«It's already night? A whole day wasted in vain.»
Walking through the streets of Orario. Why did it work, why didn't it work out? Kopii thought about Raven, about how he had spent a lot of time trying to copy Raven's feeling, but all to no avail.
«Maybe I was mistaken.» But his thoughts were interrupted by a jolt. Someone had bumped into him. A sharp smell of alcohol struck his nose. He frowned; the smell disgusted him, and he wanted to leave quickly.
– Sorry, – he said automatically, turning to leave.
– Hey, watch where you're going! – Kopii froze.
«That voice…» – flashed through his head. Turning around, he focused his gaze on the one he had bumped into. His brows furrowed, and he stepped closer to the stranger. With every step, his body tensed more and more.
– Oh, it's you, Kopii? – the man spoke. – I'm so glad you're alive… – But before he could finish, a blow flew into his stomach. – Kh, kh, what are you doing! – The man shouted.
Kopii ignored him and continued, aiming for his face.
– What, do you think that because you leveled up, you're stronger!? Pathetic trash! – drawing his sword, he said in anger. – You forgot your place.
His gaze was the same as that time, that pain and despair he had felt, how he had begged them. He remembered everything.
And when those words flew out of his filthy mouth, madness began to fill him.
He closed the distance between them with one motion and began raining down blows without rest.
– Stop, stop it! – But his cries were useless; he tried to resist Kopii's onslaught, but it was futile. Jumping away from him, Gedo felt hellish pain spreading throughout his whole body. – This isn't lawful! I didn't do anything to you; Canoe made me do it, understand! It was all him! You... – Before he could finish, Kopii froze; a smile appeared on Gedo's face, which he quickly tried to hide.
«What an idiot.» – Gedo thought.
– I don't care! You made me go through that pain! Plunged me into despair! – Kopii shouted, clenching his fists to such an extent that his knuckles had already turned white; he could not contain the raging hatred. The more he looked at Gedo, remembering his gaze full of contempt and superiority, how he had mocked his family, the more he remembered that pain… that despair.
Gedo watched as he slowly lost his temper, hiding his hand behind his back. He gripped a hidden magic blade.
«I'll show you your place, you scum!» – He began approaching Kopii, but froze halfway. – «His eyes!»
Before he could understand it, another blow flew into him, and then another and another; Kopii beat Gedo without stopping.
Sinking deeper and deeper into the past.
– Sto… Aaaaa… – Gedo screamed in pain.
«I'll kill you!» – beginning to squeeze his body with monstrous force. Despair appeared in Gedo's eyes; he tried with all his might to break free, but it was all useless; he was too weak.
Bang.
Before Kopii could understand what had happened, he was slammed into a wall, and at once came back to himself.
«What was that?» – Kopii thought, getting up. His vision was blurred, but slowly but surely it was returning to normal. At last, he could see the one who had attacked him, or, to be more precise, her.
It was a beautiful elf. She had green hair. He recognized her; he had already seen her when Raven had invited him to eat at the Benevolent Mistress. She was wearing the same waitress uniform, but the aura he felt from her was terrifying.
– Why did you do that? – At his question, she only narrowed her eyes. – I understand how it looks, but people like him deserve it. This kind of treatment. – Gesturing towards the lying body. – He's trash.
– In my eyes, you simply attacked and beat him half to death, – she said coldly, and just as coldly looking at him. He understood her; who in this situation would believe him? Looking once more at the unconscious Gedo, he sighed.
– This will serve as a lesson to him, – Kopii said, slowly leaving, not taking his gaze off the elf. He feared that she would attack him.
Slowly but surely, he moved further and further away, until he was lost in the darkness.
Hearing footsteps, someone was running here. Looking towards where her friend should emerge.
– Ah, ha, I'm so tired. Where did you run off to, Ryu? – Leaning against the wall, she said.
– I just heard the sound of a fight. – After Ryu's words, she finally saw the beaten man.
– Who is this!? – She cried out, running up to the man! How cruel! Come on, Ryu, help me, he needs help!
She merely nodded at her friend's words.
«How lucky.» – Kopii thought about the recent situation, walking home. She had been able to defeat him with one blow, when he had not even heard or seen her approach, and even when he was consumed by the thirst for revenge and hatred. At the peak of his current strength, he could not have done anything to her.
But he was grateful to her, for if it weren't for her, he would have killed him and gone on killing everyone, until someone stopped him. But Kopii did not understand one thing:
«Why did she let me go so easily? Maybe she believed me…»
But he immediately dismissed this thought, for believing him was the peak of foolishness, even if it was the truth.
«I wonder what familia she's from?» – Kopii thought, before entering the Blue Pharmacy.
A week later.
– Kopii, I've long wanted to ask you one question: why do you live in my house? – looking at Kopii, Raven asked.
Kopii raised an impassive gaze at Raven.
– If you're against it, I can leave.
– No, no, I was just curious, – taking a sip of tea, he said.
– Well, to be honest, just because, – finishing his tea, Kopii said, getting up from the table. – I'm off; I need to help my familia.
– Ok.
«Why can't I?»
He had spent a whole week on this… All this time he had been trying to copy Raven's feeling, but it was all useless. However hard he tried, however much time he spent with him.
Now he was completely convinced that his skill was passive. However upset he was by this fact, he could do nothing about it. But the most important thing he had understood over this week was that without the dungeon, his life was rather boring.
He spent the nights at Raven's place, then went back and helped Naaza all day. And he noticed that every day was more boring than the last. Nothing interesting was happening in his life at all.
«How did I even live before?»
Kopii understood one thing: he could no longer live a peaceful life as before. He was simply bored with such a life. Kopii had never noticed this about himself; then there was a chance that he had copied this feeling from someone too, without understanding it himself. But he dismissed this guess, because he did not want to waste time on it.
He already had plenty to do. He did not want to clutter his head with useless guesses, which with high probability were just his imagination. With such thoughts, he spent the whole day.
– How did you spend your day, Kopii?
– Aren't you tired of asking the same thing every day?
– No, I'm not tired of it. But, for example, today was an important day for me.
– And why is that? – Kopii asked him, turning to face him.
– I managed to join a familia! – Raven said joyfully, striking his chest. – See, I managed it, and you said I wouldn't.
– Well, and who is your god? – After this question, a long silence hung. Kopii did not understand why he was silent for so long. The longer he remained silent, the more his irritation grew. – Why are you silent? It's a simple question.
– Well, fine, I'll tell you, – looking at his irritated face.
– Faster.
Seeing Kopii's impatience, he said: – I won't tell you, I won't tell you, but I'll give you hints, to make it interesting.
– Are you mocking me? – Kopii said in irritation. He did not like this.
– There are only five of us in the familia: me, god-sama, and three women. The strongest one is me.
– What? You're only level one, if you only joined today. What kind of familia is this, where the level one is the strongest? I think you're bullshitting.
– No need for rudeness. You already know two of them. So I'm sure you'll manage to guess which one I joined.
– I already know two of them? – Kopii repeated. – But I don't know many people. Why can't you just tell me?
– Just because. – After a moment's pause, he said more seriously. – Well, fine, it's a joke. I just won't tell you, that's all.
– Then go to hell with your jokes.
– What, are you offended?
– No.
– Who are you fooling, I can see everything. – Raven smirked, amused by Kopii's behavior.
– So which familia did you join? – He asked again.
– I won't say.
Bang.
Suddenly, a pillow flew at him. Kopii could no longer tolerate the mockery, and the only thing he could think of was to throw the pillow.
– Oh god. You're like a child.