Chapter 54: Force
Sneaking up behind Nadia, Hilda leaned in and rested her chin on the Heroine’s shoulder; a playful smile painted her face, along with an energetic look in her eyes.
It was clear that her words about being tired earlier had been a lie.
"Meine Dame, you really are a charming lady~... protecting me like this..." Hilda cooed affectionately, visibly touched by the woman’s actions to protect her.
Though one could tell there was a subtle hint of disappointment in her voice.
Nadia, who was surprised by Hilda’s sudden appearance, immediately backed away from the woman, a shocked look plaguing her face.
"H-hilda—! Cough."
Nadia coughed and turned her face away.
"Don’t misunderstand, I would’ve done this for anyone who was about to be attacked in their sleep," She then added, after a brief delay, "And I also did this to thwart any kinds of plans that might involve you hurting these people!"
Hilda tilted her head, confusedly.
"So... you thwarted my plans, so you could hurt these people in my stead? Oh, my~ you really are charming—"
"That’s not what I was insinuating!" Nadia pointed at her scoldingly before turning away with her arms folded, huffing.
Seeing that Nadia was no longer in the mood to talk, Hilda smiled. She obviously knew the woman was lying, but it didn’t hurt to play along a little.
She folded her arms behind her back and glanced at the mob, then at Ross.
"So! What are you going to do to compensate me?" She asked.
Her words caused Ross to furrow his brows, clearly puzzled by what she was asking.
"Could you please clarify, Miss Hertel?"
"Well, these are your people, right? As the leader, shouldn’t you take responsibility for their actions?" Hilda gestured at the mob, then at their weapons, "For example... trying to take my life?"
Everyone on the opposing side took a cautious step back, their eyes glazed with fear. All the bravado and confidence they had leaked away, now that Hilda was awake. They had all messed up!
Ross held out an arm between them and Hilda, and said in an attempt to defuse the situation:
"Please forgive these people, Miss Hertel. I’m aware they have deliberately antagonised you, and they are all foolish for that," He shook his head, "But they’re not entirely in the wrong... you did entrap them."
"Entrap them, how?" Hilda smirked, shrugging, "They only asked me a simple question, which I answered truthfully. How could that possibly lead them into entrapment?"
"Because you know that they would fall victim to greed..."
"Und whose fault is that? Und where’s your evidence that I was planning anything like that?" Hilda then pointed at Nadia, "There’s no way you’re trusting her word for it, are you? If you are, then I severely overestimated your ability to judge others."
Hilda knew for a fact that Nadia knew nothing outside of knowing she was brewing something up. And she was certain that with Ross’ analytical mind, he too would eventually come to the same conclusion.
And he did.
Watching as Ross’ expression changed to a darker one, Hilda spread out her arms in an authoritative manner.
"I will give you two options. Since you had yet to do anything to me, I will let you and Mister Thorne walk away. But in exchange, I will take the lives of all the people who made an attempt on my life und also this warehouse."
Ross widened his eyes.
’She’s planning to murder everyone involved, and even destroy the warehouse? That’s ridiculous!’
He was fine with letting the people go if he could come out unscathed from this mess. That was the very reason why he had even brought them here with him.
But it was a whole different story if Hilda decided to destroy the warehouse!
He then shot Nadia a glance, in hopes that she would step in and say something, knowing that she was the only one Hilda would listen to, according to Elias’ report.
But when he looked over, the woman’s face was as cold as ice, unmoving and seemingly unfazed by what she heard.
Yet, when he looked closer, he could tell a hint of surprise and also disbelief in her eyes.
’She has that look in her eyes, yet isn’t going to step in?’
He gritted his teeth and turned back to Hilda.
"Why... for what purpose?" Ross inquired, articulating his words carefully.
Hilda, noticing that he was referring to the warehouse, cracked a smile.
"Isn’t it obvious? Because I know that you people weren’t the only ones who made reinforcements to this warehouse. Especially not when every single one of your people does a half-ass job und barely chip in to help," She then took a threatening step forward, "The Land Reclamation Military are already aware of this warehouse und had specifically sent me to investigate. So, you might as well come clean."
Ross clenched his hands tightly in fists.
’Damnit...’
