“──Let’s run”
Faced with the sight of his comrades being torn apart by the undead, Randa made an immediate decision.
“Eh, but we have to help──”
“Idiot! There’s no way we can save them! Let’s go to the warehouse!!”
He kicked away the comrade who was still spouting nonsense. Only a handful of his comrades remained.
They had been relying on the undead soldiers, but their numbers weren’t that large. The intruder kids had targeted them precisely.
In short, they had been cornered in an instant. There was no choice but to run.
“Damn it! Damn it! It’s all that necromancer’s fault!!”
──I’ll give you power. But if you’re useless, you’ll become nothing but silent bones.
The necromancer who had come to Randa’s nearly destroyed bandit group had given them power, but Randa had never trusted him. He had always thought he was shady. Some of his subordinates had felt the same──yes, they had.
Now, their flesh had rotted away, leaving only bones.
In the end, they should have run away sooner. Before things got this bad!
“Grab anything valuable! Weapons!! Anything!!”
Fortunately, the necromancer had shown no interest in anything valuable. So the weapons they had stolen from the mobile fortress along with the magic stones, and anything else of value, had all been stuffed into the warehouse. Randa hurried there.
“Ah!?”
“……!?”
But there was already someone there. Rummaging through the tools in tattered clothes was not a comrade. It was the woman they had kidnapped and thrown into the cell. The fact that she had escaped, that his subordinates hadn’t even been able to catch them, made Randa’s blood boil.
“You’re not running away, woman!!”
“Ugh”
He immediately grabbed her arm. She was already in bad shape. She didn’t put up much resistance. Perfect, he’d use her as a hostage. Randa thought that, and then he let his guard down.
“Take, this!!”
“──Ah!?”
Randa had overlooked the obvious possibility that the woman was rummaging through the warehouse to find a weapon. The next moment, the knife she was clutching stabbed into his neck.
Nina had also let her guard down.
To help her partner, Laura, and to search for healing potions, she had taken advantage of the commotion to find what seemed to be a warehouse. That much was fine. But she had been so focused on that that she neglected her vigilance.
“Don’t you dare run away, woman!!”
But she had already found a weapon. The knife that was lying in the warehouse—she thrust it into the man’s neck the moment he grabbed her arm. Wincing at the sensation of tearing flesh and the splatter of blood, she was certain she had killed him.
“────Don’t underestimate me, woman!”
“Huh!?”
So the next moment, Nina couldn’t help but be shocked when, even with the knife still stuck in his neck, the man grabbed her by the throat.
That had definitely been a fatal blow. Yet he was still alive, and with such monstrous strength that he could lift her with one hand, Nina couldn’t move.
“Ra, Randa……!? Are, are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay……!! Hurry up and get to work──”
Bleeding profusely, the man gave orders to his comrades. His comrades, terrified by his condition and pale-faced, obeyed and tried to enter the warehouse. However,
“Gyah!?”
Immediately after, a tile struck the man’s back, sending him flying into the warehouse’s cargo, headfirst. Furthermore, a gray shadow closed in on the other stranded thief, flashing a blade.
“Gugya!?”
The gray figure who had taken down two in an instant was, as rumored, a child. The equipment was that of an adventurer, but it was doubtful if the child was even an adult yet. A small, youthful child stood ready with a spear, facing the thief who had captured Nina.
Could it be that this child had caused the commotion outside?
Nina was astonished, but she had no time to speak.
“That brat’s here!!”
“Guh!?”
Still holding Nina, the man slammed something he had pulled from his pocket onto the ground. Instantly, dust exploded, blocking their vision. Taking advantage of the moment, Nina was dragged away with incredible force. Despite not being petite herself, Nina was dragged by the scruff of her neck with one hand.
“Damn it!!”
She swung her fists in resistance, but it was as if he didn’t even flinch. This was abnormal. Nina was, after all, an adventurer. She had consumed magic and had considerable strength. But the man’s physical power was as if he had been enhanced by some buffing spell, making it impossible to resist.
Biting her lip at her own helplessness, there was nothing she could do. The man forcefully dragged Nina up the stairs of a tower built at the corner of the fortress wall.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Hot, itchy.
The knife was still stuck in his throat. But strangely, it didn’t hurt.
His body could still move. In fact, there was a strange sensation as if even more strength was welling up, but he wasn’t in a position to care about that.
“……!”
“Guh, so!”
Pursuers were coming. The gray child was climbing the stairs a little behind. The smoke screen didn’t seem to have blinded them.
But the reason they weren’t throwing projectiles was because he was dragging the woman. Understanding that the hostage was effective, Randa continued to climb the tower.
The rooftop of the tower at the intersection of the four walls had no escape route. Of course, Randa understood that. But he didn’t care. He had no intention of running now.
