Toma had two men standing right in front of him. When he glanced over his shoulder, he spotted three more waiting behind him. Then two others stepped in from both sides, closing the gap at the same time. There was no way out anymore.
"Where do you think you're going, Toma? Do you really think you can get away? You've been running for far too long. You're finished now," the blond boy said again.
Toma could have escaped if he had been alone. He wasn't weak, and he wasn't slow either. He could have jumped past one of them and outrun the rest without much trouble. But now someone else was with him. The girl stepped closer and quietly stood at his side.
"Toma, who are they?" the girl asked.
Toma reached for her left hand while keeping his eyes on the group, his body still ready in case they made a move.
"Stay close. They're only after me," he said. "They have no reason to go after you."
The girl gave a small nod. She remained standing beside him with the same calm expression, her eyes shifting toward the men surrounding them.
"What are you doing bringing her with you, huh? Who is she? Don't tell me you..." the blond boy sneered.
"You're such a loser, Toma. Let go of her hand."
"Maybe he's looking for a job or something. Like working as her bodyguard. She looks like some rich family's daughter."
"Damn it, Toma, let her go! This is between us! So you're trying to protect yourself by working for rich people now, huh? You're a coward. You're using her."
The girl gave Toma's hand a light tug, making him turn toward her.
"They're threatening you. You should fight them," she said.
"What?!" Toma stared at her. "Do you even see how many of them there are? If you weren't here, I would've escaped already."
"You don't need to run. We can just fight them. They're weak," she replied. "Or I can do it myself. They're trying to hurt you."
Toma clenched his teeth. Even in a crowded place like this, they were still willing to start something. If a fight really broke out here, security from the nearby area would definitely come running.
"What... Did you just say?" Toma asked again.
The blond boy looked just as stunned after hearing those words.
"Damn it, what have you been telling this girl? Did you seriously tell her you're strong enough to take all of us on? Get him! Teach him a lesson!"
Toma tried to hold his ground, bracing himself to throw a punch. Before he could move, someone grabbed him from behind and locked both of his arms in place. Two more rushed over and pinned him down even tighter.
Another man stepped forward and grabbed him by the jaw, forcing his head up.
The three boys burst into laughter as soon as they realized Toma had finally been caught.
"Look at him. We finally got you. You've been running your mouth for too long, and now look where it got you."
"Hahaha! So this is the tough guy? You don't look so scary now!"
"Hah! Just look at his face! Weren't you acting all confident before? Where'd that confidence go? Go on, say something now! This is the end for you, Toma!"
Toma struggled to break free and looked toward the girl, who was still standing only a few steps away.
"You need to leave, now! You don't have to be here!" he shouted.
"Shut up, Toma," one of them snapped. "We're not going to hurt the girl. What do you think we are? This has nothing to do with her."
Toma fought harder to free himself, but the men held him tightly. One of them even clamped a hand over his mouth, making it almost impossible for him to speak.
"You idiots are really doing this in public?" Toma said. "You're asking for trouble. The police will come."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"We don't care about the police. We've got a reason for this. You stole from us. What you did was a crime."
"What kind of stupid excuse is that? Everything that happened was inside a game. It stayed in the game!"
"Hit him. Don't hold back," the blond boy ordered.
One of the men immediately threw a punch straight at Toma's face. Toma instinctively shut his eyes.
He braced himself for the impact.
...But nothing came. Where was the punch?
He slowly opened his eyes and saw the fist frozen only inches from his face. It had stopped just before hitting him.
"What happened?" someone asked. "Why did you stop?"
Toma looked past the man. The girl was standing beside him, her hand firmly wrapped around the attacker's wrist.
"You're hurting Toma," she said. "I won't just stand by and let that happen."
The girl twisted the man's arm without any hesitation.
"Ah! No! No, please, stop!" he cried.
She gave his arm one sharp pull before letting go. The large man was thrown aside as if he weighed nothing, crashing onto the ground with a painful groan.
Toma froze. The others stared in complete disbelief.
Before anyone could react, the girl stepped toward another man and drove her fist straight into his chest.
The impact sent him flying backward. He slammed into a trash bin on the other side of the sidewalk, knocking it over with a loud crash.
People nearby immediately turned toward the commotion. More and more pedestrians stopped to watch, while others pulled out their phones to see what was happening.
Realizing they were attracting too much attention, Toma finally managed to break free. Without wasting another second, he grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her along as they ran from the scene as fast as they could.
The boys were still standing there in shock. A few of them looked ready to chase after Toma, but after seeing what the girl had done, none of them had the courage to take another step.
Just… What he just witnessed?
It looked like something straight out of an action movie.
"Damn it... are we still in the game... or is this the real world?"
After running for several more minutes, they finally stopped at a row of benches in a city park. The place was much livelier than the streets they had just left behind. Children were playing nearby, while families relaxed under the shade of the trees.
Toma dropped onto one of the benches, breathing heavily. The girl sat beside him, also catching her breath after the long run.
He turned to look at her just as she looked back at him.
A second later, Toma burst into laughter. The girl quickly joined in, and before long, both of them were laughing together.
"That punch was amazing!" Toma said between laughs. "Do you have a black belt in something? You have to teach me that move. I seriously loved it."
She laughed again before smiling proudly.
"If you hadn't stopped me, I would've taught them an even bigger lesson. I already told you they were weak. I am Zetia, the Goddess of Chaos. The affairs of mortals are beneath me."
Toma nodded repeatedly and raised both hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay. I give up, Goddess Zetia. I surrender."
"So you've finally accepted me?" she asked with a satisfied smile.
"I don't really have much of a choice," Toma replied with a grin. "I'd better play along with this role-playing thing. Otherwise, I'm worried you'd throw me around like you did those guys."
She laughed once more.
"There's no way I'd do that to you. Even if I really wanted to." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You stole my veil."
"You're seriously still talking about that?"
"That veil is my life. It is my divinity."
"I already read all of that in the system messages," Toma said, resting his arms on the back of the bench. "But now you're here. Why don't you just kill me and take it back?"
She slowly shook her head. "No. I can't. If I could, I would've already."
Toma fell silent. The conversation was pulling him deeper into her role-playing again.
Then again... maybe he didn't really mind anymore. At the end of the day, it was just role-playing, wasn't it?
It wasn't all that different from being inside the game. He could just think of it as one more extra feature the game had somehow given him.
"Okay then, should I call you Zetia or Goddess? I'm not used to talking to a goddess. Gods around here don't walk through the city beating up mortals."
She laughed again.
"Just call me Zetia. Or... whatever a husband would call his wife."
"Wait... what did you just say?"
"That I am, in your world's terms, your wife," she replied, as though she were explaining the simplest fact in the world.
She continued. "Since you possess my divinity, that means I belong to you as well. I have no other choice."
“What?”
"I've learned a little about this world too. I mean, some information about this world has somehow found its way into my mind, but I still have a lot of questions to ask later. Sadly, there is no magic here. But humans still have families, children, and many other things. In all my thousands of years, I never once imagined I would have to think about such matters. Still, if you truly wished to have a child with me... I would have no choice but to accept it."
She paused for a moment before continuing.
"Just give me some time to get used to living in this world first. There are still many things I don't understand."
Toma could only stare at her, his mouth hanging open.
"She is way too committed to this act..."
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