Chapter 4-2 (Lost Ego)
It had been close to two months since his arrival. A black haired man of unknown origin. Sera’s father, Coll, found him passed out in the forest while he was out hunting. He brought the black haired man back home and decided to shelter this foreign man.
‘I don’t like this. We are located in a remote village far from big towns and cities. Just how the hell did a guy like him ended up in the forest?’
Sera had deep suspicions about this man who called himself Gin. He claimed to have no recollection of what happened to him, where he came from, what he was doing before he lost consciousness— all he remembered was his name.
Gin.
‘An unusual name, but sounded a bit familiar. I think I remember Treo speaking of an alcoholic drink with the same name from the outside world.’
Sera believed that Gin came from the outside world. Maybe he ran away from home and got lost in the forest. Although, it still didn’t explain why he was buck naked in the first place.
There were many questions in her mind, but Gin had no answer for her.
‘Just who the hell are you—?’
Sera didn’t like Gin at first. He was clearly a suspicious person and untruthful to them, yet her father and mother took the guy in and treated him with courtesy. They even took the foreigner’s side in an argument and berated her.
The resentment only grew stronger from then on.
‘He learned how to track animals in a day? He’s clearly bullshitting. How come nobody else sees this?’
Sera had brought up this topic many times with her parents, but they refused to listen.
“Gin had no reason to lie to us. Even if he did, I doubt he has any ill will against us. What do you think he’s trying to do? What’s there to steal from our home?”
“I-I mean that’s my point! We don’t know what his objectives are! He’s clearly a suspicious person! We should kick him out as soon as possible!”
Coll shook his head and Teressa let out an exasperated sigh.
“Sera. It has been a week and he’s been contributing quite a bit into this household. He helped with hunting and gathering, he even told me he’s trying to work and help the people in the village.”
“…”
“If we kick him for no good reason, he could just stay somewhere else in the village. The people there would welcome him, but they wouldn’t see us in a good light, do you understand?”
“B-but… he’s…”
“Maybe if he’s only loitering around and doing nothing all day, we would have a reason to kick him out. But he’s doing good for us.”
“It has been only a week, dad! You don’t know that! The longer he stay here, the more dangerous he becomes!”
“Dangerous? How so?”
“W-well— See— He might stay here for a long time! Are you guys fine with that!?”
Sera began to panic seeing none of her words reached her parents.
“If he keeps up what he's doing, then I say the longer the better. He asked me to teach him archery just the other day. He learns quickly, he might go out hunting on his own pretty soon!”
“That’s just ridiculous! There’s no way that’s gonna happen!”
“We’ll see. For now, just be patient, Sera.”
…
Time passed in a blink of an eye.
Contrary to her wishes, Gin had actually learned archery insanely fast. He managed to nail all the basics in a week, he even went out to hunt smaller animals with her father soon after. It wasn’t long before he started to go out on his own.
‘Just how in the world…? There’s no way he learned it this quickly! He must have known archery from the very beginning!’
Sera could not accept the fact that Gin was able to learn archery and tracking in such a short span of time. She believed there was foul play somewhere, that this foreigner was a spy sent by bandits to check out their village, if there was anything worth pillaging.
She kept making up wild assumptions and scenarios in her head, trying her best to paint Gin in a bad light. She refused to accept this black haired man as just ‘a man who lost his memories’.
‘Just who are you!? Why won’t you leave us alone!?’
It wasn’t until a month after his arrival Sera started to notice something changed about her parents. Especially her mother, Teressa.
“Mom, is it just me or do you look… prettier?”
“I-is it?”
Teressa stiffened for a second and touched her own cheeks.
“Yeah mom. Your skin… it looks so nice and smooth. It’s almost like you got younger day by day. What happened?”
“I’m not sure... Things have just been going great, I guess…”
“Going great? How so?”
“Well, Gin helps us a lot, right? Thanks to him, our burden has become much lighter.”
Sera became irritated at the mention of Gin. An obvious frown appeared on her face, “What do you mean, mom? That guy went to hunt and gather some woods, how’s that affected you in any way?”
Teressa sighed, “He helped your father hunting, gathering woods AND herbs. He ALSO helped around the village. Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due, Sera. It’s bad manners.”
“I’m about to be 20 years old, mom! Don’t talk to me like I’m a kid!”
