Chapter 17: Bozo's might! 'If we move, we are dead!'
Bozo turned his gaze away. He was looking at the village again. He realized his mistake and thought about it secretly. As for Yoni and Lila, they remained silent for the next few seconds.
Yoni pondered about Bozo's behavior, which was different from the rest. Her gaze fell on Bozo's cut ears and leg. She couldn't help but feel guilty about the matter.
'Maybe, he also lived a hard life like Lila…', Yoni bit her lower lip momentarily.
'He must be sad too. I must have hurt him. I should apologize… right?', just like an overthinker, Yoni's mind was flooded with numerous thoughts, the primary one being begging for forgiveness.
She wasn't hesitant on the matter. If Bozo could ask for forgiveness, then why couldn't she?
"I-"
But before she could add on anything, a few goblins arrived at the scene. Bozo, Lila, and Yoni were sitting on a mound close to a tree - they were at a little elevated position at the moment - apparently, the goblins called it an insult.
"How dare you raise your position in front of us?", asked the same goblin who had tried to taunt previously.
"What?" Bozo's left eyebrow lowered while the right raised as he heard the question.
"Don't feign innocence. You know it is a crime for trashes like you to assign yourselves higher positions. It is an act of treason and betrayal!"
Bozo was furious at their brain-dead reasoning. In his mind, he mocked them thinking, 'That's the best you could come up with?'
And in the real world, Yoni, having no filter, blurted out the exact thing that Bozo was thinking about, "That's the best thing you could come up with? Really?"
"Shut up, bitch. I don't care what you think," the goblin said as he moved both his hands upward and outward, further adding, "You too are garbage, one that needs to be thrown out of the village. Putui, I don't know why our Elder insists on keeping you all here… especially you."
He pointed at Bozo, somewhat hating.
"I don't know why they saved you. You coward of a handicapped garbage. You fought wolves and survived? Pfft, it must have been luck," having said this, he gave a whisper to himself as the last which was audible enough to all, "I can't believe she has gone crazy from this fake rumor…"
His hate seemed justified and unjustified at the same time. What did he want to convey? Why does he bully? Isn't this similar to how humans live? Do humans bully each other though? - all these thoughts erupted in Bozo's mind as he maintained a calm exterior.
'I don't think humans fight among themselves. Their unity is the strength that made them an apex predator,' Bozo added a few more things to this, ignoring the bully's words who apparently seemed jealous. Of course, Yoni did the job of adding salt to the wound.
"Oh…? OH!? OH!!!"
"Now I see. Huhu, your wife has become a fan of my brother here, hasn't she?", Yoni said as she pointed at Bozo before tapping on his shoulders.
Lila and Bozo, both turned towards Yoni when she said that, their eyes as wide as possible - surprised by how Yoni did a complete 180 - from hating Bozo to suddenly praising him and even calling him 'brother'!
"What!?"
"Huhu, you must be jealous, right? I knew it. Your wife, although beautiful, will be stolen by my brother. That's a fact."
"S-stop Yoni…", Bozo could only whisper as Yoni continued, preparing to bring down a disastrous situation.
"You, you dare!?", the bully raised his voice.
"Of course I do, uncle Gross. Ha, your parents had named you Gros, but they meant Gross. Pfft. Your wife also calls you that… how pitiful," Yoni raised her face a bit and with serious-looking eyes and a stern face that had a slight chuckle of mockery, she further said, "Good luck, I don't think your marriage will last any longer… loser."
"YOU!", Gros rushed straight towards Yoni. His right arm was outstretched, aiming straight at Yoni's neck.
Yoni couldn't see the movement, but her instincts screamed out. The arm came like an arrow and grabbed Yoni's neck.
"Kugh!", she almost coughed as Gros' fingers wrapped around her small petite neck, ready to snap and strangle her to death.
Lila, who stood behind and noticed only the fingers and sharp nails that had left a few scratches on Yoni, raised her half-broken voice, "Leave! Stop! Please!"
Lila ran towards Gros, to fall down at his knees and beg for mercy.
A flashback hit her… of all the times she had done that. The bullying would take place all the time, and Yoni would get into trouble along with her. But as long as she was on her knees and begging the goblins, they would forgive her.
Tears ran down Lila's eyes as she got up and ran towards Gros. She fumbled and fell on the ground once in the halfway and stood up. Mud stuck to her face, a few strands of hair sticking to her tear-drenched cheeks and some even entering her mouth - but she cared not about these. She just wanted to save Yoni.
She arrived right in the front, and jumped to her knees, falling to the ground as her head hit the hard ground. She bowed.
"Forgive. Forgive please.", she said, tears now cascading like the strong current in a fast-flowing river that terminates in a waterfall.
Lila's eyeballs trembled at each passing second. Gros had grabbed Yoni's neck and had raised her from the ground - it could be fatal.
"Don't want to lose… Please." (I don't want to lose one more person. Please.)
But there was no reaction. Rather, the usual mockery that should happen during the act had also ceased. Lila, confused, slowly raised her gaze a bit. A little up… and more finally looking at the goblins that had surrounded them - all their faces wearing a mask of fear.
Their eyes were wide open, and their jaws dropped - a little trembling at the same time. Their bodies went cold.
Lila noticed the direction they were looking at. It was Gros? - she now looked at Gros. Her gaze slowly climbed from his legs to his navel and abdomen and then to his chest before terminating at his face… and what did she notice?
He too was scared and trembling. His knees were the first to tremble - a dead giveaway that he was scared.
Lila, confused, traced Gros a little more. She followed his right arm, which was outstretched and grabbing Yoni, before pausing at the forearm, right above the wrist.
Someone else's hand was grabbing it tightly.
The pressure that had engulfed the scene finally reached Lila, who had not noticed it due to her mind focusing on saving Yoni.
She turned back instantly and noticed the one scene she never thought she would.
Yoni was on the ground, unscathed. Her neck was fine, with only a few scratch marks.
As for Gros, his right hand was held tightly by Bozo's left hand… so tightly that he had already broken his bones. Adding to that, the bones stuck out from the forearm, making him profusely bleed - but even then, no one made any noise.
That was because of the dense killing aura that Bozo was giving off - his eyes being like that of a killer, glinting in half red.
Only one thing went in everyone's mind, 'If we move, we are dead!'
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