“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Father?”
The man with hair the same color as Angie’s made an unpleasant face at her words and approached.
The man drew down the club slung over his shoulder and gave his daughter’s shoulder a couple of light taps.
Angie seemed to feel familiarity in that action as she silently stared at her own shoulder.
“What kind of face is this to come back with? I thought you’d gone out there to just drop dead somewhere…”
Trailing off, the man retrieved the club he had been tapping on her shoulder and rested it back on his own. Though he didn’t show it, it must have hurt quite a bit. The corner of the man’s mouth twisted into a vile smirk.
“So, were you scared of dying after all?”
Mocking words. Angie looked up at her father when he said that.
She remained silent. But it wasn’t silence born from fear. The girl blinked a few times. Her lips formed a straight line, her large eyes wide open as they gazed at her father.
Similar hair color, different faces, different eye colors. There was nothing else they resembled except for their hair color, but because it was so rare, it stood out.
Even though they resembled each other, Angie couldn’t feel any sense of familiarity from her father.
What welled up inside her was hatred, aversion, or irritation. It was only natural since this was the man who killed her mother.
On the other hand, none of those emotions were visible on Gail’s face.
He interpreted her silence as fear. Chuckling through his nose, Gail spoke.
“Well, now that you’re back, I’ll take care of you, so don’t worry.”
A phrase that came out too easily. Aslan pulled out the dagger he’d taken from within his cloak while watching the man and then let it rest against his cloak again. The man gripped the club hanging from his shoulder and said,
“Once I’ve beaten both your hands to a pulp, I won’t have much choice but to take care of you.”
Ha ha, the underlings laughed. Aslan frowned slightly at their laughter and quietly drew his dagger. Of course, Angie wouldn’t be harmed by such a shoddy club, but he drew it anyway.
Because it felt right to do so.
The man laughed along with his underlings while Angie and Aslan remained silent. Amidst the laughter of Gail’s underlings, Angie exhaled deeply and asked,
“Where’s Old Man?”
“Old Man?”
Father repeated the question. It seemed the name ‘Old Man’ didn’t immediately bring anyone to mind. His indifference towards his daughter was that simple. On the other hand, one of Gail’s underlings seemed to catch on and let out an “Ah.”
“That bug kid? If I had to guess, he’s probably making a mouse nest next to the cesspool.”
That fits perfectly, doesn’t it? Laughing mockingly, Gail glanced at his daughter with a look asking if he’d heard correctly.
It was definitely not an expression suited for blood relations. Aslan frowned at the fact, and Angie furrowed her brow for a different reason.
Bug.
One of the people who lived in this tail district, he raised bugs.
The bugs were livestock meant for eating, and the girl herself had relied on them several times.
Had it been just that, she might not have cared. However, the old man nicknamed Bug was the head of a faction that handled external labor recruitment.
Although he didn’t have much personal power or many troops, he was someone who could find even exiled mercenaries due to his connections with mercenary groups.
He wasn’t a bad person. With his help, Angie managed to leave Belus Alphen.
Even though she was eventually caught, it was thanks to him that she met Aslan.
She wanted to express her gratitude.
But it turned out she couldn’t.
The heaviness brought by the news of her benefactor’s death weighed heavily on Angie as she lowered her eyes and asked,
“Did you kill him?”
“Would I have let him live?”
Gail chuckled through his nose and continued,
“Since you left with that bug kid’s help, I figured I needed to teach him a lesson. For daring to touch what’s mine.”
He leaned slightly closer, casting a contemptuous glance at his daughter. Angie knew exactly what action would follow that look.
“Your leaving caused that bug kid to die.”
Angie closed her eyes briefly, then reopened them and sighed.
It was a familiar gesture.
Though it was a rather pathetic tactic, it used to work well before she met Aslan.
Whenever Angie did something or tried to do something, Gail would always sabotage or ruin it and then blame everything on Angie.
If she hadn’t met Aslan, it probably would have continued to work.
Back then, she would have certainly lost her spirit here and wouldn’t have been able to say anything.
And even now, the girl had grown stronger, but mentally, she was no different from the Angie who left Belus Alphen.
But…
Angie glanced briefly at Aslan. The relaxed-looking Aslan, with his arms loosely hanging, had never backed down from any opponent he had ever faced.
Aslan, weaker in strength and body compared to Angie, had defeated countless foes.
Was Aslan ever afraid? Did Aslan ever lose heart?
Didn’t he raise his voice and stand tall even before a deity-like powerful existence?
Angie wanted to be like Aslan.
What she needed for that was courage.
The girl took a deep breath and glared fiercely, putting on airs.
Trying to mimic Aslan.
Attempting to replicate the commanding presence Aslan exuded when speaking calmly.
And the first to react to this attempt was Aslan.