“People don’t just turn into an adult because their age increases, Sera! Adulthood is a process you learn and grow into! Not something you get from passing the time!”
Sera closed her mouth. She had no words to retort to her mother. She looked away, a faint glint of tears formed on her eyes.
“Oh Sera, I don’t mean to yell at you.”
Teressa put her hands on Sera’s cheeks. She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and hugged her.
“…”
Both of them didn’t say anything for a while as Teressa rubbed her back.
“I’m sorry, Sera. It’s just everytime you speak ill of him, I get agitated.”
“A-agitated…?”
Sera couldn’t understand what her mother just said.
“Gin helped us a lot. Not just your dad, Sera. He helped me too, in more ways than one.”
“H-helped you…? How—?”
“—No, he saved me, Sera.”
“…”
This time, Sera was truly dumbfounded. The words that came out of her mother’s mouth just didn’t seem to make any sense to her.
She called out to her mother, “…Mom?”
Teressa let go of her hug and grabbed her shoulder. The light in her eyes seemed to change.
“…”
Never in her life Sera saw her mother look at her with such eyes. It wasn’t cold nor warm, it wasn’t filled with anger or pity, but something else. An unknown gaze that pierced right into her soul.
‘What is going on with mom?’
Discomfort crawled up her back. Somehow, the inside of her stomach felt weird as if there were knots in them. Not only that, her vision also began to blur.
Teressa opened her mouth as Sera tried to comprehend her mother’s gaze.
“—And I wish from the bottom of my heart, that he would save you too.”
“…”
Sera’s heart skipped a beat.
“I…”
From the deepest part of her bowel, she felt a surging sense of dread overcoming her whole body.
“Mom, I…”
A ringing sound echoed in her ears.
“Sera.”
Her eyes trembled. She felt her mouth stuck opening and closing, no words came through. She could not comprehend what was happening around her. She felt like she was in a vertigo, falling down to the void—
“Sera, what’s wrong?”
“Ah…”
Teressa shook her daughter back and forth, snapping Sera back to reality.
“—Haah…!”
In that short period of time, Sera forgot to breathe. Her lungs felt painful and she took a deep breath through her mouth and stumbled to her seat. The color of her face turned pale.
“Sera! What’s wrong!? Are you sick!?”
“N-no! I—!”
It was then Sera noticed her mother had returned to normal. Her eyes have become soft and warm, filled with worry and anxiety for her daughter.
‘Was it just my imagination…?’
Yet, she couldn’t help but to feel something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
“I-I’m just thirsty!”
“S-Sera!?”
Sera ran outside the house, slamming the door open, and went to gulp down the clean water from the barrel.
‘That… that can’t be real— that wasn’t mom—‘
That day, Sera was late to her training for the first time in a long while.
…
The next day, Sera met her mother in the morning, cooking breakfast as usual. Nothing was out of the ordinary. She looked at her with a gentle gaze, looking beautiful and youthful for her age. Meanwhile her father was busy preparing to hunt. The black haired man she hated so much was also there, eating his breakfast in silence.
Sera took her breakfast inside her room and decided everything that happened yesterday was nothing but a fever dream—
‘It was all just my imagination. I don’t even know what she said there…’
…
…
…
Present time. Two months after Gin’s arrival.
Sera’s mother, Teressa, had been looking better and better everyday. She hums while cooking and doing chores, red blushes on her cheeks and nose would appear from time to time, making her look like a maiden in love. The contrast of her mature appeal and her youthful face only made her more charming and alluring than any woman she had ever seen.
‘Then again, I have never been to the outside world. But I’m sure there would be many men who would go after mom despite her age.’
Sera wanted to ask her mother what happened to her. Why would she be in such a good mood? But the memories of what happened last time were still fresh in her mind. She had no intention to repeat such an awful history so soon—
“Morning, Sera.”
An unusual greeting came from an unusual person.
Gin, the black haired foreigner of unknown origin, the man who’s on top of her shitlist, greeted her good morning for the first time ever since they met.
“…”
Naturally, Sera had no intention to reply. She ignored him and took her breakfast inside her room and ate it in silence.
‘What’s with this asshole? He thinks we are good just because he helped around the house? Think again fucker—‘
Cursing Gin in her mind relentlessly, she finished her meal with ‘force’ and ‘vigor’ until the soup spilled everywhere. She left as soon as she finished.
