Chapter 15

Fransisca looked around the city.

Not long after Allen left, chimeras had stormed in.

Soldiers had gone along with him, causing a shortage of troops in the city. So of course there had to be a big disturbance. 

Fortunately, the chimeras didn’t appear to be too powerful. 

However…

‘There are just too many.’

Two or three competent men could defeat one chimera, but there were too many chimeras. 

No matter where you hid within the city, a monster would appear there. 

Well, not exactly.

‘Chimeras?’

Their joints and hooves were reminiscent of mountain goats, while their upper bodies could be compared to a… gnoll’s? Or maybe a goblin’s? 

She made a quick decision.

‘The damage is too great to deal with everyone one by one.’

Mana shot out of her heart. Manifesting as a black fog wrapped around her, the mana formed a black domain. A strange creation that stretched out from an image in her mind.

And upon her gesture, the black fog gathered into one place, and creatures who seemed to come straight out of a nightmare came into existence.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Kill the remaining chimeras in the city.”

The summoned beings drifted to places where disturbances had arisen, releasing blue mucus and green tentacles. 

As she continued to move, the remaining fog gathered into a summon in the shape of a horse whose eyes were sewn together with thread. Its thick tentacles rose from the side of its stomach, and the mouths all over its body exposed sharp, pointed teeth.

Francisca gave a nervous look towards the manor before climbing onto the horse summon.

“Let’s go to the manor. Quickly.”

She was brought back to her senses by the loud roar that had come from the manor, but was caught up with the chimeras stationed on the way there.

Hopefully, nothing had happened.

Having already had a bad feeling, Francisca rushed through the streets. 

“I-It’s a monster!”

“Stay back! I said, stay back!”

“Fuck! Fuck you all! Get away! Get the fuck away from me!”

The summons’ terrible appearance caused a brief disturbance, but thanks to it, she was able to quickly arrive at the manor.

However, as she ran into the manor, something massive also moved into the structure. Then, almost as quickly as it came, it had flown in the direction of the east gate.

She was troubled by its sudden retreat.

‘Should I go after it? But what if those two are still inside?’

It was more urgent to protect Inellia and Linbelle than to chase the monster. 

Having made her decision, Francisca summoned an eyeball with wings to follow after the chimera.

Flap, flap.

Fortunately, the chimera didn’t seem to notice its follower.

Francisca walked around the manor. Unlike the chaotic city, the manor was quiet.

The walls were broken, and the gardens were ruined. There was no sign of any movement.

‘It can’t be…’

As she came to her senses, she began to scout her surroundings more intently. 

Broken walls, disorganized interiors, smashed stairs, and…

There was a silhouette in the space between them. 

“Linbelle!”

Francisca hurried over as she watched Linbelle collapse with a devastated face.

“Can you hear me? Do you recognize me?”

“…Miss… Francisca.”

The sorceress checked the young girl’s physical condition before facing her.

“M-Mom is…”

“It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be alright, okay?”

“The d-demon came and my m-mom was…”

Francisca held her as she stuttered. She displayed signs of genuineness to a certain extent. And Francisca asked her with an apologetic look.

“Linbelle.”

“Yes…?”

Linbelle gazed at her with empty eyes. 

“Could you tell me what happened here?”

The young girl opened her mouth as carefully as possible so she could speak. She didn’t look too good, but what seemed to have bothered her more was that Inellia wasn’t there.

“I want to help you.”

“I…”

The demon who had broken into the manor.

Inellia who seemed to have known that demon.

And who seemed to have transformed into a fairy out of a legend.

And…

“That demon…”

…The fact that her mother seemed to have been taken away because of her.

“…And that’s what happened.”

She pretended to be calm as she spoke.

Francisca was stunned by her appearance. 

“I’ll take it from here, okay?”

She closed her eyes.

She could feel her summoned creatures steadily decreasing the number of chimeras in the area.

‘The rest of this can be taken care of by the soldiers.’

