Chapter 248 - Not a Defender of Justice

AAAAAAAAAAAAA! BLAG!

The terrified scream echoed in the place as the man flew and then landed on what seemed to be a huge metal trash bin with a crash. The resounding noise amplified by the silence of the others as they watched in shock what happened to their comrade.

A groan followed suit as the man struggled to get up and managed to get out of the bin. His actions were clear as the lone street lamp lit him like a spotlight for everyone to see. But as soon as he crawled back onto the street, a huge dark map appeared in front of his light blue trousers, telling everything that he'd peed in his pants.

The groans became loud as the dark mark expanded. The young man trembled as he did before finally losing consciousness and dropping back inside the trash bin. Ara had to shake her head at him. She realized she did too much to someone who's already doped out of his mind.

Speaking of which…

"What did he take?" she demanded.  

As if in a trance, the rest of the group had their eyes transfer from their comrade to Ara who stood there like a superhero, and now realized who she was.

"F-Fox Avenger!" one muttered as he pointed at her, and the rest followed.

"Who?" the leader asked as he turned to his cronies worriedly.

"It's the Fox Avenger! The one who beat up people at night in Roppongi!"

At the mention of the weird nickname and Roppongi, the leader seemed to finally realize who his men were talking about and they all turned to Ara with a look of terror on their faces. She knew that she had developed some kind of a reputation in Roppongi, in the three consecutive days she had spent sneaking out and beating rowdy drunkards there.

"Who's next? Aren't you going to beat me up?" she challenged, her tone mocking as she stood in her full height, intimidating the group.

She went out tonight in the hopes to relieve her restlessness, and she wouldn't back away from any chance to rough people up. She didn't understand, but by doing this, she felt… alive. She knew it was really bad to be this mischievous, but she couldn't help it.

She had recovered most of her memories of Ritz, and Ara was dumbfounded upon learning that her image of herself as a noble and martyr princess was just her imagination – a product of the shadow lurker residing within her, manipulating her recollections. The memories – the original ones she had finally remembered told her a different story.

She had always been a very free spirit – someone who always got into mischief despite the warnings that Alistair and her friends had given her. She had lost count on how many troubles she had given her brother. It started since she was old enough to walk and think for herself – and she was a totally stubborn person too. She couldn't be swayed so easily when there's something she wanted to do.

For example, her decision to suddenly drop all her princess studies to become a soldier and learn how to fight. Alistair had to scour the whole kingdom to find experts who'd be her teachers as well as companions, thus he'd given her Midas and the others. Then, when learning was not going fast enough for her taste since she was not allowed she'd sneak out of the castle to go on adventures that mostly nearly killed her, and she got scolded all the time but the perplexed Alistair.

Ah, did she mention that when she was eight she had snuck out of the castle too and landed in the fighting ring with a minotaur and had her bones crushed all over the place? It was when she had seen Alistair lose control for the first time. He was beyond livid that she had nearly died in front of him.

Alistair …

Realizing everything she had done in the past, Ara totally pitied her brother. She was also beyond guilty that she had thought so badly of him when in reality, even if he was not the showy type of person, it was clear to see how much he had doted upon his only sister. Only Ara was the one who didn't see it that way due to the parasite she had on her. But now that she had gotten rid of it, her longing for the brother she had thought badly of was too great.

"It's that crazy bitch?"

Huh?

Her thoughts were cut off hearing someone cursing her, that she put her attention back to the idiots.

"What crazy bitch are you talking about? Do you guys want to fly too?" she asked grumpily, totally unhappy that they had disturbed her reminiscences. "Who's next?" she asked again, and the men started backing off.

"Let's get out of here," the underlings said, totally scared of her.

"Why? There's only one of her?" the leader snarled. He really wanted to rough her up it seemed, his minuscule brain failing to realize the extent of her strength even after watching her make one of them fly up and land far.

"We can't take her out. She's crazy strong," the logical minion said, as he pulled their leader away and signaling to the others. "Get Goda and let's get back to the base," he ordered as he dragged the muscle head leader away, leaving the beaten up guy on the ground alone.  

Ara who had lost interest let them go and just continued to stand there as they left. Soon, she was alone with the guy on the ground. She also had no interest in him, so after she gave him one last distasteful look as she turned. But as she did, she heard him call her.

"Miss…"

His voice came out as a croak, but it was clear enough for Ara to turn back and pay attention to him. "What?"

"Are they gone?" he asked, and Ara sighed.

"Yes. No one would beat you up now," she said, her voice unhappy remembering what he did.

"Can… You help me?" the man said, making Ara scowl.

"Why?" she demanded. Even if she now knew she was not a good deity – a defender of justice, she still wouldn't help someone who was rotten – or so she thought.

"I'm…police."