‘Just focus on the training! Just a bit more and I would never have to see this dickhead ever again!’
Sera has finally given up trying to kick Gin out of the household. Now, she only looked forward to the time when she would leave the village and explore the outside world.
‘Time just can’t move any faster…’
…
“Alright everybody!! Good morning!!”
“ “Sir, good morning, sir!!” ”
Treo yelled his morning greetings and received vigorous shouts of boys and girls in their late teens. Sera was among them, standing up with her back straight as a pole and eyes sharp as a hawk.
“Great!! You all better have a good night's rest yesterday because today’s training is gonna be extra tough!!”
In response to his words, the people could only groan and roll their eyes to the side. Despite following the same training regime for years, they couldn’t help but to let out a complaint. After all, they had been doing the same thing over and over again, sharpening their skills with the sword, thinking that their instructor would finally cut them some slack since they would ‘graduate’ soon.
“Alright!! Enough complaining!! Let’s begin the warm up and start doing 10 laps around the village!!”
…
Everyone kept on groaning and complaining under their breath, except for a select few.
“Sera! Wait up!”
A young man with half of his eyes covered by his blond hair called out to Sera. He was of the same age as her, but his physique was slightly thinner and shorter than her.
“Nope. You catch up to me.”
“Haah…! Haah…!”
The young man’s name was Laven. The son of the fat butcher in the village.
“Haah…! The day has just started, Sera! Haah…! You don’t need to go all out for this!”
Laven almost bit his tongue a few times, running while speaking like that. Yet, Sera didn’t care. She kept on running as hard as she could, surpassing her peers easily. Sweat poured all over her body, but her breathing was still relatively steady. To her, this was average.
Sera, the daughter of the hunter—
She was well known among her circles of friends and colleagues. Her exceptional performance in physical strength and technique far surpasses the people of her group age. Even Treo couldn’t help but to be awed by her potential as a swordsman.
To others, Sera was the benchmark. People would often challenge her for a duel to test their strength and technique, and everytime the result was always the same. Nobody has ever defeated the huntress.
Nobody but one person has ever come close to defeating her—
Whoosh—!!
“Haah—!! Haah—!!”
The figure of a person had just passed by Sera.
“Fuuh—!! Haah—!!”
A woman with long red hair tied to a ponytail. Her physique was taller than Sera. The muscles on her back, chest and legs were also well developed just like her. She had just stolen the number one spot and glanced back, a grin crept up on her face.
“Tsk!”
Sera clicked her tongue and put more strength into her legs. Her speed increased, closing the gap between herself and the red haired woman.
“Haah—!! Haah—!!”
That red haired woman— Wyca, was also similar to Sera’s age. In fact, she was older than her by half a month—
“Guh—!!”
Sera retook her place as number one. This time was Wyca’s turn to grit her teeth in frustration. Not wanting to lose to her rival, she too, put more force into her steps.
‘You didn’t think it’s gonna be that easy, did you, Sera!?’
Both of them began their game of cat and mouse, chasing each other’s tail in turn over and over again, a familiar sight for everyone who lived in the village.
Laven looked at both Sera and Wyca from the back, panting for his dear life, and thought to himself.
‘There they go again…’
Sera, the blue haired huntress, and Wyca, the red haired demoness. Both of them had been at it since their childhood.
‘They always fight like this, never a dull day with them both…’
Ever since their early teenage years, whenever Sera accomplished something, Wyca would always one up her by just doing slightly better than her. If Sera did a 5 meters jump, Wyca would do 5.1 meters. If Sera could do 50 pushups in one minute, Wyca would do 51. This act annoyed her throughout childhood until now—
‘Wyca’s still jealous of her. I wonder if they would ever stop fighting like kids…’
The 10 laps run finally came to an end. Wyca was one step faster and stole the number 1 spot from Sera.
‘No way—!!’
Sera couldn’t believe she lost at the very end and pulled at Wyca’s drenched shirt from behind in frustration.
‘Kyaah!!”
“You bitch!!”
Both of them fell and rolled on the ground. Sera pulled on her hair and screamed—
“—What’s the matter with you!?”
“You bitch—!! What’s wrong with you—!?”
Wyca was having none of it and pulled Sera’s hair back.
