me and killing me would be, Ms. Yapo?

“Ah, speaking of which, calculating the time...”

The young girl suddenly exclaimed: “Your people should have also arrived at the Cyclops by now, lady... haven’t found Mr. Faust’s traces yet?”

“...You know quite a lot, Miss Ma Ganlei.”

A smile that made one feel slightly uncomfortable appeared on Queen Bee’s beautiful face: “If it weren’t that I am certain you are an ordinary person, I would have to change my attitude to chat with you now.”

“I never know much, what I do is only deduction.”

Marina pursed her lips and smiled: “After all, you also can’t find Mr. Faust; the only confirmable location is only the Cyclops Inn, so naturally you have no choice but to go there, only...”

She revealed an expression of extreme pity toward Yapo: “I don’t know how much importance you attach to Mr. Faust, or how many people you sent out, anyway... hope you didn’t think too highly of Mr. Faust.”

After all... there is a very powerful scholar who hates being disturbed by others, quietly reading books in the room right now.

Her words and smile made Queen Bee Yapo’s expression increasingly gloomy; the woman tapped her temple with her index finger, using a special communication spell to contact the subordinates who had tracked to the Cyclops Inn:

“Where are you now?”

“Boss? We have already arrived at that Faust’s room door, preparing to—”

“...No, stop, come back first, we will discuss this at length.”

“But we have alrea— Ah!”

The scream that suddenly resounded in her mind made Yapo’s mind tremble violently.

“What is this... where is the enemy? Who? Who is it exactly! Come out! I will kill—”

After this roar of shock and rage came to an abrupt halt, no more sound came through.

“Looking at your expression.”

Marina extended the hand that had been pinched to the point of bone fracture by Yapo, now trembling uncontrollably, into her pocket, struggling to rub something, while sighing with great regret: “It seems I reminded you too late, I am very sorry, lady.”

And at this moment, Queen Bee had completely lost the intention of chatting with Marina, nor did she have any thought of disguise.

She stared deathly at Marina, suppressing the surging killing intent in her heart, saying word by word: “You, you people, what exactly do you want to do?”

Marina smiled: “Is this important? The law of adventurers... The strong are respected. Mr. Faust has no need to explain his thoughts to you, Ms. Yapo.”

“Ha!” The woman gave a cold laugh with a fierce expression, “You really treat him as Faust? He really treats himself as Faust?”

“To me, there has never been such a thing as a ‘fake’ Mr. Faust. Moreover...”

Marina’s hand, which was almost half-crippled, tremblingly fished out a bullet.

She used her other hand to pop out the cylinder of the revolver, saying with a light smile:

“Didn’t you also give up... continuing to do something to me precisely because you harbored that thought, didn’t you?”

Reckless and rampant behavior, strange and unknown purposes, immeasurable strength.

When these things were added together, they might not necessarily make Queen Bee wary of taking action—so what if he had some strength?

Could he fight against the entire Strife Fortress?

But suppose, such a person with rich foundations and great wealth, yet who was arrogant to the extreme, completely disregarding Strife Fortress, and whose strength and goals were elusive... his name was Faust?

When these things were paired with the name Faust, Yapo’s thinking involuntarily slid into a zone within Marina’s expectations—

What if that man was really Faust?

Do you dare to kill, do you dare to persecute, the servant of the real Faust?

The pain coming from her wrist made Marina uncontrollably increase her panting, but she still suppressed the intense pain and sent the single bullet into the cylinder.

She flicked the cylinder back into the gun body, and while sizing up this beautiful revolver, she said:

“Lady, I said that this gun is my reliance, right?”

At this moment when Yapo was bewildered and uncertain, Marina smiled and placed the revolver horizontally on her own shoulder, the cylinder pressed tight against her arm.

“But I never said that this ‘reliance’ meant I could use it to protect myself.”

The cylinder of the revolver rolled as the pistol slid down along her arm, making a cold mechanical sound that the young girl’s tender voice could not cover.

When the pistol slid across the back of her hand, the cylinder was still spinning at high speed, and the delicate Miss Ma Ganlei... aimed the muzzle at her own temple.

Click.

The sound of the cylinder stopping its rotation and the sound of the hammer striking rang out together.

Yapo looked incredulously at this young girl before her whom she could crush with a single finger, and subconsciously voiced out: “You—”

Click.

The sound of the cylinder spinning on an empty chamber once made her heart stop, and she simply could not speak the words.

“Ah my.”

The young girl who pulled the trigger without hesitation said in surprise: “My luck is actually quite good.”

Saying so, she pressed the hammer down again, her index finger already on the trigger once more.

“Then next time...”

“You are crazy!”

Yapo roared with a ferocious expression: “What are you doing! If you want to die, go die in front of that Faust of yours!”

“Don’t be excited... don’t be excited, lady.” The young girl with the muzzle pointing at her own temple comforted thus, “You probably also feel that I must have made other preparations to seek death, which is why you didn’t knock my gun away, right? After all, you are a Transcendent adult... saving me before I pull the trigger should be easy.”

—Yapo actually hadn’t thought of this point; she was purely stupefied by Marina’s crazy behavior just now.

“But for fragile mortals.” Marina sighed lightly, “Death is always a very simple matter, isn’t it?”

And when Yapo reacted and realized that she could indeed easily snatch the gun, she was once again wary of taking action due to Marina’s words.

She was not a warlock with incomparably fancy methods; if this lunatic really hid some suicide method... if this lunatic really died in front of her eyes like this, if that Faust was the real deal—

The ending pointed to by the numerous specious clues connected together made the mature beautiful woman’s body begin to tremble.

In the final analysis, this was actually a multiple-choice question that couldn’t be simpler—if that man was not Faust, and everything was this bastard bitch bullying others by flaunting powerful connections, then it was only a matter of time before her lies were exposed, and she would have plenty of time to deal with her.

But suppose that man was the real Faust, if his servant died just like this...

“Miss Ma Ganlei...” A pile of approachable and gentle smiles appeared on Yapo’s face, “You... What needs does Mr. Faust have? What can I help—”

Click.

“Not the second time either?”

Marina tilted her head slightly: “It looks like today’s luck is indeed very good.”

“...No matter what it is, Attendant Snake Sister and I will definitely—”

Click.

“Ah! The third time I didn't hit either.”

A jubilant smile appeared on the young girl’s face: “This is an amazing experience, I can tell it to Mr. Faust.”

“You—”

Just as Yapo said one word with a trembling voice, she saw this lunatic before her... pull the trigger twice in a row!

Click, clack.

The cylinder rotated to the last position that had not yet been reached.

“My luck is really good enough.” The young girl said with a smile, “Don’t you think so, lady?”

“...Call me, just Yapo.”

Her Excellency Queen Bee, whose face was even paler than Marina’s, murmured somewhat feebly.

“Ah, I like to use honorifics to address others, it is already a habit, Ms. Yapo.”

Marina popped the cylinder out, gently shook the pistol, and the last bullet fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.

She handed this revolver to Yapo, and said with extreme sincerity and earnestness:

“Let this ether firearm be a token of my acquaintance with Ms. Yapo... I am ashamed to say, I do indeed have a small favor I need your help with.”

Marina said this, turning her head to look at Attendant Snake who was standing aside and had remained silent throughout, revealing a smile again.

Along with this smile was that unnatural... nearly morbid flush.

“In this city, I need a helper, to help me, help Mr. Faust... understand some things.”

“You say...”

The weak mortal girl stuffed the revolver into the palm of the powerful Transcendent.

She whispered softly:

“Who is more suitable?”