Chapter 401: Rahab the Haughty
Benjamin raised his head from the ground and looked around confused, still suffering from the disorientation of Post-death syndrome, his neck already beginning to heal and straighten itself back into proper alignment.
But he soon stood up fully, brushing dirt from his clothes, and opened his mouth to ask what was going on and why everyone was so panicked.
"You... you..." The pale woman began to seethe, her voice trembling with emotion, dark swirling power exuding from her frame like smoke from a fire, her yellow pupils glowing with intensity. "You better take responsibility for what you did to me, you brute!"
Everyone who was gathered around the scene stood in stunned silence, their mouths hanging open, their eyes wide with disbelief. "..."
They were all so speechless from the unexpected statement that no one could find any words to say in response.
This was not the confrontation they had been preparing for.
It was not the hostile judgment they had been dreading. This was something else entirely.
And soon, the blushing pale woman ran forward and clung tightly to Benjamin’s torso, wrapping her arms around his body.
They were around the same height, so her face was level with his, and she looked deeply into his blue eyes with her yellow ones, her pale cheeks flushed with color.
"Now, nobody will ever want to marry me after what you did, so you better take responsibility for me and my future!" She added again, her voice more loud and demanding than when she had spoken with Elara, carrying a note of desperation beneath the demand. "From now on, I am your pet... M-Master...!"
"...Eh?" Benjamin muttered after rubbing his sore neck for a moment, still trying to process what was happening. "Pet, as in... eh? Like an animal? Familiar spirit? What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Oh?" Violette soon perked up, her dark eyes widening with recognition, seeming to recognize the stranger from somewhere in her ancient past. "Well, well, if it is not the NEET herself, finally leaving her nest after all these centuries!"
"Huh? Violette is here in this village too?" The stranger peeked around Benjamin’s body to see the large horned woman standing far behind him, her yellow eyes narrowing. "And who are you calling a NEET, you oversized snake, when you are even worse than me in terms of social isolation?! I bet you still talk to inanimate objects like a deranged loner who has no real friends!"
"They are not inanimate objects, you fool! They have souls, voices and personalities, and they speak back to me when I talk to them!" Violette clicked her tongue in irritation, her pale cheeks flushing with anger. "I even have some of them with me here in Verdant Spire right now, in Elara’s room, so do not test me on this!"
Elara flinched from the confession.
"Uhm, Violette, who is this woman exactly? You seem to know her," Benjamin turned his head to look at Violette, with the pale woman still clinging tightly to him, her arms wrapped around his torso like she was afraid he would disappear if she let go.
"Ah, sorry about that, let me introduce you properly. Though it appears you were already acquainted in some way before I arrived," Violette walked closer to them and began her introduction, gesturing at the pale woman. "Benjamin, this is Rahab, an old acquaintance of mine from the ancient days. Rahab, this is my dear husband, Benjamin. The man you are currently clinging to like a lost child."
"Husband? Since when...?" Benjamin drooped his eyelids.
"H-Husband?!" The pale woman called Rahab flinched back slightly, her yellow eyes widening with shock. "Since when did anyone start taking romantic interest in a wrong elephant and serpent hybrid Grootslang like you?! You are not exactly prime marriage material, Violette...! Hmmm... So even you could get married before me? That is not fair at all! Master must marry me as well, then, to make up for this injustice!"
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A strange person had waltzed into Verdant Spire acting all god-like and menacing, radiating enough power to make seasoned warriors tremble.
But the moment they tracked down and met Benjamin face to face, they became loud and energetic, and almost childish in their behavior.
Strange. Very strange indeed.
Might they actually be just shy of new people, and the menacing act was just a mask to hide their social anxiety?
"Rahab, may I ask what your race is, then? You never did explain where you come from or what kind of being you are," Titania asked politely, floating up to the pale woman’s eye level.
"I did not give you permission to speak to me, you little butterfly monster," Rahab replied to Titania calmly, her voice flat and dismissive, without even looking at the shocked petite fairy queen before her.
So the answer to whether Rahab was shy of new people was a big, resounding no.
She was simply selective about who she deemed worthy of her attention.
Violette giggled a little and explained to the confused masses who had gathered around: "Rahab... is actually very arrogant by nature, and she will only interact with people she feels are nice, or equal to her in power, or higher than her in status. Everyone else is beneath her notice and not worth her time."
The Amazons who had been at the confrontation had returned by this time, following their queen, and they now surrounded the area where this strange interaction was taking place, waiting for orders from Elara on how to proceed.
"Eh?! And I do not count as someone higher than her in status?!" Titania flinched, her small body jerking with offense, and she flew down to pull on the short gown of Violette to get her attention. "When I am a former superior spirit who has lived for millions of years?!"
"Good morning, ma’am. Please forgive me, for I could not see you down there due to your small stature," Rahab immediately went respectful towards Titania, her tone shifting to something more polite. "As for your previous question about my race, I do not have a race as your average creature does. I am something else entirely, something unique in all of existence."
Sakura was now more visibly pissed than she had been before, since her being ignored earlier by the intruder was probably out of belittlement and not because of any tactical reason.
The fox queen’s amber eyes were narrowed, her fox ears flat, her tail twitching with irritation.
"Benjamin, I will never accept that arrogant and selfish creature as one of your women," she shamelessly exclaimed, forgetting that she herself had once been dubbed the PRIDEFUL Beast Queen by her own people and allies, "someone like that who believes they are above the entire world cannot communicate with the rest of us properly or function as part of a group!"