“Why the fuck do you keep bugging me around like flies, you dumb whore!!”
“Bitch, why don’t you look in the mirror first before speaking, you cheap slut!!”
Laven, having just finished his final lap and heard their banter(?), couldn’t help but to shake his head.
‘Every time… their mouths are fouler than death itself…’
This was a common sight. Sera, despite being acknowledged as having the best physique and technique, had a nasty temper. She was hard headed, stubborn, and most important of all, she hates losing.
Wyca would sometimes beat her in speed and strength by a hairbreadth, and every time she did, she would gloat in front of her mercilessly. Like a match meeting a stick, a clash was almost guaranteed every time they were together.
“Your pussy smells like rotten fish!!”
“Yeah!? When was the last time you took a bath, bitch!? I bet maggots are pouring out of your moldy-ass cunt right now!!”
Laven grimaced in physical pain hearing their exchange of curses.
‘They are so vile…’
Although, he could not avert his eyes from the both of them. Sera was pulling on Wyca’s hair, while Wyca herself was busy ripping on Sera’s shirt.
‘I-I can almost see it—!! The color of her nipple—!!‘
Just then somebody came and intervened between the both of them.
“Cut it out you two! This is disgraceful!”
Treo held a wooden stick and gave them a strike on their head, trying to knock some sense into their mind.
“Ouch!”
“Aw!”
Sera and Wyca fumbled in pain and jumped away from each other.
“She pulled on my shirt first, sir!”
“I wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t—!!”
“Quit it! I don’t want to hear your excuses!”
Treo shook his head and pointed to the side.
“Both of you, 10 laps right now.”
Sera and Wyca pointed at each other’s face and yelled between themselves, trying to pin the blame on the other side.
“10 laps right now or you guys can go home.”
“Urrgh!!”
“Argh!!”
…
…
And so, their peaceful daily life continued.
Laven stood on the side and watched both Sera and Wyca duking it out on the field. Each holding a wooden sword covered in marks and scratches in their hands.
Thwack!! Thwack!!
Their fight was fierce. Despite having all the wooden swords’ tips dulled, it was still a deadly weapon if struck on a fatal spot.
‘Both of them are going all out…’
Sera pulled a feint and tried to trip Wyca down only to fail. Her kick missed, her balance was off and an opening to strike was created. Wyca didn’t miss this opportunity and swung her sword—
“Gaghh—!!”
Sera was struck on the side of her waist.
“Huh?”
Laven and even Wyca herself was caught off guard.
Treo standing on the side had his eyes wide open.
‘Sera got hit…?’
Sera fell on the ground, grimacing in pain. Tears welled up on the corner of her eyes, an unfamiliar feeling throbbed in her chest.
‘Did I just… lose? I… lost…?’
She couldn’t believe what just happened. Rather, nobody watching could believe it.
‘Wait, what just happened?’
Treo’s jaw hung open. In fact, not only him but the other guys and girls on the back also did the same.
“Hang on—“
“Did that just happen?”
“She was hit? Just like that?”
“Sera lost? Huh?”
Nobody had expected that to happen.
Everyone already assumed that Wyca would lose at the end as usual. A common sight for everyone to see. Rather, there was no excitement to the spar in the first place. Like waiting for the sun to set, a natural occurrence. Sera would win and they would continue with their day.
Seeing Sera lost in swordsmanship was like seeing the sun rising from the west.
The huntress who has remained undefeated for years had finally fallen under the hands of the demoness.
“I… I won…?”
Wyca was able to beat Sera on multiple occasions on many different fields, except one.
Swordsmanship.
Running 10 laps around the village? This wasn’t the first time Wyca won against her in something. On pushups, situps, holding breath underwater, and many other challenges, she has done it all except for swordsmanship. Sera’s technique was solid with little to no opening. Her guard was always up and nothing ever escaped her eyes.
Swordsmanship was always the one thing Wyca could never overcome for many years against Sera— until now.
She copied Sera’s training regime down to her habits, modified it and made it slightly harder and more intense. She learned her techniques, emulated them, and analyzed them to find her weakness, yet, every time she thought she had it, she always failed.
It has been going on like this for years. She never stopped, but now that the end of their time together would end in less than a year, Wyca almost began to think that she will never win against her.