She then rearranged Linbelle’s clothes and got up from where she’d been sitting.

“Linbelle, I’m sorry, but could you stay here?”

“But I…” Linbelle whispered quietly, “I want to go with you too.”

“Linbelle, you know that this is dangerous.”

“I know I’m being shameless right now. Maybe I’m a burden right now, too, but Miss Francisca, please…”

Her empty eyes burned with determination, as if this were her sole purpose.

Francisca had once known a man with those kinds of eyes. 

A man who had to do the same thing once before.

She’d only been hanging on for so long because of it.

“Please, I beg of you…”

“Fine,” she answered with a sigh.

“Please take me with y—Huh?”

“I’m letting you come with me.”

Linbelle’s formerly ghastly blue eyes that would occasionally roll in annoyance instantly turned into more innocent, surprised eyes.

“Come on, let’s go. There’s not much time.”

“Um, I… Okay!”

“Phew…”

Francisca wasn’t so weak-hearted in the past, but when it came to people like Linbelle…

‘I just can’t help it.’

She deserved to see the ending of this story. 

It must be sad to be separated from your own mother at such a young age.

Stopping her thoughts there, she stretched out her hand.

Darkness gathered and stood still around her. Then, a new, even more absurd-looking horse was summoned.

The pegasus-like summoned creature gathered the tentacles located on either side of its back together to form wings, while all four eyes on both sides of its belly blinked and stared at her.

“Get on.”

“Wh-What is this…?”

Linbelle flinched away as she followed a blank-faced Francisca.

“Linbelle, you can ride a horse, right? Come ride with me.”

“W-Wait—Aaaack!”

Francisca dragged the squirming child onto the horse that remained calm and still. 

After both of them had gotten on, Francisca closed her eyes to concentrate. A moment had passed before she turned to the east gate and said, “Let’s go. Hold on tight. It might get a little shaky.”

“A-Alright… Aaaack!”

Another commotion arose once the two left the manor. 

People were frightened as more monsters appeared, and others ran away in an attempt to get away from them.

However, thanks to the horse, the two were able to pass through the east gate without much trouble.

Soldiers quickly rushed to the scenes of the disasters, as if they’d suddenly come to their senses. 

‘The chimeras weren’t too strong, so this should all be dealt with fairly quickly.’

Francisca frowned at the unpleasant stench that arose as they headed towards the mountains.

Although nobody else could, she could feel a distinct presence.

The faint presence of death from deep within the forest.

Its distinct traits convinced her of it.

‘There are only a few beings that could cause all of this. It’s either a dark sorcerer or…’

A chimera sorcerer.

She’d known it ever since she saw the first chimera.

However, the fact that she felt the aura of death despite only being at the entrance of the forest must’ve meant that the sorcerer had been there for quite some time.

“We need to go faster. It feels strange here.”

It wasn’t too unusual for a chimera sorcerer who’d been dormant for a long time to make a move.

The traces of Allen’s party’s expedition shared the same path in which the chimeras had appeared to be headed.

‘Sir Allen…’

Did he know about any of this?

She followed the chimeras’ path, recalling the delusion that had occupied her for such a long time since her childhood.

The sun that had risen above their heads looked down upon them.

* * *

Translator – Aine

Proofreader – yukitokata

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* * * 

Regnor crossed the mountains at a high speed. Possibly because of his movement not being impacted by any obstacles, like a shadow.

He passed through the forest in an instant, as if walking on a clear road.

Inellia followed suit at the same pace.

She looked back briefly, contemplating her lingering regret.

‘…Linbelle.’

From the second she’d revealed herself, she knew that things could never go back to the way they once were.

‘If it has to be this way…’

She couldn’t know for sure if they really would leave her daughter alone or not.

However, in order to make even just her free…

‘I have to do it.’

She had no other choice than to uproot herself. 

She looked determined, as if having made up her mind.

Right then, Regnor stopped. He frowned as if having caught up with something bothersome.

