Berserk of Gluttony (LN)-Volume 1 Chapter 2

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Having drank my fillof wine until I felt tipsy, I decided to check up on Roxy beforeheading back to the ragged place I called home. Due to the incidentwith Rafal and his siblings, I could not stop worrying about her. Nomatter how crooked Rafal was, I knew he was not the type to startharassing her immediately, yet, the image of his defiant smirk wasembedded in my mind. Even if something truly did happen, I woulddefinitely be too weak to protect her so the very least that I coulddo was act as a meat shield.

In the moonlight, Isaw the castle gate where she stood doing her duty as a gatekeeperproperly.

I drew a long breathand felt a sense of relief wash over me. It seemed that I had worriedfor nothing. Then, to the girl who was working so hard, I cheered onfor her from my heart, "Roxy-sama, please continue to do yourbest."

However, I was justabout to leave when a shadow climbing over the east wall of thecastle caught my eye.

That was a blindspot for Roxy and the other guards on patrol, yet perfectly visiblefrom where I stood. They were definitely bandits. For them to climbthe wall this late into the night, I could not think of anyone whowould do such a thing apart from thieves. Hurriedly, I rushed towhere Roxy was standing at guard.

"Roxy-sama,there's an urgent issue!"

"What's wrong?You should have returned home by now…"

"I was taking awalk to sober up when I saw people sneaking into the castle. Theyclimbed in over the east wall."

"Really?!"

"There's nomistaking it, I saw them properly with my own eyes."

Of course it wouldbe difficult to believe given that I had said this so suddenly, and Ibegan to feel anxious. However, Roxy looked into my eyes and said,

"I believe you.I'll head over there now, so can you stay here and protect the gatein the meantime?"

"Yes, of course."

Roxy handed me thespear with the Royal Family emblem.

"May fortune bewith you, Roxy-sama."

"Please leave itto me. For this, I still have confidence in my own strength."

Pulling out a whitesword, she ran in the direction I had told her. So fast… After all,she was a Holy Knight. In a blink of an eye, her figure disappearedinto the darkness.

Before long, thescreams of men could be heard. It was easy to imagine Roxy defeatingthe thieves one after another. From the number of cries, I could tellthat there were quite a lot of them. It was definitely more than justtwo or three bandits.

Nevertheless, Roxywas a Holy Knight. She would never be beaten by people like thieves.Sure enough, the commotion gradually stopped and it became quiet.Just as I was feeling relieved that it was over, a man with a strongbuild came running towards me from out of the dark.

There was no doubtthat he was one of the thieves who had escaped Roxy. As heapproached, the moonlight clearly illuminated his appearance. This…I took a sharp breath.

His right arm wasmissing, having been completely chopped off. Desperately clutching itwith his left hand in the attempt to stop the bleeding, he rantowards me. His complexion was pale, surely caused by extreme anemiafrom the severe bleeding.

I readied the spear.I could not let him escape. Even if it meant that the man would die,he was a bandit that needed to be dealt with accordingly. Despite thefact that I was acting as a gatekeeper in Roxy's place, letting himgo would definitely cause her trouble. I had to defeat him withoutfail.

The enemy waswounded. Even for a powerless person like me, I should be able todefeat him. Feeling brave, I thrust the spear forward and pierced itinto the thief with as much force as I could muster. By sheer luck,the spear penetrated straight through his heart. The thief reachedforward and grabbed ahold of the spear, his glare furious. With heavybleeding from his chest, he fell backwards onto the ground.

His limbs continuedto convulse for a while, until all his movements finally ceased. Thethief was definitely dead.

"I did it, Idefeated… Eh?!"

At that moment, Ifelt something flow through my body and I heard a robotic voice in mymind.

<Gluttony skillhas been activated>

<Status update:HP +120, Strength +150, MP +100, Spirit +100, Agility +130>

<Appraisal,Mind-reading, Concealment, and One-handed Sword Technique skills havebeen added>

Status update?Skills added? What was this voice? What did this mean? And thisfeeling of satiety that I have never experienced before since birththat until now, no matter how much I had eaten, could never besatisfied. Right now, this feeling of satisfaction was the best.

