Testing My Luck in the New World

"Let him go!"

After a delay born of pure shock, Yua slammed a fist straight into Miss Bellenfort's face hard enough to make my teeth ache. The woman's cheek dimpled and her head whipped to the side, but it did nothing to end her glare. Nor did it break her grip on my neck. Pushing back against Yua's fist, she slowly straightened her neck again.

Utter disbelief colored Yua's face as she pulled her fist back, leaving behind nothing but a small bruise. Miss Bellenfort didn't seem to notice.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Once my lungs remembered how to breathe, I said, "What are you talking about? How did you get here so fast?"

She pressed her axe harder still against my neck. With her hold unwavering and with my own body weight pulling me down, I gripped her wrist and tried to lift myself to keep from hanging myself.

A list of spells I could use to break free of her hold popped into my mind. None of them would leave her uninjured, which shouldn't have been a problem, but that fact stopped me from casting them. Something about this situation wasn't right.

"... Tch!"

Breaking eye-contact with me for the first time, she threw her glare over her shoulder at the street. A small crowd had gathered once they heard the commotion, but that one look from her ended their interest.

"H-Hey, isn't that Lady Bellenfort?"

"Oh, shit. It is. Run!"

As fast as they gathered, they fled. Some screaming, some hefting their children into their arms before pushing heir way through the crowd. Most ran as fast as though they theirs lives were being threatened by just her gaze.

"Because of you, I've been turned into a Thief! My... My life was already..."

Her grip on her axe tightened, the joints in her fingers popping under the pressure.

"What are you saying? I never did anything to you."

"Don't lie to me! You're the last person I talked to yesterday! And when I woke up, I knew. I just knew something was off. I felt dirty. So, I checked my old Scrying Orb and... Damn it!!"

Unable to believe what she was saying, I bit back the pain and focused on her info box. As she said, the Thief tag was there, right below her name.

But how? She's never had the chance to touch anything we own, let alone steal it. All our stuff is either back at the cabin or in my item box. And she's never handled Yua's bag.

Could it be, that incident with the maids in the city? If slaves being unable to own money somehow kicked back on her after they bought her some booze, then... No, that can't be it. Yua used coin to buy lunch that day and neither she nor the meat vendor questioned it.

It can't have been me. She must have drunkenly done something stupid after we left and just forgot. But she seems so sure that I'm responsible that I can't bring myself to outright deny the possibility.

Yua readied herself for another punch. I could practically see the incantation for Iron Fist on her lips, but I stayed her with a hand once Miss Bellenfort's eyes locked on me again.

Clearly sober now, she looked every bit the bombshell beauty she had been when we first met, but now there was a twinge of dispair interlaced with her fury. She was sweating as much as I was. The hand she held the axe with was shaking.

Regardless of the circumstances, waking up to find your life had been permanently changed like this must have been world-shattering.

"So, what was it?" she demanded. "Was it because I ordered that girl of yours around? Did I say something mean? Did I accidentally hurt someone you know? Hurt you? What did I do? What made you seek revenge?"