Survive in the parallel world, please!

Sera hit her bottom with a long straight stick, there were many red lines drawn on her white skin already.

“Yes miss Sera!”

Sera had her walk in front of the group and everytime she slowed down Sera would hit her in the butt. It would have been endurable for her if not for the fact that walking in the front position meant she was getting hurt by all sorts of branches, ivies and thorny bushes, to make matters worse, even if she walked fast she would still be hit randomly.

Sera held an evil grin on her face the whole time, she was having way too much fun.

Fena held no love for Thea, but even she was starting to think it may be a better idea to separate from the group and travel by herself. Sera’s behavior had become more and more dangerous by the minute.

What would happen to her if she found out the truth?

Things became even more dire for Thea when she tripped and fell on the ground. Before she was even able to stand up Sera placed the stick right in between her buttcheeks leaving her completely defenseless. She shivered in fear of what Sera might do, it would take a simple thrust of her hand to impale her.

.....

Flashes of memories from the abuse she suffered by the thugs she thought were her allies ran across her mind, but her will had already been broken and she wouldn’t fight back against Sera, no matter what she did to her. She could only beg to keep whatever dignity she had left.

“No! please don’t! Miss Sera I beg you”

“Stop it already Sera, you’re starting to really scare me!”

Fena said from behind because she didn’t dare to face her directly. She was naked and unarmed, while Sera had the ability to conjure flames from her hands, in other words, she simply didn’t stand a chance against her.

Sera didn’t reply, but she allowed Thea to stand up and keep walking.

The rest of the trip was mostly quiet and they weren’t attacked by any beasts which gave them the opportunity to cover themselves with leaves and vines.

Despite their ridiculous attire, all of them would be considered beautiful in the eyes of most people. Especially Sera, who stood out with a fair complexion and her exceptional proportions.

When they got back to Celarent, the city guards standing watch on the west gate thought they were being attacked by some sort of beasts and were about to sound the alarm.

“Halt! we’re adventurers!”

Fena yelled with an authoritative tone of voice that shook Sera. Fena was supposedly a shy girl and that behavior was completely out of character coming from her, but Fena had too much of Sera’s wicked attitude and couldn’t care any less about keeping her facade.

It creeped her out to the point the only thing she could think of was she didn’t want to spend a minute longer with her. The guards who greeted the girls thought the complete opposite as they were bewitched by Sera’s beauty, two of them even volunteered to escort them to the adventurer’s guild.

“Here, miss, please put this on”

One of the guards said as he covered Sera with his cape, earning him a hateful glare from his companion. He wanted to smack him in the back of the head for taking away the alluring visage of Sera’s exposed body, at least until he saw her wearing the cape with such grace he thought he found himself in front of an exotic princess from a far away country.

There was a huge commotion in town all the way to the adventurer’s guild. Some of the more daring amongst the crowd even followed the girls only to prolong the time they were able to see them. Desire and lust filled their hearts, yet no one even catcalled Sera, her cold attitude could freeze a lake and they didn’t want to be subject to her disdainful glare any more than they wanted to be stabbed in the eye.

Fena stepped into the adventurer’s guild back entrance and signalled the others to follow her. Thea, of course, was reluctant to do so.

She couldn’t think of a single scenario where she would escape a horrible fate, but when Sera noticed she was staying behind and turned back to see her, her whole body shivered in fear and she hurried up her pace.

“Mom!”

Fena said as she threw herself into the adventurers guildmaster’s arms.

“There there”

The huge warrior looking woman patted Fena’s back. Both Thea and Sera were stunned by the revelation.

“She’s your mother!?”

Sera asked Fena, yet she ignored her.

“Tell me everything dear”

“Ryota, Kinta, Shortie, Crimsom and the others, they were all killed!”

Sera’s face suddenly became pale as she realized Fena was reporting the death of the criminals too. The adventurer’s guild leader shouldn’t have known about them, so that left only one possible explanation.

“You were working with them!”

“Of course I was you dumb bitch! I was the contact with the sacred empire!”

“But, they took off your clothes too!”

“I asked that idiot to tie me up with you, It was a last resort in case something went bad and it worked like a charm”

She snickered.

“I’ll kill you!”

Sera said as she pointed her hands towards Fena and shot out a steady stream of fire heating the room, It was a miracle the walls didn’t caught fire. After a few seconds Sera stopped, expecting to see her enemies scorched in the floor, but they were standing like nothing happened.

“You can’t harm people with such weak magic”

Fena said with a smug as she lowered the magic protection barrier she had just conjured.

“So, did this weakling kill everyone?”

“No, it was the other guy. He was strong, way stronger than the others, but he must be dead already... he got caught by the goblins”

“You did well my child, its sad that we suffered so many loses, but we can’t fight the divine providence.”

“What should we do now, mom?”

“Hmmm... We’ll pin the deaths of Ryota, Shortie and Kinta on the mage girl and the weird guy”

“Do you think they’ll buy it?”

“Why of course, we have two witnesses after all”

Fena and her mother stared at Thea who put on a bright smile.

“Of course!”

Sera would be trembling in fear if it wasn’t for the effects of calm mind.

She bullied Thea on their way back thinking she was already safe, but it turned out she was betrayed once more.

She was completely powerless and alone, but she could still count with Bob and Luke, if only she was able to send them a message. Why didn’t she try to go back to the shop to dress herself before entering the adventurer’s guild? What could she possibly do to escape now? those thoughts ate her from the inside. Even the calm mind skill wasn’t enough to keep her emotions at bay and fear was starting to overwhelm her.

“I’ll make you pay for everything you did to me”

Thea grinned as she walked towards Sera.

Sera’s poker face was starting to break to pieces and her eyes were already tearing up. A horrible fate awaited for her, but not everything was lost yet. She backed out swiftly and tried to make a run for it, not knowing that the guildmaster was expecting her to do so.

She calmly unsheathed her sword and made a small cut on Thea’s forearm, making her yelp in pain. Then, the tall woman went outside the door and shouted.

“Everyone, capture Sera the F rank adventurer! She killed her party members and attacked us!”

The adventurers standing guard appeared out of nowhere and pinned Sera to the ground before she could make it to the exit.

There wasn’t a single thread of hope to cling on to, she resolved herself to fight to the death, but she was knocked out before she could lift so much as a finger.

“Are you sure that girl is not going to betray us?”

The guildmaster asked her daughter.

“Thea hates Sera’s guts, and not without reason. I think we can keep working with her”

Thea felt like a piece of furniture in the room, they talked to each other completely ignoring her, but it was better than the alternative.

By the time they let Thea go it was night already and she hurried back to her empty house. Her cousin was nowhere to be found, she had left the city without a word long before she got together with Kinta.

That night she cried herself to sleep curled up in the corner of her room. It took her days until she was able to muster the courage to go outside, and she did so with the sole purpose of meeting with someone.

She wasn’t surprised when she found out Sera had been accused of murder, it was just like the guildmaster said.

She headed towards Risa, who was sitting in front of an untouched breakfast.

“Uh?” Risa barely even lifted her head, the news of Ryu’s death took her by surprise and sent her into a state of grief. She couldn’t even return his cape or properly thank him for saving her life from the ants, and now she will never get the chance to do so.

“Miss Risa, we need to talk”