First, he’d kill that brat! Escape could come later!!
Reaching the top of the tower, the rooftop without a railing, Randa immediately pointed his sword at the woman. The child caught up soon after but stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the woman. Pointing the tip of the spear at Randa, he said,
“Let her go.”
“Do you even know your place……!?”
The child’s attitude angered him. No, more than that, Randa had been angry all along.
“What, what did I even do……!? I had no choice but to survive! I had no choice but to kill! Why did such a monster have to target me!?”
It was unpleasant. It didn’t make sense.
Sure, he had tormented and killed merchants who had money, but that was his rightful due.
So why was he being targeted by such a monster? Why was he being cornered by a brat who looked two times younger than him!!
“By a brat like you who doesn’t know hardship!! Why do I have to──”
“Listen to me.”
But Randa’s anger was swiftly cut off. The child in front of him had an utterly calm expression. Without even a tremor in the spear he was pointing,
“I said, let her go.”
There was no need for debate, he said.
At that moment, something in Randa’s head snapped with a crackling sound.
“Then I’ll let her go!!”
“Hii──”
And the next moment, Randa pushed the woman off the rooftop.
He was a scoundrel, a villain, and so he knew.
Everyone loves themselves. No matter how much they pretend to be good, they care more about themselves. So, to those who spout noble words, presenting them with a situation where they must risk themselves to save others is effective.
The conscience and selfishness, morality and vice within him, all of them clashed in discord, cracking and leaving him full of gaps. This method had killed adventurers far stronger than him.
This time was the same. Randa, unable to move and stiffened, raised his sword to strike the child.
“Huh?”
But the child wasn’t there.
“…………!!”
Instead, the child dashed past Randa.
And without a moment’s hesitation, he jumped off the rooftop. To save the woman who had fallen first.
“──Idiot! Idiot!! Gyahahaha!! Serves you right!!”
The sheer lack of hesitation, the immediate decisiveness, left Randa dumbfounded, and for some reason, he laughed loudly to wipe away the overwhelming sense of defeat pressing down on him.
“Keep playing the hero in the depths of hell──”
As he looked down from the tower to watch the child and woman fall and become stains on the ground—even in the midst of the fall, unwavering, the boy’s gaze met his, the spear still pointed.
“Huh?”
“【Howl】”
The intense heat beam released at the same time burned through his head as he peered down.
On the rooftop of the tower, with a sword pointed at her and seeing the face of the boy who had chased after her, Nina realized just how young he really was. It was doubtful if he was even an adult. The fact that she had put him in such a desperate situation filled Nina with despair.
Why are you here!?
Or,
You don’t have to worry about me anymore, just run!
Various words flashed through her mind, but none of them came out coherently. She could barely keep the plea for help from spilling out of her throat.
“Then I’ll let her go!!”
“Hii──”
And then, as if all her efforts were meaningless, Nina was pushed off. A moment of floating, followed by regret and despair. Ah──at least let Laura be safe. Thinking that, Nina closed her eyes──
“Don’t move, ——yo!!”
“Huh!?”
The next moment, the gray boy who had jumped off the rooftop somehow caught her body.
Terrifyingly, he had jumped off the tower almost simultaneously with her fall.
“【Open—Book of Protection】!!”
Furthermore, the boy’s chest shone brightly. It was clear that some magical artifact had activated. The light enveloped them. A protective spell. But could that alone prevent a fall from this height……!?
“Daaaaraaaaaa!!!!”
The boy must have known that too. With one hand, he thrust his spear into the tower. The crumbling tower wall couldn’t fully support their weight and began to collapse, but their fall slowed slightly. And then,
“Guh!?”
“Gah!?”
The two fell together onto the top of the fortress wall. The impact was less than expected.
Because the boy had been holding Nina’s body.
On the other hand, the boy seemed to have taken quite a bit of the impact, his face contorted in pain.
“…………! That was close……! Thought I was gonna die……!”
Despite the boldness with which he had jumped without hesitation, the boy’s face looked like that of an ordinary child. At the same time, Nina was shocked that he had taken such a dangerous risk without any certainty of survival.
“Why would you do something so reckless!?”
“Seriously, that was close……”
She wanted to thank him from the bottom of her heart, but at the same time, she was driven by an overwhelming urge to scold him, and Nina opened her mouth wide. But,
“Ha……so, are you hurt?”
As if to say all of that was trivial, the boy’s smile, seemingly trying not to make her worry, made the curses she was about to utter all retreat, and instead,
“──No, I’m fine.”
A very high-pitched “woman’s” voice spilled from her throat.
For Nina, this was the moment that would become a dark history, something she would impulsively recall for years to come, breaking into a cold sweat and squirming in embarrassment.
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