“And I thought we could get away. Tsk. It’s strange that it caught up so quickly… I can’t believe I noticed so late.”

Regnor waved his hand to signal the winged eyeball above his head.

He looked at it hovering above him and squashed it.

“Inellia, you go ahead. I believe I have an intruder to deal with.”

“I…”

She hesitated. Without Regnor there, she could try to escape.

As her resolve wavered, Regnor shook his head as if it were already too late.

“We’re in ‘his’ territory now. Do you think you’d be alright if you ran away now that we’re here?”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

At those words, Inellia accepted her fate with a dejected look.

Smiling as if satisfied by her answer, Regnor disappeared in a flash.

Inellia then moved into a cave that stood right in front of her. Her wings quivered, reflecting her own emotions.

* * *

Allen arrived at the entrance of the Michellant Mountains with his soldiers.

The dense, widely spread trees of the mountains created a shadow. 

The party marched slowly. As they had no other choice, they stood in formation to protect against inevitable attacks.

‘Halfway there.’

The forest was quiet.

The silence of the forest, which should’ve been full of life and energy from all sorts of living creatures, proved that they were headed in the right direction.

The deeper they went, the forest became more and more gloomy, lacking the whistle of a breeze or the chirp of insects. 

A few monsters approached the noise that would normally be indistinguishable from the sounds of nature, but nothing blocked the party’s way.

Because of that, the party was able to move at a constant speed. However, the soldiers—feeling strange in this environment—grew more nervous and wary of their surroundings. 

So Allen carefully went ahead to scout around them.

“Northeast, clear! Nothing of note.

“Northwest, clear! Nothing of note here either.

“Southwest, clear! Nobody trailed us.”

He closed his eyes as he briefed his party.

‘How far are we? We should be about 70% of the way there now.’

The soldiers whispered amongst themselves.

Allen heard the buzz of the soldiers as he drew a map in his head.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll go check it out and come back.”

The soldier, who had been waiting for Allen to take notice of the commotion, quickly moved towards the others. After a moment, the soldier returned along with two women and an embarrassed look.

“…Miss Francisca?”

“Sir.”

Allen had a feeling that something had happened. Linbelle’s horrified yet blank look gave it all away.

‘It can’t be…’

She’d changed to appear the way he once remembered her—something he didn’t want to see.

“…What happened?”

Linbelle kept her mouth tightly shut and stared into the depths of the forest. Fransisca continued staring in the direction they were headed.

‘What could’ve happened?’

Allen had acted first because he knew the future.

Before all the damage could be inflicted, he had brought out soldiers to help to fix it. 

It had only been two days since they’d arrived in the city. It was too early for something wrong to have occurred.

‘The only difference is that Julius isn’t here.’

Did that mean that all of this could’ve happened because of just that one thing?

“Could you please explain what happened?”

They quickly straightened their disheveled clothing and gave him a quick summary of all that had happened in the city.

“Chimeras attacked, Inellia was kidnapped, and…”

‘Hah, so this is how the past and present become similar? Isn’t it too contrived?’

The reason why he had left Francisca in the city was to be prepared in case an incident arose, but he didn’t think that anything would actually happen.

However, it seemed as though that disaster waited for him to leave the city before striking.

‘There’s definitely something.’

In his memory, Linbelle’s mother—who had shown great talent in combat in his past life—had been involved with them and attacked the city along with them.

However, there was something about her behavior that changed. The same could be said about the baron’s.

Allen smiled faintly. 

Julius, Julius. What the hell even are you?

‘Kim Woojin, were you reincarnated from another world? Or are you some kind of apostle following a fallen god?’

What are you to make it so that not acting together changes the future so severely?

“Sir…” As his silence continued on, Linbelle faintly called out to him.

Her eyes were round and dim—desperate and chilling.

The same face he’d seen in his dreams.

He had thought that he wouldn’t have to see it again if he just changed the future.