While I was stillimmersed in this unfamiliar yet uplifting feeling, Roxy shouted asshe rushed up to me.

"Are you okay? Areyou hurt?"

As she spoke, shetook my hands to make sure there were no injuries.

(I'm worried…His complexion looked pale somehow… Ahh, I was worried.)

What? I heard Roxy'svoice in my head. Even though she was not talking, her voice wassomehow clearly there in my mind.

"What's wrong?"

"…No, it'snothing. I'm not hurt."

(Really? Thankgoodness… I'm really glad.)

I heard it again, avoice that was relieved for my safety. This, could this be Roxy'sinner thoughts? When her hand released mine, I became unable hear heragain.

This was mysterious.Perhaps I had hallucinated it due to the strain from the fight.Either way, I could not so casually touch a Holy Knight like Roxyagain just to confirm whether it had actually happened or not.

A total of tenthieves had snuck into the castle, and Roxy had opposed all of themby herself. Just as I had thought, Holy Knights were strong indeed.Of that, I had played but a small part in killing one bandit. Thiswas only possible because she had pursued and injured him soseverely, almost to death.

Hence, Roxy shouldtake all the credit for this.

"Roxy-sama, pleasetake all the credit for this matter."

"I cannot do that.You defeated one of them, didn't you?"

For me, I hadanother issue; my employer, Rafal. If he heard about this incident,that I had assisted another Holy Knight, he would become unreasonablyenraged and I had no idea what he might do. Also, Rafal did not thinkwell of Roxy, and he would reprimand me even more for this.

"If Rafal-samaheard about this, my position would be at stake…"

"Ah… that'strue. I understand. I will handle this case as you have suggested."

"Thank you."

"It is I whoshould be thanking you. If you had not informed me, I would have hadto take responsibility for the blunder."

Even for a HolyKnight who was winning at life, the battle for success seemed to besevere. For someone like me at the very bottom, I could not perceivethat hardship.

"So, please let methank you."

"No no, for a HolyKnight to say such a thing…"

As I lowered myhead, she seemed to think that I did not like her gesture and puffedup her cheeks, pouting. Since she had never made such an expressionbefore, I was surprised. I felt like I had become just a littlecloser to Roxy.

"Well let's see…Oh right."

Somewhatmischievously, Roxy clapped her hands together. I know I shouldaccept her gratitude, yet what could she be thinking? My heartbeatquickened. And then, from her mouth came an outrageous question,

"Would you like towork for the Heart Family? If I told my father about this incident,he would surely agree to give you a job."

"Eh?! But my skillis useless… it would be beyond my capabilities."

"There's no suchthing! Did you not just defeat a thief?"

That was simply astroke of good luck, for next time something like this happened, itwould be impossible for me to do that again.

"Nevertheless, forme…"

Losing her temper atmy hesitance, she dealt a finishing blow with a final statement.

"There is no needto worry about the Breric Family. Unless, you want to work for themfor the rest of your life?"

"Urk."

She had seen throughme, knowing that I lived in fear of the Breric Family's harassment.Even with that, she said she wanted to hire me. I felt like my tearswould fall.

A future of beingoverworked to death under Rafal who had the worst personality ever,compared to the rosy life I would have working for the beautifulRoxy. There was nothing I needed to consider. Besides, I was Roxy'sfan. Was this not a dream come true?

"Thank you, Ireally appreciate it, Roxy-sama!"

"Alright. It'salready late today, so please come to the Heart Family's housetomorrow at noon. I'll be waiting."

Feeling joyfulenough to fly, I bowed my head to Roxy many times before leaving.When I was far away enough that the castle gate was out of sight, Ijumped into the air and raised my fist in triumph. Finally, luck hascome to me. Somehow, my body felt lighter than usual, and it was agood thing. I hurried back to my run-down home to prepare fortomorrow.