Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Waking Up

“GOOD MORNING, FATE!”

That voice was so gentle on my ears. It was like a healing salve for the damage my heart and soul had endured on the spiritual plane. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Roxy’s face in the stream of light from the morning sun.

“Morning,” I said.

“You certainly slept well, didn’t you? I slapped your cheek a few times, but you didn’t wake at all. I don’t suppose it was all the learning last night, was it?”

“Well, half of it was…” I muttered.

“Why, you!”

Private lessons with Roxy… She was so strict that it was only natural I’d feel the way I did. Roxy demonstrated that she didn’t care for my blunt response with a flick to my forehead. Still, it didn’t hurt; it was as gentle as she was.

“Sorry.”

“No need for apologies,” said Roxy. “I dare say I might have gotten a little too excited yesterday. You learn quickly, Fate; these lessons will be very fruitful. Keep this up and you’ll take on important responsibilities in the castle in no time!”

I chuckled. “I don’t think I’m well suited to that kind of work.”

“Nonsense. You’re the lord of the Barbatos family. You should be more aware of your position as one of the five esteemed families! Besides, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll be here to teach you every step of the way.”

Roxy was in high spirits, even this early in the morning. She pumped her fist in the air as she made her declaration.

“Please, just…don’t go too hard on me.”

Nobody in the world could stop Roxy when she got like this. I had a feeling that today’s studies would be even harder than yesterday’s. It was entirely possible that I’d wind up falling asleep at my desk again. That reminded me…

“Thanks for yesterday, Roxy,” I said.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Well, I fell asleep at my desk, right? But I woke up in my bed. You carried me here, right?”

“Ah, that. I’m stronger than I look, you know.”

I knew that well. She was a holy knight, after all. It reminded me of my time as a servant of the Hart family. I had gone with Roxy to the city surrounding the castle because she wanted to observe the townspeople. When I had given her a piece of ore with a jewel inside of it, she’d cracked it open with her bare hands. She was even stronger than that too—she could take on powerful monsters solo if she had to. And she could have carried me with one hand. Just imagining her doing so made me chuckle.

“Speaking of which,” I said, “where did you sleep last night, Roxy?”

“Right here, of course.”

“What?! Right here?!”

“Indeed. You have no clue what an ordeal that was!”

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

The faces of Eris and Memil came to mind, both of them wearing mischievous grins. 

“I mean exactly what you’re probably thinking. It was quite the fierce midnight battle, that much I can say with confidence.”

I looked around the room and saw that it was a mess. Everything was scattered around in complete disarray. Roxy saw me looking and hurriedly started tidying.

“My apologies. I never intended for your room to get so messy…” she said.

I started picking bric-a-brac off the floor and putting them back on the shelves when I spotted a tail underneath them. It was a familiar tail, that of a scorpion. Grabbing and lifting it, I confirmed my suspicions: it belonged to Snow. She yawned and opened her eyes sleepily.

“G’morning!” she said. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Everybody was having so much fun. Snow wanted to join in.”

“That wasn’t fun! We weren’t playing around last night!” said Roxy.

According to Roxy, the previous night’s three-way battle royale had made for an extremely raucous time. Snow had somehow snuck in while it was happening.

“But you were asleep, Fate,” said Snow. “Nobody saw Snow. So I slept here.”

“So that’s how you got buried under all this stuff. It’s a wonder you never woke up…” 

I gently pinched her cheek, then noticed Roxy looked like she wanted to say something. 

“Uh, something on your mind?”

“You said it’s a wonder that she never woke up, but it’s a wonder that you didn’t either. I get that you were exhausted, but you didn’t even stir despite all the chaos.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s true,” I said with a laugh.

I had been trapped in the spiritual plane at the time, fighting my own shadow. There was no way I was going to wake up from that.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Fate?”

Roxy had her own problems to worry about. I didn’t want to burden her with mine, so I pretended everything was fine.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just tired. Totally worn out, I think.” 

“Well, after what you went through on the way to Hausen, it’s only natural. Not to mention your father…”

“Dad… Under normal circumstances, his return would be cause for celebration.”

“I know how you feel, Fate. When my father returned, well… I was happy, of course, but some part of me also suddenly wondered if it was really okay. When it comes to your father, there’s still a lot about his actions that are completely inexplicable.”

“He kidnapped Laine, and he stole the Philosopher’s Stone too. He’s just doing whatever he wants.”

Roxy wagged a finger in front of me. “But don’t forget, he also helped us back in the desert.”

“Ah, yeah. He did.”

Back in the desert, he had been just like the man I remembered. Nonetheless, he was trying to open the Door to Distant Lands, which made him our enemy.

“He has the same goal as Myne, so it’s possible my father will also come to Hausen.”

“On top of that, I’m also worried about that Libra character we met in the oasis.”

When I’d spoken with Set the previous day, I’d told him to report to me if security noticed anyone resembling my father or Libra, but it wouldn’t be easy. Now that repairs were in full swing and Hausen was developing so smoothly, lots of people were visiting and passing through. The city was too understaffed for dedicated investigations. The fact that they’d spotted someone who looked like Myne was little more than good luck.

Placing Snow on the bed, I continued cleaning until the room looked back to normal.

“That should do it,” I said.

Roxy said, “Looks nice and clean. Well, Snow and I should get changed, so once you get dressed and equipped, let’s have breakfast.”

“Sounds good. Wait. Are you saying you’re going to make me breakfast?”

Roxy giggled. “Of course!”

She hefted Snow under her arm and gave me a wink. She was confident, which meant I’d have to get my game face on and eat all my breakfast.

“See you soon, Fate,” Roxy said.

“Bye-bye, Fate!” said Snow, waving energetically as Roxy carried her off.

“See you both at breakfast.”

It seemed like Snow had grown more comfortable around Roxy on the way to Hausen. Roxy had even taken to calling her “Snowy” as of late. All that was left now was to get Snow and Eris on better terms, but…that was a completely different mountain to climb. I couldn’t help but think about that as Roxy and Snow left the room. 

Snow was one of the holy beastfolk, a very special race. They had caused Eris to suffer terribly in the past, and Eris had some kind of connection to Libra in particular. The trauma was so bad that Snow simply being of the same race brought those painful memories flooding back. When Snow had leapt onto Eris to give her a hug last night, Eris had pretended to smile, but she’d broken out into a cold sweat. She never lost her cool, so I wondered how much of her trauma had resurfaced. Eris was usually so calm, collected, and easygoing. Would she really be able to fight Libra?

I dressed quickly and left the room with Greed in hand. 

“Rough night last night,” he said.

“For a while there, I honestly had no idea what was going to happen.”

“Well, Luna said she’d increase her defenses, so we’re at least safe for the next couple days.”

“Glad to hear it. I don’t think I could handle that every night.”

Today’s plan was to have breakfast, then head into town. I wanted to visit the place where Myne had been spotted. It would also be a good opportunity to see how the city of Hausen was progressing.