Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Bullets of Jealousy

“WOOHOO! This is so much fun!” Memil yelled.

The bike zoomed past us. Memil was a natural, picking up the basics like she’d biked her entire life. Her motorcycle snaked wild, undulating trails across the ground. Memil even used raised sections of the earth like ramps, sending the bike flying through the air.

As for Roxy, well…

“Oh, no! Oh, no! Fay! Big trouble!”

“Easy there! Let’s take some deep breaths and start by calming down, okay, Roxy? Whoa!”

To put it mildly, Roxy was a bad driver. But she was still a beginner, and with practice, I was sure she’d improve. She had all the skills needed, she just didn’t have the muscle memory. For me, horses were more difficult

than motorbikes. Roxy was good with horses, so it was only a matter of time before she caught up to Memil.

“Fay! Fay! There’s a giant rock! It’s right there! Right in front of us!”

“Whoa! Let’s keep calm and drive around it.”

“Okay.”

Contrary to Roxy’s assurance, we continued straight for the rock. The bike hurtled ever closer, so I reached my hands out from behind to grip the handlebars.

“Ah, Fay!”

“It’s okay. We’ll drive together for a little while.”

“Okay…”

There was a little surprise in Roxy’s voice as I placed my hands on her own. We swerved out of the way of the rock and toward Memil and Eris.

“Whew, that was close,” I said.

“Great job, Fay. Oh, but…” Roxy trailed off.

I felt my face growing hot as I realized the position I had put us in. We were so close that I was practically riding on top of her. I felt the heat of her body and the nervous beating of her heart.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, don’t worry. I-I’m not…uncomfortable or anything.”

Usually so forward, Roxy spoke with flustered, self-conscious words. I couldn’t release the handlebars yet anyway. She still didn’t know how to drive. I couldn’t imagine anything to say in this situation, so we rode in silence for a time, just listening to the humming engine of the motorbike. Glancing at Memil and Eris as they rode ahead of us, they glared back like they had something they wanted to say.

“What?” I asked, pulling our bike up beside them. 

Eris’s cheeks puffed up and she responded by pointing her gunblade directly at me! “Your Gluttony must be starving,” she said, a chill in her words. “So, feast on this for now.”

“Hey! Relax, don’t do anything rash!”

“Do it, Your Majesty!” cried Memil as she kept their motorbike steady.

Both Eris and Memil looked deadly serious. This was no joke! 

“Roxy! We’re getting out of here!”

“Oh? What happened?”

Roxy was so worried about her driving that she didn’t notice anything else. She wasn’t even aware that Eris had pointed her gunblade right at us. At this rate, I was going to eat lead. Eris’s finger hovered over the trigger, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

“I’ll tell you later,” I shouted. “But for now we’re out of here!” 

“Now, wait just a moment, Fay. Wai—ahhhhh!”

This was an emergency. I put my trust in the bike’s potential and gave it a burst of speed. As we sped toward an upcoming cliff, I didn’t even try to turn us around. We plunged straight down. Such a move was suicide on a horse, hence Roxy’s scream.

“Fay!”

“There we go,” I said, as the bike’s tires gripped the sheer cliff face. It was equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer, allowing it to drive down cliffs impossible to reach on horseback. “We’ll be okay, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

“Why are you doing this to a beginner?! Fay!”

“Sorry, sorry.”

I looked over my shoulder to check on our pursuers. Memil was a beginner, just like Roxy, so I wanted to believe that it was still too early for her to attempt cliff faces. I couldn’t believe it…

“She’s right behind us?! How did she learn to drive so quick?!”

“I won’t let you get away, Master!” Memil roared over the engines.

“Are you ready?” Eris asked with a crooked grin, her gunblade once again pointed at me and primed to fire.

She’s really going to shoot! I let go of the handlebars and unsheathed the black sword. Doing so left Roxy to handle the bike’s descent all on her own.

She cried out, almost shrieking, “Fay! I can’t do this! We’re doomed!”

“You have to! Eris is firing at us!”

“Really?!”

“Really! See for yourself!”

“Your Majesty, why?!”

Eris fired another round as Roxy spoke. She wasn’t fooling around! Fortunately, I was prepared, and I deflected her bullet with a swing of the black sword. Seeing my maneuver, Eris broke into a full-fledged smile.

“You’ve got some guts. Time to pull out all the stops.”

“Stop it, Eris!”

“No can do, Fate. We’ve reached the limits of our patience.”

“Yes, yes,” added Memil. “Prepare yourself, Master!”

Even Memil?! But I’m technically her master! What is this, a rebellion?! I glanced over my shoulder. “Roxy, can you handle it?” 

“I-I think so. But I’m not sure, Fay!”

“She’s firing another volley! Just try to keep us straight!” I shouted over the din of battle.

Eris unleashed a ceaseless barrage.

“Damn it! This trigger-happy queen is crossing the line!”