Today of all day—
“I did it!! I won over this dumb bitch!!”
“Y-you fuck—“
Wyca jumped in joy in disbelief. She didn’t think that today would be the day she won over Sera, her long time nemesis.
Treo closed his half opened mouth and declared—
“Wyca has won!”
For the first time in Sera’s life, she had lost in swordsmanship.
“B-bullshit—!! I was just—!! I was—!!”
Sera smacked the floor and looked up— Wyca’s smug and arrogant smile greeted her eyes. She laughed while spinning her wooden sword on her fingers.
“What? What sort of dumb bullshit excuse are you gonna spout now, huh? You! Have! LOST!!”
Wyca crouched in front of Sera and patted her cheeks, still with a mocking smile on her face.
“Y-YOU BITCH!!”
The people on the sideline began to panic, “Uh-oh! Sera has lost her mind again!! Everyone, stop her quickly!!”
Sera jumped at Wyca. Her hands reached for her neck—
“GAAHCK!!”
Wyca was caught off guard. She felt her windpipe tightened—
” Y-YOU— PSYCHO——BITCH—……!!!”
Wyca couldn’t breathe. Her windpipe was pressed down hard by Sera. She fought back, trying to push her face away, but the strangling was too strong— she wasn’t prepared at all.
‘She’s actually trying to kill me—!?’
Just as Wyca’s eyes rolled back to her head, almost losing her consciousness, the grip on her neck went away.
“GRAH——!!!“
The people on the sideline, including Treo himself, managed to pull Sera away from Wyca.
“NO!! Let go of me—!!”
“Calm yourself down, Sera!!”
“AAHH—!!!”
The memories from that day would never fade away.
It was just another day of training, another peaceful, repetitive day.
Nobody had ever thought such a day would turn out like this.
Wyca won against Sera in swordsmanship for the first time, ever.
The huntress has fallen for the prey.
…
…
…
That day, Sera went home earlier than usual.
“Sera…? What happened?”
Teressa looked at her daughter looking ragged, covered in bruises. Coll, walked up to her and checked on her wounds.
“This… Did you get into a fight again with Wyca? What happened, Sera?”
At the mention of Wyca’s name, Sera startled. She stepped aside and walked into her bedroom in silence. She didn’t even pay any heed to the black haired man sitting by the table.
Slam!
Still covered in sweat, dust, and grime, she jumped on her bed, sinking her face into her pillows.
Through the wall, she heard the murmurs of their parents being worried about her. But she didn’t care about it at all.
She couldn’t care less about anything at the moment.
Sera didn’t want to think. She only wanted to forget everything and fall asleep, hoping tomorrow never comes. Everything that happened today, she couldn’t even process it. She had no idea what she was even thinking at the time—
‘What happened…? How did I lose…?’
Sera replayed that moment over and over again. The moment she got struck on her waist and what came after.
‘I… I wanted to kill her—‘
Her hands shook recalling that memory. She felt it, the warm and sweaty flesh on her hands, the fragility of her neck, how easy it was to block the air coming out her lungs—
‘I’m scared.’
Sera couldn’t deal with the fact that she almost killed somebody.
Somebody that she knew—
‘I’m… tired…’
Gradually, her eyes turned heavy. Darkness overcame her vision and she fell asleep. Without even touching her dinner, Sera’s mind had flown to the land of dreams—
…
…
Clack.
It was the middle of the night.
The front door of the house was opened.
“Good job.”
“Thank you, master.”
Gin praised the person who opened the door for him. He reached his hand into her groins and inserted his fingers deep into her pussy.
“I’ll give your rewards in the morning. Go to sleep for now.”
Teressa nodded her head, looking intoxicated with pleasure. She spread her legs wider and let Gin play with her hole and love button to his heart content before he pulled out his hands.
She sighed, unable to hide her disappointment and went back to her room.
Gin read her mind and knew that Teressa had some sort of an inkling on what he was planning to do, sneaking into the house in the middle of the night like a burglar.
‘She’s obedient and smart. I’m liking her more and more.’
Gin walked towards Sera’s bedroom and opened the door as carefully as he could.
‘It’s a good thing privacy isn’t really a thing in this day and age.’
Her room had no lock to begin with. He barely had any trouble getting in.
‘Now, why don’t we have a look at what you have in mind?’