425: The Enemy

425: The Enemy

“That one too,” Samantha said, pointing at the neck, where Beatrice had her dark-red choker.

“Really?” Beatrice asked. She felt like it was overkill. “Who would even notice or remember that I wore it? I mean, I figured they’d be looking... Elsewhere.”

“I noticed it,” Samantha was adamant.

“Oh well,” Beatrice shrugged and took off her choker. She wasn’t about to fight over a single item, when she just got a whole new set from Samantha. And It wasn’t like she was pareticularly attached to the choker. It didn’t even provide all that many stats aside from the nice effect, at least when compared to the new items.

And yet, the moment that Beatrice took the choker off, her neck felt... Naked. Beatrice felt uncomfortable, like something was missing. Let’s hope the bleed resistance won’t be coming into play any time soon, Beatrice thought as she put the item onto the pile on the floor of all the other clothes she wore during her fights in the Forge.

Item: Choker of a Phyx

Item Class: Rare

Health Points: +10

Physical Defense: +3

Magic Defense: +6

Effects: Bleed resistance +80%

“And this is for you,” Samantha said as she brought forth a stand with a different set of armor for Ember. A generic fantasy assassen-ish/rouge-ish leather armor that was only slightly less revealing, yet somehow even more generic than the one Beatrice had. “I still can’t believe you’ve walked around in the Priestesses’ robes all this time.”

“They had their advantage,” Ember said as she looked at her potential outfit with negative enthusiasm. “Those that only care about the robe don’t notice who’s wearing it.”

“Not after your ‘adventures’ in the Forge,” Samantha said. “Those robes are probably one of the few clues the Purple Capes have on those responsible for the slaughter in the Forge. If they don’t find either of you soon enough, they’ll probably have a few words with the High Priest.”

“As if!” Ember laughed.

“You’re giving him too much credit,” Samantha said.

“And you’re not giving nearly enough,” Ember responded and then took another good look at the offered armor set. “This is an insult to my gear.”

However, despite the outward complaints, Ember did put on the set that Samantha offered her. Meanwhile, Beatrice’s thoughts were preoccupied with something else Samantha said.

“What exactly did you mean by ‘those responsible for the slaughter’?” Beatrice asked Samantha.

“Long story short, Alexander (the big muscle guy from your Games), got all the credit for single-handedly killing the Lesser Abomination and saving the city from the demon threat.”

“They’re even planning a celebration in his name the day after tomorrow!” Ember added with a slight laugh while getting into her new gear.

Of course somebody would take all the credit! Beatrice thought with a sigh. The only suprirsing thing was that the guards gave that credit away to one of the remaining participants of the Games.

“More importantly,” Samantha continued, “while no official word has yet come of how or why the demons have appeared, rumors are spreading fast that they were summoned by the same rebels that attacked the princess and started the whole massacre.”

“... There was a full arena with thousands of witnesses that know full well that’s bullshit!” Beatrice argued.

“A full arena of wasted out of their minds idiots,” Ember corrected Beatrice. “One of the many other rumors is that the demons were birthed by Princess Mary after you fucked and impregnated her with demon seed.”

“...” after hearing that, Beatrice closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Another one is that you cast a charm and seduced the Black Masks into fucking you to spawn the demons yourself,” Samantha shared.

“The amount of witnesses might very well be the reason that no one has officially blamed us for the demons, yet,” Ember continued while putting on her new boots, “it certainly doesn’t stop them from fanning all kinds of crazy stories and see which ones they can later abuse the best. All while the Purple Capes use this morning’s chaos to put down anyone they want and search for us for ‘questioning’.”

Holy... Beatrice was left speechless. How long did they say I was sleeping? Wasn’t it something like ten hours? All of this... Beatrice knew her situation was bad. But now it looked like instead of being the Savior, she was on the verge of becoming the Enemy of the entire city.