Anyone could tell she was imitating him, so Aslan quickly returned the dagger he was about to throw back into his cloak.
Because he believed Angie could handle it herself.
Angie glanced around at the poor residents.
All of Gail’s followers, claiming to be his underlings, were armed.
Axes, clubs, staves, daggers, hammers — weapons that were not diverse and easy to obtain were mostly tools. Those tools doubled as instruments that took lives away from the poor.
Thus, within this tail district, they weren’t openly carried unless there was a reason. Angie lifted her eyes and looked at her father.
“What do you plan to use those weapons for?”
It was a composed question, unexpected by Gail.
Aslan found the tone and gaze familiar and barely managed to suppress a smile.
On the other hand, Gail, expecting his daughter to burst into tears any moment, felt a sense of dissonance but still answered.
“To smash your skull and that of your pimp brother, of course. Right?”
Gail rolled his eyes toward Aslan.
He couldn’t recognize a warrior when he saw one.
However, he could tell that Aslan’s equipment was expensive.
To assess his strength, Gail lacked the instincts of a fighter.
So to him, Aslan was simply someone whose scales and cloak looked valuable enough to sell.
With a handsome face that would appeal to anyone, and clearly expensive gear covering his body.
Of course, subduing him wouldn’t be easy despite his good equipment, but the number of destitute people surrounding him now was far from ordinary.
Formulating a thug-like strategy, Gail observed Aslan.
Looking into those indifferent teal eyes, he thought,
‘Grab someone nearby and bash his head in the chaos… it shouldn’t be difficult.’
Licking his dry lips while looking at Aslan’s expensive scale cloak and armor, as well as the impressive swords,
he wondered how much money he could get or whether using them himself would be better, and grinned wickedly.
Watching that wicked grin, Angie blinked.
It was pitiful.
An involuntary sigh escaped her, and the girl closed her mouth and let it out.
“How unchanged you are.”
Though it was a mutter, it wasn’t quiet enough. It was loud enough to wake Gail, who was grinning wickedly and indulging in happy thoughts.
At those words, Gail scowled immediately.
“Hey, you little—”
Then he swung his hand.
Slap!
Gail’s slap across Angie’s cheek. However, the strange tingling pain running through his hand startled him.
The texture felt human, but whatever lay beneath wasn’t human.
In fact, it hurt more than it should have, causing Gail to grimace and look down at his daughter.
Despite being slapped, Angie stood there without turning her head, staring blankly at Gail.
The emotion flowing through her eyes—a murky, familiar feeling.
It was the kind of look that provoked anger in Gail, reminiscent of the mother who bore Angie.
“Damn bitch, why aren’t you bowing your eyes?! ”
Unable to contain himself, Gail swung his club. A lifetime of never enduring anything made him lash out immediately, aiming to crush his daughter’s head with the club.
Smash!
The club, which should have shattered her skull and drenched her crimson hair in blood, fulfilled its role.
The top part broke off and fell.
Of course, Angie wasn’t entirely unscathed either. Her scalp seemed torn, and blood trickled down her forehead. But even that was already beyond expectation.
Gail had anticipated seeing her fall to the ground with a shattered head.
Instead, Angie stood firm, glaring at Gail with unwavering eyes.
“What…?”
When Gail faltered, Angie smiled faintly at her surprised father.
“Why, were you trying to smash my head like you did Mom’s? Surprised it didn’t break?”
Taunting. Gail clenched his teeth and gripped the broken handle in reverse.
“You piece of…!”
Then he swung it at Angie’s eyes.
Whatever magic he employed, he must have thought that if the head was solid, targeting the eyes would suffice.
But once again, Gail’s intentions didn’t pan out.
His wrist, halted mid-air, was firmly grasped by Angie.
Realizing his wrist was caught by his daughter, Gail struggled, pushing and pulling his arm. Yet it didn’t budge an inch, leaving him flustered.
Something was off.
He couldn’t tell if the girl in front of him was really Angie.
Thus, the man was bewildered, and Angie revealed her teeth.
“Weren’t you wondering what you planned to do with those weapons?”
“This… How dare you answer back…”
“Planning to beat up the Tail Warriors? Am I wrong?”
The unknown information about the girl who had recently been absent from Belus Alphen changed Gail’s expression, confirming her suspicion as she sneered and said,
“You’re truly consistent.”
Her grip on his wrist didn’t loosen; instead, the pain coursing through it intensified. Drenched in cold sweat, Gail watched as the girl holding his wrist continued,
“Hating to see others prosper and always needing to be the best, isn’t it? If you disliked me so much, why not go after some hired hands? You can’t even talk big in front of truly powerful people, yet you keep bullying the weak. Isn’t that embarrassing?”
Ah, too harsh? Adding to that, Angie threw him aside, crushing his wrist in the process, making him tumble on the ground.
