Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12. This Is Too Damn Embarrassing!
The surrounding crowd burst into louder laughter, and the discussions became even more piercing.
“Hahaha, did you hear that? ‘One-time-use mage’! The kind who collapses after firing just one shot!”
“She mutters nonsense all day, chanting those weird things nobody understands. Something about ‘Night Shadow Succubus’ and ‘Elemental Spirit.’ It is hilarious!”
“Exactly! At the arena last time, that spell was so long I could have taken a nap. In the end she squeezed out a single fireball and then fainted herself. Hahahaha!”
“Hey, little girl, chant a couple more lines for us to hear. I will give you a copper coin to buy candy!”
“A great mage? I think she is more like a great glutton. I heard she eats an incredible amount!”
Listening to the crowd backing him up, Bob became even more smug.
The hand gripping Vivian Shadowmoon’s shoulder tightened further, causing tears to spin in her eyes from the pain.
Yet she bit her lip stubbornly and refused to cry out.
Instead, her emerald eyes filled with humiliation and anger as she glared at the mocking faces around her.
“Did you hear that, brat? With your pathetic abilities, you are not even worthy of polishing my shoes!” Bob spat arrogantly. “If you do not pay today, then get ready to be sold to—”
“Hey.”
An impatient voice suddenly sounded.
The crowd parted slightly as Wu You pushed his way in, a small coin pouch containing his pitiful reward still clutched in his hand. His brows were furrowed.
He had just finished turning in the quest and bought some of the cheapest dry rations.
He had originally planned to leave immediately.
After all, he was supposed to defeat the goddess someday.
How could he waste precious time here?!
Yet for some reason, he had ended up walking back here anyway.
Damn it!
It must be the influence of his outstanding, model-student, model-class-cadre upbringing!
When he saw Vivian Shadowmoon trembling in the center of the crowd and the ferocious-looking brute beside her, he could not help clicking his tongue.
This troublesome brat again.
And she had even provoked a thug like this.
He had intended to turn around and leave.
But when he saw the way Vivian Shadowmoon desperately held back her tears—clearly terrified yet stubbornly enduring it—and heard the merciless laughter surrounding her…
Wu You cursed in his heart, yet his feet seemed nailed to the ground.
Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn!!!
“Excuse me,” he said, raising his voice slightly while keeping a blank expression. “You are blocking my way back… back to the inn.”
Immediately, every gaze—including Bob’s and Vivian Shadowmoon’s—turned toward him.
Bob squinted his drunken eyes and looked Wu You up and down.
Young.
Plain clothing, even somewhat worn.
A plain iron sword hung at his waist.
He looked like the lowest-tier adventurer struggling just to scrape together a living.
“Kid, who the hell are you?” Bob barked impatiently. “Do you not see that I am handling business here? Get lost! Do not meddle in other people’s affairs!”
The surrounding spectators whispered among themselves.
“Who is that guy? Trying to play the hero?”
“Look at how shabby he is. He can barely take care of himself.”
“Probably feels sorry for the girl. Tsk, young people are so naive.”
“Bob is a notorious thug. That kid is going to be in trouble.”
Wu You took a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision.
He lifted his head and swept his gaze across Bob, across the faces of the excited onlookers, and finally settled on Vivian Shadowmoon’s tear-filled emerald eyes.
Then, under everyone’s astonished stares, Wu You suddenly straightened his back.
The impatient expression on his face vanished, replaced by a solemn seriousness that he was clearly trying very hard to imitate.
He cleared his throat and began speaking loudly in a deliberately elevated tone with a strange rhythm.
“My name is Wu You! I am a wandering swordsman shackled by the chains of fate, yet harboring an unyielding will! I walk between darkness and light, and though the sword in my hand is forged from ordinary iron, it is willing to cut down all injustice and filth in this world!”
Everyone: “???”
Bob: “???”
“What the hell is this kid talking about?”
Wu You ignored them and continued his “passionate performance,” even placing a hand over his chest for emphasis.
“Though my path of the sword is confined within a cage and halted at the level of a Basic Swordsman, my heart yearns for the heavens and my will seeks to break these shackles! Today, upon witnessing the weak being humiliated and villains running rampant, the flame of justice within my heart burns fiercely!”
He suddenly drew the iron sword from his waist.
The tip pointed diagonally at the ground as he tried his best to make his gaze appear sharp and imposing.
He spoke each word clearly and forcefully.
“Therefore—”
“I, Wu You, with this humble sword and this unyielding soul, shall today—draw my blade to aid the helpless!”
“…”
A deathly silence fell.
Everyone stared at Wu You as if he were a lunatic who had suddenly lost his mind.
The people who had been laughing at Vivian Shadowmoon moments ago now wore even more exaggerated expressions, as if they had just witnessed something extraordinarily bizarre.
Bob stood frozen for several seconds before bursting into earth-shaking laughter.
“Hahahahaha! And here I thought it was someone important. Turns out it is just another crazy little idiot! ‘Wandering swordsman’? ‘Drawing his blade to help’? You are killing me! Just look at you—someone who probably is not even D-rank, dressed like a beggar! Hahahaha!”
Vivian Shadowmoon was also stunned.
She stared at Wu You standing in front of her, delivering that unbelievably embarrassing declaration in what she thought was an incredibly cool manner—though Wu You himself was dying of awkwardness inside.
In her large emerald eyes, the tears she had been desperately holding back finally burst forth and rolled down her cheeks.
Her vision became completely blurred.
But this time, the tears were not only from fear and humiliation.
There was also a burning emotion she could not quite describe, overwhelming the strong and “proud” facade she had always tried to maintain.
“Wah…”
She sobbed softly, wiping her tears clumsily with her sleeve.
Though she could not clearly see the person before her, she raised her voice toward Wu You’s silhouette, her tone thick with sobs yet surprisingly loud.
“I… I am Vivian Shadowmoon! A noble Half-Demon Descendant who carries the blood of Night Shadow and the Elements! A future great mage who will stand at the pinnacle of magic!!!”
“My path does not require interference from a clumsy swordsman of unknown origin like you! My dignity does not need your pity!”
She shouted while crying.
The words carried no intimidation at all.
Instead, they sounded pitiful and almost comical.
Wu You stood with his back to her, the corner of his mouth twitching as he complained internally.
This brat.
Even at a time like this, she still refuses to stop acting tough.
But he did not turn around.
Instead, he took a deep breath, suppressing the embarrassment that was nearly breaking through the sky, and continued in an even more “righteous” tone—though inwardly his toes were practically digging into the ground from secondhand shame.
“Hmph! Silence!”
“I act only according to my own heart. Why would I need permission from a yellow-haired little girl like you?”
“Today, this matter—”
Wu You raised his iron sword horizontally and pointed it at Bob, who was still laughing wildly.
Using all his strength, he shouted the final sentence, which he considered the most humiliating of all.
“I am a knight of justice! I insist on meddling!”
“Villain! Release that girl! If you have any grievances, come at me!”
The moment he finished shouting, Wu You felt his cheeks burning hot and the tips of his ears turning red.
This was too damn embarrassing!
Across two lifetimes, this was unquestionably the stupidest thing he had ever done.
Without question.