Hilda must be telling the truth. Otherwise, why would anyone even target a warehouse, unless they were ordered to?
’The real question now is... how long had the LRM known about this place?’
Logically speaking, it should’ve been for a while, most likely leaked by someone from the past generation, be it intentionally or unintentionally.
’How frustrating...’
Noticing the shift in Ross’ expression, Hilda figured she hit right on the mark.
If she had to be honest, she was completely lying about the Land Reclamation Military knowing about this warehouse. They were none the wiser about this place, along with her, who only knew about such a fortified building today.
She just threw out random suspicions she gathered from her rounds of getting to know people, which luckily got her an answer. Though if she were wrong in her assumptions, she would’ve retracted her statement about destroying the warehouse.
"So, what’ll be?"
"... May I hear the condition you stated earlier?"
Hilda nodded.
"My condition is simple. Equal exchange. Tomorrow, for all of the contributions I will make, you must pay me relative to how great the contributions are as a whole with the eyes you have in your inventory."
Ross gritted his teeth.
"That condition... I can’t accept it. For all I know, you could rob us all of what he currently has with your contributions tomorrow..."
"Maybe. Maybe not," Hilda smirked, "But I have another option you can turn to."
"... And what would that be?"
The man then watched as the woman held up ten fingers.
"10 hits. If you manage to endure 10 hits from me and manage to stay conscious throughout, I won’t go through with my threat und will drop my earlier condition. How about it?"
Ross’ expression darkened when he heard that. Ten hits? It may not sound like that troubling, considering his build, but he knew not to underestimate someone just because of their size.
"Please, boss!"
"You gotta save us!"
"We promise we’ll be good, from now on!"
Hearing the people behind him plead for his help, Ross’ mood dropped even more. He didn’t have much of an option; he couldn’t afford to lose this warehouse.
’I’m sure this experience would also help in tempering my Heart...’
He then raised his arms in a boxing stance. Although he doubted he would be in good condition afterwards, he was going to bet on the idea that he had a small chance of success!
Hilda witnessed his stance and grinned broadly.
"Very good!"
She then turned to Nadia.
"Meine Dame~ you might want to step ba—eh, where’d she go?"
When Hilda turned to look at Nadia, she had actually found that the Heroine had gone missing — nowhere to be seen. At first, she figured this was Callum’s work, but found that he was still where he was prior.
When she was about to go look for the woman, she noticed a blur from Ross’ direction.
She immediately bent backwards, dodging Ross’ fist that flew through where her head previously was.
SWOOSH.
Ross had a serious expression on his face. It’s an illogical decision, but since he was going to take a beating anyway, he might as well do it while fighting.
"Oh~? How bold!" Hilda shouted before pulling herself up and striking the side of Ross’ ribcage.
BAM.
"Eins."
The strike was swift and powerful, and to Ross, it felt akin to taking a sledgehammer to his side!
He let out a slight groan.
’Even when I reinforced my body with Vitality, the pain is still prominent...’
This won’t be an easy fight.
Ross took a tactical step back to distance himself, but was quickly followed by Hilda, who sent out another blow.
BAM.
Fortunately, he managed to block it in time with his arms.
’Heavy!’
"Zwei," Hilda muttered before throwing out another punch.
BAM.
Ross continued to endure through the ruthless hail of punches, having now endured 6 strikes. His arms were now deeply bruised, but it looked as though Hilda was still holding back.
’I need to find the right moment to attack,’ He analysed.
He then watched as Hilda cocked back her arm and found an opening in her attack.
’It looks like a trap,’ He quickly thought, doubting that Hilda would allow such a simple mistake.
Ross frowned.
’But I don’t have much of a choice.’
Trap or not, he doubted he would find another opening again.
He would just have to bet on this.
Ross stepped out of the way, narrowly dodging Hilda’s fist, which grazed past his shoulder. Then, he immediately retaliated, with a blow of his own — one heavily imbued with Vitality.
Noticing the incoming attack, Hilda grinned and crossed her arms, prepared to defend against the attack.
"{Force}."
BAM!
Hilda hadn’t expected much from the attack, so it left her in shock when she found herself in the air, with her arms shaking from the blow.