ZhangYe
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Chapter 34 - Nervousness, guilt, and disgust.
🕑 Added 2025-04-26 02:09:20 +0000 UTCI'll be posting extra chapters every day to complete the 10$ plan as quickly as possible.
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POV: Zane
As soon as I got home, I immediately dropped the old man disguise I’d been using and went straight to the bathroom. I was still pumped with adrenaline, restless and on edge.
I remembered all the people I’d killed, and my hands started to tremble slightly.
Inside the dungeon, I hadn’t felt a thing. But now that it was all over, the emotions were finally catching up to me. I felt anxious, guilty… and honestly, a little disgusted by everything I’d done and seen.
Especially that charred body of the Sekhmet Familia member. I didn’t throw up, but the nausea was intense.
I stepped under the hot water and took a deep breath, trying to wash the images from my mind. I forced myself to focus on the conversation I had with Finn instead of the corpses.
I made it clear I wasn’t an enemy. At least, not for now.
If they treat me like one… then I won’t have a choice.
And now that I’ve killed someone with my own hands, there’s no turning back. But I need to remind myself: I can’t just kill anyone who gets in my way. I should only kill those who truly deserve it.
Finn looked pretty pissed.
Even though I wasn’t an enemy and hadn’t hurt anyone from the Loki Familia, he was still angry.
But maybe he was just grieving the loss of his comrades—it might not have been personal.
'I wonder what he told Loki. What will she do? Will she see me as an enemy, or try to become an ally?'
I washed myself under the hot water, then dried off in front of the mirror.
My eyes looked hollow. I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
“Did killing someone shake me this much?” I gave my head a few light slaps and chuckled. “Let’s just pretend nothing happened.” I forced a smile and walked out of the bathroom.
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After the shower, I tried to eat something, but couldn’t stomach it. So I summoned Lee. Since Finn had seen him, I needed to change his appearance. “Should I make a new persona?”
Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if I did. His stats would remain the same anyway, so no problem.
And even if changing his name and appearance did affect his stats, he hasn’t leveled up much yet. Alright, let’s do this. I stared at Lee in silence for a few seconds.
As I looked at him, my mind started to wander.
I found myself thinking about the dungeon again and gave a little cough to clear my head.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just remembering some unnecessary things.”
“You’re feeling uneasy because you killed those people?”
“You saw the bodies.”
“Yes, I did. You killed them, didn’t you?”
“Just the guys in ragged clothes. They were assassins trying to ruin my reputation. I had no choice.” My clones aren’t wearing masks anymore, but I was the one who started that.
The blame would fall on me.
“If they were assassins trying to damage your name, then they deserved to die. You don’t need to feel guilty for taking out the trash.”
“Where’d you learn to talk like that?”
“I’m just saying what you believe. Deep down, you know what you did was right. So don’t feel guilty.”
“...” I stared at Lee for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Hahaha, alright, alright. You’re right. Those guys had it coming. As a reward for making me feel better, I’m giving you a new name.”
“But I like my current name.”
“Hmmm… How about adding ‘Rock’ in front? Like Rock Lee?”
“Rock Lee?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ll change your appearance too.”
“Good. I had a very feminine look, and I didn’t like it. It’d be different if you’d given me a fully female appearance from the start, but you made me look like a feminine guy.”
“You didn’t like that?”
“No.”
“Alright. I’ve got a very different look in mind for you.”
So, I started altering Lee’s appearance. I made a perfect replica of Rock Lee. When I looked at him… I realized something. He’s not exactly a handsome guy. Honestly, he looks kinda weird.
Those thick eyebrows make me uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong, Master? You look a bit disturbed.”
“It’s nothing, Lee. You look perfect!” I gave him a thumbs-up and smiled.
Lee gave me a thumbs-up back and grinned widely. “Thank you, Master.”
I nearly burst out laughing.
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POV: Frieren
I was near the dungeon when I noticed a commotion.
A bunch of adventurers were gathered, murmuring among themselves.
“Hey, did you hear? A bunch of members from Loki Familia’s exploration team were killed!”
“Yeah, I saw the bodies being carried out earlier.”
“Who do you think did it? A Killer? Or maybe it was monsters?”
“I doubt it was monsters. There were already rumors going around that some Loki Familia members were murdered a few days ago.”
I listened to the chatter with interest.
Loki Familia… Isn’t that the group Master told me to befriend? Don’t tell me one of them was killed? I wasn’t exactly worried, but I started walking around to ask.
Eventually, I approached a few people. “Hey, do you know if Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Bete are alright? They didn’t die, did they?”
“Huh?” One of the men I asked was tall, much taller than I. He looked down at me, stared me for a few seconds, and then his expression softened. “Don’t worry, they’re fine. If you know them, you should know they’re not the type to get killed that easily.”
“I see. Do you know if they’re around here? I’m curious.”
“Curious about the deaths?” His eyebrows lifted.
“Why’s a cute little girl like you interested in something like that, huh?” One of the man’s companions crouched down and noticed my ears. “An elf? I’ve never seen an elf as beautiful as you.” She stepped back.
“So, are they around here or not?”
“I saw them heading that way.” He pointed. “Maybe they went to Hostess of Fertility for a bite.”
“Alright, thanks.” I ignored them and started walking off.
“Hey, wait up!” I heard the woman call after me, but I didn’t stop.
Eventually, I reached the restaurant.
I went inside and searched for Ais and the others.
There they are… I watched them for a few seconds, then smiled as I walked over. Once I reached the table, I greeted them. “Excuse me, how are you all doing?”
“Frieren!!!” Tiona shouted when she saw me.
Soon, we were chatting in a friendly tone, and once again, they bought me food.
The conversation stayed lighthearted.
At least until I brought up the dungeon deaths.
“Where’d you hear that?”
“I was near the dungeon. I saw the bodies being carried out,” I said while putting another piece of meat in my mouth. As I chewed, my ears twitched instinctively.
'So good!!!!'
“You saw the bodies?” Tiona’s expression darkened. “Listen, I think we should drop the topic, okay? Even if you’re old enough to talk about stuff like that, I’m not comfortable with it. Right, guys?” She looked around the table.
“Hmm…” I glanced at everyone, and Bete spoke up.
“What do you want to know? Yeah, some of our Familia members were killed, but we’ve already dealt with it. Satisfied?”
“Hey, Bete, no need to talk like that.”
“It’s fine. I was curious because I thought you’d want to talk about it. Aren’t you all sad?”
“You serious?” Bete bared his teeth at me like an angry dog. “Of course we’re sad, you idiot! You think we’re happy?!”
People around us started turning to look.
I kept staring at him and popped another bite of meat in my mouth.
I pissed him off.
So, I decided to stay quiet while the others calmed Bete down.
“Hey, sorry about that. He’s got a bit of a temper.”
“It’s okay. It was my fault. I can’t tell when people are sad or happy, so I end up saying the wrong things.”
“...”
Maybe it’s because I was just born and still don’t understand humans very well.
After that little “argument,” I didn’t bring up the topic again.
I thought this would be a good chance to get closer to them, but I failed.
I’ll have to keep trying.