Gail gritted his teeth as he got up, breathing heavily.
“You damn—!”
The man immediately snatched a hammer from one of his followers. With swift movements, he rushed forward and swung it.
Unlike before, when he had swung wildly without intent to kill, this time it was different.
He swung with the intention to truly kill.
The diagonal trajectory was surprisingly fast and powerful for someone living merely in the tail district.
Clang! Crack!
Just not effective against Angie.
Facing the swing, Angie countered with a punch, striking the hammer. The wooden handle shattered instantly, sending the hammerhead flying far away.
The speed at which the hammerhead flew was invisible to the naked eye, and Aslan’s fist remained completely unscathed.
Seeing this, Gail’s gang of destitutes visibly panicked.
At the moment the hammer broke, Gail collapsed, groaning in pain.
Angie observed the entire scene and muttered calmly,
“All of you, scram. By the time I count to ten, anyone still here will have their jaw ripped out, and I’ll beat you until you die.”
The destitutes couldn’t comprehend the situation.
The girl Angie, who had never dared to defy Gail and had only endured beatings, was now overpowering him.
Moreover, this dominance seemed to stem from something beyond human capabilities.
They alternated their gazes between Gail, who should have been giving orders, and Angie, who created the situation.
“One.”
But when Angie actually began counting, they started fleeing.
“Two.”
Gail, too, rose with the help of his follower, crumpling his face in anger as he glared at Angie.
The hint of inferiority flashing in his eyes was very intense.
“You… Don’t think this will just blow over…”
Then he fled. Watching her father retreat, Angie scoffed.
“What a mess.”
Their reunion, which she hadn’t expected to be joyful, was even more pitiful than imagined.
Not wanting to show this side of herself to Aslan, Angie turned around apologetically.
“Aslan, sorry. This wasn’t why we came here. I showed you something unnecessary.”
Embarrassedly laughing and apologizing, the girl received a shake of the head from Aslan.
Though it seemed she had a more complicated family history than expected, Aslan didn’t dwell on it much.
Since he had volunteered to follow, it was fine.
“No, it’s okay. If you need anything, it’s better to tell me like this. It also helps us gauge the situation…”
“Angie?”
Aslan was about to console her when he was interrupted.
Someone called Angie’s name. When Aslan turned his head, a fairly familiar figure was standing there.
It was the person they encountered before entering Belus Alphen.
One of Harold’s Tail Warrior guards who almost got hit by Tiamat’s arrow.
Clearly acquainted with Angie, upon seeing this man, Angie exclaimed softly and said,
“Good timing. We were actually looking for you guys.”
Before the man could respond, Angie smiled faintly.
*
“Ugh…”
In a space patched together by demolishing walls of a few buildings on the verge of collapse, resembling a wide corridor, a man groaned while applying a splint to his wrist.
His name was Gail.
No last name, just Gail.
He was Angela Tail’s father, a father who had never properly acted the part.
Of course, he didn’t seem to think that way.
Today, he was attacked by his daughter.
Though, from her perspective, it wasn’t much of an attack, but to him, it felt like an overwhelmingly fierce assault.
Clenching his teeth, he propped his injured wrist inward and cracked open a bottle of alcohol, drinking it down.
Each time the fiery sensation slid down his throat, the pain dulled. After consuming a significant amount, Gail set the bottle down and told a passing follower nearby,
“Go tell the other factions to come over. Also, inform the Lizard gatekeepers to come.”
The follower, unable to fully grasp the situation, responded with a confused “Eh?” to his boss’s request.
“Don’t the others and the nobles know how…?”
Before he could argue about the impossibility of bringing them, a blunt impact struck his head, causing him to tumble to the ground.
“Guh…”
The cause was simple: Gail had just smashed him with the empty bottle he had been drinking from.
The fallen follower groaned lowly and struggled to rise amidst scattered glass shards.
“Stupid bastard, can’t you see?”
See what? The follower shut his mouth, feeling aggrieved, and Gail shouted as if the event was happening right before his eyes.
“That damn girl, she’s becoming a priestess, isn’t she! Damn monster!”
The table slammed with a bang, startling the follower.
“So go tell them right now that my damn daughter is turning into a monster, and they’d better hurry up and come. Now!”
Yelling at him, the follower fled in panic.
After the follower hastily ran off, Gail watched his retreating figure pensively, clicked his tongue, and tapped his leg nervously.
Actually, he wasn’t sure.
But Gail, a destitute mercenary without the Tail surname, had once seen a priest.
The superhuman strength displayed by his daughter matched that of those priests.
Therefore, even without certainty, he wanted to dismiss and ignore it.
Tapping his leg and grinding his teeth, he muttered to himself,
“Just wait and see…”
The sound of gnashing teeth made his followers move even more frantically, clearly trying to avoid getting involved.