Eris laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment. But I’m just getting started!”

“Stop it!”

“Go, Your Majesty! Go!”

“That means you too, Memil!” I added.

“You should take a moment to think very carefully about why I’m acting this way,” said Memil. “That is, after Eris perforates you.”

“Hey!” I shouted, but she didn’t listen.

The queen and the maid were in hot pursuit. Eris fired a rain of bullets while Memil’s skillful driving kept them in range. My hands were full just trying to keep us safe. 

Greed simply laughed. “Look at you, Mr. Popular. I’m almost jealous.”

“Are you for real? Look at her back there! I could be killed!”

“Her love is a heavy weight to bear.”

“And her trigger finger is entirely too light!” 

Greed cackled more laughter.

“This is no laughing matter, Greed!”

Meanwhile, Roxy struggled to keep control of the bike as it barreled down the cliff face. “Fay! I can’t handle it! We’re going to flip out of control!”

“Not with the auto-stabilizer we won’t!”

“But…”

“I have an idea.” I sheathed Greed and once again put my hands over Roxy’s. “We’re getting out of here at top speed. I’m going to need you to put all the magic you’ve got into this!”

“Got it!”

We poured our magic into the motorcycle, revving it to its limits. As we did, a bluish-white light illuminated the crevices of the otherwise jet-black motorbike. Memil was on the motorbike behind us, but she didn’t have nearly the magic power that Roxy and I had together. Even if Eris decided to give her a helping hand, we would still be far off into the horizon by the time she did.

Our motorbike hit the base of the cliff in an instant, and we sped off across the plains ahead.

“Now this is fast!” I said.

“It’s hard to believe a vehicle like this even exists!” said Roxy.

The bike sped along at such speed, it kicked up huge clouds of dust behind it. Memil and Eris were little more than a speck behind us, and soon they dropped out of sight completely.

“Whew, looks like we finally escaped those barbarians,” I said.

“It sure looks like it, but still… I don’t think it’s very nice to call them that.”

“Well, Eris did shoot at us.”

“That’s true… However, I still don’t think we should call them names. They’re here to help you, after all.”

“All right, all right. So, uh…should we wait for them here, then?”

“No, we decided to rendezvous at the old Lanchester estate.” She peeked back at me and cheekily poked out her tongue. “So let’s meet with them there.”

Roxy always came across as conscientious, but she knew how to get her own way when she wanted. I remembered that look on her face from back when I was a servant. It was the same face she wore when she’d dressed up as a typical commoner and gone on an adventure in town. Just remembering it made me burst out laughing.

“What’s got you all in hysterics now?” she asked.

“I was just thinking of examples of you being you, that’s all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” 

“I don’t mean it in a bad way. I’m just glad you’re you.”

“Hm. Well, in that case, I suppose that’s acceptable.”

Somewhat mollified by my reply, Roxy returned her focus to the matter of getting used to driving the motorcycle. It seemed like our death-defying plunge down the cliffs had paid off, because she showed marked improvement compared to when we began. It seemed safe for me to take my hands off the handlebars and leave her to it, but Roxy asked me to keep them there.

“If you don’t mind, will you keep helping me, at least until the old Lanchester estate?” she asked.

“Sure.”

For a time, we rode like that, the grassy plains whipping by. There was still no sign of Memil and Eris. We’d put some serious distance between us. 

As I looked back, Roxy giggled. “I’m glad I came along.”

“Hm?”

“I know it’s a bit sudden, but I really am. I’m glad. I’m happy I can travel with you, Fay. And…” Roxy paused for a moment, her eyes still staring straight ahead. “I’m sick of being left out. I don’t want to be stuck somewhere safe while you and the others are out there fighting. I won’t do it. It’s horrible to be left there, waiting.”

“Roxy…”

“I know I’m not nearly as strong as you, and I was so grateful when you saved me from the Divine Dragon. Yet I also felt so distant from you in that moment. Even now, I still don’t have the power to face something like the dragon.” The bike picked up speed as Roxy poured more magic into it. “But I realized that if I keep thinking like that, I’d never be able to leave the kingdom. I’m so sorry you had to see me all depressed when everyone else put forth so much effort into your farewell party.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I knew you were worried, but I didn’t know what to do about it.” 

“Knowing whether or not I had it in me to go with you… It was a problem I had to face myself.”

“I…”

“But I’m happy. I’m happy that you welcomed me into your party, even though I’m still so powerless.”

I took a hand off one handlebar and put it on Roxy’s shoulder. “You’re not powerless. Not in the slightest. You saved me on countless occasions. I should be the one telling you how grateful I am. Having you here with me, it gives me confidence. And…”

“And?”

“And I’m happy that we can finally travel together too.”

“Fay…”

Roxy let her cheek rest on the hand I’d placed on her shoulder, a gesture full of warmth. I wished we could have stayed like this forever, but the Lanchester estate loomed in the distance.